Karibu Heat (Sequel to Kabana Heat) (15 page)

“Mom!” Anjelee
gasped.

Vivien pulled
herself from Mitch’s embrace. “Anj, sweetie, please don’t—”

“No, no. She’s
right, Vivien. It’s okay.” Mitch sat in silence for a full minute. He fidgeted
in his seat, rested his chin on a fist,
stared
at the
floor. At last, his head came up. “Where is she? Here, at the hospital? Can I
see her?”

“Of course you
can.” Vivien sniffled and dabbed the wetness from Mitch’s cheek with a fresh
tissue she dug from her purse. “She’s your sister. You can see her whenever you
like.”

Mitch nodded. A
muscle in his jaw quivered as he struggled to hold back a new wave of emotion.
“Thank you. Does she…does she know who I am? That I’m her half brother?”

Vivien grinned
and wiped her nose. “She’s been sworn to secrecy—she’s just bursting to
tell all her friends. But yes, she knows. She’s seen every one of your movies.”

Mitch gulped. “
Every
one? B-but she’s only thirteen.
Some of them are kind of…racy.”

“Ali’s an old
soul and very mature for her age,” Anjelee put in, her voice now edged with
relief and joy rather than rage. She reached for Jager’s hand and weaved her
fingers in his. His heart missed a beat. “She’s read some romance novels that’d
make even me blush.”

Mitch grinned
ruefully at her. “Make
you
blush? Now
that’s kind of hard to believe.”

Jager couldn’t
help but snort. “You can say that again, especially after that ‘very mature’
Karibu trip we just got back from. Whew.”

Vivien got to
her feet and giggled. “Please, spare me.”

Anjelee slapped
Jager’s shoulder. “Yes, spare her. Now shut it. Besides, you’re one to talk.”

Jager pulled her
into his arms and squeezed her with a growl. Overwhelmed by emotions better
suited for later, he agreed, “Yes, we have lots to talk about. But later.”

Mitch’s gaze
found Jager’s over the top of Anjelee’s head. “Jag, I’m going to need to report
to my next movie set soon, but during my absence, I want you to get with Vivien
and Anjelee and gather all their bills. All of them, not just medical.” Mitch
ticked off a list on his fingers. “Pay off every cent, back rent, utilities,
cell phones, credit cards, anything, and then set up a grocery stipend,
spending accounts, whatever.”

“What? Oh, no,
no,” Vivien interjected, backing away from Mitch. “I-I know what Anjelee did to
you was awful, and there was a day I would have—no, did take that money,
but things are different now. I didn’t tell all this to you today to get money
out of you. Really. We’ll manage.”

“This is my
sister,” Mitch said with conviction, shaking Ali’s picture at Vivien. “And you’re
not going to stop me from taking care of her.”

“But—”

“Mom.” Anjelee
raced over and gripped Vivien’s shoulders. She shook her. “Let him. If my last
trip had been successful, we’d be using his money again anyway. Please, let him
do this for Ali. She deserves a mother who’s not all twisted up with worry and
panic. And actually, a brother would be nice for her to have, too. She just
needs our love right now, not the guilt she wrongfully carries at having put
you into such horrible debt.”

“She’s right, Vivien,”
Mitch replied, stepping closer. “Besides, I can afford it, believe me. Even if
you owe a million bucks, it’s a drop in the bucket for me. And again, she’s my
sister. I can’t just walk away and do nothing. Like Dad did,” he grumbled under
his breath.

Vivien’s mouth
thinned. She tried to hold back the emotion, but she couldn’t. Tears dribbled
like tiny diamonds over her cheeks. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I-I
don’t
know what to say.”

“Just say
‘okay’.” Mitch winked at her.

“O-okay,” Vivien
whispered. “And—and I’ll order a DNA test right away, just so you can be
for sure and—”

Mitch cut Vivien
off. “No need. When I do the testing to see if I’m a match, it’ll be proof
enough. Besides, I don’t need the proof. I see Dad in her already in that
picture.”

“You
mean...you’re going to donate one of your kidneys to Ali?” Anjelee asked
incredulously.

“If I’m a match,
you’re damn right I am. I have two, don’t I?” He grinned, the sort that left
women and even men breathless in the movie theater. “No need to be stingy about
it.”

“Oh. My. God,
thank you.” Anjelee ran into her mother’s open arms. They sobbed together, and
Jager’d be damned if it didn’t choke him up, too. But he held onto the tears,
trying like hell to stay strong.

