My Beloved: A Thin Love Novella

by Eden Butler

  It had been a long day with the flight and the excited activity at Malia’s, and Keira lay on the large bed in their suite trying to keep from falling asleep. She’d nearly drifted off, but then Kona stood by the door and his deep refrain of “You still awake?” had her eyes blinking open.

  Keira glanced at Kona, bare chested in his shorts, those massive Polynesian tattoos stretching when he rolled his shoulder. He leaned against the doorway with a loosely held bottle of beer dangling from his large fingers, staring over her face, her body. That look, like all the looks he gave her, was just too much. Keira would never be tired of looking him over, admiring how strong, how large, how beautiful he was. Just the sight of him made her stomach twist with anticipation.

  “Did they finally leave?” she said, when Kona grinned at her like he knew how worked up she was getting just watching him.

  He nodded, set his bottle on the bedside table before he crawled next to Keira on the large king-sized bed. “I haven’t seen Lael or Dado since I was fifteen. Still can’t believe they followed us here.” Kona covered his mouth with a loose fist, Keira guessed trying to hide the burp he released under his breath, before he pulled her close, moving her t-shirt up to rest his cheek on her stomach, just above her panties. Keira didn’t need telling what Kona wanted. It was what he always wanted from her when he was tired, when he just wanted to relax.

  As habit, she moved her fingers through his hair, smiling when Kona moaned, low and happy. “They wanted to catch up with you. You should have let them stay.”

  Keira closed her eyes when Kona wrapped his hands tighter around her hips. “They’d have slept on the sofa out there if I hadn’t told them you wanted to start the honeymoon early.”

  “Kona!” Keira managed one quick smack to the back of his head, before he caught her wrist, laughing as he climbed on top of her with a smug, widening grin on his face.

  “Come on, baby, I’m teasing.”

  “You are not, you big liar. You actually told them that?” He didn’t bother trying to keep his small lie going. Keira could feel her face heating at just the image of Kona’s two large cousins smirking and nodding at him as Kona waggled his eyes. She tried pushing Kona off her when he attempted a few soft nibbles against her collarbone. “I’ll never be able to face them.”

  “Wildcat, they don’t care.” He pulled at her chin when she jerked away from his kiss. “They’ll be so fucking jealous that I’m up here with you and this tight body, doing things to you that should be illegal.”

  “No, they’ll tease me and talk about me behind my back anytime they are around me.”

  “And? That’s what family does.” Kona slid closer, moving his hand off Keira’s wrist and down her thigh until he grabbed the swell of her ass. “Family teases.” Kona pulled her leg over his hip and Keira closed her eyes, relishing the hard outline of his dick as he moved against her. “Family rides you hard sometimes,” he said, moving his hips down, so that thick, hot outline met the wet heat between her legs. The smile left his face and he looked down at her, eyebrows up as though surprised. “You wet for me, baby? Already? I’m barely touching you.”

  Keira grabbed Kona’s face, directing him to her lips. “Stop talking, jackass.” Then a low grunt left Keira’s throat when Kona cupped her, slipping his fingers under her panties to barely touch her, fingertips light on her wet skin. “Not… not fair.”

  “Stop calling me a jackass.” He got two fingers inside her and then Kona took over the kiss. He tugged and pulled, his movements a little sloppy, a bit addled by the beer, but even Kona comatose would know how to touch Keira, could keep her silent and busy with the slightest touch. “You still want me? Just me? You still my girl, Wildcat?”

  Keira kissed him deeper, let her tongue rub against his. Kona always did this when he drank. Those tiny little insecurities surfaced with just a few drinks, but Keira never minded it. She thought it was sweet, that after all this time, Kona still needed reassurances.

  “Only yours, bebe.”

  The noise that came from his throat was primal, deep and Kona moved his fingers faster, hit deeper inside her. “Then open up for me. Take all of me, baby.”

  He didn’t have to ask twice.

  Kona wasn’t drunk, just buzzed enough that his movements became eager, aggressive and Keira loved it. He was all male and muscle, sweat and heat when he was like this. Every grab he made on her, every hasty tug against her nipples, on her hair, just made Keira wetter, wanting Kona just like this, raw and anxious and so damn desperate to be inside her.

