Paradise Wild (Wild At Heart Book 2) (12 page)

They strolled among the first stalls. Ellie tried shoving the odd yellow fruit into a pocket of her shorts and then handed it to Denver. “I feel bad I took it.”

“We made her happy.” He pushed one fruit into his front pocket.

Ellie shook her head. “I’m not going to say what that looks like from here. But you have to take it out or you’ll get expelled for indecency.”

“I should have brought a bag.”

“
I
should have brought one. I have, like, a lifetime supply of Target bags back at the house.”

A soft mist fell from the clouds hovering over the nearby mountains and wafted intermittently across the fenced grounds, providing a cooling alternative to the rapidly rising sun. Vendors displayed coconut shell art, t-shirts, hand crafted soap, cut flowers, original paintings and photography, and ceramics. Ellie and Denver wandered hand in hand among the fruit and vegetable stalls. They bought ripe apple bananas and fresh bread. They washed it down with rainbow shave ice. They talked about her family and his. Ellie felt the same intrinsic comfort in his presence as she had the first day at the beach. The horror of Olivia’s situation slipped into the past. Her present telescoped, focused on their laughter, his hand in hers, the fresh Maui air, and a pleasant feeling of anticipation mingled with contentment. Before she knew it, almost two hours had passed and they were headed back to his car.

“Get me to the trail before this sugar high wears off.” Ellie bounced in the passenger seat as they wound up a narrow road on the northwest side of the island. Dilapidated wooden houses clung to the steep mountainside. Dark blue ocean stretched wide to the horizon on their right. Green folds of West Maui peaks soared above them to the left.

Denver turned at a Boy Scout camp sign. The sedan crawled and bumped up a steep trail at ten miles an hour.

Ellie looked around. “You sure you know where you’re going?”

“Trust me.” An empty dirt parking lot with one other car opened up to the right across from a field of black cattle. On the backs of a number of them perched thin white egrets, balanced like precarious porcelain statues.

A few steps into the hike, a cow ambled across the trail. Ellie hung back. “I haven’t seen this part of Maui before. I didn’t know they had cows.”

Denver laughed. “Cows don’t bite.”

“I don’t like the look of those horns.” She bent to try and look at the cow’s underside. “Are you sure these aren’t bulls?”

“Where’d you grow up again?” Denver took her hand and pulled her past a lowing animal.

“Delaware.” Ellie broke free and sprinted up the steep trail.

Denver jogged on muscular legs and easily overtook her. “They don’t have cows in Delaware?”

“Not that I noticed.”

Well past the grazing area, Ellie stopped, panting, at an overlook. Before them the grassy verge pitched straight down for miles into a steep valley where the faintest echo of a waterfall rose from the depths. Beyond the gorge, the mountain folded in upon itself again and again, an undulating fabric worn by water and time. In the distance, the buildings of Kahului harbor glistened as the morning sun reflected off countless windows. Heavy surf broke across nearby reefs, creating a frothy white contrast in the cobalt sea.

Ellie rocked on her heels. “For the record, they don’t have views like this in Delaware either.”

“I’m glad you’re not in Delaware any longer.” Denver pulled her against him, urgent and determined.

In his embrace, she again lost track of her surroundings and of time. Where he led, she followed, letting her hands roam over his body in equal proportion to the way his explored hers. His lips nuzzled her ear. She ran her tongue along the contour of his earlobe. He cupped her face in his hands and slowly ran his fingers through her hair, letting it cascade down her back like a trail of silken threads. She gripped his short wavy hair and tousled it, massaging his scalp with her fingernails. Her heart thumped when his fingers brushed across her breasts. She flitted her palms across his chest, rising against him as he pressed firmly into her.

Their progress to the top was hindered by periodic kissing sessions: beneath banyan trees, while gazing at the ocean, after eating fallen guava fruit, and before retying a shoelace. But the trek rewarded their perseverance.

At the trail’s end the ridge continued before them. A sign warning of abrupt drop offs, complete with a visual of someone plummeting off a cliff, marked the end of the recommended passage on foot. Helicopters giving guided tours of the island flew overhead, hovering deep in the valleys below and then streaking up the mountainsides.

“You couldn’t pay me to ride in one of those.” Ellie leaned back against Denver.

“Scared of heights?”

“Scared of falling.”

His arms encircled her. “I’d be happy to be your seat belt.”

On the way down, Ellie’s head swam with primal energy. She capered along the slippery clay path, enjoying the sight of Denver’s broad shoulders bouncing in front of her. No man she had ever known had buried his way into her heart in such a short time the way Denver had.

Something sparked for me that first moment on the beach.

