Love, Betrayal & Revenge

Twenty years ago…

“Dennis, you will do as you are told!”

Dennis watched as his father curled his lips in disgust. Barking orders was his customary communication style. How he wished his mother had had the sense to birth this ogre another victim. But no, his attentions and fascist demands were directed at only him. He hated being an only child.

Dennis watched with disinterest as his father paced back and forth in his office, instructing him on the duties of a Kent man. Did he care? Not particularly. All he needed to know was that he had a steady flow of cash. He was going to need it for his trip to Hawaii this weekend.

“You will take Isadora.”

“What?” He should have been listening. “Sorry, Father, I didn’t get that last bit. What did you say?”

“You will take Isadora to this little voyage with your college friends,” the stuffy man instructed. He should have been a professor, not a businessman.

“I’m afraid that isn’t possible, Father.” He was going to Hawaii to immerse himself in the local culture, which included the women. The last thing he wanted was Isadora Fontanne following him around with that pitiful face. Sure, she was a beauty, but she had the personality of a wet blanket. She would not know fun if it slapped her in the face. “It’s a boy’s trip.”

“Your friend Adrian is taking his fiancée Talia.”

“The difference, father, is that Adrian likes Talia. I can’t stand that Italian wet blanket,” he scoffed.

“Let me put it this way. Isadora comes with a limitless black card,” his father proposed. “Besides, that Italian wet blanket will be your wife. We are new money, Dennis. To get the respect we need the alliances the old money will bring. Isadora is pretty enough.”

Dennis thought about rebelling. All he had known was money. His father often talked about how hard it was to struggle. Dennis promised himself that he would never be in that position. He did not mind marrying his bank account. He would sleep with it if he had to. “All right, father.”

* * * *

‘All right, father’.

Dennis cursed his words as he cuddled into Kono’s willing arms. He regretted them even more as he tasted the surrender in her lips as her legs locked at his back, the back of her feet digging into his ass in encouragement as he sank into her velvety flesh. Her back arched as a whimper of pleasure escaped her lips as she threw her head back. Dennis was hypnotized by the shine of her perspired skin. He leaned forward as his hips rocked into her as hard as he could, the sound of flesh slapping against each other echoing the room, and bit down on her exposed neck. That earned him a new scream, that of pleasure entwined with pain.

How the hell was he going to leave her? Kono’s long tanned legs, her long beautiful curly black hair, and how easily a smile claimed her lips had Dennis in a daze from the second he had met her. Dennis had managed to hide his multiple secret trips to the Island for the past three years from his father. Now he and Kono had a baby boy, their little Reno.

He had put off his marriage to Isadora for as long as he could. His father thought he was in Brazil looking for business opportunities for the company. Dennis had become better at lying, at sneaking around, and at hiding his heart. He could not tell Kono about his father or Isadora and he sure as hell could not tell his father about Kono and Reno. Not when he was pressuring Dennis to propose to Isadora, but Dennis always gave him the same excuse multiple times it was getting old even to his ears—Isadora was not ready. He had managed to convince Isadora to go back to school for her Master’s, telling her that her education and skills would be a vital part of the growth of their empire. Dennis knew that Isadora would not have any part in the running of the business, all she would oversee was the continuity of the Kent line. Isadora ate up his lies without question, probably because she did want to be part of her business. It also helped that he was romancing her.

Dennis flipped on his back and watched as Kono rode him without any inhibitions. She never held her lust or her appetite for sex back. Kono was not polite or apologetic about sex, she took what she wanted and gave just as much back. It was like she was flying, and she took Dennis with her each time she took flight, exposing him to freedom that he never knew. Kono’s sighs grew heavier as she rode him faster chasing her orgasm. Dennis had been too much in his thoughts that he was behind. She clenched him tighter within her warmth as her orgasm took hold. He flipped her on her back, hooked her knee on his arm, and pounded into her. Her head thrashed from side to side, her body arching off the bed as her orgasm grew stronger. Her fists started pounding into his shoulders and back when she could not take anymore, but Dennis had no intention of letting up. He would not be left behind, he wanted to fly with her. The muscles in his thighs clenched and trembled as his release came barrelling towards him. Burying his face in the curve of her neck he roared as his own release took over. The sound of wet flesh filled the room as he slowly rocked the rest of his orgasm and himself into her. He lifted his head and looked at Kono’s face. Her eyes were closed, a smile played on her lips and her face shone in satisfaction. No other woman made him feel so fulfilled.

