Paradise Wild (Wild At Heart Book 2) (21 page)

“Nope.”

“Decide on what kind of diaper you wanted to use?”

Olivia put her tea on the floor. “Ellie, I know you want to help, but it’s still early days. Believe me.”

“How about make your wills?”

Olivia nodded. “Now
that’s
something we did do.”

Ellie leaned forward. “Seriously? Legally?”

“I told you before, I think. My dad’s an attorney. An estate attorney. I wrote my first will when I was five. Left everything to my hamster. That should tell you something about my parents.”

Ellie waved her hand dismissively. “But you and Brandon. He had a will too?”

“Sure. It’s easy in Hawaii. You just need two witnesses. Don’t even need a notary.”

Ellie moved her face within a foot of Olivia’s. “So you’re Brandon’s heir?” Her voice cracked.

Olivia shrugged and leaned far back into the cushions. “Sure. But that doesn’t mean anything. He didn’t have anything to leave. Except that bank account.”

Ellie scratched her forehead. “Well, actually, I took a little peek at the bank account.”

“Oh, good. I should have looked, but I was a little afraid of being disappointed. How much was in there?”

Only the whoosh of the fan punctuated the next few seconds, as Ellie drew in a breath and exhaled slowly. “A little more than you think.”

Olivia blinked. “How much more?”

“I’d tell you to sit down, but you’re sitting.”

Olivia nudged Ellie with her knee. “Don’t keep me in suspense. Is it over five thousand?”

“Um. Kind of.”

“So tell me.”

“It’s one point two million.”

Olivia’s face didn’t register a reaction. She took another sip of tea. “Million what? Pesos?”

“No. One point two million dollars.”

The young woman sunk back until the cushions puffed out around her like marshmallows. Ellie grabbed the tea and then snatched a laminated Hawaiian fish identification card from the side table and fanned Olivia’s face.

“You had no idea?”

Olivia’s voice was barely audible. “Do I look like I had an idea?”

Ellie propped Olivia’s feet on the ottoman. “Where did he get that kind of money?”

Olivia’s eyelids fluttered. “I think I know.” She stared out the window at the lawn and the distant ocean, where white boats sparkled against the azure blue. “There was this guy Brandon knew. They were really tight.” She twisted her t-shirt around her fingers. “He got Brandon started in…” She shifted uncomfortably and tucked her leg underneath her. “The drug business. He always said he’d take care of Brandon. Give him a way out.” She closed her eyes, her brow furrowed.

Her fingers wrung the hem of the shirt into knots. Her eyes focused on the loops of material. “But he got arrested. He had lots of enemies. They killed him in prison.” She regarded Ellie. “Brandon took it really hard. That’s right about when he started talking about coming here.”

Viv poked his head around the corner, as though asking whether everything had calmed down. Olivia patted her knee and he sauntered over, still seemingly miffed at the previous disruption.

“We’ll be quieter, Viv.” Olivia hoisted him onto her lap and concentrated on stroking his spotted fur. “I think the money in the account came from that guy. I think he left it for Brandon to use if he needed it.”

Ellie’s face wore a skeptical expression. “So do you think it’s legal? Or clean? Or whatever it should be?”

Olivia nodded. “Brandon would
never
have left me money he thought could get me in any kind of trouble. He was protective.” Her voice dropped. “He would have been an awesome dad. He would have fought to the death to protect our baby.” 

In the silence that followed, Ellie thought of all the ways her own dad had been awesome and imagined ways Olivia’s father might not have been. The question that lingered in her mind burst out of her mouth before she could stop it. “Did your dad protect
you
?”

Olivia shook her head slowly. “No.”

Ellie nodded once, decisively. “I won’t ask again. If you can’t trust him, you don’t need him. You’ve got your friends to see you through.”

Olivia smiled wistfully, but Ellie read determination in her eyes. “My friends. And my child. We’ll do okay. I guess Brandon’s seen to that.”

Chapter 21

The noon sun glowed high in the sky, roasting cement and asphalt, skin and hair, sand and surf. But the green grass in Ellie’s garden remained invitingly cool to the touch of her bare feet as she wandered toward the guesthouse. Small white mock orange and delicate fuchsia bougainvillea flowers peeped from sculpted hedges around the Italian tile roof. Myna bird and spotted dove chirps and coos floated in the still air. Ellie paused and stared at the door, now wound garishly with crime scene tape.

He was living here for weeks. He could have killed me at any time.

She thought back to the conversation with K-Rao in the hospital early that morning. She had stood by his bedside, watching clear fluid drip into his arm as he spoke.

“We know what saved you.” He grimaced as he shifted position. “It’s that you were unpredictable. You moved Upcountry. And you were never home alone.”

An icy sensation had rushed from Ellie’s feet to her heart. Her smile froze. “
You’re
the one who told me what I heard was probably people walking on the public beach path.” She tried to make it sound more like a joke and less like an accusation.

K-Rao’s gaze shifted around the room, never alighting long on any one object.

