Chapter 2

“You scared her away,” Christopher said.

The note of irritation in his tone didn’t escape Kit’s attention.

However, Kit was far from caring. That girl, Daniela—Danny—she did things to his heart that he’d never thought possible. And that was it for him, a warning sign he should stay away. Kit was committed to his career and because of it, he had decided never to get married or have kids. Danny had the house with the white picket fence, the Mrs. Kent and the five babies playing in the yard written all over her. Kit was just starting to get somewhere with his career. The last thing he wanted was a woman to veer him off the path. There was only one way he knew he would be able to stay away from her.

“Topher, you should totally go for it.”

He hated himself the moment those words left his lips. Christopher and Christian had promised each other never to date a woman the other was interested in or had previously dated. And since betraying his brother would be equal to chopping off his right limb, Kit had stayed true to that promise.

“I don’t need your okay. I was going for it, before you rudely interrupted me. I think I’ll meet up with her tonight, right after the guys get in. Are you coming?”

“Where?”

“Tonight, here, for a pre-birthday-party party.”

“No, I think I’ll save my energy for tomorrow.” Kit was trying to convince himself that this was the right thing to do. True, there had been a vibe—more like an electric current—that had flowed between him and Danny. But he had to focus on his career. Turning down assignments so he could stay home with his gal was not an option. And yet he found himself staring in the direction she had disappeared to. “I’m going to head back up to the room.”

“Whatever.” Christopher was busy with his phone. Kit could only imagine what he was starting up. He was glad he wouldn’t be present for part one of the disaster. The sooner Kit could get back on base, the better.

As he started to walk out, Danny stepped into the room. They both froze the moment their eyes met. She was beautiful, even more beautiful than the first time he had seen her, only a few minutes before. Her hand flattened over her heart, here mouth hung slightly open, her pout begging for his kiss. If Kit was the kind to believe in fairy-tales, he would call this love at first sight.

“Oh God!” he mumbled. Kit had never been in love before—well, not with a person. His Navy career had been the only love of his life for years. The Navy had structure he could depend on. He could trust the people around him to follow rules, orders, and not deviate from what was ordered of them. Love—the irrational human response to a pretty face or reaction to a gesture—he couldn’t put his trust in that insanity. And he wasn’t going to.

“Hey, Danny!” Christopher cut into the tension, a welcome reprieve for Kit, but the disappointed frown on Danny’s face said otherwise.

This was his chance to make a run for it. He hoped he wouldn’t ever find himself alone with her. There was no telling what she could make him do or make him give up. It was a strange thought for him to think he could have either-or. But he had grown up with an absentee father. Harry, Senior, had been more involved in his job than with his kids and wife. His parents’ relationship could only be described as weird, like one of a dominant and submissive. Usually, other men would use their experience to strive to become better fathers, but not him. Kit’s own experience was the main reason why he shouldn’t become a father. If he didn’t have the time to give them his one hundred percent, he would rather not try at all.

The Henrys already had a male heir, Duke, and Duke had a son. Another example and proof that fatherhood was not for everyone. Duke didn’t get the time to spend with his son. He was usually flying out for one meeting after the other, his wife an appendage as well as a leech. The poor child spent most of his time with his nanny at home. There was also Christopher. Kit was sure Christopher’s seed was bound to pop up one day. So, it was okay for Kit to be a bachelor with no kids for the rest of his life.

One last look at Danny, and Kit turned his back on a life that could never be.

As he walked along the streets of Maui, he couldn’t help but think that just a few hours before, this had been his place, his domain. And now that Christopher was there, it was going to turn into Christopher’s playground. It was an odd thing to feel, but it had always been like that with the two of them. Christopher always seemed to walk in and take over, and Kit stood back and let him do it.

It wasn’t only his willingness to serve his country that had brought Kit to this island. If he was to be honest with himself, he’d wanted to get away from everything that robbed him of his identity. First, of these was the Henry family name. Living under the thumb of his father and the overcast shadow of Duke had been difficult. But not having a separate identity from Christopher annoyed and weighed him down the most.

It was normal for Christopher to assume that everything that belonged to Kit was also his, however Kit never claimed anything of Christopher. It might have been because Christopher was a screw-up most of the time. But not claiming his brother’s successes didn’t mean he wasn’t blamed for his faults. Early on, Kit had been assigned the role of his brother’s keeper.

