Me And Mr. I.T. (Kupid's Cove Book 2) (15 page)

I felt his lips by my ear again. “I think about you all day when we aren’t together. That’s something you can take. In fact, I’ve thought about you and baby Hope all day.”

I sat up and crossed my arms over my chest. “What does Hope have to do with this? Big deal, I talked to a woman with a baby. People do that all the time.”

“It wasn’t the talking part that had me thinking about it. It was the part where you knew exactly how to comfort this tiny little thing, in a way no one else had managed to do. Watching you with her told me more about you in those few minutes than years of dating could ever tell me. When you helped that little defenseless baby so willingly I saw your true character, but more importantly, I saw your whole heart lying right there on your lap as you lovingly connected with a soul who shared your same pain.”

I didn’t know what to do or how to make what happened seem normal, because he was right, it wasn’t normal. His phone rang and he reached for it, holding up his finger and answering. I took my chance and stood, dashing off the bench and up the beach, as fast as my less than perfect legs would carry me. I could hear him calling my name, but I refused to turn. I stumbled twice, pushing myself back up with my hands and rushing onto the path around the hotel. I plowed through the doors and, with firmer ground under me, ran straight to the elevator, praying it was going to the top floor. What I was going to do when I got there I didn’t know, but during that dance I had come to terms with the fact that I was falling in love with Mr. I.T. Suddenly I knew exactly what I had to do when I got to the penthouse. I pushed the top button and watched the doors close on what could have been.

Chapter Twelve

Mr. I.T.

I sauntered through the lobby of the hotel, my hands jammed in my pockets and a frown on my face. If I had wanted to, I could have caught up with Ellie easily, but I didn’t. For whatever reason, my words had her running scared and I couldn’t figure out why. If she thinks she’s fooling me by keeping me at arm’s length, she’s wrong. Giving her a little space right now, might help me find out what she’s hiding later. Her behavior tells there is so much more than meets the eye, when it comes to Eliana Monroe.

“Looking for your lovely bride?” a voice asked.

I looked up and realized I was standing by the front desk. “Oh, aloha, Lei.”

She waved her hand at me. “Aloha, my foot. Your wife just ran through here as though a tsunami was on her tail. What happened?”

I snorted and shook my head, twisting the ring on my finger. “I’m not even sure. We were talking and then she jumped up and ran like the Tiki Gods were after her.”

“Maybe she’s still not right after last night. It’s been barely twenty-four hours since she took a good crack to the head.”

“I’m sure that’s part of it,” I said, still twisting the band on my finger. “If only I could figure out the rest of it.”

Lei leaned on the desk with one hip. “How long have you two known each other?”

“I started working for Gideon about a year ago. That’s when we met. I think maybe we rushed things getting married so quickly.”

She shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not, but there’s no going back now. We all see the way you look at each other. Love is easy to fall into, but it’s much harder to stay in. It will only work if you have good communication, trust, and teamwork. My grandmother swore there needed to be a little spice between the sheets, too, but I assume you already know that part.”

I laughed so loud I had to clamp a hand over my mouth and looked around to see if anyone noticed. She was snickering, too, and it felt good to laugh a little bit about the situation. “I got it covered,” I promised, even though I didn’t, but I wasn’t going there.

“Good, then all you need is the good communication and trust parts.”

I scratched my temple. “I thought we had that.” I tried not to roll my eyes at myself because, let’s face it, we had nothing but a fake marriage.

“All I can say is this, Mally. When it comes to a woman, usually the one thing keeping her from seeing the future is her past.”

I cocked my head at her. “What does that mean?”

“My guess is whatever is eating at her has less to do with what happened out there tonight and more to do with something that happened in the past. It’s the one pinnacle thing that keeps her from believing her future will be better.”

I nodded my head as I thought about what she said. Then my mind wandered back to the trip to the ER last night. “I think you might be onto something, Lei. Are you married?”

She laughed and shook her head no. “I’m too busy working here to have a personal life.”

I tapped the desk twice and shook my finger at her. “Then let me say, whenever you do find the right guy, he’s going to be the luckiest guy around. Your advice was spot on. I think I’ll go see if I can convince my little Frisbee Warrior to tell me what’s bugging her.”

“Frisbee Warrior?” she asked laughing a little.

I was walking backward toward the elevator. “She calls me Mr. I.T. I needed to up the ante with nicknames. Seems like she earned Frisbee Warrior.”

I winked and waved as I climbed into the elevator and hit the P, hoping and praying she wasn’t packing.

The penthouse was silent when I stepped off the elevator. I held my breath, as I approached the bedroom. I could see light spilling out from under the door and a shadow passing across the light in a rhythm of back and forth. I called out to her so I didn’t scare her. “Ellie, you better tell me if you aren’t decent because I’m coming in.”

I didn’t hear a response, so I stopped in the doorway of the bedroom and leaned against the doorjamb. As I suspected she walked back and forth from the closet to her suitcase, haphazardly throwing clothes into it in such a way it would never shut. The hangers hung out the sides and when she tried to shut it, they stuck out in every direction, keeping the zipper from closing even half an inch. She stood staring at the bag, her shoulders slumped forward and her hair fell down around her face.

“Ellie, you know it’s going to be okay, right? Whatever it is that has you feeling like this, it won’t last forever,” I whispered as I moved closer to her.

Her shoulders were shaking and I knew in this moment I was witnessing her breaking point. The job, the fake marriage, the accident, baby Hope, Katie, and me were all on a collision course to be her undoing. I didn’t want to be her undoing. I wanted to be the one to put her back together again.