Ellie inspected the day-old stubble on his chin, the bandages peeping from under the hospital sheets, his generally troubled expression. Beeps from adjoining rooms seeped through the walls.

“I’m kidding, K-Rao. It wasn’t your fault. No one saw this coming.”

He scrutinized her. “I wanted to make a good impression on Celine that first night I came over. Maybe that stopped me from doing good police work. Did I miss something out in the garden? I go over it in my head, yeah?” He eased himself higher on the sloping bed, his face stretching in pain as he carefully maneuvered his torso against the pillows. “But I think Noa wasn’t there yet. You heard him that night scoping the place out. But he hadn’t moved in yet.”

The white walls of the room reflected the pale pink of the early morning sun. Birdcalls and Wailuku commuter traffic noises penetrated the window. The air smelled of antiseptic and aftershave.

Ellie nodded. “That’s probably right. How could anyone have known he was hiding there anyway?”

“I could have been smarter. Noa had a pattern. I just didn’t see it. You and Denver were in danger for much longer than last night.”

Ellie straightened. “Denver? Why?” She twisted a few strands of hair around her index finger.

“Think about it. Noa stalked his ex when she hooked up with her new boyfriend. She put a restraining order on him. So then he went after the boyfriend.”

Ellie pulled the shock of hair across her lips. “He couldn’t get to me. So he…”

“If we’d been on top of it, we would have seen it.”

“He thought I hooked up with Brandon. Then he saw me with Denver.” She shuddered. Her view of the room narrowed, the edges darkening. She sucked in a deep breath. “I’m not used to people trying to kill me.”

“Trust me. That’s something you don’t want to get used to.”

“Don’t worry.” Ellie laughed. “I won’t.”

K-Rao slid one hand carefully behind his head. “Talked with Celine earlier. She said you don’t have to hide a psycho in your garden just to get her to visit again.”

“Sounds like Celine.”

His eyes sparkled. “Yeah. That woman likes a bit of drama.”

She pursed her lips. “That’s not why she’s coming. She’s worried about you.”

“She knows I’m tough,” he said, shaking his head.

Ellie examined the foot of his bed. “I don’t know if she’ll admit it, but she wants to check on you. I think this whole thing reminds her a bit of…another situation that happened a while ago.”

K-Rao nodded. “You mean Kenji’s accident.”

Ellie’s eyes jerked back to his face. “She told you?”

“Uh-huh. That night we were up on Haleakala. Said it was important to her that I know. She really loved him.”

Shafts of morning sun illuminated the flowers Ellie had brought and placed on the nightstand. The spindly protea glowed magenta, salmon, and caramel, casting otherworldly shadows on the walls.

“You were okay with that?”

“That she’s capable of loving deeply?” K-Rao sighed. “How could I be anything other than okay with that?”

Ellie’s mouth twitched up at the corners. “Ugh. Romance doesn’t sit well with my image of Celine.”

“Maybe your image needs adjustment.”

“Maybe you two need to save it for the bedroom.”

K-Rao smirked. “Would be my pleasure.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “T-M-I.”

A nurse pushed open the door.

“Howzit, Gladys?” K-Rao lifted his chin in greeting.

“Howzit, K-Rao.”

Ellie glanced at the young woman. “You know each other?”

“Maui’s not that big, yeah?” She handed K-Rao a small paper cup with medication. “K-Rao went to high school with my cousin’s best friend’s nephew.”

The nurse’s fingers walked her through the connections. Ellie’s brow wrinkled. “On the East Coast, we have a name for that kind of relationship.”

K-Rao glanced at her. “What?”

“Strangers.”

He laughed so hard his face contorted with pain.

“I’d better get back to the house.” Ellie started for the door. “I’ll text you later.”

He waved goodbye, still unable to speak, holding his stomach to control the guffaws that burst from him.

Back in her garden later that morning, standing in front of the guesthouse, Ellie lifted her gaze from the police tape and turned toward the beach, where the long expanse of cobalt ocean rolled ever darker, ever wider, until it blended imperceptibly with the azure of the sky. Wispy, ephemeral clouds clustered over the remote islands, shifting shapes as she watched. Waves lapped the shore with the intermittent hushed wash of water over sand.

She inhaled deeply and strolled to the lanai.

Time to move on.

She pulled out her cell phone and texted as she walked.

Ellie: Come on over.

In the deck chair, she had a clear view of the shrubbery and trees. The warm air and birdcalls lulled her. An incongruous crunch of footsteps on the driveway drew her attention. She turned to see Denver limping across the crushed stone.

Ellie stood. “You didn’t crawl through the hedge.”

Denver paused at the foot of the stairs, his gaze circling from her arm to her face.

“My God, Ellie. You can’t imagine how good it is to see you.”

Ellie advanced. He raised his hand.

“Wait. I don’t want to get distracted.” He clasped and unclasped his hands. “There’s a lot you need to know. Things I never had the chance to tell you before.” He shook his head. “Things I never
made
the chance to tell you before.”

Ellie read the appeal in his eyes and perched herself on the top step, one arm around her knees, the other lying in her lap. She squinted at him in the strong sun. “I’m listening.”

