Oh Damn One Night of Trouble (7 page)

Kailani hoped Ms. Blaine had spiders.

Class ended and everyone left the room before Kailani realized it was over. She hadn't heard a single word. Her pen was in her hand but she hadn't written anything down. She put the books into her backpack and found the small slip of paper. It was the receipt with the heart and their names on it. How childish, she thought, and she threw the paper into the trash on her way out the door.

Her phone had several messages from her friends at the diner. They had all gone to the luau and wanted to know if she was coming.

How could she? How could they? It felt as if they had betrayed her, going when they knew
he
was going to be there.

It wasn't until she was home that she realized if she hadn't gotten involved with Joshua, she would have gone to the luau.

If it didn't matter to him, then it wouldn't matter to her. Kailani bathed and put on her favorite sundress. In the bathroom she found the poor trapped spider. “Maybe I should take you with me,” she said, “but you've been through enough, haven't you?”

She carried the cup to the window and placed the spider outside, setting him free.

Kailani went downstairs and outside with a walk that said she couldn't care less about Mr. Joshua Kent Chandler. She was going to have fun, even if it killed her.

She met up with her friends at the luau and they drank, danced and enjoyed the food. She expected to see him but she hated it that he was so damn good looking. “A night of trouble, that's all he was,” she muttered.

“
What did you say Kailani?” Lisa asked, leaning closer to hear her. The music was loud.

“
Nothing,” Kailani said, watching him. He smiled pleasantly, poured Ms. Blaine's wine and nodded occasionally. Joshua was restrained and polite with the older woman’s friends, shaking their hands and making small talk.

“
Now do you see what I mean?” Lily asked, coming over to her table.

“
Oh go away,” Kailani told her. “You're not my friend and you always have something awful to say.”

“
How much have you had to drink?” Lily asked.

“
None of your business,” Kailani said. “Go away.” She shooed her with her hand. “Away from me,” she said.

“
Was he any good?” Lily asked, smiling and sitting down at the table.

Kailani smiled.

“
Oh, he was,” Lily added, “but really, fifteen minutes?”

Kailani laughed. “Longer but I didn't want to wait too long,” she said.

“
You're drunk,” Lily noted. She cast her gaze in the direction of Josh Chandler. “Amazing, he has no emotions whatsoever.”

“
It's all an act,” Kailani told her.

“
I doubt that,” Lily said. “You didn't fall for him, did you?”

“
You mean the way you did?”

“
It was an infatuation,” Lily said. “Who wouldn't want him?” She smiled as she watched him.

“
I don't.”

“
Oh you're lying.”

“
I'm not,” Kailani said. “He's too much trouble.” He caught her gaze and finally noticed that she was there. Moments later, he was shaking hands again and he disappeared. When he didn't come back, Ms. Blaine seemed upset.

In the distance, beneath the moonlight Kailani saw him walking alone. He was leaving the luau and the party.

She tried to think a few moments so she could foresee the future but Kailani had too much to drink and before she could stop herself, she was following him. “You're going to have to give the old lady a refund,” she said, taunting him from behind his back.

He turned around. “That isn't funny.”

“
You didn't service her,” Kailani pointed out. “She's going to call the Better Business people and report you.”

“
I'm afraid of spiders,” he said.

Kailani giggled.

He turned and continued walking along the beach. “I completely forgot about her,” Josh said. “I wasn't thinking of anyone but you today.”

“
Why? Because I saved you from a spider?” she asked, stepping in front of him.

“
No, because you're the only one I...” He sighed and walked around her. “Go home Kailani, you said it yourself. All I am for you is trouble. You have your plans. Your life is laid out for you. Mine isn't.”

“
What do you want? Do you want to be an escort?”

“
I told you, I was doing that to pay for...” He paused. “Forget it. I don't have to explain anything to you. It's what I am, what I was. I'm not going to apologize for it. It worked out rather well and it paid all of my bills.”

She stumbled in the sand and grabbed his arm to keep from falling.

“
You should go back to the luau,” he said. “Get one of your friends to drive you home. You've had too much to drink.”

“
Aren't you going to rescue me?” she asked.

He smiled at her. “I don't think I can.”

“
Why do you say that?” she asked. “Look, I'm a woman, alone on the beach. God knows what could happen to me.”

“
You won't let me rescue you,” he said. His voice deepened with concern. “You don't trust me and the one who is going to pay for it is me.”

“
Why?” she asked, leaning against him. “Why do you think you'll pay for it?”

“
Because I'm already in love with you,” he said.

“
You can't be.”

“
I am,” he said, holding her in his arms. “Kailani...I don't know how to do any of this,” he confessed. “I don't know how to love someone and the last thing I want to do is hurt you so I think you should go.”

She narrowed her eyes and studied him. “When did you fall in love with me?”

“
I don't know. Somewhere between the exploding light bulb and when I held you in my arms in the dark.”

“
Ah God I did drink too much,” she said, putting her hand to her forehead. She looked at him. “Those arms have held a lot of women. How do I know you're not lying to me, leading me on for something?”

“
For what?” he asked, exasperated. “I've already had you and you haven't paid me a dime!”

“
Do
y
ou want paid?” She giggled and started searching through her purse.

