Try Easy: A Slow-Burn Vacation Fling Love Story (Aloha Series Book 1)

by Jill Brashear

  He led her down the dark hall, and they stepped into a bedroom. The room was dark except for the moonlight coming in through the tall windows. Lou could make out a double bed covered in a quilt, and a small dresser. Keoni led Lou around the foot of the bed to the window so that she could see outside.

  “It’s dark now,” he said, “but you get the idea.”

  Lou looked out the window at the view and gasped. Keoni was right, she wished she had her camera. She stepped closer and pressed her face to the glass, looking up at the stars glittering in the navy-blue sky. There was nothing between the house and the ocean besides a strip of sparkling sand. Beyond the pale sand, the ocean stretched endlessly, as if trying to reach the sky. Palm trees reached their feathering branches up to clouds.

  There were no buildings, no houses, only sand and trees, sky and ocean.

  She could only imagine how peaceful it must be to live here in the sleepy surf town. Keoni could roll out of bed in the morning and walk right out onto the beach. She couldn’t help but picture what Keoni looked like in the morning, waking up with a messy head of hair and sleepy eyes.

  “Do you like it?” he asked.

  “I love it,” Lou said, turning to look at Keoni and not the view. She could have been talking about either of them—the incredible man, or the spectacular beach view. “I love everything about it.”

  Keoni’s throat worked as he swallowed. “I do, too,” he said, reaching for her.

  Lou’s eyes were level with Keoni’s throat. She reached up to touch the gold medallion he wore on a chain around his neck. The metal was warm from his skin. She rubbed her thumb across the engraved medallion, before letting it go and turning her attention to the top button of his shirt.

  Lou undid the first button as Keoni kissed her jaw.

  “You smell like the ocean,” she said, pressing her mouth to his throat.

  He chuckled, and his beard scraped along her skin. Lou slid her fingers to the next button, and then the next. When Keoni’s shirt hung open on his chest, she slid her hand over the bruises that darkened his skin.

  “What happened here?” Lou asked.

  Keoni shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

  “You should be more careful.”

  “I’ll try,” he said.

  He was placating her; Lou could hear it in his voice. Keoni could no more try to be careful than a volcano could try to stop erupting. He wasn’t the type to be careful; he was the type to risk his life to rescue a stranger.

  Lou slid Keoni’s shirt off his shoulders and took a step back so that she could look at him. As her eyes dropped down Keoni’s chest, her throat tightened, making it hard to breathe. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen him without his shirt. But it was the first time that she could touch him, and even taste him if she wanted. The thought of running her tongue along the lines and ridges of his perfectly carved chest made her mouth water.

  She bent her head and kissed the sprinkling of hair at the top of his chest. His skin was sandy and tasted of salt and the ocean. The hair on his chest was softer than she’d expected. It tickled her chin. She kissed a line down the center of his chest, where the faint hairs grew thicker.

  Keoni put his hand on the back of her neck and threaded his fingers through her hair. He leaned back against the window and sighed.

  “I’ve wanted to feel your mouth on me since the moment I saw you,” he said.

  Lou was thrilled to hear his words. She traced her tongue along the grooves of his stomach and licked the raised skin of a scar along his side.

  “What happened here?” she asked, brushing the scar with her fingers.

  It was long and jagged and shaped like a half-moon.

  Keoni sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t remember,” he said in a tight voice. “I have lots of scars. I don’t remember them all.”

  Lou didn’t believe him, but she didn’t push the subject. This wasn’t a night to quiz each other or lay their scars open. This was one night in a lifetime. They wouldn’t waste it.

  Taking Lou by the shoulders, Keoni pulled her up to her full height. He bent down and kissed the corner of her mouth, then the other before he spun her around so that her back was to his front. She gasped at the quickness of his movement, and it made her remember how strong he was. He was big and powerful. He towered over her, and could rest his chin on the top of her head.

  Sweeping her hair off her neck, Keoni kissed the hollow behind her ear, then moved his lips along her shoulder. The soft hairs of his beard brushed against Lou’s skin and she arched against him.

