A Little Harmless Ride Read Free Page A

it.
    “ Not that it matters about my marriage, but no, I have never been to DC. Although, Dee, my wife, wants to go soon.”
    “ I swear I’ve heard your name. Wait, do you own Rough ‘n Ready?”
    “ Yes I do. Been there before?”
    She shook her head. “No, but a friend of mine lived on the islands for awhile. You know Damon?”
    “ Ah, of course. I heard he moved back to the mainland.”
    She nodded. “He was offered a really good job. Couldn’t pass it up.”
    Eli was still trying to get his head wrapped around the idea that Crysta was openly talking about BDSM at her uncle’s memorial service with two men she barely knew, when Micah pulled out a card.
    “ If you get a chance, I’d be happy to give you a day pass and show you around.”
    “ That would be fabulous but I’m not sure how much time I’ll have here. Dad’s going to have to get back to the mainland for a checkup.”
    “ Just in case, you have my number.” He took the card back and grabbed a pen off the table behind him. He wrote something on the back. “Better yet, you have my cell. I know Dee would probably love to meet you. She had a real fondness for Joe and he talked of you a lot.”
    Her eyes softened. “Aw, that’s so sweet. Thank you.”
    She took the card and tucked it into a pocket in her skirt. It took all of Eli’s control not to demand the card from her. It was stupid. First, there was no reason to be jealous of a man like Micah who was insanely in love with his wife. But, worse, he had no right to the jealousy. Crysta wasn’t his sub. She wasn’t his anything.
    “ I better get going. My brother-in-law is waiting out at the airport. He’s not happy I commandeered his jet. Make sure to stop by if you’re on Oahu. Eli, let us know if there is anything you need.”
    They watched Micah walk away. Just like in the club he owned, he garnered attention. The Native American Dom was hard to miss in any crowd, but just like any other Dom, people seemed to part, giving him a path to make it out of the house.
    “ His brother-in-law has a jet? Well, damn,” she said. The way she said it was so close to the way Joe said it that it had him smiling.
    “ Yeah. He invented some kind of computer game thing. Made him a millionaire or something.”
    She nodded and looked around. “I’m happy so many people came. Joe would have gotten a kick out of it.”
    “ You knew him?”
    She glanced at him. “Of course I did.”
    “ No, I mean, really knew him. He…”
    “ Didn’t talk much about our relationship? Yeah. Dad is kind of wary of the rest of the family. I know something bad happened when Mom and Dad got married, but there’s more to the story. It took him years to not suspect Joe.”
    Eli knew part of the story. Crysta’s grandfather, Joe’s father, was a proud Hawaiian to a fault. And, he lost his only daughter because of it. He refused to acknowledge her marriage to a black Navy man, and told her to never come back. As far as he knew, she never did, and this was the first time Crysta had been here in her life. It was one of the things that Joe said made him hate his family.
    “ We might as well get something to eat before the reading of the will. It will take forever and there are bound to be unhappy people.”
    She glanced at him with a half smile. His body heated when he saw the twinkle in her eyes.
    “ You mean the family’s going to be pissed when Joe leaves you all his land? Tell them to suck it up.”
    He fought the laugh that bubbled up. She was more like her uncle than Eli had expected.
    “ Tough words from a former teacher.”
    She shrugged as they made their way to the table of food. “I’m a Navy brat. There’s no room for weakness in that—or teaching.”
    He nodded and glanced over to where her other uncle sat. He was old, and the years of hard living had taken their toll on his body. It was sad that Joe had lived through his life as a Navy SEAL and worked on the ranch, but he didn’t look as old as his