Her Hawaiian Homecoming (Mills & Boon Superromance) (18 page)

Dallas hesitated on shore, still holding Allie’s sundress. He seemed to be having some kind of inner conflict.
Probably because the second he kissed you, you ran off
.

“Come on. You scared of getting wet?” Allie splashed water in his direction, not really intending to hit him. A few drops landed on his otherwise dry shirt. He looked down, and a big grin spread on his face.

“Oh, you’ve done it now,” he said, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief. He dropped Allie’s dress on the rocks and pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket, gently laying it far from the water. He lifted up his shirt, and his bare chest looked as impressive as she remembered, even more so in the silvery moonlight, the clear ridges of his abs leading like a ladder down into his drawstring swim trunks. She found herself wondering what he looked like with no clothes on at all. He ran a hand through his sandy-blond hair and walked around the pond, grinning. Then he gave a rebel yell and launched himself into the middle, sending up a wall of water that splashed Allie in the face.

She giggled and sprayed him back, and soon they were in a full-on water fight, Allie showing Dallas no mercy.

“Ah!” Allie shrieked as Dallas sent a wall of water her way. She kicked at him, sending wave after wave toward him, the last one hitting Dallas straight in the face. He shook off the water, spray flying every direction.

“Oh, you’ll pay for that,” he promised, and stood, hands up like claws, as he circled her.

“Oh, no!” Allie shrieked a laugh and scurried away from him, sending up sprays of water in a defense. Dallas shook them off, intent on getting to her, and the more she fought, the more determined he got. The pond was only so big, and it was only a matter of time before Dallas managed to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her to him.

“Gotcha!” he declared, even as she squirmed and giggled.

“No!” she cried.

“Give up, Splash Lady of the Lake! I’ve got you surrounded.” Dallas tightened his grip on Allie’s waist and lifted her up out of the water as if she weighed nothing.

“I surrender! I surrender!” The last laugh escaped Allie’s throat in a rush of air. “Put me down!”

“You asked for it.” Dallas heaved her up in the air, and she went splashing back down in the pond. She came up laughing and pushing wet hair from her eyes.

“No fair! I surrendered!”

“Oh? Should we try that again?” Dallas lunged for her once more, and she retreated, only to find herself trapped against the waterfall and Dallas. Allie pressed her back into the hard rock wall behind her.

“Now I have you.” Dallas grinned, putting up two monster-size hands above her head. Allie craned her neck to see the playful streak in his stark blue eyes. But now, suddenly, she realized it was no game. He was so close to her, she could feel his breath on her cheek. His bare chest was so near now, she could touch it. She saw beads of water dripping near his taut pink nipple, and without even thinking about the consequences, she put her finger there, following the line of water down his smooth chest. The muscles were just as firm and seductive as she’d imagined they’d be. She looked up, meeting his gaze, and realized the moment had gotten serious fast.

In an instant, his mouth was on hers, and the raw desire exploded in a symphony of sensations. His tongue moved into her mouth, and she opened for him, eager to taste him, eager to feel every part of him. Every logical thought, every hesitation disappeared in that moment as they fed on each other hungrily, their kiss taking on a life of its own. Dallas’s hands roamed down her body, finding the small of her back as he deftly maneuvered her to him. Pressed against him, she could feel the tautness of his stomach and the thickness in his shorts rising to meet her. Dallas hungrily asked for more, and she gave it to him. He eventually broke free first, only to trail kisses down her neck, down the curve of her cleavage, stopping at the tied string of her bikini. She let out a thick groan, her body responding to him forcefully, her belly growing warm beneath the water as she could feel blood rushing there.

Allie had nearly died that afternoon, and now all she wanted to do was live. She didn’t want to think about how vulnerable she’d been, how lost. Right now, all she wanted to do was celebrate life in the most primal way possible.

Dallas tugged on her bikini top with his teeth, instantly undoing the tie in the front, and suddenly her top fell away, her breasts exposed. She hardly had time to care before Dallas began worshipping each one, flicking each brown nipple with his tongue, gently caressing her heavy breasts in his hands. If she’d liked his tongue in her mouth, she liked it even more here, as he gently sucked each nipple, teasing her, tantalizing her. She had no time to worry about being half-naked in front of a stranger. There, in the moonlight, all she wanted was more. She arched her back, moaning, feeling the throbbing want between her legs. It was too late to stop now. There was no way she wanted to.

