I hadn’t answered right away, so Lexi being Lexi, decided to start with her line of questioning like I was in an interrogation. “Who made the first move?”
“Well, I sang karaoke.”
“You did not.” Neva gawked at me with her eyes as big as saucers. “And he still fucked you?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s like the kiss of death, girl. The man must really have it bad for you.”
Lexi sat down in the chair next to me, watching me in the mirror. “Shut up, Neva. What did you sing?”
“Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”
“Shut up.”
“She got some big lady balls, this one, Lexi, right?”
They laughed and I blushed. I’d known the move was risky, but it was easier to sing him the words than to keep beating around the bush. The trip to Seattle was about more than a piece of furniture. It was a “shit or get off the pot” type of thing, and I wasn’t going to let Kane keep on insisting we were only friends anymore.
“Big.” Lexi laughed, answering Neva before she nodded to me. “Keep going.” She rolled her hand in a circle like I’d been the one to stop the conversation when it was entirely their fault.
“Anyway, after Kane knocked some poor kid off the stage—”
“What?”
“Shut up, Neva. You know Kane ain’t going to let anyone touch what’s his. Let her get to the good stuff already.”
“So, after he stormed off and went back to his hotel room, I went after him.”
“That’s my girl.”
Lexi gave Neva the same shut-the-fuck-up glare she’d just given her moments ago. “You interrupt one more time and I’m going to give you bangs, and we both know you don’t look good with them.”
Neva snarled but didn’t say another word. I had to agree with Lexi. Neva looked like shit with bangs, and they weren’t in style this season anyway. That much I knew just from hanging out with the girls because fashion in any form wasn’t my thing.
“We have five minutes until Kane’s here. You better talk fast.” Lexi gave me a stern look, and I wondered if she was going to ask Kane the same questions she was asking me.
“I went to his room and pushed my way inside.”
“You made the first move?” Neva slapped her hand over her mouth, knowing she was on the verge of losing some hair. She quickly snatched the scissors off the station and jammed them into her back pocket. “I’ll shut up now.”
I was laughing so hard at this point, I was practically in tears, but I kept talking before all hell broke loose between them. “I pushed my way inside and told him I was done playing games.”
When I paused, remembering the way Kane stalked toward me and grabbed my hips before he kissed me, Lexi shook my chair, growing impatient. “Come on. Don’t stop there, or I’ll give you bangs too.” She smiled playfully, knowing full well that my forehead was too short for bangs and I’d look like the world’s biggest fashion don’t if I had them.
“I told him I couldn’t keep pretending.”
“My girl. She’s a genius.” They both beamed like proud teachers, pleased that their student had successfully carried out the assignment without missing a single step.
“Bed?” Lexi raised an eyebrow.
“There was a bed in there somewhere,” I said, smirking like an idiot remembering the way he did me.
“Where else?”
“Please don’t say the floor. You know how unsanitary those hotel rooms can be,” Neva said, scrunching her face.
“Neva, shut the fuck up. You’ve done it in the bathroom at a club. Can’t be any place dirtier than there.”
“Lexi, my love, I remember you banging that intern against the dumpster at the last remodel. Don’t judge me.”
I scrubbed my hands down my face, my cheeks aching from smiling so much at Lexi and Neva as they hurled insults back and forth like it was a sport.
“Did you get off?”
“I mean…” I paused and bit my lip because I wasn’t sure how much detail I should tell them. They may never be able to look at Kane the same way again. “Well, yeah.”
“More than once?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“He a biter? Based on that mark on your neck, I’d say he’s a rough one.” Lexi bounced in her chair like she was riding a bull, bucking against the leather. “Damn that’s hot.”
“Yeah, I can’t picture Kane gentle, and he doesn’t seem like a missionary kinda guy either.”
“He’s definitely not.”
All three of us giggled until Kane cleared his throat and closed the trailer door. We’d all been so engrossed in the conversation that I wasn’t sure how long he’d been standing there.
“Oh, hey, Kane. We were just talking about Asher,” Lexi said, trying to play it off, but based on the look on Kane’s face, he’d heard more than we wanted him to.
“Umm-hmm,” he muttered, walking toward the chair as Lexi scurried to her feet for Kane to sit down.
He glanced my way, shooting me a quick wink and a smile. I probably looked like a deer in headlights, freaked out that maybe I said too much and I wasn’t sure how Kane would take us talking about our sex life.
“You ladies having a good morning?” Kane glanced at each of them in the mirror, throwing them his panty-melting smile, the one he pulled off without even trying.
“Yep.” Lexi grabbed the clippers off her station but didn’t look Kane in the eyes. “How about you? Have a nice trip?”
Neva sucked her lips into her mouth to stop herself from laughing. I gave her a don’t fucking do it face in the mirror because I knew she was chomping at the bit to say something to him.
“Perfect.”
Lexi smacked her lips together, fighting back a shit-eating grin. “We heard.”
“And, ladies,” Kane said, grinning from ear to ear. “Real men don’t dig missionary.”
My mouth dropped open, and I gripped the side of the chair, trying to stop myself from falling clean out of it. Kane had always been so private, but today, he was playful and willing to share more than I ever imagined.
