Have Your Way With Me

by Parker, Weston

  Once I was showered, dressed, and back in my Jeep, I grabbed my phone from the passenger seat and scrolled to her number. It was probably stupid as fuck of me to invite her to the luau, considering how hard it had been to keep my hands off her without alcohol being involved, but I really did think she would enjoy it.

  She’d mentioned not knowing a lot of people on the island and the luau would help with that. Mauli had named pretty much everyone I knew here, outside of the guys on the base, when he’d told me about who would be in attendance.

  Plus, going to a luau was kind of a rite of passage around here. It was the Hawaiian equivalent of taking a pie to welcome the new neighbors. It was one of those things that had to be done, but it was a hell of a lot more fun than awkwardly ringing the doorbell of the unfortunate people who’d moved in next to you.

  Mind made up that I was inviting her for the right reasons, I opened my messages and tapped out a new one to her in reply to the one she’d sent me this morning with her number.

  Me: There’s a luau tomorrow night. Wanna come with me?

  The message delivered a split second after I pressed send, but she didn’t read it right away. When she still hadn’t read it by the time I’d signed out and waved goodbye to Mauli, I stashed my phone in my glove box and left it.

  She’d said she wanted to hang out again sometime and I’d agreed. Inviting her to a luau was me keeping up my end of the bargain. If she didn’t want to accept, so be it. It was probably better that way anyway.

  Chapter 10

  Elyse

  Jordan’s message blinked up at me when I picked up my phone. A flutter spread from my stomach to my heart when I saw that he’d invited me out tomorrow night.

  If I pictured a luau in my mind, it was the typical Hollywood version of one. There were golden-skinned girls waving their hands as they shimmied to ukulele music with flowers around their necks and waists, a pig with a bright red apple in its mouth roasting over an open fire, and tiki torches everywhere.

  I didn’t know what it would be like in real life, but I wanted to find out. The time stamp on his message said that it had been sent just over an hour ago, but I’d been out in the garden and hadn’t checked my phone all morning.

  Sunshine Cottage was fantastic, a dream come true, but it was also pretty boring here alone. I’d already cleaned it from top to bottom twice. I’d rearranged my cupboards and gotten acquainted with everything in every drawer in the kitchen.

  I longed for Lisa’s company, to lie on the couch and watch movies with my friend. I missed the everyday small talk between roommates and I really missed having someone there to talk to about what was happening in my life.

  Like Jordan. I desperately wanted to tell someone about spending the day with him. I supposed I could have called Lisa, but it wasn’t the same.

  Eventually, I’d gone outside and pruned the garden, hoping it would take my thoughts off of the sexy dark-haired man who was my brother’s best friend. I had to keep reminding myself that all the reasons we’d never gotten serious back in school still existed, except of course for his looming enlistment.

  Knowing that both my big brother and the boy I liked were about to leave me for a long, long time had weighed heavily on me back then. It was like staring down the barrel of a gun every day, knowing that each day brought them closer to walking away and possibly never coming back again.

  I’d dealt with it and carried on with my life, but it hadn’t been easy. Yet here I was, living just minutes away from the base they’d taken off to and trying to find a way to carry on yet again.

  Going to a luau sounded like a great way to do just that, so I tapped the text box on my phone and replied to Jordan’s message.

  Me: Hey. Thanks for the invite! I’d love to come with you. Text me the details and I’ll be there.

  Jordan didn’t reply immediately, but he also hadn’t read my message yet. I stuck my phone into my pocket so I’d know this time when he texted. Then I looked around the bright inside of my new home and tried to decide what to do next.

  There was nothing left for me to do at home, Jordan seemed to be busy, and I’d already explored my immediate surroundings. Going for a drive was an option, but I hadn’t talked to another person all day, and I was getting kind of antsy because of it.

  I was happy being by myself, but I’d been mostly by myself since I left California. My own company was starting to drive me insane. I had to get out, have actual human interaction.