Then Dallas returned to her mouth, kissing her fiercely as he pulled her to him. Instinctively, she clutched his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist, knowing he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She pressed her bare breasts against his chest, feeling the hard warmth and safety of his arms around her as he carried her away from the wall. He deepened the kiss even as he moved her closer to the rocky shore.

She found her anticipation growing as Dallas kissed her hard again, stirred at the naughtiness of it. He pulled her to him, and she could feel his arousal, hard and strong and unyielding, against her belly. Dallas pressed his hands into her waist, pulling her to him, when his phone rang.

He ignored it, but Allie already saw the face of the phone near her.

“It’s Jesse,” she said, disappointment ripping through her as she realized there was no way they could not answer. She might be in trouble. Or Kai. As much as she wanted to throw the phone in the water, she knew she couldn’t.

Dallas groaned, reluctantly pulling away from her as he reached for his phone. Allie crossed her arms across her bare chest, suddenly very aware she was nearly naked. “I’m not finished with you yet,” he swore in his thick drawl as he answered the call. Almost instantly, his expression grew somber. “Calm down, Jesse. One thing at a time. What about Kai?” Dallas listened patiently, his eyes growing more serious. “When was the last time you heard from him?” Allie felt a sudden chill as she waited for news. Dallas listened for a bit. “Uh-huh. Okay. Let’s not jump to any conclusions, all right? No need to worry until we have something to worry about. I’ll see what I can do, Jesse. You sit tight.”

Dallas ended the call and frowned. “Is everything all right?” Allie asked, already knowing by the expression on Dallas’s face that it wasn’t.

“Kai never made it to the evacuation center,” he said, sounding grim. “He’s missing.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Y
OU’RE
N
OT
GOING
,” Dallas declared, as he cleared out his pickup bed of everything but the kayak and paddle, and rounded the driver’s-side door. “It’s dark and it’s dangerous, and the wave train might not be done. There could be more aftershocks out there.”

“It’s been hours, the tsunami was close in and my phone says they think the worst is over.” She held it up to show him. “
And
, there’s no way you’re going without me. Kai is my friend, too.” Stubbornly, Allie climbed up into the passenger side of the truck and slammed the door. Her wet bikini top was already bleeding through her sundress, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to be left behind. All she wanted was for him to even try to test her on this. He’d find out just how much she meant business. “You’ll have to carry me out and duct tape me to the tree house, because I
won’t
stay willingly.” Allie crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Dallas.

“Don’t tempt me, woman,” he said and sighed as he eyed the fixed set of her chin. “Okay, fine, but this is a search-and-rescue mission. We’re in and we’re out as quickly as possible. From everything I can tell from the news, we’re going to be facing catastrophic damage, downed power lines, demolished buildings with leaky gas lines, you name it.”

Allie nodded. “I got it. I can do this.”

“Okay, then, let’s go.” Dallas slammed his door.

“Go...where?”

Dallas turned the ignition and eased on the gas. “Jesse said Kai left the beach but stopped to help evacuate Rainbow Daycare south of Kona. He went to check on his cousin’s daughter. Kai never got to the high school, and now his phone is going straight to voice mail.”

“That’s just like Kai,” Allie said. “Stopping to help. Do you know where Rainbow Daycare is?”

“Sure do,” Dallas said, voice low. “Jennifer’s daughter, Kayla, goes there. I used to drop her off every day.”

Allie felt a sudden constriction of her throat, as irrational jealousy gripped her. She imagined the gorgeous real estate agent and Dallas playing family, him doting on an adorable little girl...and then Dallas leaving them. It felt as if she’d been splashed with a cold bucket of water. Dallas had abandoned them, and he could leave her, too. He’d said he hadn’t cheated on her, and she believed him, but he couldn’t deny that he’d left. That much was true.

Maybe he wasn’t the kind of man who stayed. Maybe the interruption at the pond was fate trying to help her not make the mistake of her life.

Allie watched Dallas’s profile carefully as he tried not to look worried.