Dennis dropped on the bed and pulled Kono into his side. He twirled Kono’s thick silk locks between his fingers and wondered if he could ever walk away from her. He loved her, but he did not love her enough to give up his fortune. Maybe he could have both. Thousands of men had two families without the wives knowing about each other. That was what he was going to do. So long as he did not get caught, he had a chance to be happy.

“I love you,” Kono’s sleep laden thick voice filled the hot air.

“I love you, too.”

“Reno is already three years old. We should get married and give him a proper home,” she said as she cupped his cheek.

“We will soon.”

“I’m pregnant, Dennis. We are having another baby.”

Dennis sat up with a start. He felt as if he had been kicked in the gut. One illegitimate child was acceptable. A second one would be grounds for being disinherited. But even with that fear lurking in the back of his mind, he could not help but feel happy about this new life. He would find a way to make it work. He could not walk away from his life in Hawaii for the one he lived in New York. Somehow, he would live both. 

Denis reached for his phone when it rang on the bedside table.

“Dennis?” Isadora’s voice rang out.

“Yes,” he smiled down at Kono and tried to look disinterested in his call.

“Dennis, I’m pregnant. We are going to have a baby.”

His heart jumped into his throat as the air painfully squeezed out of his lungs. “Great! Simply great.”

Lisette scratched her scalp in irritation, making her long thick curly locks fly about. In a huff, she stomped her feet as she growled.

Lisette gave the six-foot-four giant who had become her father over seventeen years ago a scowl. A foot taller than she was, Lisette’s determination made up for the difference. Adrian Ross was the only father she knew, the only one who loved her unconditionally, and the only parent who called her out on her bullshit. It was hard to trust him at first, like a scared little girl who had just escaped a violent home. But you had to give credit to a man who could stand up to a five-year-old’s tantrum, through a bout of stomach flu and dance recitals that were not for his flesh and blood. Adrian had treated her like his second-born child and eldest daughter. Never once did she feel any different from his son or his youngest daughter. She was part of the family and she lived up to everything that was expected of a middle child.

Lisette did not remember much about her biological father, and she had to credit Adrian’s love for that. Adrian had erased the doubts, the fear, and the low self-esteem that she had. And by the time she was seven, the nightmares had disappeared too. Lisette also noticed a change in her mother Rosalinda. A woman who had only known pain for as long as Lisette had known her, she smiled more, laughed often and she was just—happy.

But the downside was, Adrian Senior brought with him, Adrian Junior. Physically he was a younger version of his father, but when it came to character, he played it fast and loose when his father followed the rules. He also lived up to the stereotypical first-born role. He would pull on her hair, tease her—but he also always watched her back. An overprotective terror.

“Papa!” Lisette tried to use her assertive tone that was slowly threatening to turn into a frustrated screech as AJ’s grin widened. “AJ is not coming with me, Papa. And that is final!”

The hard planes on Adrian Senior’s face were set into an exasperated frown. A top lawyer in his field, Adrian Ross had stared down the worst of them, debated with the best of them, and always came out on top. But Lisette was determined to win tonight’s argument. Lisette looked him in the eyes hoping she could get the old man to blink, even if it were just this once. The rest of their family, Rosalinda, AJ, and the baby Catalella gathered around them as an audience. Each one of them was waiting excitedly to see who would give in first.

Lisette was afraid to breathe. She was sure the second she took a breath her eyes would blink, and she would end up losing. Her now hot fingers dug into her thighs, warming her skin through her sundress. It was the first day of summer and she and her classmates from NYU were going to a bonfire at the beach to celebrate the semester break. A junior, this was the first time Lisette could go, as freshmen and sophomores were not invited. And she sure as hell was not about to take her big brother as a chaperone.

