Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Aloiki
The sun still hadn’t risen yet when we reentered Bacon’s house.
I was not surprised to see he waited up for us.
He was American, born and bred in Alaska.
Tall and heavily muscled, Bacon had light skin with dark hair.
His woman, Holly, was over a foot shorter than him with short, cropped hair.
They’re talking together in the corner of the living room, their heads close enough together to hint at an intimate conversation.
Holly sat on the sex swing—fully clothed—that they had bolted in the corner while Bacon stood over her. Their hands were linked on Holly’s lap.
I didn’t see Holly smile a lot, and the one she had on now lightened her aquamarine eyes in the dim overhead lighting.
What did surprised me was finding Lu in their large kitchen. Open to the living room and separated only by a long serving island, the room also had a bar that looked like it belonged in a speakeasy.
I frowned at Bacon when he turned at the sound of Tangaloa and I entering his house.
Lu had her back to us as she used the stovetop.
From the smell, she was cooking ahi, or tuna fish.
Most of the windows were open, along with the back patio doors, allowing the night ocean breeze to waft through the large home.
But I could still catch the scent of something burning.
The expression Bacon gave me clearly showed his own frustration at Lu being out of bed at this hour.
I didn’t doubt my SAA had tried to encourage her back to bed, but I also knew how stubborn my wahine was.
Short of lifting her up and tossing her back inside our room, there was little Bacon could have done if he wanted to live through the night.
After kissing Holly on the forehead, he crossed the living room to approach us.
Tangaloa lifted his chin to indicate he was heading upstairs.
Both of us had taken a dip in the sea to clean off the blood and whatever else coated us.
Tommy also bandaged my arm where I’d caught some spray from the buckshot. Thankfully, the wounds were not deep.
I nodded to my brother as he headed past. He offered a shaka over his shoulder. He’d been awake longer than I had since he had an arms delivery last night, so he was beyond beat.
“Is it done?” Bacon asked, his voice low. I didn’t doubt that he told Holly everything, but at least he was smart enough to keep up the illusion of club business and the secrets that were supposed to be kept between members only. Lu was the exception because she was my exception.
“It’s done,” I confirmed. I didn’t need to add that it had been done bloody. He knew me well enough by now to know that was a given. “Why is my wahine out of bed?” She was very much asleep when I left her earlier in the night.
Bacon shrugged, a little too nonchalantly. “I offered to cook for her, but she insisted. I think she wanted to wait up for you. Holly and I kept an eye on her without hovering. She didn’t seem in a talking mood.”
I wondered if my son was kicking again. If his activity in the womb was any indication, he was going to be a rambunctious one. Then again, he was half Lu, so I didn’t really expect anything different. I would soon going to have my hands full with the both of them.
As much as I didn’t like Lu being up like this cooking, I could recognize her need to see that I was alive and well once home.
I didn’t like worrying her, especially not in her delicate state.
She would sleep better now, knowing that the man who had shot up our home was fish food.
We’d left Barnacle behind on the boat once we’d docked, to clean up and dispose of the clothing and possessions we’d removed from the men tonight.
Without saying another word to Bacon, I headed into the kitchen area.
The island was wide, offering an eating counter on one side with plenty of cooking space leftover.
It had two sinks, one in the island and the other against the wall.
The massive refrigerator/freezer combo was far too technological for my tastes.
I couldn’t stand it when my phone reminded me of things.
I did not need a smart screen on my fridge telling me I was running low on carrots or milk.
Neo likely had an orgasm the first time they saw it.
Some men liked to see their women wearing their clothing.
Personally, I hated clothing, on me and especially on Lu.
Whatever modesty she’d had as a young woman was lost as soon as she met me.
I might not share her with other men anymore, but I sure as hell had no issue showing off her body to anyone around us.
Let them see what I had, what they would never have, and only I could touch.
I never wanted kids. I’d been adamant about it for years, and did everything short of getting a vasectomy to ensure I would not father a child.
Then Lu came back into my life. I could argue that I believed she was on birth control when I took her unprotected multiple times.
