Once Upon a Playboy

Once upon a time, there was a young man who fell in love with an island girl, Kono. She was everything that he could ever want in a woman—beautiful, kind and in love with him. Dennis disobeyed his father’s wishes and moved to the island to be with the young woman. They had a home of their own, with a garden and a view of the ocean. Soon a little boy was added to their family, and they named him Reno.

Years went by and Dennis and Kono were living a happy life with their baby boy. Then, one day, Dennis realized that he couldn’t provide for his family anymore. He tried to get back into the good graces of his father. However, his father needed something from him. Dennis went to New York and carried out his father’s wishes.

When he went back to the island, his little family was there waiting for him. One night, as he lay in Kono’s loving arms, remorse ate at him. He had betrayed the love of his life.

‘All right, Father’. Dennis cursed his words as he cuddled into Kono’s willing arms. He regretted it even more as he tasted the surrender in her lips, as her legs locked at his back as he sank into her velvety flesh. 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 had Dennis in a daze from the second he had met her. Now they 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. He was pressuring Dennis to propose to Isadora, but he always gave him the same excuse, Isadora wasn’t ready. He had managed to convince Isadora to go back to school for her masters, telling her that her education and skills would be a vital part of the growth of their empire. Isadora ate up his lies without questioning them. It helped that he was romancing her.

Dennis lay on his back, his fingers twirling Kono’s thick, silky locks between his fingers. He loved her, but he didn’t 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. As long as he didn’t get caught, he had the 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 couldn’t help but feel happy about this new life. Dennis was reaching 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. “Great!”

* * * *

The confrontation his father was having with his wife and now three children was long overdue. DJ swirled the gold liquid in his whisky glass before throwing his head back and swallowing it in one gulp. He hissed as it burned on its way down, warming his insides. He got up from his chair and poured himself another glass.

“Don’t you think that’s enough?” His father, Dennis Senior, asked.

DJ looked up at the old man. For all his life he had worshipped him. Looking at him now, he didn’t see the man who’d raised him, the father who had given him everything he could ever need or want. DJ had fashioned his life to be just like his father. The only difference between them, he had thought, was DJ’s healthy appetite for women. However, DJ had learned a new truth. He looked at the other man in the room—sun-kissed skin, a tribal tattoo that travelled up his arm and peeked from the collar of his T-shirt, and a face that was so much like his own. How could it not be? DJ was staring at Reno Kanaloa Kent, the first-born son of Dennis Kent and Kono Kanaloa…and the brother he never knew.

All his life, he had felt the weight, the burden, of being the first born. He had been taught that the family business and welfare would all be dependent on him someday. He was supposed to be the patriarch. That is, until a tidal wave had rolled in from Hawaii to the shores of New York, and instantly that burden had been taken from him. A different man, probably a lesser man, would have been threatened by this. However, DJ couldn’t be happier. He had someone to share the family responsibilities with, a confidant, and a big brother.

“DJ, I said don’t you think that’s enough?” Dennis asked once more.

“I don’t think that you are in a position to tell me what enough is.” DJ threw back another shot and filled his glass once more. “Reno is twenty-three years old. You lied to my mother…or did you know?”

“Of course not!” Isadora exclaimed. “Do you think I would let my children’s siblings live on the other side of the country without looking into their welfare? Do you think I would have left your sister to whatever fate she is in now?”

“I’m here…no wait, you must be talking about the other sister. The one father abandoned and who has now disappeared. Her name is Rhyne, right?” Daniela slurred her words.

“I think you should be telling Daniela what enough is,” DJ said as he sat back down.

He was just about to tip the glass and drink the remainder of its contents when Reno spoke up. “DJ, that’s enough.” DJ’s hand froze with the glass on his lips. He wasn’t sure if Reno’s massive size, or that he was his elder brother and he had formed some immediate respect for the man, made him put the glass down.

“We need clear heads if we are going to discuss this. Daniela, I think you should go to your room,” Reno said.

“You won’t tell me what to do,” Daniela pouted.

“Go!” Reno’s cool but firm tone didn’t get any arguments from Daniela. “We’ll talk about what it is that you are taking and figure out a way to deal with it together as a family.”

DJ was in awe as Daniela left the room without a tantrum. “I could have used your help for the past seventeen years. Oh! That’s right. I couldn’t, because our father had abandoned you.”

“DJ, it wasn’t that simple.”

“It wasn’t? Because to me, it does sound simple. Take care of your children. You abandoned them and now my sister is gone.”

“Don’t you think I know that? No one in this room is as tortured about Rhyne’s disappearance as much as I am,” Dennis shouted.

