Page 22 of Maliea's Hero

“I do,” Rex said. “But I can only eat so many burgers before I’m sick to death of them.”

“Burgers are like the holy grail of junk food. I could eat one at every meal,” Logan admitted. “And Burger Bar makes the absolute best.” He flashed a blinding smile at Maliea.

“And you have the emotional and culinary maturity of a ten-year-old,” Rex said. “Burger Bar is fine by me. But if we’re ever going to get there, you’ll need to quit flirting, shower, change and get back out here in under five minutes, or I’m leaving without you.”

“You can’t without the keys.” Logan dangled the set of keys in Rex’s face.

Rex’s hand shot out. He snatched the keys from Logan’s grip and grinned.

“Well, damn,” Logan said.

“Damn right, damn,” Rex turned to Maliea and held out his hand. “Rex Johnson. Pleasure to meet you.” He glanced at Reid. “Need help with the new assignment? Do you want Logan or me to handle Ms. Maliea and her daughter’s protection detail?”

Reid had had all intentions of handing off the mother and daughter pair to someone else.

Nani leaned close to his ear and whispered, “I don’t want those men. I want you.”

Reid’s heart swelled inside his chest. He didn’t want her words to mean so much to him, but they did. Nani trusted him to be there for her and her mother.

He just had to remember it was a short-term assignment until they found the man responsible for the attacks.

After that, Reid would walk away and never look back.

Only it wasn’t that simple. How could he walk away from a little girl who gave the best hugs and, when she held his hand, made him feel special and alive again?

And what was that jolt of electricity he’d felt when his hand had brushed against Maliea’s breast? His thoughts had gone straight to touching her naked breasts, not her fully clothed ones.

His groin tightened.

If he really wanted to turn over Nani’s and Maliea’s protection to someone else, Logan and Rex would be his first choices. No, make that Rex. He would be his first choice. Logan was too much of a player.

“Did the movie crew finish today?” Reid asked.

Rex shook his head. “One of the main cameras was acting up. They’ll be back at it tomorrow morning.”

Which meant they were still needed for that job.

“I’ll get in touch with Hawk and let him know about the set and Ms. Kaleiopu. He might want to assign another man one way or the other.”

Rex nodded. “Let us know.”

“In the meantime, Logan,” Reid gave the man a pointed look, “I need the keys to your SUV.”

“Seems like a reasonable trade,” Logan said with a grin. “I’ve wanted to see if your Porsche can really do zero to one hundred in a second.”

Reid held out his hand. “Give me your keys.”

Logan handed over the keys to this SUV. “A deal’s a deal.”

Reid’s eyes narrowed. “There are speed limits for a reason. Especially around here. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Logan grinned. “Challenge accepted.”

“I’m already regretting giving you my keys,” Reid murmured and forced himself to turn away. He couldn’t worry about a car when this woman and child were now his assignment until he solved their problems or Hawk assigned someone else to see to Maliea and Nani’s needs. “Come on, ladies, we have an appointment to keep.”

Once settled and buckled into Logan’s SUV, Reid glanced to the backseat where Nani sat with a seatbelt across her little lap. She looked so small and fragile it made Reid’s heart squeeze hard.

“We need to find a car seat for her,” he said. “That seatbelt will do little to protect her if we should be involved in an accident.”