From there they headed for Kauleonanahoa. Lani had the hardest time pronouncing it. “What the heck does it mean, anyway?” she asked, finally giving up on her attempt to say the word. “Maybe if I know the meaning I can come up with a suitable abbreviation.”
Ridge gave her a crooked smile as he looked down at her from his way taller than six-foot height. “You're sure you want to know?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“Because it’s referring to the phallic stone of Moloka’i. The word means ‘the penis of Nanahoa’.”
Surprised, Lani raised her eyebrows. “Really?”
Ridge nodded. “It’s a six-foot high symbol of fertility.” Then he chuckled. “You never know. It may give you some ideas.”
“I doubt it.”
Later when she saw the rock she had to admit it was a sight to behold. A naturally formed rock looking like that personal part of the male anatomy. Imagine that. And although Ridge would never hear it from her lips, the rock looked so like the real thing that it did give her some ideas, naughty ones which would best be kept to herself.
And it was a good thing she did, too, because that night when they got back to their suite Ridge looked like all that hiking and fresh air had made him raunchy as a ram. He wasn’t making any unwanted moves on her – he was probably too much of a gentleman to overstep his boundaries – but he was restless as a three-year old, pacing back and forth in the living room until she feared he would wear a path in the carpet. Then when he tired of that he went out onto the balcony, flopped down onto the wicker sofa and propped his feet on the balcony railing but within minutes he was back inside again, pacing up and down until she had to throw him out.
When, almost an hour later, she went out onto the balcony and asked if he wanted to go down to dinner he shook his head. “Let’s eat out here,” he said. “Order room service. I’m not in the mood to mix and mingle tonight.”
And so they dined in –Saimin, an Asian-style noodle soup, followed by chicken katsu and fried Mahimahi. They finished off with bowls of pineapple flavored shaved ice.
“Mmm, that was good,” Lani said with a sigh. “I am so full.” She gave a playful groan. “You’re going to have to roll me into my room.”
Instead of the laughter she’d expected for that funny comment she got a serious look from Ridge. He cleared his throat. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” he said, his voice sounding strange in its brusqueness. “That’s not your room anymore.” And that was where he stopped, saying nothing more, like that terse statement was sufficient.
Lani waited but when nothing further seemed forthcoming she decided to speak. “What do you mean, that’s not my room anymore?” she asked, frowning. And then her face cleared. “You’re such a child. Do you mean to tell me you want us to switch rooms just because I picked the bigger one? Oh, please. Grow up, will you?” She was laughing now, laughing at him for being so petty.
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, and he wasn’t laughing. “I meant that you’re not going to be sleeping in that room anymore. Neither am I. You’re going to be sleeping with me.”
Lani’s brows shot up then she folded her arms across her chest and glared back at Ridge. “Excuse me? Have you forgotten something? Just in case you did, let me remind you. We have an agreement.”
“And that agreement stands,” he responded, his tone cold. “I told you I would not make love to you, not unless you wanted me to. I intend to honor that agreement.” Then he sat forward and the dark-eyed gaze he fixed on her was determined. “But I never said that would mean we were going to occupy separate spaces.”
Lani gasped, shocked that he would put such a spin on things. “No, you never said that but of course I assumed-”
“You assumed wrong.”
But Lani was not about to accept that. “So why didn’t you stop me when I unpacked my stuff in that other room? Why am I hearing about this now?”
“Because,” he said with a shrug, a casual gesture that belied the intensity of his gaze, “I changed my mind.”
“You can’t do that,” she said in strident protest.
“Who says I can’t?”
“Well…” For a moment she was stumped. “Well, you just can’t.”
“Sure I can,” he said, seeming to become more adamant by the second. “And I will. Tonight you’re sleeping in my bed.” When she opened her mouth to repeat her protest he put up a hand to stop her. “I’m not going to touch you. I already told you that. You have absolutely no reason to fear for your,” he smiled, “feminine virtue.”
“Then why are you doing this?” she half cried, half wailed. “Does it make sense for us to torture ourselves?” As soon as the words left her lips Lani realized her mistake.
Immediately, Ridge picked up on her slip of the tongue, his eyes lighting up with an ah-ha look. “Torture ourselves?” he asked, looking way too pleased. “It would only be mutual torture if I wanted you…and you wanted me right back. So,” he sat back in his chair and folded his arms, the smile on his lips widening, “are you saying that you want me?”
“Never,” she hissed and hopped up from her chair. “I would never give you that satisfaction.”
“Hmm.” He loosened his arms and lifted his hand to rub his chin in an exaggerated gesture of thoughtfulness. “Maybe you should think about that. You might want to consider giving yourself the satisfaction.”
“Ugh.” With a a guttural explosion of frustration Lani whirled around and marched back into the suite and straight to her room. Yes, it was her room and she was not going to let Ridge Kent bully her out of it. She would lock the door if she had to.
And she would have, except that the stupid door didn’t have a lock. She couldn’t even resort to the option of propping a tilted chair behind the door. Outside of the sofa and two wicker armchairs there were only bar stools at the kitchen counter. For a place this posh you’d think they would have even one real chair. Darn.
And so when Ridge left the balcony and came – uninvited – into her room, it was to find her sitting on her bed, arms folded, still sulking. She’d had such a high opinion of him, thinking he would never invade her space. Well, not anymore. Her opinion of him just plummeted to an all-time low.