Her Hawaiian Homecoming (Mills & Boon Superromance)

by Cara Lockwood

  “Oh, no. I’ve not even begun with you.” She pointed at Dallas’s chest, her anger building as she went. She didn’t know who she was angrier with, or why, and at this point, she didn’t really care. “I don’t know where you grew up, but where I come from saying a woman is a wonderful pain in the butt is not an endearment, thank you very much.”

  “But I...” Dallas started, then stopped, knowing better than to interrupt when she flashed him a hot look.

  “You don’t really think telling me that you’ve tried your hardest not to like me is a compliment, Dallas McCormick. You don’t get to say I’m a stubborn, walking natural disaster and think I’m just going to be okay with that.”

  Dallas blanched. “Darlin’, you’ve got it all wrong,” he drawled.

  Allie held up her hands. “Oh, no. I think I’ve got it all right.” She pointed to herself. “This natural disaster is leaving the building.”

  She turned and left, but Dallas wasn’t going to let it go.

  “Allie...wait.”

  He grabbed her arm and spun her around, and they nearly came nose to nose. Allie thought for the briefest of seconds he might pull her into his arms and kiss the life out of her, and even as the thought riled her, part of her, she had to admit, wanted him to do it.

  She stood in front of Dallas, frozen for a full second as he gripped her arm, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

  “Why? You think I’m a train wreck.”

  “I don’t think you’re a train wreck.” He pulled her close and kissed her hard on the mouth. When he pulled away, she felt a little dizzy. He glared. “Okay, fine. I think you’re a train wreck. A freakin’ amazing and sexy train wreck.”

  “I...” All anger seemed to drain away as Allie stared at Dallas, his chiseled chin inches from her own.

  “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

  “But...the cleanup, and...”

  “You can’t clean up debris when it’s dark,” Dallas said. “This is not a casual invite, Allie. This is an official date. Will you have dinner with me?” His blue eyes waited expectantly for her answer.

  “Yes,” Allie breathed, feeling a jumble of excited nerves dance in her stomach. “Yes, I will.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ALLIE HAD THE rest of the afternoon to worry about just what she’d gotten herself into. The dinner wasn’t what she worried about. It was after dinner that was cause for true concern. Would she sleep with him?

  It wasn’t as if she could exactly kick him out and tell him to go home after dinner was over. He’d be sleeping under her roof. And that was where the trouble came in.

  Well, he’s already seen you nearly naked, so that’s hardly a problem, that sarcastic little voice in her head said. It was true they’d done a fair amount of fooling around, but still. Technically, they hadn’t rounded home base yet. For Allie, that meant something serious: a line yet crossed.

  And because he had gotten her top off once, would he expect to again? And, more important, would she be disappointed if he didn’t?

  Her mind was a whirl of contradictory problems, which she understood if she voiced them out loud would make no sense. An amazingly sexy man asks you on a date—be happy about it! And yet, Allie couldn’t quite relax. After all, she’d been too conditioned her whole life waiting for that shoe to drop.

  And then there was another problem: she still had no condoms. After finishing up at Teri’s near sunset, Allie pulled her rental car into the parking lot of what was once the drugstore and found the store intact, but closed, a handwritten sign on the door stating their doors would be shuttered until the power came back up. Probably for the best, she thought. No condoms, no sex. That would be her new rule.

  When she arrived home, she discovered she’d beaten Dallas there and felt a little bit of relief. She’d have time to shower and get ready. She ought to be exhausted from lack of sleep, but she didn’t feel tired at all. She took a change of clothes out to the shower. The hot water washed off the grime of the day. She was amazed at how many places she’d managed to get dirty. Even the crook of her elbow carried some mystery grease. Her muscles ached from the unaccustomed work, but it had been worth it. They’d done nearly half the debris clearing working together. By the end of the week, they’d have it all done. It felt good to help Teri, and it felt good to be part of a team. No, more like a family.

  She’d be sore tomorrow, but right now she just felt a good, weighty tiredness in her bones, the kind of worn-out that only came from a day of useful work. The gloves had mostly saved her hands, although she could already feel a blister forming near the base of her thumb.