Allie slipped her hand in her pocket, finding the forgotten pieces of Teri’s mango candy there. Absently, she pulled two out, offering Dallas one.

“Do you think Kayla was there? When the tsunami hit?”

“No. I...saw her at the evacuation center. She made it out.” Dallas gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.

“Good.” Allie felt genuine relief as she unwrapped a piece of mango candy and ate one. She was glad the kids got out. The idea of a wall of water demolishing a place filled with little kids...she shuddered at the thought.

“Still, I should’ve gone to check on her,” Dallas said, voice sounding ragged.

Allie recognized the guilt in his voice. She knew what it meant to feel as if you hadn’t done everything to save someone you love.

“We didn’t have twenty minutes, Dallas,” Allie said, hoping her reasoning would get through. “All the news reports said we missed the water by maybe
minutes
. We were lucky to get out, and to get Teri and her stylists and Jesse out in time. If we’d stayed even five minutes longer, none of us would’ve made it.”

Allie saw the hard, glassy look in Dallas’s eyes and realized her words might not matter. How many times over the years had she been told it wasn’t her fault that her father had died? When had she ever believed it?

“Besides, you said yourself, she was fine,” Allie said.

“I know.” Dallas ran a hand through his thick blond hair, and it jutted out in all directions. Allie wanted to ease his worry, but wasn’t sure how. “But I lived with her for nearly three years. I was there when she had her first day of preschool. And, then... Well, I know she’s not my responsibility anymore, but...”

“You still care about her,” Allie finished. Allie wondered just how deeply his feelings for them still ran.

The streetlights beside them were out, and the houses along the ridge were dark. Another power outage, added to the many. Dallas studied the road intently, the bright beams of the truck lighting the way.

“I nearly adopted her. If we had gotten married, I would’ve been her stepfather. Her own dad hadn’t been involved at all.”

“What happened with you and Jennifer?” Allie had to know. He said he hadn’t cheated, but she couldn’t make the puzzle pieces fit.

Dallas let out a long sigh. “Jennifer is pretty damaged,” he admitted. “I guess I’m a sucker for damsels in distress.”

Allie barked out a laugh as she thought about just how much of a damsel
she’d
been lately. “No kidding.”

Dallas sent her a rueful smile. “Jennifer’s damage is all on the inside. Her father left when she was little. She got pregnant with Kayla right out of high school. She was one of these girls who wanted attention from everyone—it didn’t matter who. She’d go with any guy in front of her. I thought I could change her, could get her to understand that all she needed was me, but it took me a long time to realize you can’t fix someone else, no matter how much you love them.”

Allie agreed this was true. It was one of the reasons why she knew it wouldn’t work with Jason.

“We were together two years before I caught her cheating the first time, with one of her rich real estate clients. Against my better judgment, I took her back. For Kayla’s sake. We were a family, and I felt I owed it to her to work it out. We went to counseling. We really tried. But then I found out she hadn’t quit stepping out on me. In fact, she’d made it her regular hobby. The last time, I found her in our bed with the reality TV producer she still works with.”

“Oh, Dallas.” Allie felt instant empathy, putting herself back in the afternoon she’d opened that package meant for Jason.

Dallas’s eyes narrowed as he watched the road. “I wish pride was the only thing she took from me.”

“What do you mean?”

Dallas swallowed. “She...” Dallas paused, holding back. Allie could tell this was something he didn’t want to share, that this was the hardest part of the betrayal.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s... Well, it doesn’t matter. After that, I couldn’t stay anymore, and I had to say goodbye to Kayla. I asked Jennifer if I could still adopt her, but Jennifer was livid, angry at me for walking out.”

“How could she expect you to stay?” Allie couldn’t believe the woman’s gall.

Dallas’s shoulders sank in weary indifference. “She gives everyone in her life an excellent reason to leave, and yet she’s always surprised when they do.”

“It’s terribly sad, but you can’t blame yourself,” Allie said, realizing how empty the words might sound to him, knowing how they’d sounded when her friends told her the same thing. When someone cheated, there was always an undercurrent of “Why didn’t you make him happy enough to stay?” No one said it out loud, but Allie felt it dozens of times, in the questions people asked.
Did he ever tell you he was unhappy? Did you know he was pulling away?