Chapter Four
Naomi looked at herself in the mirror. It was a beach party so she wore her white halter dress, which had buttons that ran down all the way to the bottom and had a collar, the dress came to just below her knees and had a cream sash around the waist. She pulled her hair into a casual ponytail with minimal make-up and a light pink lip-gloss. She looked nice, but she was nervous about whether she was overdressed or not. In her world a beach party would mean everyone dressed in designer wear pretending to be casual.
She put on her staple silver hoops and instead of wearing both her bracelets she wore only one and opted for a tan leather watch instead. She heard a knock on her door, it was the housekeeper.
"Miss, it is a Mr. Steve here to pick you up".
"I'll be there in a minute" she yelled back. She quickly moved away from the mirror and shoved her feet into her favourite tan leather and cork Christian Louboutin wedges, which would give her some height. She picked up her bag and slung it across herself.
She walked down the stairs and into the hall where he was standing. He looked sexy and rumpled, so different from the night of the Governors ball. He wore a blue cotton shirt half tucked into classic blue jeans and a tan leather belt and on his feat she was surprised to see black converse sneakers. That little detail made her smile, it made him look more boyish and less of the scary SEAL who had rescued her.
"Hi" she smiled at him.
"Hi, you look nice" he came toward her and kissed her on her cheek.
"Thanks, you look nice too" they walked toward the door, where she stopped. "Did I need to get something. I'm sorry its been a while since I have been to a party, I'm afraid I've become a bit socially challenged".
Steve only laughed, "Don't worry about it. There is enough food and rink to feed an army". He led her to a big dark blue truck and helped her get in, which was pretty much to lift her into it. They drove to a suburb, which again surprised her since she thought he was more of a city apartment kind of guy. The area he lived in was a leafy tree lined street and when they pulled into his house, it was absolutely lovely. It was like a bungalow with greenery everywhere.
"I love your place" she enthused without realizing.
"Thanks, it belonged to my parents and my sister and I grew up here" he parked they got out of the truck and he held the opened the door open for her to enter.
The inside was nice and cozy and homely, very unlike the houses, which she had lived in. This was a home not merely a house.
"No one's here as yet, so do you want me to help with something?" she asked. Just then a pretty blonde woman walked in dressed in cut off shorts and a black halter-top. She hesitated a little when she saw them and then broke into a crooked smile. Then she came towards them and extended her hand to Naomi.
"Hi you must be Naomi. I'm Mary, the sister" she looked at her brother and winked at him.
"Hi nice to meet you" she felt silly talking so formally, "So do you need any help?"
"Sure if you want to help me cut up some fruit for those who want to be healthy. The rest are mostly a beer and chips crowd" Naomi followed Mary into the kitchen, which was warm and rather cute. The window was a nice surprise since it looked over a deck and further onto a private beach.
"The view is amazing! You guys were lucky to have grown up in a place like this" she said as she helped take out some chips into a large bowl.
"Yeah it was great" she said not sounding too happy, "So where did you grow up? You're not from Hawaii" she pointed out the obvious.
"I'm afraid not as serene as this place. I grew up mostly in D.C".
"Yeah Steve was telling me your dad is a senator?"
"Yes he is along with a very busy business man".
The doorbell rang and loud voices and sounds of laughter came through, "here's everyone" Mary exclaimed and went to greet them. Naomi followed.
There was a whole group of men, six of them to be exact, and all of them had their wives or girlfriends with them. They were embracing Steve as if they had not seen him for a long time. Then they treated Mary to the same hugs.
"Hey everyone meet Naomi Morales" Steve broke away from the group and came toward her, taking her hand in his. "Naomi this is my SEAL team that helped in your rescue".
"Oh my goodness. It's great to meet you all" she swallowed some of her emotions; "Thank you for everything that you all did for me".
"Hey it's nothing" one of the guys who had introduced himself as just 'Spoon'.
Everyone moved to the beach and Naomi and some of the other women went into the kitchen to help with more food that needed to go on the tables set outside.
One of the women, a lovely tall Hawaiian named Tracy, went to the window and opened it, stuck her head out and yelled, "Boys come and get the food out or go hungry".
"Nice work Trace" Mary said with a laugh.
"Why the hell should we be stuck in the kitchen while they enjoy themselves like bloody sultans" Naomi could only laugh at how the women talked about their men.
Just then the men filed into the room and obediently carried all the bowls and plates out to the patio.
The door opened and in walked Danny Williams, Kono and Chin Ho Kelly. She remembered them all from the ball and smiled as Kono came toward her and hugged her in greeting.
"Hi nice to see you here. Boss did say you would be coming", she looked great in her shorts and white strappy top with a bikini top sticking out.
"Yeah he invited me the other day. I think he felt sorry for me since I don't know anyone".
Danny came, "I don't think that's the reason he invited you".
"What do you mean?" she asked. But before he could answer her, the front door opened and in walked a huge Hawaiian man, bald and a huge grin on his face, carrying two buckets of fried chicken.
"Aloha my friends" he announced as he walked in.
Steve had come in from the back and smiled, "Naomi this is Kamekona, another friend".
"Hey there pretty lady" he came to shake her hand then stopped, "I have chicken grease so I'll just say hi".
Naomi smiled back at him, "No problem".
The party moved to the beach where someone had started a bonfire and music was playing from a sound system hooked on the patio. People were drinking and having a great time.
She had been talked to a group of the ladies when Steve came from behind, "Can I steel you away for a dance?" he asked her.
"Sure thing, let me just put my glass down" he took her glass from her and shoved it toward Danny.
