She looked at him and smiled, in a way that made him melt and go hard all at once. “Thank you, Johnny Rocket.”
The lights came on as the song ended. “What else would you like to do?” he asked.
“Could we go for a walk on the beach?”
“Of course.”
Heading out through the side door, Johnny and Kehau made their way down to the quiet lagoon. The moon had come out as a large white crescent, and the stars were brilliant specks of light in the night sky. Helping Kehau take her heels off, Johnny took her hand in his and they slowly made their way across the sand. She leaned up against him, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I've had a lot of fun tonight. Thank you.”
“You're welcome. I hoped you would.”
“This is like senior prom, only a million times better.”
“You should see the balls in Vegas. I went with some grunt buddies stationed out of 29 Palms, and we were dancing until at least four in the morning.”
Kehau yawned. “Oh excuse me. I'm so sorry.”
“No worries. Tired?”
“Exhausted. I might need you to carry me to the truck.”
“That can be arranged.”
“That sounds so very tempting.”
Bending slightly, Jax scooped Kehau up and carried her off the beach, pausing only to pick up her shoes and continued walking. By the time he reached the valet though, she was fast asleep.
Good thing my apartment is close by, I'll be able to tuck her into a real bed there. Hopefully she stays asleep. He felt something tug at his heartstrings. She was everything he wanted and needed in a woman. And she looks so pretty just lying there asleep. Another part of him spoke then.
Make her yours before somebody else does.
Chapter Thirteen
Kehau was glad to be home. Work kept her mind off how much she missed Jax, but it was good to come home and take a break. Things had finally quieted down since the attack and returned to normal. Marissa’s home already? She’s early. Wonder what’s going on? Hope it’s not that kava chugging asshole she calls a father.
Marissa was waiting for her inside though, with a very worried expression on her face.
”Kehau, we need to talk,” she said in a serious tone.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s about Jax.”
Immediately, a thousand possibilities sprang to mind. This can’t be happening.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been helping him cheat on you.”
Kehau blinked. “Excuse me?” Marissa. Goody little two-shoes never does nothing wrong Molly Mormon Marissa was banging Jax behind her back! She saw stars and for a moment her world spun. Then it was blackness.
When she came to, Marissa was holding a compress to her forehead.
“Get away from me!” Kehau snarled.
“It’s not what you think!” Marissa replied.
“You just told me he’s cheating on me! With you!” Kehau grabbed a glass off the counter and flung it at her as hard as she could. Marissa stepped aside and it shattered on the wall.
“I’ve never slept with him!”
“You just said he’s cheating on me!” Kehau grabbed another glass and cocked back her arm.
“He comes into my bakery and buys cupcakes because he can’t stand anything you bake for him!” Marissa shouted.
Kehau paused. “Say that one more time.”
“He comes into my bakery and buys cupcakes because he can’t stand anything you bake for him!”
When she saw that Kehau was listening, she pressed on.
“I wish I was lying. I pulled the morning shift for Hokulani last week in the kitchen. I heard him talking with the girl at the register about how he loves his girlfriend but hates her baking because all of it makes him sick.”
Now that was news. Kehau sat down hard on a barstool.
“How long?”
“I asked the other girls on the shift, they said he found it after you two started dating. Every week he comes in and gets his fix of cupcakes.”
“Why hasn’t he said anything to me?”
“Supposedly, he said he doesn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“Not hurt my feelings? That prick!” Bitter tears formed at the corners of her eyes and Kehau felt an imminent rage come over her. There was a lot she could put up with, but this? She’d put so much time and effort into making things for him to take with him on trips! Did he have any idea how hard it was to bake him anything from scratch?
But what if they really did suck? What if she really didn’t know how to bake? The more she thought about it, the more despondent she became. What if this wasn’t the only thing wrong with her?
Now the tears really came. Gently Marissa placed a hand on her back and handed her a tissue.
“I’m sure there’s a way to make it up to him.”
Kehau looked up at her. “Like what?”
“Well, why not make him some cupcakes and prove you can bake?”
“What does that do?”
“Well, he wouldn’t come to my bakery any more. That’s for sure.”
And he’d be back in my kitchen, where he belongs, Kehau thought furiously.
“Would you like me to teach you how?” Marissa asked helpfully.
It would be so easy if she just showed me what I’m doing wrong. Another part of her spoke up then. But I’d never know if I was actually any good at them.
“No, but I will need a good recipe for cupcakes.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I am.” Kehau wiped the tears away in angry strokes.
“Okay, but if you need help, you know where to find me.”
The first fireman through the door followed the smoke. They’d been told it was an oven fire, but they’d still suited up. Never know what some people are gonna have in the oven, the chief had stressed before he sent them out. Sure enough, the oven was on fire. They put it out quickly, then looked around to survey the damage.
“So what happened?”
“I was baking cupcakes for my boyfriend,” Kehau told them. “I left it alone for a few minutes to take a nap. I think I forgot to set the timer.”
The firemen nodded their heads understandingly. Accidents do happen after all.
