No one except Mari. She had always loved snow, loved to get out in it, play, then come in and make homemade hot chocolate. But here she was, talking about Hawaii like she wanted to be here for the rest of her life. That was just unacceptable.
He shared another look with Damon in the mirror. At least there, he knew there was an agreement. Neither of them was going to let her stay in Hawaii without a fight.
* * * *
Maribelle was having a really hard time concentrating on the book she was reading. No heterosexual woman would be able to concentrate sitting between Damon and Alex, that was for sure. They had been quiet since the ride up H-2, and now at the beach. Very odd for them for both of them to be this somber. Was it that she was coming back to DC? Did they think she was staying here, so they felt it okay to do the things they did the night before?
She had heard rumors of their sexual exploits for years, but she had never really guessed it was true. Of course, once again, she had been proven wrong. But even though they had apparently shared women, they had never kept one around long. In fact, in all the years she had known the two men, she had always thought their relationship was more important to them than their threesomes.
Alex stood. “I’m going to go in and cool off.”
He said nothing else as he sauntered toward the waves. She watched him go, trying to figure out his strange mood. Both men had been beyond moody.
“It’s hard to just hang out on the beach with you dressed like that,” Damon said, reading her mind as usual.
She looked at him and couldn’t help the way her heart did the little jump at the sight of him. He was gorgeous. There was no way around it. Sculpted muscles, that strong jaw. She wished she could see his eyes, because she could tell what he was thinking, but he kept them hidden behind his mirrored sunglasses.
“What?”
She realized then she’d been staring at him for several minutes. She shook her head and hoped she wasn’t drooling.
“You have a problem with the way I’m dressed? Alex, too?” She couldn’t keep the skepticism out of her voice. She glanced down at the black retro bathing suit that reminded her of what a movie star would have worn in the fifties.
“Hawaii agrees with you. Nice little glow to your skin, and you seem...happy. It’s been a long time since you were happy.”
Her heart did a little jerk, but this was different from the feelings from before. This had more to do with love, the kind that could ruin a good time in Hawaii. She moved away from that.
“I like it, as I said. But my life is back in DC.”
He nodded and looked out over the water. Of course, it didn’t sound that great going back. Now she wanted to live in a place that allowed her to go to the beach every day, and be near Sophia and Eddie and their husbands. She was going to miss them.
“Is this where they have the big surfing contests?” Damon asked.
She nodded and tried to get out of her thoughts. Lord knew she was lucky to have them for this short amount of time. She needed to be happy with it.
“Yeah, I really enjoyed it when I tried it. I was amazed that I was any good at it.”
“Why do you do that?” Damon asked.
“What do you mean? Do what?”
“You put yourself down all the time. Why?”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t putting myself down.”
“Yes you were. Living with that bitch all these years has made you doubt everything you do.”
Shocked at his vehemence, she stared at him. He was still watching the waves, not looking at her, but she could see his jaw flexing. There was part of her that wanted this, needed this validation from someone outside of her family and her two best friends. But at the same time, a sliver of guilt wormed its way into her gut.
“Damon, you can’t talk about my mother that way.”
“Someone has to.”
He glanced at her then, and his expression softened. “I don’t mean to put your mom down. Lord knows she put up with me enough times, crashing at your place in college. But she isn’t that nice to you, Mari. You both don’t realize how much she criticizes you.”
She knew it was true, but it was the way she and her mother communicated. “I don’t care what you think.”
She turned away from him and searched out Alex. Damon said something under his breath. He waited five long seconds then said, “You see yourself as she sees you. You need to stop that.”
She turned and stared at him, amazement spreading through her. Damon had never said anything so strongly to her before. “I had no idea you found me so deficient.”
He made a noise that was close to a growl. “That’s not what I said. I said that you think that way, you and your mother. I don’t know how to get it across to you that your mother is a poison when it comes to you.”
“I said I can’t have you putting down my mother.”
He shook his head. “I know, call me the bad guy. I just can’t hear you put yourself down. You’re bright, beautiful, and have more personality than most women have in their pinky finger. It’s your mother that makes you think that you have faults.”
She could feel the tears burning the back of her eyes. The mixture of feelings that moved through her caused her to pause before she said anything else. She had waited so long for someone else outside of her family, and her two best friends, to acknowledge her. But she also couldn’t let anyone put her family down.
“My mother loves me in her own way.”
He said something else under his breath.
“Don’t do that. I hate when you get pissy like that.”
He shot her a warning look, but he said nothing else as he stood and marched out to the ocean. The sick feeling in her stomach now expanded, and she felt her head start to pound. What the hell was she doing?
Wait. She didn’t start the fight. She refused to take the blame this time, to allow him to tell her she should do something. She had spent a lifetime doing that, and now she refused. After a month in Hawaii reassessing what she needed, she had realized that she had been trying to gloss over other people’s emotions to make things easy. Not anymore. Still, a fight on a public beach would just not be the thing to do. She might be ready to take a stand, but she would not make a spectacle of them. Her mother had raised her too strictly to go against the grain like that. Instead, she took a deep breath, grabbed her e-Reader, and lost herself in a story.
