Taking chances, p.9
Taking Chances, page 9
“You look like hell,” Tiny said when she walked in.
“Thanks,” Kana replied, going into her office and shutting the door.
She worked until 1:00, then told Tiny she was going home. He told her to get some sleep, and she nodded. At home, Kana didn’t even bother to take her boots off—she just dropped herself on the bed and lay there until her mind would let her sleep again.
It was just getting dark when Kana heard movement in her room. She sat up, tensing as she reached for her weapon. Then she saw who it was. Palani stood by the bed, staring down at Kana.
“How the hell?” Kana said, shocked.
“I left Hawaii this morning,” Palani said. “I needed to see you, to talk to you, to tell you.” She reached out to touch Kana’s face.
Kana pulled back, wary. “To tell me what?”
“I left Matt.”
“You what?” Kana asked, sure she hadn’t heard right.
“I left him, Kana,” Palani said. “I love you. I want to be with you, if you’ll just let me.”
Kana stared back at Palani for a full minute, trying to assimilate what she was being told.
“You left Matt?”
“Yes,” Palani said, smiling indulgently at Kana’s apparent hearing problem.
Palani was shocked when Kana stood up suddenly, her hands capturing Palani’s face, her lips kissing her deeply. After a moment, Palani wrapped her arms around Kana’s neck, kissing her back and feeling thrilled to her very core.
“I love you, I love you,” Palani said over and over again.
“I love you too, Palani.”
“I brought you something.” Palani reached into her pocket and handed Kana a small box.
“What is this?” Kana asked.
Palani bit her lip, smiling. “Open it.”
Kana sat down on the bed. Palani did the same. Kana opened the box and found another one inside, this one black velvet. She looked at Palani, narrowing her eyes slightly. Then she opened the velvet box. The ring that lay inside was incredible. It was a platinum band, inset with black diamond baguettes. It was intricately carved with a number of Polynesian symbols.
“It’s beautiful…” Kana said, shaking her head in wonder.
“You like it?”
“Those aren’t lava, are they?” Kana asked, pointing to one of the baguettes.
“Um, no,” Palani said, grimacing. She knew Kana would kill her for the amount of money she’d spent on the ring.
“Palani…” Kana said, her tone predictably chastising.
“Kana, I wanted you to have something to replace the ring you gave me, ’cause you’re not getting it back,” Palani said, smiling ingenuously.
Kana looked back at her for a long moment, narrowing her eyes. Palani gave her a cocky wink, then reached down and took the ring out of the box. She took Kana’s left hand and slid it on her left ring finger.
“That’s not where I wore my ring,” Kana said, her eyes still narrowed.
“Well, that’s where you’re going to wear mine,” Palani said, staring right back into Kana’s eyes.
Kana was able to hold her stern look for a moment, then started to grin. She leaned forward, kissing Palani deeply, then pulled back to look her in the eyes.
“I love you. Thank you for this,” Kana said.
“You’re very welcome,” Palani said, glad that she’d been able to resolve this trouble with Kana.
The night before, when Kana had hung up on her, she’d been frantic. She’d called Kana’s cell phone over and over again. She got a busy signal every time. She’d called Kana’s house repeatedly for hours. Kana never picked up. Finally, when Matt had gotten up that morning, she’d flat out told him she was leaving.
“You’re leaving the shoot?” Matt had asked dumbly.
“Yes, I’m leaving the shoot,” Palani had said. “And I’m leaving Hawaii, and you.”
With that, she’d turned and left the room. She’d already packed her bags before he’d ever gotten up, taking the bare minimum. She had no idea if Matt knew what she meant about leaving him, but she didn’t care. She was with Kana now, and she didn’t want to look back.
***
A month after they’d gotten back together, Palani was living half the time with Kana. Kana had insisted that Palani be more circumspect about leaving Matt. She wanted Palani to go through the motions of a “normal divorce” so that she wouldn’t lose everything to Matt because she’d been having an affair. Palani did as Kana asked, respecting that Kana wanted what was best for her.
