Second Shot K.O.K (The Brooklyn Bears: Season 1)

19. Falling

NINETEEN

FALLING

Koa

B ack on the road, she’s looking out the window again, her eyes heavy, but she’s fighting to keep them open. She’s emotionally exhausted, which I never understood until it happened to me. I have her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb over the back of it, and I’m so angry at her mother for what? Money? And her father? Does he think that love is enabling her at whatever price? His own daughter? A fucking resort?

We’ve got about twenty minutes before we get to the location I chose to take Nalani today for a purpose, and that bitch, Pua Kāne, isn’t invited, and neither is her pussy-ass husband.

I lean over and brush my lips back and forth over her hand. “We’ve got a while before we get there. Rest your eyes, Ku’uipo. If you fall asleep, I’ve still got you.”

She turns her body to face me and smiles softly. “I know.”

In less than five miles, she’s asleep beside me, her body curled into the seat. The sunlight streams through the window, casting her skin with an angelic glow. Eyes on the road , I remind myself because I know I could look at her forever.

But I can’t stop stealing glances.

Her braids spill over her shoulders, loose strands clinging to her cheeks, blanketing the area where tears fell minutes ago, and I vow to make sure she knows that she doesn’t deserve them. I’m going to demand the only tears that ever leave those gorgeous brown eyes are ones caused by overwhelming joy and happiness.

Her soft, thick, beautiful lips are parted, just enough to let her breathe in slow, even drifts. The rise and fall of her chest, so gentle, so her. Her long, thick, dark lashes kiss her skin, reminding me of how they felt when they fluttered against my chest when her head rested there.

Even covered in layers, I remember how many times my mouth moved from her lips, down her elegant neck, across her collarbone and lower. Every inch of her body, her curves and lines, so damn desirable.

I let my gaze linger on her a moment longer, taking in how peaceful she looks right now … with me. I will always regret that, in a way, I broke a promise to her, the one that there would never be anyone else. I need her to understand there has never been anyone else, not in my heart, my soul. The reality is, however, she does understand. She’s here, after all.

I vow I will forever keep her safe, to make sure she wakes up with that same soft smile every morning. Because, right now, with the sunlight kissing her skin and that serene look on her face, she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Always has been, just like she’s always been mine.

I pull the truck into a gravel parking lot tucked into the woods. The kind of spot you wouldn’t know existed unless you spent enough time getting lost out here, and I have. The crunch of gravel under my tires fills the quiet as I put it in park and glance over at her as she starts to stir.

I love that I get to catch the moment she smiles at me when her eyes open, and then she looks past me and out the window, eyes widening as she takes in the golden oranges, deep reds, and bursts of yellow that surround us.

“This place …” she breathes out, her voice low, raw, reverent.

I lean in, brush my lips across her forehead, and then turn, open the door, and slide out. “Wait until we get out there. It gets better.”

I shut the door, jog around the front of the vehicle, and grab her door before she can. I find her waiting, knowing … remembering that’s one of the things I need to do for her, things all men should do to show their girl he still treasures her, and the good ones keep doing that shit well beyond the time he gets his dick wet.

After she gets out, I grab the pack and put it on.

“No more take-out bag picnics? You use a backpack?” she quips.

“For where we’re going, yes,” I say, placing my hand on the small of her back and directing her to the trailhead.

The expression on her face is nothing like it was half an hour ago; it’s lit up, glowing like she always does, and when the leaves crunch under her feet, she grins up at me. As much as I want to kiss her, I’m not veering from the plans.

“Aren’t you cold?” she asks, skipping ahead.

“You know I don’t get cold.”

She turns around and walks backward. “Admit the air is that”—she makes a chef’s kiss sign, which makes my lips twitch—“kind of crisp, with that perfect bite that only comes this time of year.”

“How can you even feel it under all those layers?” I call after her.

She raises a hand. “It’s a gift.”

We continue up the trail, pointing to trees we spot, and we do it in that same pleasant type of silence we fall into when no words are needed.

When we get to the area of the trail where the trees arch over us like a painted canopy, she pauses, as I knew she would, and stands there in awe. Once she’s had her moment, we keep heading up the trail, stopping only when she sees a leaf she likes—the bright red ones are her favorite—and puts it in her pocket. As much as we’re on a slight schedule, I don’t rush her. Hell, I could spend hours watching her face light up like this, with her in her element, surrounded by nature.

We finally break through the trees, and by the position of the sun, it’s just in time.

“Holy shit,” she says as we step into a clearing overlooking the Hudson River. The water shimmers in the early evening light, the banks covered in trees that look like they’ve been dipped in golds, oranges, and reds.

“What do you think?” I ask, sliding the backpack off then removing the blanket attached to the side and spreading it out.

