Page 62 of Maliea's Hero
“Show-off,” she said with a crooked grin as she eased the last tangle out.
“Ready?” he asked with his hand on the doorknob.
Maliea stowed her brush in her backpack and straightened. “Ready.”
Reid held the door open for her and followed her out onto the landing.
They found the source of the noise in the house’s kitchen. The appliances were antiques, dating back to a time when people still used wood-burning stoves to cook their food.
A native Hawaiian woman with a long dark braid hanging down the middle of her back scooped fish from a skillet onto two plates and set them on the table next to cups of coconut milk.
She waved at the offering on the table.
“I guess this is breakfast,” Maliea said and thanked the woman in her language.
Their cook smiled shyly and left them to eat, disappearing out the back door.
Reid held Maliea’s chair as she took a seat at the table, looking around at the contents of the kitchen and the pictures on the wall. “This place could be straight out of the early nineteen hundreds.”
“And still functional.” Reid took a bite of the fish. “Not bad, although I don’t remember the last time I had fish for breakfast.”
Maliea smiled. “It is very good.” She ate all the fish and washed it down with the coconut milk.
About the time they’d finished the meal, footsteps sounded on the front porch, hinges creaked and their host and guide from the night before appeared in the kitchen doorway. He wore what looked like shorts and nothing else, his dark-skinned chest bare, no shoes on his feet.
In Hawaiian, the man addressed Maliea. “You and your man will meet me at the dock.” His gaze swept over her. “Wear what you can swim in.”
She frowned. “Where are we going?”
“Meet me at the dock,” he repeated, spun and left the kitchen.
Maliea’s gaze followed the man until he disappeared down the hallway. The front door creaked and slammed shut.
She shifted her glance to Reid who looked to her for the translation. “I hope you brought swimwear. We’re to meet him at the dock wearing something we can swim in.”
Reid frowned. “That’s it? No idea what he has in mind?”
Maliea’s eyes narrowed and then widened. “Do you think he’s going to take us to the treasure?”
“We’d better change and get down there before he has second thoughts,” Reid said and headed for the stairs.
Maliea quickly stripped and slipped into her one-piece swimsuit, all the while trying not to be too obvious about staring at Reid’s naked, tight ass.
The man had a sexy butt she’d love to spend more time running her hands over.
He pulled on his swim trunks and winked at her. “Caught you staring.”
Her cheeks heated. “Can’t help it. You have a really fine ass.”
Reid pulled her into his arms. “Nothing compared to yours. Think they’d come looking for us if we didn’t show up for another hour?”
Maliea wrapped her arms around his waist and sighed. “Sadly, yes.” She looked up at him. “Let’s get there and find out what this is all about.”
Maliea slipped her shoes on, shoved the rest of her clothes into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.
Reid did the same.
They left the house and headed for the dock, arriving to find their host and another man standing at the shore beside a canoe. The tide was further out than when they’d arrived the day before, forcing them to walk out to reach the water and the man with the canoe.