Kana got home from work one evening to find Palani sitting on the couch, staring at a magazine.
“Hon?” Kana queried from the counter in the kitchen.
Palani looked up, surprised to see Kana standing there. She hadn’t even heard her come in.
“You’ve got to see this,” Palani said, getting up off the couch and walking over to Kana.
Palani handed Kana the magazine she’d been staring at. It was a copy of Sports Illustrated, and Palani was on the cover. The picture was breathtaking. Kana stared in awe. Palani was wearing a black metallic-looking bikini, her hair loose and framing her face. The sun was setting behind her—it was an incredible setting. But the most incredible thing about the picture was the expression on Palani’s face—she looked absolutely ethereal.
“That is the most incredible picture I’ve ever seen of you,” Kana said honestly, awed.
“This is the preview,” Palani said. “And this,” she added, pulling out a piece of paper that was at the back of the magazine, “is a release.” She handed it to Kana.
Kana took the paper and looked at it, then glanced up at Palani.
“Why are you giving it to me?” Kana asked, perplexed.
“Because,” Palani said softly, looking up at her, “that picture is yours. I was thinking of you when he took that shot. Jerry had just asked me about your ring on my finger, and the photographer captured my response to that question.”
Kana looked at her, shaking her head. “I still don’t understand, babe.”
“I told the photographer that he could only publish that picture if my girlfriend signed the release, since it was her picture.”
Kana stared back at Palani for a long moment, suddenly understanding the gravity of what she was telling her.
“So I could say no, and no one would ever see this picture?”
“No one but you.”
Kana gazed at the picture again, her look pensive. Finally she shook her head.
“This is too incredible to keep to myself, babygirl,” Kana said. “I want everyone in the world to see what a beautiful woman I have.”
Palani smiled brightly, loving that Kana put it in a way that was possessive, because she wanted to be possessed by her.
“Well, in that case…” She walked back over to the couch and picked up an envelope, then returned to Kana and handed it to her. “This is yours.”
Kana canted her head to the side, then opened the envelope. Inside was the second picture the photographer had taken, the one in which Palani was biting her lip.
“Holy shit…” Kana said, having a visceral reaction to the picture.
Palani looked so incredibly sexy, Kana found her pulse racing just looking at the photo.
“You’re right,” she said, grinning. “I wouldn’t let you put this one out—you’d have every man and woman beating down my door to get to you.”
Palani laughed softly. “This one is all yours.”
“Thank you,” Kana said, leaning down to kiss her deeply.
“You’re welcome,” Palani murmured against her lips.
Kana lifted her up, taking her over to the couch, where she proceeded to make slow but passionate love to her, showing her over and over again how much she desired her.
Things seemed to be heading in all the right directions at that moment, but things aren’t always as they seem…
Chapter 4
A year later
So much had happened, so much that couldn’t be changed… Why?
It was the question that screamed in Kana’s head all the time.
She sat on the lanai of her family’s home, smoking and staring out at the ocean. She ground her teeth in an effort to stop the direction of her thoughts, but that wasn’t helping. Nothing helped when she’d had too much to drink. She’d had too many Mai Tais with dinner—her family was so busy celebrating her visiting that she couldn’t put her glass down without it being refilled. Now the sun was going down, and the party was still going on, but Kana had escaped to the lanai, knowing her mother wouldn’t bother her there, since she abhorred cigarette smoke.
Sitting there, though, Kana couldn’t stop thinking. There was too much to go over in her head, too much heartache to avoid constantly. Her mind drifted over the time when she and Palani had been happy. Things had been so right, so perfect… and then they weren’t.
