Life's a Beach (21 page)

He pressed deep, his strong hands holding her steady. He fucked her slow, which was so delicious, she moaned low and long. The ocean was loud in her ears, even over the slow jazz that was still playing. She could hear how wet she was by the slick sounds as he entered her over and over again. He pulled out almost completely, and she shoved her hips back impatiently. He thrust hard into her and smacked her ass.

Her knees buckled as she clamped around his cock.

He gave another possessive growl and fucked her hard and fast. She waited for the next spank, but it wasn't coming fast enough.

“Samuel, please,” she moaned, and he caught a fistful of her hair and brought her head up.

“Please what?”

“Make me yours,” she moaned. “Spank me again. Fuck me hard.”

“All three,” he vowed. “All of those.”

As he held her hair, he increased his pace inside her. Amelia's breasts smacked into the railing, the cold wetness adding to the sensations coursing through her. Just as she was about to come, he smacked her backside again.

Amelia's eyes crossed from the pleasure/pain. He reached around and tweaked her nipples, and she tried to get him to fuck her faster by rolling her hips. Another smack froze her in place while she milked his cock with her pussy as the orgasm ripped through her. He let himself go and the sounds of their bodies colliding drove out the sound of the waves.

“Mine,” he whispered as he came.

Miracles of miracles, breakfast and the lecture and the trip to Molokini all went off perfectly. Stacey and her marine biologist friends were fascinated, and Amelia's parents loved the snorkeling. They were especially interested in Samuel and how he never left Amelia's side.

Back at the resort for a late lunch, they took great pleasure in grilling him about his intentions toward their daughter.

“Dad,” Amelia snarled, mortified.

“They're honorable,” Samuel said, holding her hand.

“Does this resort do weddings?” her mom asked, trying for nonchalant.

“I can't believe you asked that,” Amelia groaned.

“I'm just looking after you, Amelia. You're my daughter, and you're now living half a world away from me instead of just two hours. We want to leave here knowing you're in good hands.”

“The best,” she said, nudging Samuel, who was trying to hide a grin.

Amelia's phone rang. Seeing it was Kai, she excused herself so she could take it. A part of her knew she was throwing Samuel under the bus by leaving him alone with her parents. She gave him a shaka and walked toward the lobby.

“What's up?” she said.

“Our liquor delivery never showed up.”

“Oh, no,” Amelia gasped. The guests were going to riot. She might join them. “How much do we have left?”

“Maybe enough for the luau. Marcus and I are on our way to the distributor. Do you think you can pick up a case of vodka and rum from the warehouse to tide us over just in case? Marcus said you can use his car. The keys are hanging up behind the desk.”

“Got them,” she said. “It's the Chrysler 300, right?”

“Yeah. He said buy the cheapest booze you can find.”

“Tell him I have standards.”

“He predicted you'd say that, and he told me to tell you the difference is coming out of your bonus.”

“Rotgut it is.”

She went back to the table to let everyone know where she was going, but they had left. Shrugging, she texted Samuel what was going on and told him that she'd have her phone on her if anything else went wrong. While it was nice to see her family again, Amelia would be happy to have the pressure off. If the resort could secure the marine biologists' conference, that would be a nice foot in the door for other academic organizations. She was glad she'd arranged for the group to take a flight into Oahu tomorrow to spend the day exploring the island and paying their respects at Pearl Harbor. It would give Amelia some breathing room as well as make it a more memorable trip for her guests.

Marcus's rental car rode like a dream. He'd even sprung for satellite radio, so after she programmed the GPS to take her to Bruddah Eddie's Discount Liquor Warehouse, she flipped through the channels until she found a New York station and amused herself by listening to the morning DJs complain about the snow and the subzero weather.

She was still grinning from schadenfreude when she walked into the store. Not wanting to waste a lot of time, she grabbed two empty boxes from the front and wheeled her rickety cart to the rum aisle. She found a decent bottle for $9.99 and thought she could live with herself for getting the $7.99 liter of vodka. Amelia made a mental note to stick with beer for the next few days.

After paying for the two cases with the company credit card, she wheeled them out to the car. Popping the trunk, she reached for the first case.

“You need a hand wit dat, auntie?”

“Oh, for fuck's sake,” she said, slamming the trunk closed. “How old do you think I am?” She whirled to face the speaker but saw only a dirty rag being pushed into her face.

