Jaxson (4 page)

“So where are we headed next?”

“Ever been through the pineapple fields at night?”
Jax asked, raising his eyebrows in question.

The question caught her mid-bite and she could only shake her head no.

“Figure we might stroll that
way.”
He watched her closer for any apprehension to his plan.

“You mean on the bike, right?”

“Even I know not to make a lady walk that far in heels.”

“Did your mom teach you that?”
Kehau figured to be so gentlemanly he would have had to have a woman's input.

Jax verified her assessment,
“Amongst other things.”

“Are you an only child?”
wanting to know everything about him.

“
No. I'm the o
ldest of three, got two little sisters that like to drive me crazy.”
He pulled the pictures out of his wallet to show her.

“Small family.”

“Easy to keep track of though
.
My sisters still live on the mainland
.
Meilani wants to move out here for work after she graduates, and Nicky is thinking of going to law school.”

“Very nice.”
Kehau dropped the spoon in her now empty bowl
.
“That was amazing
.
If I wasn’t so stuffed I’d ask for another.”

“I believe it
,
” Jax told her
.
“I have to force myself to stay away
.
I only come up here once a month for a reason
.
Otherwise I’ll get fat.”

“You don’t look like you
have
any fat on your body at all
,
” Kehau retorted.

“It takes a lot of work
,
” he assured her.

"So
,
how come I've never seen you in the gym before?"

"Normally I'm busy on Saturday mor
nings. Today was my day off, but
I couldn't sleep any longer so I came down to try
to
work myself to sleep."

"Lucky me."
Her hands fell on his
.
"Seriously
.
Thank you."
Even if I don't know how you expect me to fulfill that ‘thank you’.

"You're welcome
.
And you don't owe me anything for it."

That caught her off-guard
.
"What?"

"Don't like men that hit women
. I d
on't like them at all."

"Is that why
you
broke his arm?"

"Pretty much
.
Now, if you wanted to pay me back with a kiss, I wouldn't complain, but I'm not going to demand anything from you
.
Hell
,
I figured after this morning
,
you wouldn't want anything to do with me."

Kehau was flabbergasted
.
Just off looks alone, she'd have said yes to a date
.
Throw in
the
chivalrous behavior and she was hooked
.
But this
?
What was she supposed to do with a man who had a white
knight complex
?

Workin' on mysteries without any clues

Workin' on our night moves

Tryin' to make some front page drive-in news

Workin' on our night moves

In the summertime

In the sweet summertime

Bob Seger "Night Moves"

The pineapple fields were quiet now, with very little traffic coming either way
.
Jax turned off the main road and headed up onto a promontory overlooking the area
.
He killed the motorcycle’s engine,
the
headlights going out immediately
.
At once, darkness enveloped them
.
Kehau’s eyes adjusted, and in short order, she could see the stars overhead clearly.

"Oh wow
.
This is incredible!"

"Second favorite place on
the
island
.
Come out here all the time
,
” Jax said quietly.

"I don't blame you
.
It's beautiful
,
” she breathed
.
“I’ve never seen the stars like this.”

“Only other time I’ve seen it so clear was on deployment.”

“Iraq
?
Or Afghanistan?”

“Both
. Didn't
have anything to tie me down so I kept transferring to units as they got ready to go, went back out and had more fun.”

He said it wistfully, and Kehau was suddenly reminded of a conversation during
girls' night.
Carli’s sister was visiting on vacation and had joined them
.
She proceeded to get very drunk, complaining about her boyfriend, becoming visibly upset over what he had said to her before she got on
the
plane to Hawaii
.

“He says he wants to go out on deployment again. I think he’s happier there than with me!”

Things had degraded from there with the aid of tequila, and she couldn’t remember anything past that
.
But those words had stuck with her, and she wondered once more—
why would a man choose to go away to war, when he could be safe at home?

“You miss it
,
don’t you?”

