Candi got tears in her eyes. "Sarah, that is so sweet! And they are so pretty!" She grabbed Sarah in a hug, careful not to squish the flowers. "Thank you so much," she said over Sarah's back. "You are an awesome sister, you know that?"

Sarah felt herself go a little misty, too. "Shut up, you're going to ruin my makeup. Now sit still so I can put this on you."

Candi stood in front of Sarah and waited while Sarah secured it amongst her dreadlocks.

"Perfect. Exactly like I imagined it would look. You're going to knock Kevin's socks off tonight. Well, not his socks, since he won't be wearing any. You know what I mean." Sarah wiped away the tear that had tried to escape her eye.

Candi wiped under both of her eyes too. "We are the hottest chicks on this entire island."

Sarah laughed and Candi joined her. "Yes we are. Look out b.i.t.c.hes, the Queens of Peanut Island have arrived." She held out her hand, and the two of them executed a perfect secret sister handshake.

"Come on. I wanna get to the party and get my drink on. The guys are going to be totally shocked when they see this punch."

Candi smiled as she bent down to grab her pile of baskets. "I wonder what they're going to be wearing."

"I have no idea. Probably the same old shorts they've been wearing for the past six weeks."

"I'm surprised we haven't seen what they've been up to."

"They found a good hiding spot, because I've been watching out for it and I haven't seen anything," said Sarah, a little miffed that they'd outsmarted her.

The girls made their way through the trees. As they got closer to the beach, they started hearing sounds.

Sarah slowed down until Candi drew up next to her. "What's that sound? Can you hear it?"

Candi stopped and c.o.c.ked her ear towards the beach. "It sounds like ... drums?"

They looked at each other and then started walking at a fast pace, finally breaking through the trees and finding the source of the noise.

The guys were each sitting on tree trunks they had dragged to the edge of a big bonfire, playing musical instruments they had made.

Kevin was using thin bamboo sticks topped with tied-on seash.e.l.ls to bang on a set of sawed-off, upright bamboo poles, in a very danceable rhythm. There were several poles of different widths and heights stuck in the ground in front of him. Each pole had been cut at a joint, creating flat surfaces for the bamboo drumsticks to hit, like mini drums.

Jonathan had two sets of coconut sh.e.l.ls that had been broken in half, cleaned out, filled with tiny sh.e.l.ls inside, and then secured back together with cords wrapped around them. They made perfect maracas.

Together, the two of them were putting out a h.e.l.l of a native dance mix.

"Woo hoo!" shouted Sarah, coming into the clearing with her baskets. She quickly set them down and began dancing around the fire. Candi set hers down too and joined in. They swirled their gra.s.s skirts around, dancing to the rhythm of the boys' beat.

The guys shouted out their encouragement, laughing as the girls tried to do some Tahitian belly dance moves. The girls soon dissolved in laughter, so the guys quit playing and joined them around the fire.

Kevin was the first one to speak. "Wow, you guys look great." He took Candi by the hand. "Come over here, I have something for you."

Sarah watched her brother with interest, wondering what he possibly could have up his sleeve for Candi.

He pulled Candi over to the log he'd been sitting on and bent down, reaching behind it to pull out a string of flowers and green leaves. "This is for you. Wanna get lei-ed?" He winked at her suggestively.

Candi smiled and giggled a little bit. "Sure, lei me." She followed the lei with her eyes as he put it over her head, settling it between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Kevin looked in her eyes. "Beautiful."

Sarah nudged Jonathan, gesturing over at Candi and Kevin with her chin. He looked over at them and then down at Sarah, smiling at her. She warmed not only at his approval of whatever their siblings had going on, but also the connection she felt, sharing it with him.

"Thank you." Candi looked up at Kevin, her face all aglow. "Wow, you look great too." She laughed. "That is like the coolest prom suit I've ever seen."

Kevin backed up a little bit and bowed. "Thank you, girlfriend."

"And I love your warrior paint." She reached up to touch his face and the paintings that he'd done down his arms. They looked very tribal.

