Without knocking, another sign that he was practically living with her, he opened the door. She looked up and smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes, but that might because she was tired. Dark circles marred the delicate skin beneath her eyes.
“Hey. How was your day?” she asked absentmindedly.
The simple question meant so much to him. He would have never thought himself a man who needed hearth and home, but to walk through the door after the bitch of a day he’d had, to a woman asking him that question, it felt right.
“Crappy. I got hit three times with a mahi mahi.”
He set his bag down and walked to her. Taking her hand, he pulled her up off the couch, sat and then toppled her down on his lap. He kissed her, enjoying the warmth of her body, the taste of her on his lips.
When he pulled back, he said, “Hey.”
She smiled again, this time it did reach her eyes. “Hey. Are mahi mahi big?”
“One weighed over one hundred and fifty pounds.”
Her eyes widened. “Wow, I thought they were little fish.”
Chuckling, he skimmed his hand over her bare thigh. “They are in the store.”
“I guess so. Are you hungry? I had a sandwich.”
“Don’t worry. I can get it.”
He picked her up and put her back down in the same spot, then headed into the kitchen. It was always neat as a pin, clean, sparkling. He knew part of it was because of her profession. May didn’t cook in the restaurant, but she was a tiger about keeping the kitchen clean.
“How did your day go?” he asked as he stuck his head in the fridge to see what she had.
She didn’t say anything at first, then, “Okay, your father came by to say hi.”
Chuckling, he settled into making his dinner. “My father will always come in and say hi to you.”
He thought he heard her sigh, but he might have been wrong. When he joined her in the living room, he settled beside her. “Do you want to do anything tonight? Both of us are off tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “I have to go in. Someone came in with a rush order for a cake.”
He pushed aside his irritation that they had lost their day together.
“But I should be done by ten in the morning. Then we have the whole day together.”
“Am I that transparent?”
She shook her head, a smile curving her lips. “Naw. I was irritated too, but she paid Cynthia more for it, and I do enjoy doing the cakes.”
“So nothing tonight.”
She scooted closer. “Uh uh. I just like the idea of sitting here with you.”
The small admission was an arrow straight to his heart. And so he smiled and enjoyed the feeling.
The knock at his office door pulled Kai away from his paperwork, but he wanted to curse when he saw Chris’s face through the window. He motioned him in. He wasn’t in the mood for another talk with Jocelyn’s brother. But if there was one thing an Aiona understood, it was family.
“What can I do for you?” he asked Chris.
“When did it happen?” Every word came from behind clenched teeth.
Kai frowned. “What?”
“I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t seen it online. Dammit, I can’t believe she kept it from me, but I thought you would let me know.”
He shook his head, still trying to figure out if he’d missed part of the conversation. “I have no freaking idea what you’re talking about.”
Chris stopped his pacing and stared at him. “He’s getting out with time served.”
For a second, he still had no idea about what Chris was referring to. Then it hit him like a punch to his throat. “Are you talking about Greg?”
He nodded.
“Can’t be. Jocelyn didn’t say a word.”
“I read it online. He pleaded to attempted sexual assault, and because the judge knew him and knew it had been a horrible mistake on Greg’s part, he is letting him off. Fucker.” Sarcasm and anger dripped from every word. But Kai ignored it. His own anger was building, but not only against the system that needed to be fixed. No, there was a healthy dose for the woman who hadn’t told him the news.
“When?”
Chris looked at him then. “What?”
“When the fuck did it happen?”
Chris must have realized she had kept it from him then. His face lost some of the anger. “From the date, early yesterday morning.”
“Do you think she knows?”
Chris hesitated.
His anger swelled and normally he wouldn’t let it bother him. Now though, he could barely control his need to hurt someone. “Don’t treat me with fucking kid gloves. Tell me.”
Chris nodded. “Yeah. Detective Morrison wouldn’t have let her find out from another source. He would have called her yesterday.”