“I think Reno is. He was six years old when his sister was stolen from her bed and sold by her junkie mother. The one person who should have been there for him wasn’t.”

“I know the consequences my actions brought.” Dennis’ chest heaved as he sank into an armchair. “I went to Hawaii for some time off, a boy’s trip. Do you think I expected to meet the only woman I would ever love?”

DJ saw his mother visibly flinch and immediately felt sorry for her. As much as he would want to steer the conversation away from Kono, there was no way he could. Dennis and Kono—that was the genesis of the story, and the truth would only be clear if they started from the beginning.

“I don’t expect you to understand that DJ, leaping from one bed to another like you do,” Dennis said bitterly. “I was in love with a beautiful island girl. She was everything I ever wanted in a woman…strong, gentle, supportive, and determined to face every day with a smile. And when Reno was born, I thought I could never be happier. This was the family I always wanted. My family.”

“But I guess money was more important than family.” The steel in Reno’s tone slashed through the room.

“I was going to give it all up. I did for a few months. But my father froze my accounts and the money I earned as a bartender couldn’t support us. Do you know how demeaning it is for a man not to be able to provide for his family? So, I came back to New York. I didn’t tell my father about my son. I told him that Kono and I were done. I worked at the firm and every weekend I would fly down to Hawaii to see my family.”

“Is that where you went?” Isadora asked. “You told me you were going for business trips.”

“How did my mother fit in all this?” The look on his mother’s face tore DJ’s heart to shreds. She had been lied to, used to disguise his father’s true intentions.

“My father wanted an alliance with her family. We dated, then got married, then had you and your sister.”

“So, if you were here with Mother, and with Kono and Reno, when did you decide the double life was too much for you?”

“Before you were born. Father had just threatened to disown me. And I knew that I wouldn’t be able to provide for Reno and Kono if I didn’t stay in his…good graces.” Dennis let out a labored sigh. “I came back to New York, and I made good with your mother.”

“What do you mean?” DJ asked.

“I went back to Hawaii and Kono told me she was pregnant. Then your mother called me to tell me she was expecting you. Isadora’s family was influential and could have ruined mine. So, I made a decision.”

“So, it was my fault,” DJ cut into his father’s story. He couldn’t believe it. The start of his life had led to the end of so many.

“It’s not,” Reno and Dennis said in unison, the one thing that they both seemed to agree on. Too bad DJ didn’t. “What he means to say is that marrying into your mother’s family money was more important than his poor family on the island.”

“It was my fault,” Isadora spoke up, her voice shaking. “I knew that your father wouldn’t commit without a push. So, I got pregnant intentionally.”

“So, he was sleeping with both of you at the same time.”

“You’re one to judge,” Dennis scoffed.

“The difference between you and me is that I wear a condom each time. Or was it not invented when you were making your rounds?”

DJ had never seen his father as angry as he was now. His face contorted; Dennis took three large steps toward him. If it hadn’t been for Reno, DJ was sure he would have been sporting a black eye.

“Don’t you think I know that I broke my family? I destroyed Kono and turned her into…” Dennis shook his head, a tear rolling down his cheek, the truth too hard to say. “If I had been brave, my son wouldn’t have grown up in the environment he did. My daughter would be here, about to celebrate her twentieth birthday with you. She was born the same day as you. I barely spent two years with my daughter. Kono didn’t want anything to do with me once I told her about you and your mother. I broke her heart, and my own.”

“Oh, poor you. We should all feel sorry for you, right?” DJ clenched his teeth, fighting the tears that were determined to betray his cool façade. “Your heart got broken. Well, Kono’s broken heart led to her death, and to my sister being sold off. So, forgive me if I don’t feel sorry for you.”

“DJ—”

“What I don’t understand is this—grandfather has been dead for ten years. What stopped you for looking from your children?”

“Shame and the fact that I am a coward.”

“Well, at least we agree on one thing,” DJ mocked. “You were my hero. My entire life, all I ever wanted was to be like you. But now that I know you, I’m ashamed to be your son.”

“That’s fine, you can be ashamed. The important thing right now is to find my daughter.”

“Why?” Reno asked. “So, you can take care of her? Daniela, the one living in your house, is as high as a kite right now. Neither one of you noticed. You can’t take care of anyone but yourself, Dennis Kent. I’ll find my sister on my own.”

“Our sister—though, of course, with Daddy’s money,” DJ smirked. “One thing you can depend on is that, unlike my father, I will support you in everything you want. So now, what do we do about our sisters?”