"Hold this will you?" he said without looking at him.
Naomi giggled as he pulled her toward the water, "I think you should take your shoes off first" before she could take them off, he bent down and lifted her foot. He took them off for her and then she noticed he was barefoot as well, when he put her shoes next to his in a whole pile of them.
He dragged her forward and some of the other couples joined in, Danny, Chin and Kono danced as well. The music was great, the people were great and Naomi was having the time of her life. She couldn't have asked for a better night.
-X-
Steve danced with Naomi and watched as she laughed at one of Spoon and his fiancé's antics. She was visibly relaxed tonight, compared to the night at the Governors ball and he could only wonder at the reason. It was probably just because everyone around was friendly and hospitable. Although he had no idea what her friends were like and what her social circle was like, but he could imagine the kind of crowd she usually hung out with.
"Having fun?" he asked her as he pulled her closer.
"Yes I am. Thank you for inviting me" she said as the song changed to something slower, 'With or Without You' by U2. Steve pulled her closer and Naomi didn't hesitate the way she had initially at the ball. She turned her face up to look at him, after she had taken off her sky high heels she barely reached his shoulder, "Can I ask you something Steve?"
"Please do" she smelled amazing, a mixture of flowers and something else he had no idea of.
"I was talking with Danny earlier and I mentioned that you invited me because you thought I was lonely, and Danny said that was not the reason" she paused taking a breath, "Why did you invite me Steve?"
Steve looked at her and smiled, expect a woman to ask something like that, especially someone who came across as naïve as Naomi. "Well he may be right". When he saw the puzzled look on her face he laughed, twirled her around and brought her closer to his body, "I invited you because I like you".
She smiled, "You like me?"
"Yeah. And I hope you like me too".
She became serious, "I like you too but there is no point". She looked away from him toward the ocean and he glimpsed sadness in her eyes.
"I like you, you like me, why is there no point?" he asked but he didn't get an answer, so he continued, "Is it because of logistics? I live here and you live in Virginia".
"Actually that's not a problem. I have been thinking of moving for a while and I really like Hawaii" her voice trailed away.
"Then what's the problem?" he felt like he was interrogating someone.
"Steve, when you rescued me from the kidnappers, I was lucky because I was a handful of girls who weren't raped. Apparently because of our virgin status we were to be sold into the European white slavery ring" she again paused and took a fortifying breath. He did the same and gripped her waist tighter. "When I returned I found it really hard to adjust but somehow I managed to meet someone, a great guy and we even got engaged, mostly due to our parents urging"
Steve stopped dancing and walked them toward the beach, away from the others, even though they would not have been heard. "What happened? Are you still engaged to him?" he asked and he hoped she wasn't.
She shook her head, "No, we broke up. And the reason we broke up was because I could not bring myself to be with him" she paused and he could make out she had gone red, but she continued. "I just couldn't bring myself to be intimate with him".
Steve felt himself getting angry, "So the jerk broke up with you instead of helping you".
"No, no! You see I was the one who broke up with him. He was very sweet and understanding, we were engaged for almost a year and I knew that he could not wait for me forever".
"So you think this is going to be a problem for us" now Steve understood that her problems were much deeper than he would have initially guessed.
"Of course it will be a problem. I cannot be with anyone, unless and until I get better. But I have already been to so many therapists and none of them have helped".
She had stopped and she looked at him, her expression full of misery, "So now you know that even though we both like each other, its pointless".
Steve looked upward and felt himself melting at her expression. He green eyes had haunted him for years and they would haunt him for a long, long time to come. He had never pursued a woman, mostly because he had never needed to. He had never felt an emotional bond with another woman before, and even though he hardly knew Naomi, he could feel some kind of bond between them. And he knew she felt it as well.
"Naomi, I know we hardly know each other. We have met a total of four times, twice in circumstances neither one of us would like to remember".
"I will never forget the day you rescued me, or the time you came to visit me in the hospital" she put her hand on his chest, and he was aware that it was the first time she had touched him of her own accord.
"I will always remember your eyes. And I know this is crazy but I like you more than any other woman" he cupped her face in his hands, "I know you're scared, but I want to see how we go. We don't have to call this anything, we can just be friends. But I still want you in my life and I want to be in yours".
Her hand clasped his wrist and she looked slightly relieved, "I would like that very much Steve. Because I like you more than any other man I have known. And in the four years since you rescued me, I have never forgotten you".
Steve couldn't help but smile back at her, she was so sweet, "Can I kiss you?"
She blushed, "I thought we were just going to be friends" she told him even though she smiled a little cheekily.
"Well I know of friends who kiss occasionally. But only if you want to" he caressed her soft cheek.
"Well then how can I argue with that? Maybe we can kiss occasionally" she laughed slightly and she sounded lighthearted.
Steve lowered his head and lightly brushed his mouth against hers. He held his lips there and slowly gave her little pecks on the lips, which she returned after only a slight hesitation. He dragged his mouth to her jaw, then her cheek and then to her forehead where he set his lips. She had put her arms around his waist and stood close to him.
"Do you want to go back to the party and dance some more?" he asked as he gathered her close and put his arm around her shoulders, while she continued to keep her arm around his waist.
She looked up at him with a smile playing on her pretty lips, "Yes please. And I am starving as well".
"Now how can I deny a lady a dance and sustenance?"
They walked toward the party still in each other's arms, and even though they received many surprised glances, Steve did not loosen his hold on her and neither did she give any indication that she was uncomfortable. That gave Steve some hope that their fledgling relationship, whatever that was to be was not doomed from the start.