“Thank you for the response, I do appreciate it,” she furthered.
“Not a problem, ma’am, we’ll take care of some paperwork outside then be on our way.”
“Okay.”
“Just be a little more careful next time, all right?”
“I can do that,” she assured them.
*****
Carli’s day had been long and frustrating as all hell. This new grant was taking forever to get approved! She needed something to get her mind off how frustrated she was at the whole process. “Why in the world is there a fire truck in front of my house?”
She parked in the driveway and looked around. I don’t see flames, I don’t see smoke. So what’s going on?
She stepped out of her car, and came face to face with a half-dozen men stripping down out of their gear. Well-built, healthy, young men. Her libido kicked into high gear, and she found herself cursing once more. “Can I help you, ma’am?”
Not in the ways I want.
“I live here, is everything okay?”
“Oven fire, one of your roommates was trying to bake cupcakes.”
“Oh my.”
“Nothing to worry about, we put it out, and there shouldn’t be any smoke damage, but you’ll need to air out the house for a couple days.”
“We can do that.”
Must get inside. Must get inside. Oh frack me. I hate life. She threw a last glance at the half-dressed firefighters. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you did that on purpose, Kehau. Just for me. God bless you.
Within, every door and window was open, fans running full speed. Kehau was nowhere to be seen though. “Kehau?” she called out.
“Up here.” Kehau’s head appeared around th
e corner. “I’m about to make a large margarita and sit in the hot tub.”
“Care for some company?”
“Please.”
A quick change of clothes and a judicious use of the blender later, both women were relaxing in the hot tub, with the heat off, and their sunglasses on, enjoying the afternoon sun.
“So, tell me what happened?”
“I forgot to use the timer on my cupcakes.”
“I ought to thank you for calling 911.”
“It’s not like I want to buy another house like this, I can’t afford it.”
“Not that silly. The firemen, oh my goodness, did you see them?”
Kehau looked at her levelly. “I’m rather attached right now. Even if I do intend to kill him.”
Briefly, she shared what Marissa had told her, concluding with, “And that’s how come we had firemen here today.”
“Well, to be fair to Jax, I got sick off that batch of cookies you made for him a couple months ago. They were still raw and I got food poisoning from the egg yolks.”
“That’s why you were sick for a week?”
“Uh huh,” Carli nodded her head sagely. “How hot do you set the oven at?”
“Five hundred, so they can cook faster.”
Carli choked on her margarita. “No wonder you’re having problems. Turn the heat down! Three fifty at most. Low and slow. It makes sure everything gets cooked all the way through and you don’t burn the bottoms. Much less start a fire.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh. When is the insurance coming by to look at the oven?”
“Probably tomorrow.”
“Good. Try not to burn the next one down too.”
*****
In any event, Carli was ready the second time around. She’d barely gotten in the pool when Kehau came running out the back door, chased by a tall pillar of black smoke.
“Call 911!” she screamed.
“Already on it,” Carli said almost conversationally. Enjoy the show, boys.
Ten minutes later, the fire department had the situation under control. And don’t all of them look so good today? Carli let them get a proper view of her sitting on the back porch sipping her beer. The first three men through the door had tripped over each other at the sight of the busty blonde in her red bikini. But still, none of them had asked for her name and number. What the hell did it take to get some male attention around this place?
And what was she going to do about Kehau? It had taken two days to get the stink of smoke out of the house, and she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to think about how long it had taken this time. Never mind the messy disaster of frosting splattered across every surface of the kitchen.
Good freaking hell. What am I going to do about this? Marissa’s too nice. And Pua’s busy at her salon. She scanned through the list of contacts on her phone. I think today is Nikole’s day off. And she makes damned good pumpkin pie. Hmmm…
Kehau heard voices coming from the kitchen and walked downstairs to see what was happening. Carli was talking animatedly with Nikole, and when Kehau appeared, she turned toward her.
“Kehau, didn't Jax leave behind the key to his new house?”
“I'm pretty sure he did.”
“Road trip.” Grabbing the younger woman by either arm, Carli and Nikole marched her out the door toward Nikole’s Honda.
The GPS took them to Ko’ Olina, on the far western side of the island. There, nestled against the side of a mountain facing the sea, Kehau found his house. It was a large piece of land, easily half an acre in dimension, surrounded by a thick stone wall running from all the way around. The leafy tops of trees could be seen poking their heads above the walls.
“Do we knock?” Nikole asked.
“He gave me the keys. And he might have mentioned something about a groundskeeper. I just can't remember,” Kehau told her.
“I don't feel like walking up that hill, so I'm driving,” Nikole declared, settling the matter for the moment. She pulled up beside a callbox and pressed the alert button.
“Good afternoon. How may I help you?” the speaker crackled.
“My name’s Kehau Makoa, this is my boyfriend’s house, and I was wanting to take a look at the finished project.”
“Please pull inside the gates.”
“Step inside my lair, said the spider to the fly,” Nikole grumbled.