She turns in a slow circle, arms in the air, eyes wide and shining but not from tears; she’s in awe of this place. And me? I am so fucking happy she is. “This is stunning, Koa.”

I sit on the blanket, stretch out my legs, and watch her take it all in as I unpack the board and unpackage the food, with the smell of fallen leaves and earth all around us.

She watches with amusement as I start pulling out the sliced apples and pears and the different assortment of nuts, including her favorite—candied pecans. I grab the roast beef and caramelized onion sandwiches and the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, hoping they taste like the ones she was obsessed with back at Hayward.

“Wow, this is … impressive.”

I pull the thermos of hot cocoa out and hold it up. “Now it’s impressive.” I set it down then pull out two travel mugs, fill them up, spread my legs wide, and pat the space between them, “Assume the position.”

She heads over, and does just that, leaning into me like she always did.

“Truly impressive,” she says, taking the mug from my hand.

“I know my way around a picnic,” I joke. She knows the first picnic I ever went on, other than eating a sandwich on the beach with my folks, was with her. It became our thing.

She sips and moans then says, “You’ve been here before.”

“Couple times.”

“With friends or …?”

“Alone. Once a year since moving here.”

“How did you hear about it?”

“Google.” I chuckle.

She smiles as I hold out a pecan.

“Open.”

She does, and I set it on her tongue.

“This was sort of my thinking spot.”

“It makes sense.” She picks up a slice of pear, turns a bit, and holds it out for me. I wrap my mouth around it, and her fingers, sucking the tips just enough to get a bit of a fix, which was not part of the plan.

I nod toward the horizon. “I used to love watching the sunset with this girl I knew.” I glance down, and she’s staring at my mouth. I gently turn her to face it and pull her against me. “She ended up being my best friend.”

“She was a lucky girl,” she whispers.

“Nah, I was the lucky one, because I let her go, before I got a chance to tell her something important. Something I wanted to tell her a million times, but she was special, and I needed her to feel that. I wanted to take her to a place like this, at this time of year, because that’s when she came into my life again, and I knew I had been given a gift, one I would not take for granted ever. When that season came around again, things were not the same, but unlike the leaves surrounding us, blanketing the ground with quiet contentment, as if they’d finally landed where they were supposed to, I couldn’t find a place to land. I was just blowing around in the damn breeze. You know why?”

“Because her mother was insane?” she jokes.

“That didn’t help, but had I told her I loved her when I should have, maybe she would have come to me when she needed me the most.”

“Maybe she needs you the most now.”

I tilt her chin so she’s looking up at me. “I love you, Nalani. I have loved you this whole fucking time, and I will love you until I am no more.”

Her lips part, but no words come out until they do. “I love you no differently.”

I lean in, my heart racing. I can feel her breath against my lips, warm and soft. “I love you,” I whisper again.

Her eyes flutter closed as I close the distance, my lips meeting hers gently at first, testing, tasting. It’s soft and slow, different than ever before, like we’ve got all the time in the world, the kind of kiss that makes everything else disappear. Her lips are warm, and they taste sweet, like cocoa. Fuck, I’ve missed this, and I could do this all day until I can’t.

I break away. She releases a whimper, and I press my forehead to hers.

“We don’t stop, we’re hiking down in the dark, possibly coming face-to-face with a bear.”

Leaning back, palms to the ground behind her, she smiles. “Haven’t you noticed I’m not afraid of bears? And even less when I’m with you.”

“The power’s in the skates.” I wink as I stand, pulling my phone from my pocket with one hand and holding the other out to take hers. After I pull her up, I move her in front of me. “I want a picture of you and me.”

“Can we send it to Tūtū?”

I glance down at her smiling eyes.

“Too soon?”

I shake my head. “We didn’t just lose a semester or a couple months; we lost years, Nalani.”

She refused the piggyback ride because whatever we heard came from behind us, so now she’s wrapped around me like a koala. The heels of her hiking boots dig into my ass, her nails sinking into my back, and her face in the crook of my neck as I jog down the trail in the near dark.

“You have legs almost as long as I am tall—get a move on before we get eaten!”

“Only one of us is getting eaten tonight.”

She laughs into my neck, and then she sinks her teeth in a little, but that’s all it takes for my semi to turn completely hard.

Her gasp confirms my suspicion that, with each stride, my dick is, in fact, tapping on her sweet little cunt.

By the time we get to the end of the trail, my mouth is on hers, this kiss so unlike the one we shared at the top of the trail. Her mouth is open, so I slide my tongue in and taste her—hot chocolate and her special kind of sweetness. I pull her close with one arm and reach down to untie her boot, yanking it off, as she pulls the elastic out of my hair, runs her fingers through it, and then fists it tight, and we both groan. Greed, lust, desire, need, and love, fucking love .

