by Dawning, Dee
She waltzed into the bathroom for a shower. She brushed her teeth with a fresh, out-of-the-package toothbrush she kept in her oversized handbag for just such an occasion.
By the time she dressed in the shorts and blouse she’d originally worn, it was seven thirty. she didn’t have to be at the airport for two and a half more hours, but she wanted to be at the hotel by at least eight thirty and it was probably a half hour to the hotel. She needed to wake up Kino. She kissed him on the lips. He mumbled but didn’t wake. She shook his shoulder and, still not waking, shook him harder. Nothing.
No wonder he didn’t wake up that morning he came in her—he slept like a log. With time short and needing to wake him, she took a half-empty bottle of water from the nightstand and poured a couple ounces over his face. That got him, as he shot up in sitting position, his fists bared. “What the f—”
She kept her laughter inside as she ran fingers gently across his forehead and cheeks to sooth him. “Sorry, I have to be at the hotel in less than an hour and you weren’t budging. You need to get dressed and take me there.”
“You’re right.” He wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her face down for a ‘good morning, I want to bury my cock inside you’ kiss.
She rose. “No! As much as I’d like to, I’m not going to screw up my plans for a quickie.”
* * * *
Twenty minutes later, they were in Kino’s Jeep on the way to the Outrigger Waikiki. She enjoyed the view and the lovely Hawaiian day. Down from the hillside, she rested a hand on his jean-covered knee. “You live in that house, don’t you?”
He didn’t answer. She didn’t think he heard her, then he said, “I’m the caretaker. I live there when the owner is away, which is most of the time.”
Her brow dipped. “And when the owner is there, you’re schtupping her.”
His frown matched mine and then some. He shook his head and took his time answering, as if measuring his response. “It’s part of the caretaking. I do all right at the hotel, but I’ll never get rich. I figure taking care of the house and the lady is like making an extra twenty-five grand a year. Look, I don’t judge others. A lot of women—you included—have sex with me strictly for pleasure, and I oblige. I don’t judge them, so don’t judge me. Especially since you’re running away from what we have going.”
She was shocked. “What the fuck are you talking about? You fuck a different woman, what, twice a week?”
He nodded. “Sometimes more.”
She was incredulous. “‘Running away?’ What you call running away is going back to my life. ‘What we have going?’ We have nothing going. We live three thousand miles apart in different worlds.”
He pounded the steering wheel. “Dammit. That’s bullshit and you know it. I’ve done more with you than any girl since my girlfriend left.”
Suddenly, he pulled into the entrance to the hotel and parked in an unloading zone.
This is it.
He turned and stared at her. His eyes were sad. “Is it because I’m not black?”
His broad hand rested on the gearshift. She placed a hand over it. “I think you know better than that. I shared my body with you.”
He used the side of his hand to brush the wetness from his eyes. “Yeah, well, lots of women try out men of other races for some perverse thrill.”
God I wished I could take him home with me. “Trust me, if you lived in Vegas, your heritage wouldn’t matter. You were a dalliance for me, a wonderful diversion I will never forget, and I was one of many, probably hundreds of conquests for you that you won’t remember after your next conquest.”
He shook his head so hard his long hair trailed behind. “That’s not true. Let me take you to the airport.”
She opened the door a few inches. “I don’t think so. This is hard enough. I don’t want to prolong it.”
She pushed the door open a little more and Kino shouted. “Wait! Your dress! Shouldn’t I bring it upstairs for you?”
She ran her fingers along his cheek for the last time and got out. “I don’t think so. We need to get our goodbye over with.” She marched around to his side of the car. He looked up at her with watery eyes, obviously fighting to maintain his manly persona. She leaned in, cupped his chin and kissed him passionately, but not too much. She grabbed her dress and handbag. “I won’t forget you.”
“I’ll never forget you either. I’ll write…please write…back.” He choked up on the last sentence and turned away.
He started the car and drove away as she answered him, “I will,” seconds before she fell apart and wept.
She rushed up to her room and fell on the bed sobbing uncontrollably. She wondered if the tender and intimate moments she shared with Kino, both in and out of his arms, were worth the pain, the agony she felt.
Suddenly, she felt long fingers digging through her ringlets, massaging her scalp. “You love him, don’t you?”
She turned her head and stared up at Jessie, eyes burning and watery. “I think maybe I do.”
“What about Joel?”
The pain of anguish accompanied my tears. “I still love him, but he’s the one who suggested I move on—start seeing other men.”
“You keep in touch?”
She nodded. “Yes, by email.”
Her hand gently stroked her hairline. “Are you going to do the same with Kino?”
“Yes. I plan to.”
Jess’s brow dipped. “Do you think Kino would move to Vegas?”
“I don’t know. He loves it here.”
“Well, I’d find out, and if he would, I’d find a way to get him there.”
