Skyler worked Jiyong through a series of exercises intended to tone the muscles that were now facile. The effort he put forth was halfhearted at best. Then when she reprimanded him for his sloth, he pushed himself too hard and ended up with a cramp she had to massage out while he cursed her along with his pain. She consigned him to bed to rest, moving his wheelchair our of arm’s reach, which won her even more curses.

Of late, Skyler had loitered in Jiyong’s room between sessions. They watched game shows and soap operas on TV, listened to music, played board games and cards or simply talked. However today, she avoided his room until time for the afternoon session.

It went worse than the morning’s. Her nerves began unraveling from the moment she went in and he said, “Don’t ever keep my chair away from me again,” until they finally became completely frazzled when he flatly refused to complete a knee exercise by saying, “I’m not going to do it anymore.”

“Fine!” Skyler withdrew her support of his leg. It landed with a thud on the mat.
 

“As long as you feel that way about it, I think I’ll take you up on that day off your referred to this morning. You reminded me that I haven’t had one since I got here.”

An hour later she left her bedroom suite trailing the scent of perfume in her wake. She was wearing a strapless red cotton dress that showed off her tanned shoulder and cleavage. The wrap-around skirt was narrow. The overlap formed a slit that widened to display long, shapely thighs with each step she took in her strappy high heels. One side of her hair was pulled back behind her ear and secured there with a large, sparkly barette. The plumeria lei was around her neck.

When she walked into the kitchen, she dazzled both men.

“Don’t wait up for me, Daesung-ie. It’ll probably be very late before I get back.”

Jiyong was sitting at the table in his wheelchair, eating the cold supper Daesung had prepared. Sky ignored him as though he weren’t there. She gave Daesung a little wave and backed out the door.

As she drove down the curving mountain road, she wondered if she had laid it too thick.

No. Jiyong hadn’t taken her seriously when she had told him that there could be no recurrence of last night’s kiss. If she was going to succeed in getting him to walk, he must continue to think of her as his therapist and nothing more. Slave drive, yes. Cheerleader and coach, yes. But he mustn’t look upon her as a playmate and love object.

Mild flirtations were fine. They served to boost his confidence and ego. Naughty bantering kept the mood light and lively. But not by any stretch of the definition did last night resemble a mild flirtation.

She ate dinner alone at an elegant Oriental restaurant, ordering courses she didn’t want to drag out the meal as long as possible. She warded off the attention of two sailors who accosted her on the street, offering her money and a night of seriously doubtful ecstasy. Purchasing two tickets at a movie theater, she watched first one film, then moved to the next. The first was mediocre, the second nearly put her to sleep.

Having wasted sufficient time, she drove home. Quietly she let herself into the house. Standing just inside the front door, she slipped off her sandals and headed for the stairs.

Jiyong’s wheelchair shot out of the living room and nearly collided with her. She let our a squeak of fright.

“Watch that damn thing, will you?” she snapped. “You nearly ran over my foot.”

“Have a good time?”

“I had a blast.”

“Where’d you go?”

“To Lahaina.”

“Lahaina! You drove all the way to Lahaina by yourself?”

“I’ve been driving by myself since the day I turned twenty-one, Dragon. Most places I go, I drive myself.”

“Don’t get smart.”

“And don’t get possessive. Yes, I went to Lahaina becasuse I’d never been there. It’s a nice place to visit. I saw some charming sights, ate a wonderful dinner and had a lot of fun. It was just the kind of diversion I needed. But it exhausted me, so I’m going to bed. Good night.”

“Just a minute. Where’d you go?”

“I told you.”

“I mean, where’d you have this ‘lot of fun’”?

“I don’t remember.” She would be damned before she’d tell him she had spent the evening alone in a movie theater.

“Is your memory clouded by drink and drugs?”

“Now who’s being smart? I don’t remember the name of the place. What difference does it make?” It had a thatched roof, I think.” Sky searched her memory for the name of the club she passed on the outskirts of the tourist town.

“Shack something, I think.”

“The Sugar Shack! You went to the Sugar Shack by youself?”

“Same song, different verse.”

“That’s the main pickup joint on the island. You can get everything from to venereal disease in that place.”

“Is this the voice of experience speaking?”

Jiyong eyes shot daggers at her through the darkness.

“But you would fit right into that crowd, wouldn’t you? You even dress the part of a pickup. You blended right into the dare-anything, do-everything, what-the-hell crowd.”

Sky tilted her head to one side and said cockily, “Let’s put it this way, Da-dd-y. I had some kicks but I didn’t meet anybody I could have a lasting relationship with.”

“Did you get laid?”

Sky went hot all over, first with embarrassement, then with rage. She was too angry to speak, so Jiyong used the opportunity to rub salt into the wound he’d just inflicted.

“That’s what you went out for, isn’t it?”

He reached up and flattened his hand against her lower body.

“To get some other guy put out the hot fire I stoked here last night?”

Glaring down at him, Skyler stepped out of his reach. She removed the lei and threw it into his lap. Only then did she notice the highball glass in his hand.

“You’re drunk. Therefore I’m going to ignore your cross-examination and your insults. But just for the record book, if I had gone out to get laid, as you so coarsely put it, that would be no concern of yours.”

She took one final dig at him from the top of the stairs.

“Lord have mercy on your tomorrow if you’ve got a serious case of hangover.”