  She barely had his shorts down and her shirt tossed on the floor before Kona was inside her, hands on her hips, eyes down as he watched their bodies coming together. “I fucking love this, baby. The way you wrap around me, how hot you make my dick feel when I’m inside you.” Keira squeezed around him, trying to hold him still inside her and Kona closed his eyes, twisting his head as though he could only just manage the sensation of her body. “Fuck, I love you.”

  “Show me.”

  Then Keira couldn’t speak, could barely breathe as Kona moved his hands under her, cupping her butt to push harder into her. It wouldn’t be long, but Keira didn’t care. Buzzed sex was still amazing sex with Kona and she held onto him, relaxing her center, widening her muscles so Kona went deep, so she could feel every demanding stroke, every urgent thrust.

  She watched his shoulders tremble, the wide, beautiful expanse of bone and muscle silhouetted against the moonlight coming through the glass door and Keira touched his face, slowing Kona’s movements until he leaned his forehead against hers, his breath heavy on her skin. “I’m not gonna pull out. I can’t. This is too good, baby. You feel too good and I want you to feel everything I’m giving you.”

  Keira didn’t care about being cautious. She would marry Kona at the end of the week and she could think of worse things than having another of his babies. Right then, all she wanted was his hot breath on her mouth, his tight, hard grip against her hips and the delicious sensation of her core clenching, humming her closer and closer toward climax.

  “Do it,” she told him, drunk on his touch, on the taste and feel of it. “Oh God, Kona… harder, please.”

  He always did what she asked, especially when she said please. And he obeyed, just then, working harder, faster to bring her over the edge of oblivion, chasing after her to his just seconds later.

  Afterwards, they lay silent, content for minutes, it could have been hours, turned toward each other, fingers against damp skin, breath mingling. Keira wanted this to last, to run from anything that would take them from that moment.

  “You were mad today, weren’t you?”

  She hadn’t expected his question, thought it was odd that Kona was mentioning their arrival after the past half hour that should have left them blissful and ignorant to anything but the touch of skin on skin.

  “I don’t like photographers.”

  “Baby, no one likes those assholes.” He lifted on his elbow, moving Keira’s hair off her forehead. “I know you hate all that shit.”

  “I have to deal with it. It’s your world. I’m a part of that now, right?”

  “No. You are my world. All that other stuff is business, it’s work. You’re my home, baby. You’re all that matters.”

  “I’ll adjust.”

  “I don’t want you adjusting.” Kona pulled her so close that their hips met and he could wrap his massive, tattooed arm around her waist. “I want you happy. I want to make you happy.”

  “You do, sweetie. I am happy.”

  “You’d tell if you weren’t, right?”

  Keira had seen Kona with his family that afternoon. She’d heard how loud and easy his laughter was, how he seemed settled, at peace. She didn’t care about photographers or resorts or a big wedding full of people she didn’t know. But this place, this island centered him, filled him up and the people Kona loved most wanted to celebrate with them. They wanted to honor the life they’d started together all those years before; the
life that Keira once thought she would never have with Kona.

  She watched his features, the low slope of his nose, the way his full lips bent behind his teeth, as though he expected her to disappoint him, to tell him to forget everything he’d been planning the past two days. But she couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t take this from him.

  “I’d tell you if I wasn’t happy, Kona.” She kissed him, felt his body relax as she deepened the kiss. “You make me happy. You always have.” Keira felt those large, long fingers tighten on her waist, that massive hand slip low on her back and she inhaled, smiling against Kona’s mouth at the smell of his skin and sound of his pleased moan.

  “I’ll keep you happy, Wildcat.” He rolled on top of her, ready for her once again, pushing her legs apart with his knee. “Let me show you how.”

  The wedding planner was a waif-thin local girl called Nya. Her hair was straight, darker than midnight and she had a tiny waist and firm, large breasts that told Keira the girl had never been near a carb or seen the inside of a delivery room.

  Keira hated her.

  Everything out of her mouth was “Mr. Hale wants…” or “I’ll ask Mr. Hale his preference.” Nya treated Keira very much like the least important, most useless person in the wedding party.