***

A few years ago…

Christian frowned at his phone as he read the fifth message from his girlfriend. It was the usual threats of breaking up because he wouldn’t give her a real commitment. Getting married was something Kit wasn’t sure he was ready for. But Meredith Samuels came from a nouveau riche family that had managed to build a construction company, up from three men with hammers to bulldozers and forklifts. It had taken them only twenty years to do it, and that impressed Harry Henry and made Meredith his ideal daughter-in-law. The fact she was an only child didn’t hurt. Especially since Duke, his first-born, had gone and married a hula girl with no pedigree.

So, Kit’s father had planned it all, the marriage and the taking over of the Samuel’s construction company. The ring had been bought and all that waited was for Kit to propose. He was running two months behind schedule, according to his father. Luckily for Kit, the Henrys owned a bunch of companies that needed their constant attention, and it was Kit’s latest project that allowed him to delay the engagement for as long as possible.

“Christian!”

“Yes, Father.” Kit walked into his father’s den, a weight on his shoulders. His father was about to yell, Harry just didn’t know it yet. Their father abhorred three things in his life: weakness, laziness, and a lack of family honour. In other words, if you didn’t want to be on Harry Henry’s bad side, you only needed to do everything he wanted. Deviating from the path set out for you automatically turned you into a villain. This time, Kit had been left with the workload assigned to him and Christopher two days ago. Christopher had since been busy with more important things, including partying all night and having random sex with women he’d only known for five seconds.

So, a job given to two had, as usual, fallen into the hands of one. And the one hadn’t finished it yet.

“Where is it?”

“It” was a marketing plan that Harry had asked his twin boys to come up with, in order to draw in the young demographic. They were more than qualified for the job, since they were just twenty-two years old and fresh from Harvard Business School. The joke was, although technically, two Henry boys had been enrolled, it had only been one who’d attended the classes and done the assignments. Kit was nice enough to let Christopher take the finals for himself. The story of his life.

“I haven’t been able to finish it yet,” Kit said.

Harry’s head lifted from the newspaper his eyes had been glued to the entire time Kit had been in his office. His eyebrows joined together in a frown, his eyes squinting. “I?”

“I mean we haven’t finished it yet,” Kit quickly corrected.

The three things Harry Henry hated, and Kit had just managed to strike one off.

“You said ‘I’.” Harry stood up, his hands dug into his pockets as he paced the room. “Where is he?”

And “he” was the second of the list, but this time Christopher had struck it off. Since they were twins, it added up to Kit’s tally.

“Doing research.” Technically, Christopher was doing research, engaging with other youths, especially the female gender, finding out what they liked, and how and where they liked it. “You will have it in the morning, sir.”

Harry just nodded. Kit wasn’t an idiot, and he knew his father wasn’t a fool, either. Kit knew Harry knew that he was lying. But covering up for Christopher was now part of Kit’s daily routine. Kit rushed out of the room, afraid taking too long would earn him a tongue-lashing. He had to get Christopher, at least so he could pretend he was helping Kit with their assignment.

Kit took the train from Chelsea to Brooklyn and decided to walk the four blocks to Christopher’s love nest. For some insane reason, Christopher thought having a bachelor pad in Brooklyn meant their father didn’t know. But sometimes Kit wondered if Christopher knew who paid their credit card bills. Kit wrapped his coat around him as he shivered from the biting cold. As he was walking, he passed a man with a cardboard sign: “War Vet”. He didn’t understand how people who gave so much ended up with so little. He took out a wad of cash from his wallet and his coat and gave it to the man, who didn’t say anything. Instead, the man stared at him with haunted eyes that froze Kit to the bone more than the cold weather did.

Kit ran the rest of the way to the apartment. He used his key to get in. The music, the pungent smell of alcohol and smoke that invited Kit in, told him Christopher had guests. What Kit didn’t expect was for one of those guests to be Meredith. When Kit stepped into the living room he saw Meredith in her birthday suit, dancing to a very attentive audience: his brother.

