Love Me Forever (2 page)

“Oh, I see. Maybe we’ll run into each other during the day, then.”

“Yes, I’m sure I’ll see you at some point.” The old Jen might have skipped the tour just to be with him, but she wasn’t that girl anymore. Not that she wouldn’t prefer spending time with him. Her life was planned out now, centered on her goals. Not a man.

No matter how amazingly, heart-stoppingly hot he was.

He seemed in a hurry to get off the phone after that, rushing through trite polite-isms before hanging up. She set the phone down with a shrug and headed for the shower.

A few hours later, Jen got out of the shuttle van and checked in with the helicopter tour desk. She was directed toward a copter where a couple of men stood talking. A friendly, pimple-faced young man helped her into the rear seating area and demonstrated how to buckle herself in
.

As she adjusted her seat belt, she was aware of someone slipping into the seat beside her
.
A familiar, whiskey-smooth voice spoke. “Beautiful morning for a flight over the island, isn’t it?”

She snapped her gaze up to meet Matt’s. “What are you doing here?”

Ducking his head, he gazed past her out the window toward the center of the island. “I haven’t seen the mountains from above in a few years
.
”

“I was asleep when I flew in so I missed seeing them from the plane
.
”

The pilot and a young man climbed in front, while someone handed headsets to Matt through the door. He showed her how adjust the volume as she placed the earpieces over her ears
.

Jen clutched her purse as the rotors began spinning. Matt placed his hand on her forearm. “Ready for liftoff. Did you bring your camera?”

“Oh, I forgot.” She opened her bag and dug out the flat digital camera she’d bought just for the trip, and pushed the power button. Grateful for the distraction, she pointed it out the window and took some test photos.

Lowering the camera, she leaned toward the glass, her lips parting in a silent gasp. The ground dropped away beneath them, her stomach briefly following. She felt Matt’s warmth before she saw his arm reach past her to brace against the base of the window. He brushed her shoulder and she fought the urge to rest her arm on his biceps
.

She continued to watch the scenery, pretending not to notice the tingling in her veins brought on by his nearness. Only in her mind had years gone past since their summer together. Her body recognized and remembered him and craved his touch.

Below them, the green valley came to a sharp point, where a narrow waterfall spilled into a pool at the base. Jen gasped at the beauty.

As the helicopter leveled, Matt didn’t shift away after the turn pushed him against her. “An incredible view, isn’t it?”

“It’s…breathtaking.” She glanced over her shoulder
.
“I was going to say awesome. Funny, I come back to Maui and lose my grown-up vocabulary.”

“Hey, that’s a good thing, going back to a more innocent time.”

Immediately pain stabbed her stomach. Damn, how long must she suffer before the ache faded? Before she quit picturing her husband’s arm around his pregnant girlfriend. She closed her eyes and prayed for peace of mind
.

Matt’s hand came to rest on her knee and gently squeezed. “Look, there’s the Iao Needle. Remember when a bunch of us took a road trip tour?”

“I do.” She met his gaze. “That was the first time I was in the mountains. Surprising, huh? Not just these mountains—any mountains. We didn’t travel much when I was a kid.”

“We can come back to this spot by car and hike. The trail is pretty easy and it’s not to be missed.”

Those were fighting words. She grinned. “Pretty easy? Do I look like I can’t get my fat ass up a hill?” Sure
,
she wasn’t anywhere as fit as he was, but she was a long way from being out of shape.

“I wasn’t sure if you came to relax or get a workout.” He put his hand over the microphone on his headset and spoke directly in her ear, his voice a seductive invitation. “I’d be happy to help with either.”

Warmth pooled low inside her. Jen bit her lip before turning back to the scenery. The pilot continued to point out items of interest. Swinging out over the ocean, he said, “Shall we see if there are whales or dolphins around?”

She nudged Matt’s arm. “You know, that summer I spent here, I never saw a whale.”

“I don’t think whales were high on our priority list back then.”

Remembering where her head was much of that summer, her face grew hot. The other girls seemed to be sampling each of the guys, bouncing from bed to bed. Or dick to dick, since they usually had sex out under the trees or in the back of a car. Her eyes had been on one man—the one beside her now
.

He’d been her best friend, with the emphasis on friend for so long she’d decided he wasn’t interested in her as anything more. At the party on their last night on the island, she’d sought him out, practically demanding he make love to her. What had he thought of her after that night?

She’d believed him the next day when he said he wanted to get together over the holidays. Hinted that they had a future, or a chance at one. He’d kissed her goodbye as she left for the airport.

And then not a word. Ten years of no phone calls. No texts. No looking her up on social media. Months passed before she was able to write him off as a vacation romance. But she’d never been able to erase the spot where he’d etched his name on her heart.

After the helicopter landed and they disembarked, Jen searched for the man from the shuttle van, her ride to the hotel.

Matt’s arm pressed against her back just before he spoke. “Would you like to join me at the luau tonight?”

Visions flashed through her mind of him dancing in tropical-print shorts beside the other young men they had worked with. But this time he’d join her in the audience. What was Hawaii without a luau? “That sounds like fun.”

He grinned. “Let’s get you back to your room, then, and find out what time the party starts.”

Chapter Two

The beach was already crowded when they arrived that evening at the weekly luau. The smell of roast pork filled the air as the men hoisted the pig from the underground oven. People chattered at the tables set back from the performance stage.

Jen stood holding her plate at the buffet, battling indecision. There were a million choices, so she put small amounts of way too many delicacies on her plate. But when would she be back in Maui again? She could diet when she got back home.

