Free Burning up the Rain (Hawaiian Heroes) by Cathryn Cade Page A

about her? She hadn’t seemed drunk or even under the influence, but would she be embarrassed that she’d thrown herself at him and that he’d accepted?
    Of course, the first people Jack met when he emerged into the shadowed foyer of the guesthouse were Lalei’s mother and Choy. They stood in the graceful, two-story space before one of Daniel’s sculptures, apparently admiring the seven-foot likeness of a breeching whale, carved from gleaming wood. But he knew immediately they’d spotted him—Suzy Kai-Ho’omalu snapped him a glare of sheer poison with her lovely dark eyes, so like her daughter’s.
    Choy looked him up and down and then away, as if Jack was a particularly bad piece of art, not worth noticing. His stance was rigid, his face taut.
    Ignoring the embarrassment that burned in his gut and heated his cheeks, Jack nodded at the pair and sauntered through the foyer and out onto the lanai as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
    Okay, the voices he’d heard while he and Lalei were getting it on had obviously belonged to them.
    Jack scowled as he slapped his sunglasses on his face. Had Lalei used him to make Choy jealous, or to get rid of him? Was that why she’d faked her loud, happy girl noises there at the end and then practically shoved him away, like he’d served his purpose and she was done with him?
    He blew out a hard breath. Women—who the hell knew what they were thinking? His own mother used her tears as a weapon to manipulate the men in her life, playing the “poor, fragile me” card over and over. His father had finally gotten tired of it. Sam Nord lived on his yacht in the Santa Barbara harbor, fishing and hanging out with his buddies at the yacht club. Wendy Nord was on her second husband, who was still doing his befuddled best to give her everything her heart desired.
    Jack and his younger sister were united in refusing to put up with their mother’s bullshit anymore. Yeah, he couldn’t deny his formative years had left him suspicious, always searching for the subtext with women. As for Emme, his baby sis was a toughie who would deny she even had feminine emotions, much less use them as a tool.
    Whatever, maybe he’d drink his breakfast. And if Ms. Honolulu tried to get him alone again, he might just spank that lovely, manipulative ass for her. If he was a twisted sumbitch for being turned on by that idea, he didn’t much give a damn.
     
     
    The loungers were draped with a scattering of brightly hued beach towels, and full of people in swim suits.
    Lalei had beaten him down to the beach. She was just emerging from the water, her arms raised to lift her wet hair from her shoulders. The ass with which he was rapidly becoming obsessed swayed gracefully as a model’s as she picked her way up across the hot sand to the open-air shower set near the dock.
    Jack watched her tip her head back under the spray, his gaze traveling down over her delicate curves barely covered by a silver bikini. Heat furled low in his groin, and he looked away, annoyed. So what if he knew what lay beneath those scraps of silver? Lots of other guys probably did too.
    The drink cooler sat behind the chairs, shaded by the palms and partially screened from view of those on the lanai as well. Padding down to it on his bare feet, Jack bent to open the lid. He froze as he heard hushed voices from the loungers directly on the other side of the palms.
    “Are you kidding me? Jack and Lalei ?” Claire’s voice was full of disbelief.
    “Yup.” That was Bella, a giggle in her voice. “Joel and I heard them from the lanai. She was really enjoying whatever he was doing, too.”
    “Shh-sh, you two, that’s enough,” Melia chided. “They’re both our guests.”
    “Well, I don’t get it,” Claire muttered. “She’s gorgeous, yeah, but…”
    “But here’s the best—or worst—part,” Bella insisted gleefully. “Her mom and that dude she dragged along were right in front of us. I thought they’d turn to stone