Page 43 of His Hawaiian Heart
I knew he would in a heartbeat, but I knew this was something I needed to handle. “Of course, but no. It’s not like she’s my mom, and I’m going to have to explain why I broke curfew again.”
He chuckled. “Again, huh? There’s a story I’m going to want to hear. You can tell me all about it later. Be my good girl and don’t let anything sting you, and that includes cats.”
That made me smile and my, “Good morning, Katrina,” was given in a far more believable tone.
“Good morning, Katrina,” Sam echoed.
“Sam. Sam,” she said.
“Have a great day with your little creepy crawlers,” Sam said before cutting off my snort at his choice of adjective by planting a kiss on my lips, then he passed the backpack to me and turned away.
“Good morning, Cookie!” he called.
For some insane reason, I could swear I heard Cookie calling back except it didn’t sound like a “good morning”. It sounded far more like, “chip, chip, chip”. Shaking my head, I turned my attention to Katrina who was still standing there, staring at the back of Sam as he walked back into the forest.
“Running a bit late?” she asked once she turned back to me.
“Actually, a little early. The morning meeting isn’t for”—I glanced at my watch—“another half hour.” I gave her a smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to change and grab some breakfast. See you in a bit.” I bent to duck into my tent when I felt her hand on my arm.
“I think we should have a little chat. We wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea, or for anything to turn up in your file that might be… embarrassing.”
I shot her a glance that was devoid of any faked emotion. “While I don’t particularly care what ideas people choose to have, I do know that you should take your hand off my arm before something far more than embarrassing shows up inyourfile.”
She slowly pulled her hand free. “I’m just thinking of your reputation.”
“No you’re not. You’re thinking that you made a huge mistake letting Samuel go. And, woman to woman, I feel for you. But sub to sub, the biggest mistake you made was not in appreciating the man Sam is outside of his role of being an incredible Dom. For that, I don’t have it within me to have any sympathy, becauseImost certainly do.”
“You just appreciate the fact that he’s loaded,” she snarled, all pretense of friendship gone.
“Wow. After our talk the first day I arrived, I’d honestly believed we understood each other. It’s obvious I was wrong. I might workwithyou Katrina, but I don’t workforyou. If you have a problem, it’s exactly that. Your problem.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you’ve chosen exactly what I hoped to avoid. Forced civility. Now, excuse me, I have a meeting to prepare for.” I didn’t wait for her to respond. I simply ducked into my tent and let the flap drop behind me.
That’s my girl.
This time the voice wasn’t that of Ms. Smartass and didn’t make me roll my eyes.
It was Sam’s and made me smile.
Chapter Eighteen
Samuel
“Playing hooky again?”
I looked over to see Kekoa coming down the aisle of the stable. “Nope, going swimming,” I said as I led Sugar from her stall.
Kekoa grinned. “Cool. I’ll grab my board and go with you. Though I can’t say I’ve ever ridden a horse with a board in the saddle bag.”
“I’m not saddling Sugar for you, and I said swimming, not surfing. As much as I love you, brother, three’s a crowd.”
His brow quirked. “I don’t recall you feeling that way when we were at the club watching that demo with David, Hale, and Mara.”
“True enough, but”—I paused to look around the barn after setting the saddle on Sugar’s back—“does this look like the club?”
He mimicked me and looked around. “I don’t know; that crop looks awfully familiar.”
