Primitive Flame

by Lakes, Lynde

  “Mostly breakfast stuff. And a few extras in case we’re rained in.”

  Her heart pounded. “We?”

  “Well, I assumed you wouldn’t kick me out into the storm.”

  “You guessed right.” She placed a frying pan on the stove.

  Cort began to set the table. “How often do you have visions?”

  Lani paused from scrambling the eggs and glanced at Cort. “Most nights. Some days. There’s no set pattern, they just come.”

  “Have you seen anyone about it?” Cort poured two glasses of orange juice.

  She knew he meant a psychiatrist. “A kahuna. Dr. Millie Kahaluu. Dr. Millie wants her spiritualist friend to do a séance.” Lani felt her shoulder muscles tighten as she recalled Cort’s attitude about séances.

  Cort paused before popping two frozen waffle squares into the toaster. “You think she’s on the level?”

  “She’s a friend of Grandfather’s. He swears she has good mana and is one of the best kahunas on the island.” Lani put the plates of bacon and eggs on the table. “She wants you to come to the séance, but I know you’re not interested.”

  He was silent for a moment. He rubbed his jaw as though considering it. “Wrong,” he said finally. “If you’re involved, I’m interested.”

  Lani was stunned speechless.

  “Tell me when and where and I’ll be there.”

  She couldn’t figure him out. He was full of surprises. “You mean it, you want to come?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it.” Cort pulled his chair close and sat down. Lani saw amusement in his eyes and wondered what he was up to.

  He dipped some ice out of his water glass and before she could stop him, he slipped the small sliver down her back.

  She squealed. “What did you do that for?”

  “For the same reason I add ice to coffee, to cool down hot stuff.”

  She suspected his prank was meant to end their conversation about a topic that made him uncomfortable. “I’m cool enough,” she said. She wished she had some ice handy for retaliation. She’d get him later. He could count on that.

  “That’s not the way I read your kisses. But, I could be wrong.”

  She grinned. “One should never make snap judgments.”

  “Hoped you’d say that. How about another sample?”

  “Why not? What could be the harm?” She ignored the reasons that flew to mind.

  He leaned over and brushed her lips with his. “I’m still not sure, but I think I sense some fire. I’ll need more to judge fairly.”

  She scooted away, barely an inch. “No, I don’t think so.”

  He winked. “I can wait. Like I told you, I’m a patient man.”

  Lani laughed, glad their conversation had turned carefree, and waited for his next move.

  He dug his fork into the waffle heaped with strawberries and whipped cream as though food was his only hunger. Darn him. Why had he given up on the kissing game so easily? But wasn’t that his style? He always offered her a taste of bliss, then stopped. Probably to drive her crazy.

  “You should see the rain and wind damage throughout the valley,” he said. “Small trees uprooted, roads more like flood channels than streets. I don’t like it that you’re way out here alone. Have you heard from Keo?”

  “I’m sure Grandfather tried to call and gave up when I wasn’t home all night. And then last night it was late when we got back.”

  Cort shook his head. “Then we spent the night together. Again.” A wicked sparkle danced in his eyes.

  She pushed her empty plate away. “Sure. Like brother and sister.” So what if he heard the frustration in her voice?

  He laughed. “More like kissing cousins.”

  She wanted to run from him—to him. Good heavens, she was a mess. She had to put a distance between them. With a fresh cup of coffee in her hand she headed for the living room. Cort followed and slouched down on the sofa. She tuned the radio to her favorite Hawaiian music station.

  “Come here,” he said reaching out to her. He looked so wicked, so appealing. So sexy.

  Wanton woman that she’d become, she took his hand and let him draw her to his side. He entwined his fingers with hers. His rough hand against her soft one excited her. The pressure was also comforting. It made the wind that rattled the windows and doors less threatening. Although the day was misty gray, she felt there must be a rainbow out there somewhere, sending its colors magically through the atmosphere to lighten her heart.

  Being with Cort was natural, as though it was supposed to be. She had no idea where their relationship was going, but she decided to accept what it was: something special that needed no label.

  Cort had become quiet. His gaze held hers. It was difficult looking into his eyes, like being drawn into deep waters. “You’re staring at me, Cort.”

  “Does it bother you?” He had an amused expression on his face and an unmistakable challenge in his voice.

  “A little.” It was a half-truth. His piercing gaze bothered her a lot, and her awareness that he was probably naked under those Bermudas bothered her even more.

  “Why?” His finger trailed down her bare arm.

  Her breath caught at his touch. “I don’t know.”

  “Liar.” He moved closer and enfolded her in his arms. His clean, familiar scent captured her senses. Lani felt the muscle in his bare thigh flex against hers.

  “If you’re so smart, tell me,” she said, barely able to speak.

  Rather than answering right away, he traced her jaw line. Although his touch was as delicate as a small leaf floating on an air current, his fingers set her skin on fire. She steeled herself against the effect of his virility.

  “You’re afraid of the chemistry between us,” he finally said.

  “And you’re not?” In spite of trying to hold her voice steady it rose slightly, and her face grew hot. Wasn’t it he who had held back when she’d thrown herself into his arms?