“A little
.
It’s hard, scary, crazy, and sane all at once
,
”
he
paused as if picking his words
,
“I think mostly I miss going out with my brothers and raising hell
.
We had a lot of fun together.”
He shook his head, tossing the shoulder-length curls from side to side
.
“Enough about that, tell me about you
," ending the subject as quickly as it started.

For what seemed a long while, they lay on a blanket pulled from his saddlebags, talking and staring at the stars
.
Ambitions, dreams, desires
.
Jax hated the chili at Zippy's, but loved their chicken katsu
.
Kehau preferred macadamias to chocolate dobash in her malasadas.

Even as late as it was, Jax didn't feel tired, he was busy having too much fun just talking
.
She was so sweet and funny, with a sexy voice that kept him hanging on
to
her every word
.
Lying this close to her, Jax could smell the citrus scent of her shampoo
.
He wanted to bury his face in it and breathe in that glorious scent.

“Are those rain clouds?” Kehau asked suddenly
, looking up
.

Jax followed her finger toward a lowlying patch rolling across the night sky
.
Trained eyes studied them intensely.

"You’re right, rain
,
" he announced matter-of-factly
.

"Do you think we'll make it?" Kehau asked him, a worried look on her face.

"Only one way to find out
,
" he said, a genuine smile crossing his face as he stood and offered her his hand.

"What's that?"

"See if we can outrun them."

In the end, they couldn't
.
Halfway down H2, the clouds began to spill their load
.
Rain pelted their bodies as they rode back toward Kehau's house
.
Despite this, Jax felt the smile on his face might have to be surgically removed
. Nothing about
her he didn't like
, the
way she moved, laughed, talked,
and
teased
.
Everything about her was something to admire
.
Helluva lot better than my last girlfriend
.

A cadence came to mind then, one they'd sang in formation runs around the base.

Jodie, Jodie six foot five

Jodie don't deserve to be alive

Think I'm gonna take a three-day pass

Then I'm gonna go kick Jodie's ass!

Jax had kicked Jodie's ass as a matter of fact
.
He
realized he was tensing up and physically forced his body to relax
.
Years ago, he’d learned the hard way that he broadcast
ed
his emotions to everybody around him
.
It got especially bad after he came back from Helmand
.
Time and some reasonably decent therapy helped
.
Once people learned he wasn't a ticking time
bomb waiting to go off, they realized he wasn't hard to work with
.
They had to play by his rules though
.

Now he concentrated on the gorgeous woman behind him
.
What wasn't there to like about her
?
Not a single thing
.
His grin returned full force
.
And she's a good girl, not some Jodie bait
.
He shifted into the right lane, headed down the off-ramp to her house
.
Which sucks for me, because I really do not want this night to end
.
At least not outside of her bed
.
He wanted to ask her
, which of
his
friends did
she
find out
his
favorite color from?
He badly wanted to pull that green dress off her body an inch at a time and see what it took to make her moan
.
But she's a good girl, and what the hell does a man do with that
?
Jax shook his head of his own thoughts.

Pulling up to the curb slowly, Jax killed the engine.

“Sorry we have to cut it short,” he said as Kehau unwrapped herself and stood.

Jax rotated in his seat to look up at her. Even soaked to the skin by the falling rain, she was gorgeous to behold.
Dear God
,
I want you in my arms
,
woman
!
Cursing at his rotten luck. Why did the night have to end like this?

Standing two feet from him, Kehau grappled with a question she’d been fighting all night.
Do I kiss him or not
?
You know you want to
,
she told herself.
And it’s gonna hurt like hell to kiss him with bruised cheeks
.
Jax stood then and gave her a hug.

“Thanks for the wonderful time tonight. I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful, funny woman to spend it with.”

That does it, I’m kissing you whether you like it or not
!
Especially because my cheeks hurt!

