He was a champion, the darling of the NFL. He’d almost landed on the Steamers’ roster. If that had happened, she would have turned down the owner’s offer for her position. Gia had never been able to face him. Not once. The last time she saw Kona was at the Blue Devil’s team house. She’d yelled at him for blackening Luka’s eye. Not long after that, they were both gone and Gia had never said goodbye to either of them.
“Gia?” she heard, shutting her eyes at the pitch of Reese’s voice, how it carried over the noise of the crowd, how Kai and Kona both turned to see who’d called her.
Then her placekicker stood next to her, elbowing her a little, her mouth dropping open when she spotted Kona. The big man gave Reese a once over, his lips moving in a half-grin as he nodded to her, a clear gesture that he knew her and approved, before he moved his gaze to Gia.
Kona’s eyes were so similar to Luka’s. The shape was identical, the color, a shade darker, the irises moving over her face, the lids rounding as though he only just recognized her.
“Jilani?” Kona said, dropping his mouth open as he walked toward her.
“You know Gia?” Kai asked Kona, following the bigger man to greet them.
At her right, Reese touched Gia’s arm and she could make out the kicker’s worried expression in her peripheral vision. “Gia…” Reese started, “you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Kona lost his smile, seeming to hear Reese’s words and register them instantly as he watched Gia, his head in a slow nod. “Well,” he said, his face bunching up quick, like he didn’t care for the thoughts that moved around in his head. “I guess she has.”
There was a lot that passed between them just then. Gia wondered if Kona thought about that last night in the team house. She wondered if Kona knew it was her Luka left behind when Keira called to go save his twin. God, she wanted to go back to that room and be with Luka, standing in just her bra and panties as he talked to Keira on the phone. There’d been no fear on his face. The expression he’d worn had been pure and sweet and told Gia everything she needed to know about Luka Hale…about how much he loved her.
Gia let the frown on her face stay for a half a second too long; long enough that when Kai spotted it, when he looked at Kona reaching his hand toward her, she had to make a point of forcing herself to smile. Gia realized she’d have to wear her game face. She’d have to don the professional persona that had gotten her through so many confrontations in her career.
“Gia Jilani,” Kona finally said, sounding amazed. “Twenty years is a long, long time.”
It was yesterday, she thought. It was a lifetime ago.
He’d changed so much. Then again, considering all she’d heard about him the past couple of years—him and Keira finding each other again, Kona discovering he had a son with her, them marrying and having more babies, him retiring from the NFL and taking a coaching position with CPU—it all somehow fit. It made sense to her.
“Congratulations, Kona,” she told him, hoping the waver in her voice was only in her imagination. She could do this, handle herself around him. “I’m so happy for all the good you’ve had lately. You deserve it.”
She meant it. Gia liked to think Luka would be so happy for his twin. The man seemed to have such a beautiful life.
“I’m blessed,” he told her, but Gia was only half listening. Kai watched her, his gaze penetrating, fierce and she wondered if he was figuring it out, if her reaction to Kona, if his to hers made everything obvious now. Did he know now who’d made her heartsick? “Very blessed,” Kona continued, his smile growing. “But then so are you.” Then, Kona slipped his attention to Kai, glancing at Reese when she stepped closer. “It’s awesome what you’ve done and my cousin Puk here…”
“Cousin?”
That couldn’t be…there was no way.
Cat had researched. The pendant. They’d looked everywhere. They’d dug in Kai’s family history. They’d tried to make the connections between his background and the Hale family and came up with nothing. But if Kona was saying they were cousins…
She watched Kai’s expression, getting the confirmation she didn’t expect when he threw Kona a glare. Gia shut her eyes, trying