Meredith froze when she saw him and when Christopher turned around, he had a surprised—but not remorseful—look on his face. Kit wasn’t sure how to feel yet. He stood there as the music continued to play, as Christopher smoked his cigar and gulped down his whiskey, and Meredith scrambled to cover her nudity.

“Meredith, what are you doing? He doesn’t care. Don’t stop dancing,” Christopher said.

Kit still didn’t know how to feel. In honesty, he didn’t care what Meredith did or who she did it with. And Christopher? Well, this wouldn’t be the first time he had slept with one of Kit’s girlfriends. However, not knowing what to do was a feeling Kit wasn’t accustomed to. So, he walked out.

The next morning was like any other for Kit. He didn’t get to sleep much because he had to finish up the work that their father had given them. But once he had handed it over to Harry, he felt empty. Like his purpose in life had all been in that work. He didn’t like his life, didn’t like how purposeless he felt. So, he decided to make his life have meaning, just like the homeless man with the cardboard sign.

The next evening, he had the family gathered for dinner. It was difficult breaking the news to them. This would be strike three, betraying the family. It wouldn’t matter, though. Kit had made his decision and he was happy with it. Finally, an emotion and responsibility that only he only could claim. There was no way for Harry to say it was thanks to him, or for Christopher to take it away from him.

“Great work on the proposal, boys. The board was pleased,” Harry said.

“Thanks, Dad. It took a lot of time and work on my part. Well, Kit helped, too,” Christopher said with a smug smile.

Kit smiled, then chuckled, then laughed. Now he was sure he had made the right decision. How long could he expect his sanity to stay intact if he spent another twenty-three years at Christopher’s side, living a lie.

“Something to say, son?” Harry asked.

At first, Kit was going to say what he usually did. He was going to shake his head and say “No, sir”, but then he looked at his sister, then his older brother Duke. Kat was happy, the happiest he had ever seen her, because she’d taken back her life and done what felt right for her, while Duke continued to walk around with this dark cloud over his head. No one knew what he was thinking or feeling, he was just…bluh! Bluh was not going to be Kit’s life. So yeah, he had something to say.

“I joined the Navy.”

Silence filled every crevice of the room. Then Harry broke the quiet by asking the most ridiculous question a father could ask a son, “What about Samuels Construction?”

“Christopher can marry her. They seem to like each other well enough.”

His father never mentioned Meredith to him, ever again. In fact, he hadn’t said much of anything to Kit ever since he’d left home. It might be a bad sentiment, but the silent treatment from his father didn’t affect him at all. But Duke, Harry, and with a little help from Christopher, they had managed to acquire majority shares of Samuels Construction. It only took a few promises from Christopher, and Meredith stabbed her father in the back.

Since that day, Kit told himself he would stay away from any girl Christopher showed a liking for. Being so far away from each other, Kit didn’t have to worry about Christopher sleeping with any girl that Kit was interested in. Now here he was, Danny stuck on his mind, Christopher’s wolfish grin right next to it. He needed to get this weekend done with so he could go back to what he was familiar with.

***

“Oh my God!” Danny groaned out loud when Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do” blasted from the speakers. It was exactly what she needed—not. The DJ was at it again, an attempt to serenade her. But Danny wasn’t one to be easily swayed. When she’d arrived in Hawaii, she had made a promise to herself not to get into romantic entanglements. Her first and last relationship had led her into the belly of the beast, and she had fought long and hard to get out. No way would she let a party-playboy like DJ Beatz drag her back in.

However, her rules about dating had now become flexible. For Kit, she would get elbow deep in sin if he wanted her to. It wasn’t the right way of thinking for a recovering addict, but something told Danny that the only dirt Kit would expose her to was that of the sandy beaches. In six-inch shoes Danny was still shoulder height to any tall man. She craned her neck toward the front door, trying to see if Kit would walk in. Christopher had promised he would be there, and she hoped he would drag his brother along.

She wondered how two people so identical looking could be so different. Christopher was like a peacock, only interested in showing off his beauty, which to him included his money. As for Kit, he was like a swan, minding his own business, not knowing how his beauty affected those around him. Danny wanted the swan, but it was the peacock who walked in. Who could miss the come-look-at-me vibe that Christopher sent to the people around him? And just like that, seconds after he and his friends had walked in, women flocked toward him. Danny didn’t move. She watched as they were led to the VIP section.