Lisette had other plans for the night that AJ would get in the way of. She did not plan on going into her senior year as a virgin. She was going to relieve herself of the burden even if it meant lying to her father and playing hide and seek with her brother. All she had done was study, determined to take over her father’s law firm as AJ had gone into medicine and not law. This was her chance to let loose and lose it.

Her jaw clenched; her stubborn chin stuck out. Lisette and Adrian were so much alike, it amazed her that he was not her biological father. Nurture over nature.

Lisette heard her phone ring, but she never left the steady brown cool eyes of the man she challenged. Everyone around her let the phone ring until it stopped and after a couple of more ring’s curiosity had gotten the better of each one of them.

“Do you want to answer that call, sweetheart?” Adrian asked, his tone so smooth as honey she almost looked away. But then she caught his game when he added, “As long as you know, sweetheart, the second you move from that spot you forfeit, and AJ is going with you to that bonfire.”

Lisette chewed the inside of her cheeks nervously. She knew who was calling. It was Michael Mathews, her date. A fellow junior, handsome and smart. She liked him enough to have him help her with her mission. She had no doubt he was already here to pick her up. But there was no way she was dragging her monstrosity of a brother along with her. AJ was a few inches taller than their father, his shoulder as wide as a linebacker’s, and his temper flamed faster than a match. She doubted if AJ could fit his massive body into Michael’s car.

“AJ won’t even fit in the car,” she whined.

“What does he drive?” AJ asked.

“A Mini Cooper.”

“Ha!” Catalella’s mocking tone rang in the air. “Even I don’t drive a toy car.”

Lisette’s little sister’s personality was as wild as her hair. She was the perfect breed between an African American man and a Latina woman. Sometimes Lisette envied her little sister’s exotic look. She was still seventeen and barely out of high school, and her youth and naïveté were something that Lisette also craved. But Catalella was also pampered, and it often showed.

“Not everyone is a spoiled little rich girl who gets everything from Daddy, baby girl,” Lisette bit back.

“Moody much?” Catalella hissed as she grabbed Lisette’s phone and begun reading out loud. “Babe, where are you? Babe, we are getting late. Babe—ooh!”

Catalella drew a shocked breath and left the sentence hanging.

That was enough reason for Lisette to break her stand. Her little sister had probably read something she should not have. She grabbed her phone and held it behind her back, just in case her father asked to see it. Adrian turned his back to her and started to walk away before Lisette could issue her last plea. He only stopped for a second to give his son instruction. “Go with her and make sure that boy keeps his grabby little hands to himself.”

“Yes, sir!” AJ bellowed teasingly. “By the way, we are taking my car.”

Lisette let out a loud shriek. She was determined to pierce each and everyone’s ear. But Adrian’s hiss sent her silent. She remained in the living room with her brother and her sister, each of them fighting to hold back a laugh.

“Since AJ is going, can I come with you?” Catalella asked.

“No!” AJ and Lisette answered simultaneously. There was much the two did not agree on, but when it came to their little sister they were of like minds.

“You guys are no fun,” Catalella moaned as she stomped away.

“Here is the deal—don’t do anything Mama or Dad wouldn’t approve of,” AJ warned.

“But aren’t you going to be there?” Lisette held down the bubbling excitement that was rising in her chest. She did not want to let it out just in case it was premature.

“I will be, and I’ll be checking the scenery out—”

Lisette scoffed. By scenery AJ meant women.

“—But I will have my eye on you, Lisette Mariana Ross. Do not try to slip away from me. I have been playing this game since before you were born.”

“You are only one year older than I am. I doubt if the girls at preschool held your interests between the sniffling noses and the tea parties.”

AJ let out a bark of laughter as he playfully punched Lisette’s chin. “Let’s go, kiddo.”

“I’m freaking twenty-two years old. I can drive drunk, but I can’t go on a date unsupervised,” she groaned.

“Let’s get going,” AJ scoffed.

“Promise me you will behave. Please, AJ, promise me.” Lisette pouted her lip and put on her best puppy dog performance.

She watched as AJ stared at her, his resolve slowly weakening. He was not like Adrian Senior who had learned early in life to form a defense against the emotional manipulations of his little girls. AJ was the big brother who would give his little sisters all his limbs if they needed them, but he would also take them back if he needed to.

