“So you’re vagueandyou exaggerate.”
He laughed. “You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t.”
He was right, though, about the sharks. White sharks did often hunt at night, and large sharks tended to come in close to the shoreline. Their eyes were designed for it. Tiger sharks too—perhaps even more aggressively.
“I don’t want Woody to worry about me. I’ve already been gone a lot longer than I expected,” she said. Minnow never lost track of time like this and was annoyed at her own carelessness.
“We’ll call him from the hotel phone.”
Reluctantly, she agreed, and Luke grabbed a dry bag while she untied her kayak. She was about to paddle off toward shore when he said, “Can I catch a ride?”
Yes, it was an ocean kayak, but it was a one-person ocean kayak. Having Luke so close to her was a bad idea. “Are you afraid to swim?”
“No.”
His eyes pinned her to her seat, causing a hitch in her breathing. “Um. Yes. If you want, sure.”
She pulled alongside the boat and he hopped on behind her. She scooted forward, hoping he would set his dry bag between them, but he didn’t. His legs went on both sides of her, lightly touching the outside of her thighs.
“You’re shivering,” she said.
“I get cold easily. Hence the ride in.”
Minnow was intensely aware of his body a few inches from her back. All lean, hard muscle. Though cold, he still gave off enough heat to warm her skin, and being this close to him felt surprisingly intimate.
“What are you really doing here, Luke Greenwood? I know it’s not just to swim and pick‘opihi,” she said, now that she had him captive.
“I told you. Fishing charters, whale-watching tours, that kind of thing. I’m still ironing it out.” His words were clipped, and again she had the sense the question made him uneasy.
Minnow had to ask. “You aren’t fishing for sharks, are you?”
“The shark hunt hasn’t gotten the green light yet,” he said.
“From what I hear, people here have historically taken matters into their own hands. Decimating the shark population in the process.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not from here.”
The way he said it, she could tell this line of questioning was over.
“What made you leave Washington?”
A pause. “I was ready for a change.”
“Did you fish up there too?”
“No.”
A long silence swam between them, and she let it settle for now. The more she pushed, the more she could feel him backing away, and she wanted to keep him close enough to figure out his deal.
They left the kayak tied to a coconut tree, followed a torchlit path, and picked up two towels at the pool. From there he took her to the lobby, a Polynesian-style building with a high ceiling and open rafters.
Woody picked up right away. “Kaupiko.”
“Hey, it’s me, Minnow. I’m at the hotel. I went farther than I thought, so I’m going to leave the kayak and walk back. I just didn’t want you to worry.”
“I pick you up. Otherwise you’ll end up face down in the lava. Happens all the time.”
“That’s okay, I have a light.”