Danny was about to make her escape when one of the waitresses tapped her on the shoulder. The waitress pointed toward Christopher’s section and there he was, waving her over with two fingers. The pompous ass thought too much of himself. Danny swallowed her pride, her anger and disgust at his lack of respect, and made her way to him.

“Anything I can help you with, Mr. Henry?”

“Nothing.” He flashed a wolfish grin that looked all too comfortable on his smug face. It might have been what reeled women in, but not this girl. “I was thinking that later on, I could help you out of that dress.”

There were a bunch of words, insults really, Danny could think of at that moment. In fact, they were just sitting at the tip of her tongue waiting for her to open her mouth and unleash them on the jerk. But she didn’t. Danny liked her job. Party planning and hosting were basically the only skills she had. Her passion might have been interior decorating, but it wasn’t easy to land a job like that here. And the last thing she wanted was to call her family for help. She had insisted on staying on Maui and convinced them she could be responsible for herself. Calling Daddy or her big brothers to buy the club so she could keep her job would only make her look juvenile. So, she smiled, nodded, and said, “Anything else, sir?”

“Sit next to me.”

“I have work, sir.”

“You don’t want a drink?”

“I don’t drink.” Danny smiled, not because of anything he did, but she loved how empowered it made her feel. She was surrounded by alcohol and drugs every single day and each time she said “I don’t drink” it made her feel like Wonder Woman. She finally had control. “I have to get back to the other patrons.” Danny walked off, knowing very well that no other VIP had come in.

The night was winding down and Danny was dead on her feet. She had to step in for one waitress when she got booze spilled all over her by rowdy clubbers. Danny was now looking forward to going home and relaxing in a nice, warm bubble bath. As she was making her way out, she spotted Christopher walking toward her. He had a glass with him. He held it out to her, and Danny pushed it away.

“I don’t drink, remember?”

“I know,” Christopher smiled and held it up to her. “It’s orange juice. Please.”

Danny took the glass, hoping he would leave her alone once she accepted his gesture of…what exactly did he want from her. Danny tipped the glass when the hint of vodka hit her. It was too late, though, as she sipped it at the same time. Danny flung the glass across the room, and watched as Chris smiled, amused with himself.

“You see, there is absolutely nothing wrong with alcohol.”

Danny’s body trembled as the volcano inside her begun to erupt. She wanted to cry, scream, and hit him all at the same time. But the rage had iced her over. She couldn’t move. She glared at him.

“Come on, let’s go party.” Chris grabbed her hand and Danny pulled out of his grasp. “Don’t be like that. We’ll have fun. I promise.”

We’ll have fun, I promise. Those were the same words Brian had said to her. Hours after meeting her family, he was introducing her to cocaine. Strangely enough, it had been the same day she’d met Reno. Reno. She held on to a mental picture of him. It was thanks to him that she wasn’t sleeping in some gutter and selling her body off for drugs. Instead, she was wearing a Marc Jacobs dress and Louis Vuitton stilettos, working as a party planner and hostess. She was more terrified of letting him down, than of letting herself down.

“I’ve had my limit of fun.” Danny looked over at his table and there was a girl passed out on the floor. Her dress so hiked up she could see the woman’s bare ass. Everyone else was still chugging down the bottles of vodka Chris had ordered. “Enough fun to last me a lifetime.”

Danny waved over the bouncer. “Make sure that girl gets a bed upstairs. Take care of her.” Danny trusted Jesse; he was fifty years old but looked better than most twenty-year-olds. He had five daughters of his own; his sixth had died in a car crash, drunk driving. It was with his help Danny had been able to open the apartments upstairs and turn them into drunk beds. Jesse watched over those girls, making sure they didn’t end up like his daughter had, and that they weren’t taken advantage of.

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, Mr. Henry. I have to go now.”

“If you don’t stay and party with me, I will buy this place and kick you and your little friends out on the streets!” he shouted.

“You are not the only person with money.” Danny walked away. She ran once she knew she was out of Chris’ vision. She could feel the itch start. That was all it took to make her unravel, to test the grip she had on her sobriety. She sucked on her tongue and ran it over her lips every few seconds. Like a live wire, every single nerve ending in her body had lit up. Danny stopped at the exit. She wanted to curl into a ball right there on the concrete floor and cry. She wouldn’t let herself. She had to think of Reno, DJ, and her parents. It would break their hearts if she let a douche like Chris and a sip of vodka unravel her, and tear everything she had worked for apart.

