by Haymore, J.
I reached out and squeezed her upper arms. “Celeste,” I said, shaking her a little. “Why did you get off that plane?”
“What?” The expression on her face was wild with confusion and distress.
“Tell me why you got off the plane. Why you’re not going home.”
“Kanoe—” Tears pooled in her eyes.
“Why, Celeste?”
“I love you. I didn’t want to leave you. I…can’t.”
I gazed at her in shock as all the tension and pain that had built up over the last several hours whooshed out of me, leaving me filled with joy.
Her tears spilled over, trickling down her cheeks.
“Ku’u nani, don’t cry.” I was confused. How could she cry when I felt so happy? That was wrong. I reached up to swipe the tear trails away with my thumbs.
“It’s so hard…to…to have all these feelings.”
“Ipo—”
“I’m scared—”
I bent my head until our foreheads touched. “I love you too, Celeste,” I whispered.
There, I’d finally said it. It felt good to say it, to see the look of awed pleasure suffuse her face through the tears.
“I want you,” I said. “No apartments in Hilo. No dating. I want you to live with me. To sleep beside me every night and to wake up beside me every morning. Be my girlfriend, Celeste.”
“Yes. I’ll be your girlfriend.” She sank against my shoulder, sighing long and low. “I hoped you wanted all that too, but I wasn’t sure.”
How could she have not been sure? I’d practically fallen at her feet in worship every day for the past ten days.
“You’re mine.” All mine. I wanted to break into a song, or scream out a whoop of victory and pump my fist and jump up and swing her around in a circle.
“Your family, your ’ohana—they hate me.”
“They just need to get to know you. They’ll get it in time. I promise you they will.” I was confident about that. My mom and Kimo, and even Nalani, were good people. They’d eventually come around. Hiwa would help with that.
She sniffed. “I am so crazy.”
“For falling in love with me?”
“I’m pretty sure that was the sanest thing I ever did. No, I’m crazy for ever thinking of leaving you.”
I would be more than happy to spend the rest of my life proving that to her, over and over again. Starting now.
Grinning, I took my cell phone out and pressed one of the preset number keys.
“What are you doing?”
“Shh… Hey, Doug, it’s Kanoe. Yeah, can you come on over and fill me up? Thanks, brah.” I hung up.
She shook her head at me, her eyebrows drawn together, confused by my interruption of our conversation. “Who was that?”
“Sorry. It was the fuel truck.”
“What for?”
I stood, drawing her up with me, pulling her against my body. “The helicopter needs gas. Just remembered.”
“Oh.”
I ran my arms up and down her back, kissing the side of her head, feeling goose bumps break out over my body. From now on, I could touch her like this anytime I wanted, day and night.
“I want you forever, ku’u ipo,” I murmured into her hair. Because I knew this wasn’t just love. It was a forever, once-in-a-lifetime love. I’d never stop loving this woman. If she’d have me, I wanted to have babies with her, grow old with her. I wanted everything.
She sank against me, stroked my chest with one hand, then ran it up my side, down my arm. My cock stirred.
“Can I teach you how to fly?”
She stared up at me with shimmering eyes. “Yes. How did you know I’d be interested?”
“I’ve taken hundreds of people flying. I know that hungry look.”
“It would be a dream come true.” She ran feathery kisses along my jaw. Her skin was warm to the touch, flushed. I knew she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
“Still interested in joining the Mile High Club?”
She gave a whoosh of laughter, then glanced up at me through her lashes with a smoky green look that nearly knocked me flat. Never had I seen anything so beautiful.
“Only with you, Kanoe.”
“Today? Now?”
She smiled. “Every day. Any day. Forever.”
Also by J. Haymore
Swept Away
Swept Away, Volume 1
Swept Away, Volume 2
Swept Away, Volume 3
Swept Away, Volume 4
Sugar Cay
The Remix
The Reunion
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author J. Haymore is the author of sexy historical and contemporary romance as both Jennifer Haymore and J. Haymore. Her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including five RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice awards and the prestigious RITA® award for best historical romance.
You can find J. in Southern California trying to talk her husband into yet another trip to England, helping her three children with homework while brainstorming a new five-minute dinner menu, or crouched in a corner of the local bookstore writing her next novel.
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