Chapter Eight - Back to the Grind
They landed at LAX at 8:30 p.m. She said her goodbyes to Jess and thanked her for taking her, then she rushed like a mad woman to get her suitcase and connect to her Vegas flight.
She arrived at her two-bedroom apartment, right off the strip, at a quarter after eleven. Even though she’d slept on the plane, she was exhausted. She undressed, got ready for bed, slipped into a nightgown and jumped in bed, ready to enjoy ten hours of restful sleep.
Instead, she settled for seven hours of fitful sleep, tossing and turning, waking at seven. She rose, stretched her arms, yawned so wide her jaw cracked—ow—and rubbed her sand-filled eyes. She just knew she had bags under her eyes and it was Kino’s fault. For five glorious nights she’d slept like a baby in his arms, in satisfied exhaustion after the onslaught of numerous carnal pleasures he’d provided. First with Joel, and then Kino, She’d experienced the best. The sad truth was She’d likely never reach the plateau of nirvana she had with Kino again. She missed him.
She got up, brushed her teeth and checked her emails. she was amazed how far the world had come since the Pony Express. Then, when she saw she had a message from Kino, her heart seemed like it skipped a beat.
My dear Gloria,
I know you have yet to land in Las Vegas, yet I feel compelled to write you. It has only been six hours since I dropped you off at the hotel and already I miss you.
Words cannot express how much I enjoyed our time together.
Jessie told me that you were trying to get past some traumatic event and hinted my being with you would help. I hope it did. I only want the best for you.
I know you were looking for fun not amour, and I hope you had fun. I know I did. But the time we spent together was the closest I have ever felt to contentment with a woman.
I do hope and look forward to a time we will meet and renew our close friendship again.
Affectionately yours, Kino
PS. Your photographs are attached. I hope you like them. I lo-ove them. So do Tattler, Hustler and Lowdown magazines .
If Kino had lived in Vegas or anywhere within two hundred miles, she could not have been more pleased with the intimations in his missive, but he didn’t. He lived fifteen times that far away, in the middle of an ocean.
She was fond, maybe even in love with her Hawaiian lover, but she didn’t want to give him
any false hopes so she chose her words carefully as she responded.
Dear Kino,
Yes, I had fun with you, more fun than I ever dreamed a man could give me, and yes, being with you helped me get past the event Jessie mentioned. Thank you and thanks for the memories.
I will cherish our time together with fond memories, and of course, I have your very sexy pictures, including the one of your…instrument. I do hope you get the attached images before they come out in Gay Life, Unzipped and Out magazines.
Unfortunately, the almost three thousand miles separating us, combined with your unique lifestyle, seem to be an immovable obstacle to our becoming romantically involved. I am very fond of you and would hope to continue our long-distance friendship. Thank you so much for helping me to, once again, feel like a woman.
With great affection, G.
She wanted to say I love your sweet taut Hawaiian ass and could you come visit me in Vegas for the rest of your life, but common sense prevailed.
Then she remembered the last thing big sis said, “Well, I’d find out if he’d move there and if he would, I’d find a way to get him there.” So she added the postscript, Would you consider moving to Vegas, if I could find work for you?
She sat staring at the screen as if Kino would get her message and write her right back, but of course it wasn’t going to happen. Not unless he woke up at four thirty a.m. and happened to be looking at his emails. So she shut her computer off and, even though there was no practice or show, she decided to get dressed and go into the hotel.
She arrived around ten and sought out the creative director. He wasn’t in charge of hiring, but he could create something for which Kino could be hired.
As she should have anticipated, he had taken the opportunity to take a vacation. She’d just about decided she’d made a wasted trip when she thought about stagehand.
The stage manager and she were friendly in a joking way so she looked around the stage. Many of the stagehands were there, along with some subcontractors working on the remodeling. She walked up to a stagehand she knew and asked, “Dave, have you seen Jeff?”
“Hi, Gloria, I believe he said he had to order some things for the remodel. So I guess he’d be in his office.”
The cubbyhole he called an office was strategically located just off the stage. She knocked on the door and Jeff said, “Come in.”
He sat at his small desk with a ledger in front of him. “Hi, Jeff.”
He looked up and smiled. “Baby. How was Hawaii?”
I sat on a vacant corner of his desk. “It was wonderful. Thanks for asking. That’s kind of the reason I came to see you.”
Jeff sat up. “Oh.”
“I met a guy who’s a fantastic dancer and he’d like to come here and become a showroom dancer.”
Jeff waggled his eyebrows. “Dance all over your sweet body, did he?”
She gave Jeff a gentle slap on the shoulder. “Jeff, that’s not nice to say.”
His grin was all knowing. “Hmm. Is this guy nice looking?”
Opening her mouth slightly, she stared upward. “Like a Hawaiian god.”
He laughed and nodded. “Yep, he danced all over your body.”
She stomped a foot and pouted. “Dang, I seem to be an open book to you.”