  “I was last night.”

  She couldn’t be hearing right. He couldn’t be admitting that.

  “Things between us turned explosive so fast. But I’ve had time to think, and I’d like to take up where we left off.” He moved close until she felt his breath on her lips. “Are you game?”

  “For what?” When she’d almost lost him in the fire, she had decided she was game for anything with him.

  “You decide as we go along.”

  Tenderly, he brought his mouth down on hers. The back of her neck tingled, the sensation traveling slowly down her spine and spreading throughout her body like streams from a hot spring. Giving in to an impulse she’d had since their first kiss, she tangled her fingers in his hair and allowed her tongue to tease his. The pressure of his lips on hers became as vital as breathing. If he stopped kissing her, she would surely die.

  After a long time he pulled away slightly and said, “Definitely hot stuff!”

  She drew his mouth back to hers. The chemistry between them was too much. She responded to him, heart, body and soul, putting all she had into her kisses.

  “Oh, God, Lani,” he whispered against her lips. “I think I’m in love with you.”

  Lani knew she was completely in love with him. If he loved her, even a little, it was a beginning. She leaned back and studied his face. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. How does one respond to I think I love you?”

  “All right, damn it. I’ll admit it. I’m definitely in love with you. But—”

  “You’re not ready to make any serious commitments,” Lani finished for him.

  The set of his jaw looked grim. “I have some things to work out.”

  “Why don’t you admit it’s my visions and my insistence there are relics at the construction site holding you back?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Isn’t it?” She hated the shrew-like sound to her voice. Turing this into an argument was stupid. Forcing him into a commitment he didn’t want would be useless. For now, she was willing to accept
a romantic involvement without a guarantee. She struggled to compose herself. “Well, not to worry. I’m not ready to make a commitment, either.”

  Cort’s eyebrows arched in surprise.

  “I have to get my life in order first,” she said softly. “Find out about the visions, my birth, my heritage.”

  “I can’t promise you a damned thing,” he said huskily. “But I want to make love to you.”

  Her insides knotted. Keep it light, she warned herself. “I think I want you to make love to me.”

  He grinned and kissed Lani’s temple. “You think? How do we determine if you do or not?”

  “I guess we could give it some thought. Or…” Lani stroked his neck with the tips of her fingers.

  “Or what?” He massaged her back in circular motions.

  She tired of the slow seduction and whispered, “Kiss me.”

  “I do love you.” He rained gentle kisses over her face. Lani tilted her head so she could see his face. Soft light from the nearby lamp shimmered in his eyes. Before she could say anything, he covered her mouth with his. She molded herself against him. Between kisses, he whispered, “I didn’t know what the feeling was, but now I know I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you.”

  Cort freed her hair from its clasp. She felt her tresses slide down her back and come to rest at her waist. He drew her to a standing position and swept her into his arms. She floated there, nestling her head into his neck. With each step toward the bedroom her excitement mounted. The bed yielded as he lowered her to it.

  He took a small packet from his wallet and placed it on the nightstand. Though nervous, Lani met his gaze, certain she could trust his love even though he wasn’t.

  “Do you want to remove your necklace?” he asked huskily. “Wouldn’t want to break it.”

  “I never take it off,” she said softly. “Never.”

  “Then it stays,” he murmured against her ear.

  He began to slowly remove each item of her clothing as if unwrapping a treasured gift, pausing to look at her, to kiss her lips, neck, breasts, and both puckered nipples. Her flesh tingled with the anticipation of what he might do next.

  When all but her lace bikini panties lay on the floor, Cort blazed a scorching trail of kisses over her stomach, then lower and lower, easing her panties down over her hips.

  Lani clung to him, her whole body on fire as he claimed her with a hungry mouth. Weakened by the compelling intimacy, she arched toward him, wanting more.

  She yanked his T-shirt over his head, eased his Bermudas down, leaving the clothing in a disheveled heap. His body glistened in the dim, gray light shining through the window. Her heart pounded, and she reached for him.

  Cort paused and handed her the latex sheath. She smoothed it over his pulsating shaft, holding back her urgency, increasing his.

  “You’re quite the tease, aren’t you,” he murmured in a throaty voice deepened by what she believed was sweet agony.

  She gripped him low and drew him to her, too filled with desire to talk. Groaning, Cort slipped inside and joined their bodies. Lani’s breath caught, then she responded to the driving urgency, faster and faster. The uncontrollable flow of passion gripped her, its strength mounting. Cort entwined his fingers with hers and held her hands above her head. She screamed out in pleasure as a rainbow of fireworks burst beneath her closed eyelids. And as they hurled over the chasm together, the wave of throbbing ecstasy that followed was beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

  Energy drained, bodies luminous with moisture, they remained in each other’s arms. Cort trailed warm kisses along her neck while he massaged her back. Lani sighed, awed by the intensity of passion that had passed between them. It was rare, beautiful. What they’d shared was more than sex: it was love. Her challenge was to make Cort realize the depth of that love. Agreeing to go to a séance he was dead set against showed he cared a great deal, but would he still be with her when it was over?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Cort and Lani lay in a tangle of arms and legs, coming down from the high and exertion of making love. Cort was sleepy as hell, but he felt compelled to…what? Confess he was scum? The poisonous seed of his father’s infidelity grew and swelled within him until he felt it would burst through his chest. After two days the storm passed and early morning light slanted through the blinds, but his internal storm raged on.