  As she shut the shower off, a bright green gecko ran down the shower curtain. She wasn’t even startled.

  “You go eat that centipede—wherever he is,” she told the little lizard. It paused and cocked its head to one side, as if actually listening, and then darted down and to the ground.

  She put on her best clean sundress—a lavender sleeveless mini—and paired it with her favorite silver dangly earrings. She whipped up her damp hair into a messy bun on her head, a few dark strands falling down by her ears. She looked down at the newly bandaged cut on her leg, thinking again how lucky she was Dallas had saved her. Kaimana’s good-luck tiki sat near the bathroom sink. On a whim, she tucked it into her dress pocket.

  Allie heard Dallas’s truck barrel up the drive, but she took her time applying her makeup in the small outside bathroom with the tiny mirror. By the time she finished, she was starting to feel nervous, and her body hummed with an excited energy. She blotted her lips and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

  Country music wafted to the open-air bathroom, catching her attention. Dallas must’ve salvaged some speakers from his house, as well as some charcoal by the smell of the heating grill. Allie found Dallas near the back porch, closing the lid of the big grill. He wore linen shorts and a solid blue polo shirt, which somehow made his eyes look like the deep, cool blue of the Pacific Ocean.

  He glanced up at her, giving her an appreciative once-over. “You look...gorgeous,” he said, pulling her close for a hug, where his hand lingered on her lower back. “Good enough to eat,” he murmured in her ear. Her thoughts went instantly to the pond, and she felt a hot flash run through her. Her mind whirled with possibilities. When he pulled away, Allie could tell Dallas was thinking along the same lines. A playful smile tugged at the corner of his lip.

  No condoms, no sex, she reminded herself, and then began to worry her resolve would melt away by the end of the evening. Already, she was forgetting why jumping into bed with Dallas McCormick was a bad idea.

  “After you,” Allie said, motioning toward the patio door. Dallas smiled slowly.

  “Oh, no. It’s always ladies first in my book. My mama raised a gentleman.” He tipped an imaginary cowboy hat in her direction, and she laughed. She liked flirting with Dallas. Maybe a little bit too much. Once inside, Dallas uncorked a bottle of red wine and filled two glasses.

  “Where did you get this?” Allie asked, taking a sip and loving the smooth, expensive taste of a prime pinot noir.

  “It’s what I could salvage from my place. As well as two steaks thawing in my freezer and some fresh green beans.” Allie saw two rib eyes marinating in a sweet and spicy steak sauce in a container on the counter. “I thought I’d treat you to a Texas barbecue,” Dallas drawled.

  She couldn’t help but wonder how many times he’d done the same for a tourist passing through. Maybe he kept wine and steaks at the ready at his place. Just in case. She felt a twinge of jealousy and then tamped it down. He’d said his reputation was greatly exaggerated. He’d even argued with Kai about it, and yet...she’d seen a tourist at his place early in the morning with her own eyes, about to make the walk of shame home to her hotel. For some reason, she couldn’t shake the image of him handing her a cup of coffee.

  “So the tsunami will cut down on the tourists,” she said.

  “Yep. It’ll be hard on some of the local bu
sinesses, but I think we’ll survive. And we’ll rebuild all the faster.” Dallas took a sip of wine, and then grabbed the container of steaks. “Grill should be about hot enough. Let’s go see.”

  Allie followed him outside and watched him open the dome-shaped lid of the barbecue pit, the white-hot coals blazing from within. He grabbed a barbecue fork and set the two rib eyes on the metal grill. Marinade hit the coals and sizzled, sending up a puff of steam. The steaks cooked for a while as the two sipped their wine.

  “And I heard Lu’s might be closed indefinitely. It was knocked out. So that will cut into some weekend fun.” She tried to make her voice light, but somehow it came out pensive.

  Dallas glanced up at her. “I won’t miss it,” he said.

  “You won’t?” Allie couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice.

  “I’m done babysitting tourists for a while.”

  Allie let out a snort of disbelief. “Babysitting? Is that what you call it?” She couldn’t help but laugh. Now she had him. “Like the one I saw at your place.”

