“Do you, Kalani, take Lanakila to be your wife? To have and to hold, from this day forward? For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health? To cherish with devoted love and faithfulness till death do you part?”
Kal swallowed hard and found his mouth so dry he could barely part his tongue from the roof of his mouth. He wasn’t used to being nervous, but this had certainly done the trick. “I do,” he managed at last.
That was the easy part. Now he just had to try to live up to the impossible vow he’d just taken.
* * *
The holy man repeated the vows for Lana, but she was hardly listening. How could she hear what he said over the loud pounding of her heart?
She’d been okay until the ceremony started. She’d had butterflies in her stomach, but she’d held it together as long as she focused on each little task—finding a dress, doing her hair, applying her makeup. In the mirror of her suite, she kept repeating to herself that this wasn’t about love, this was about Akela. The ceremony itself was the only real part of this entire marriage. Perhaps that was the problem. As she stood here looking into Kal’s dark brown eyes and let his warm hands steady her shaky ones, it felt real. Too real.
Lana let a ragged breath escape her lungs, then realized both men were looking expectantly at her. “I do,” she said quickly, and hoped that was the correct response.
It was. The kahuna pule continued with the ceremony by blessing the wedding rings. He placed the ti leaf in the koa bowl that was filled with seawater. He then sprinkled the water three times over the ring and repeated the blessing before handing the smaller of the two rings to Kal.
Kal repeated the required words, all the while looking into Lana’s eyes as though there were no other person on the whole planet. There was a twinkle of mischief there in his dark gaze that she recognized and appreciated. He was trying to calm her nerves by acting as though he wasn’t nervous. She knew better. His right eyelid kept twitching. It hadn’t done that since opening day of the resort.
“Lana, please place the ring on Kal’s finger and repeat after me.”
Lana slipped the platinum band onto Kal’s finger and pledged to be with him until death. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and tried not to let the doubts creep in as the words left her lips. She only had seconds to change her mind and then she would legally be Mrs. Kalani Bishop.
It’s not real, she repeated silently to herself as the kahuna pule continued to speak. She was not Kal’s blushing bride, he wasn’t in love with her and there would be no wedding night fantasy come to life tonight. Lana needed to shut down her brain and her libido before it was met with a great deal of disappointment.
“Lana and Kal,” the kahuna pule continued, “you have pledged your eternal aloha to each other and your commitment to live together faithfully in lawful wedlock. By the authority vested in me by the laws of the state of Hawaii, I pronounce you husband and wife. Kal, you may kiss your bride.”
And just like that, it was done.
With that worry aside, Lana suddenly had a new one. Kal was moving closer and the charade was about to get physical for the first time. Repeating vows was one thing, but the line between friend and lover was on the verge of being irrevocably blurred.
Kal’s hand rested against her cheek and drew her lips closer to his. Lana’s breath caught in her throat as the panic threatened to seize her. She vacillated between wanting this kiss more than she should, dreading it, and hoping they managed to convince the holy man it was authentic. With no other choice but to go through with this, she closed her eyes and tried to relax.
Half a heartbeat later, she felt Kal’s lips against her own. They were soft and gentle as they pressed insistently to hers. Lana couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran through her body or the prickle of energy that shot down her spine. She hadn’t intended to, but she was having a genuine physical reaction to his kiss.
Before she could stop herself, she climbed to her toes to get closer to him. Her palms pressed against the massive wall of his chest. The scent of his cologne mingled with the tropical flowers and the warmth of his skin, and they all combined to draw her in.
Lana had never quite understood why women threw themselves at Kal when they couldn’t keep him. Well, she understood he was handsome, charming and rich, but she watched as time after time they fell under his spell and lost all their good sense. She’d always thought that those women were silly. Yes, her best friend was a great catch, but he was also a blanket hog and he always ate the last piece of sushi. There was no reason to make a fool of themselves over him. Especially when he had no intention of taking their relationship much past the bedroom.
The bedroom.
Lana felt a pang of need deep inside her at the thought. No matter how often she reminded herself about how fake this all was, her body clearly ignored her. It had decided that she was married, so she would be getting a little action tonight from the tall, dark piece of man kissing her. Not so.
With her hands still pressed on his chest, she pushed back and ended the kiss. Certainly that was enough to satisfy the holy man and make this official. There was no need to go overboard, right?
When she looked up at Kal, he seemed affected by their kiss, as well. His dark eyes were glassy and dilated. His skin seemed a little more flushed than usual. Good. It wasn’t just her. She’d feel like an idiot if she got all worked up over that simple kiss and he treated it like just another day at the races.
She expelled the air and his scent out of her lungs slowly and looked back toward the kahuna pule before she tried to kiss Kal again. This had all happened so fast she hadn’t truly allowed herself to prepare, mentally, for the change in their friendship.
“Ho’omaika’i ’ana,” the kahuna pule said with a wide smile across his face. “Congratulations to you both.”
“Mahalo,” Kal said, thanking him.
The next few minutes were a blur. They all signed the marriage license, making it truly official. Then the kahuna pule gathered up his things and was gone, leaving them alone in the pavilion. Man and wife.
Lana looked out at the ocean for a minute, waiting for the surreal feeling to pass. It wasn’t going to. No matter how many times she pinched herself, she would still be married.
“That went well, I think.”
Lana turned to look at Kal. He was standing with his hands shoved casually into his pockets, as though they hadn’t just gotten married a moment before. He had the same smirk on his face as always.
“I suppose. We’re married, so that was the most important part.”
He sauntered over to where she was standing and eyed her with a curiously raised brow. “That kiss was pretty convincing.”
More convincing than she’d anticipated. She didn’t want to admit that to him, though. The potential for things to be awkward between them was high enough without that. “We’re pretty good actors, aren’t we?”
The smirk disappeared. Was he disappointed because he thought that he could nearly melt her knees out from under her? Lana could tell her best friend many things, but that wasn’t one of them. She’d promised him this would just be for show and short term at that. If he knew he could turn her on without even trying, she’d never live that down. He still liked to remind her of the time she’d had too much to drink and groped his rear end.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст