Burning up the Rain (Hawaiian Heroes)

by Cathryn Cade

  Then he dipped lower and licked up through the center of her, drawing her wetness up and over her clitoris and laving it with wet, silky, butterfly caresses that sent pleasure rolling through her pussy and outward through her body.

  Oh God, oh Pele, Lalei suddenly felt as if she understood one of the crucial secrets of the universe. “Oh, Jack.” He was so wickedly good at what he was doing, as if he understood her body better than she did herself. “Oh, Jack.”

  She didn’t realize that she was moaning his name aloud until he laughed, low and wicked in his throat. “Do you want my fingers?” he asked, replacing his tongue with the pad of his thumb, watching her closely as he circled her clitoris. “Do you want me to fuck you with them while I eat you up?”

  She nodded, her pussy clenching at the mere thought of such bliss. Oh God, having him watch her and watching what he was doing to her was unbearably exciting.

  “Ask me nice, baby. Tell me what you want.”

  She blinked even as her hips rolled, following the slow, tantalizing circle of his thumb. So this was his revenge. Making her beg. Well, she’d show him.

  “Use your fingers on me, Jack,” she murmured, giving him her best sultry look. “Slide them deep inside me, where I’m so—so empty, and f-fuck me with them. Make me come, just for you.” There, from the way his face was going taut and stark, his jaw clenched, her dirty talk had an effect on him too.

  “You got it,” he promised gutturally. “Just remember, baby, scream for me.”

  With that, he bent his golden head to her again, and his tongue replaced his thumb as he slid two long, thick fingers deep inside her, stroking her inner walls as he licked her, fast and hard.

  Primed by his touch and his talk, Lalei rocketed up the steep slope from pleasure to need to ecstasy. Her world narrowed down to his mouth, his hands in her and on her, until she would have done anything to keep him there, pleasuring her. She fell back on the bed, arching up into his mouth, reaching to clasp his head in her hands, holding him there, making sure he didn’t get away until he’d satisfied her.

  Then he hooked his fingers up inside her, pressing hard against her G-spot, and she came, her whimper of joy escalating into a high wail of joy. “Ja-ack!”

  She slipped back to earth as he knelt up on the bed between her open thighs, yanking his shorts open. His face was taut, his eyes alight with blue fire.

  “That was good, baby, that was nice and loud,” he told her as he positioned the head of his cock in her pulsing labia and thrust into her. “I think they heard you down at the beach. Now I’m gonna make you do it again.”

  She moaned as he slid deep inside her, filling her sensitized channel with heat and surging hardness, sheathed in satiny skin and powered with his muscular body.

  He leaned over her, thrusting hard, watching her face. “You like that?” he demanded breathlessly. “You want more? You want me to fuck you? How do you want it, Lalei mine? Hard? Hard and loud?”

  He was still tormenting her with that. Well, she didn’t care if they heard her in Kona. She reached up to drag him down to her. “Yes,” she begged shamelessly. “I want it hard; I want you. Oh God, Jack.”

  He kissed her, the taste and scent of her pussy combining with his male scent, shaving cologne and Jack. The naughtiness of it drove her wild. She clutched at him, grabbing his bare back.

  “Hook your heels on my ass,” he ordered. “And hang on.”

  Then he put his head down beside hers, shoved one arm underneath the small of her back, holding her up against him, and fucked her, hard and long and well. She came again, even more joyously than the first time, her entire world narrowed down to the man holding her, the cock servicing her. No woman who was full of Jack could do anything else.

  Afterward, he collapsed on her, a heavy, hot, perspiring weight of satisfied male. His head in the curve of her shoulder, he gave a huge sigh and then yawned, his incipient whiskers scratching her bare shoulder as his jaw flexed.

  “Mm-mm,” he approved. “You screamed even louder that time.” She yanked the short, damp hair she was trailing her fingers through, but he merely chuckled.

  She had screamed, a cringe-worthy realization. But at least the elder Ho’omalus were gone. And it wasn’t like her cousins weren’t all in a constant state of lust. She’d watched first David and Melia, then Daniel and Claire at the family gatherings, circulating with one eye on their lovers, just waiting to get away together.