DJ didn’t know what shocked him more, that little Danny was dealing with the death of her addict boyfriend, by diving headfirst into alcohol, or that his father wasn’t backing down from this fight. There was so much this family had to do before it could heal once more. The first was realizing that they had dropped the ball where Danny was concerned. They needed to get her better. If they were going to find Rhyne and put their wrecked family back together, they all had to be one hundred percent whole.

****

Present time…

His love life read like a story book—Once Upon a Playboy. It just didn’t end like one—at least not yet. There was still hope.

Maybe.

In this story book, Prince Charming was a hypocrite and the demon he had to slay was Karma.

If he’d only known how much trouble his wandering eye and equally eager penis would get him into, DJ might have done things a little differently. He had been trying to run away from his father’s deception and had ended up just like him—in fact, even worse. His decisions, his unwise choices, were what brought him to this moment, alone, in a hospital waiting room, worrying his thumbs. DJ’s lips moved rapidly as a never-ending prayer danced on his tongue.

“It’s going to be okay…it’s going to be okay.” He had been telling himself this for two years now, and he had yet to believe it. Karma, that was the issue here. It was a formidable foe to him and a friend to everyone else. Look at everyone in his life. Lisette and his big brother Reno had managed to survive a betrayal that had once ripped their love apart and, three kids later, they were more in love than ever. AJ had managed to put down his playboy badge and be a loyal and faithful husband to Katherine. And Catalella…that girl had gone through a bad marriage, cancer, and, as her reward for good karma, she’d got a wonderful husband and two babies.

This, however, was where all his bad karma brought him—to the hospital, his clothes covered in blood, the woman he loved in surgery, and shame oozing out of each and every one of his pores.

“Mr. Kent?”

DJ jumped to his feet at the sound of the nurse’s voice. He stared at her, his heart beating a mile a minute, his breath caught in his chest and an eerie fear claiming his heart.

“She’s not dead, is she? She can’t die again. I can’t lose her again.”

“Calm down sir, your wife is out of surgery. She is in recovery. I was wondering if you wanted to call your family. I could do that for you.”

Her family was his family. One thing was for sure, however. If her brother found out why she was in the hospital in the first place, it would be the end of him. But DJ couldn’t keep this from them any longer. Soon it would be all over the news, and if any one of them stopped by his apartment, the large yellow tape would tip them off.

“Do you mind doing that for me?” he asked.

“Not at all. For now, would you like to see your son?”

I have a son. DJ knew everything he needed to know about babies. It was something he had learned for his love. The moment she told him that she wanted a child, he’d moved Heaven and Earth to make sure that he obliged her. It was the least he could do, considering that it was his fault that they had lost their first child.

“Yes, I would like that.” Maybe after seeing their son, DJ hoped, he would be allowed to see his wife. He could tell her about their son, gush about the little things, like his toes and who he looked like. He wanted those moments; he was desperate for them. If only his trip to Nice had turned out differently. The city had brought him so much love and, in return, DJ had given it pain and betrayal.

DJ walked into the NICU, not knowing what to expect and yet preparing himself for the worst. The nurse made him wear a gown, gloves, and a mask. He was dressed like someone going into a biohazard zone and not like a father going to meet his son for the first time. His eyes fixed on the swaying, dark ponytail at the back of the nurse’s head. DJ moved slowly, and when she walked into the high dependency room, he froze at the door. Fear, that’s what had him rooted to the spot. But then he urged himself forward, reminding himself that, at that moment, he was the only parent his son had. He had to do this for the baby and for Evie.

He followed the nurse to an incubator that looked more like a bread bin. And in that pod of life was a tiny baby hooked onto so many wires and tubes. His son was a few weeks premature, but this wasn’t what he expected. DJ thought he would see a very pink, large boy, screaming his lungs out and giving the nurses a hard time because he was just so lively, because he was a Kent. However, the baby he saw before him was pale and, apart from the small rise and fall of his chest, he didn’t move at all. His eyes were taped closed, his foot had an IV line taped to it, and there were wires that started from his chest and ended at a beeping machine next to his pod. His head was covered in a blue beany and his bum in a diaper three times his size.

DJ had always dreamt in detail the moment that his and Evie’s child would come into this world. Happiness, joy and excitement, those were the words he thought he would use to describe this moment. Instead, it was just fear. This was his fault; the universe was punishing him for his sins.

His life was like a fairy tale, and this is how it read—Once upon a playboy…

* * * *

Evie smacked her mouth, trying to get rid of the cotton ball taste and sensation. The sterile scent that assaulted her nostrils told her that she was in the hospital. The pain in her belly echoed her worst fear. She had lost her baby…yet again. Maybe it wasn’t her fate to carry a child of her own. However, she had managed to deliver DJ’s son and bring him into the world. DJ’s son was her son, not born from her womb but as good as her flesh and blood. After the accident, Evie knew that carrying a baby was a near impossibility, words her doctors had echoed to her time and time again. But she had proved them wrong. A night of passion, love and madness had resulted in a baby boy cradled in her belly. This miracle had only brought a new problem.

