Page 13 of Maliea's Hero
“How did you get out undetected,” Reid asked Maliea.
“Tish, Solange and I wore sunglasses and hats. Each of us carried a large beach bag and got into different cars. I took Tish’s. She took mine.”
Reid’s lips quirked. “And Nani rode in one of the beach bags. Clever.” He looked around the small cabin. “Do you still have the hat and sunglasses?”
She nodded. “I do.”
“I have a ball cap Nani can wear. The Burger Bar has a playground off the back porch. It’s not visible from the road, and we can wear our disguises. Nani can play while we talk,” he said pointedly. “Where did you park Tish’s car?”
Maliea chewed on her bottom lip. “Several doors down and behind a large trash bin.”
He nodded. “Good. It will be okay there. We’ll go in my car—” At that moment, he remembered. “Hmm. My car is a two-seater. If I promise to drive slowly, would you be okay with Nani sitting in your lap? When the other members of my team get back from the ranch, I can borrow one of their vehicles. One with more seats.”
Maliea frowned. “I don’t like Nani riding in the front seat and without a car seat for protection. But I guess if we go really slow... Are you sure we can’t walk there?”
He tipped his head toward Nani. “It’s too far for little legs, and I’d rather have wheels in case we need to go somewhere faster than on foot. We could stay here, but I don’t have anything for Nani to eat or drink, and I’d really like to know what’s got you spooked.”
“How far is the burger place?” she asked.
“About a mile,” he said.
She sighed. “I guess we could go. As long as we wear our disguises, and you go slow.”
“Let me get that baseball cap,” he said and ducked behind the bed where he’d stashed his duffel bag and pulled out his favorite San Diego Padres baseball cap. While he adjusted the back a little tighter, Maliea pulled Nani’s long hair up into a ponytail and wrapped it around the elastic band several times into a bun.
Reid squatted in front of Nani and placed the cap on her head.
She grinned at him. “Can I keep it?”
Despite the grief for his daughter gnawing a hole in his belly, Reid couldn’t help smiling at the little girl. “Yes, you can keep the hat.”
When he straightened, Maliea had tucked her own wavy dark hair up into a wide-brimmed straw hat and fit sunglasses over her luminous brown eyes.
She was nothing like his ex-wife.
Laura had long, straight blond hair, blue eyes and was five-feet-nine.
Maliea probably wasn’t even five feet five, and her skin was a light, dusky brown, a testament to her Hawaiian heritage.
“Ready?” he asked, tearing his gaze away from the pretty mother and daughter.
Once he had an idea of what they were up against, he would contact his boss, Jace Hawkins, and ask who he wanted to assign to Maliea and Nani’s protection duty.
Had it only been Maliea needing protection, Reid could have handled it. No problem.
Adding a three-year-old little girl into the mix?
He shook his head as he led them out to the fancy sports car that seemed entirely ridiculous now.
Maliea and Nani needed a bigger car and a protector with a lot less emotional baggage than he carried. Reid sure as hell wasn’t the right man for this job.
Nothing could convince him otherwise. Not even two pairs of beautiful brown eyes, begging him for help.
CHAPTER 4
Maliea stared at the sleek black Porsche and frowned. “Are you sure you want us to get into that? Aren’t you afraid we might damage something?”
He shook his head. “The leather seats are pretty tough. It’ll be all right.”