It smelled worse than what she imagined the vodka tasted like. Struggling to free herself from the large arms that half carried and half dragged her away, Amelia realized this was different from drowning in the ocean. She wasn't going to get to come back up for air.

With the last of her strength, she screamed and kicked. But everything went black.

Samuel took his future in-laws down the beach to Black Rock. The water was calm enough that he felt comfortable letting them explore without him. He made sure that they knew the current was strong around the rock bend and that if they did get caught up in it, not to panic. And to watch out for a riptide in case the weather turned. They both looked at him like he was an idiot.

Right. Navy. Forgot.

Amelia's mom wanted to see a sea turtle, and he was pretty sure she'd get her wish. Her father wanted to see the
humuhumunukunukuapua'a.
Samuel made him say it three times because he wanted to see how serious he was about seeing the reef triggerfish. After checking their gear and giving them some more advice, he headed back to the resort.

That idiot Mike was jogging toward him, but there was something panicked about his expression that made Samuel pause. Scanning the water, Samuel didn't see any tragedies happening. Just then his phone rang. It was Amelia.

“Hey, sweet thing,” he said.

“If you want to see your girlfriend in one piece, you and your brother bring the contract. I'll text you the coordinates. Don't call the cops or she goes overboard.”

The phone fell from Samuel's nerveless fingers to the sand.

Mike came up to him, bent over and breathing hard. “My uncle,” he wheezed, “has Amelia.”

“Who's your uncle?” Samuel asked, but he already knew.

“Tetsuo Hojo.”

Samuel grabbed him by the throat. “Were you spying on us? Were you behind the sabotage?”

“Y-yes,” he wheezed.

Just then Holt barreled into them both, separating them. “Are you out of your minds doing this in front of the guests?”

“I didn't think he would kidnap her. I like her. He's going to hurt her,” Mike gasped.

“Why is he doing this? He has plenty of other resorts. Why does he need this one?” Sam demanded.

“What's going on?” Holt asked.

“Uncle Tetsuo doesn't like
haoles
coming to his island and throwing their weight around.”

Holt swore.

“If he'd bought the resort at the price he agreed upon instead of dicking me around, none of this would have happened.” Samuel bent down to pick up his phone. “Find my brother,” he said to Holt after giving him a quick rundown of what was going on. “Tell him to meet me on the yacht. And as for you,” Samuel said to Mike, grabbing him by the arm and hauling him toward the Zodiac, “you're coming with me.”

“What are you going to do?” Holt asked.

“Sell the resort to Tetsuo. Nothing is worth Amelia's life.”

Amelia was aware that she was on a boat and that she was lying comfortably on a lounge chair. Her head was screaming in pain and her throat felt like she'd swallowed burning cotton. Coughing, she attempted to rise, but it was easier to lie back down again. Gentle hands helped her to sit up.

“May I get you something to drink?” a sympathetic woman's voice said.

This wasn't Samuel's yacht. All at once, it came back to her that she had been kidnapped. Her eyes flew open, and instantly she really regretted that, as the bright sun reflecting off the waves nearly blinded her.

“Where am I?” she whispered, her voice dry and raspy.

“You are my guest.”

Amelia followed the voice and saw Tetsuo Hojo sitting at a glass table that was shaded by a large umbrella.

“Not a good recruiting technique,” she muttered.

“Don't worry, Ms. Parker. Soon you will be out of a job.”

“What did you do to Samuel?” Her heart plummeted. What if he had hurt him?

“He and his brother are on their way here. You may leave with him once they sign the sales contract.”

“Why would you let me go? I'll go right to the police and have you arrested.”

Tetsuo smiled. “Who would believe you? I assure you I have an ironclad alibi. We've been through this, remember? I'm a respected businessman and you are the mistress of a rich man looking to take jobs from Hawaiians.”

“This doesn't make sense.” She shook her head to try to clear it, but that just made her headache worse.

A redhead in a maid's outfit handed her a glass of ice water with lemon in it, along with two aspirin.

“Thanks.” Amelia took the aspirin and gulped the water down in three long swallows. The maid refilled it from a pitcher she was holding.

Amelia pushed to her feet.

“Steady,” Tetsuo said. “It is not my intention to harm you. I would not want you falling and getting hurt.”

“Mighty nice of you,” she said, staggering to the table and sitting down across from him. “Why are you doing this?”