Evie had blown into New York like a hurricane, intent on destruction and vengeance. She wanted revenge against her brother, her so-called father and, most of all, the man she had given her love, her heart, and almost her life to. His cavalier and reckless handling of her love had resulted in the death of their first child. It was rational that she would want another to replace the one lost. But Evie should have known that life wasn’t that easy, that love was a war she wasn’t equipped to fight.

Dennis Rogers Kent…a curse and a blessing. During their courtship, she had only known him as Dennis Rogers, a photographer with a weakness for beautiful girls. Dennis Rogers, in turn, knew her as Eyvette Rosalind Ross, the only child born to her mother, Elizabeth McCrery, a redheaded Irish widow who had a tongue that matched the color of her hair. Evie knew nothing about her father—well nothing except the fact that he was black. Eyvette had been a meek little girl, green to the ways of men and those of the world as a whole. She had been sheltered by her mother and, although she had rebelled against it at an early age, she wished she had stayed under her mother’s wing Look what her desire to experience life had left her—two children dead. Two pregnancies with nothing to show for it. A man who was no doubt at the bedside of his mistress and the child she had borne him, while she lay here in pain, both physical and emotional. Her soul was torn to shreds by his actions, and he didn’t even see fit to come and see her for a second. Eyvette had walked away once before, and she was sure she could do it again. Maybe, just maybe, the loss of her children was God’s way of telling her that she didn’t need to be tied to Dennis Kent. Dear Lord, she prayed that there was a reason why she was doomed to face two great tragedies in one lifetime.

She would walk away again, just as she had once before.

A knock on the door pulled Eyvette out of her memory. She dried her wet cheeks and cleared her throat of any noticeable emotions and said, “Come in.”

DJ stepped in; his expression as tortured as Evie’s. The uncertainty in his eyes grabbed her attention. Never in her life had she seen Dennis Kent ever doubt himself. His ego and pride always seemed to be at the forefront—like they were their own personalities in physical form, and they would precede him each time he walked into a room.

Was DJ’s uncertainty a sign of remorse? Or maybe he was mourning their dead child. Either way, she couldn’t bear looking at him. Evie stared at the wall, trying not to picture how her children would have looked if they had lived. No doubt they would resemble their father, with dark, thick hair from their grandmother’s Italian heritage. She was sure they would get her dark skin. She would never get to see them, or who they would grow to look like most. Unless she held a séance, but she didn’t know of any practicing witches or mediums. This was a crazy and desperate thought, even for her.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“I came to see how you are doing,” DJ said.

The warmth from his body radiated into hers when he placed his hand over hers. For a second, Evie almost let that warmth deceive her, like it had done throughout that year. She pulled away, not in the right frame of mind to engage her head in a war against her heart. A war it would most definitely lose.

“I’m great.”

“You just had surgery, so I guess you are in pain or... discomfort.”

“Despite stating the obvious, why are you here?” Evie turned to him, looking past his glassy eyes as she held onto the anger gnawing at her heart.

“Do you remember the day we met?”

Did she? That day played over and over in her head. DJ had sat at a table at the café she worked at, having his breakfast alfresco. His jet-black hair curled at the base of his head. His five o’clock shadow enhanced the piercing honey-brown color of his eyes. His olive skin made a huge contrast to the white flannel sweater he wore. Evie had been watching him, obsessively studying him for a moment, when he turned his smile to her. To this day, she could not put in exact words how she had felt. Her heart had blossomed, like a rosebud under the gentle caress of the sun’s rays. He smiled...dear God, did he smile. The warmth of it took over his face, crow’s feet forming at the corner of his eyes, and his full, kissable lips held their frame just for her. She melted right there and then. Evie found herself in the palm of his hand. Malleable clay for him to manipulate however he wanted.

“I was a foolish, little girl, Cherie. I promise that will never happen again.”

“When I first saw you, you reminded me of someone—Catalella.”

“Uh-yes! Who could forget the childhood crush that led your fancies to be hooked on me?”

“You could never be Catalella, and she could never be you. You have a sweetness that she could never manage. You could charm a snake,” he chuckled.

“And so, I did.”

“The first thing I remember about you is your eyes. They called to me in a way I thought impossible. Love at first sight was a myth I had heard about and an ailment I was determined not to catch. The sun’s rays fell with romantic affection—”

“—upon my glowing face? Yes, I know. You told me before.”