  “So she got under your skin, did she? So you do like me. Like me enough to spy on me and stalk me!”

  “I wasn’t stalking!”

  “Uh-huh.” Dallas looked as if he enjoyed teasing her and watching her squirm.

  “You were having a one-night stand,” Allie said, hoping to change the subject.

  “They’re not illegal, you know,” he pointed out. “But, no, I didn’t have a one-night stand. I was making sure she had a safe place to stay. She got too drunk the night before, so drunk she couldn’t remember the name of her hotel. It was either drop her off at the district jail for her to sober up or have me take her and then bring her back to her hotel in the morning. And the jail is a terribly uncomfortable place to sleep.”

  Allie was dumbstruck. “You didn’t sleep with her?” she asked, amazed.

  “Absolutely not! She was far too gone for that. It wouldn’t be right.”

  “Would you have, if she’d been more sober?” Allie knew she ought to stop asking questions, but she couldn’t. She just had to get to the bottom of it. She felt she’d never asked enough questions with Jason. If she had, maybe she would’ve dug up his proclivities earlier. She’d not make that mistake with another man again.

  Dallas just laughed. “No. I would’ve just taken her home. I’m a glorified taxi service, that’s about it.” He flipped the steaks on the grill. The juices dripped downward into the flames and sizzled, as the mouthwatering smell of seared barbecue filled the air.

  “But the police officer...” Allie was trying to piece the puzzle together.

  “Who? Lyle? He just wants to live vicariously. He wishes he could talk to women, but he can’t. Anyway, I’ve tried to tell him that I just make sure the girls get home safely, but he thinks that’s code for having crazy sex.” Dallas shrugged. “I’m tired of trying to convince him otherwise.”

  “Oh.” Allie processed this. If Dallas didn’t really sleep with all those women, then Teri and everyone else on the island was wrong about him. Everyone except Jesse, who’d told her she didn’t believe the rumors. Was it possible this was the truth? The idea that he didn’t just roll into bed with anybody made her feel strangely better. Did that mean what they had was special?

  “You sure do seem concerned about my sex life,” Dallas said, sneaking a sly look at her. “If you’re really worried about me getting enough, I know one way to make sure I get some. I might have to take you back to that pond, though...”

  “I...” Allie trailed off as white-hot and decidedly naughty thoughts ran through her mind. In the moonlight, she felt her cheeks grow warm.

  “But that can wait,” Dallas promised. “First, dinner.”

  Dallas served up the steaks and green beans, and they sat together on the patio beneath the stars. Allie dug into her delicious food, her body eager for the energy she’d depleted with her hard day’s work.

  “This is delicious,” she murmured, taking another sip of wine, the combination of steak and wine on her tongue divine.

  “I’m glad you like it,” Dallas said. As they finished the meal, Allie glanced up at the sky. It was so crowded with stars, she could hardly tell where the constellations were. Stars she’d never seen before, living in the big city, popped up in and around the Big and Little Dippers.

  “So many stars,” she exclaimed. “They look brighter here on the island than the mainland. Almost as though they’re closer to us.”

  “I’ve thought that, too,” Dallas mused, looking up. “There’s Orion. He’s my favorite.”

  “Where?” Allie glanced up. Dallas leaned over, his shoulder nearly touching hers.

  “There,” he said. “See those three stars? That’s his belt.”

  “Oh, yes!”

  “He was a famous hunter, you know. He boasted he could kill any living thing on earth, that nothing could beat him. Of course, then he was killed by the bite of a tiny scorpion.”

  “Ouch. That was a blow to the ego.”

  “It just goes to show that you should never get too cocky,” Dallas said.

  “Oh, a philosophy you live by, do you?” Allie teased.

  “Most of the time.”

  Allie finished her last sip of wine and put her glass down on the table. She stood and stretched, reaching for her plate to take it back to the kitchen. Quick as lightning, Dallas grabbed her wrist.

  “Hey,” he said, and she turned back to see him studying her.

