Chapter 37
“Ido not have a brother,” Keston says. “Who told you that lie?”
I stare at him aghast. “Seriously?”
Keston scoffs. “Probably that maniac who showed up at my job. It was him, wasn’t it? He’s delusional. You can’t believe anything he says.”
I walk away from Keston. We’re getting nowhere. What’s most disturbing is not his outright denial of having a brother at all, but his insistence that he doesn’t know Kelley.
“You do know him,” I argue. “You said everyone here knows each other.”
“I was wrong.”
“You’re being obtuse.”
“I don’t know what that means. And how can we go from making love to this ridiculous argument? Why are you letting this man come between us?”
I roll my eyes. In one sense he’s correct, Kelley is coming between us.
We had a beautiful night. First, the boat ride out to the bioluminescent lagoon. Then a hot shower together at Keston’s house followed by sweet love on the kitchen table.
I’d mentioned that I’d always wanted to have sex on a kitchen table, so he’d obliged.
Although I got most of the loving. Kes laid me down on the table, pulled up a chair, spread my legs and ate my pussy until I was limp and crying for him to stop.
“But I’m just getting started baby,” he’d smirked. “You know what they say?”
“What?” I panted as his tongue stroked my sore and aching pussy. He raised up his head and winked, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
“Okay, let’s go. Please.”
“Thought so.” He picked me up and carried me to the bedroom in his arms, where we enjoyed some long and leisurely lovemaking like normal people.
Now, I sit on the porch swing and rock myself back and forth with my foot on the floor. Trixie is asleep on the porch, which is where we found her when we arrived back at Keston’s dock two hours ago.
It appears she can sleep through anything. Her snores and occasional farts are the only sound she makes as Kes and I argue.
“Here.” Keston bangs his way out the front door and hands me a mug.
I accept the warm cup. “Thanks?”
“It’s tea.”
He’s shirtless and shoeless and sexy as hell, leaning one arm high against the doorframe, his ankles crossed, mug in his hand.
I don’t know if the tea is a peace offering or if he’s calling a truce for the night. I sip mine quietly trying to regroup.
I need to get to the bottom of this confusion. And I need to do so before Mikah arrives tomorrow. I can’t have her showing up and me saying, “Oops, he didn’t lie. It’s my bad.”
“So let me ask you this . . . have you ever seen Kelley Kips before?”
“Don’t call him that.”
“What, Kelley?”
“No, Kips. He’s not my brother. His last name is Harris.”
I frown. “Like Mrs. Harris?”
“Yup. That’s his mama.”
“Whoa? Are you kidding me?”
He shakes his head as he sips his tea. “Nope.”
I lean back in the porch swing, my foot pushing fast and furious against the floorboards. I’m swinging so hard that the back of the swing is hitting the porch wall.
“You’re making me dizzy, woman,”
“Oh, sorry.” I tuck my foot under me.
“You’ve got some crazy connections on this island.”
He shrugs. “I told you; we’re all related.”
“Right, except for you and Kelley it seems.”
I scowl at my man, which is hard to do given how hot he looks in his bad-boy lean.
“Why’d you ask him what he was doing at the Cocoa Reef Resort?” I ask.
“Why’d he say he wants to talk to you?”
“You’re answering a question with a question.”
“And you’re not answering my question.”
“It’s a long story. I found a diary in your grandmother’s chest. Kelley knows something about it.”
He stares at me. “I’ll kill him if I have to.”
My mouth drops open. “You didn’t just say that.”
“I did. I would. I will.”
“Keston Kips!” I stand up shocked. “You sound like a . . . like a . . . I can’t even think of a word.”
“Like my great-great-great-great-granddaddy was a pirate? Well, he was. He killed a lot of people. It must run in my genes.”
I slam my fists on my hips. “I’m not going to be with a man who talks like this.”
“You promised you’d stay with me forever just three hours ago. I guess forever comes mighty fast in yourworld.”
“Arrrgh! Are we having our first fight?” I ask, stomping across the porch. This time, poor Trixie leaps up and dashes off into the yard.
“Look what you did. You scared our donkey.”
“Her name is Trixie.”
“No, it’s not. It’s Starlight.”
“Since when?”
“Since last night when I arrived home alone. Starlight was here looking at the stars with me.”
“Oh.”
“Hee-haw,” the donkey brays across the yard, as if confirming his story.
“I like Trixie,” I say softly.
“Fine,” he sighs. “We can call her Trixie Starlight.”
“Trixie Starlight Kips,” I suggest.
The donkey brays louder this time.
Both of us chuckle then stop.
“I can’t believe you’d kill a man just because he wants to speak to me.”
“That’s not the only reason. It’s on account of him that my dad died, and my mother and sister moved away. He’s why I lost my entire family.”
“What?”
Keston slumps onto the porch swing. I sit beside him, taking his hands in mine. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He shakes his head.
“Okay, so you don’t know Kelley. But he ruined your life?”
Keston wraps an arm around me and pulls me onto his lap.
“Yes. And if he tries to take you away too, I’ll kill him. I promise.”