“You left me breathless.”

“Apparently not, because you lived to wreak havoc on my life and destroy the lives of those, I loved more than my own life...including yours.” Since the day she’d met him, Evie knew one thing. DJ was his own worst enemy, and his father’s past was a cross he shouldered through every stoic mile of his life.

“You reached into me in my darkest hour and pulled me into the light.”

“No.” Evie pushed herself into a sitting position and cried out when her belly felt like it had ripped open. “It is you who reached into the light—my light—and pulled me into the bottomless pit of darkness. I used to smile every day for no apparent reason. It used to infuriate my maman, but I was happy just being alive. Now, facing each day is a struggle. The darkness haunts me.”

“Catalella says—”

“Yes, her. A woman I have so much in common with, from my last name, hair, skin tone and our failure in taking control of our own lives. It infuriates me that my life is so much like hers, and she is happy while I am... not.” Evie watched as DJ cringed within himself. “Shame has taken the shape of a man I am in love with.”

* * * *

DJ missed the sweet girl he’d met at a café in Nice. Her soft emerald eyes, and a pout he desperately wanted to kiss. Evie had no mean words in her dictionary. She put other people’s wellbeing ahead of her own. That girl had died that night…

Three years ago, Evie had faced him with a declaration that had sent fear rocking through his very soul.

I’m pregnant.

DJ knew the pain of abandonment. His father was always working. Empire first, was his motto. His brother and sister had been abandoned. Reno’s scars always kept him wary of their father, and their sister…she had been stolen in the dead of the night and had yet to be found.

It took him a split second, that night, to decide his next move. He wasn’t going to become his father. He wouldn’t subject his child to the same hatred, betrayal and loneliness that had accompanied Reno for the majority of his life. He ran out of his apartment without his shirt and shoes. He chased Eyvette’s car down the road and reached it just in time to see her skip the red light and a truck take out her Porsche.

No…no… No! The whisper had become a scream as he dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands. The ache remained, even now, but how could he maker her see?

“I thought you had died that night. I’m not just talking about your good nature. I thought your life had ended and, in so many ways, mine had too.”

“I think that would have been a far better choice than what I am going through now.”

“Why did you come to New York?” DJ had asked her this so many times. And each time she had deflected with an excuse or a recount of how much he had hurt her and didn’t deserve to ask any questions. However, he had hoped that she had come back to town for him, because she loved him and didn’t want him thinking that she had died.

“You want to know why I came to New York? I’ll tell you. We can sit here and swap stories of what we have been up to since you left Nice.”

“If that is what you want.”

“But first I have to ask, what happened to Ava?”

“Ava is gone, she isn’t coming back. What happened after the accident?”

“Healing…physically that is,” Evie said as she turned her back to him.

Four years after the truth is revealed…

“Come back to bed.”

DJ turned away from the view of the New York skyline to the ruffled bed with a naked lady in it, evidence that there had been a night of mindless fucking. DJ’s eyes caressed her body once more, tracing all the places his hands had been just hours before. Her slender ankles, the soft curve of her calf, her thick thighs, the round of her ass, and soft back. Andrea was a crazy blonde that he had met at a frat house during a pre-graduation party. She had been more than willing to take their celebrations to a more secluded area, the lady’s bathroom, the alley of a bar, the back of his car then finally the hotel they were in now.

DJ loved sex, and he more than anything loved women who enjoyed sex. But he never spent more than a night with one woman. It was the only way he could make sure that he wouldn’t get trapped into something that he didn’t want to be in, a relationship.

“Come to bed,” Andrea called for him again.

DJ picked up his wallet from the bedside table and took out a box of pills. He used condoms but he needed to be sure. In no way did he want to end up in the same position his father found himself in over two decades ago, with children he could not take care of.

He handed the pill and a glass of water to Andrea. Still laying on her stomach she looked at the pill and was about to protest when DJ said, “These are my rules. I remember last night you said you’d do anything I told you,” DJ sat beside her on the bed and stroked her inner thing. A whimper of need told him that Andrea was more than ready for another round. But the sun was up, and her time was over. His playful fingers reached higher; Andrea’s back arched into his touch. “Take it.”

She was stalling. Who could blame her? Opportunities to trap billionaires didn’t come every day. But DJ was good at using sex to get what he wanted. He stroked her warm center, earning him a tremble.

Andrea took the pill, turned back and opened her mouth to show him.