“The Kincaides have been a thorn in my side for over a year. First your Dude bought the property out from under me. Then he refused to sell it at a decent price. Finally, he brings in a team of
haoles
to take business away from local workers.”

“Those workers weren't offering fair pricing. And that's because of you. You're behind all the catastrophes that have been plaguing my resort.” Amelia pointed a shaking finger at him. “I almost died from one of your pranks.”

“If it's any consolation, it should have been one of the Kincaides on the parasail.”

“You tried to kill us!”

“It was not my intention. I wanted to scare you. But if one of you died…” He shrugged. “So be it.”

“That's barbaric. Why do you even want this property anyway?”

“Condos.”

“You have plenty of property. You can make a fortune in Hana just by fixing up some of those cabins and doing some marketing. The Palekaiko Resort is one of a kind.”

“It's a hemorrhoid on the Kaanapali strip.”

“People in shacks in rain forests shouldn't throw cockroaches,” she returned, then frowned. “Wait, that sounded better in my head.”

She drained her water glass again. Immediately it was refilled. Amelia was starting to feel a little like her old self even though she had to clamp her knees together to keep them from shaking.

“Look,” she said, “it's not a great place for condominiums. You're smack dab in between hotels.”

“Walking distance to Whaler's Village and Black Rock, with parking.”

He had her there.

She tried again. “I've been inside the Westin, the Hilton, and the Hyatt. They all look the same. The Palekaiko resort is becoming a place where old Hawaii meets new Hawaii. You've seen the high school shows we put on. Before you threw a monkey wrench into our renovations, we were finding local workers to help us rebuild. I've got great cultural programs I want to offer. Kai and Hani, they're full of ideas on how to do this. They just needed someone to listen and care.”

Amelia took a deep breath and swallowed another glug of water.

“Condo owners won't care,” she continued. “You say you don't like
haoles
taking over the island? Who do you think are going to buy those condos? At least if we keep the resort, we can introduce the Hawaiian culture to the tourists that come by our door.”

“You have a strange outlook on life, Ms. Parker.”

“Yeah, and it doesn't include kidnapping people in broad daylight.”

She drank more water to soothe her ravaged throat. Her lungs hurt too, but the ocean air was helping that as well.

“Have you ever seen an event like the one the principal helped us put on?” Amelia implored. “Don't you think it was a valid and needed show? Those kids danced their hearts out. It helped them raise money for their high school, they got community service credits, and they were proud to share their heritage with our guests. There is so much good we can do.”

“I take it back, Ms. Parker. You're welcome to come work for me anytime.”

“How about I work for the Kincaides instead? Do you really need to add Palekaiko to your roster at the expense of the children?”

He snorted. “If you're trying to appeal to my good side, Ms. Parker, I assure you I don't have one.”

“They're on approach,” a bodyguard said, walking up to the table.

“Here come the Kincaides now.”

“Please don't do this,” Amelia said.

“Don't kid yourself, Ms. Parker. Samuel Kincaide wants to sell. You're the only one who wants to save it.”

Amelia couldn't argue with that, and when the waitress brought over crudités and finger sandwiches, Amelia helped herself. It was a rather civilized kidnapping as far as such things went. Unless, of course, they were planning on killing her after all of this was over. She was expendable.

“Amelia,” Samuel cried as he boarded. He ran over to her.

She was unsteady on her feet, but she clung to him. “Don't sell. Please don't sell,” she muttered in his ear.

“Michael, what are you doing here?” Tetsuo asked.

“I'm sorry, Uncle.” The young man bowed his head. “I wanted to make sure Amelia was all right.”

“He means uncle as in that's his mother's brother,” Samuel whispered in her ear. “He was behind all the crap that went wrong at the resort.”

Marcus seated himself at the table and started calling up the contracts on his tablet. “Let's get this over with. Samuel, take Amelia to the boat.”

She refused to let go of Samuel. He was her rock. Her hero. Maybe she should let him sell. Her shoulders slumped. If the pressure wound up slowly killing him, it wasn't worth it. Maybe Marcus could find her another job in Manhattan.

“Michael,” Amelia said as Samuel walked her past him, “how could you?”

“I'm sorry, Amelia. I was doing what my uncle told me. But then I realized he didn't just want a cut of the action—he wanted the whole thing.” Michael turned to his uncle. “The resort is doing good things. I'm more than a waiter or a windsurfing trainer there.”

“This is none of your business, Michael. You shouldn't even be here,” Tetsuo said. “Go with her.”