Danny needed a ginger ale, or a bitter lemon drink. Anything that mimicked the potency of vodka but wasn’t alcoholic. Plus, the fizz and bubble on her tongue always seemed to soothe her. She decided to get it at the convenience store around the corner. She started running again, pushing the door open and colliding with what seemed like a brick wall. But this wall had beautifully muscled arms that were all too comfortable. Danny looked up and found herself swimming in two beautiful pools of grey-blue eyes.

***

Kit had seen Danny, but it didn’t look like she had seen him. She seemed frazzled, disturbed. When she ran into him, she bounced back, and Kit’s quick reflexes managed to catch her before she landed on her ass. He was smiling when she was looking up, but the panic in her eyes and the rigid way her body felt in his arms made him worry.

“Hi,” he said after she settled on her feet. “I’m looking for Christopher.”

“The bastard is inside.”

“Okay.” Kit was about to walk around her when she stopped him.

“Don’t move. I just want to look into your eyes for a while.”

According to Kit, only crazy people asked strangers to stop in a dark alley so that they could look into their eyes. However, when he looked into Danny’s, they glistened like glass under the moon. Then tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Your eyes. They calm me, for some reason. I just…I know I sound crazy…but I just…”

“It’s okay,” Kit said. “I’ll stand here for as long as you need.”

Kit noticed that she was doing some sort of breathing exercise. He noticed everything, something he blamed on his military training. Danny took in a breath for five seconds and exhaled for ten. Weird. It was like she was having an anxiety attack, but from the outside she was a picture of calm. “Do you want me to take you somewhere?”

“The beach, but first I need to go to the store. I need something to drink.”

Kit kept up as Danny half-walked and half-ran round the corner. She headed straight for the refrigerator, but instead of picking up the bottle of vodka right in front of her, she went for the ginger ale. Every single second he spent with her, she confused him the more. Danny paid and picked up her drinks. She looked up at him and said, “The beach.” Kit just nodded and followed her to her Jeep. She pushed the keys into his palm and settled into the passenger seat. Immediately, she had a seat belt fastened. Then she opened a bottle of ginger ale and chugged it down. He barely got the engine revving before she’d opened another.

They drove in silence. The only sound was the empty bottles clinking against each other. Danny had reclined her chair back. Kit thought she was either sleeping or staring at the stars. Kit parked the car and turned the engine off. He was about to check if Danny was asleep when she jumped out of the car, grabbed a towel from the back seat, and made her way to the sand, barefoot.

Kit watched as her hips swayed, her short hair blown to the side by the wind. In that sexy little packaging was a mysterious little girl who had apparently experienced more out of life than most senior citizens. Kit followed. He froze when Danny dropped the towel to the ground and reached behind her to unzip her dress. Black lace was bound to be the focus of all his wet dreams from then on. She was beautiful.

Danny walked into the water and only stopped when she was waist deep. Kit waited, he wasn’t sure what for, but he stood there watching her, marvelling at how perfect her olive skin looked under the moonlight. Kit took off his T-shirt, shoes, wallet, and phone, and dropped them where Danny had left her things. He went into the water after her.

“Has anyone ever told you your eyes look just like the moon? Even the weird, swirly bits,” Danny said.

“The weird, swirly bit,” Kit chuckled.

“Yes.” Danny turned to face him. He was pleasantly amused at how round her eyes got. She took in his torso, her gaze traveling up his body, resting on his lips, then finally stopping at his eyes before she quickly looked away. “Uh-mph, I mean…yes. What I said ten seconds ago, before you completely wiped my memory and crippled my ability to make coherent sentences.”

“You did very well just now.”

“Yes, I did.”

“So not crippled, momentarily lost.”

“Let’s go with that.”

Kit noticed she was biting her cheeks. He pinched the flesh free. “Do you want to tell me what happened earlier tonight?”

Danny shrugged her tiny shoulders. The disturbed look reclaimed her face. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth before saying, “Your brother is an asshole.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Kit scoffed.