“Good girl. Let’s reward you,” DJ hissed. His thumb stroked her clit as he dove two of his fingers inside of her. DJ stroked her hard and fast. Andrea wasn’t the type to want things gentle. He moved his fingers faster until he felt her clinch his finger tighter. She whimpered in protest when he withdrew his fingers but scream and shattered when he pinched her clit. Pain and pleasure the best way to draw out what would have been an ordinary orgasm.

DJ stood and got dressed, leaving her on the bed to bask in her release.

“You didn’t take my number,” Andrea said.

“I don’t need it,” DJ answered.

“But how are you going to call me? When are we going to meet again?” Andrea sat up in her bed, a little panic edged into her voice.

“Never,” DJ said. “The only women I see more than once are my family. You and I are done. One night is all I could give you.”

“No!” Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you to notice me. You don’t know what I had to go through to become the type of woman you’d date.”

“You still aren’t, because I don’t date,” DJ tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

“I love you!”

“Then you’re foolish,” DJ didn’t spare her a backward glance as he walked out of the hotel room. Shutting the door on the sounds of Andrea loud cries.

Foolish!

****

DJ walked into his godfather’s Hamptons home. He could hear the loud screeches of his sister and boisterous laugh of AJ. They had pulled another prank on Danny, he thought.

“DJ, you and I need to talk,” his father called from behind him.

“Don’t you think we’re all talked out. I’m going to Nice for a year. You’re not going to change my mind about that,” DJ said. His father didn’t understand why DJ ran way to Nice every chance he got, but Reno understood and that was enough for DJ.

“Why do you always run to the South of France each time you have vacation. You should spend this time with your family. Your sister is recovering, your brother just had another baby and Catalella, she’s finally happy. Don’t you want to be here for AJ’s wedding?”

“I’ve been here for all those things and will be here for AJ’s wedding. Just because you didn’t see me doesn’t mean I wasn’t here,” DJ said hoping that he wouldn’t have to listen to anymore of his father’s requests.

He rushed to the backyard and caught a glimpse of Catalella and Daniela. The most precious and gentlest of their two families had been to hell and back. DJ’s heart ached when he thought of how hard they had both fought to get past their darkness to laugh and smile the way they did now.

“One day, you’ll have to forgive me,” his father said.

“One day,” DJ echoed. “But that day isn’t today.”

“I’ll find your sister, I promise,” Dennis swore.

His twin. Born on the same day but lived a different life than DJ had. He missed her, in a very odd way. They never met, never shared a womb but something inside of him longed for her. Plus, his guilt wouldn’t let him rest. He felt guilty for being born. His birth ruined five lives and he couldn’t fix it.

“You’d better. Or I’ll never forgive you,” DJ issued his ultimatum and walked over to where his big brother stood. Not one to shy away from his brother’s affections or over protectiveness, DJ relaxed in his brother’s embrace hoping that Reno could quieten the restlessness in DJ’s soul that was driving him crazy.

* * * *

DJ stared into his coffee, enjoying the French summer at his favorite café in Nice. He allowed his thoughts to drift to the only place it ever went to, Rhyne.

The lead in Hawaii about Rhyne had gone cold, but they weren’t giving up. They had hired a second private detective, one with contacts in Hawaii, and he and Reno had briefed the man before he’d left. The waiting was the worst part—especially since Reno had assumed much of the responsibility for the company, leaving DJ with more free time than he knew what to do with. And, with relations still strained between him and his father, the whole situation seemed set to blow at any moment.

DJ felt selfish running away too Nice with no one but Reno knowing how to contact him. He pushed the emotion aside, reminding himself that Reno had understood that he needed this time to himself. His parents were going through a separation, and he wanted to stay out of it. There was enough tension without him adding his resentment into the mix. In fact, both he and Reno also wanted to keep Danny out of it. She was finally doing better and had decided to stay in Hawaii, the lifestyle and warm weather agreeing with her.

Having Reno around was the only thing that allowed him to take this time to himself, and although he’d never said the words, DJ guessed that Reno knew how relieved he was to have the responsibility shouldered by someone other than himself. DJ had even put his law career on hold, mainly because it seemed that everything, he’d taken for granted had been snatched away. He needed to figure out if it was something he wanted to do, or if it was still about his father. So far, though, he’d given less thought to his future than he had to his present. Life was for living, and he was going to enjoy every last minute.