“That’s because I’m gay, and you and I think alike when it comes to men. So what can I do for you? Since I don’t hire performers, I take it you’d like to get him in as a stagehand, so you can ease him into dancing. Right?”
Her head shook in disbelief. “Like I said, an open book. You ask me a question and then you answer it before I do.”
“I’m just practicing my psychic powers. Now, as for being a stagehand. He would have to join the union. If he did, I could put him on, but only on call, part time to start. Would that be all right?”
She thought about it and decided it was enough to bring Kino to Vegas. “It’ll work if I can’t line up something more promising.”
Jeff shrugged his shoulders. “Let me know. I have to get back to work.”
She left the hotel and went back to her apartment, hoping for a response to her email. A smile crossed her lips when she saw his return email and hurriedly opened it.
Dearest Gloria,
The tone of your email confused me. You expressed the futility of pursuing a relationship because we are separated and then the door opened a crack when you asked if I would move there.
Would I live in Las Vegas? With you, I would—as a dancer. Is that what you have in mind for work? I hope so. I have to know before answering for sure.
Love and kisses, Kino
PS: I better not see my photos in a gay magazine.
The thought of having him here began to excite her. She answered immediately.
Dear Kino,
Yes, dancer is what I have in mind, but we have to work up to that. In the meantime, I have lined up a job for you at my hotel as a stagehand. It’s not a dancer, but at least you would be working in the field and we’d be together at work. It should be fun. In two weeks, when the remodeling is complete, and we begin practicing for the new show, I’m sure I could get you a shot. You probably would start as an alternate, but I would make it well worth your while.
Love and kisses back, G
PS: What are you doing reading gay magazines?
All afternoon and evening, she kept checking her email for his answer with no luck. The suspense drove her batty. Finally, after The Late Show, when she checked one last time, she’d received a two-line response.
Dearest Gloria,
I’m thinking about your proposal. In the meantime, could you give me your address? I want to send you something.
Love, Kino
A little disappointed, she reread the missive. At least he didn’t say no and he did close with love. After sending her address to him, she retired to bed and dreamed of…Joel? She woke up, apparently startled, and when she went back to sleep, she had a wonderful dream of Kino.
The next morning, feeling maudlin, she made a pot of coffee. Sitting at the counter, a cup of coffee in hand, she turned on her laptop and once more checked her emails—nothing. Deciding she needed a pickup, she got ready to go shopping at the mall.
Ready to leave, she opened the door and was shocked to see a giant bouquet of roses staring her in the face. “Who sent these?” She gasped. Most of whoever was holding them was blocked from her view, but a familiar, handsome Hawaiian face with a wall-to-wall smile peeked around the five-dozen roses. “I did. You going someplace?”
She took the bouquet from his hand and yanked him inside. “Not anymore.” She threw the flowers on the couch shortly before crossing her hands behind Kino’s broad neck. As he eased in, she hopped into his arms and wrapped her feet around his delectable derriere. After the kiss to die for, she jerked her head over her shoulder. “The bedroom’s that away Kino Sabe.”
The End
If you enjoyed this book you may enjoy other books
by Dee Dawning
Chapter One
Dang! With her hands full of grocery bags, Rhianna’s latest hit blasted from her cell phone at a most inopportune time. She hurried up the last few stairs, unlocked the door and rushed into the kitchen. Setting the bags on the counter, she reached into her handbag for the phone just as it stopped ringing. Double dang! Checking the missed calls, she discovered the call had been from her best friend and business partner, Ty, short for Tya, so she rang her back.
“Keli. What a surprise, I just called you.”
Forgetting for a split second that her number was programmed into Ty’s phone, she wondered how she knew it was her.
“I know, I just missed you, so I’m calling you back.”
“Thanks, we haven’t talked for a while and I just wanted to chat. So how’ve you been?”
“Ty, we see each other every day at the store. What did you call about?”
“Saw right through me, huh?”
“You’re an open book.
”
“Hmm. Well, Kel, a situation has developed and I need your help.”
When Keli didn’t bite she went on. “The company my cousin works for is transferring him to Chicago.”
Keli pictured Tya’s cousin, whom she met a couple years ago. “That’s nice.”
He was good looking enough, but had average abilities and a bland personality.
“It is. I haven’t seen him for ages, but we’re very close so that’s why I said I’d get him a date with you.”
“Me?” Keli couldn’t believe her ears “A date with me? You told him I’d go out with him?”
“I’m afraid so. Please don’t hate me, but I told him it was all set.”
Keli felt her jaw muscles tighten, but she put her best foot forward. “I could never hate you, Ty, but why me?”
“It’s my fault. I kept bragging about you, how fabulous looking you are and what a darling shape you have and…two weeks ago he asked for a photo, so I emailed him some pictures.”
This wasn’t making sense. “But why would he need pictures, he met me two years ago?”
