“I see you found something to wear around the house today,” he said, trying to get his mind off morning sex.
“Barely. How do you ever find anything in that room?” Sabine demanded.
“Is that yet another of my flaws?” Koka demanded back.
Sabine laughed at his unrepentant answer as she dipped bread and put it in the sizzling skillet. Wow, she had it bad. Muscles and knowing how to kiss well should not exempt a man from being a slob. “Yes. A pretty big one, actually. How come your kitchen doesn’t look like a war zone?”
Koka grinned and shrugged. “I don’t know. I never really thought about it.”
Sabine deftly flipped the French toast. “Pekala? Want another slice?”
“No thank you, Sweet Sunshine. I’m so full now I need a nap. Koka, will you help me until Denise comes? She is delayed for a couple hours.”
“Yes of course, Kupunawahine.”
Koka slid off the stool and went to wheel Pekala to her room. He had given her the master suite downstairs and modified the bathroom to accommodate her wheelchair. He tucked her in with a kiss and a smile as she scolded him for teasing Sabine.
When he returned to the kitchen, his breakfast was sliding onto the counter in front of his stool. Sabine carried her plate around and climbed onto the one next to his. The rightness of it resonated through him. Was it really only two weeks since Sabine had rescued him at the auction? It felt like she’d been in his life forever.
He climbed up again, pulled the fork from her sexy mouth, and kissed her sweet lips good morning. Laughing at her tight mouth, he pulled back. “Swallow,” he ordered.
When Sabine obeyed, he laughed again and dove into her syrupy mouth to feast on what he really wanted for breakfast. Pulling away before the temptation got bad enough to drag her back to his bedroom, Koka sighed in regret.
“Thank you for cooking for Pekala.”
Sabine blinked at his sincere gratitude, still too dizzy with lust after that sweeping tongue kiss to do more than nod. She forked up another bite of French toast and chewed thoughtfully.
“Don’t you think we’re moving a little fast?” she asked.
Koka shrugged. “I’m thirty-seven and you’re forty-three. We’re moving at the pace that is right for us. What is in this? There is something in your soggy bread recipe that I don’t recognize.”
Sabine smiled at his confusion and the fact that he’d wolfed down a whole piece already. She lifted the spare slice from the side of her plate and put it on his. He glanced at her sideways, a move she was growing attached to, and then leaned over to kiss her lips again. When he pulled away, he licked his lower lip. “I don’t know what tastes more delicious this morning.”
Sighing, she attacked her French toast and shoveled two pieces into her mouth to keep from blurting things best not said yet. When she finally relaxed again, she gave him a disbelieving glare.
“Why aren’t you married? You’re grumpy and arrogant and difficult and messy and think you’re always right. But you’re also honorable and loyal and caring and affectionate and just about the most wonderful man I’ve ever known, including my friend Joe. And all that doesn’t even cover the fact that you’re more good-looking than any male has a right to be. Plus you talk like a poet . . .”
“Sabine . . .” Koka began. He had been gearing up to argue until he saw her wide, scared gaze on him. Then he laughed because his need to make her feel better outweighed his irritation that she wasn’t falling into his arms like he wanted. “I think I must have been waiting for you to finish your other life. I haven’t been lonely or bored a single moment since we’ve met. Don’t ask me to give you up. I can’t.”
“See, that’s what I mean,” Sabine declared, laying down her fork. She covered her face with her hands, but sniffles and tears snuck through her fingers.
Laughing and groaning, Koka laid down his fork and leaned over to hug her. He kissed her forehead as she tucked her face into his neck and sniffled.
“I am so unprepared for you,” Sabine complained. “You were a dream I had when I was a teenager, but I never thought I’d actually find you. Your messy bedroom and skillet fetish are the only reasons I can bring myself not to run away.”
“If you did, I would just come after you,” Koka said, his voice raspy with truth. “Now eat. When Denise arrives, we’re going shopping today. You are not allowed to argue with me about it.”
“Allowed?” Sabine repeated, sitting up.