When Palani had decided to leave Matthew, it had been Kana who’d been the voice of reason. She’d told Palani to ease out of the marriage. Kana had been sure that if her husband had found out that his very successful supermodel wife was leaving him for another woman, he’d take every penny Palani had earned. Palani did as Kana asked, continuing to live with Matthew but making plans to file for divorce, getting her finances in order.
It had been six months into that waiting period when Palani showed up at Kana’s house one night. Kana had been in bed asleep, having worked all day on a case. Palani hadn’t crawled into bed with her, as she normally did; she sat down on the bed, next to Kana. That had been Kana’s first clue something was very wrong. Kana had awoken, moving to sit up.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, seeing the look of trepidation on Palani’s face.
“Kana…” Palani began, her voice shaky.
Kana sat back against her headboard, her look wary. Every sense she had told her she was not going to like this conversation.
“What is it?” Kana asked, her tone belying her apprehension.
Palani hesitated, stammering a few times.
“Damnit,” Kana growled, hating the sick feeling in her stomach. “Just fucking tell me,” she snapped.
“I’m pregnant,” Palani blurted out, actual fear in her eyes for Kana’s reaction.
Kana went completely still, staring at Palani in stony silence for a full minute. Pregnant? Palani had told her she wasn’t sleeping with Matthew and hadn’t been for six months. So how had she managed to get pregnant? Simple—she’d been lying.
“Get out,” Kana said simply, conversationally.
“Kana…” Palani said, reaching out to touch Kana’s hand.
Kana snatched her hand away, her head coming up, her look very much the gang leader she’d been years before.
“Get out,” Kana repeated, her voice nearing a growl now.
“Kana, please,” Palani said, tears in her eyes.
“Get the fuck out!” Kana yelled, her voice reverberating in the room.
Palani leapt off the bed, fearing that Kana would actually strike her. Kana had in fact tensed, wanting to hit Palani. She’d gritted her teeth to force herself back under control. Palani had seen the muscles twitching in Kana’s jaw, and her eyes had widened in near terror.
“Go, now,” Kana said, her tone low and even more dangerous than her yell.
Palani rushed out of the room, terrified of Kana’s anger and not brave enough to wait to see what would happen if she defied her any longer. It was the last time Kana had seen Palani. Palani had tried to call a number of times, but Kana never answered the phone. She’d shut her heart off. She would not forgive Palani for lying to her.
Every day since then had been a struggle. Kana had done her best to harden her heart and not think about Palani. She had thrown herself into her work. She had taken and ranked number one on the lieutenant’s test. Midnight had promoted her one month before, having finally gotten wind of the previous lieutenant of homicide’s lazy tendencies. Kana had been doing a lot of his job for years. Midnight had also discovered that, and had told Kana in no uncertain terms that she would now be getting paid for the work she’d been doing.
Sitting staring out at the darkening skies, Kana hoped that her career would be enough to sustain her. She’d had enough of love and its decimation of her life and her heart. Getting up from the chair, she straightened her five foot, ten inch frame and walked back into the house. Heading straight to the bar, she skipped the fruit juice that went into a Mai Tai and picked up the rum instead, drinking straight from the bottle.
***
Catalina Roché was not what most people expected. She was beautiful, but tough as nails. She had an easygoing personality, but could be very intense when the moment called for it. And she was a cop—not just a cop, but an undercover narcotics officer. No drug dealer she’d ever busted had believed for a second that she had fooled them so easily, but she had, time and time again. She had proven to be one hell of an undercover cop, as part of the sheriff’s office’s narcotic’s unit, but when she’d actually gotten the drop on a San Diego PD narc named Christian Collins, she’d really impressed. Christian, or Blue as he was known by his colleagues, was also undercover in the same high-end drug house she’d been working in. When she’d attempted to arrest him he’d identified himself and they’d closed the case together. Blue and his boss, Dave Dibbins, were very impressed with Catalina. As such, she’d been invited to become part of San Diego PD’s narcotics force. She’d been put on a team called Rogue Squadron, Blue’s team, consisting of three other sergeants all around her age, all good at their jobs. Cat was learning the ropes as to how they did their jobs, but she brought a lot of good expertise of her own.
