Page 6 of Intrigued By Love

“The only beauty I want is that bossy woman over there trying to give you and her sister the perfect wedding. I only wish I knew what I did so I could fix it. I’m open to any suggestions.”

“You could always seduce her and then work backward.”

“She isn’t the casual-sex kind of woman. It took me over two months to go out with her in the first place. And another year after that to get her to even consider moving in with me.”

“I want to ask you a question that I’ve held on to for a while now.”

I glanced at Thad. It was rare for him to keep his thoughts from me. “Go ahead. I promise not to punch you.”

“Were you really going to ask her to marry you the week she left?”

I closed my eyes for a brief moment, remembering my trip to my parents’ house to get my grandmother’s engagement ring and the over-the-top way I’d planned to propose.

“Yeah, I was.” I gripped the back of my neck. “One minute I was getting approval to marry Kai from her father and the next, she’d moved to Tahiti without a backward glance.”

“I know the answer already but it’s better to ask and hear it from your lips.”

I waited for Thad to continue.

“Are you still in love with her?”

I watched the breeze pick up and blow pieces of Kai’s hair into the air.

“I never stopped.”

“Then find out what you did to fuck it up and don’t do it again. She isn’t any happier than you are.”

“That’s the plan, man. But first I have to get her to spend even a second alone with me.”

“I have faith in you.” He smacked me on the back. “Plus, you could always seduce her with that kinky shit the two of you were into and then go from there.”

If only it was that easy.

Chapter Four

Kailani

I released a sigh, adjusting the cooling eye mask on my face as I enjoyed the aftercare following my deep-tissue massage. Lina, Kiana, Cora and I were two hours into our sisters-only spa morning.

The spa at the LB had a five-star rating and usually booked out months in advance. Luckily for us girls, Thad reserving the entire resort gave us unlimited access to services without anyone to interrupt us.

The four of us relaxed on loungers under an open-air gazebo, with a cooling water mister to keep us from overheating and an unending supply of fun beverages to provide hydration.

I couldn’t remember the last time we’d had a chance to just veg together. I should have felt guilty for pushing some of my morning duties onto Raquel but I couldn’t. Especially not with the way she’d gone to so much trouble to arrange this day with the girls.

I was seriously lucky to have Raquel in my life. Well, except for her need to tell me my daily horoscope. Today’s said something about love waiting for me and not to let my fear rule my actions.

As if. It wasn’t fear, it was self-preservation.

I’d loved so hard that it had destroyed me fraction by fraction until I realized how little I mattered. It was better to be alone than to be second to a family who’d never accept me.

Me having parents who weren’t part of the Hollywood elite and who didn’t come from money had always been a sticking point with Jax’s parents. Well, more his mother than his father. From the first moment I met Tinsel Town diva Jennine Burton, I knew she hated me. She’d looked me up and down and treated me as if I were nothing more than the help. All she saw was that I was the daughter of a no-name Air Force colonel and a military nurse who worked for the people with real money. It hadn’t mattered that I’d worked my ass off to be where I was.

In the beginning, Jax had run interference with her, but then he’d caved to the pressure and would literally disappear from our life in Las Vegas to handle something or another for his family. If it had been a one-off, I would have understood, but it turned into an every-few-weeks occurrence, and I was left to wonder if he was going to come back to me. It was as if I was a sectioned-off part of his life, one that didn’t involve the part that took up most of his time or energy. He’d placed me in a tiny little compartment and would take me out when he had the time.

I’d dealt with it for far longer than I should have, and when I pushed back, he’d stared at me as if he had no idea what I was talking about. The last straw for our relationship had occurred during a particularly hard week where I was coordinating the opening of Lykaios Bora Bora while still living in Vegas. All I’d wanted was to spend a weekend in my apartment, with the man I loved. Jax had promised me time unplugged, just the two of us, no distractions, no anyone. When I’d entered our place, I found it empty. No note, no text.

He’d pulled the disappearing act again. I knew I couldn’t live my life like that anymore. I wanted something permanent, with a future, a family, not a when-it-was-convenient-to-him relationship.

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