DJ’s phone buzzed and he scowled when he saw it was Ava. He stared at the phone, wondering whether he should pick it up or not. He had met the redheaded beauty at a nightclub two weeks back. She had just arrived from America and needed someone to show her the sights. Of course, DJ offered his services, and the first thing she saw was the view of the beach from the bedroom of his little cottage. Since then, he couldn’t shake her off. Ava was hooked, either by his talents in bed or his credit card. DJ didn’t know which one and didn’t particularly care. In Nice he had changed his rules when it came to women. He kept a few of them, each one knowing that there were dozens of others. He had many playmates in the town and, as long as none of them demanded an exclusive relationship, he was all right with buying them whatever they wanted. He smiled when the ringing stopped and didn’t bother to listen to the voicemail Kono was the love of my life, the only woman I would love…I broke her…my love, the love I took from her, destroyed her…one day you will know how it feels to insanely love and I hope you never lose it like I did.

His father’s words played back in his head and made DJ shiver. It sounded more like a curse than a blessing. DJ couldn’t imagine himself loving that hard. Look at what that kind of love had done for his father, and for the innocent children who still carried the scars. “I most definitely don’t want to fall in love.”

“That is sad.”

DJ looked up and found himself staring into the most incredible emerald eyes he had ever seen. He labored to find words to describe them and her, but his brain seemed utterly frozen. So, he just sat there and stared like a fool.

* * * *

“Evie! He is back, your handsome Américaine.”

Eyvette Ross wrung the towel cloth in her hands. Nervous didn’t begin to describe how she felt each time the man came to the café. Eyvette’s reaction had always been to hide behind the counter, listen to him order, and let his deep baritone melt her in her own piece of heaven. His voice was rich and deep, and it poured over her like warmed syrup.

“Mon Dieu, Evie, if you do not go out there and stake your claim, I will.”

Eyvette watched the petite blonde as she salivated over her man. She was sure, once Sophie went out there to introduce herself, there would be no chance for her. Her well-endowed breasts, slim waist and wide hips were every man’s dream. That is why she often pulled Sophie down with her when the man entered the café.

“He ordered a coffee,” Philippe, her boss and one time boyfriend, said as he worked the cash register. “He is not going to be alone for long. I am sure one of his bimbos will be joining him soon.”

“Hate is a choice, Philippe, and jealousy is an ugly emotion,” Sophie sneered.

“I am not jealous. Evie and I parted ways on good terms. And the only thing I hate is how many women he has.”

“And if Evie plays her cards right, she could be one of them.”

“Evie isn’t as loose as you.”

Eyvette wasn’t a lot of things. The main reason she had broken up with Philippe was because he called her safe, wife material. He didn’t want her to work or pursue her dream of owning her own restaurant. Evie loved food, both eating and making it. She had just completed culinary school and was working her way to owning her own little place. Everyone thought her dream was crazy, her mother too. Elizabeth was only interested in getting her daughter a rich husband. According to her mother, the only good thing about her were her exotic looks, something she could thank her black father for. Her mother’s fiery red hair and beauty also imbued Evie’s beauty with the flecks of red in her dark curly hair that brought out her green eyes.

However, Evie wanted to be more than the nice, exotic-looking homemaker. She wanted to be daring. And her first chance had just presented itself. It was a tanned man, with a body and a face to die for. Evie walked out of the café, Sophie and Philippe’s voices dogging her heels. She walked up to him, and he didn’t seem to notice her at all, a reaction she had never received before. Usually men watched her from afar, and each time she would approach they would be on their feet, offering her their chair. This man was stirring his coffee, deep in thought.

“I most definitely don’t want to fall in love,” he said.

And, before she could stop herself, Evie answered, “That’s sad.”

The man looked up at her and the awestruck look she was used to getting from men registered on his face. It had to be her green eyes and the russet tones in her hair, a rare sight in biracial children.

Their eyes met, and Evie felt a kick in her chest that knocked the wind from her lungs. “May I get you something else?” Her voice trembled on her lips. Evie inhaled and tried to still her nerves, which were now on hyper drive.

“Non, merci.” The man looked away from her and, instantly, Evie’s heart dropped to her belly.

It wasn’t like her to push, but Evie wouldn’t give up. “Are you sure, monsieur?”

“Yes.” The man smiled at her before looking away once more.

“All right. If you need anything, just ask for Evie.”

“Merci.” He smiled before turning back to his coffee, effectively dismissing her.

Evie walked back into the café, more confused than ever. She sat down at a booth and looked out through the glass doors, staring at the strange man. There was something between them, an electric current that seemed to transfer through their eyes. The way he looked at her…it was like a soft touch during lovemaking. Something she had no experience in. However, she knew that when she made love to a man it would be that man, and he would look at her just as adoringly as he had a few minutes ago.

“So?” Sophie asked.

“I found it.” She smiled as she ran out of breath. Her heart beat out of her chest as tears stung her eyes. “I found him.”

“Who?”

“My one.”