  Dear God, the wedding party.

  Standing up for Kona would be his agent, Devon, who Keira had met a few times since Kona announced his retirement, and nine, as in not one or two but NINE, cousins. Aside from Leann and Mark, who Keira had sweet talked into flying halfway around the world to be in her wedding, Kona and his new bestie Nya had found three “aunties” and five of Kona’s female cousins to act as bridesmaids.

  With the bride and groom, Ransom, a ring bearer, a miniature bride, and three ushers, their wedding party totaled twenty-eight.

  Twenty-eight separate people, twenty-three of whom Keira had never met before now. With the influx of Hale family members and aunties and uncles that were really family friends or acquaintances, there would have been no way Keira would remember a single name.

  This wedding had turned into a gargantuan party Keira knew would be ridiculous and very over the top. She had experienced these types of events before—the glitz and glamour of music awards, industry parties full of ass kissing posers and executives trying to sweet talk her into writing for their talent, but she’d always kept herself back. Being in the center of something like this made her nervous, made her realize how different Kona’s life was from hers. At least, his work life.

  The planning, the size of the venue at Turtle Bay, the over-inflated wedding party and the too cute, quite-smitten-with-Kona wedding planner gave Keira a headache; her third, in fact, since they landed on Oahu two days before.

  “Suck in, yeah?”

  Keira coughed, holding her stomach when the woman with her arms full of white silk—no really, the She-Devil Nya and Auntie Malia insisted on white—squeezed the corset bodice of Keira’s wedding gown together. The corset would be covered by satin ruching and a skirt that looked like something out of Lady Di’s wedding, but without all that 80’s, Royal Family class. Nearly five feet of elegant, hand-stitched fabric made up the heavy train.

  Keira thought she looked like something out of Vera Wang’s wet dreams, but without the subtlety or editing. She felt like a cupcake, surrounded in bright white lace and silk and various other adornments that added to the dress’s fifteen pound weight. It was a beautiful gown, really, but Dear God, there was too much of it.

  She wanted to kill Kona. Well, she wanted to throttle him, at least.

  Him or Auntie Malia, but when the old woman looked up at Keira with a wide, bright smile, her thin hands held to her chest as Keira stepped onto the circular platform in the bridal shop, her anger dulled to a low throb.

  “Niece…” Malia said, covering that big smile with her fingers, nodding once when Malaine, her daughter, whispered in her ear. A quick thumbs up and the loud, excited women in the room, at least twelve of them, all related to Kona in some way, laughed and smiled, hugging Keira, ignoring the large bridal shop manager when she tried to wave them away.

  “Really, Keira, you look beautiful. Cuz will fall out when he sees you.”

  Of all the loud, sweet cousins Keira had met since coming to the island, it was Malaine that she understood most. As in, literal understanding, not some metaphor for unspoken sisterhood between the two women.

  Malaine worked as a booking agent at Turtle Bay, planning events all over the island, dealing with a lot of mainlanders. She spent most of her time around haoles. Malaine usually spoke to Keira without pidgin, the comfortable dialect most locals used. After a few days immersed in this language, Keira had picked up a few phrases, she’d even caught Kona’s accent slipping the more he hung out with his cousins, but Keira’s knowledge of the island lingo was still limited.

  The dialect was most pronounced when Kona’s family got excited—like the women were then, fussing over Keira, fluffing her hair and admiring the ridiculous gown they’d all chosen for her.

  “Pretty Keira! Cuz is lucky. How did he land you?” Keira shrugged, laughing at Lina, one of Kona’s cousins and Bridesmaid #8. “Hmm, longer train is mo better. Maybe you need more silk on the end, yeah?” Seeing Keira’s mouth hanging open, Lina laughed, a good natured sound that had Keira worried and then smiling when she patted her shoulder. “Nah.” Then she pointed to Keira’s face, likely pale and anxious, and elbowed her cousins, all of them laughing at Keira. “Haole cuz look sick, yeah?”