Koka shrugged and grinned. “Want to come to my messy bedroom and try to convince me that it’s going to be worth my time to hide in my house with you all day? You could try and make the decision hard for me.”
“Wow. You actually said that—emphasis and all. Was that a Hawaiian dirty joke?” Sabine demanded, giggling at his responding laugh.
Koka shook his head. “No. Want to hear my favorite Hawaiian dirty joke?”
Sabine snorted, but nodded. He looked so wicked. And that smile . . . God, she loved that smirky, smartass look on him. “Sure. Tell me.”
“A newly married couple celebrated their first night together by making love all night long. Morning comes and the groom goes into the bathroom to take a shower. When he forgets the towel, he calls to his new wife to please bring one. When she does, she sees his naked body for the first time. Her eyes fall to his feet, then rise slowly stopping midway. The bride stares shyly and asks, What's that? pointing to a small part of his anatomy. The groom, also being shy, thinks for a minute and then answers, Well, that's what we had so much fun with last night. And she, in amazement, asks, Is that all we have left?”
Sabine leaned her face into a hand as she laughed. When she glanced at Koka, his pleased smile nearly took her breath away. “I suppose you have a right to look smug, since that’s a problem your bride will never have.”
Immediately after making the comment, Sabine turned her head and saw a fast walking woman moving behind them through the kitchen. Her face heated as she wondered how much the woman had heard.
“No rush, Denise. Pekala is sleeping. I’m sure she will be out for hours because Sabine fed her sugar for breakfast,” Koka said.
Sabine reached over and smacked his arm as the woman chuckled and headed through. “I didn’t use that much sugar. It’s the vanilla and almond extracts together that make it taste so sweet.”
“Almond. Of course. That was the flavor throwing me off,” Koka said, sliding down. He took their dishes and carried them to the sink. Rinsing them efficiently, he loaded everything into the dishwasher, then turned back just in time to catch the glazed arousal in Sabine’s eyes. She had been staring at his ass. He was sure of it this time.
“Let’s take a shower. Before you announce the size of my attributes again, I think you should check my anatomy in the broad daylight just to be sure,” Koka declared.
Sabine’s swearing preceded her swinging backside out of the kitchen as she headed back to his room. He trailed behind her, humming in contentment as he followed her up the stairs.
Chapter 13
Joe leaned over and grimaced. “I’m so sorry. They’re usually a bit more restrained than this.”
Todd laughed softly. “They’re fine. No one has made me uncomfortable at all. So Martin is the brother that was married to Sabine?”
Joe nodded. “Yes. And I know what you’re thinking. Seeing him with Clarissa is still a bit of a shock for all of us. Mom avoids the woman, but it’s not Clarissa’s fault. Martin became an ass shortly after his fortieth birthday.”
“He certainly didn’t trade up well, did he?” Todd said, studying the giggling younger woman.
Joe sighed and put an arm around the back of Todd’s shoulders. “If there was ever a woman I would have gone straight for, it was Sabine Blakeman. Since I always knew what I really wanted, that kind of relationship would never have worked out between us. Even as friends though, I often thought I loved her way more than my younger brother Martin ever did. He loved her for the first half of their marriag
e, but made it hell for her the second half.”
“You strike me as the kind of person capable of great love and loyalty,” Todd said.
Joe looked at the man at his side. Everything about him was perfect and he wanted him in his life. He wanted him even if they ended up with a platonic friendship like his and Sabine’s. Todd Masterson brought out the best in him and made him happy.
“Other than Sabine, there’s only one person that I ever took one look at and knew exactly how I felt about them,” Joe said. When Todd smiled and looked away, his chest tightened. “I know. I promised no pressure but it’s hard.”
Todd turned back to him and laughed louder.
“Your mother is staring at us. I hope like hell that was just innuendo,” Todd said.
Grinning, Joe pulled his arm back and sighed at Todd’s teasing. “Mom doesn’t know what to think about you. You’re the first guy I ever brought home to meet her.”
“No kidding?” Todd asked, grinning as his gaze flicked to Joe’s mother.