“All right, piggy.”

Usually, Lisette would have had a nasty response for AJ’s nickname for her, but now was not the time. She was going to be the nice compliant little sister that she wasn’t.

“You’d better tell him to keep his hands to himself or, so help me, God.”

Lisette knew that growl in AJ’s voice all too well. It was just a sound made in a second but within it a warning that always comforted her for a lifetime. The first time she heard it was when she started school in a New York semi-private school and she’d get bullied by the snorty rich kids, who had sniffed out the fact she wasn’t one of them. He was her guardian angel, even when he was being insufferable—and she would not have it any other way.

Lisette walked out of the townhouse and rushed into Mathew’s waiting arms. She buried her nose into his neck and inhaled the deeply sensual scent of him. Michael was what Lisette termed as overbearingly metrosexual. He did not have a single tough bone in his body. Sure, his five-eleven frame was packed with muscle, and he had the strength to carry a bunch of grocery bags for an old lady, but he would never survive a fight against AJ. Lisette suspected that she could also take him. Compared to AJ, the gigantic freak, Michael looked small in comparison. But for tonight, he would do.

She pulled back and stared into the brown eyes that reflected a questioning glance. Michael was staring past her, and she knew that her bodyguard was with her. “My brother is coming with us, my lawyer’s orders.”

“When can I see your father?” Adrian Ross Senior had seemed to have taken Michael’s attention away from junior.

“Not tonight, he is busy.”

“With a client?”

“Nope, with my mama.”

“What the hell is that?” Lisette turned toward AJ’s mocking bellow. “No shit, piggy, I definitely cannot fit in that.”

“When are you going to stop calling me that?” Lisette’s cheeks burned red from embarrassment, both from the nickname and for AJ’s disrespect for Michael’s car.

“When you are married and have a few kids.” AJ closed his distance from Michael with three long strides. He stood over the smaller man and growled. “And if that happens before she is thirty, you and I are going to have ourselves a little chat.”

“Of course,” Michael gulped.

Lisette rolled her eyes when she saw Michael swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. She circled both her hands around AJ’s arm and pulled him back.

“Wait for me here,” AJ ordered as he went into the garage.

When he brought out his jet-black Range Rover Sport, Lisette could see how small Michael’s car was.

“How can you fit in that thing? How tall are you anyway?” AJ’s condescending tone rang in the night’s warm air.

“Five-eleven,” Michael called out. “Plus, it’s convenient.”

“For a clown car, I bet. Five-eleven. Shit, dude, a few inches shorter and you will be as tall as piggy,” AJ bellowed out a laugh. “I don’t think that car is safe for you piggy, get in mine. I will drive you, and chaparro over there can come back for his clown car at the end of the night.”

“AJ!” Lisette muffled a scream. “This car is perfectly safe, and I will be going with Michael.” Lisette could not help but look Michael over, AJ had called him a chaparro, short and squat, but he was not. Or was he? As the night went on with AJ’s teasing, Michael was getting less and less attractive. It did not help that Michael did not say a word to defend himself.

“Fine, but no speeding. If I see you trying to accelerate that tin car, I will push it off the bridge with you in it,” AJ warned.

Lisette swallowed the sobs building in her chest. She got into Michael’s car and folded her hands in her laps. The night already had a terrible start. There was no way it could get worse. She watched as Michael got into the car with ease and again his size came into question. She did not exactly like the beefy, body-building types—she loved her men tall, strong, with shoulders that seemed to be packed with pillows, and arms loaded with guns. She pulled her lips into a tight, unconvincing smile.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take your Evoque?” She heard AJ yell.

“No, AJ, I don’t want to drive.”

“I could drive it for you.” Lisette turned and looked into Michael’s eyes once he said that. From an early age, she had learned how to sniff out the gold-digging gigolos, and Michael’s scent was not getting that great at the moment. There was greed in his eyes.

“No, it’s fine.”

Michael drove out of the street and AJ followed closely. He never let more than two cars come in between them.

“Is he always this protective?”