“Things always have to be his way. He is a self-obsessed egomaniac, and I can’t believe I have to see him again tomorrow.”

“One evening, and you already got him pegged.” Kit laughed but when Danny didn’t join in, he sobered up.

“I’m a recovering addict. Five years sober this month.”

“Congratulations.” Kit put his arm around her and squeezed her to him. It did shock him someone who seemed so sweet would dive into such vices. But maybe it was her struggle that made her the person she was now. Being in the military, he interacted with men and women from different backgrounds, with stories of hardships. He didn’t know who Danny was before he met her, but he was glad for the person she’d become.

“I mean I was five years.”

The sad note in her tone was like a kick in the gut. What was worse was she started crying uncontrollably. Kit didn’t know what to do with crying women; neither did he know what to say. So, he held her, and they stood there as her cries were swallowed by the crashing of the waves. Kit carried her to the shore and wrapped her in her towel. His intention was to get her out of the cold water, then sit on the sand and let her finish crying if that was what she wanted. Instead, she sank into him, and they sat in suspended silence.

Kit thought she might have fallen asleep. She hadn’t said anything or moved for almost ten minutes. But then her tiny voice piped up, “My family struggled with me all this time and now I feel ashamed to tell them that I slipped up.”

“Don’t you have a sponsor or go to meetings?”

“I do, but they don’t necessarily agree with my line of work.”

“Yes. Why would you be working in a club?” Kit understood why people would wonder about that. It was shocking to him a recovering addict would put herself in a tempting situation.

“It was my way of proving to myself and my family that I have reclaimed my life. That I have let go of the addiction. But apparently the addiction hasn’t let go of me.” Danny’s mood went from sad to royally pissed off in five seconds flat. “I’m an idiot for thinking someone like your brother could be turned down. I’m an even a bigger idiot for accepting his spiked juice. What’s wrong with me? I used to swim in alcohol. I should have noticed the smell.”

All Kit heard was Danny blaming herself for something Chris had done. The story of Kit’s life was now being replayed as if in a short movie, but this time it was Danny who was Chris’ leading lady. Kit was just—angry couldn’t even begin to describe it. He had to put that rage aside for now, try and do what he did best: damage control and cleaning after the mess Chris left behind.

“You didn’t fall off the wagon. A sip doesn’t wipe out five years of hard work. Especially since you didn’t know what you were doing.”

“You don’t get it. I nearly died, fighting for my life. I used to have this war within me. I would wake up every day convincing myself that I didn’t need booze or drugs to get through the day. And when it was time to go to bed, I would fall asleep with that mantra on a loop in my head. And for three years, my mind has been silent and clearer than ever. Then tonight, one sip, and I am sitting here convincing myself that I don’t need it.”

“And you don’t!”

“I chugged down four bottles of ginger ale. I’m here at the beach standing in the water like a crazy person, asking strangers if I could just stare into their eyes for a while because they calm me.”

“Really.” Kit stood up and dragged Danny along with him. “Here I thought you were thirsty, and you brought me to the beach for a date.”

Danny frowned at him. Kit didn’t let go. He was determined to convince her that she was all right, even if it would take him all night. He held her gaze, trying to bend her will to his. He wasn’t one to give in easily and this time, he needed her to do things his way.

Danny rolled her eyes, then laughed. “Yes, I am trying to seduce you, especially since you were all hot and cold with me at the club earlier.”

Kit heard the imaginary screeching of brakes. He had to force himself to be indifferent to Danny. She was making him feel all sorts of things that he didn’t want and couldn’t understand. But being cold with her now was risky. So instead of sacrificing her smile he decided to let the walls down and let go of the tight grip he had on his emotions.

“Hot and cold? Me? Nope, I was just terrified of asking you out.”

“Big, strong, and scared? Nope that combination doesn’t make sense. I know, you were waiting to get me stripped down to my underwear before you made a move on me.”

“Guilty as charged.”

Danny pulled out of his grasp and ran into the water. “It’s not going to be that easy. I like hanging out with you. You better watch out. You might be my next addiction. Then there will be no getting rid of me. It definitely won’t be easy to leave me.”

Kit knew that to be true. It was going to be one of the hardest things he would ever have to do: share a night like this with Danny then walk out of her life come tomorrow night.