  Since the person I’d come here for lived and worked only a few minutes down the road, I decided to drop in on my brother. If it turned out he was busy and couldn’t spend time with me, I could always come back to the cottage. At least I’d have passed a few minutes trying.

  Smiling as I went to my entrance hall and grabbed the Jeep’s keys from a little hook near the door, I thought about how Jordan had been the one to suggest this vehicle to Kole. He really was unexpectedly sweet sometimes. He’d had no reason to give Kole advice on a car that I might actually have liked, and yet he had.

  I realized that he’d also been trying to help his best friend, but it still meant something to me. Humming to myself as I made my way to my Jeep, I hopped in and drove the couple of minutes to the entrance of the base.

  Not surprisingly, one couldn’t just drive in. A strict-looking young man in uniform stopped me when I approached their entrance, a radio clipped to his collar. The smile I gave him didn’t make him relax one little bit. In fact, his dark unibrow might even have become tighter as he regarded me.

  “I’m here to see Kole Dennis,” I said. “He’s not expecting me, but if you could just tell him that Elyse was here, I’m sure he’d let you know I’m okay to be here.”

  He gave me a brisk nod. “One minute please.”

  Pressing down on some button on his radio, he muttered into it. He relayed my name to someone and the next thing I knew, my brother’s voice crackled over the radio. “It’s okay, Gates. Let her through. She’s my sister.”

  The man nodded again. “Sure thing, sir. Thank you.”

  I blinked at him. “Your name is Gates and you man the gate?”

  He scowled, his brown eyes flickering with annoyance. “You are clear to go through, ma’am.”

  It took a few more minutes before he finally waved me onto the base and opened the gate, but he never answered or even acknowledged my joke. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel and tried to keep my mouth shut, waiting patiently until I was allowed in.

  Kole was waiting outside his house when I pulled up, a huge grin on his face. “Ellie! I’m so glad you came. I’ve just finished a meeting and I’ve got about an hour before I need to get back, so this is perfect timing.”

  Genuine joy warmed my chest. This right here was what I had moved to Hawaii for, getting to spend time with my brother. “You sure you have time?”

  “Absolutely.” He hugged me when I got out of my car, holding me in his protective arms before stepping back and putting his hands on my shoulders. “How was yesterday? Jordan help you to get your bearings a little?”

  “Yeah, we went to Volcano Park. It was a nice day. Beautiful place.” I was itching inside to talk to him about Jordan, to ask about his missing years and find out more about the man he’d become, but that would cause problems for him.

  Such as his dick being severed from his body.

  Suppressing a sigh and my many, many questions, I grinned at Kole. “I was hoping you might have some time to show me around here. Jordan showed me some of the island, but this is your home.”

  It also used to be Jordan’s, but I didn’t mention that. Looking up and down the long row of nearly identical houses, the manicured lawns, and smooth asphalt, I wondered if one of the houses I could see used to belong to Jordan.

  I tried to picture him in uniform, which was a bad idea for me right now, ambling up the street to visit his friend. Luckily for me, Kole distracted me by motioning to his house. “Sure thing. Let me show where I live first. Then I�
��ll take you around the base.”

  “Good idea. I’d love that.”

  He turned to his home and motioned for me to precede him into a modest one-bedroom unit. It was immaculately clean, as every other place my brother had ever lived in had been.

  Wooden floors were beneath my feet. Pictures of my brother, Jordan, and some other men I didn’t know were against the walls. There were several of Kole on the day he’d received his numerous promotions, and pride swelled in my chest when I saw them.

  “You’ve done well for yourself,” I commented, taking in a deep breath of what smelled like roasting vegetables. “Were you making food?”

  “Yeah, but it’s got a while to go yet. I can show you around.” After taking me through his house, not much more than his bedroom, bathroom, and open living space, he led me back outside. “So this base is the amalgamation of the Air Force’s Hickam base and the Navy’s Pearl Harbor. They were merged about nine years ago. I’m on the naval side of things, obviously.”