  Keoni worked his hand between their bodies and found the zipper of Lou’s dress. He gave it a little tug, then lowered it all the way to her waist. She felt a rush of cool air on her back as he spread open her dress, then Keoni’s warm lips kissed along her spine.

  “You’ve been killing me all week in this bikini,” he said, untying the strings of her bathing suit with a decisive tug.

  He swept the straps aside, then his lowered his hands to the ties around the middle of her back. He eased them down and slid his hands around her waist.

  “I could barely look at you without thinking about touching you.”

  Lou leaned against him. “You can touch me now,” she said, trying not to sound like she was begging.

  Keoni pushed her dress down her hips so that she was only wearing the bikini bottom. He ran his hands up Lou’s rib cage and stopped when he grazed the undersides of her breasts. She leaned back against him and took his hands in hers, guiding them to cup her breasts.

  She heard the catch of his breath as he filled his hands with her breasts. He held them reverently, and bent to whisper in her ear, “You’re perfect, Mary Lou Hunter. Absolutely perfect. You feel even better than you look,” he said.

  His voice was gruff with passion and a trace of sadness. Hearing it made Lou want to cry. Then Keoni flicked his calloused thumb over her nipple, and she forgot to be sad. He kissed her neck and her shoulder, caressing her breasts as if he already knew what she liked. Lou arched against him, so aroused by just his rough hands on her breasts that she thought she might climax without even touching him.

  Suddenly, she couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing him. She wanted to see his face and kiss his lips. She wanted to touch him.

  Turning in his arms, she stretched onto her tiptoes and linked her arms around Keoni’s neck. She kissed him, letting her tongue trace the groove in his lower lip before delving between his lips. He groaned and reached down to cup her ass, pulling her against his body. She felt the swell of his arousal twitch against her belly.

  “I want to go slowly with you,” he said. “I want to take my time with you.”

  “But we don’t have time,” Lou said, embarrassed by the petulant sound of her voice. She cleared her throat. “You don’t have to go slowly,” she said. “We can try that next time.”

  Keoni’s scarred eyebrow lifted. “There’s going to be a next time?”

  “I hope so. If this is our only night together, I’m not planning on spending it sleeping.”

  Keoni smiled and scooped his hands under Lou. He lifted her against his chest, and Lou wrapped her legs around his waist. He carried her to the bed and lay her down on the colorful quilt, then reached over to switch on the bedside lamp.

  “I want to see you,” he said.

  Lou blinked, her eyes slowly adjusting to the light in the room. Keoni stood between her legs, staring down at her. His gaze was hot and appreciative as he devoured her with his eyes. Lou was too turned on to feel self-conscious. She was glad Keoni had turned on the light, because now she could see him as well.

  She wanted to memorize every exquisite detail of him to recall later when they weren’t together. Her eyes traveled slowly over him, appreciating every curve and line of his body. The surf shorts hung low off his lean hips, revealing the deep V of his hip bones and the line of hair that thickened beneath his navel. Her eyes traveled up over the muscular wall of his chest to his face. H
is body was glorious, even with the scars and bruises, but his face was even better. Dark eyes, proud nose, full lips, and smooth skin tanned to a glowing bronze—he was like a sculpture of a god.

  Keoni smiled his crooked smile, one side of his mouth lifting higher than the other. The dimple in his cheek flashed. Lou felt his smile all the way to her toes.

  “What are you smiling at?” she asked, coming up on her elbows.

  His smile spread. “How’d I get so lucky, eh?” he asked.

  “Take those off,” she said. Emboldened by the naked appreciation in his eyes, she pointed to his shorts.

  Keoni did as he was told. Unbuttoning his shorts, he slid them over his hips. Lou lay back on the bed and took in the sight of him. He was even more beautiful naked than she had imagined. She decided that it was a crime for him to wear clothes and cover up the perfection of his body.

  Running his hand up her leg from her knee to her thigh, he stopped at the edge of bikini bottom and raised an eyebrow for permission. Lou lifted her hips and allowed Keoni to slide the bikini bottom down her body.