As a teenager, she’d dreamt of love at first sight. But she had only participated in love as a gradual and awkward transition from friendship to lust to something more.

What is it that draws me in now so completely?

Preoccupied with her assessment, she forgot to watch the path at her feet. An exposed tree root caught her foot. She stumbled. Suddenly, the green brushy hillside rushed toward her. As she sailed through the air, she marveled at the calm thought that flashed in a millisecond through her mind.

This could be worse than initially anticipated. Better let him know where I’ve gone.

“Denver.” She sailed over the edge of the trail. Her voice betrayed only a glimmer of anxiety. Hips flew over her head. She summersaulted backward down the steep ravine.

Grab something.

Thick spongy tangles of brush broke her fall. She flipped twice before a tree caught her legs and she slithered to a halt.

Denver’s anxious face peered down at her from a surprisingly far distance.

“Hang on. I’ll come get you.” He threw a leg over the side.

“No. Stay there. I can get back up.” Ellie clung to vines and shrubbery and heaved herself up the cliff. At the top, she brushed herself off.

Denver’s face was pale. He took her hands.

“Are you hurt?”

Ellie laughed. “Not unless you took a video.”

“No, really. You’re okay?”

“Let me prove it to you.” She snuggled against him and showered his neck with kisses.

On the drive back to her own car, Ellie fought an internal battle.

Go home with him? Don’t go home with him?
What her body wanted and what her mind told her were too different to reach any compromise. When she thought one side had the upper hand, the other pushed back.

Denver’s hand rested on her knee. She traced the outline of his knuckles with her index finger. In the now crowded parking lot, Denver searched for a space.

“You know.” He squeezed her hand. “It might be easier to leave your car here.” He glanced at her as a Range Rover backed into the lane. “You have to be back in Kahului to pick Celine up tomorrow, don’t you?”

See? I knew he was going to ask.

Ellie bit her lip.

“You could come back home with me. I could bring you here tomorrow before her flight.”

Heart or brain. Why is this so damned hard?

Denver redirected his gaze. “I’m not pushing you. I’ll be here all week. When’s Celine leaving?”

“Wednesday afternoon.”

He shrugged. “We could make a date for Thursday.”

Ellie mentally kicked herself for her indecision. “This isn’t easy for me. It’s just that I’m so…”

Scared.

“…busy. I’ve got so much work to do…”

On myself.

“…at the house. There are so many…

Relationship issues in my past.

“…workers coming every day. And I’m not even…”

Telling you the truth about everything.

“…ready for Celine’s arrival.”

Denver ran his fingers through her hair with one hand and pushed the emergency flasher button on the dash with the other. He turned to face her.

“I get it. My neighbors are having construction done while they’re somewhere else too. It’s noisy from dawn until after dark. I hide all day in the guest cottage with earplugs just to do my work.”

Tell him you’re the neighbor. Go home with him.

Ellie tugged the door handle. “If I don’t leave now…”

I’ll never leave.

“…I’ll be up all night preparing.”

He drew her to him. “One more kiss isn’t going to make a difference.”

A few minutes later, Ellie slumped at the steering wheel of her car. She watched his black sedan pull out of the lot.

One more kiss almost
had
made the difference. But not quite.

Chapter 12

Denver’s body throbbed with thoughts of Ellie. He maneuvered the car into the slower of the two lanes that ran between the red dirt fields where the last sugar cane had already been harvested. He let the eager tourists rush past him in their search for the perfect Saturday afternoon in paradise. He focused on the taillights of the car in front of him and put his driving on autopilot while his mind relived the morning with Ellie.

Throughout, his phone vibrated incessantly in his pocket, tickling his thigh, a welcome distraction from the strong sensations his body was experiencing elsewhere. But the more it wiggled, the more the intoxication of the last few hours waned. When he pulled into his driveway and shut off the engine, one glance at the phone screen popped the few remaining bubbles of joy. The sensations left over from the outing floated up, out of reach, through the palm fronds, and into the clear blue sky. His feet dragged along the concrete pathway to the guesthouse. He called the number that had left five voicemails in the past hour.

“What’s up?…Sorry. I couldn’t get to the phone. Bad reception…Do I want to hear this?…Christ.”

Denver let himself into the small guest bungalow. The venetian blinds were closed against the strong sun, but shafts of brilliant light streamed through the cracks, illuminating the open floor-plan room. A laptop swam in a sea of computer printouts of graphic designs on a dining table that separated the living space from the kitchen. Cereal bowls and coffee mugs rose in towers from the sink basin. The large king-sized bed in the far corner was unmade, its cover sheet and pillows crumpled into mounds.

