And after that first day, Kai’s parents were silent about her and Kai’s relationship. Jessie had to believe that it was extremely awkward for them though, especially for her uncle. It was difficult for him to see beyond the fact that Kai was his son and Jessie was his niece; the cousin connection was just too strong to ignore. Jessie understood. Even for her, it was weird to call Kai’s dad, Uncle. A part of her wanted to drop the familial term and just call him Nate, but it was too ingrained in her. It seemed to be ingrained in Nate, too, since he always called her Jessica Marie, and only Jessie’s family ever did that.
But he didn’t ever say anything negative about her and Kai being together, not even when he walked in on a pretty intense make-out session they’d been having on his couch. Instead of freaking out over the display, he’d only mumbled several apologies and hastily fled the room. Jessie tried to keep the PDA to a minimum after the incident. She didn’t want to make Kai’s family—her family—uncomfortable, especially in their own homes.
On their final day in Hawaii, Kai took Jessie to a private beach that he loved, to do something with her that Jessie had been hoping they’d be able to do this trip. Something she’d been dying to do ever since arriving here. Something she, in all honesty, had been waiting her entire life to do.
Sitting on a surfboard, Jessie floated peacefully in the relative calm of the Pacific Ocean. Being just behind the breakers, she stared in awe at the tumultuous waves crashing onto the comparatively hard beach. She had no idea how people did this. She’d been attempting to successfully ride one of those waves all morning. So far, she’d swallowed about a quarter of the ocean, but hadn’t even successfully popped up onto the board.
A wave of water splashing across her face tore her attention from the pounding surf. The sun beat on her bare skin as the muggy air kept her warm, despite the slight chill of the deep water. Brushing aside the droplets, Jessie looked over to see Kai laughing at her. He’d spent part of the morning trying to teach her the basics on land, but Jessie hadn’t wanted to be shown up, since Kai had mostly succeeded at skiing. She’d insisted that they head out into the water, and practice surfing for real.
Kai laughed even harder at the look of annoyance on her face. The water droplets gleamed in his slicked back hair and for a moment, Jessie couldn’t recall seeing anything more natural than Kai in the water. Shaking his head, he teased her with, “Not as easy as it looks, is it Mountain Girl?”
Jessie attempted to douse him with a tidal wave of water, and nearly fell off her floating board in the process. Kai tilted his head toward the sand. “Come on, one more try then we’ll go in.”
Jessie sighed, but nodded. She could try one more time. Kai chuckled, then started paddling away. Smiling as she watched his muscles expanding and contracting under that fabulous skin, his dark as night tattoo matching his black board shorts, Jessie slowly started paddling after him. Kai’s shouted some last minute instructions to her, then scanned the break for the wave he wanted. Seeing it, he took off. Jessie watched him effortlessly hop up onto his board and ride the wave toward the shore. He held his position perfectly, his body gloriously tight as he used every blessed muscle to steady himself, until the momentum of the wave dropped off and he slipped into the water.
Wondering if she’d ever be able to do that, Jessie searched…for something. Shrugging, since she really had no idea what to look for, she paddled toward the endlessly cresting water. Balancing on her hands, she mentally prepared to jump both feet up. This was the part that usually had her tumbling into the water. Holding her breath, Jessie went for it. Surprise and shock hit her as she managed to get both feet onto the board at the same time. She nearly fell off in her excitement, but managed to hold it together long enough to slip over what turned out to be a very gentle wave. Mimicking Kai’s body and position, she made minor adjustments to keep the board steady. She was expecting it to feel like skiing, but it really didn’t. The only thing the two had in common was the rush. That was the same.
She dived off the board at the end, when she finally felt herself starting to fall, then grabbed her board and swam back to the shore. Kai was watching her, whistling as he stood on the beach with one hand on his hip, the other on his board.
Jessie giggled as she ran up to him, excited that she’d actually done it. His eyes flicked down her bikini and she felt a different sort of excitement rush through her. Throwing an arm around his waist, she leaned up for his lips. He congratulated her between kisses, and his hand wrapped around her waist drifted down to cup her backside.
Dropping her board onto the soft sand near their feet, she slung her arms around his neck. He dropped his board too, angling it back so it didn’t hit hers. Both hands now free, he grabbed her ass so firmly she squeaked. A pleased noise rumbled low in his chest. “You were right.”
Feeling like they should be somewhere much more private, so it would be completely okay for those miraculous fingers to slip inside her bikini, she murmured, “What was I right about?”