“Ever since the first day of school.” Lisette laughed at the memory.

“Tell me about your integrated family.”

“Nothing much to tell,” she lied. “But AJ has always been protective of Catalella and me.”

“Catalella, that’s your little sister, right?”

“Uh-huh.” Lisette waited for the praise for her beauty that usually followed the mention of her sister’s name, but none came. “When I started school here, I felt out of place. Then one day a boy started pulling on my pigtails. Before I knew what was going on AJ had flown into my classroom and taken the boy down. When the teacher finally realized what was going on, the boy had a bloody nose.”

“How did he know?”

“AJ says he felt I was in trouble.”

“Felt? You are joking, right?”

“Nope. Ever since then I have always had this feeling, no matter what’s happening AJ is always going to come to my rescue.”

“That’s nice, but he’s not very polite, is he?”

There was no polite word in this world in any language that Lisette could associate her brother with. He always said what he meant and meant what he said. AJ never pulled any punches and that was a trait he had inherited from his father. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s fine. Most of my friends wonder why a rich kid like me drives such a small car.” His lips pulled into a smile and Lisette could read the untruth hidden there. “I find this car to be convenient. I didn’t know you drove an Evoque.”

“I’ve had it for a while. My father ordered it early. I was one of the first people to get it. That was about five years ago.” She shrugged.

“You got it for your sweet sixteen, huh?”

“Nope, Adrian Ross doesn’t believe in rewarding for the mere fact that you were born. Sure, we had birthday presents but nothing that cost as much as a car. I got it when I graduated high school at the top of my class. So did my brother.”

“That’s cool.”

* * * *

Reno Kanaloa Kent walked through the crowded beach, a tall skinny blond on his arm. He didn’t know why exactly he had decided to come to this thing. Crowds of drunk kids were not his idea of a good time. But he had to come, not to fit in, but to find someone who would be in this crowd of intoxicated students. Transferring from the university at the Hawaiian island on a football scholarship to New York was a stroke of luck that no one could have predicted.

It not only gave him the means and opportunity to come to New York, but it would also put him in the same school as his only lead and access to his father. Joining co-eds at a beach party was just the beginning of the summer of investigating he had ahead of him.

He had left the island after his mother’s death, for one thing, to find his bastard of a father and make him pay. Their parents had been eager to add onto the brood, but just after his sister Rhyne was born, his cowardly father had taken off. He did not leave them anything to live on, and after a while, their mother left them too.

“Babe, do you want to get me a drink?” The girl purred into his ear.

Reno stared at the girl and wondered why he was still with her. She had been his lone welcoming party when he had enrolled into NYU late last semester. She had laid it out for him for the taking, literally, and knowing one person in the city of New York was comforting. He didn’t feel as lonely. But she was also his in. Victoria knew everyone of importance at the school and soon she would lead him to the person he was looking for.

“Sure,” he smiled at her.

Just as they made their way to the bar, Reno’s eyes were pulled in by raven hair flying with the cool ocean breeze. Something was comforting about it. He just wanted to bury his fingers and his face in it. He froze as he waited for what seemed like an eternity as she turned around. Her eyes locked in with his, and he got lost in the abyss of them. Her eyes were just as dark as her hair. She had dark skin and looked like she was of Latina descent.

He was about to take a step toward her, but a gentle tugging in a different direction reminded him of his blonde. The spell was broken, and Reno noticed the girl blushing as she hid her gaze from him. All he wanted to do was to cup her soft face in his palm and lift her face to his for a kiss. But the guy next to her wrapped his arm around her waist and he knew she was taken.

“Sorry, I’ll just get out of your way,” Reno wasn’t blocking them, but he was prompting her to speak. He needed to hear the voice that accompanied the beautiful face that alone would give him warmth for the rest of the night.

“It’s all right,” her voice came out in a whisper, and when he saw the color burn in her cheeks, he knew that wasn’t how she intended it.

He watched for a long time as she walked away with her boyfriend beside her, wondering if he would ever get to see her again. “Who was that?”

“Michael Mathews and Lisette Ross,” Victoria said. “We don’t like her by the way.”