I turned her to me and put my arms around her shoulders. “Hey, you’re not alone in this. There are so many people in this hotel alone who care about you, not to mention the ones back home, and your mom and dad. I’m sorry if I’ve said or done something that upset you; it wasn’t intentional in any way.”

I let her go and went to the bathroom, bringing the tissues back out with me. I handed her one and she wiped her nose, sinking to the cushioned chest at the end of the bed. She didn’t make eye contact, but at least she wasn’t shaking with tears. I knelt on the floor and looked up at her under the hair that hung around her face.

“I care about you, Ellie. Please, talk to me.”

She shook her head negatively once just as the intercom on the wall beeped twice. I strode to it and pushed the talk button. “Penthouse, this is Maltrand,” I answered, then let go of the button.

“Aloha, Mally, it’s Lei. I’m worried about Ellie. I wanted to be sure she was okay when you got up there.”

I pushed the button in again so I could speak. “She will be, thanks for checking Lei. Would you send up some fresh ice for her face? I forgot to get some earlier.”

She promised she would and I assured her we would let her know if we needed anything else, then I went back to Ellie.

I rested my hands on her knees when I spoke softly to her. “See, Lei made my point. No one wants to see you hurting. I can promise you we’ll have ice, three different kinds of pain relievers, and a bottle of brandy at our door in less than five minutes.”

She laughed a little and nodded, even if her lower lip still trembled. “You’re probably right.”

I smiled at her and moved one hand to her shoulder. “Would you like to put on something more comfortable and come sit in the living room with me for a little while?”

“What I really want to do is run away, but I can’t, can I?” she asked, her voice weary.

“You can run away, but since you live next door to me in Maui I would have to say you can’t hide.”

“I’m not trying to hide. My whole world is in turmoil and I’m confused. I want things to go back to the way they were a year ago. Life was easier a year ago.”

I cocked my head to the left. “What happened a year ago?” I asked, completely stymied.

“You started working at Kupid Enterprises,” she answered, her eyes focused on the carpet under her feet.

I chuckled lightly. “I know I’m a bit of a pain in the butt, but I certainly don’t want you crying about me.”

“Can we just forget this happened and move on with the rest of this charade? The sooner I find out who is behind the thefts, the sooner we can go home.”

I stood and helped her up by her elbow, then walked her to the bathroom and turned her to me. “How about if you go clean up and then come out when you’re done. It’s easy to see there are some things we need to talk about, because I don’t like being the reason you cry.”

She sighed and her shoulder slumped again. “You aren’t, at least not the way you think you are.” Her eyes went up to the ceiling and she shook her head. “I can’t even find a way to explain it.”

I turned her around and moved her gently into the bathroom. “I’m going to go wait for the porter to bring up the ice. Come out when you’re ready, and don’t even think about trying to climb out the bathroom window, the only way out of this place is past me.”

She nodded once and closed the bathroom door, so I left the room.

This should be interesting.

Ellie

I sat on the couch, one leg under me and accepted the icepack he had made while I was in the shower. He then left me in the room alone with the ice and a snifter of brandy while he went to shower and change his clothes. Maybe if he showered, I wouldn’t have to smell that cologne anymore tonight. With my luck, he also has soap and shampoo from Colt .45.

I laid my head back on the couch with the ice on my eye. Now I’m in a real jam. I had to explain myself or I had to pretend that the Frisbee had knocked a few screws loose and I wasn’t responsible for my actions. I would guess most people would choose option A and explain themselves, but my past is so convoluted, explaining it was hard, as well as emotionally draining.

I heard him in the bedroom and raised my head, letting the icepack slip onto my lap as he walked toward me from the hallway. He wore a pair of board shorts and a t-shirt stretched across his chest and belly. His feet were bare and his hair glistened wet from the shower. It was a look I could get used to, which was also part of the problem; I could get used to a lot of things when it came to Maltrand Kekoa. Admitting that meant I had already fallen in too deep.

“How’s the eye?” he asked as he poured himself a brandy. He sat next to me and the clean fresh scent of his soap made me close my eyes to keep from leaning into him and inhaling.

“It’s good, no problems,” I answered, both eyes still closed.

“I see you can close it better now,” he answered, as though to point out he hadn’t missed that I wasn’t looking at him.

I opened them again and picked up my own glass. “It should be back to normal by tomorrow, at least normal enough to wear my contact and not look like I went ten rounds with Mike Tyson.”

“You would still be beautiful even if you had gone ten rounds with him. I’m glad you’re okay. When you went down last night, let’s just say I haven’t been that scared in a very long time.”

“It’s nice to know you care.”

“I do care, a lot, that’s why I made a decision in the shower. I’m going to come clean to Gideon and Katie about our ‘marriage’,” he said, his wedding band glinting in the light. “It’s stressing you out and I don’t like seeing you cry. I’m not okay with that.”

“The fake marriage has nothing to do with this, Maltrand. I’m trying to come to terms with how I feel versus what my reality actually is.”

He reached out and took my hand, rubbing his thumb over the tops of my knuckles. “How do you feel and what is the reality?”

Should I tell him? I asked myself. Should I be honest about everything and make it easy on myself. If I tell him, he won’t want to stay. If he leaves, then maybe I can take some time to heal my heart and move on with my life, but not with Kupid Enterprises. No matter what, I would have to leave all these people behind for my heart to have a chance to heal from this. I couldn’t live next to him, and work with him every day, and expect to be able to put it behind me.

“Ellie?” he asked, watching the battle I waged between reality and my hopes and dreams.