Page 138 of Resorting to Romance

“Thanks,” I say, leaning into Kai when he tugs me closer.

I don’t know when this thing between the two of us will start to lose its magic. I have a hunch it may be a while, if ever. I wake up daily, thankful, and sort of in awe that Kai is actually my boyfriend.

I love him so much. If two people could be intertwined and woven together, I’d find the seamstress to do it. I never want to leave his side, to have him far from me again. After spending those few months pretending, it feels like every day together is a gift we didn’t ever know we’d actually have.

I want to spend the rest of my life with Kai Kapule. He hasn’t officially asked, but we’ve talked about the future with the assumption that’s where we’re headed. I’m grateful he’s been sensitive to Noah’s need to adjust, despite the fact that my son regularly asks us when we’re going to get married so Kai can just move in already. His words, exactly.

And, I’m not sure Noah and I will have Kai move into theinn. Maybe we’ll live at Kai’s home and hire someone to caretake overnight at Mila’s Place. We haven’t gotten that far.

But I’m enjoying every single moment along the way: watching Kai tinker around the inn, baking him something that makes him close his eyes and hum with appreciation, sneaking hidden glances at him when he’s playing with Noah or they’re having one of their famous man-to-man talks, laughing at how he denies loving Shaka, studying him, inching my way beneath his outer layer to his secretly soft center—a place he seems to only let a few people share—and I’m one of the lucky ones.

I can barely believe I’m allowed to hold his hand, kiss him, wrap my arm around him, sit in his lap, or lean on his shoulder while he rocks us on the porch swing anytime I want. I wanted to touch him every day we were faking, and now, sometimes for the briefest moment, I forget I can. And when I remember, I feel nearly giddy with the reality.

Most importantly, I’ve given Kai access to places in my soul I had kept boarded shut. He earned entrance through his patient, steady devotion to me over the four years of our friendship, and even more so those few months while we pulled off our farce. Since then, he’s blown the walls off all my hesitation and fear until all that’s left is him and me and a kind of hope I never thought I’d experience again.

I look forward to the time when he’ll be drinking coffee next to me in the morning, and holding me as we wrap up our days together, my head on his chest, his steady heartbeat a home for me and me alone. I want to give him all of me. And I want to explore this man for the rest of our days together on earth—even as we age and lose pieces of ourselves we imagined were immortal.

He’s the one. Kai’smyone.

The fire in the firepit starts to burn to embers, and people start saying their goodbyes a few hours after dinner. Kai and I stay to help clean up and wash dishes.

Then we walk to his house where he parked a golf cart to drive me back to the inn.

We’re driving along the street that passes in front of the Alicante when Kai pulls over and parks the golf cart.

“What are we doing?” I ask.

“I have something I need to show you at the shack. Then I’ll get you home.”

“Okaaay?” The word comes out like a question.

What could Kai possibly need to show me at the shack at this hour?

He comes around the golf cart and extends his hand. I place my palm in his and we walk toward the water’s edge in a quiet comfort together.

Kai seems to grow a little tense as we near the dock where the shack sits overlooking the ocean.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

It’s the first time I considered that what he wants to show me might not be a good surprise. Maybe something happened at work and he’d rather show me than tell me. I prepare myself for anything as we round the pylons that support the dock and approach a spot on the sand where someone has lit tiki torches and placed seashells all over the ground in little formations of hearts with flower petals scattered all over the sand.

“This is beautiful,” I tell Kai. “I wonder who did this.”

“This is what I wanted to show you.”

“Was it here when you left work this evening for the party?”

“No,” Kai clasps both my hands and faces me. “It wasn’t. I had Ben and Jamison come out here while we cleaned up at Bodhi and Kala’s”

“You had the guys do this?”

“I did.”

“It’s beautiful …”

Before I can ask him why, Kai looks down at me and slowly, never breaking my gaze, he drops to one knee.

I hold my breath, gazing down at this amazing, thoughtful, gorgeous man who always shows up for me—the man who stole my heart and returned it to me more whole than it’s ever been.

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