Page 77 of Fast Fury

He didn’t answer, too overcome with emotion to speak yet. He had to tell her now or he’d explode. Couldn’t keep it in a second longer.

Outside the house, he turned right and headed to a secluded spot in a grove of palm trees where a hammock hung between two gracefully bending trunks. He stopped there, turned her so that her back was against one and took her face in his hands, a burning knot of emotion lodged in the center of his chest.

She studied him for a moment, then a soft smile curved her lips and she mirrored his move, cupping his face in return. She shook her head a little, almost in amazement. “You’re the most incredible man I’ve ever known, Kai Maka. I swear you take my breath away every time I look at you.”

Kai exhaled in a rush, his heart splitting wide open, his throat tight as he searched for the right words. Tracing his thumbs over her cheeks, he savored the silky softness of her skin. He didn’t know the exact words he wanted to say, hadn’t planned on telling her like this. But life was too damn short, so he needed to do this right now or he would regret it.

Damn, his heart was racing, and she was staring up at him with those big blue eyes, waiting.

He found his voice. “Until you, I didn’t know what I was missing.” He paused, drew in a breath. “I’ve been looking for you my whole life, and it turns out you were right there across the hall from me for the past two years.” He shook his head, awestruck all over again at how blind he’d been. “I didn’tseeyou. But I see you now, and I can’t look away. Abby…aloha au ia oe.” It felt right to say it in his language.

Her eyebrows drew together as she frowned at him in confusion. “Hello and…something?”

He huffed out a laugh.Real romantic, Kai.“I said, I love you.”

Her face lit up with joy, making her eyes glow. “Oh, thank God. Because I love you too.”

Kai groaned and crushed her to him, one hand on the back of her head to hold her cheek against his heart. He thought he’d been in love before? No way. Nothing had ever felt like this. Nothing had ever felt this right. Not until Abby. She was a piece of him now, and always would be.

“How do I say it in Hawaiian?” she asked, peering up at him.

He smiled, his hands at her lower back, holding her close. “Aloha au ia oe,” he said slowly.

She repeated the first bit, got stuck at the end and made a frustrated sound.

“Ia oe,” he finished.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she gazed deep into his eyes. “Aloha au ia oe, Kai,” she said.

Her pronunciation was all wrong, but the effort was adorable and heartfelt, and hearing that declaration from her in his language made it ten times as powerful. “You’re mine, shortcake.” His voice was a low rumble, edged with a possessive growl.

She hugged him tight in return, pressing her delectable body into him in an effort to get closer. “Yes, I sure am. And that makes me the luckiest woman in the world.”

Epilogue

Five weeks later

When Kai pulled up in front of his building and saw none of the lights in his place were on, he frowned, surprised at how disappointed he was. “I thought the girls were supposed to meet us here when we got back?”

It was his birthday. The whole team had gone to grab a quick beer after their long day of meetings at headquarters before coming back here to Kai’s place for a barbecue.

In the weeks since returning home from Maui, Abby had already formed a bond with all the significant others. She had been cooking for two nights in a row to get everything ready for his party, and he’d helped as much as she would let him. Which hadn’t been much, but at least he’d been willing and made the effort.

“They were,” Colebrook said from the back seat of Kai’s truck. “Hang on. Let me text Piper and see where they are.”

“Maybe they’re watching a movie or something,” Kai muttered. He drove around the corner and turned into the gated underground parking garage.

“Yeah, she says they’re here,” Colebrook said.

“Jaliya’s here too,” Khan said from the back.

“And Charlie and Tess,” Prentiss added. “Rest of the guys are already on their way up the elevator.”

“So everybody’s here except Taylor. Where’s she at, Granger?” Kai said with a wry grin, already knowing the answer.

“Home with her cat and a pint of ice cream,” said Granger, also in the back. “She loves the other women and she’s getting better about coming out to social events, but this was way too many people in a confined space for her comfort level. Too ‘people-y’ for her, as she put it.”

Kai chuckled. “Gotta love her.”

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