Lexi and Neva glanced at each other, mouths hanging open and just as shocked as I was with Kane’s statement. He, on the other hand, looked pleased that he was able to shut everyone up and gave them what they wanted with a single statement.
Kane Kaino never ceased to amaze me, changing into someone I hadn’t seen before. He was playful and, dare I say, happier than I’d ever seen him before.
Epilogue
KANE
“So, let me see if I got this right…” Kiel stood with his hands in his pockets, squinting down across the boat as Kit got closer to the bow. There were two orcas twelve feet off the starboard side, and Kit looked ready to burst. But my baby brother didn’t like what he saw. “You’re gonna let your woman be handled by that asshole?” He nudged his chin up, gesturing toward the tour guide standing at Kit’s side.
“What?” I asked, frowning when Kiel shook his head.
“The hell you mean, ‘what’?” My brother frowned, arms folded tight as we watched the guide, a big guy, probably ten or so years younger than me and twice my size.
The smile hadn’t left Kit’s face since we first cleared the coast and the whales started surfacing. I’d have paid thousands more for a private tour, for a dozen more chances at Kit spotting those orcas just to keep that look on her face.
My kid brother though, for whatever reason, wasn’t feeling our ocean adventure. “Look at that shit,” he said, taking a step when the boat jostled and the guide held Kit around the waist.
“Hey,” I told Kiel, stopping him with a hand to his shoulder. “Calm the fuck down. You’ll ruin this trip for her if you start shit.”
“You’re serious?” he said, brushing off my fingers. “This asshole is working an angle with her, and you’re just standing here like…”
“Like what?” I asked, folding my arms. There was a smile on my face too. It had been there for months, ever s
ince that trip to the city with Bill. Didn’t think there was anything that could wipe it from my mouth. “Like a guy who is happy his woman is thrilled she’s ticking off the last item on her bucket list? Yeah. I’m just gonna stand here and let her have her fun.” I sat down, winking at Kit when she waved at me, nodding for at least the twentieth time at the orcas. “Look at her. I haven’t seen her smile like that since…” Kiel shot me a glance when I didn’t elaborate, frowning like he was missing something, but I damn sure wasn’t going to tell him about Kit and me and how we celebrated her finishing the half marathon.
Still daydream about that shit.
“You’ve changed,” Kiel told me, and I rolled my eyes, waving him off.
It wasn’t the first time he’d said that to me since Kit and I had decided to make things official. Not walk down the aisle official, but we had keys to each other’s places in the city and toothbrushes we both kept in case of sleepovers. We weren’t rushing. We were fucking basking.
“Maybe,” I told him, stretching out my legs as I watched Kit take about the millionth picture of the whales. “But so the fuck what?”
Next to me, Kiel sighed, looking like a kid whose favorite superhero had gone all rogue and villainous. I grinned to myself, wondering what the asshole would do if I up and yelled “Hail, Hydra” at him.
“Listen, man, get used to it.” I leaned back on my hands as Kiel looked out over the water. “Are you pissed because you didn’t get a shot with her, or are you pissed because I’m not moping around miserable, pining after her?”
My brother shook his head and lowered his shoulders. “Neither.” Kiel scrubbed his face, glancing once in my direction, but he didn’t look at me straight on. “I…got offered a job.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded, then sat up straight. “In…New York.”
It took me a second to let the surprise wash over me, but when it did, I kept the complaints to myself. “That right?”
“I know what you’re gonna say,” he told me, looking at me.
“I got nothing to say.”
My brother turned, body leaned toward me as he went on staring at Kit. “It was a long time ago, and she’s nowhere near the city.”
“That girl fucked with you.”
He shook his head, rubbing his eyes as though just that small gesture would keep the memory of his ex out of his head. I’d seen my brother weak and stupid over women before, but shit, that particular chick had totally fucked him ragged.
“Like I said, it was a long time ago, and we’ve had zero contact.” He finally glanced at me, relaxing the tension in his face. “I’m not a kid anymore, and this is a good opportunity for me. Great sources and a bump in pay. Besides, it’s New York.” He watched as Kit took a picture of the guide giving her a thumbs-up, one of the whales in the background dipping below the water’s surface. “Going back to New York has always been the plan. Besides, you’ve got Kit.”
I nodded, standing when the guide motioned for Kit to return to her seat. “I do,” I said, pulling her to my side when she came next to me.
“You do what?”
“He’s got you, Kit,” Kiel said, rolling his eyes. “So he doesn’t need me anymore.”
I glared at my brother, laughing when he grinned at Kit like an asshole. “Like I needed him before.”
“Before what?” Kit asked, ignoring Kiel when his cell rang and he turned toward the back of the boat.
“Nothing, baby.” A sharp wind circled around us, and I pulled Kit closer, tugging my jacket open to cover her shoulders with it when she faced me, cheek against my chest. “You have fun?”
“It was the best.” She gave me a squeeze, then turned her face to watch the water. “Best time I’ve ever had with my clothes on.”
“Yeah?” I asked, laughing when I felt her smile against my collarbone.