“Fucking China. Idiots write stories about it being the biggest break small companies ever had. But how can we keep up when the have a new regulation every week?…I’ll see what I can do…Yeah, you don’t have to remind me. I know what’s at stake.”

He tossed the phone on the table and sunk into the one armchair, running his fingers through his hair. The phone pinged with a text message. Denver’s chin fell to his chest. He rubbed his shoulders.

He remained seated for a long time, ignoring the periodic beeps from the table. Then he heaved himself determinedly to his feet, searched for a contact on the phone, and hit the call button.

“Mom?” He covered his eyes with his free hand. “You free for a minute? I could use your advice.”

Half an hour later, he perched on a stool at the kitchen bar, chin resting on his hand, phone still to his ear.

“No. I’m not giving up. But this isn’t what I had in mind for the business.”

He spun a spoon on the counter with his fingers.

“In retrospect we should have waited. Teaches me not to be so greedy…No. I’m okay. I’ve still got a little money in my personal account.”

He laughed. “Yeah, thank the Kirkpatricks for me when you see them. Using this guesthouse has been a godsend. I wasn’t getting anything done at the Seattle office with people coming through the door every five minutes. Here the only way to get me is email or phone. At least I have some control over that.”

He kicked absentmindedly at the chair rungs. “Is that why you and Dad had that place here?…Yeah. It was great. Too bad you sold it…Yep. I check on the main house here now and then. You can tell them everything’s fine.”

His spine stiffened.

“Bad idea, Mom. We’re not together anymore. You know that…Sure. She’s got a lot of business experience. But knowing her, she’d laugh and then try to buy me out…Yeah. I’ll start packing. See you soon…Me too.”

Denver laid the phone face down on the counter. He pulled a carry-on suitcase from under the bed, opened it onto a chair by the table, and propelled the mass of papers into it with several sweeps of his arm. He shoved the laptop into a side pocket and zippered it shut.

Half an hour later, a pile of dishes lay drying in a rack as he locked the guest cottage door and wandered, suitcase in hand, through the afternoon sun toward his car. A gust of warm air from the south emphasized the drilling noises from his next door neighbor’s lanai.

Denver shot a resentful glance at the barrier of hedges and palm trees that separated him from the workers. “At least I’m not going to miss
that
.”

***

Returning from her date with Denver, Ellie bounded across the lawn and up the steps to her house. Inside, she nearly collided with a man in white overalls.

“Careful. I almost speared you with this.” The worker held up a drill.

“No problem.” She skipped a step down the hallway and turned around. “I know I’m supposed to know, but there are so many jobs going on right now. What are you guys doing again?”

“Putting in new doors.” He pointed to the front door.

“Oh.” She cocked her head. “It kind of looks the same to me.”

The man gave her a funny look. “That’s because we haven’t replaced it yet. We’ve got the new one in the truck. We’ll get you the new set of keys when we’re done.”

“Right.”

The man eyed her. “In case you’re wondering, the crew with blue t-shirts is here about replacing the floors. They’re in the kitchen, I think.”

“Thanks. Those are the people I want to talk to.” Ellie meandered to the back of the house, taking a short run and sliding now and then across the dark wooden floorboards. She sang softly as she glided along the smooth surface.

Her phone rang before she reached the workers.

“Jacqui, darling.” Ellie tossed the phone gently in her hand. “What’s up?”

“You haven’t heard?”

Ellie skidded to a stop. “Heard what?”

“There was another murder.”

Ellie veered into her bedroom and closed the door. “What?”

“This never happens on Maui. I mean
never
. There’s a lot of domestic violence. And visitors die of heart attacks while snorkeling. But not this.”

Ellie dropped onto the bed. “Who was it?”

“The boyfriend of Noa’s ex-girlfriend. Noa’s the prime suspect. But they can’t find him.”

Ellie lay back, stunned. A muffled meow issued from beneath her and Viv scuttled out from under the comforter.

“Sorry, Viv.”

“What?”

“Nothing. The cat.” She screwed her eyes shut.

This can’t be happening.

“The boyfriend apparently went out night fishing, alone. Was supposed to go with his buddy, but the guy got sick or something. Anyway, it looks like Noa swam up to the boat and ambushed him. They found his body and the boat two days ago. It was on the news before, but I don’t always watch.”

“I don’t get it. How do they know it was Noa?”

“Beats me. But the ex-girlfriend had a restraining order out against him.”

Ellie slid off the bed and sat with her back against the wall.

“Is there some kind of seedy underworld here on the island I didn’t know about?”