He glanced at
Keefer. Ha, even big, manly Keef clenched his jaw to prevent an outburst.

“I’ll call
hospital security,” Jager sniffled as he dialed. “Let them know we’ll need them
to lead us up a back way to her room, maybe get a disguise for you.”

Mitch shot one
last order at Jager. “Hey, thanks, man. And when you get around to it, find
them a nice house with plenty of room. And a swimming pool.”

“What? A house?”
Vivien was at it again. Her pride proved almost as strong as Anjelee’s. Almost.
She untangled herself from her daughter’s arms and crossed to Mitch. She tugged
on his arm and whirled him around to face her. “Mitch, no, you can’t do that.
That’s not what all this was supposed to—”

“Wanna make a
bet? One day I want to see her swimming in that pool, so it’s a done deal.” He
pulled Vivien into his arms and rubbed her back. She clung to him. “Now, you
can thank me by taking me to see my sister.
And her doctor.
Let’s not waste anymore time, see if I’m a match.”

Vivien and
Anjelee wailed again. And damn it to hell and back, the tightness in Jager’s
chest finally unfurled. He started to sob, too. And so did Keefer.

Chapter Eleven

Six months later…

They lay on
their sides with Anjelee tucked between them, spoon-fashion. Waning moonbeams sliced
through the open bamboo doors and glinted off the overhead skylight. Cockatoos
and seagulls started their morning melodies, indicating the sun would soon peep
over the horizon. She could smell the sea and sweet fruit mixed with the aroma
of their post-lovemaking. The surf rushed into the lagoon and lapped against
the stilts in a steady rhythm that put her in a contented, almost hypnotic
zone. She listened to its song, along with
Keefer’s
and Jager’s sleepy breathing, and the
click-clack
of palm fronds on the breeze. The curtains stirred, beckoning her outdoors.
Somehow, she untwined herself without waking them, climbed naked from the bed
and donned a nearby hotel robe that had been tossed aside after her last
shower.

She stepped out
onto the breezy deck and took a seat at the umbrellaed dining table. It was
perfect out here with dawn’s moonlight sparkling on the Caribbean Sea and a
vague orange gleam painting the eastern sea line. A sigh escaped her lips.

I’m so happy.

Everything, it
seemed, had turned around to
near-perfect
in her life.

Ali was the
typical high school freshman now, though not so typical in that she not only
had a movie star as her brother, but she also had his kidney thriving inside
her. There’d been no complications or signs of rejection, and they’d both
recovered quickly and had fast become friends. Anjelee grinned. Wow, had they
ever. Ali had become the chattery little sister who’d grown to truly love her
famous older brother as a brother, rather than with star-struck fan-love.

Mitch
had been captivated by his new little sister from the start
. He spoiled her way too much. Anjelee
laughed and shook her head. Ah, but sweet little Ali deserved it. She’d been so
sickly all of her life—until Mitch had saved it. Literally.

Things had
progressed in her career, as well as in
Keefer’s
and
Jager’s. Jager now promoted discreet getaways for his clients as an extra perk
of his services, and Keefer’s travel agency handled all their private plans and
itineraries. Anjelee, in turn, had been given the awesome opportunity to
photograph the client and celebrity trips for their own P.R., or when needed,
to act as a decoy and lure the paparazzi away from their clients by leaking
false tips as to their planned whereabouts. She thrived on all the new excitement,
and she had Mitch Wulfrum to thank.

The skylight
popped back into her thoughts again and she looked up at it on the thatched
roof of their hut. Man, what a fool she’d been to climb onto that roof in
Hawaii and take those pictures of the Wulfrums.

And here he’d
gone and paid off all of her mom’s bills, bought her a new fabulous house and
dumped a pile of bucks into an account making her an instant millionaire. Mitch
was an amazing man. There just wasn’t enough time in this lifetime to thank him
for all he’d done for Ali and her mom and Anjelee. She would be forever
grateful.

And no one knows more than me, how lucky
you are, you dumb-ass idiot.

Guilt gnawed at
her gut again, but not quite as much as it used to. She was beginning to
forgive herself for her horrible, desperate behavior, but it could still lash
at her now and then when she got to
thinking
about it
for too long.

Her jaw
clenched. “If I had looked up when we were making love last night, and seen
someone up there taking pictures of us, I’d have
killed
them,” she whispered.

