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

breath.
    “Don’t do that. I hate when you get pissy like that.”
    He shot her a warning look, but he said nothing else as he stood and marched out to the ocean. The sick feeling in her stomach now expanded, and she felt her head start to pound. What the hell was she doing?
    Wait. She didn’t start the fight. She refused to take the blame this time, to allow him to tell her she should do something. She had spent a lifetime doing that, and now she refused. After a month in Hawaii reassessing what she needed, she had realized that she had been trying to gloss over other people’s emotions to make things easy. Not anymore. Still, a fight on a public beach would just not be the thing to do. She might be ready to take a stand, but she would not make a spectacle of them. Her mother had raised her too strictly to go against the grain like that. Instead, she took a deep breath, grabbed her e-Reader, and lost herself in a story.

    * * * *

    Damon looked out over Waikiki Beach as he sipped his coffee. It had been three days, and his mood hadn’t gotten any better. He hid it well, knowing that with Mari, he had to take small steps. Pushing her to stand up to her mother was just not something she was going to be comfortable with. Small steps. It was bad enough that they were going to confront her with the possibility of being their lover on Christmas. Tomorrow.
    Alex had picked the day. Well, he had picked it after they had argued. Alex had wanted to wait until New Year’s Day. Or Eve. The starting a whole-new life thing was important to Alex, but Damon couldn’t wait another week. He needed to know now. He couldn’t wait, not knowing, waiting to find out if they would actually have Mari for a lifetime.
      Of course Alex wanted to wait. He hadn’t been waiting as long as Damon. And when Damon’s brother had started courting Mari several years ago, it hadn’t bothered Alex nearly as much. There was something very wrong knowing that a bastard like his brother had been able to even touch her, let alone take her to his bed.
    He couldn’t stop the smile that curved his lips. His brother had been as bad as Damon expected. If Mari’s reaction to them was anything to go by, Damon was pretty sure his brother was a buffoon in the bedroom. Of course, he was a selfish bastard, so that made sense.
    “You’re looking really smug.”
    He turned around to find Mari watching him. She was wearing a T-shirt and he was sure, nothing beneath it.
    “Just thinking about the last few months.”
    She glanced out at the ocean. “Was the scandal that bad in DC?”
    It was something she had not asked, and Damon was pretty sure that her friends Eddie and Sophia would have protected her.
    “No, not really. You made some of the gossip columns. But it was all gone within a week.”
    Damon didn’t mention that he was pretty sure that her father made some threats to make that happen.
    “Where’s Alex?”
    She made a face.
    “Out for a run.”
    He laughed. “You could have gone along.”
    She shook her head and moved her gaze back to him. “I don’t want to run unless one of you is chasing me.”
    Her bold honesty was nothing new, and neither was his reaction to it. He held out his hand, and she took it, allowing him to tug her onto his lap. His hand was shaking when he lifted it to her face to cup it. He gave her a gentle kiss, keeping his gaze on hers, watching the moment the tears filled her eyes. There had been a few of these moments for them, all three of them, and he was sure, but she seemed more melancholy the last day.
    All he wanted was to make her happy. He wanted to hear her laugh, watch her dance, and hear the pleasure in her voice when she moaned his name. His cock hardened as she shifted against him, then her eyes closed, and he followed her into the pleasure of the kiss.
    There had been many moments of passionate embraces, but these small moments of sweet kisses Damon loved more than anything. Both he and Alex had enjoyed them, and