  He fought the emotions, wanting to put them behind him. He’d spent every possible moment with Lani during her grandfather’s absence, convincing himself that he was her protector, that he was with her because he didn’t want to leave her alone in the isolated house. But it was more than that and more than physical attraction. He’d fallen for Lani.

  He was obligated, for his mother’s sake, to keep the family’s secret, but he owed Lani an explanation of why there might not be a long-term future for them. He didn’t want to hurt her by giving her false hope. He forced himself to stop stroking the smooth silk of her thigh and released her. He was immediately aware of the loss of her soft warmth.

  “Getting up already?” The disappointment in her voice made him want to entangle their bodies again.

  “Not yet.” He scrunched two pillows against the headboard. After he leaned into one, he drew her up beside him to rest against the other. She kissed his shoulder and snuggled against him. He loathed himself.

  “There’s something I need to tell you about me.” He was scared witless. What if after he told her, she kicked him out and ordered him to never come back?

  She smiled up at him. “Sounds serious.”

  “To me it is.” Pain rose from his gut, coiling upward, reaching and tightening his throat, thickening his voice. “My dad had a series of affairs. Mom finally caught him. Their divorce became final on my fourteenth birthday.”

  Lani caressed his fingers and looked at him with a question in her eyes as though she wondered why he picked this moment to share this. “I’m sorry, Cort. I know that’s when you needed him most.”

  “Dad said all men cheat—that I’d understand one day because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Lani said, her eyes flashing. “Faithfulness is a choice, not a family trait or genetic disease. Did you ever tell your dad how he affected you with his comment?”

  Her question snapped back at him and zeroed right to the core of his doubts about himself. He admired her perception and warmed to the support behind her words.

  “What good would it do?” Cort tightened his jaw. “Maybe Dad was right. Before you, I played around. A lot. I don’t know if I can be the man I want to be, the man you deserve.”

  ****

  Ignoring the knot forming in her stomach, Lani stared him straight in the eye. “But you said your parents were together, that they would love to meet me. If this is an excuse to dump me, I’d prefer the direct approach.”

  “It’s not. After I was grown and out of the house, Dad returned and persuaded Mom to remarry him, give him another chance.”

  “Apparently it worked out.”

  “Mom’s still hanging in there, but she’s nervous when he’s late, or out of town overnight—says she’ll never completely trust him.”

  “Should she?”

  “Probably not.” When Cort tightened his hold on Lani’s hand, she felt the depth of his suffering. “No woman should have to go through that kind of hell,” he said. “I’ll never forget Mom’s anguished sobs, or forgive my father for hurting her like that.” Cort looked away and seemed to fix on the reflections of sunlight on the far wall.

  The misery in his eyes touched Lani’s heart, and she felt closer to him than ever before. She hated that, for a moment, her own insecurities had made her doubt him. “All this time I’ve felt I missed something growing up without my Hawaiian family. But you’ve also known loneliness, abandonment.”

  “I only told you this so you’ll understand why I can’t promise you a future, yet,” he said with agony in his voice. “I need t
ime to be sure of myself.”

  Something flickered in his eyes that Lani couldn’t read. Her insecurities rose again. “Are you sure it isn’t me and whatever’s behind my visions that you need to be sure of first?”

  “It doesn’t make things any easier that you’re obsessed with my site and won’t let the nonsense go.” He rose abruptly, stealing his warmth from her. He yanked on his jeans, grabbed his wallet and car keys from the nightstand and headed out the door.

  It didn’t make sense that they’d gone from tenderness and sharing to stomping out. She wrapped the sheet around herself and rushed to the doorway. “Damn you. You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I can’t right now.”

  His words hurt like a slap. She buried her pride and called, “You’re still coming to the séance, right?”

  “Yeah,” was all he said.

  ****

  Cort paced the length of the garage-sized tent he was using as a temporary office. He always thought of himself as a cool-nerved guy, but he’d behaved with Lani as though he’d been born with a hot temper gene, turning his anger about his inadequacies on her. He should’ve taken her in his arms. Why had he been such an ass?

  The flap of the tent opened, letting in a wave of humid air. Kimo stood in the doorway, looking uncharacteristically timid.

  “What the hell do you want?” Cort said. “Come to gloat about the fire?”

  Kimo’s eyes flashed. He took a deep breath. “I got into anger management classes. Maybe you should try them.” His words lacked any hostility, but they hit home.

  Cort glared at him. “What made you change your mind?” Although the fire inspectors hadn’t found any evidence of foul play, Cort wasn’t convinced that Kimo didn’t have something to do with the electrical wires snapping.

  “Brandy. No one will tell me where she is. Boss, I love her. I wanna raise our kid together. I’m gonna stay in the program, work on myself, and hope she’ll give me a chance. I need my job back to take care of them—under my roof or wherever she’s stayin’. You said if—”