Page 25 of Leilani's Hero

He had to think kissing Leilani wasn’t meant to be. Not that night, anyway. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. The near-miss kiss could be an even greater temptation, making the next time all the more exciting.

He'd go with that thought and look forward to his next date with the petite Hawaiian beauty.

In the meantime, a cold shower would have to do. It was that, or he would be awake all night or have entirely different kinds of dreams than the nightmares plaguing Palili.

Angel headed for his room, his step lighter. He slowed as an image of the slashed tires flashed through his mind. The night with Leilani had been pretty awesome, but it didn’t erase the fact that someone was trying to put her out of business.

He didn’t like the fact that someone had already struck twice. Although diesel in an engine was destructive, slashing tires had involved a knife or something equally sharp. A more violent attack in Angel’s mind. Could the next attack target the business owner herself?

He pictured Leilani in her sexy white dress and frowned at the idea of someone plunging a knife into her. As quickly as the image surfaced, he pushed it away. He wouldn’t let that happen. The more he got to know Leilani, the more he liked her.

Protecting Leilani could turn out to be a different kind of challenge altogether. His gut told him that not only was her business in danger, but she might be as well. He’d learned through experience to listen to his gut.

Someone would need to be with her twenty-four-seven to keep her safe.

That someone needed to be him.

When he arrived at his building, a shadow detached itself from the wall beside his door.

Angel dropped into a defensive stance, adrenaline racing through his system.

“Relax,” a voice said. “It’s me, Teller.” His teammate stepped into the starlight.

Angel straightened, drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Dude, I could’ve killed you.”

“I doubt it. If I were out to take you down, you’d be dead already. What happened to situational awareness?”

Angel shook his head. “I was thinking.”

“That’ll get you killed.”

“Tell me about it.” Angel waved his key card over the lock. “Can I offer you a beer?”

“No thanks. I came to deliver a message from Hawk.”

“Oh yeah?” Angel led the way into his room. “What message?”

“He tried to call you. When he couldn’t get you on the phone, he called the rest of us. Since the others are guarding boats tonight, I was tagged with getting with you to do a video call with our new boss.”

“Sounds serious. I’ll bring him up on my laptop.” Angel strode to his computer, turned it on and pulled up two chairs. He sank into one. Teller settled in the other.

He placed the video call and waited for Hawk to answer.

Hawk responded on the first ring. “Cortez, Osgood. Couldn’t you guys stand any more than a couple of days of R&R without looking for work?”

Angel nodded. “Let’s just say it landed in our laps.”

“Correction,” Teller said. “She landed in Cortez’s lap.”

Hawk grinned. “It happens. I touched base with Hank a couple of hours ago. He and I are in agreement. You’re to stay on this job until it's solved. If that means you’re on Maui for more than a week, so be it. Hank and I are still lining up work for all of you. I can get the others started while you’re wrapping up Ms. Kealoha’s case.”

“So, it’s official? Ms. Kealoha is our first client with the Brotherhood Protectors?” Teller asked.

“That’s right. Let me know if you need anything in the way of weapons, communications equipment or tracking devices. I can get those sent over by airplane.”

“Hopefully, we won’t need all that,” Angel said, “but it’s good to know it’s available.”

“You also have access to Hank’s computer guy, Swede. He’s a master at data mining. You can have him look up information about people, corporations, bank accounts and government records. He has ways of getting the information you need to know.”

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