Three days after Cat started with the team, they had a raid. Rogue Squadron got to the meeting sight and heard the plan from Dave. Just before they left, Kana, who was back from her vacation just that day, and Tiny drove up. Tiny told Dave that one of the people Rogue Squadron had a warrant on was someone he and Kana wanted to question for a recent drive-by. Dave nodded.
“You want to go in with us then?” Dave asked.
“Sounds like a plan,” Tiny said.
“You two suited up?”
“Yep,” Tiny replied, nodding, as did Kana from her vehicle.
“Then let’s go. We were headed over there,” Dave said, moving toward his car.
Once everyone was set, they went toward the house. Cat was carrying one of the shotguns, because Dave wanted to allow her an opportunity to do every job on the team. The shotgun was considered the point man of the entry team. So Cat was right behind Mace when he kicked in the door. The raid itself went fairly smoothly.
Kana and Tiny’s suspect was indeed in the house. He was told he was being questioned under suspicion of murder as they sat him down. Cat was standing nearby, and had to jump back when the kid decided to make a run for it.
“So much for suspicion,” Kana muttered, then took off after him.
The smaller man was no match for Kana’s long legs, and she caught up to him easily. She snatched him up by two handfuls of his shirt and took him to the ground. Reaching behind her, she pulled out her handcuffs and cuffed the young man up.
“Now,” she said as she turned him around to walk him to a waiting patrol car, “you’re being arrested for evading a police officer. And we’ll question you down at the jail in a nice metal room. Isn’t that a bitch?” She grinned at the last.
She heard a laugh, and turned to see the blond woman she’d heard referred to as “Cat” standing near a navy blue SUV. Cat just shook her head, looking at the suspect. Kana put the suspect in the squad car and turned back around to look at the blonde, just as Cat went to pull the shotgun strap off over her head. The strap got tangled in her long hair, which had come down during the raid.
“Hold on, babygirl,” Kana said as she walked over. She started to help untangle Cat’s hair from the strap.
“Thanks,” Cat said as she held the shotgun up and away from her body while Kana worked on freeing her hair. “Can’t trust a man for this type of thing,” she added, grinning.
“Not if you still want hair left when they’re done,” Kana replied, grinning too, just as she got the last few strands untangled.
“Ahhh…” Cat sighed, as she was able to lift the strap off her neck and put the shotgun in her vehicle.
She turned to Kana, looking up at her directly. She winked. “Thanks again.”
Kana nodded, too surprised by her own reaction to speak at that moment.
The woman was very definitely attractive, with rich, straight gold-blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back and pretty sky blue eyes. She had an attractive face that was sun-kissed and smooth, and a body that could stop a Mack Truck. Kana had noticed her the moment she’d driven up to the site earlier that day. The last thing she’d expected was a surprise like she’d just been dealt.
The girl was family.
By the time Kana thought to say something, the girl was gone, headed back toward the house. Cat had no idea she’d just left Kana stunned into silence. Kana cussed herself a blue streak for a number of minutes afterward, then went looking for her, trying to think of a way to do that without being too obvious. She had no luck—the girl was nowhere to be found. By the time Kana thought to go back out to Cat’s vehicle, it was gone.
“Smooth, K, real smooth,” she muttered to herself.
She had no idea the girl actually worked for the department. She’d never seen her before, and having just come off of a couple of vacation days, she hadn’t heard about anyone new. Kana assumed that the blonde worked for another department, and was just on a joint case. It happened a lot.
It was for that reason that Kana was once again shocked when she was told by Tiny that the blonde did indeed work for the department.
“She’s with Rogue Squadron now,” Tiny said.
“She is?”
“Yep, Collins recommended her. If you hadn’t been lounging on the beach, you’d have known that,” he said, grinning widely.
