Page 51 of Try Easy

Lou hopped off the board and ran to Keoni. She threw her arms around him. Keoni pulled her close, burying his face in her neck and lifting her off her feet.

"That was amazing!" she said.

“You were amazing,” he said.

He leaned back and kissed her on the mouth the way he’d wanted to do for a week. When she moaned and pulled him closer, Keoni pressed against her, letting her feel what watching her surf had done to him.

Lou gasped when she felt how hard he was. Keoni took advantage of her open mouth and plunged his tongue into her mouth. Lou’s arms tightened around his back and she kissed him back, greedily sucking his tongue into her mouth.

Keoni pulled back for a breath, glancing around, he remembered they were at a family beach.

“Let’s get outta here,” he said.

Lou stared up at him, her eyes dazed. “Where?”

“Bones lives just up the street,” he said, reaching down to grab his board.

When he stood up, Lou was looking at him with tear-filled eyes. She had changed her mind.

“I can’t,” she said.

Keoni stared down into her eyes. They were a brilliant shade of turquoise, deeper and more complex than the blue of the sea.

"Do you love him?" he asked.

Every breath was torture as Keoni waited for Lou to answer. Finally, she shook her head.

"I don't know," she said. She took a cleansing breath and then let it go. "I have my whole life planned out. We have a future together." She groaned in frustration, pushing Keoni gently in the chest. "This wasn't supposed to happen. You weren't supposed to happen. But when I thought I was going to die the only face I wanted to see was yours."

Keoni leaned down and touched his forehead to Lou's. In Hawaiian culture, touching faces and sharing breath was the essence of life, the purest way to show aloha.

Keoni drew in a breath, and as he exhaled, Lou breathed him in. It was too late – they were connected. Keoni had started falling for Lou the moment he'd slipped the lei around her neck at the airport.

He was going to be a mess when she left, and it was going to be sweet torture to be around her in the meantime. Keoni took a step back, releasing Lou.

"I'm starving," he said. "Let's go eat, and not worry about this for a while."

Lou looked as if she would protest, but then she decided it was best to follow Keoni down the beach.

---