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This story now has 50 follows, and as promised, here is your new chapter! Thank you all so much for the support! The next two goals are: 110 reviews and 40 favorites.

This chapter wasn't as easy as the first few ones were, either. I mean, not as much of a challenge as the last few, but definitely not as easy as they used to be. So, now I feel like the rest of the story is going to be hard to write. Oh, well. I plan to get it finished in advance and then edit so that I can keep giving you all quick updates. So… you're actually getting this message a week or so after I'm writing it.

Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following this story. Your support keeps me going. Keep it up!

Happy Reading!

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Chapter Eighteen: A Good Lie

Allie

I'd gotten the engine started, but now I was looking at all of the buttons and gears and crap that I didn't know what to do with. I'd pulled up instructions on the boat from Google, but they weren't a ton of help. I'd never driven a boat before and I was terrified; Google couldn't do anything about that.

It was slow going, but I finally got the boat pulled away from the dock with several very jerky movements. Once I was well away, I sped it up and almost sent myself flying over the side. Immediately, I slowed it down and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

"Okay," I finally whispered to myself when I was ready. "Let's just take this nice and easy."

As slowly as if I had my hand on a bomb, I pushed the lever forward, one centimeter at a time, until it was going a speed that I was comfortable with. I blew out a relieved breath and then glanced at the GPS, where the glowing red dot showed me where Steve was stranded. The other dot was the boat I was in, and I adjusted the course like I thought I needed to.

Unfortunately, I was a little off, but I finally spotted a boat in the water not far from me. Feeling a little more victorious than I should have after all of my failings, I guided my boat over there. When I got close, I could see Steve standing there on the deck, waiting for me. He waved and I waved back as I drew near.

"I don't know how to attach myself to this thing," I called out, embarrassed by my own admission, even though he already knew that I didn't know much about boats.

"No problem!" he called back and passed me a rope. "Tie that to the boat and I'll pull you closer and help you on."

So, I tied the rope to the boat and then he pulled me closer. So close that our boats knocked a few times on the gently rolling water.

"Here." He offered me a hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me up and onto his boat.

As he stepped down and tied the rope more securely, I looked around. Kamekona's boat was significantly smaller than the boat Steve was on, which could pose a problem.

"How is that little boat supposed to pull this big one back to the docks?" I asked him. "It's small."

He glanced up from his work for only a moment. "Ever hear of tugboats?"

"I thought those were only in children's books."

I blushed when he laughed. "No, they're very real. But… I actually don't need you to tow me in."

Irritation flared. "Don't tell me that you found a spare can of gas somewhere after you'd already told me to come all the way out here to save your ass. You could have called to let me know that you didn't need me anymore."

He stepped back up onto the boat and faced me. "Yeah, well, that's the thing. I did need you. That was the whole point of me coming out here."

"You lost me."

"Sit down," he requested and motioned for the long bench on the side of the boat. He sat down and patted the space next to him.

"No," I refused, stubborn as ever. "Tell me what's going on, Steve."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck almost sheepishly. "I came out here and asked the team not to answer calls from me or you. Then I lied and said that I ran out of gas so that you'd come out here and help me."

"But you didn't run out of gas."

"No. This boat doesn't even run on gas."

Anger boiled through my veins and when I spoke, I knew that it came through loud and clear. "Are you serious? There's something wrong with your head. You couldn't have come to my house like a normal person or called me?!"

"I didn't think you'd answer!" he said defensively, and he was probably right. I mean, he'd had to call me five times before I'd answered. "And I didn't think you'd let me into your house. This was the only way."

"I can't believe you." I headed for Kamekona's boat and started to step down. "I'm out of here."

He grabbed my arm and when I looked up at him, his eyes were hard and unyielding. "No."

I felt myself reeling. "Excuse me? What do you mean, no?"

"I mean no." He pulled me back up onto the boat and spun me, putting himself squarely between me and my only way off of the boat.

There were about a million thoughts racing through my head, but I forced myself to remain calm. "Are you seriously kidnapping me?"

"No," he said. "You came here and stepped onto the boat of your own free will."

"And now I'd like to go," I reminded him. "And you're preventing me from doing that. You can't hold me here against my will."

"Let me just say what I need to say," he pleaded with me.

I shook my head. "I don't want to talk to you. I can't make that any clearer."

"Then don't talk. Just listen. Please?"

And for reasons I didn't understand, I sighed and gestured for him to continue.

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "I just… bear with me, okay? I'm not the best with… apologies." He almost seemed to choke on the word.

I raised an eyebrow. "Apologies?"

"Apologies," he repeated. "I… I'm really sorry, Allie. Okay? I really am. For… for suspending you unfairly, and for everything that followed that. Hell, I'm even sorry for the way that I treated you in the beginning. I have no excuse for it; I don't understand it myself. But I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

I started to speak, but he held a hand up to indicate that he had more to say.