“No kidding,” Joe confirmed. “I never saw any of the other men lasting long enough to torture them—or me—in this manner. Jacob and Alex are mostly normal, but since he left Sabine, Martin is a nut case.”
A sudden blaring TV had Joe grabbing his ears. “Damn it, Martin. Since when do you have to have the six o’clock news blaring? Bad news is hard enough to hear. It doesn’t need to break ear drums too.”
He saw his brother’s evil grin as Martin found the local station he wanted. Top of the hour stories were being reported. Suddenly, he was leaning forward when a photo of someone very familiar was plastered across the screen. Another showed Koka and Sabine holding hands as they walked through the mall just yesterday.
Todd’s whistle beside him had him swinging his gaze.
“What did they say about them? I missed it,” Joe said.
Todd shook his head and frowned. “They’re talking about Sabine and her weight. It was a subtle dig, but it didn’t really come off as a joke to me. Poor baby. I bet she wants to crawl into a hole somewhere.”
Joe huffed. “Stupid shit news.”
He felt supported in his anger when Todd reached over and patted his leg.
“Let’s go. She’s going to need a shoulder or two,” Joe said.
“Sit. Not yet,” Todd ordered, his grip on Joe’s knee not letting him stand. “There’s more about them coming up. We don’t want to miss the rest.”
Joe nodded and settled back down. After watching the latest traffic accidents, upcoming weather, and Supersonics’ scores, the news finally got back around to Sabine and Koka. She was being touted as Todd Lake’s new girlfriend. After showing several pictures of other sexy women The Sexy Chef had dated over the years, they came back to Sabine’s professional picture from work, making tiny digs about her obvious enjoyment of eating and how much that probably appealed to a chef. Then suddenly up popped a more alluring photo of Sabine in a bright red camisole showing lots of cleavage beneath her sexy smile.
Joe knew all about that picture because he had been sitting in the reception area of the photo studio while she’d had it taken. He’d even helped Sabine choose the proofs. The boudoir photos had been a fortieth birthday gift for his lousy, ungrateful brother who was now pissed because Sabine was dating a guy hotter than Martin could ever dream about being.
Martin had asked for her to take those photos, and no one had copies but Martin.
Which meant there was only one way they could have gotten into the hands of the media.
Joe was out of his chair and rushing to drag Martin over the back of the couch and onto the floor. Amid Martin’s protests about it being none of his business, Joe’s fist connected with his younger brother’s jaw before he stopped to think about it.
“You lousy bastard. Those were a damn love gift from your wife and you just had to shit on her for it, didn’t you?”
Martin’s fist, sneaking up to connect with his eye, didn’t even snap his head back. His younger brother obviously hadn’t used his weights enough to put any real strength behind it. After a couple more well placed punches to the side of Martin’s face, Joe felt Todd dragging him away as he watched his older brothers, Jacob and Alex, pulling Martin to his feet.
His mother yelled to throw Martin out of the house while Clarissa started sobbing and gathering up their things to leave. Jacob and Alex walked Martin to the door and did just that, tossing the youngest Kendall sibling out into the yard in the middle of a busy Sunday evening. Punishment was served swiftly, but the damage was already done to Sabine.
After Jacob and Alex grabbed their families and left, Joe stood in the middle of his mother’s living room, fuming and furious, unsure of what to do with the rest of his anger.
“They’re divorced and he’s already remarried. Martin had no reason to hurt Sabine like this. And what are the girls going to think of their dad when they see what he’s done? I don’t even think they knew Sabine had made those pictures for him. She only did them because Martin wanted them done.”
His mother walked over and hugged him tight. Swallowing both fury and tears, Joe bent and whispered an apology into her ear for losing his temper. She rubbed his back, hugged him again, and then switched her hug to a surprised Todd who was still standing at his side.
Joe looked sheepish as he turned to him. “I’m sorry. You didn’t need to be part of this craziness. I just wanted you to meet my family.”
