The Kaupe

By A.J. Llewellyn

A.J. Llewellyn tackles the sin of pride in 'The Kaupe'

Dino Perez is a super-hot Hollywood makeup artist who is used to dating the most gorgeous men in town. When he meets the dynamic and sexy—but not very handsome—art dealer Alek Briatore, pride stops him from accepting him as a suitor.

Alek, not one to be easily discouraged, pursues Dino, following him and his three friends on their vacation in Honolulu. Then, while on a hike in a remote, mountainous bamboo forest, Dina is seduced by a wicked-handsome suitor, leaving him feeling faintly slutty. Their scorching sexual encounter is one he can never forget.

He doesn't tell his friends what happened, particularly since Alek has become a well-liked part of their group. Obsessed with his mountain man, Dino sneaks back to the forest, hoping for another wild encounter. He gets it...in more ways than one. He discovers his lusty forest friend is a supernatural being—a kaupe—and soon learns that pride makes even the smartest man make extremely foolish choices...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pride Publishing
• Release date: Apr 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781781842799

A.J. Llewellyn

A.J. Llewellyn lives in California, but dreams of living in Hawaii. Frequent trips to all the islands, bags of Kona coffee in the fridge and a healthy collection of Hawaiian records keep this writer refueled. A.J. never lacks inspiration for male/male erotic romances and on the rare occasions this happens, pursues other passions such as collecting books on Hawaiiana, surfing and spending time with friends and animal companions. A.J. Llewellyn believes that love is a song best sung out loud.

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A Total-E-Bound Publication

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The Kaupe

ISBN # 978-1-78184-279-9

©Copyright A.J. Llewellyn 2013

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright March 2013

Edited by Stacey Birkel

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2013 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Total-e-burning and a sexometer of 2.

This story contains 69 pages, additionally there is also a free excerpt at the end of the book containing 11 pages.

THE KAUPE

A.J. Llewellyn

A.J. Llewellyn tackles the Sin of Pride in ‘The Kaupe’.

Dino Perez is a super-hot Hollywood makeup artist who is used to dating the most gorgeous men in town. When he meets the dynamic and sexy—but not very handsome—art dealer Alek Briatore, pride stops him from accepting him as a suitor.

Alek, not one to be easily discouraged, pursues Dino, following him and his three friends on their vacation in Honolulu. Then, while on a hike in a remote, mountainous bamboo forest, Dina is seduced by a wicked-handsome suitor, leaving him feeling faintly slutty. Their scorching sexual encounter is one he can never forget.

He doesn’t tell his friends what happened, particularly since Alek has become a well-liked part of their group. Obsessed with his mountain man, Dino sneaks back to the forest, hoping for another wild encounter. He gets it…in more ways than one. He discovers his lusty forest friend is a supernatural being—a kaupe—and soon learns that pride makes even the smartest man make extremely foolish choices…

Dedication

To Goddess Pele, and to Uncle Joe who first told me about the legend of the kaupe.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

National Car Rental: Enterprise Holdings

Big Yellow Taxi: Joni Mitchell

United Air Lines: United Air Lines, Inc.

AAA: American Automobile Association

Hawaiian Airlines: Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.

Duke’s: TS Restaurants

Google: Google, Inc.

American Express: American Express Company

Ford Explorer: Ford Motor Company

Hotwire: Expedia, Inc.

Visa: Visa, Inc.

Nissan Versa: Nissan Motor Company Ltd.

Waikiki Sunset: Aston Hotels and Resorts LLC

Met: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

I Love Lucy: Paramount Television

Law and Order: Dick Wolf

Styrofoam: The Dow Chemical Company

Tarzan: Edgar Rice Burroughs

Secret: Madonna, Dallas Austin, Shep Pettibone

ABC Stores: ABC Stores

Moana Surfrider Hotel: Starwood Hotels and Resorts

Shore Bird: Shore Bird Restaurant and Beach Bar

Outrigger Reef Hotel: Outrigger Hotels Hawaii

A&F: Abercrombie & Fitch Company

Baywatch: Baywatch Production Company

War and Peace: Leo Tolstoy

Turtle Bay Ocean Resort: Credit Suisse Group AG

Starbucks: Starbucks Corporation

Puppy Love: Paul Anka

Hawaii Five-O: CBS Productions

Groupon: ThePoint, Inc.

iPad: Apple, Inc.

Chapter One

Aloha! Aloha! Dino waved, blinking into the morning’s bright glare as he spotted his friends standing in front of a row of tiny, fake grass shacks, with pristine thatched roofs. The shack with the emerald green signs marked National Car Rental, their designated meeting place. They’d all arrived!