"But most of all, I'm sorry for letting you think that I regretted that night we spent together. Because I never did; that's not what I was trying to say that morning. And then I thought that maybe it was you that regretted it, but I don't want to just think anymore. I want to know. So, if you do regret it, please just tell me now so that I can accept that and move on."

My head was spinning and I was speechless. He hadn't regretted it? Then why had he seemed like he had regretted it? Or… maybe I'd just thought that I saw that he regretted it. Maybe he was telling the truth, and he hadn't regretted it at all.

Had it really just been a big misunderstanding?

When he saw that I was considering his words, he continued. "I should have never let you leave your house before I explained everything to you. That was my fault, and I'm sorry. I should have kissed you until you shut up and then told you that it was the best night of my life. I'm sorry that I didn't."

I felt a million different things, and I was having trouble making sense of them all. He was clearly waiting for me to say something, but I was at a loss for words.

After a few moments, he stepped forward and took my hands. His were warm and strong, and he squeezed gently as he spoke again. "I'm crazy about you, Allie. I think I was crazy about you from the beginning and I was trying to fight it and that's why I was a jerk to you. That has to be it, because there's no other explanation for my behavior. And instead of doing something about it, I just let this tension build up until it exploded. And then we shared a night and… I was a coward. I let you push me away. And, I promise, if you do want to push me away, then I'll go. But… if you're willing to give this a chance…"

I took my hands away from his with much effort and turned away, unable to look at his face for much longer. The sun was sinking low in the sky and I knew that darkness was coming.

Little darling, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter…

I shook the lyrics away. "I don't know, Steve. I… It wouldn't work."

"You don't know that. That's the excuse I tried to make to myself, but it's total bullshit and you know it. There's something between us and it's worth a shot. You just have to be brave and take a chance."

I let out a humorless laugh. "I'm not a take a chance kind of person, Steve. For God's sake, I was on the bomb squad." I turned to face him and prayed that he couldn't see the tears in my eyes. But by the way that his own expression softened, I knew that he did, and I felt weak for crying. "You don't take chances on the bomb squad. People die if you take chances on the bomb squad."

"No one is going to die if our relationship doesn't work out." He stepped closer but didn't reach for me. "But I don't think there's any danger of that. Can't you feel all the electricity between us? It's been there since day one and I wish I'd been brave enough to act on it sooner, but I'm going to have to settle for now. Even Kol knew that it was there."

I felt my forehead wrinkle in confusion. "What do you mean Kol knew?" And as I said it, I remembered when he'd asked me why I was all dressed up. And if there was a thing between me and Steve. Yes… maybe Kol had sensed it all along.

"When I was taking him to the airport, he said that he'd noticed that there was something between us," Steve told me, much to my surprise. Kol hadn't mentioned anything about that, even on the phone call where he'd been able to tell that I was upset about something. "He said that we'd be good together."

"Kol doesn't know everything. Trust me." I forced a laugh. "I could tell you some stories…"

"Yes." He stepped closer, his look intense. "Tell me stories about your childhood and your family. Tell me how you like your shoes organized. Tell me your favorite restaurants and your favorite hiding spots and everything about you. I want to know. I want to know you just as well as I know myself. Allie…" He took my hands and his look turned pleading. "Give this a chance. Please. I'll move as fast or slow as you want, just… give this a chance."

"Steve…" I didn't even know what I wanted to say. My mind was at war with itself and it felt like every single thing about my life was hinging on this one decision.

"I don't know if this will help you make up your mind, but… you deserve to know, anyway." He stepped away from me and gestured for me to sit down, which I did just because I almost felt dizzy from everything running around in my head. "There was a woman that I was with for a while… her name was Catherine."

I thought that I'd heard him mention her before, but I couldn't be sure. In the last few weeks, I had been tuning him out when he talked. "Okay?"

"We never defined a relationship, and we should have. That was a big mistake that I made with her. And by the time that I did want to define a relationship, she had figured out that her job was more important to her than her relationship to me. Whether that was because she didn't think I was as serious about her as I was my job or because she really didn't want to give up her job… I'll never know. But I learned a lot from that. I learned that when there's something good right in front of you, you have to grab it and hold onto it as tightly as you can. And that's what I see with you. Something that could be… even better than good."

"What kind of relationship did you have with her?" I was buying myself some time, but I was also genuinely curious about this woman that he'd had a relationship with before.

"Catherine and I served in the Navy together. We were kind of on again, off again. Like I said, we never defined a relationship. But I did love her, and she loved me… it just wasn't the all-consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love that you see in the movies. I was ready to propose to her before she left, but I just recently figured out that I would only have been proposing to get her to stay. Not because I actually wanted to be married to her. She'd just been a part of my life for so long that I wanted a way to ensure that she would stay in it."

"Abandonment issues?" I asked him, almost amused.

He shrugged. "A few, maybe. I mean… my mother died when I was sixteen and my father was killed a few years ago… I guess it felt like everyone important in my life was disappearing."

"Is that why you got so upset when I got hurt?" Some things were starting to make sense.

