tomatoes beneath the tap. “Even if I take the job, I’m not sure I can train him. He doesn’t want to be trained.”
“Is that what the hesitation is about? You know what Mom always said about training people.” Kiki began slicing the tomatoes Jun had placed on her cutting board.
Jun smiled at the memory of their no-nonsense, sugar-coat-nothing mother. “‘In a contest of wills, the laziest one loses.’”
“See? All you have to do is work harder than he does, which doesn’t sound like it would be too difficult. Why don’t you channel Mom and see if you can’t whip that surfer into shape?”
Jun imagined what her mother might do to Kai if she’d been assigned the job of getting him in shape for a surf competition. She’d crush him in one week flat.
“You did it before when you worked at CrossFit two years ago. Didn’t they have a name for you there?” Kiki asked.
“The Terminator,” Jun said, and laughed a little. She had been a tough trainer then. It had been one of her first classes, and she’d maybe overcompensated for nerves by being extra tough on everyone. But the nickname had stuck until she’d transferred over to Island Fit and discovered Tai Chi, yoga and a more Zen approach to fitness.
“See? You’ve already got this in the bag. Plus, I know you have a thing for surfers. What was his name? John?”
“James.” Jun thought about the year in high school she’d spent following around James McAlister, the towheaded surfer whom she’d had a crush on. Nothing had ever happened. James never even knew she existed, really, but she had learned how to surf. Still, she wasn’t anywhere near Kai’s caliber.
“I don’t have a thing for surfers.” Jun saw Kai’s inviting dark eyes once more in her mind’s eye. Or did she?
“Okay, then, well, you owe Kai a debt. You know how Mom felt about debt.”
The woman had paid cash for everything and had never owned a single credit card. If a neighbor brought her a basket of fruit, she’d somehow turn it into a full meal, which she’d return the following day. Jun knew herself well enough to know that her staunch independence came directly from her mother. She knew she couldn’t turn Kai down. She owed him.
So why did working for him fill her with dread? Why did repaying a debt feel as though somehow she would just be asking for more? Because she had a sinking feeling that Kai was so far into self-destruct mode that she might not be able to help him. What if she tried and failed?
“It’s not how I wanted to repay the debt,” Jun said. “Besides, how is it being repaid if he’s paying me to do it?”
“You want to take the job for free, that’s your business, but he’s asking you for help. You know you can’t turn him down.”
Jun knew her sister spoke the truth. Yet, as she thought about his devilishly charming smile and the way his dark eyes suggested he knew just how much he got under her skin, she really wished she could.
“He told me to think about it for two days.”
“So?”
“So I’m going to take two days to think about it.”
KAI SAT OUTSIDE Island Fit in his open-top Jeep, the warm tropical sun beaming down on his wavy dark hair. His golden-brown skin didn’t need more of a tan, but it was a crime to put the fabric top up and shut out the beautiful Hawaiian weather.
It had been two days and change since the Tai Chi lesson on the beach, when he’d offered Jun a job. He’d not heard a word from her. He had to admit, he’d expected a call that same day. The fact that she hadn’t jumped on the opportunity made him wonder if he was losing his charm. Women rarely told him no. Hell, he hadn’t even found a woman who’d told him maybe in a very long time. He’d been the recipient of so many enthusiastic yeses, so many women who threw themselves at him, that he’d forgotten what it was like to actually chase someone.
Personally or professionally.
Not many people on the Big Island had the kind of money he did, and those who didn’t succumb to his smile usually rolled over when he opened up his checkbook.
Jun, clearly, was different. But why? He wanted to find out.
It had been a while since he’d cared enough about a woman to get out of bed before noon. Here it was, eight in the morning, and he was sitting outside the gym, watching Jun move about inside. He didn’t know what it was about her. Maybe the grounded confidence she wore easily, like a second skin?
He might have saved her from a rude client on the beach, but part of him thought she would’ve handled it just fine on her own. He’d never met someone so completely independent, someone who had herself together the way she did. He used to be like her, before the tsunami. He remembered feeling as if he could tackle any challenge, surf any wave, no matter how big. But now he wasn’t sure he could even get out of the bed in the morning. He wanted a little bit of Jun’s certainty, a little of her glue to hold himself together.
That was why she had to work for him.
It had nothing to do with the fact that she was 100 percent alluring: athletic and gorgeous yet delicate all at the same time. She was like a hormone cocktail that made his head buzz.
Even now he shifted in the front seat of his car, his groin growing taut as he watched her march across the gym in black spandex capris that hugged her fit curves, her gleaming black ponytail bouncing as she went. His body’s response surprised him. It wasn’t as if he lacked for sex, but to be so struck by a single mom? He believed in the power of family, of ’ohana, as his aunt called it. But when it came to having one of his own, he always thought he would someday, but that always seemed far away, years down the road, when his surfing career was long done. He’d never been one to seriously consider dating a single mom, and he’d never once found one as sexy as he found Jun.
But this is professional, not personal, he reminded himself. He needed a trainer. She needed to earn more than what this place could no doubt provide. Island Fit might be a nice gym, but it was small and probably relied heavily on tourists streaming in from the big hotel resort next door.
He swung open his Jeep door and stepped out into the temperate tropical breeze rolling in off the ocean, ready to go see why Jun hadn’t already accepted his offer, and he wasn’t going to leave until he got the answer he wanted. He flipped his expensive shades to the top of his head as he pulled open the glass door.
He saw Jun first, standing near the front desk, and then noticed she was being crowded by a stout, muscled man who seemed to be trying to find a reason to keep his hand on her lower back. Instantly, jealousy blazed up in his chest. Surprised by the possessiveness he felt, he pushed the territorial feelings down. He had no hold on her. Yet.
“Kai,” Jun blurted, surprise flickering across her face. The man next to her, he noticed, didn’t pull away but moved closer to her side, eyes narrowing as he looked warily in Kai’s direction. Jun tried to delicately untangle herself from the man’s iron grip on her as she made introductions. “Um, Tim, this is Kai Brady. Kai, this is my boss, Tim Reese.”
Tim released her, but not fast enough for Kai’s taste. This guy was her boss? He had sexual-harassment lawsuit written all over him.
“Kai, I’ve heard of you, man. You’ve got that baggy line of board shorts everyone’s wearing.” Tim sent him a guarded smile, showing that the compliment was intended to be anything but. He held out a hand and Kai shook it. He noticed Tim’s grip was harder than it should be, and Kai realized the man saw him as competition. If it was a pissing contest he wanted, Kai already knew he’d win.
“Yeah, we just hit the three-million mark for numbers sold but projections are to double that by next year. Even mainland kids are wearing them.” That figure shut up Tim in a hurry,