Page 105 of Bulletproof

I nodded, but didn’t stop eating.

“Jory, we’re all heading down to the beach after this. You should join us,” Burke offered.

And the idea of lying around, baking under the hot sun, was appealing, but I didn’t want to do any more intruding than I already had.

“I think I’m gonna take a walk into town and look for stuff to take home.”

“You can do that later,” Burke told me. “Come veg at the beach.”

“We’re all going snorkeling,” Jaden told me. “You should come.”

“Not me, no, thank you,” I told them. “I had enough of the big blue yesterday.”

“What do you mean?” Hayes asked me.

“I think the ocean put me on the right path already. Any more is just tempting fate.”

“Do you even know what you’re talking about?”

I finally did.

I spent the day alone, which was good because when Fallon called and said that, yes, he’d roll the dice with me, take a chance and dive in the deep end, I was able to celebrate with shaved ice and sushi, which was all I wanted to do. The details—and there were a million—we would do together when I got home. But he liked me, he liked Dylan, and even better, Benchmark liked the idea of paying us when we made something happen and not all the time. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but it felt good, right.

And when I called, out of the blue, to tell Aubrey, she was thrilled too.

“Rick and I have decided we’re going to start trying to have kids,” she told me.

I was happy even though I knew Sam wanted kids, too, and I wondered when and how I was going to manage that for him. My very traditional man wanted to be a father, and I had to start thinking about the logistics of that because I did as well.

As I walked around Haleiwa Town—the surf shops, the jewelry stores, the restaurants, ice cream, and a fish market—I started thinking about what my life with Sam would look like once I was back to running my own business and he was a deputy marshal. With things settled, a family would be next.

Just the idea of having children with Sam Kage made my stomach twist into knots with anticipation. I wanted that more than he knew. It was the only thing I never worried about that should have probably scared me the most. I really wanted to be somebody’s father.

By the time I got back, everyone had returned from their ocean adventure—or so I heard. I didn’t go seek anyone out because I had been invited out by Ipo, who I had seen in town, to go dancing with her and Makana and Tommy.

I changed into old faded jeans, a tight black T-shirt, and dress shoes, and they picked me up at six. We went to eat at a Mexican place that made killer shrimp tacos and really good margaritas. I bought, and they were really touched, and then we went to this club and danced our asses off. I had Ipo and her friends all over me, and the guys were jealous. We drank like fish, and I had the best time.

I would have invited the others, but Jaden had told me that the plan was to visit a friend of Aaron’s who lived in Hawai’i Kai, back on the other side of the island. The house was apparently a five-million-dollar property right on the beach, and he wasn’t sure how long they would be there, partying. I had been invited along, but I could tell that Jaden didn’t really want me there, and I’d truly had no desire to go.

I was having a much better time drinking plantation punch out of jelly jars.

When the club closed down at one, we drove to Tommy’s house, and his mother woke up and cooked for us. I apologized, but this was Hawaiian style—people came over at all hours of the day and night, and you welcomed them and made sure they left full. She made us breakfast—sweet bread French toast and eggs and country ham. I helped clean up afterward, and that, more than anything else, was appreciated.

I rolled in after three and was headed toward my cottage when I heard voices outside on the veranda.

Surprisingly, Aaron, Hayes, Burke, and three others were out there, sitting at a table with open bottles of wine.

“Jory,” Aaron sighed, holding out his hand. “Come here.”

I walked over to him and noticed immediately how glazed his eyes were.

“How many drinks have you had tonight, Sutter?”

His smile was wicked. “Not just drinks.”

I understood. “What did you take?”

“The usual. Made the party better.”