  And Jack had had his revenge. She’d die before she’d admit it to him, but knowing the others might hear her had turned her on.

  “Your heart just went piddy-bump,” he said. “What are you thinking about?”

  Her eyes flew open. “Nothing. We should get up now.”

  Jack lifted his head. His face was flushed with relaxation. Their lower bodies shifted, still locked together, wet and hot and intimate. “Let’s see,” he said slowly, teasing her. “I mention you screaming, and you get all agitated.” His eyes narrowed. “That excites you, doesn’t it?”

  She glared at him. “No!”

  He laughed, resisting as she tried to push him off of her. “Yes, it does. Miss High-Society Honolulu, so cool and sophisticated on the surface. But underneath, you are a naughty wahine.”

  He grabbed her hand away from his hair and leaned over to give her a wet kiss. “Maybe sometime I’ll go down on you in public,” he whispered against her mouth. “Where anyone could catch us. You’ll make those wild little sounds because you won’t be able to help yourself. Would you like that? Ooh, hey, that made your pussy grab me. It’s a date, baby.”

  Then he let her go and rolled off the bed, leaving her flustered, angry and aroused all over again. “Pervert,” she muttered.

  “It’s one of the best things about me,” he agreed as he walked into the bathroom. “Let’s go for a swim.”

  “‘Aue,” she exclaimed, guilt sweeping away the sight of his tight, bare ass. “David asked us to come down and talk about the development.”

  She’d forgotten all about it. She was such a slut around Jack. She scooted off the opposite side of the bed, tossing her hair back. Then she grimaced as she felt the wetness trickling down the inside of her thighs. There was something to be said for condoms. And that big, blond haole’s come better not be all over the back of her dress.

  It was.

  Lalei scurried down the hall to her room, showered quickly and then donned her coral bikini, her last clean garment. She stared at the tattoo clearly visible on her shoulder. Jack hadn’t seen it, she realized. Of course, all he’d done was pull her dress up and her panties off before he made hot, hurricane-force love to her. She shivered with remembered delight and then stared at herself in the mirror. What was happening to her?

  Her thoughts were turbulent as she quickly rinsed her dress with cool water and plumeria bath gel and hung it in the shower to drip dry. Her clothes certainly didn’t receive this kind of treatment on Oahu—rolling in the mud, having raunchy, unprotected sex… What in the world would Suzy say? Ho’omalu powers, an affair with a man she barely knew—what had happened to the “cool and sophisticated” woman Jack had described?

  Lalei found herself snickering. It was a good thing she was a fussy packer, bringing a variety of outfits. If she did a load of laundry now, she should have plenty to carry her through the next few days.

  She froze, staring unseeingly at the nylon bag of laundry beside her suitcase. She’d have to go home by Thursday. But she didn’t want to leave here until she knew what was going to happen with the development. And until Jack went home.

  He’d be traveling all the way back to the mainland. California might be on the west coast, but it was still thousands of miles away, across open ocean. Maybe she’d never see him again. No, that was melodramatic. He liked Hawaii, and he visited her cousins regularly.

  Much more likely, she realized as she picked up the bag, was that the next time she saw him, he’d be with another woman. Married, maybe even with children.

&nb
sp; The thought of him with some haole bitch, little blond children playing around his feet, made her want to scream with rage and smash David’s cheerful painting of a sunny beach that hung on the wall of her guest room.

  Then wind swirled in the open window, blowing the curtains, bringing moisture with it. Lalei took a deep breath and blew it out, willing herself to calm, even though her hands were shaking and she wanted to weep. She couldn’t afford any sloppy emotion, at least not until she had control of whatever power Pele had seated in her.

  “Not a very safe wahine to leave your storms lying around, Mother Pele,” she muttered as she left her room.

  Jack was smiling to himself as he changed into his extra pair of yellow swim trunks, gave the bed covers a twitch to straighten them and strolled out of his room. He felt pretty damn good, rested and relaxed. He’d awakened once in the night to check on Lalei, but other than that, he’d slept like a baby.

