Page 29 of Hula Girl

Her free hand covers my lips and stops me from speaking just as she starts sucking me off faster. And then I’m pushing myself hard against the seat, coming into her unrelenting mouth, groaning deeply. She takes every last drop, only stopping when there’s nothing more. I’m completely depleted and completely sated.

“Jesus,” I say on an exhale.

She’s moved up enough so that her face is pressed to my chest and I wrap my arms around her.

“You didn’t scream my name,” she says, a tease in her voice.

“Ava!” I shout, drawing it out so that my voice goes hoarse to embody the searing, animalistic heights of desire she just brought me to.

Startled to laughter, she looks up at me with that pretty smile of hers. I lean down and kiss her, not caring that she’s got my taste in her mouth. All I want is to show this woman that there’s nowhere I’d rather be at this moment than with her.

* * *

When we getto the liveliest bar on Front Street in Lahaina, Ava goes straight to the restrooms, while I grab us drinks and a table.

I’m still buzzing from that blowjob in the truck. And I’m wondering how on earth I managed to hook up with this sexy stranger.

Someone slaps me hard on the shoulder, shaking me from my lingering lust-filled haze. I turn to find my buddies, Pika and Hiro, standing there.

“Hey guys,” I say as they help themselves to the tall chairs at the table. That leaves one more for Ava.

“You shouldn’t have,” Pika says, picking up the Negra Modelo I had ordered for Ava. His name means “rock” in Hawaiian and perfectly fits his short, stocky frame.

I snatch the bottle from his hand before he can get it to his lips. “Not for you, jackass.”

Hiro laughs as Pika makes a show of looking around the small bar for my mystery guest.

Like most bars on Front Street, the heart of Lahaina, it’s just starting to fill up and the music isn’t quite at peak levels yet. The mostly tourist crowd that frequents this place won’t get going until closer to ten o’clock. And by “get going,” I mean, filling the tables and bar stools, and drinking sickly sweet mai tais until they’ve accumulated one too many of those little paper umbrellas that garnish the drink. I had thought this would give Ava and me a chance to hang out before it got rowdy, but now I’ve got these two guys breaking things up.

Don’t get me wrong, they are my friends. As luck would have it—or rather, not so much luck, but the fact that we live on a very small island—these guys are the same ones I told Ava about. They are the locals who gave me a chance when I struggled to fit in as a kid. I grew up with them before I moved to the mainland. We used to run around our part of Maui looking for adventure together. We lost touch when I went to live with my father and only reconnected out on Honolua Bay when I returned. When we got up to speed on each other’s lives, it was clear we’d gone in different directions. They’re high school drop-outs and work odd jobs like construction, handy-man work, or tour-guide stuff. I not only finished high school a year early but went to an Ivy League school and became a successful attorney. Our divergent paths might have made regaining a friendship too difficult, but before too long, we understood that just like when we were kids, our love of surfing outweighed any other difference. They gave me a few weeks of hell for being a traitor for leaving before deciding I was okay after all, and we’ve become surf and drinking buddies. We only ever come to one of these Front Street bars when we’re looking for some female company.

Thing is, I’ve got that part covered tonight. And she’s heading my way now, looking apprehensively at the guys sitting with me. I hold out my hand, wanting to make sure she knows I’m not trying to ditch her.

Pika and Hiro both turn to see who I’m gesturing to and I see their appreciative expressions as they eye her up and down.

“Knock it off, you creeps,” I growl.

“What?” Hiro asks, suddenly all gentlemanly innocence.

“Who’s your fine lady friend,” Pika asks, not pretending to be anything other than the letch that he is.

Ava takes the offer of my hand as she joins us. I should let her go, let her sit at the empty chair. But I don’t want to stop feeling the heat of her skin on mine. She meets my eyes and for a moment, it feels like everything else fades away. I’m lost in her gaze. And I don’t want to be found.

“Well?” Pika asks, breaking the spell.

“I’ll introduce you, then you can go get your own table,” I say brusquely. “Ava, meet Hiroto and Pika.”

Ava laughs at my rude introduction. “It’s okay. I don’t mind if your friends want to stay.”

“See?” Pika says. His demeanor is ridiculously triumphant as if Ava had just granted him permission to ogle her rather than simply saying she would tolerate them interrupting us. But he soon finds cockiness isn’t something she’ll tolerate.

“As long as you keep your eyes up here,” she says, gesturing to her own eyes.

Pika’s eyes snap up and away from her chest and he freezes.

“Damn, she called you out,” I say with a laugh.

“We’re good,” she says. “Right?”

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