* * * *
Damon looked out over Waikiki Beach as he sipped his coffee. It had been three days, and his mood hadn’t gotten any better. He hid it well, knowing that with Mari, he had to take small steps. Pushing her to stand up to her mother was just not something she was going to be comfortable with. Small steps. It was bad enough that they were going to confront her with the possibility of being their lover on Christmas. Tomorrow.
Alex had picked the day. Well, he had picked it after they had argued. Alex had wanted to wait until New Year’s Day. Or Eve. The starting a whole-new life thing was important to Alex, but Damon couldn’t wait another week. He needed to know now. He couldn’t wait, not knowing, waiting to find out if they would actually have Mari for a lifetime.
Of course Alex wanted to wait. He hadn’t been waiting as long as Damon. And when Damon’s brother had started courting Mari several years ago, it hadn’t bothered Alex nearly as much. There was something very wrong knowing that a bastard like his brother had been able to even touch her, let alone take her to his bed.
He couldn’t stop the smile that curved his lips. His brother had been as bad as Damon expected. If Mari’s reaction to them was anything to go by, Damon was pretty sure his brother was a buffoon in the bedroom. Of course, he was a selfish bastard, so that made sense.
“You’re looking really smug.”
He turned around to find Mari watching him. She was wearing a T-shirt and he was sure, nothing beneath it.
“Just thinking about the last few months.”
She glanced out at the ocean. “Was the scandal that b
ad in DC?”
It was something she had not asked, and Damon was pretty sure that her friends Eddie and Sophia would have protected her.
“No, not really. You made some of the gossip columns. But it was all gone within a week.”
Damon didn’t mention that he was pretty sure that her father made some threats to make that happen.
“Where’s Alex?”
She made a face.
“Out for a run.”
He laughed. “You could have gone along.”
She shook her head and moved her gaze back to him. “I don’t want to run unless one of you is chasing me.”
Her bold honesty was nothing new, and neither was his reaction to it. He held out his hand, and she took it, allowing him to tug her onto his lap. His hand was shaking when he lifted it to her face to cup it. He gave her a gentle kiss, keeping his gaze on hers, watching the moment the tears filled her eyes. There had been a few of these moments for them, all three of them, and he was sure, but she seemed more melancholy the last day.
All he wanted was to make her happy. He wanted to hear her laugh, watch her dance, and hear the pleasure in her voice when she moaned his name. His cock hardened as she shifted against him, then her eyes closed, and he followed her into the pleasure of the kiss.
There had been many moments of passionate embraces, but these small moments of sweet kisses Damon loved more than anything. Both he and Alex had enjoyed them, and because of that, they both felt closer to her now than ever before.
She shifted against him again, and her breasts brushed his bare chest. Her nipples were hard, and the way she was squirming showed him she was aroused. Damon slipped his hand down to her breast, cupping it and brushing his thumb against her nipple. At the same time, he traced the seam of her lips with his tongue until she opened them, taking him inside. She moaned against his tongue as he pinched her nipple, but she pulled back from the kiss.
When she stood, he moved to follow, but she shook her head. Instead, she reached down and unzipped his pants. His erection sprang free. She wrapped her fingers around him and pumped.
“Mari, it won’t be dark very much longer.” His voice held no conviction though. How could it? Her hand was sliding up and down his cock. “People from the other balconies could see us.”
She smiled at him then, and he felt his breath back up in his chest. That cocky look and the glow of her entire body struck him. This wasn’t the sad little girl he had grown up with. This was Mari, the sex goddess they were in love with, their lover, their mate.
“Then you’ll just have to be quiet, huh?”
Without another word, she straddled him on the chair then slowly sunk down on his cock. Just an inch at a time, excruciatingly slow and somewhat painful. He knew he couldn’t take over. This was her show. She was in charge. And damn if that didn’t make her the sexiest woman in the world.
When she finally sunk all the way down on him, she arched back and sighed. Then she moved. Slowly, but surely, she moved over him, pushing him close the edge but not going fast enough to make him come. She braced herself by placing a hand on the back of the chair, changing the speed and angle of her movements. Soon, though, he could tell she was getting close to her orgasm. She looked down at him then attacked his mouth. He slipped his hand down between them and pressed his finger against her clit. She shuddered once, twice…Then exploded. He muffled any shout that would have escaped as he continued to kiss her. Her pussy muscles clamped down on his cock, spasming over his sensitive flesh, pulling his orgasm from him. He followed her into that bliss, his body bowing off the chair slightly with his orgasm.
She collapsed against him, her sigh of contentment feathering a breath over his neck.
“I will say that mornings with you and Alex are a good reason to get up.”
He smiled. “How about a shower?”
She lifted her head. “You’re not brooding anymore?”
That took him back. “You think I was brooding?”