A cool gust of
wind tossed her hair. She wrapped the robe tighter, drew her knees up and
encircled her arms around them. The special love and bond the three of them
had, must be very similar to what Mitch, Kiona and Kol had.

Yes, she could
see it so easily now...

She dropped her
head to her knees and groaned. “Gawd, I was such a moron. I must have caused
them all so much pain and stress.”

“No, baby,”
Jager said, his voice deep, tender. “It’s all good now.”

She raised her
head to find him squatting next to her chair. He was still naked, his cock
hanging long and soft between his thighs. Love poured from his eyes. He took
her left hand and kissed it...over and over and over, until that warm sexual
pull drew on her arousal and flooded her with desire deep inside her groin.

“You bet,
darlin’, he’s absolutely right.” Keefer had snuck up on her, too. She turned to
see him kneeling on the other side of her chair. He took her right hand.
“Everything’s good in every way. We three have nothing but happiness ahead of
us.”

Keefer’s hands
felt like two strong bear paws rubbing her fingers and wrist and forearm, but
it had the same effect on her libido as Jager’s gentler touch. Keefer gazed up
at her, his eyes like sparkling onyx beneath the emerging light of dawn. The
love and emotion she saw there wasn’t new like Jager’s. Rather, Keefer’s
feelings for her had been
there
for years, but he’d
cleverly hidden them from her out of worry that his bisexual secret would ruin
their friendship.

But just look at
him! Wow, what a fine, manly specimen. Buff upper body, thick cock just now
starting to
rise
, strong legs built for thrust power.
She tangled her fingers in his long hair when the sea breeze blew it over his
shoulders and revealed his beautiful inked art and dark, tight nipples.

Jager got to his
feet. “C’mon.”

Keefer took the
cue from Jager. He freed her hand from his hair and rose.

The two tugged
her from the chair and led her to the edge of the dock. The orange and pink
blend of the rising sun left her breathless.

“See that?”
Jager asked, pointing eastward toward the picturesque sunrise.

“It’s the
beginning of our lives together,” Keefer said, holding his gaze to the horizon.
“It’s what you can always remember when you think of our wedding day.”

“W-what? Our
wedding day?” she said in a squeaky voice.

Jager chuckled.
“Did you really think we’d book—courtesy of Mitch, Kiona and Kol, by the
way—Karibu Resort’s Honeymoon Bay without getting married here?”

Anjelee backed up
and waved her hands. “Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait a sec. Mitch bought us this
trip—and as a
honeymoon
?”

“Sure.” Jager
shrugged his shoulders. “For our private three-way wedding, and for our
honeymoon. What, did you think we were coming here for a pretend wedding?”

“W-well, no, I
just thought we were renting out a suite that just so happened to’ve been used
for weddings, but I thought we were using it just for its privacy.”

Keefer gestured
upshore. He shouted, “Good morning, Maja!”

Maja? What was
she doing here?

“Morning, mon.”
Maja maneuvered her loaded orange kayak against the dock pole and tossed the
rope to Keefer. “Is our bride almost ready to get this cool wedding underway?”

Keefer secured
Maja’s boat. He grinned. “Look at her. What do you think? It’s just a matter of
taking off the robe and we’re set.”

“What?” Anjelee
shrieked.

“Our wedding,
sweetheart,” Jager said with a sly tone as he slid her robe off, “is going to
be a naked wedding right here on the pier.”

Anjelee was
stunned, and the robe fell unnoticed to the deck. She stared at Jager, her
mouth agape. She slid her gaze to Keefer, and of course, Maja got her turn,
too. She finally found her tongue and used it. “Are you all freaking kidding
me?”

A trio of
headshakes, along with their dumbfoundedness had Anjelee, cackling, “Are you
shitreous? Oh, my gawd, you’re all nothing but assmunches!”

Keefer crossed
his arms and leaned toward Jager. Under his breath, and without a request to do
so, he translated, “‘No shit, are you serious?’ is the first one, and
‘assmunch’ means fool or idiot...although I could think of an alternative to
that one.”

Jager let out a
barking laugh cut short by Anjelee’s withering stare. “What?” Jager’s face went
pale. “Are you—are you mad that we set up a wedding?”

She smiled, lifting
the corners of her mouth slowly. The excitement and joy that seized her soul
just couldn’t be contained. “No!” Her eyes went all wet and sappy. She shrieked
and ran to them. They caught her together, one of her legs around Jager’s hip
and the other around Keefer’s. “I’m soooo fookin’ elated I can’t think
straight!”

