trouble. You break his heart, turn him into an alcoholic, now you burn down our house?”
“Dominic,” Mike’s mother said. She put her hand on his arm.
“No, Soon-O, these things need to be said. I’m tired of watching Michael throw his life away.”
The wind picked up and I felt a sudden chill, the sweat on my arms and chest giving me chicken skin. I rubbed my hands over my upper arms and said, “You have every right to be upset. I guarantee you, if I’d known what was going to happen tonight I never would have come over here. Mike and I have been investigating a case together. The suspect we’ve been looking at for a couple of arsons shot at a police officer this evening in Waikiki. I think this guy followed Mike and me up here and started the fire to kill us, or at least distract us from the case.”
“He obviously doesn’t know my son,” Dr. Riccardi said. “When he sets his mind to something, he doesn’t let anything get in his way.”
“I inherited that from you,” Mike said. “Grandpa told me he and Grandma weren’t happy when you brought Mom home, but you didn’t let that stop you.”
“What happened between your mother and me is a totally different story.”
“Oh, let’s see,” Mike said. “Forbidden love. Unnatural love-isn’t that what Aunt Teresa called it? White wasn’t meant to mix with Asian.”
“Michael,” his mother said.
“No, Mom. It’s time we talked about this, about all the things Grandma and Grandpa used to tell me. How you wouldn’t marry Dad at first, and when he came home from the service he wouldn’t talk to anybody except to argue, and he used to get drunk and get into fights.”
He turned to his father. “You broke your cousin Eddie’s jaw, didn’t you, Dad? And you had the nerve to criticize me when I was drinking. Sanctimonious prick.”
“Don’t you talk to me that way, Michael.”
Mrs. Riccardi reached over to take her husband’s hand. “I didn’t want to marry Dominic at first. I didn’t want to leave my family and my country. But Dom’s father sent me a plane ticket, to come to the U.S. and visit.”
In the background, I could see the firemen rolling up the hoses. A crowd of birds had returned to the tree behind us, chattering noisily. “My father sent you the ticket?” Dr. Riccardi turned to his wife. “How come you never told me that?”
“He was worried about you.” She smiled. “Just like you were worried about Michael. The difference is that your father overcame his prejudices because he saw that I made you happy.”
The doctor looked at his wife, and a kind of unspoken communication passed between them. I found myself hoping that Mike and I would be able to do that someday and realized I’d crossed a line, and not just because Mike and I had ended up in bed that night. I was falling in love with him all over again.
Mrs. Riccardi let go of her husband’s hand and hugged me. “We’re glad you’re both all right,” she said. “That’s all that matters.”
Mike’s dad hugged him, and then we switched-though his father simply extended his hand to me to shake.
I didn’t take it, though. I hugged him just as I’d hugged his wife. “I love your son,” I said into his ear. “I’m never going to hurt him again.”
A WHITE SILK THONG
Another fire investigator Mike worked with showed up to check things out. Once he and the firefighters had gone, Mike’s parents went inside and Mike got a couple of high-powered flashlights so we could evaluate the damage to the duplex. Fortunately, the flames hadn’t reached Mike’s parents’ half, and the damage to Mike’s side wasn’t as bad as it might have been. His back porch had been destroyed, and the rear wall of his garage had almost burned through. The yard was muddy and a hibiscus hedge had been trampled. “It’s not terrible, but it’ll all look worse in the morning,” Mike said.
When his parents came back outside they were fully dressed. His father announced that they were going to stay with a colleague. “In case your arsonist decides to come back and finish the job.”
“We’re not staying here either,” Mike said. “Stan LoCicero might still be out there watching us.”
They walked toward their car, and I said, “Where do you want to go? A hotel? I don’t want to put anybody else we know in danger.”
“I know a guy I can call.” He stepped away from me, dialing a number on his cell, and from the way he shielded his voice I could tell he didn’t want me to hear what he was saying.
“I got us a room,” he said, when he hung up. “At the Halekulani. I hope that’s okay. It’s on the house.”
The Halekulani is one of Honolulu’s most expensive hotels, on Waikiki Beach. “How did you do that?”
He shrugged. “I know a guy.”
“In the Biblical sense?”
“Hey, you’re not the only one who fooled around while we were separated.”
“Works for me,” I said. “You sleep with any gourmet chefs while you were at it? I wouldn’t mind getting comped a nice meal now and then.”
“Get dressed, goofball. They’re not letting you into the Halekulani looking like that.”
We had to shower before we left, to get the smell of smoke out of our skin and our hair, and we did it together, to save time and water. But the idea that Stan might be skulking around outside put the damper on romance, and we finished quickly and got out. The watch commander for District 3, which included Aiea, said he’d get a car to pass by Mike’s house every half hour for the rest of the night, just in case.
Neither of us spoke much on the way down to Waikiki. I wondered about the guy Mike knew at the Halekulani, and where Stan was. I wanted to drive right over to his house, rip open his door and punch his lights out, though I knew that wasn’t the solution to anything.
We left Mike’s truck with the valet at the Halekulani, and I walked through the lobby to the ocean while he negotiated with his former flame. The huge pool was lit up, highlighting the orchid painted on the bottom. The lounge chairs had been folded up and the umbrellas closed. I wondered if Stan had followed us. I doubted he’d be able to cause any trouble at the Halekulani, though.
A few minutes later, Mike joined me out by the pool. “We’re all set.”
The clouds had cleared, revealing a full moon and an array of stars splayed across the sky. The waves made a gentle rushing sound meeting the beach, and in the distance we could hear the faintest echo of dance music. Mike took my hand. “Been a busy day, huh? When I woke up this morning I couldn’t have imagined everything we’d go through today.”
“I knew we’d end up like this, though. I guess I’ve known since I saw you at the shopping center fire.”
“Me, too.” He turned his head toward me, and we kissed. The breeze picked up and wafted the smell of salt water and plumeria blossoms around us.
The room Mike had arranged for us was the most luxurious I’d ever stayed in. It was on the twelfth floor, overlooking the ocean and Diamond Head, with a lanai, a king-sized bed, and a Roman tub in the bathroom. “This room is too nice to sleep in,” I said, when we walked in. I went straight across to the lanai and opened the sliding glass door, stepping outside.
There was a glittering necklace of lights at the foot of Diamond Head, clouds massing over it, illuminated by the moonlight. “Who says we’re going to sleep?” Mike asked, coming up behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and we kissed. I savored every place where our bodies touched, chest to chest, hip to hip, hands on shoulders.
Since we’d worked out the urgency of our lust earlier in the evening, we took our time. We stripped down out there on the lanai, kissing and running our hands over each other, naked against the ocean breeze. He leaned forward against the railing and I stood behind him, arching my back so my dick pressed up against his ass. I reached around and cupped his nipples in my hands, kissing the back of his neck as he breathed deeply.
We moved back inside, rolling around for a while on the lush, carpeted floor, wrestling for dominance. Then we climbed on the bed in a sixty-nine position, me on top, as if I was doing pushups over him, and we sucked each other to climax. From there, we stumbled into the Roman tub and cuddled in the hot, soapy water. It was after four