  Lalei would probably be a while fixing herself up again, so he headed back outside, sunglasses on. Coffee—he needed coffee. He walked along the lanai and into the kitchen, where the big coffeepot steamed gently on the side counter.

  And just above it was the liquor cabinet, with an array of bottles, embossed labels calling to him. With a glance around at the empty kitchen, he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and unscrewed the top. He poured a slug in his coffee and then took a drink from the bottle, grimacing at the burn as it slid down his throat.

  Replacing the bottle, he topped off his coffee and strolled down the lawn, holding the mug carefully. He’d enjoy it in the sunshine while Malu got him up to speed on the TropicSun development. He could see his friend still sitting with Melia in the shade. Later he’d have some beers with lunch. It was gonna be a great day.

  He carried his coffee around the loungers to where Malu sat, watching Melia snooze. The Hawaiian had an uncharacteristic frown on his face, elbows on his knees.

  “She okay?” Jack asked quietly, easing down on a lounger.

  Malu shook his head. “She hasn’t been feeling too good the last few days. And since she’s pregnant, you know…”

  “That’s too bad. Hope it’s just a minor bug,” Jack said.

  “How’s Lalei?” Malu asked, a knowing twinkle in his dark eyes.

  Jack grinned; he couldn’t help it. “Great. She ate a good breakfast. Said she forgets to eat sometimes.” He shook his head in disbelief.

  “Yeah, she’s pretty focused. Smart lady, though. She runs our gallery in Honolulu, you know?”

  “I have no trouble at all imagining her intimidating tourists into buying your work,” Jack reflected wryly. “So, what did you find out from your legal team?”

  Malu sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’ve been with the same law office since, well, way back. Pa’aku, Ho and Associates have a great team. But I tell you, Jack, this thing is a fucking mess. Someone in the county offices signed off on some documents they shouldn’t have. Gonna lose their job over it if we have anything to say about it.

  “Anyway, TropicSun has papers that give them the right to go ahead on the county commissioners’ say, without a public hearing. Our injunction stops them for now, but we go to court day after tomorrow.”

  “So you’ll do that,” Jack said. “The longer you can slow them down, the better chance you have of getting some power behind you, and publicity.”

  “Yeah, Joel’s working on that. He’s pretty good with the publicity. Used to working it for his career.”

  Jack nodded. “So who are the players, besides Frank Decker? He’s out of California. Maybe I know some of the people he’s hired.”

  Malu scowled, thinking. “Let’s see. Decker. Oh, and Suzy’s friend Choy? He’s into it for a little more than he told us.”

  “Yeah?” Jack scowled. “How much?”

  “A substantial amount. It won’t break him if it doesn’t go through, but he’ll lose money.”

  “Who else?”

  “Some guy named Harley. Nah, Harmon? Harland, that’s it.”

  “Mike Harland?” Jack grimaced, recognizing the name.

  “You know him?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Jack said. “Listen, if TropicSun is hiring Realtors like him, I’m betting they’re dirty, all right.”

  Malu leaned forward. “What do you know about this guy?”

  “He used to be with WorldWide’s Hollywood office. One of the top-selling offices in the company—lot of money in that town. Couple of years ago, Harland was up before the California realty commission on a charge of tampering with loan papers. Seems he wanted to help out one of his clients, so he helped make it appear they could swing a huge deal when they actually had no collateral. If the deal went through, they’d roll in money and so would he. But a bank inspector caught on, and the whole thing blew up.”

  “Was he convicted?”

  “No. He weaseled out of it, but word in the business was, only because his wife’s family had clout with the commission.” Jack shrugged. “I don’t believe all the gossip I hear, but I do believe his former assistant, who is now with another realty in Santa Barbara.”

  Malu stood and paced along the lanai and back. “We already know TropicSun is backed with drug money. What you say fits right in. Damn, I can’t believe the private investigators Pa’aku and Ho hired haven’t found anything else we can use.”

  Jack nodded. The last of the Helman family had died in a revenge kidnapping gone wrong, only a few miles to the south of Nawea, and a few weeks ago, but their money was evidently still doing its work.

