Read Online Schroeder, Melissa - Getting Lei'd [Hawaiian Holidays 3] (Siren Publishing PolyAmour) by Melissa Schroeder - Free Book Online

her mind as usual.
    She looked at him and couldn’t help the way her heart did the little jump at the sight of him. He was gorgeous. There was no way around it. Sculpted muscles, that strong jaw. She wished she could see his eyes, because she could tell what he was thinking, but he kept them hidden behind his mirrored sunglasses.
    “What?”
    She realized then she’d been staring at him for several minutes. She shook her head and hoped she wasn’t drooling.
    “You have a problem with the way I’m dressed? Alex, too?” She couldn’t keep the skepticism out of her voice. She glanced down at the black retro bathing suit that reminded her of what a movie star would have worn in the fifties.
    “Hawaii agrees with you. Nice little glow to your skin, and you seem...happy. It’s been a long time since you were happy.”
    Her heart did a little jerk, but this was different from the feelings from before. This had more to do with love, the kind that could ruin a good time in Hawaii. She moved away from that.
    “I like it, as I said. But my life is back in DC.”
    He nodded and looked out over the water. Of course, it didn’t sound that great going back. Now she wanted to live in a place that allowed her to go to the beach every day, and be near Sophia and Eddie and their husbands. She was going to miss them.
    “Is this where they have the big surfing contests?” Damon asked.
    She nodded and tried to get out of her thoughts. Lord knew she was lucky to have them for this short amount of time. She needed to be happy with it.
    “Yeah, I really enjoyed it when I tried it. I was amazed that I was any good at it.”
    “Why do you do that?” Damon asked.
    “What do you mean? Do what?”
    “You put yourself down all the time. Why?”
    She shrugged. “I wasn’t putting myself down.”
    “Yes you were. Living with that bitch all these years has made you doubt everything you do.”
    Shocked at his vehemence, she stared at him. He was still watching the waves, not looking at her, but she could see his jaw flexing. There was part of her that wanted this, needed this validation from someone outside of her family and her two best friends. But at the same time, a sliver of guilt wormed its way into her gut.
    “Damon, you can’t talk about my mother that way.”
    “Someone has to.”
    He glanced at her then, and his expression softened. “I don’t mean to put your mom down. Lord knows she put up with me enough times, crashing at your place in college. But she isn’t that nice to you, Mari. You both don’t realize how much she criticizes you.”
    She knew it was true, but it was the way she and her mother communicated. “I don’t care what you think.”
    She turned away from him and searched out Alex. Damon said something under his breath. He waited five long seconds then said, “You see yourself as she sees you. You need to stop that.”
    She turned and stared at him, amazement spreading through her. Damon had never said anything so strongly to her before. “I had no idea you found me so deficient.”
    He made a noise that was close to a growl. “That’s not what I said. I said that you think that way, you and your mother. I don’t know how to get it across to you that your mother is a poison when it comes to you.”
    “I said I can’t have you putting down my mother.”
    He shook his head. “I know, call me the bad guy. I just can’t hear you put yourself down. You’re bright, beautiful, and have more personality than most women have in their pinky finger. It’s your mother that makes you think that you have faults.”
    She could feel the tears burning the back of her eyes. The mixture of feelings that moved through her caused her to pause before she said anything else. She had waited so long for someone else outside of her family, and her two best friends, to acknowledge her. But she also couldn’t let anyone put her family down.
    “My mother loves me in her own way.”
    He said something else under his