“Oh, yeah, but it makes me a little sad.”
“What does?”
Kit inhaled, stepping back a little to look up at me. “Jess’s list. We’re all finished. This was the last item.”
I squinted down at her, running through all the things her cousin had wanted, each item completed, every one by Kit, with me tagging along, sometimes nagging her until it was done.
“Last one.” I frowned, looking over her head as I held her close. “Well, actually, the last one was the most important.”
“It was,” she said, and the warmth from her mouth told me she couldn’t keep from smiling. “And the best.”
“You sure that’s all? Every item done? Even that last one?”
Kit laughed, stepping back again to watch me. She pulled her hand free from the warmth of my jacket and ran her thumb along my bottom lip.
“She wanted me to fall in love. I think I did that a long time ago.”
I had too, but there was no need to tell Kit that. She knew me well. She knew everything about waiting and needing and finally having what she wanted. We’d both done that.
“Well, now I think the real test should be the first item on a new list.”
“What’s that?” she asked, frowning when I only smiled at her.
“Staying in love.”
Kit stretched up on her toes, kissing me slowly, the smallest tease that tasted like sugar on my tongue.
“That’s not a challenge, Kane. Not for me.”
“Me either, baby.”
The End
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The woman two rows ahead of me knew she was beautiful. She knew how to work what the good Lord gave her. She also knew I was watching.
“Would you like another whiskey, Mr. Kaino?” It was only the soft twang in the flight attendant’s voice that got my attention off the curvy brunette sitting front and center in first class.
“Please,” I told her, not able to keep the wink from my eyelid. Couldn’t keep from watching the woman’s face as she leaned over my tray and topped up my drink. Smelled like peaches, all sweet and tantalizing, but I’d never been able to split my focus when it was caught. Just then, it stayed on that pair of legs at the front of the plane and the drop of one heel as the brunette slipped off her shoe. I liked the smooth curve of her legs. They were firm, the calves supple, strong. “Thank you.”
The whiskey went down with a bite, something I found oddly comforting, something that did little to keep the swirl of arousal from my gut when the leggy brunette rubbed her ankle, thumb pressing down into the arch of her foot before she shifted a gaze over her shoulder, eyes lidded, fucking sexy and dark.
My brother Kane had schooled me about women. Especially women like this. But his opinions shifted to the old-school kind. He liked to play the protector. He liked to be straightforward, honest about what he wanted. But Kane was happily besotted back in Seattle with his love Kit Carlyle. And currently, the cable viewing audience and the rest of the country were taken by the PDA they displayed on their home improvement show.
Kane could have his woman and the happily ever after they were building together. Me? I liked to play. I liked the game, and I was a fucking ace at it.
I took in the look Legs gave, watched the slip of her small tongue against her bottom lip, spotted the tease of cleavage she gave me when she bent down, stretching to grab her shoe that had somehow ended up in the next row over. Accident, I’m sure. But deep down, I hoped she’d started the game—one I’d win. One that would end with me leaning back as that sexy woman rode me in the airport bathroom.
It would be a good way to welcome myself to New York. Celebrate in a JFK stall, maybe a service closet while no one was expecting me until the next morning. I shot a smile at the woman currently stretc
hing, standing to the overhead compartment to retrieve something. Another play she made that told me she was a bit of an ace herself. She wore a fitted skirt and flowy blouse with a cinched waist. It made that glorious body look dangerous, and I was in the mood to be a little reckless. Legs looked around the cabin, shrugging to herself when no flight attendant approached, and pulled open the compartment, grabbing what looked like a small wallet.
She was out of the compartment in under a minute, but not before she turned to face me, adjusting something in her seat that brought her body facing me, her gaze jumping from the blanket she pretended to fix right to my face. I held that sharp gaze a full six seconds, examining the planes of her pretty face, the smooth, young skin, the pronounced angles of her chin and the thin top lip dwarfed by a bottom lip that had no business being that full and that damn sexy. Green eyes, from what I could make of them, and perfectly trimmed, arched brows. She was just this side of being too polished, too well put-together, but that only added to her appeal. I felt a deep-down craving to muss her perfect hair and smear her lipstick, all over my stomach and…
Legs stood straight, grabbing her small bag before she left her seat, hips in a tempting sway as she walked toward me. I got an up-close look, and my suspicions were confirmed: fucking glorious and gorgeous and definitely interested. No one looks at a perfect stranger the way she looked at me. Not unless they were attracted, and holy hell, did that look promise that she was a shit-ton more than attracted.
Her gaze went primal, hungry, and the way she let it glide over my face, right down to my lap, told me all I needed to know. She was biding her time. Maybe waiting for me to make a move, speak just a little to encourage her. But I was an ace, remember? You don’t show your hand so soon after the game started.
When she swept by my seat, close enough to reach out and touch my shoulder, I moved, leaning back in my seat, smiling at the heat I felt from her stare as I closed my eyes. I caught her perfume as she moved by me —a fucking delicious scent that made me want to dive right between her thighs—and I licked my lips, wondering if she spotted the movement, hoping it frustrated her that I was playing distant.
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