“What nonsense!” Philippe barked.

“My mother is bitter, probably because she has gotten married more times than Elizabeth Taylor. She doesn’t know love, but I think she is searching for it.”

“Or for the wealthiest man she can find,” Sophie put in. “But go on, you found your one.”

“The way he looked at me.” Evie stroked her cheek with the back of her hand. “It was like he had reached into me. No one has ever looked at me like that, no one has ever made me feel so…wonderful.”

“And you knew that from one look. From where I was standing, he seemed to be avoiding you,” Philippe cut in.

“He’s afraid. I heard him say that he doesn’t want to fall in love.”

“I have a feeling you are going to change his mind?” Sophie asked.

“I have to, my happiness depends on it.”

* * * *

DJ had never run away from anything in his life, until this moment. He couldn’t explain it, but his heart had kicked into gear when he looked into those deep, emerald eyes. She was trouble, and DJ couldn’t afford that kind of trouble at the moment. He was here trying to find himself, not his heart. He took out his phone and called Ava. “Change of plans. Meet me at my cabin instead.”

DJ gave one backward glance and instantly regretted it. Now he knew why they said once you decide to move on never look back. Evie, that was her name, it had to be creational. She was standing at the window, watching him with a look in her eyes that he hoped didn’t mean more than a normal crush. DJ knew how to handle girls with crushes. He gave them a kiss, a night of sex, a piece of jewelry and it was ci vediamo mai, as they said in his mother’s language. And for those who didn’t understand, see you never. However, emerald didn’t look like the type a man had fun in the sack with and waved goodbye to. Not without taking a serious blow to the heart. That was damage he couldn’t take at the moment. Falling in love was definitely not an option.

Then walk away. Stop staring at her. Don’t notice how perfectly the sun illuminates her glowing face. Look away from her thick hair that you would love to bury your fingers in as you kiss her. And, for the love of God, do not look into her enchanting emerald eyes.

“Mio Dio, don’t do this to me now.” DJ wasn’t a religious man, but when he came across a woman like Evie, it was hard not to believe in divine intervention. He put on his sunglasses and half-ran, half-walked away.

A night with Ava, followed by a binge of sex with a few willing names he had in his phone directory, and in a few days, he wouldn’t remember Evie. Deciding never to go back to the coffee shop was also a decision he had to make in the name of self-preservation. If he didn’t see the object of his…desire…no, torture, he wouldn’t think about her. Out of sight, out of mind.

DJ walked down the path that led to his beach cabin. It didn’t help that it was only a hundred yards from the café. He would have to look into moving. DJ stopped in his tracks and laughed at himself. He couldn’t believe that he was willing to go through so much to avoid an attraction… that’s what it was. Love at first sight was saved for little children and their fairy tales. This was real life. Kono knew that, so did Reno and now Rhyne. He needed to focus his attention on helping his big brother with their sisters. Thinking about the love he had for two of the most important girls in his life was bound to overturn the…fascination, for lack of a better word, he had with Evie.

For the moment, burying himself deep into a vivacious redhead with the talent of making a man buck in bed like a fish out of water would have to do. DJ stepped into his cottage and stripped off his shirt and jeans. He poured himself a glass of whisky and sat by the window, waiting. The moment he looked at his watch there was a knock on the door. Even though Ava regularly dropped by for sex, he never gave her a key. A key symbolized more than he was willing to give. It meant walk into…no, invade…my life when the need arises. Come snoop in my things. Put my drawers in disarray as you arrange yours. And in DJ’s bathroom there was definitely no room for two toothbrushes.

DJ opened the door and Ava greeted him with a smile and a bikini top that showed more than it should. Her bare legs peeked from under the sarong she was wearing. With one sweep of his gaze, he took her all in. That was the moment he knew he was fucked, screwed, done for. Instead of pulling Ava into his arms and devouring her sexy body, he got the urge to shut the door in her face. His survival instincts kept him from doing it. Instead, he stepped back and let her walk in.

“Hallo, darling.” The sway of her hips seemed more exaggerated with each step she took. “I had to change my outfit since you changed our rendezvous place. I thought you liked the coffee there. It is morning.”

Ava swirled around and, by the frown on her face, DJ knew they were about to get into it.

“Whisky, this early in the morning? I know it is happy hour somewhere, but that somewhere is not here.” She looked down at her watch. “It’s barely ten o’clock, for Christ’s sake. I will not have an alcoholic for a beau.”

“Then it’s a good thing I am not your beau.” DJ threw back the contents of his glass and sat back in an armchair. “Take your clothes off.”

“I see you got a head start.”

“Stop talking and start stripping.”