Matt sat opposite her at their small table. With all the other diners around them, the setting was hardly intimate, but they could speak softly and not feel like they had an audience. She took a mouthful of mahi mahi and let the coconut and garlic flavors sit on her tongue. She moaned in pleasure. “This fish is heavenly. I haven’t had mahi mahi since the last time I was in Maui
.
”

“Try some of the pahole salad,” he suggested.

She poked at the unfamiliar curly greens nestled with onion and tomatoes. She tried a bite, surprised at the pleasant taste. “What is it?”

“Fern shoots.”

“Interesting.” The rest of her food was identifiable and incredibly delicious.

When Matt returned to the buffet for their desserts, she glanced around at the other diners, wondering what their stories were. So many people laughing and enjoying their meals.

Musicians set up to one side of a grass mat in the sand and tuned their ukuleles, the drummers sitting down with their legs around their drums. They played a rousing number and dancers rushed in from one side.

Both male and female dancers wore long grass skirts and wild, colorful headdresses that rose at least a foot above their heads. Jen wondered how they kept from losing the hats as they danced
.

The women had on bathing suits and leis with their skirts, and all the dancers wore woven bracelets and anklets. They shimmied in a traditional, fast-paced dance. Jen couldn’t help but watch the muscular torsos of the young men.

Matt had learned the dances years ago, and although he’d never performed for tourists, he often joined the guys when they danced at after-hour parties. His hard, bronzed pecs and six-pack abs rolled with the best of the performers. Everything he did seemed to show off his body to its best advantage.

Working as he had in the waves, showing tourists how to surf or ride a Jet Ski, he seemed to always be shirtless, clad only in low-riding shorts or swim trunks. And she never complained, enjoying every minute of drooling over that body.

“You seem deep in thought,” he commented.

Jen jumped, a giggle escaping as heat warmed her neck. “I, uh, was remembering how you guys used to dance for the rest of us. How did you learn to hula, anyway?”

He shrugged. “I danced to any music that played. I started imitating the guys and they were impressed enough to ask me to join them, when there was no audience. I could teach you.”

She shook her head and took a sip of her Blue Hawaiian drink. “I tried sometimes when the girls showed me. I haven’t got enough roll in my hips. I didn’t then, and I have even less now, I’m sure.”

His gaze heated. “I’m sure I could get them rolling.”

Rocking, anyway. Bucking, riding
— She cleared her throat, but didn’t even try to speak. Instead, she spooned a bite of coconut pudding into her mouth and savored the sweet distraction.

“The dancers look so young, don’t they?” he asked.

She agreed. “Did we look like that? Was it so long ago we danced in the sand together?”

In her mind she slipped back. The farewell party was a casual but wild gathering on the beach on the last night before most of the college students who’d worked over the summer flew home. She and Matt had been among them. After a summer of being the good girl, she had put caution behind her and was determined to seduce him.

Letting loose hadn’t taken much work. Using a few of the sexier moves she’d seen the other girls do to music, she pretended to be graceful and showed off her body. Grinding her pelvis against his hip, she let her eyes and her body speak for her.

He’d led her away from the fire, away from the crowd, and they’d kissed for the first time in the shadows of the surf shed. Her arms had wrapped tightly around his neck. She’d captured his lips, thrusting her tongue deep into his mouth. Their tongues tangled as his moan deepened
,
sending vibrations through her breasts. Matt had broken away only long enough to suggest they find somewhere less open to continue
.

That kiss was forever burned in her memory as the best first kiss.

“Where is the music taking you?” Matt’s voice brought her back to the present and the luau
.

“Good places. Happy memories.” As her cheeks warmed again, she wished for a darker complexion, one that didn’t show her blushes so easily. “Do you still hula?”

Shaking his head, he set down his glass after taking a drink. “I leave it to the kids.”

They talked about the fun times they’d had with the other college kids as they watched the rest of the show, then walked slowly back to her room. As she pulled the key card out of her clutch purse, she asked, “Would you like to come in?”

Stepping inside, she held the door open for him and he followed. Before she could continue into the room, he held her arm as he shut the door.

“Come here,” he said, his voice soft and low.

He drew her into his arms, one hand spreading between her shoulder blades, the other cupping her ass. She lifted her arms to wrap around his neck
.

His smile warmed her and filled his eyes with passion. Unwilling to wait any longer, she tugged at his shoulders, urging him to kiss her
.

She tried to let him lead the way, but it had been too long, far too long, since they’d made love, and she couldn’t wait any longer. With a need bordering on frenzy, she opened her lips to him and let his tongue find hers.

He tasted of coconut and smelled of soap mixed with something woody and spicy. Stroking his broad shoulders, her hands swept down to the waistband of his shorts. In a move she’d been anticipating since he’d first risen from the waves, she cupped the fullest part of his ass, grinding her hips against him.

With a moan, Matt stepped back, leaving her confused and on the edge of combustion. He ran his fingers through his hair and cleared his throat. “If I don’t leave now, I won’t be able to go at all.”

Disappointment hit Jen like a giant wave, slamming her into the sand. Frowning, she closed the space he’d put between them. “Who says you have to go?”

“I do. I want to do this right. I don’t want you to feel used.”

She pressed her hand flat against his chest. “God, right now I’d love to be used. Teased, tempted, aroused, satisfied, you name it! I want you.”

Taking her hands in his, he squeezed. “I want you too. But we’re going to wait
.
”

“But—”

He gave her a quick peck on the lips and opened the door. “I’ll—” He paused, and suddenly smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She knew he’d been about to say he’d call.
He’d better call
.