  “You know, if the money’s dirty, and the players are dirty…” Chances were some part of their so-called legal documentation was too.

  Jack rose, already pulling out his phone. “I have a phone call to make. Excuse me.” He walked down the beach and punched in the number for WorldWide Kona. “Hey, Ken, this is Jack Nord. Is Sondra in?”

  She was, and she wasn’t busy. In a few moments, Jack had what he wanted.

  “Can I borrow your truck?” he asked Malu, who was sitting with Melia again. “I’m going in to talk to my colleague in Kona.”

  “Take Melia’s SUV,” his friend said. “Easier to park.”

  “Thanks.” He loped into the house and to his room, where he took a quick shower, dressed in his last pair of clean shorts and a blue T-shirt borrowed from Malu’s closet, and headed for the garage.

  He didn’t think of saying good-bye to Lalei.

  In Old Town Kona, Jack left Melia’s SUV in one of the brightly lit lots behind the main shopping area and walked down past the sand volleyball pits with teens in swim gear playing a desultory game, and the café lanais full of people enjoying food and drinks. He swallowed, his mouth dry as he watched a man tip back his head, draining his beer glass with gusto.

  He’d stop on his way out and have a beer. Speaking of which, he didn’t want to breathe whiskey on Sondra. He pulled a piece of gum from his pocket and unwrapped it, sticking it in his mouth as he strode up onto the lanai in front of WorldWide Kona. The mint flavor was strong and sweet.

  Sondra Baker was waiting at the front desk, although young Ken was gone. She’d discarded her jacket and wore a simple V-necked dress of coral and white, her hair up.

  “Hi, Jack.”

  “Hi, Sondra. Thanks for letting me come in. Listen, I don’t want to keep you from lunch. You want to order in, eat while we work? I’m buying, of course.”

  She shrugged. “Sure. There’s a place next door that does great Asian, or—”

  “Asian it is,” he agreed. “Tell you what, I’ll go pick it up, stretch my legs.” And grab a beer.

  “All right. When you get back, we can get started. I’ve got the computer up.”

  Hours later, Jack looked up from the computer screen and sighed deeply. Pushing himself out of the chair, he paced across the office and back again. He rubbed his tired eyes and dropped back into his chair, folding his hands behind his head. “Damn, this is like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

 
Of course, he’d known that coming in. He had no one to blame but himself for the hours spent poring over the real estate records of Hawaii County, specifically any to do with the area south of Kona.

  “Yes, it is. And I don’t seem to have my metal detector,” Sondra joked tiredly. She leaned her head on her hands. “I just don’t know, Jack. We’ve been at this all day—except for the hour I was gone with my client.”

  “I know,” he agreed dispiritedly. He checked his watch. “Damn, it’s nearly seven p.m. You must be dying to get home.”

  She shrugged. “Not much to go home to, you know?”

  “Yeah.” He gazed around the office. “You ever think of taking on a partner to help you keep this place open?”

  The Hawaiian gave him a wry look. “You offering?”

  Jack smiled at her. “I’ll tell you, I’d do it if I didn’t already have an office in California.”

  He could work with her. She was smart, and she’d been a trouper, helping him navigate the computer archives of local real estate transactions for the last few years. They’d begun with the present and worked their way back. They were about to run out of rope, as the records had only been computerized back seven years.

  Thunder muttered sullenly overhead, and the computer screen flickered.

  “Sounds like another storm,” he said and then yawned hugely. “Sorry.”

  Sondra shook her head, frowning tiredly at the screen through a pair of dark-rimmed reading glasses. “No worries.”

  Then she sat up straight.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Well, it could be nothing. Just…look at this. This doesn’t make sense.”

  Jack shoved aside a half-empty carton of Kung-Pao chicken and picked up his large drink cup, sucking up the last of his Coke before leaning forward beside her. “Whatcha got?”

  She pointed at the top of the page. “This shows section three, part of the land that TropicSun bought. It was sold back in 2009, by Mary and Joe Apala to a TrendWest Corporation. Here’s the map. But you know that a section is laid out square, as if a grid had been laid over the land, yeah?”