  He lowered himself to the bed, covering her body with his. He kissed her gently. Taking her bottom lip between his teeth, he sucked and bit as he devoured her mouth.

  Lou could kiss Keoni for days. He was an amazing kisser. He kissed her sweetly, nibbling on her lips, and sweeping his tongue over the tender inside of her lips, then he changed tactics and kissed her urgently, his tongue demanding a response from hers.

  As the passion in their kiss rose, they couldn’t touch each other enough. Lou slid her hands down Keoni’s back, feeling the rise of the muscles on either side of the valley of his spine. Keoni groaned as she filled her hands with his tight ass and pulled him closer.

  He inched away and came onto his elbows to look down at her.

  “Tell me what you like, Lou,” he said, cupping her jaw with his big hand.

  Lou’s head was foggy with desire. The way Keoni was looking at her was enough to make her come undone. She slid her hands along his tight abdomen down the soft trail of hair that thickened into a coarse mound of curls. She circled her fist around the length of his penis. He was hard and thick, and his skin was soft as silk.

  His eyes drifted shut and he managed to laugh even as he moaned. “That’s what you like, eh?”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “K’den,” he said, letting his hand trail down her body to cup her sex in his palm. “I can play that game, too.”

  He pushed a finger inside her. Lou gasped, arching against him. Keoni covered her mouth with his as he worked another finger inside her, mimicking the rhythm of her hand on him. He licked into her mouth, stroking her tongue as his fingers filled her. She moaned into Keoni’s mouth as his thumb slid over her swollen clitoris.

  Keoni inched his mouth away from hers, kissing her jaw and neck, and then the tops of her heaving breasts. “Is this what you like?” he asked, flicking his tongue against her stiff nipple and making her cry out in pleasure.

  He sucked her nipple into his warm mouth while his fingers worked inside her, and Lou felt the world come to a standstill as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over her. She thrust her face against the pillows as Keoni used his hands and mouth on her until she arched against the bed in ecstasy, screaming his name.

  She needed to touch him. Lou disentangled her hands from gripping the pillow case and reached for Keoni, but he rolled off her and disappeared for a moment. When he came back to the bed he had a foil packet in his hand.

  Lou’s eyebrows rose as she watched him tear it open with his teeth. “I thought you didn’t bring girls here?” she said, feeling strangely jealous even though he’d just driven her to climax.

  “I don’t,” Keoni said. “But I’m not a virgin.” He started to roll the condom over the wide head of his penis, and then he stopped and looked at her. “Do you want to stop?” he asked in a pained voice.

  Lou considered Keoni for a moment. Would he really stop right now if she asked him to? She looked into his eyes, and saw the answer. Yes, he would, she thought. A slow smile spread over her face as her eyes drifted down his body.

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t you dare.”

  Keoni didn’t hesitate. He rolled the condom on in one swift motion. The bed creaked as he knelt between her thighs, balancing his weight with his hands on either side of her head. They looked into each other’s eyes, and once again, Lou was glad the lamp was on. She watched Keoni’s eyes as he guided himself inside her, filling her slowly, one inch at a time.

  It was almost too much. She was glad Keoni was setting the pace and going slowly. When they were completely joined, Lou bit her lip to keep from crying out.

  “You okay?” he asked, whispering against her throat.

  His lips were near her ear, and the rasp of his beard scraped her jaw. His breath was warm, and he smelled of sex and the sea.

  “Yes,” Lou said in a strangled voice. She took a breath and tried to relax as her body pulsed around him.

  Keoni chuckled, and Lou realized how desperate she must have sounded.

  “Don’t laugh at me,” she said, reaching up to scrape her fingers down his back and urge him closer.

  “Jesus, Lou,” he growled, as her hips rocked against his.

  He buried his head against her shoulder and they moved together, slowly at first and then with helpless desperation.

  “Look at me,” Keoni demanded.

