Erwin’s face flushes red enough to be seen from orbit. “Jinx, that’s not?—”
“Pleasure to meet you both,” Koa says smoothly, extending his hand to Erwin. “Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.” His lips stretch into a smile, but it looks more like a threat. And wow, does it make him look lethally handsome.
They shake hands, and a part of me expects anearthquake or a volcano to spontaneously erupt in fury. Some things just aren’t natural. This is one of them.
I watch as Erwin tries to assert dominance with that aggressive grip thing men do. Koa just looks mildly amused, which somehow makes him more intimidating.
“So, you’re the detective around here?” Erwin’s voice has gone up half an octave. “Helping with resort security?”
“Among other things,” Koa replies as his eyes flick to mine for half a second, and my insides bisect with heat.
Hey? Maybe Erwin’s presence will be the catalyst to catapult Koa and me to the next level when it comes to our budding relationship? I gasp at the thought.
Erwin’s expression shifts from nervous-polite to something sharper. His gaze bounces between Koa and me, and I can practically see his accountant brain cataloging data points.
Face it, the heat emanating off of Koa and me makes the balmy humidity feel like an Arctic breeze. Or at least I’d like to think so.
“Among other things?” Erwin repeats slowly. “Right.”
And suddenly the air is charged with tension that has nothing to do with wedding planning and everything to do with male territorial nonsense.
“Erwin, is there something you’d like to say?” I grouse over at him.
“No. Nope. Nothing at all.” But his voice has that tight quality it used to get when he’d find my credit card statements. “I just find it interesting that you’vegotten so friendly with local law enforcement. That’s all.”
Ruby steps up and doesn’t hesitate to give him the stink eye. “It turns out, murders tend to create those kinds of professional relationships.”
Lani steps in close and nods. “Dead bodies have a way of bringing people together.”
“Dead bodies?” Erwin repeats faintly.
“Two of them so far,” Ruby is quick to tell him. “But who’s counting?”
Lani snorts, and it’s all I can do to keep from doing the same. Instead, I turn my attention back where it belongs.
“It’s always good to see you, Detective,” I give a sly wink as I play it coy. Even though we’ve played tonsil hockey a time or two, I have no intention of flaunting that fact in front of my ex or his entourage of bodacious, beautiful women. Again, it does beg the question, exactly how much money did Erwin fall into that I don’t know about?
Koa gives a sly wink my way in return, and suddenly Erwin is growling like a dog.
The good detective growls back without hesitation.
Koa and I clearly have a thing going. Erwin sees it. Of course, he sees it. The blind bats flying overhead can see it. And if it makes Erwin upset? Well, all the better.
“So,” Erwin says, his voice taking on that passive-aggressive edge I remember from every argument about whose turn it was to take out the trash, “how long have you two known each other?”
“We met shortly after I arrived,” I reply.
Like the second I got off the plane. There might have been a tussle over luggage, but I leave that part out.
“And you’ve worked together onmurderinvestigations?” Erwin looks more than mildly alarmed, as he should be.
Lani nods. “That’s generally what happens when dead bodies show up at her resort, so yes.”
Erwin makes a sound somewhere between a cough and a growl.
Candy gasps beside Erwin, her ring light wobbling slightly as she takes in Koa from head to toe. “Oh my gosh, you’re a real detective?” She and her boobs practically lunge at poor Koa. “That’s so—” She fans herself with her free hand. “Erwin, babe, you didn’t tell me Hawaiian law enforcement was so photogenic.”
Erwin straightens. “What my fiancée means is that I didn’t realize local law enforcement would be a part of wedding planning. But then again, there’s a lot about this week I didn’t anticipate.”