Sarah looked at Jonathan, very much admiring his tattoos and the gra.s.s skirt he was wearing, which had the same effect on her as a Scottish warrior wearing a kilt. Totally hot. The skirt ended just above his knees. She loved the look of his bare legs at the bottom. He had tied braided cords around his now pretty well-muscled upper arms, the ends of the cords hanging down to his elbows. He had a similar braided cord wrapped around his head. His hair had gotten longer and the cord added to the slightly wild and savage warrior look he had going on. All in all, it was pretty d.a.m.n s.e.xy. Sarah looked at him with hunger in her eyes, willing him to look over at her.

"She's going to kiss him," he said, not even noticing the come hither looks Sarah was sending his way, he was so busy watching his sister and Kevin.

Sarah looked over in time to see it happen. "Wow. And not shy at all about it, either."

"What was that for?" Kevin asked, looking a little dazed by the pa.s.sion she displayed in that kiss.

"I don't know. I like your tux."

Kevin laughed. "What do you think about Jonathan's?" He gestured across the fire.

"Yeah, Candi, what do you think about our dates?" asked Sarah.

"Not bad," said Candi, a smile in her voice.

"Should we show them what we brought?"

"Yep." Candi moved away from Kevin to join Sarah at the baskets. Her skirt made swishing sounds as she moved and Sarah noticed that Candi couldn't help but put a little extra sway in her walk.

Sarah held up the first basket. "First, we have, of course, a fruit salad, made up of bananas and guava. Everyone please hold your applause. We also have some smoked fish, compliments of Candi and Kevin, our chef and smoker builder, respectively."

Candi and Kevin took a bow.

Then Candi took the lead. "And last, but not least, we provide coconut wine for your drinking pleasure!" She held up two very large bamboo cups filled with the fermented juice.

"What?" asked Kevin, as if he hadn't heard correctly.

"Did you say 'wine'?" asked Jonathan.

The guys went over to take a look at what was in the cups. Candi explained, "Yeah, it was kind of an accident. I tried to make coconut guava drinks a few days ago, but it tasted awful, so I just kind of left it sitting there and forgot about it. A few days later, poof, we had alcohol."

"Wow, that is so cool," said Jonathan. "Natural fermentation using wild yeasts and fruit sugars of course." He was staring into the liquid when he absent-mindedly wondered aloud, "I wonder how many hydrogen dioxide atoms that released into the atmosphere?"

Kevin shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Never mind the science, Jon. We have wine at our island prom. What could possibly be cooler than that? Good job, girls." He took a breath and then continued, "And now, I will present to you our entertainment for the evening. What would you girls like to do? We have a choice of music or games. Or both, it's up to you. You have already seen some of our amazing percussion skills. We have instruments for you too."

Candi set down the drinks. "What games?"

"Well, first there's limbo, just over there," Kevin gestured to his right. "And then, here on my left, we have a game that neither of us can remember the name of, but we remember playing in gym cla.s.s in seventh grade."

Candi and Sarah looked over to where Kevin was pointing. There were two long poles, laying parallel to one another, each resting at the ends on short poles that held them slightly off the ground.

Sarah smiled. "I remember that game. You bang them first on the thingies and then you slide them towards each other and bang them together, and whoever is not banging the poles is in the middle jumping in and out of the poles trying not to get their ankles smashed."

Candi grimaced. "Yeah, I remember that game too. I'm the one who always had the smashed ankles."

"Limbo it is!" announced Kevin. "But maybe we should eat first."

"Yeah, let's eat," agreed Jonathan.

They sat down around the roaring fire and pa.s.sed the food baskets. The girls had brought bamboo mini-troughs for everyone to eat out of. The boys had discovered days earlier that they could hack one of their bamboo cups in half, making a pretty good plate in the shape of a trough for their dinner meals.

Candi poured the coconut wine. They each took a sip from their cups, grimacing when the wine hit their tongues.

"Whoa," said Jonathan, "that stuff is potent."

Candi wiped away some that had spilled onto her chin. "Yep. Nothing but the good stuff for my peeps."