Todd snorted. “Are you kidding? Seeing you jump to defend Sabine was the hottest thing I have ever seen anyone do in real life. Would you fight over my honor that way?”
Joe laughed as he nodded. “Yes—I would.”
“Glad to hear it. Now come on,” Todd said, grabbing his arm. “Let’s go give Sabine a couple shoulders to cry on. Then you and I need to talk.”
Calmer at last, Joe nodded his agreement. “So tell me the bad news. How’s my eye look?”
“Blackening as we speak,” Todd said bluntly, looking Joe’s face over. “Your knuckles are swelling too.”
Joe lifted his hand, looked at his bloody, puffy knuckles, and sighed. “I hate my brother.”
***
Sabine shook her head. Butterflies danced in her stomach as she put healing salve on Joe’s knuckles. Her worst fears had come true after one day of actual dating. Of course, it had been accelerated by Martin, but in her heart of hearts, she had known it was coming.
“Those boudoir photos were taken the year I moved into the guest room. I was still trying to save my marriage so when Martin asked for the photos, I caved. After I gave them to him, he didn’t even look past the one on the top of a stack of twenty. He told me it had only been a ploy on his part to encourage me to do something about my weight. It never occurred to him I’d have them taken as I was.”
“Wow. Your brother really is an ass. Next time, I’ll hold him down for you Joe,” Todd said.
Joe laughed softly. “Mom told Jacob and Alex to throw him out of the house.”
Sabine sniffed and fought not to cry. “I always did like your mother.”
“She always liked you too. Martin may be totally kicked out of the Kendall clan after this. His timing on this was the worst ever,” Joe said. “Mom still isn’t over Clarissa and her giant fake boobs yet.”
Sabine shrugged. “It was only a matter of time. What did the other women Koka dated look like?”
When Joe clamped his mouth shut, Sabine stopped dabbing and waited. “I want to know how bad it is. I need to know.”
“They showed four other women. Three looked like models. One looked like an aerobics-addicted soccer mom,” Todd reported, knowing exactly how Sabine’s mind was trying to work through it.
“Any woman in the group bigger than a size ten?” Sabine asked, looking at Todd this time.
Todd shrugged, then studied his hands to avoid Joe’s glare. “I’m not very familiar with women’s clothing sizes, but if you’re asking about their weight, none of the women were packing any extra pounds.”
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Sabine reached up and tapped Joe on the jaw. “Stop glaring at the love of your life that way. I didn’t ask so I’d have more material to cry over. The degree to which those women are less real looking than me is the degree to which the media will run with my extra pounds as something shocking and surprising. They’re just trying to stir everyone up about it to gain media attention—one way or another. Scandal draws reaction—no matter how large or small the matter.”
“What are you going to do about this?” Joe asked.
“Nothing,” Sabine said softly, but firmly. She stood and bent down to kiss his cheek. “Thanks for beating up Martin for me, but I’m not going to do anything. I’m just going to wait and see if what I told Koka turns out to be right. I’ll either garner the support of every real-sized woman who hears about it, or I’ll be a joke. What concerns me is what’s going to happen to Koka’s popularity. Being seen with me is going to affect The Sexy Chef’s image.”
She walked to the cabinet over the sink and pulled down three shot glasses. Then she reached into another cabinet for the bottle of cognac stored there. Walking back to the table, she poured a shot for each of them. She downed her first one and poured a second one for herself.
“Do you know what we bought at the mall when that picture was taken? We bought another skillet. The man has a whole cabinet full of just skillets, and not just four or five. He needs a twelve step program for them,” Sabine complained.
Todd and Joe both laughed. She held out the bottle and they pushed their glasses forward again. Snorting, she poured another round.
“So when did you get to see the man’s skillets?” Joe asked.
Sabine looked at him as she sipped her third shot. “I saw them when I cooked breakfast for his grandmother Saturday morning. Then I saw them again this morning when I got a mini-lecture on types and their uses. When my eyes glazed over, Koka said he was going to designate a cabinet just for me, starting my cookware set with the wrong pan I used yesterday morning.”
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