"I think so," he answered me. "You've been important to me since day one, even if I was too stubborn to admit it to myself until recently. I didn't want to lose you. I still don't. And what I feel for you… it's stronger than anything I ever felt for Catherine."

After what he'd just said about her, that surprised me. But I kept that hidden. "Isn't that what all guys say when they move on to a new girl?"

He shook his head. "It's been over for a while now. A whole year. And, I promise, I'm over her. Like I said, I realized that it wasn't necessarily her that I wanted. It was the familiarity."

"And with me?"

"It's you." He knelt down in front of me. "I know that I have no right to ask this of you after everything that I've put you through, but I'm asking you for a chance. A chance to show you everything that we could be. A chance to be with you in every conceivable way. A chance. Please."

"I've never had a… relationship before," I admitted to him. Yet another thing that I had no experience with. "I don't know if I'd be any good at it."

He moved to sit beside me on the bench, smiling at me, the light of the sinking sun reflecting in his eyes. "It's work. Hard work. But I know that we can do it."

"Isn't there a thing against workplace romances?"

"Immunity and means."

"Ah, right." I sighed. "Still… I think it should be on the DL until it's a real thing."

"What do you mean, a real thing?" he asked me. "It's either a relationship or it's not."

I heaved a frustrated sigh. "You know what I mean. Until it's… more… steady."

His whole face seemed to light up. "Are you saying yes?"

"It's not like you asked me to marry you or anything," I teased him, unable to fight my smile. "Don't get all excited."

"There's not a chance that I won't," he said and then and there, beneath the gorgeous setting sun, he pulled me into a kiss.

It felt just like it had that night he'd stayed over at my house, as if no time at all had passed between then and now. He pulled me closer and cupped my face with one hand, gently, as if I was the most precious thing in the world. And even though normally I didn't like to be treated like I was fragile, I actually liked it.

I kissed him back with all of the pain and frustration of the last few weeks and he responded in kind, like two fires merging into one raging, unstoppable blaze. Our bodies were pressed tightly against one another, welded together by the heat. I didn't think that we would ever be able to separate, but then we did, gasping for breath.

"Okay," he said and glanced over at the sun, breathing hard. "Okay. Sun's almost down."

"So?" How could he care about the sun after the kiss we'd just shared?

He laughed at the look on my face. "I know you think I'm crazy. But it's going to be dark soon, and we should probably get back to the docks."

"Surely you know how to navigate a boat in the dark," I said, but I stood up nonetheless. He was the experienced sailor and if he said we needed to head back, then we needed to head back. I'd proved myself rather helpless when it came to boats.

"I do," he said with a laugh and moved for the controls of the bigger boat. "But the sooner we get back, the sooner we can go off somewhere a little more… private."

I dramatically looked out at the water. "Oh. Are there other people out here?"

He laughed at me and rolled his eyes. "Come here. I'll teach you how to drive the boat."

"Yeah," I said as I approached the controls. "I'll need to know how for the next time that a guy calls me and tells me that he ran out of gas on a boat that doesn't even run on gas."

"There better not be another guy," he teased me, but there was also a hint of dominance in his voice that I found to be quite primal. It sent a pleasant chill down my spine, even though I never would have thought that I'd like to feel like a possession.

"What do we do, Captain?"

"Commander," he corrected me as he positioned me in front of him and nipped at my ear. "Okay. Quick lesson."

He pointed out the different controls and even tested me on them after he was done. I did fairly well for the most part, only forgetting two of the buttons. "Not bad," he told me and we took off, him helping me steer.

"Not bad isn't perfect," I told him, frustrated with myself. "I try to be perfect."

"You are." He kissed my neck, making it incredibly hard to concentrate. I made a mental note to tell him not to ever do that while I was driving.

"Not at this and definitely not at Hawaiian."

"Hawaiian?" he asked me. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I'm normally really good with languages. I speak nine of them fluently and a couple more conversationally. I thought that since I was going to be on the island for a while, I should learn some of the native phrases, you know? People do that when they move to a new place. Makes it easier to communicate with everyone."

"Yeah?" he said, prompting me to continue.

"So, I started taking surfing lessons from this native Hawaiian guy, and I asked him if he could teach me some of the language while we surfed since he's fluent and we'd be out there anyway. I even pay him a little extra to do it."

"So, what's the problem?" he asked me and corrected our course just a little bit.

"The problem is that I'm terrible at it!" I complained. "I've always been so good at languages, but I just can't seem to get Hawaiian."

"It's actually called Pidgin," he laughed. "And if you want, I can start trying to help you, too. I grew up here, you know, and I speak it pretty well."

"I'm not sure it would help, but you can try." I sighed. "It may just be one of the languages my brain refuses to learn."

"Well, I'll try to teach you," he told me, and then I felt his hands around my waist. Slowly, they moved in and… lower. "I can teach you other things, too."

Within moments, I was lost in a wonderful world of sensation as the last rays of the sun disappeared beneath the horizon.