He was madly pleased to see everybody had made it. He was already in tropical idyll mode thanks to the lei greeting he’d received at his arrival gate via his package deal through Pleasant Holidays. The fact that one now had to pay an extra twenty-five dollars for the traditional Hawaiian welcome didn’t bother him too much.

What did bother him was that he hadn’t spotted a single hot guy on the plane and now none of his friends seemed very happy or excited to see him. As he dragged his suitcase on wheels across the sweltering parking lot, nobody moved a muscle or returned his cheery greeting.

Can you believe we were having drinks in Los Angeles last night and here we are two thousand miles away…together again at lunchtime? he called out.

Nobody said a word. Dino Perez didn’t think a thing like flying safely from one place to another was small potatoes this day and age. To him, it was nothing short of miraculous. This trip is meant to be!

His friends stood in a small semicircle, preoccupied with apparent mini-dramas, judging by their long faces. His heart sank.

There’s a line. Jay pointed. His tone suggested it was the end of the world.

Dino shrugged and dug into his laptop bag for his sunglasses. Man, it was hot. He couldn’t remember Oahu ever being this humid. What the hell had happened to the island’s gently wafting trade winds? It was spring. It was supposed to be perfect temperatures. Not stifling. He glanced around him. Construction going on everywhere. More and more cars were jammed into the gigantic multi-car rental agency lot at Honolulu Airport than he’d ever seen. More and more office buildings blocking out the wind…and the perennial palm trees.

The classic line from Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi reverberated in his mind…

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…

Gone were the days when half-clad men and women rowed to visiting ships in small canoes, brandishing sweet-smelling leis and the promise of so much more.

Ah…those must have been fine, glorious times. Nowadays you clicked a link for the privilege of a factory-produced, scentless, cheerless greeting.

Stop it. You’re here. Your heart’s home.

Dino eyed his three friends as they all glowered in the stifling heat. Flávia, his forty-year-old friend who dreamt of being a cougar, was going to be his roommate. She wore jeans and a T-shirt, which surprised but delighted him. She always wore suits and heels back home. He hoped she’d left every last strand of pearls she owned with them. She was very cool towards him. Oh, great. This is a spiffing start to our holiday.

Jay and Colin, the fiftyish gay married couple who’d tagged along for the vacation, seemed to be arguing with each other over something stupid.

Is there a problem? he asked, wishing for the answer no.

Colin pocketed the complimentary headphones from the flight. Who does that? Jay griped. Dino privately agreed it was ludicrous but said nothing as Jay went on and on.

You’re so cheap and besides, they give us another pair on the way home! Jay shouted at his husband. All of which was true.

Jay and Colin—who rarely left their home to buy groceries let alone fly two thousand miles to Honolulu—seemed more suitably attired for an Arctic expedition than an island getaway. Colin—who was, to be fair, a bit of a fuddy-duddy—wore corduroy pants, a flannel shirt and a thin tie. His only hint of relaxing his academic rules was a pair of brown leather sandals. Dino stared down at them.

Why are you wearing socks with those?

Colin gave him an incredulous look. Because sand might get in my toes. I hate when that happens.

Oh, boy.

Dino caught Flávia’s cutting glance and looked away again. This was supposed to have been Dino and Flávia’s trip, until one drunken Sunday, over lunch, she’d mentioned it to Jay and Colin. Dino hadn’t known the men very long but they were two of Flávia’s closest friends and Dino—who, at thirty, was younger than all of them—had instantly liked the older couple. They were the most interesting people he’d met in LA in years. Both artists, they had eclectic tastes in books and movies but were inclined to isolate.

They had mistakenly assumed that Flávia was encouraging them to crash the vacation party. They’d called Dino, who hadn’t discouraged them from the notion. He had liked the idea of sharing the artistic side of paradise with Jay and Colin.

Flávia had gone berserk when she’d discovered that Jay and Colin had snagged last-minute tickets on United Air Lines.

I thought we were going to go man-hunting, she’d fumed.

We can still do that, Dino had pointed out, but she had been a total witch ever since her

Reviews for The Kaupe

[serenayates · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story begins as a perfectly normal contemporary tale (if there is such a thing). only to develop into a fascinating supernatural story with all kinds of implications for Dino.

Dino is more than a little superficial, focused on what people look like rather than who they are. As a makeup artist that works for him, but his personal life is a different matter. He turns down potential partners based on what he thinks about them based on their looks - only to be taught a lesson when he encounters "the kaupe".

If you like stories with a supernaturall touch, if men who need to learn a lesson are your thing, and if you're looking for a read that is as hot as it is thought-provoking, then you will probably like this novella.