  Lou hadn’t realized her eyes were closed, and she opened them to see Keoni’s soft brown eyes gazing down at her. The look in his eyes undid the tight reign Lou held on her passion, and she gave herself to him, holding nothing back. He set a brutal pace and she met it with abandon.

  Lou stared into Keoni’s eyes, feeling herself go to an unknown place that was so full of pleasure it bordered on pain. She cried out as Keoni drove into her, relentlessly crushing the tenuous hold she had on her control. The sound of her own voice raised in a passionate cry surprised Lou. It was enough to make her spiral into climax. Pulses of sheer ecstasy washed over her. He drove into her until she was completely spent, and then began to speed up again, driving her to another orgasm before giving himself over to his own pleasure.

  The pleasure of feeling Keoni lose himself inside her was so intense that Lou wanted to laugh with happiness. The bubble of mirth tickled the back of her throat until she could no longer hold it at bay. Wrapping her arms around Keoni, Lou gave over to her impulse and began to laugh.

  No Ordinary Dive

  Keoni

  * * *

  Keoni blinked down at Lou, confused. Was she laughing?

  He thought for one horrified second that she was laughing at him, then he remembered this was Lou. She had a habit of laughing at the most unlikely moments. She was moved easily to tears and laughter, and he loved that about her.

  “What’s funny?” Keoni asked, scraping his beard along her jaw.

  “That was incredible,” she said.

  “Yeah,” Keoni said, kissing her ear. “It was. It was too quick, though.”

  Keoni was surprised that he had been able to last as long as he did. He’d wanted to fall apart the moment he’d sunk inside her, but somehow he’d managed not to give in to the temptation. He was planning on making the next time last a lot longer.

  “Don’t move,” Keoni told Lou, rolling off the bed.

  He walked down the hall to the bathroom and threw the condom away, then bent over the sink to splash water on his face. When he looked up into the mirror, he saw that the bruises were finally starting to heal, but he was going to have a scar on his forehead. He ran his hands through his hair, arranging it to cover the ugly gash, then walked down the hall back to the bedroom.

  Lou was lying naked on the bed, stretched out with her arms over her head. Her brown hair spread like silk over the quilt. Her hair was a few shades lighter than the patch of curls between her legs. Her breasts were full and ivory pale, and more perfect than he’d imagined.

 
; Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling. Keoni knew he was responsible for that smile, and it made him feel drunk with pleasure. He leaned against the door frame for balance, attempting to look casual as Lou raised her head to look at him.

  Her lazy gaze trailed down Keoni’s face over his body and then back up to his eyes.

  “What are you doing over there?” she asked, propping herself up on one elbow.

  “Looking at you,” he said.

  “You gonna come back ta dis bed, o’ wot, eh?” Lou asked in a funny voice.

  Keoni burst out laughing when he realized Lou was imitating his accent. He stalked over to the bed, and Lou scooted over to make room for him.

  “I don’t sound anything like that,” he said, stretching out beside her.

  Lou laughed. “Yes you do.”

  “Hmmph,” Keoni said, shifting so that he was leaning over her. He took a strand of her hair and wrapped it around his finger. “I love your hair.”

  Lou reached up and ran her hands through his hair. “I love yours, too.” She winced when she saw the gash on his forehead. “Another scar?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  He bent to kiss her lips.

  Lou sighed and pulled him closer. Her lips opened under his, and their tongues met and caressed each other in a lazy, sensual dance. Keoni got lost in the pleasure of Lou’s mouth. He could have spent all night kissing her, but they only had one night together. It wasn’t enough.

  Lou sucked Keoni’s swollen bottom lip into her mouth and ran her tongue along the underside of his cut.

  Keoni moaned and slanted his head to take over the kiss. He had never been so turned on by just kissing a woman before. He felt ready to go again, and it had only been a few minutes. This time he was going to take things slowly. He shifted away from Lou. She pulled him back, threading her fingers through his hair and holding him to her mouth.

  “Where are you going?”

  Keoni shifted off the bed. Rolling to his feet, he pulled Lou with him.