"I can't remember when I've had something that tasted this bad," added Kevin.

They all started laughing.

"I don't know what your problem is," said Sarah, "I think it's pretty good."

"Well here, you can have mine," said Kevin. He poured his portion into her cup. She finished it in several long gulps.

After they finished eating, they put their dishes in the baskets and began the limbo game. The ones who weren't limboing played out beats with the instruments. As the alcohol began to work its way through their bloodstreams, those who had drank more of it, namely Candi and Sarah, really started to feel the effects. They weren't able to limbo very well because they kept losing their balance.

They tried the bamboo pole game next, but the girls either fell next to the poles, got their ankles whacked, or couldn't keep a rhythm for the boys to do their jumping. The guys gave up, calling it quits after the two girls collapsed in giggles and then tried to pick up the game poles and use them as javelins.

"Okay, I think it's time we wrapped this prom up," said Kevin, holding onto Candi's shoulders to keep her from wandering off.

"Oh, poo, I haven't even had a chance to dance yet," said Candi, pouting.

"I'm not going anywhere 'til I've had a dance," insisted Sarah. "Jonathan, dance with me sweetie, I'm beggin'." She looked at him and started batting her eyelashes, sticking out her lower lip.

"Fine, one dance. Then you're going to bed," said a very sober but tired-sounding Jonathan.

"Whatever you say, mister bossy cow." She held out her arms.

He walked over and stepped into them, putting his hands around her waist.

"We don't have any music," he said, a little bit self-consciously.

"We don't need music, just come here." Sarah pulled him close, putting her head on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat and feel the warmth coming from his skin. He smelled so good ... like smoke and sweat and ocean ... like ... Jonathan. She inhaled deeply.

"You're not going to sleep are you?" he asked. She could tell he was smiling when he said it.

"Nope. Just smelling you. You smell nice. s.e.xy. Like Jonathan."

"I thought normal people didn't smell other people. That's what you told me on the cruise ship, anyway."

"Shush."

"You smell nice too." He rested his chin on her head. "I love the feel of you in my arms. When I'm all dressed up like this, I feel like a warrior or something. Wild. Protective of you, even though you really don't need protection."

"That's nice," said Sarah, feeling all warm inside. Any other time or place, his words might sound corny. But here, they were perfect and exactly what she wanted to hear.

Kevin looked over at his sister and Jonathan and decided that they needed some privacy. "Wanna go for a walk?"

"You're one of those guys who likes long, moonlit walks on the beach?" Candi asked teasingly.

"Yes, under certain circ.u.mstances, I am."

"And what would those circ.u.mstances be?"

"When I'm with my hot girlfriend, she's tipsy, and I want to get her alone."

Candi's eyes opened in mock offense. "Well, then, let's go, since you're going to be all romantic like that." She smiled, taking the sting out of her teasing.

Kevin reached around and smacked her on the b.u.t.t as she tried to run away. He caught up to her just a few yards later and grabbed her hand. They walked together, hand in hand, down the beach until they could no longer see the firelight.

Candi was feeling brave. "Now that you have me out here in the middle of nowhere, what are you going to do with me?"

"This," was all he said, before pulling her into his arms and leaning down to put his lips against hers.

Her body instantly responded. She pulled herself in close to him, feeling his need and moaning happily. He was kissing her deeply, dancing his tongue across hers, while his hands roamed all over her body.

"Do you want to lie down?" he asked. "I don't want to scare you away, but I'm going to keep going until you say stop."

"Yes," she gasped out. "Let's lay down."

They lowered themselves together down to the sand. Kevin was on top of her, between her legs. He began kissing her neck and then her chest. She was breathing heavily.

"You smell so good. I can't get enough." He stopped for a second and looked her in the face.

Candi could see him in the light of the moon and wanted to faint from how gorgeous he was.

"I don't want to do anything you don't want me to do. If you want me to stop you have to tell me. I'm serious."

"I don't want you to stop at all, I want to do this."

"Do you mean ... "

"Yes, that's what I mean. It. I want to do it."

"Are you sure? Have you done this before?"