Within, the property was a sprawling tree-dotted landscape. It was green everywhere and clean. The house itself was a stone structure, rather like a castle, with a second story set back toward the rear. The concrete driveway led to one side of the house, where an open air stable-style garage had been erected, with yellow paint striped on the asphalt. Sure enough, there were Jax’s truck and the Brimstone. Carli parked the car as a short, intense, Asian man approached them in pants and a t-shirt.
“Good afternoon, ladies. Jaxson told me to be expecting you. Care for a tour?” he asked in strongly British-accented English. It was a surprising thing to hear.
Kehau looked at the other two women. Carli was fiddling with her keys and Nikole shrugged. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.” She still had no clue who he was though, and asked as much.
“My name’s Ganju Rai. I’m Jaxson’s groundskeeper.
He turned and Kehau saw the large knife secured in the middle of his back. “Why do you have such a big knife?”
Ganju looked back at the women with a smile. “I’m a Gurkha,” he said casually, as if that answered everything, and then led the women inside.
Within, it was immaculately clean, rooms for guest downstairs, a study, a sitting room, and a massive kitchen. There were few pictures, but that was to be expected. It was a man’s house. And it desperately needed a woman’s touch.
“He was quite specific about the kitchen, he wanted something he could move around in easily and opened onto the lânai,” Ganju explained.
“I think I’m jealous,” Carli said, slightly awestruck.
“Think?” Nikole exclaimed. “I know I am.” She gestured around the room. “Look at this! It’s like something out of a magazine. Hell, I bet he hired the decorator from one to do this.”
“Actually no,” Ganju said with a grin. “He has…friends in high places. Amongst them is a chef of renown who was happy to lay out the plans for this area.”
“Kehau, he might be an idiot about some things, but give your boyfriend credit, he knows what the hell he’s doing. Most of the time,” Carli declared. She looked at Ganju seriously. “Could we use the kitchen to try some cooking of our own please?”
“Of course. Need me to run to the store for anything?”
“No, but there’s a laundry basket full of stuff in the trunk of my car that we’ll need,” Nikole told him.
Ganju took her keys and disappeared from sight.
“What are you going to cook here?” Kehau hissed at Carli as soon as he was gone.
“Your damned cupcakes, woman,” Carli shot back. “I’m sick of smelling smoke, and while you might like to take trash on your own it’s okay to admit when you can’t do stuff right.”
“But if you make it, then it’s not from me,” Kehau protested.
“Girl, he ain’t gonna know, and he ain’t gonna care,” Nikole told her determinedly. “So far as he knows it came from you. And that’s all the matters. Got it?”
“Fine. Okay. I give up!” Kehau relented.
Ganju returned bearing a laundry basket full of ingredients.
“If that’s all for now, ladies, I’ll leave you to enjoy yourselves. I can be reached from the call screen over on the wall at any time.”
Two hours later, the women began frosting their first batch of cupcakes. Teaching Kehau had been a labor of love. But Carli was used to that. After all, if she could teach Oceanography to college freshman, teaching a dear friend how to bake correctly was a cinch.
“The frosting isn’t melting,” Kehau said with surprise.
“Yeah, that’s why you let them cool a little.”
Kehau popped the chocolate morsel in her mouth. “Oh! This is delicious!”
“See,” Nikole said. “Now we’re gonna try pie. Men are suckers for it. Pua could probably explain the psychology behind that. I just know I never have any left over at Thanksgiving.”
It was late in the night when Ganju rejoined them in the kitchen. Spying the empty beer bottles and half-eaten baked goods, he smiled. “I assume you ladies will need a place to stay tonight?”
“Please?” Carli asked. “I want to see what he did with the guest rooms.”
“Right this way, ladies.”
Staggering slightly, the three women linked arms and started to follow him when Kehau had an idea. “Ganju, could you show us to the master bedroom?”
He never batted an eye at the question. Just turned with that light cheerful grin. “Jaxson might have a comment or two about three lovely ladies sleeping in his bed and him not here to enjoy it.”
“Then he should get his happy ass back here pronto,” Carli guffawed.
“Shut up, Carli. I'm sure he’s got friends,” Kehau told her seriously.
“Well where have they been the last few months you two have been dating? I'm lonely, I have needs too!”
Ganju led them up the stairs at the rear of the house to a wide doorway. Within the bedroom was a massive four-poster bed, surrounded by sumptuous deep-pile carpets underfoot. There were pictures of his family, his time in service, even one of Kehau on his nightstand.
“Will that be all, ladies?”
“Yes, Ganju, thank you.”
“Have a good night.”
He closed the door behind him, leaving the three to their own devices.
“I want to explore but I want to sleep too,” Nikole moaned.
“Let’s explore tomorrow, right now, I'm too tired to care about anything else.”
Slowly, all three clambered into the bed. Kehau could smell him in the soft sheets. Somewhere inside of her, a dam broke, and she realized how badly she missed him. God, bring him home safe, I need him. She closed her eyes and darkness enveloped her.
Chapter Fourteen
Jaxson Page 12