  I smiled. “Obviously. Tell me about it, though. This has been your home for so long now that I feel like I’ve missed out.”

  He offered me his arm as we started to walk, tucking my hand into the crook of his elbow. “Okay, so the naval station provides berthing and shore-side support to surface ships and submarines, but we also do maintenance and training.”

  “Sounds kind of cool. Maintenance of what, the ships?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, we can accommodate even the largest ships in our fleet and we’ve even got dry-dock services.”

  “I have no idea what that is.” I laughed.

  Kole grinned down at me. “Basically, it means that we can take the ships out of the water to fix whatever needs to be fixed.”

  “Sounds cool.” As we moved away from the street Kole lived on, I realized that the base was a lot bigger than I’d thought. “This is quite the operation you have here. What could you possibly need so much space for? I thought you just said all you did was fix ships and train people.”

  “Not exactly.” His expression became thoughtful. “We now house over one hundred and sixty commands. We need space for housing, personnel, and family support. We’re also an integral part of the shore-side activities, so we have both permanent and transient personnel.”

  “Wow, Kole,” I said quietly. “I’ve always been proud of you, but being here…”

  I trailed off and he squeezed my hand with his elbow. “I know. It’s a lot to take in your first time.”

  “It is,” I agreed. Try as I might not to, I couldn’t quite shake Jordan from my mind completely. This was where he’d lived too, all those years I hadn’t seen or heard from him. This gigantic, impressive base had been the place he’d called home. “You guys must be a pretty tight-knit community.”

  “In some ways,” Kole said. “It’s different for me when we’re home because I’m single. A lot of the other guys have families to come home to. When we’re here, they have things like their kids’ birthday parties to worry about. I get invited, but it’s a different world, you know?”

  “Yeah.” A lot of my friends back in California had also settled down and had families of their own. While I guessed this was different because the men and women in the service still spent a lot of time together without their families, people who had them tended to band together. “What about you? No love of your life somewhere on the island?”

  “Nope.” Kole smirked, but there was a flash of pain in his eyes. “I’m too busy for that.”

  I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what I was about to ask. The reality was that I wasn’t a baby anymore, even if Kole would always see me as his baby sister. If I was going to live here permanently, which I planned on doing, he was going to have to get used to certain things.

  “I’m not too busy for that,” I said. “Do you think the love of my life is somewhere on this island?”

  He scoffed. “No. There’s no one here for you, Ellie. You need to focus on your career, get re-enrolled so you can finish your final semester of school.”

  “Yeah, I’ll look into that.” It was clear that we weren’t going to get anywhere today. Kole was still in full-on father mode, and until I could get him to see me as his adult sister instead of his kiddo, there was no point in even trying. “I’m not sure, though. The daycare seems to be a great option for me right now.”

  Kole gave me the kind of look a father might give his daughter, but I didn’t give him time to lecture me. Pushing up on my toes, I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I love you, big brother. Thank you for taking the time to show me around your base, but you said you only had about an hour. Our time is almost up.”

  He looked almost crestfallen but squared his shoulders and started leading me back in the direction of his house. “Yeah, I do have to get back. I love you too, though. You’re welcome to come by anytime.”

  I didn’t doubt it. I just wasn’t quite sure what I would do here when he constantly had to get back to work. It seemed reasonable and even logical to me that I’d be seeking out other company, male company even, but Kole seemed to think differently.

  I’d wanted a new adventure when I moved here, a new leaf. I was getting it, but it kind of felt like an adventure I’d already been on. The one where Kole got crazy overprotective and I was left having to think up ways to remind him that I was a real girl.

  Chapter 11

  Jordan

  At five minutes to six, five minutes earlier than I’d told Elyse I’d pick her up for the luau, I pulled up in front of her house. She opened the door for me a minute later, and my breath caught in my lungs when I saw her.