“Honey, I don’t know. I got all this from the local evening news. Nightline it ain’t. We’re seriously lacking for in-depth reporting.”

Viv crouched on his stomach and wiggled his behind, preparing to pounce on the window curtain.

“I can’t really wrap my head around this.”

“Have you talked to Olivia?”

“I talked to her on my drive home. She didn’t say anything.”

“Drive home? Oh, right. Your date. How’d it go?”

Ellie’s face relaxed as she thought of Denver’s arms around her. “Okay.”

“Ha. Your mouth says okay but your voice says awesome.”

“I could use some motherly advice, actually.”

“Motherly? Hear that noise? That’s me hanging up on you.”

Ellie threw a sock at Viv, who was considering climbing up the curtain. “I just mean advice from someone older.”

“Click.”

“More…enlightened?”

“Keep talking.”

“I really like him.”

“And that’s a problem because?”

“Because I don’t really trust myself.” Ellie wiggled her toes. Viv ignored her in favor of batting the sock across the wooden floor. “Or maybe I don’t trust him.”

“I think those two are related.”

“Oh. I never thought about it that way.”

“Come to yoga class tomorrow. It’ll clear your mind.”

“Don’t you mean it’ll wear me out?”

“Once again, those two things are related.”

That evening before going to sleep, Ellie moved Viv’s water bowl and litter box to her bathroom. She pushed a white armchair from the living room into her bedroom. Then she turned on every light in the house. Once she and Viv were ready for bed, she shoved the armchair against the closed bedroom door and sat in it.

“This is as close to a safe room as we’re getting, buddy.”

Viv tromped across her pillows, kneading them into his desired consistency.

She dialed Denver.

“Hope I’m not calling too late.”

“Nope.” His voice sounded exhausted. “Just working.”

“In the guest cottage?”

“Um. No. Actually…”

Ellie grinned to herself. “Phew. Glad your neighbors are finally giving you some peace and quiet. What’s the point of owning a house on Maui if you can never use it, right?”

“Well….”

“I mean, you’re running a company and making lots of money. You deserve to enjoy your own house.”

“I guess. But let me…”

Take the plunge, Ellie.

“I’m looking forward to seeing your place on Thursday.”

Her stomach tensed as seconds passed without a response.

“I mean, if you want me to.”

“Ellie…”

“Look, never mind. I just like thinking of you nearby. It’s…”

Comforting.

“Comforting.”

“I like thinking of you too. Now look, I’m really sorry, but I have to get some stuff done before I go to bed.”

A strange feeling rose in her chest.

“Everything okay?”

“It’s fine, Ellie. I’ll text you in the morning before you pick up Celine. Sleep tight.”

She curled into a ball next to Viv and looked at the phone’s dark screen.

Everything went so well today. Why do I feel like disaster’s right around the corner?

***

She noticed an unusual rattling the next morning as she lay in bed stretching after the alarm. It resembled the rustling of palm fronds, but more intense. She drew the phone to her.

Is someone out there?

She lifted a corner of the curtain.

Rain?

By the time she pulled on her Giants windbreaker and donned the new floppy hat, the rain shower had moved out to sea, hovering over Molokini in the distance. Ellie tiptoed in bare feet along the wet grass, leaving a dark trail. She shivered in the uncharacteristically cool air.

A movement by the house caught the corner of her eye and she spun around. The garden didn’t stir.

Is somebody here?

Phone in hand, she roamed the perimeter, looking for something out of place.

I’m just freaked because of that murder.

The guesthouse stood lonely and dark, like an unwanted stepchild.

Maybe somebody’s in there?

She grabbed a lava rock from the pile near the fountain and crept to the door, ready to defend herself but preferring the thought that the stone might buy her time to flee. Heart beating, she tried the door.

It’s locked.

She rattled the handle and laughed at herself.

Okay, Ellie. Get a grip.

On the way back in, she texted Devora.

Ellie: What’s up with the ohana?

Devora: House not big enough for u?

Ellie: Very funny. Just tried door. It’s locked.

Devora: Should be same key as house.

Oh, great.

Ellie: Got Vivyenne’s new doors installed yesterday. Threw old keys in trash so I wouldn’t get confused.

Devora: Dumpster dive?

Ellie: Garbage picked up this morning.

Devora: Right. Locksmith. But if u can’t get in, nobody else can either. Just leave it.

Ellie: K. U hear about the murder?

Devora: Fifty per day in the US. Which one?

Ellie flung herself on the white living room sofa and jumped off again as though she’d been shocked. She wiped furiously at the stain her grassy feet had left. The bright green spread across the material like a film of algae.