Page 12 of Just My Luck

“Besides, I gave my shears to your sister to prove I wasn’t out to do them harm.”

“Hm.” She appreciated that. Good thinking. Although the thought of Mia given free rein with a pair of garden shears… “We should find them.”

He raised his voice. “All clear!” he called. A moment later, they heard the sound of the sliding doors being opened, and the pitter-pat of her siblings racing across the floor.

Eddie stuck his head out the still-dripping window. “We hid so the bad guy couldn’t find us!” he crowed. “But I poked my hand on those big scissors.” He thrust out his right arm to show off the drop of blood on his hand.

Mia pulled him back inside the hale before they caught anyone else’s attention, and closed the window. Good girl.

But…bad guy?

She looked again at the man so carefully and meticulously working on her hair. “You think he was a bad guy? A robber or something?”

“I tend to assume the worst and occasionally I get pleasantly surprised.” Another lock of hair floated free. She turned her head and realized she was mostly liberated from this damn shrub. Good enough. She gestured for him to step back, wrapped a fist around her hair and pulled the rest of it loose from the bush.

“Free at last!” She thrust her arms into the air and did a little dance. “But we need to talk about your very sad philosophy of life.”

“Excuse me?” He had stepped back and was watching her with a look of bemusement.

“You assume the worst? I understand being careful, although I don’t always manage it myself. But assuming the worst is a little extreme, don’t you think?”

“I do not.”

His jaw flexed, and it occurred to her that maybe he’d had some trauma in his life that had led him to this point. Maybe he was one of the many burnouts who wound up in Hawaii in pursuit of a less stressful life, only to discover that the cost of living was ridiculously high since everything was shipped in.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, touching him on the arm. His muscles felt strong and defined under his rough work shirt, and it was surprisingly hard to pull her hand away. “You must have had some bad experiences in the past to make you so pessimistic.”

He recoiled, his dark eyebrows drawing together. “That’s idiotic.”

His arrogant response brought out the mischief-maker in her. And when that part of her came out, all bets were off.

“It might go all the way back to childhood. Those old emotional scars can still cause pain even as an adult. I completely understand. We all have them.”

“I’m. Fine.”

She buried the word “denial” in a light cough. “If you ever want to speak your truth, I’m here, Jim. Well, I’ll be at the concierge desk, not in these shrubs. But seriously, there is lots of help available for people dealing with trauma.”

“I have no trauma.” That muscle in his jaw was working overtime. “Unless you count this conversation right now.”

“Aw. I know this kind of convo can be triggering to someone like you,” She kept a straight face, even though she knew she was getting under his skin.

“I…You…” His expression shifted as he realized she was teasing him. “You’re a very aggravating person. Have you ever gotten help for that?”

“No, but I guarantee my younger siblings would save their allowances to pay for it.” She winked at him. She never minded when people teased her. From an early age, possibly the first time her father went to prison, she’d decided not to care what people thought of her. It was wasted energy, in her opinion. “Anyway, thanks for letting me know about the mystery intruder, and thanks for the hair rescue.”

She shook out her hair and dragged her fingers through the last of the tangles. As she walked past him, twisting her hair back into its concierge-appropriate knot, she could have sworn she saw him take a whiff—probably bowled over by her supersized Costco shampoo.

6

On his next day off, Lincoln borrowed Benito’s pickup and drove into downtown Kona. He’d rented the penthouse suite at the Seaside Paradise, a boutique hotel that sat on the shoreline like a cruise ship about to set sail. He’d booked it for a month, but had only stayed in it twice so far. At least his laptop was getting plenty of downtime in these luxury surroundings, as were all the expensive clothes that might make people question his identity.

The intruder at the hale had sent him a message by dropping his name. Tanaka knew he was around. The game was on, or some game, anyway. He needed to know more.

After making sure no one had followed him from the Royal Leilani, he entered the code and slipped into the room. First things first: a shower. Sleeping in the linen closet, he was only able to manage a sponge bath at the end of each sweaty, back-breaking day.

He groaned with relief as the water pummeled the sore muscles of his back. Between the hard work and sleeping on blankets on the floor, his body had plenty to complain about. How did people do this day in and day out? Would he get ever used to it?

And why had he never given a second’s thought to how hard manual labor was? And how little it paid? As soon as he got his life straightened out, he was going to double the pay of all his groundskeepers. Kitchen staff too, while he was at it. Vernon, too. He’d quadruple Vernon’s pay, just because.