You don’t but I do, and the pulse in my pants proves it. “Why?”

“She is an opinionated and self-righteous little bitch. Plus, she has all the guys lusting after her. It’s not because she is good-looking. It’s only because her step-daddy and godfather control all the money in New York.” She sneered as she spoke “Her stepfather is Adrian Ross?” Reno couldn’t believe his luck. Cautiously he asked. “Who is her godfather?”

“The biggest financial guru in New York, Dennis Kent.”

Victoria was supposed to lead him to Dennis Kent’s other son DJ, the playboy and life of the party. But she had led him to someone even better.

Reno couldn’t shake off the ringing in his ears that the name had left behind, Dennis Kent, finally. Reno took a step forward in the direction that Lisette and Michael had disappeared in, but his conscience and something else held him back. He could not and would not use Lisette to get to Dennis. He would have to ignore every nerve in his body that urged him to claim her. If they were going to meet again, it would be by chance and not because he had sought her out for his purpose.

But just as he was about to turn away something else came to his mind. “What do you mean they are only after her for her money?”

“Her money and everything else that her mama gave her,” Victoria let out a sardonic laugh.

* * * *

“Why are we here?” She heard herself ask the question and couldn’t believe it herself. Isn’t this what she wanted?

No, not since earlier that night. Not since him.

She didn’t know if it was because the stranger checked every box when it came to guys Lisette was attracted to, or if it was the way he looked at her. The smolder in his eyes made promises that Lisette wanted to reach out for and grab. A girl only lost her virginity once, why not in the tattooed muscled arms of the perfect stranger.

Lisette looked around the deserted part of the beach. Michael had pulled her away from everyone, including AJ. She should have known that once AJ had seen that blonde girl with the strange eyes he would be lost to her forever.

“I thought we could have some alone time,” Michael’s lips curled into a sly smile.

“Why?” That was the dumbest question that she had ever asked in her twenty-two years of existence. Of course, she knew why he had brought her to a secluded part of the beach. But what he didn’t know was that there had been a change of plans. Not that he had been privy to her earlier plan.

“I wanted us to have some time for romance before your brother comes after us.” His hands rubbed up and down Lisette’s bear arms and immediately she felt her body cringe.

Michael leaned in for a kiss. Lisette’s eyes were focused on his face, the way his eyes closed, and how his lips, puckered, drew closer to hers. Hell no! She heard the defiant yell in her mind. She took a step back and that knocked off Michael’s balance.

“Why the hell did you pull away?” His lips had turned into a hard white line, as rage from the rejection burned in his eyes.

“I don’t want to kiss you.” She wanted to kiss someone else, but Lisette kept that part to herself. She pictured the guy at the bar, her mind couldn’t shake off the smile he had given her. Plus, the tribal tattoo turned her on. “I don’t think you and I will work out.”

“What? Why? We’re so good together,” Michael whined.

“I have only known you for a semester. I’ve known our pizza delivery boy longer than that.” Lisette paused and tried to think of how AJ would handle a situation like this. “It’s not you—it’s me. I’m just not into you.”

“In other words, I am not good enough for the snooty, little rich girl,” he spat out.

“If you want to put it that way—” Lisette shrugged and turned away. She knew when it was time to exit, and the angry look on Michael’s face told her that it was time. As she started to walk away, she felt him grab her arm. She stiffened with a shocked gasp as she was forced to turn to face him.

* * * *

“You are an idiot Reno,” he chastised himself as he walked toward the deserted part of the beach. He couldn’t get Lisette Ross out of his mind and not knowing her male companion’s intentions made him feel like he needed to get her away from him. His heart stopped and his legs froze when he approached an unfolding violent scene.

He watched as Lisette tried to walk away from Michael, but he grabbed her arm. He was just about to run in to defend her when he saw her pull a karate move. Lisette had twisted Michael’s arm and hauled him over her shoulder. He landed on his ass with a distinguished thump. Reno laughed—this was his kind of girl. But he had to intercept before Michael got up, Lisette small frame couldn’t go against Michael’s height and weight advantage. Reno was six-four and built of pure muscle, there was nothing Michael could do against him.

“Is there a problem here?” he barked.