  She looked fucking beautiful, even more so than usual in a pale blue Hawaiian dress that fit her body perfectly. It hugged her curves and accentuated her breasts, bringing out her eyes at the same time.

  Elyse smiled as my eyes raked down the length of her body, trailing back up again slowly. She pulled the skirt away from her body and did a twirl. “Well, what do you think? Is it appropriate for my first luau?”

  “It’s—” I cleared my throat, trying to get my mind out of the gutter and my eyes off her tits. “It’s definitely appropriate. You look good.”

  “Thanks,” she said, letting her own gaze drift down my frame. My cock twitched when she licked her lips and jerked her eyes back to mine. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

  I had no idea what could look good about a T-shirt and a pair of board shorts, but if she thought I looked good, I’d take it. “Thanks. You ready to go? I know I’m a little early.”

  She leaned her shoulders back and glanced into her house, presumably at a clock mounted somewhere inside. “You’re, like, a few minutes early. I’m ready to go. I’ve never been the type to need every last minute to get ready. Let me grab my purse. I’ll be right out.”

  She disappeared through the open door and was back within a few seconds, walking with me to my Jeep. I was supremely aware of the looks she kept shooting my way, but I pretended not to notice the lust in them.

  Her pupils were slightly dilated and her cheeks were flushed. As we climbed into the Jeep, I glanced at her while putting on my seatbelt. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

  “No.” She secured her own belt before looking back at me, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “I already told you what. You look good. That’s all. I’m also still trying to get used to actually seeing you again. It’s kind of hard to believe that you’re here and you’re real.”

  “I’m here and I’m real.” I smirked. “But you should really stop looking at me like that.”

  She sat back and lifted an eyebrow. “Or what?”

  “Or we’re going to end up doing something we’re both going to regret,” I admitted, then shifted my Jeep into gear and got us onto the road. “There will be drinks there, but if you want something specific, I’ll stop to pick it up.”

  “I’m not fussy,” she said. Late afternoon sunlight glinted off her dark hair, a relaxed smile on her face as I navigated
us to the beach. She stared off into the distance for a moment, then frowned when she turned in her seat to look at me. “Did you regret what happened between us last time?”

  I sighed, lifting my hand from the gear lever to squeeze the back of my neck. Sliding my eyes to the side to meet hers for just a second, I shook my head. “I should have, but I didn’t. I did feel guilty as fuck, though.”

  “Same.” Her gaze left mine and turned to the open window. The sun was starting to set and painted the sky in hues of pinks and oranges, the Pacific Ocean a deep blue as the light faded.

  Palm trees danced in the slight breeze. I’d gotten used to these views, but Elyse seemed fascinated by them, which made me take a beat to really take it all in again.

  Wind whipped through Elyse’s hair just like before, but again, it didn’t seem to bother her. We got to the beach a little while later and she bounced on the seat in excitement as she undid her belt.

  “I can’t believe I’m actually going to a luau. Do you have any idea how cool that is?”

  A grin spread on my lips, her excitement strangely infectious. “Yeah, I do actually. I’m here too, after all.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve probably been to so many that you don’t even think about it anymore.” She opened her door and climbed out, waiting for me in front of the Jeep.

  “I’m thinking about it now,” I said as I reached her and pointed in the direction of the glow of the bonfire down the beach. “They’re over there. Stay close to me, okay? Kole will kill me if anyone tries to hit on you.”

  “Did you tell him you were bringing me to a luau?” she asked, worry darkening her eyes.

  I shrugged my shoulders and put a hand on her back, unnecessarily guiding her but somehow unable to remove my stupid limb from her warmth. “Yeah, I mentioned it. He said to have fun, but not to let any guys near you.”

  “You’re a guy,” she pointed out, a small smile ghosting across her lips. “And you just told me to stay close. How am I supposed to do that if no guys are allowed near me?”