We’re hungrier for each other than I think we ever were. I drink down her whimpers, and she licks my groans. We’re starving for each other, licking, sucking, biting, and nipping, tasting, fucking tasting one another for the first time in so long.

We’re out of breath, but neither of us cares. We keep on going. I’ve almost got her other shoelace untied. When I get it off, I toss it next to her then hook my thumbs in the waistband of her leggings, pull them down, along with her panties, and drop to my knees, not caring there’s gravel beneath them.

I run my open mouth over her ankle and upper calf, first the left and then the right. But I go further now.

“Cannot wait to fucking taste your need,” I groan. “I love you so fucking much, so much,” I say as I slide a finger inside of her. Tight, she’s so fucking tight .

Her hips buck against my touch, and she cups her breasts as her back arches while I finger-fuck her slow and deep.

“I could get off on watching you come like this. I will get off watching you come on my finger, but I need to taste you, Nalani.” Inhaling deeply as I descend on her, mouth open and damn near drooling, knowing I’ve been starved for this, for her, far too long, I pull my finger from inside her. She protests and whimpers, but that stops with the first long, firm lick through her sweet little seam.

“Yes, just like that. Yes!” she cries.

And just like that, I eat her, fuck her with my tongue, circle her clit with it, and suck on her hot, wet little pink lips. And then I do all of that over, and over, and over again.

“I’m going to come.” She grips my hair as she grinds against my face. “Fuck, I am coming. Yes, yes, yes!”

I am nowhere near done with her, but she’s lying there, panting, trying to catch her breath, eyes closed, with a sated smile on her face. And then she says, “I cannot wait to be on my knees for you.”

“Fuck,” I growl when I see headlights through the trees coming in this direction, knowing there’s no other place they could be going. “It’s going to have to wait. We have company. Let’s get your pants back on.”

And get her pants back on, we do, and then the car turns into the parking area.

She climbs over the back row of seats and into the passenger seat as I close up the back.

“Park closes at dark,” a park ranger calls from his patrol car.

I lift a hand. “Heading out now.”

“Drive safe.”

“Always.”

We’re both leaning on the center console, me with my elbow, her with her head against my arm, that same kind of silence lingering as we drive.

“I’m exhausted.”

“Must have been all that running you did from the bear.” I chuckle.

“Neither of us got much sleep last night, and you, #29, have a game tomorrow.”

“First, I sleep, then practice, and then a long stretch with nothing to do”— but, hopefully you —“until I return at five thirty or six for the game. I’ll be just fine.”

“Kinda sucks that you don’t live in my backyard anymore.”

“You’ve got hens and a rooster in your backyard; there’s no room for me.”

“And you’ve got roommates and bunnies that live with you, so there’s no room for me.” I know she’s not trying to act bitter about it, but that tone is unmistakable, and understandable.

“Women don’t live there, Nalani.”

“Just visit.” She yawns.

“I—”

“I know I’m being ridiculous. I do trust you, even though you were leaving the bar with a blonde last night.”

“It appeared that way, because that’s how I wanted it to appear. I have not been with anyone since I saw you at the airport. How the fuck could I?”

“I just want to go back to a time when the truth was the law, so don’t just say stuff like that to make me feel better. I trust you.”

“When have I ever said something just to make you feel better?”

She’s quiet for a long minute.

“I’ll repeat this one more time, and if you need me to repeat it more, I will not hesitate. I have not been with anyone since I saw you at the airport. As far as I’m concerned, there will never be anyone besides you. And leaving out the gruesome details, there really never has been anyone. They were means to an end, and I was that for them, as well.”

“No more of that,” she whispers.

“No more of that,” I confirm. “And as far as logistics, I’m down for sleeping on the most uncomfortable bed I’ve ever slept on in my life because I didn’t even know how uncomfortable it was until I woke up and you weren’t in it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’d ask you if you want me there and tell you that I would be if you said yes, but the reality is I’m not going anywhere else.”

“We do have roommates.”

“And livestock,” I joke.

“I think I love the ladies and the little cock.” She giggles. “Paul says they each lay one egg a day. Do you know how awesome that is?”

“I’m guessing you’re leading into one day we are going to have hens.”

“One day, it can be a conversation.”

“Which is the same as you saying one day we’re going to have hens.”

“Can’t have one without a cock.” She laughs silently.

“I can promise you there will never be a shortage of cock. I can lay more than one egg a day, if you know what I mean.”

She laughs. “Do you know the difference between a hen and a chicken? Because these are things you need to know if you’re going to be a chicken farmer.”

“Let’s come to an understanding. I will never be a chicken farmer. And to answer your question, I do happen to know the answer to this because I googled it when we left your place today. Chickens are hens when they lay eggs.”

“Want to know a secret?”

“I want to know all your secrets, every last one of them, so nothing will ever break us apart again.”

“I had to google it, too.”