  “What?” she asked, half afraid she had some remnant of dinner on her face.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said, his eyes looking dark in the moonlight as he pulled her closer, tugging her down on his lap. She collapsed there, a giggle on her lips, even as his hand caressed her cheek, and she went very still. Before she knew it, his lips were on hers. Allie felt her body respond, as if he’d flipped a switch. She pressed into him as he pulled her to his chest. She tangled her hands in his thick blond hair, and he groaned into her mouth. Allie, sitting on his lap, felt she couldn’t get enough of him. He broke the seal of the kiss first, panting.

  “Should we take this inside?” he asked her, and all she could do was nod, a million hormones flooding her brain at once, lighting it up like a Christmas tree. He stood, picking her up and carrying her easily back inside the house, the porch screen door flipping out and then slapping back against the door frame. He laid her down on the bed in her room and deepened the kiss, his body on top of hers, the weight of it delicious. He slid his hands up the length of her dress, running his fingers beneath to her bare skin, and she gasped, breaking free of his kiss and arching into him. He ran kisses down her neck to the low-lying cleavage of her neckline, and all rational thought fled. She tugged on his shirt, and then it was off, revealing miles of taut muscle. She slid her hands down the ridges of muscles, his smooth hardness driving her wild. Distantly, alarm bells went off. She ignored them as long as she could, but as her hands slid to his waistband, she realized what she was forgetting.

  “Wait,” she murmured, gasping. Her body felt as if it was on fire, but she had to call a time-out. “I...uh...don’t have a...condom.” Allie felt her face burn a little, embarrassed at saying it out loud. There was something about saying the word that just brought her straight back to her sixth-grade sex ed class.

  “Condom!” Dallas exclaimed, as if he’d only just thought of it, and maybe he had. “I have one. I mean, I think I have one.” He looked stricken for a moment. “Hang on one second.” Dallas jumped up and ran to the bag near the kitchen. He dug through it, cursing. “I thought I saw one.” He dumped out the contents of a shave kit, but nothing but razors and shaving cream and a toothbrush fell out. “Damn.”

  “Dallas...” Allie began, but he cut her off.

  “One more second! Don’t move a muscle!” he called, still rooting through his bag. She rolled over on the bed.

  The urgency with which he was searching made her giggle a little. He really wanted to seal the deal. He cursed and slamme
d down the bag.

  “Did the tsunami wash away your supply?” she asked half teasing, half not.

  “I don’t have a supply. I haven’t even had sex in a nearly a year!” he admitted.

  “A year?” Allie echoed.

  “Wait! I know where one might be!” Dallas sprinted out of the house wearing only his shorts, and Allie watched him through the small slit of a window run to his pickup truck and tear open the driver’s-side door. After frantic searching in the glove compartment, he came up with a thin square in triumph. He clambered through the door holding on to two linked packages with a goofy grin on his face.

  “I found two,” he breathed, exhaling.

  “It’s really been a year?” Allie still couldn’t get over it. “So you really don’t hook up with tourists.”

  “I’ve only had one hookup since I broke up with Jennifer a year ago. One tourist. Not tourists.”

  So he didn’t need a new woman’s attention every ten minutes. Teri had been wrong. And that made Allie secretly ecstatic. She jumped up from the bed and threw her arms around him, dragging him down on top of her.

  “I’ve never seen a woman so excited about an old Trojan,” he teased, as she kissed his neck. “Where were you when I was eighteen and carried one of these around in my wallet for a year?”

  “Ha. Ha,” she said. She glanced at the worn packaging. “You sure this isn’t that same one?”

  “No,” he said, pretending to be indignant. “I eventually used that one, thank you very much. This one is probably just, you know, a year old. Do they go bad? Should I smell it and see if it’s off?”

  Allie giggled. Something about Dallas made everything comfortable. She felt as if she could talk to him about anything. “Give me that,” she demanded.

  “Most of the lettering is still on the package. I say, let’s give it a whirl,” Dallas drawled, kissing Allie’s lips once more. It wasn’t long before the playful kisses turned serious. He whisked Allie’s dress over her head and, wearing only her lacy underwear, she undid the button on his linen shorts and slid them and his boxers down with them.