She smiled. It was small, and one of the secret ones she used to give them when they were kids. But it did all kinds of different things to him now. Before, it had been his safe haven, his one bright light in the storm. It was now, too, but at the moment, his heart was turning over too much to take notice of anything else.
“You always brood. You get all moody and pissy, and then you don’t want to talk about it.”
He cleared his throat. “No. No, I’m not brooding anymore.”
Mari’s smile widened. “Good. And yes, I would like a shower, as long as you scrub my back.”
She slipped off him then held out her hand. He took it and followed her back into the hotel room, his earlier worries pushed to the back of his mind.
Chapter Seven
“So, we were thinking that maybe you should move here,” Eddie said.
For a second, Maribelle couldn’t think. What was Eddie talking about? “What?”
Sophia groaned. “God, Eddie you have no tact. I thought we were going to approach her better than that.”
Eddie shook her head. “You wanted to be sneaky.”
Mari laughed as she watched a blush crawl up into Sophia’s cheeks. Being a natural redhead, it was hard to hide it with her fair skin.
“It’s called being tactful.”
“I say sneaky.”
Sophia opened her mouth to argue, but Mari decided to cut them off before she lost too much time watching them argue.
“What are you two talking about?”
They looked at her at the same time. From their expressions, she realized her friends had forgotten she was there.
“Uh, what we were trying to do was get you to stay here with us.”
“Just move here, no job?”
Sophia threw Eddie a threatening look and stepped forward. “We need someone to set up a good menu, handle box lunches for people. We have some good cooks, but we need someone who will handle the planning. You have a good head for that.”
Move to Hawaii? No more beautiful falls? No more crazy DC traffic, snow and ice, no more family issues?
“You would love it. And you know you could keep your apartment there, find something furnished here. Just to try it out,” Eddie said.
It would be a change. That was for sure. She would never have to deal with the big jackets, and there was always a beach to go to. Not to mention there was a fair amount of great things to do, and no one here knew her. She wasn’t DC royalty there. She was just Maribelle Sawyer.
“You can take time—”
“No,” she said interrupting Sophia. “I think it would be a good idea.”
Sophia looked stunned. Eddie looked triumphant.
“Yes.”
She grabbed Mari and gave her a big hug. “This will be fantastic. Gotta tell the guys. They will be thrilled.”
She ran down the hallway, and Mari looked at Sophia. “Are you sure?”
Mari nodded. “It’s a big change, I know. And I am not a person who does big changes. But I think this is right. It feels right.”
The moment she said that, she realized how much that was true. The rightness of the decision settled in her chest. This is what she was supposed to do. She felt it in her bones. Her family would freak, and she was sure that soon she would, too. Still, she knew it was right.
She smiled at Sophia. “This is right.”
Sophia studied her for a second. The next moment, she laughed and pulled her into her arms.
“Fantastic.”
* * * *
Mari frowned as her mother’s cell phone went straight to voice mail again. It had been like that for three days now. When she had told her mother she was thinking of moving to Hawaii, she had taken it rather well, but now Mari was wondering about her easy acceptance of the announcement.
Millicent Sawyer did not handle change well. In fact, her parents still lived in the same Georgetown mansion, not because of their love of the house, although they did love it. No, it was because her mother would probably have a brea
kdown if her father even thought of moving.
“Something wrong?” Eddie asked.
“Mom’s phone is going straight to voice mail.”
“She’s probably mad at you. You know your mother was never going to accept you moving here.”
Mari shrugged. “I didn’t say for sure.”
Eddie looked around her kitchen then grabbed Mari by the elbow and pulled her back into her bedroom. “You said you were going to come here and work with us. You were going to handle the food part of it. What is keeping you from being sure about it?”
Her voice was soft and gentle, telling Mari that her best friend knew she was close to breaking down.
“The guys.”
Eddie nodded. “If I were you, I wouldn’t want to give them up either.”
“But they have lives there. And there is no way I can have a relationship with them in DC. Can you imagine that?”
“I can, but I know you can’t, sweetie. If they would move here with you, would you do it? Be with both of them?”
She shook her head. “I can’t think that.” Tears burned the back of her eyes.
Eddie rubbed her arm. “Why not?”
“I’m afraid if I do, I’ll lose them. If I ask them to be mine…what would they do? There is a good chance they will just walk away. I mean, why would the two of them want me?”
She hated the way her voice was whining, but she couldn’t seem to stop. Tears started to fall down her cheeks, and Eddie pulled her into a hug.
“You’ll never know if you don’t ask them.”
“Yeah, but is it worse not knowing or knowing they don’t want you?”
Eddie sighed. “Oh, honey.”
“I love them both so much, but I just don’t know.”
“What the hell is going on?” Damon said as he barreled through the door. “What did you do to Mari?”
Alex didn’t say a word. As she looked up, he was already reaching for her to pull her into his arms. She glanced at Eddie to see how her friend was taking it, and the little smile told her she wasn’t upset.
Schroeder, Melissa - Getting Lei'd [Hawaiian Holidays 3] (Siren Publishing PolyAmour) Page 6