“Look, Michael, your nanny is here to rescue you,” Lisette mocked without even sparing him a look. All her attention focused on Michael as it should be.

Reno watched as Michael grew angrier. Lisette was like a little girl poking a bear. Either she was oblivious of the danger she was in, or his presence had made her surer of herself.

“Maybe he has a hanky you could use to wipe your sniffling little nose.” Reno held back a laugh as she went on. “Do you want to cry, Michael? Do you want to cry because I won’t let you in my pants, or because I won’t let you near my papa?”

Reno froze at that moment. She knew that people were only after her connections, so it would be a long shot for him to get anywhere near her. His attraction to her and her ability to sniff out people’s intentions were more than enough reasons to stay away from her. That is, just until he was done with what had brought him to New York in the first place. He took a step forward as Michael launched himself at Lisette, but again the little pixie proved she was more agile than her attacker. She sidestepped him like a pro-football player and Michael dived into the white sand, face first.

“Oh, poor baby. I promise I will stand still this time.”

Reno barked out a laugh that caught her attention. Lisette straightened as her gaze fixed on him. Her eyes twinkled in the night light and a crooked smile drew across her face revealing a deep dimple.

From the corner of his eye, he saw as Michael tried to take advantage of her distraction. He lunged at her, and his movement must have pulled Lisette back into focus because she sidestepped him once more.

“What’s going on here?” Reno turned toward the deep baritone. The African American man standing next to him was just as tall as he was and almost matched him in build.

“It’s nothing, she’s fine,” Reno growled protectively. He felt this guy was another competitor for Lisette’s affection and he had the sudden urge to mark his territory and Lisette as him. “She has it handled.”

“I know, I taught her how to fight,” the man said. “Come on, piggy. I think you’ve humiliated him enough for a lifetime.”

“I think she could do a little bit more. It’s quite entertaining,” Reno quipped. He wanted to pull the man into a conversation, to know who he was to Lisette.

“I know, but I have to get her back home early. Adrian Ross, or AJ,” he introduced himself.

Another Ross, two in one night? What luck! If only the other Kent son had shown up. He couldn’t help but wonder what the connection was.

“Reno Kanaloa.” Reno Kanaloa Kent, he thought. But there was no reason AJ had to know that just yet. This night was turning into one hell of an event. His ancestors must be on his side.

Reno turned just in time to see Lisette rush and hide behind them. Michael was coming after her, his anger fueled by his crushed ego. Reno flipped him on his stomach with one twist of his arm and AJ’s convenient sweep of the foot. They both crouched over him and held his body immobile on the ground.

“You weren’t going to hit a girl, were you?” The thought angered Reno.

“No, he wouldn’t hit my little sister, because he knows very well that I would drown him in this water.”

Little sister, thank God.

“Maybe he needs a little swim,” Reno suggested.

* * * *

Lisette stood back and watched AJ and the guy he was with, as they easily lifted Michael off the ground and tossed him into the raging waves. She watched as they both walked back to her laughing. There was something genuine about his smile that pulled her in. Plus, the way his black T-shirt clung to his chest, and his white shorts, screaming at the seams, made her have impure thoughts. She found him, her first.

“Hi, I’m Lisette,” she stretched out her hand to him and watched as he took it in his as if it was something dear and fragile.

Breath, breath and act cool.

“Reno. It’s nice to meet you.” Reno held her gaze and immediately she felt she was floating in the depths of their brown, honey pools. She just wanted to walk into his arms and give away the kiss that Michael wanted to claim from her. But AJ cut in.

“Thanks for the help, Reno. Maybe we could hang out later.”

“Definitely.”

Lisette bit back a moan of disappointment when his eyes were pulled away from her to AJ. She watched as the two men exchanged contacts, and almost fought her brother when he pulled her away from Reno’s godly beauty. Her disappointment was sweetened when he blew a kiss at her. She felt her heart melt and her knees go weak, so much so that she tripped over herself and if it wasn’t for AJ hoisting her up into his arms, she would have fallen flat on her face. Over AJ’s shoulder, she watched as Reno watched them, waving at her as AJ carried her away.