Read Henchgirl (Dakota Kekoa Book 1) for Free Online Page B

trouble breathing before…
    Honua grinned up at him. She said in her too-loud voice, “Hey, do you know CPR? I think Dakota is turning blue.”
    He looked me over, gods save me. “You ok?” He asked.
    “Yeah,” I managed.
    Keanu Hale made Honua look even tinier, he probably had more than a foot on her and his muscular physique was twice her willowy frame. He looked like he belonged in a mural as an ancient Mabiian god risen from the sea to conquer maidens’ hearts, one at a time. That conquering hearts one-at a-time part was true.
    His smile made the insanity of my life just float away for a second and I smiled back. “How are you, Keanu?” I said, my voice a little high pitched.
    “Good,” he said, “Did Auli invite you to the party we’re having this weekend?”
    I peered back at Auli who was animatedly talking to the girls, probably taking this opportunity while I was away from the table to invite everyone to said party. “Not yet,” I said.
    “I’d love it if you could go,” he said.
    Oh wow.
    “I don’t know,” I said, regaining a little bit of the coy flirtatiousness that usually came so easily to me, “last time I went to a party at your house, I was the only one who showed up in a bikini.”
    “No,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “As I remembered everyone was in suits and half the party ended up in the pool.” He winked and said, “And even though I thought you were way too young for me then, I remember thinking you looked great.”
    I could not keep the goofy grin off my face as I said, “Thank you.”
    I did not correct his false memory, because the real one was bad, like worst teen moments bad. The real story was this: I was in seventh grade and I had been in at the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade side of Mabi Academy for about three months and making no headway with becoming best buddies with Auli. I had, at first, thought that this would be an in-and-out job, like all the rest. Make friends with Auli, get what I needed, then go back to my old school and training with Glacier. No such luck. Auli wouldn’t so much as lend me a spare pencil in an exam, let alone let me paint her toenails at an all-girl slumber party.
    The job was my first big one, and it was really big, one hundred thousand dollars for reconnaissance only — but I would have done it for free. And I was failing. When Auli and the twins came up to me in between classes I thought I had finally caught my break.
    Auli had grinned and said, “Hey,” she then clearly overacted a confused expression, “Dakota, right?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Do you like pool parties?” Ophelia asked, giggling.
    “Sure.” I said.
    “My brother is in high school and he’s having a Yule pool party at our house,” Auli said, “Would you like to come?”
    To my credit, I played it cool, just said, “Sure, love to,” and inserted her name and address into my phone.
    If I lived in a mansion, the house the Hales lived in was unclassifiable. Their property took up probably half of the countryside around Kapu town. My grandfather’s collected intelligence had told me the water wards on the Hale estate were three times stronger than the school wards. Still, wearing only my charm bracelet and a green bikini, I crossed the bridge just before the wall circling their estate and the two bridges over the water wards inside their estate without a problem.
    Auli had answered the door wearing a red strappy dress; she released cold indoor air on the warm day and gave me the happiest grin I had ever seen on her, before and after that day. “I’m so glad you made it,” she said, opening the door just wide enough so I could squeeze past her. When I was fully in, she closed it, turned around and yelled, “The entertainment is here!”
    I should have known the moment she opened the door wearing a dress, or when the cold air hit me, she wouldn’t have turned the air conditioning on for a pool party, but walking in I had been so awed by the enormity of the