The grin between
the two of them, as well as the giggle from Maja, and the rising ball of the
sun, only fueled Anjelee’s ecstatic mood. She bounced up and down and swiveled
her hips while the men prevented her from falling.

“We’re gettin’
married—uh-huh, uh-huh. Yeah, we’re gettin’ married—damn straight,
uh-huh. Yeah, we’re gettin’ married...”

~*~*~*~

Maja
tsked
and shook her head. Her dreds
swung out in a curtain around her face. “Mon, I said
left
hand
green
, not
right
hand
yellow
.”

“You try...”
Jager grunted and attempted to lift his left hand, “stretching your
body...around this moose...of a man and see if you don’t...end up on yellow
instead of green.”

Maja planted a fist
on her hip. She grinned. “Well, ain’t no doubt you’ve already done enough
stretching around him to make it as easy as keylime pie. But they’re your
rules. Your left hand doesn’t land on the same spot that Keefer’s hand is on,
then you don’t get to put the ring on his finger,
mon
.”

In her ass-up,
inverted-V position, Anjelee took another peek under her armpit at Maja. The
woman rolled her eyes and sighed. They’d better hurry.
Maja
was so ready to go back to the main resort
,
it wasn’t
even funny
.

And Anjelee was
so ready to get rid of her so they
could
be alone.

“Ooh, guys...”
Anjelee sang, trying to suppress a giggle. “Quit being pussies, or our Naked
Twister Wedding is going to be cut short before the nuptials are complete.”

Since she was so
limber, it’d been easy for her to put their rings on their fingers—once
the correct game color and hand had come up, at least. And she already had both
of their rings on her left finger. First, Keefer had had a turn where his left
hand had landed on the same red circle that her left hand had been on, so he’d
placed the one-carat, gorgeous bling on her finger, kissed her while they both
hung upside-down, then waited for Jager’s turn. Jager had also gotten lucky
with a left-hand red—after about umpteen missed turns—placed an
identical one-carat ring on her finger next to Keefer’s, and had kissed her so
thoroughly, she’d nearly tumbled onto her ass and lost the game.

The jerk.

Now, she had
Keefer’s and Jager’s wedding rings on her finger—she was going to have
them soldered together when they got back to L.A.—so they just needed the
men to exchange rings so Maja could leave and they could have a wild and
passionate honeymoon.

Karibu Resort’s
Honeymoon Bay hut was so awesome how they’d built it on stilts surrounded by
water in a private lagoon. What a special place for such a unique union of
three.

Anjelee glanced
over to find Jager hunched over Keefer’s back. Both were buck-naked, of course,
and the morning sun beat down on their muscled bodies. Her mouth watered. God, she
was so going to frame this Twister game board and hang it on their wall in
Jager’s Hawaii condo where they all lived now...the one where Mitch, Kiona and
Kol had gotten married, and where Anjelee had taken those naughty pictures of
them.

“Whew, y’all look
so hot,”
Anjelee
purred. “Would you just exchange the
rings before I get so wet I slip right into the bay and drown?”

Jager nipped at
Keefer’s ear and ground his pelvis into Keefer’s butt. “You said it, wife,
we’re all gonna ‘slip right in’ wherever we can find a place.”

“Woo-wee!” Maja
fanned herself with the spinner board. She threw her head back and chuckled.
“You three crazy lovers don’t get this ceremony over with A.S.A.P., you just
might have a fourth partner.”

“There might’ve
been a day I’d’ve taken you up on that, Maja, but not now.” Jager wound his
legs and one arm around Keefer, as if to get him in a wrestling move, then
reached for one of the rings set nearby on the game board.

“Jag, damn it,”
Keefer grunted. “You’re gonna break my fucking back.”

Anjelee’s entire
body trembled with fatigue. “Would you two just do it, already? I’m about to
fall.”

“With this ring,
I, Jager Manning, pledge my lifetime commitment to you, Keefer Giles, along
with our smoking-hot wife, Anjelee Montrose.” He huffed and stretched, but
couldn’t quite reach Keefer’s hand on the opposite side. “Aw, the hell with
it.”

Jager tumbled
off Keefer’s back, kneeled next to him and growled, “Get your ass up so I can
put the damn ring on your finger.”

Anjelee got the
giggles. She collapsed to the Twister mat.