Denver crossed his muscular arms in front of his torso. Bulges of biceps strained the arms of his gray t-shirt. He looked to her like a drill instructor, at ease but ready for action. She quelled a tingling that emanated from a region below her stomach.

Remember, Ellie, he left you.

“That night with Vivyenne. It wasn’t what you thought.”

She nodded slowly. “Yesterday when you came back and pretended you were the police, I knew it meant you still cared about me.” She paused. “But I don’t get what I saw with Vivyenne.”

“What you saw was a hug of relief. I can’t even describe how wonderful it was to see Vivyenne again.”

Ellie’s face flushed. She turned her gaze from his.

“Let me finish, Ellie. It was wonderful to see her again. Because she was such a contrast to
you
.” Denver enunciated the final words with firm conviction.

Ellie started. “To me?”

“To you. Seeing her made me realize how amazing it was that I’d found you. It made me feel even more how much I wanted to be with you.”

Ellie’s indefinite tingling pricked back to life. She gazed into Denver’s deep brown eyes and read in them everything she’d stopped herself from thinking in the past weeks. She read that she, with all her flaws, her awkwardness, and her lack of trust represented his ideal. That he wanted her and would fight to get her back. That he loved her.

She reached out her hand but he shook his head. She let hers drop, her brows drawn together.

“There’s more?”

Denver scuffed the grass. “There’s more. Maybe you believe me about Vivyenne?”

“I do.”

“Maybe you know Vivyenne’s engaged to someone else?”

Ellie nodded.

“It’s someone she knew long before me. When she and I left the next day, it was on different flights. I haven’t spoken to her since.”

“I believe you. You don’t have to tell me more.” Ellie tried to rise again. But at a gesture from him, she sat back down on the wooden boards.

His eyes locked onto hers. “I tried to call you.”

“I blocked your number.” Ellie looked away, the hurt in Denver’s face stinging her heart.

Creases on his forehead deepened and he dropped his glance to the ground. “I deserved that.”

When he didn’t continue, Ellie jumped in. “I’m sorry. Maybe I should have trusted you more. But after what I saw…” Her fingers fidgeted with the edge of her bandage. “It broke my heart.”

Denver bit his lip. “I know. I’ve been a total ass. I don’t know if there’s any going back.” He sighed.

“You’re not an ass.”

“Yes, I am. I have been. Even before you saw me with Vivyenne.”

Ellie regarded the line he’d worn into the grass. “What do you mean?”

“I’m an ass because my company’s fallen apart, for one. RED’s going to declare bankruptcy. My partner left. The business in China didn’t pan out. And we’ve got no money to pay the employees.”

Ellie rose and descended the few steps. Denver backed away. She reached for his hands but he hid them behind his back.

She tried to catch his gaze. “Denver. I don’t care. You did your best. You’ll start something else.”

“I’m not the man you think I am. Remember that day by the beach? When you asked me what I’d do over again?”

“Sure. You said you wouldn’t have started RED.”

Denver frowned. “I have different answer now. My answer is that I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“You didn’t lie.” Ellie stretched her fingers toward him. “It’s not your fault the company failed.” He started at her touch and edged across the grass beyond her reach.

“I did lie. That house over there.” He pointed. “It’s not mine. It belongs to some family friends.” He sunk his fists into the pockets of his shorts. “I don’t have millions.” His foot kicked an imaginary rock. “I’m not a success. I’m a failure.” He shrugged his shoulders. “So I understand if you don’t want anything to do with me.” He drew a breath, stood erect, met her eyes, reached out both hands, palms open, and locked his gaze onto hers. “But if there’s anything I can do, anything I can say…I’ll wait as long as you need. If only you’ll let me work on living up to your expectations again.”

The noon sun baked her long hair as she stood, unmoving, staring at him. “That’s not your house?”

“No.”

“And you’re not a millionaire?”

“No. There was a point where my company was worth millions. But that was before I even met you. If I come out of these bankruptcy proceedings now with a little more than the average Joe, I’ll consider myself lucky.”

The shadow of a smile flitted across her face. It gradually settled and grew into a broad grin.

“What a relief.” Ellie flung her hands into the air, as though pushing back mountains of incorrect assumptions. “I spent these weeks thinking I shouldn’t have trusted you, because someone as amazing as you would never really want someone like me.”

“What? Why would you think that?” Denver took a step toward her. “You’re incredible. That morning on the beach when I met you…” He advanced again. “You were so beautiful. So engaging. So full of Maui sunshine. My heart never looked back.”

Ellie lifted an eyebrow. “Really? I’m Miss Viral YouTube Accident Video, remember? And I had seaweed in my hair.”

Denver smiled and narrowed the distance between them to a few feet. “I didn’t notice.”

Ellie laughed. “Saltwater must have affected your vision.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” He strode foreword and stroked her cheek with his palm.

She leaned into his caress. “No. I’m not going to do that anymore.” She took his hand. “I was pretty kick-ass yesterday. That’s the new me. Kick-ass YouTube videos, here I come.”