The truth was, though, I simply hadn’t cared.
As soon as I saw her again, I claimed her, and what happened after didn’t matter.
When I discovered she was pregnant, there’d been no doubt, no anger on my part.
Any other woman, and yeah, I would have been fucking pissed.
I might have even driven her to the abortion clinic myself.
But Lu? Fuck, it was like a curtain lifted.
And I may have discovered a new kink along the way, because pregnancy sex was fucking incredible. I thought Lu was insatiable before? But it was nothing compared to now. I was her sex toy, ready and willing at her command.
Better yet, she was mine.
I approached her from behind. Vegetables, both sliced and whole, were scattered across the island counter, along with a giant punch bowl full of salad fixings.
A smaller bowl held what looked like a dressing, though I couldn’t identify it.
Lu wasn’t that good of a cook, so I wasn’t even sure if she knew what she’d created.
She wore a long white shirt to cover her body. I had never hated anything more than I did that shirt. She should be naked for me, always.
The knowing smile in the open window’s reflection told me that she knew I was behind her before I wrapped my arms around her growing middle. Resting my head on her shoulder, I looked down into the pan.
“Um, Hōkūpa?a, I don’t think it’s supposed to look like that.”
I was right about the burning smell, despite the fresh breeze. Lu frowned at the pan, where a very black and very pink piece of tuna seared. It looked like she’d tried to add some honey and spices to it too, but those were now burned globs at the edge of the pan.
“No,” she insisted, shaking her head. “I like it this way.”
I chuckled. She was such a fucking liar.
Lu might not be able to cook, but she loved food.
Good food. And what was currently burning in that pan did not look good.
I was glad she was trying to add some protein to her salad.
Her vagina doctor stressed the importance of getting enough protein in her diet.
But she should have just kept to the salad until I was here to cook for her or asked Bacon for help, seeing as Holly was even worse than Lu in the kitchen.
I reached over her to turn off the burner. Of all the smells through Lu’s pregnancy that had set off her stomach, I was genuinely shocked that burned honey tuna with—was that cilantro?—wasn’t one of them. But then I’d been learning a lot of new things about the female body since Lu became pregnant.
Lu’s protest as I removed the pan from the cooling burner was a small growl that was no more menacing than that of a puppy.
I slapped my hand against her left ass cheek.
She rounded on me, slapping my chest with the butt on her spatula.
Hot oil splattered my skin as a red mark appeared where the utensil made contact with me.
As Lu’s eyes widened at her actions, I raised an eyebrow.
I had gotten several new tattoos since Lu came back into my life, including permanent impressions of her nail marks in my back, scratch marks on my ass, and teeth marks around both nipples.
The oil didn’t burn as much as it would have if it was fresh from the pan, but it still stung.
I’d thought getting her name tattooed on my dick would be my next tattoo, but now I wanted to get dots across my chest where the oil had hit me.
Good thing I liked a bite of pain with my pleasure, and Lu’s surprised expression as well as her attempted growl had me hard as a rock beneath my board shorts.
Taking the spatula from her hand, I cut off the start of her apology with a hot, searing kiss.
I might like pain, but that didn’t mean her ass wasn’t going to pay for her actions.
Wrapping one arm around her waist, I secured her front to mine as I lifted her off her feet. I could feel her hands on my chest, trying to wipe the splattered oil off my skin. Her hand brushed the bandage, and she wrenched her mouth away from mine.
“What happened?” she demanded, eyes fixated on my arm.
I spun us, settling her ass against the island counter. I knocked food, a cutting knife, and a cutting board out of the way to clear a space for her. Lu gasped, a mixture of surprise and arousal as I forced her knees apart and settled my hips between them.
I ignored her question. My bandage was in no way a priority at the moment. I lifted the spatula in front of her face. It was silicone, which was too bad. If we’d been in my old house, it would have been wood. “Did you just smack me in the chest with this?”
Her cheeks flushed, but she met my eyes full on. That was one of the things I loved most about Lu. She was not afraid of what turned her on. I was on fire around this woman, all day, every day. She was so fucking perfect—for me.