  Keira was saved from their teasing when Leann slid into the room, dragging a disheveled, likely jet lagged Mark Burke behind her. The laughter died all around them as the women stared after Mark, analyzing him with careful, sharp eyes until Malaine waved them off. Keira caught the phrase “funny kine” and “best friend,” knowing Kona had told them about Mark and his relationship with Keira and Ransom. She liked that they suddenly hurried to offer him smiles and friendly nods as they walked out of the room. Relaxing at just the sight of her cousin and best friend, Keira watched them step quickly in front of her to give her the once over.

  She knew by the smirk Mark tried and failed to cover, that Keira in this massive gown was the height of humor. He took out his phone, held it up at Keira and clicked a picture before she could hide her face.

  “You will be throat punched, Burke.”

  “Come on, Johnny won’t believe this.” Keira couldn’t help bristling at how loud he laughed, how amused he was at seeing her in this monstrosity of a dress. The idea that Johnny, Mark’s longtime partner, would share in the hilarity did not make Keira feel any better.

  Leann held much the same tickled expression, but Keira arched an eyebrow at them both and shook her head once.

  “Say a word and I pull out pictures from Cancun 2004.”

  Her cousin paled, eyes immediately becoming cold and hard before Mark elbowed her. “She’s lying. Besides,” Mark said, stepping closer to the small stage, “you know we have dirtier dirt on her.”

  Keira protested. “There is no way—”

  “Uh huh. The year was 1999 and it damn sure wasn’t me or Leann who jumped Trisha Yearwood’s fence, pre-Garth, of course, and dodged her security to slip a demo under her Welcome mat.”

  “Fine,” Keira said, not amused by how smug Mark had grown.

  “Get off that little stage and come hug us.”

  And Keira did, letting down her guard and allowing Leann and Mark to surround her, their arms and kisses the reprieve she needed from the chaos the wedding plans had been. She’d missed them desperately. Leann had been busy training her competition dance team for Regionals for weeks now and Mark had only just returned from his stint in South Sudan with Doctors Without Borders.

  “Where’s my boy?” Mark asked, helping Keira toward the dressing room when the shop manager asked her if she wanted out of the gown.

  She slipped behind the door, wiggling to her underwear with Leann’s help. “Kona took him to Kahuku High School.” She worked
her head through her pink halter and shimmied on her white capris. “The football team is supposed to be like a religion here. Ransom didn’t believe Kona when he told him how many state championships and national rankings the team gets. He wanted to see them practice for himself.”

  “Well hey there, person I recognize now.” Mark laughed at his own joke when Keira emerged from the dressing room, slipping on her wedges. “When will I get to see him?”

  “Tonight. We’re supposed to be having a luau for the rehearsal, though I’m pretty sure it’s all for show. Luaus aren’t customary for locals.” She stepped up on the balls of her feet and kissed her friend on his cheek when Mark gave her a smile, as though he couldn’t believe he was seeing her in person. It had been half a year almost since Mark left for South Sudan. But that sweet cheek kiss was cut short when pounding on the large, glass window along the shop’s entrance started up.

  “Keira! Does Kona know you’re cheating on him?”

  “Shit,” she said, pulling Mark and Leann away from the windows, toward the storage room in the back of the shop.

  “Auwe!” Keira heard Lina shout at the three photographers who had suddenly appeared in front of the store. Together the shop manager and Lina pulled the blinds down, blocking the photographer’s view. “Cuz, you stay here. Kona no want you around this lolo kine.”

  “We can’t stay here forever,” Leann whined behind Keira, pulling on her bare arm. “Has this been going on a lot?”

  “Started when we landed.” Keira tried to take the sharp tone out of her voice, but Mark and Leann both caught on. They each stood next to her, close, as though they were sentries and not overprotective drama queens. But Keira didn’t mind their melodrama. Other than Ransom, they knew her best and both were aware how much she hated attention. Keira had enjoyed success in obscurity. TMZ usually didn’t care about songwriters who didn’t party, didn’t often attend industry events and never dated. Then, Kona came back into her life and his wretched mother thrust both Ransom and Keira into the spotlight. The attention had only grown worse since Kona retired and had reached ridiculous levels now that Kona had returned to the island.