The typical Hawaiian goodbye is a hug and a kiss to the cheek. When Jax went to kiss her cheek though, Kehau’s lips were waiting for him. In an instant, those hungry lips grabbed ahold of his. For a moment, Jax was stunned. But certain reactions are instinctual, and after living on three continents, Jaxson Kuznia knew about women. He returned her vigor in kind, running his tongue across her lips. She tasted even better than she looked.

His hands began to make small soft circles on her back and she moaned inarticulately. His right hand strayed down, running across her flank ever so slowly, enjoying the feel of strong, toned muscle beneath dusky skin. His left hand made similar motions, and both drifted even further down, across the back of her thighs.
Who dares wins
.
His hands lifted her up and off her feet. For a moment, she was held up only by the strength of his arms, then he felt those same gorgeous legs wrap around his waist as she began to kiss him with renewed vigor.

Barely able to contain himself, Jax sat down on the seat of his bike as they gave in to the feelings they could no longer hide.

*****

"
It's after
one
in the morning, where are they?" Carli said anxiously as she grabbed yet another Heineken from the fridge, her eighth so far.

Marissa had gone to sleep nearly an hour before, pleading the need to get some rest before church in the morning.

"Relax
.
If we really need to, we’ll wake up Marissa and have her call her cousin
,
Kimo
,
over at HPD
.
Now sit down and relax
,
" Pua commanded.

"Okay, I'll relax, but first I’m gonna
go turn on the porch light and see if they're here yet,
" Carli decided.

Taking a pull from the bottle, Carli opened the front door
.
For the second time that night, she felt her jaw hit the ground
.
Parked beside the curb right in front of the house, Kehau was straddling Jax's lap, her dress pushed up
as
far as it would go
with
her muscular legs wrapped around his waist
.
His hands were tangled in her long dark tresses and they were kissing each other with wild ferocity
.
The light rain falling down on them was completely forgotten as he bared her neck to a slow series of kisses beginning on her jaw
.
The kisses ended at her collarbone as he bit into the soft juncture between shoulder and neck, causing her to gasp in surprise and pleasure.

Hell
,
I can hear them from here
!
s
he realized with a start
.
Kehau was moaning as she ground her pelvis into his hips
.
Carli had never been a voyeur, but at this moment, decency was swept aside as the sight of the passionate kissing stirred a fire within her
.
I can even see his muscles beneath that wet shirt
.
Her thighs clenched together tightly, fighting the urge
.
Kehaulani, I'm glad you met him, but right now, I loathe you
!

Carli finally turned around, her beer forgotten as she closed the door, face flushed
.

"Wow
,
"
s
he announced to the room.

"What's wow?" Pua asked.

"Don't look outside unless you've got a damned good sex life."

In moments, two more faces were peering outside, just able to make out the scene at the curb.

"Oh my
G
od
.
This is really happening!” Pua exclaimed.

"I'm never gonna be able to watch
The Notebook
ever again
,
"
Nikole
said with finality
.

Carli didn’t hear any of it, she was off in her bedroom, with the door closed
.
She either handled this now, or she’d be up half the night thinking about it
.
Damn it all to hell, how did Kehau get so lucky?
Carli wondered as she found what she looking for
.
Would it be too much to ask for a sexy guy who likes being my midnight booty call
?
She hit the ‘on’ button
to her familiar friend.
“I fucking guess so
,
”
closing her eyes, feeling the vibrations of her BOB as she replayed the scene she'd watched, knowing it wouldn't take her long to detonate.

Minutes later, she rejoined the women in the living room,
her
blonde hair slightly frazzled, but at least she had gotten rid of the
aching burn
between her legs
.
Taking a long pull from the Heineken, she realized with disgust the night had gone straight to hell
.
She stood on wobbly legs
.
“Anybody else up for a round of the new Srichacha Vodka I bought?”

“Better make mine a triple shot
,
” Pua ordered
.
The other two women quickly followed her lead
.
It was a very good night to get drunk
.