“
Stop it,” he said. “Stop it Kailani.” He grasped her hands. “I don't want money from you. I don't want to take anything from you. You're only making me feel worse about this whole thing.” He walked away from her, toward the ocean. “If I'd have known that I was going to meet you, I'd have done things differently. I didn't know. I never expected...” He paused. “I never expected to fall in love with anyone.”

“
Why?”

“
Because I didn't think I was capable of it,” he said. “I gave up on all those kinds of feelings when I was seventeen years old and I haven't felt that way since then...until now.”

“
You must have really loved that girl,” Kailani said.

He didn't answer.

“
Show me where you live now,” Kailani said. “I want to see how you live on the beach.”

“
No, I'm taking you back to the party.”

“
I don't want to go back there,” she said. “I want to go with you.”

“
You're stubborn.”

Kailani smiled. “Rawr,” she said.

He laughed. “You're worse than Tubbo.”

“
Rescue me?”

Josh smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. “It isn't much,” he said. “It's just an old beach shack. I'll show it to you if you promise me a few things.”

“
What do you want me to promise you?”

“
No more ice water,” he reprimanded. “No slapping and no announcing our lovemaking time to the entire world.”

Kailani laughed. “Deal,” she said, reaching to shake his hand. She smiled when he grasped it and held on.

Chapter 11

Kailani waited as he lit the lantern inside the shack. The soft warm glow lit up the cozy room. There was only a bed and a wooden crate to serve as a night stand. On the night stand were several sea shells, but nothing else. “This is nice,” Kailani said.

“
There's nothing here.”

“
You're here,” Kailani said, turning and looking up at him. “You said you owe me.”

“
After what happened at the diner, I'm a little hesitant.”

“
Do you have anymore dates that you have to go on?”

“
No,” he said, touching her cheek, “and I'm not making any either.”

“
Did you mean what you said?”

“
Yes, I've never said that to anyone,” Josh confessed.

“
Not even your teen crush?” She wrapped her arms around his waist.

“
It was more of a crash,” he told her. “After I was sent away, I wrote her a letter fully explaining how I felt. I told her everything, bared my soul to her.”

“
And?”

“
She wrote back and told me that she didn't feel that way about me at all.”

Kailani winced, “How awful.”

“
I was devastated,” Josh said. “She told me she thought of me as a big brother, a friend and she said she was sorry if I'd been hurt.” He paused. “After that happened, I thought it would be best if I keep my emotions under wraps and from the way this is going...”

“
I do have a hard time trusting men,” Kailani admitted, “but you didn't ask me.”

“
Ask you what?”

“
If I love you,” she said unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt. She kissed his bare chest.

“
Do you?” he asked in a husky voice.

“
That depends,” she said, smiling and looking up at him.

Joshua felt his heart picking up pace. It was beating harder and he had no control over it. “On what?” he asked.

“
If you can show me why those women pay $1,500.00 for one night with you,” Kailani murmured, kissing his chest again. His fingertips traveled with an exquisite light touch from her face to her shoulder. In an instant, the strings of her sundress were untied and it fell to the floor. She gasped a little and laughed.

Joshua smiled, leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder.

Kailani moved closer to him as his hands slid down her sides and slipped beneath her panties, taking them to her thighs. He picked her up in his arms and laid her on his bed. With ease, he removed her panties and dropped them on the floor. Kailani smiled as he leaned over her, kissing her neck, just below her ear. “Mmm...” she moaned. Her mind began to swirl with a delicious, warm haze. His strong hands were so gentle and they traveled over her skin, sending waves of pleasure through her entire body and he kissed her lips. He deepened the kiss and she clung to his shoulders. “I love you,” she whispered into his ear. “I do love you.”

It was as if his body became fevered, his skin was hot to the touch. His tongue warm and moist traveled down her neck and between her breasts. He showered her with gentle kisses, licking and suckling her breasts holding and massaging them with his hands as his tongue traveled to her stomach and then he went lower...

Kailani gasped and looked down at him. His face was between her thighs and he was licking and tasting her. It was as though he was starving and couldn't get enough. Her heart raced and pounded in her chest. The room around them seemed to shift and move. He slipped his fingers inside of her and continued to feast upon her at the same time. “Josh...oh Josh,” she gasped, unable to breathe. She didn't know how much more she could take. Her mind was exploding. She grasped his hair and tried to push him away but he stayed there and took her to a height she'd never been to before. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “Stop! Stop! Oh my God...stop.”

He backed off and smiled at her. Within a few seconds, he was at it again.

“
Ohhh, ohhh...” She pulled his hair, grabbed his shoulders and tried to pull him up to where she was but he was too heavy. “Oh Josh,” she began to whimper, “please, please...” She was delirious with passion and she couldn't think at all. When she opened her eyes again, he was naked and standing beside the bed. “Josh,” she said, raising her arms and inviting him. “Please...”

He came from the bottom of the bed, spreading her legs apart and lifting them up onto his strong muscled shoulders. Again, he lowered his face between her thighs and his tongue danced over her, darting in, out and all around, bringing her body to a frenzied state and then he was there, inside of her.

With one arm he lifted her up to him. Her legs slid from his shoulders, down to the bed and she was sitting on him, face to face. He turned and lowered her to the bed. He began to move in that slow, sweet torturous movement she'd loved so much before.