AFTER LEAVING THE MARINA, HE’D asked if we could stop at a few of the local gift shops, so he could pick up souvenirs to take home to his parents. He’d bought a couple of books for his father, one that described Hawaiian folklore and the other a book of recipes for traditional Hawaiian cuisine. He also picked up a book for himself that was filled with colorful photographs of the island and we sat in the car, dog-earing the pages depicting things we’d seen together. For his mother, he’d chosen a brightly colored bamboo fan and several bars of handmade soaps.
Our laughter seemed forced and, for the first time, our conversations were awkward and stilted, as each of us tried to pretend that nothing was wrong. It was obvious, however, that our impending departure was playing heavily on each of our minds. Feeling frustrated with the unaccustomed tension between us, I’d been relieved when he’d mentioned that he needed to go home and pack.
Of course, that had all changed the moment I’d returned to my house, alone. I’d always loved my home in Maui, considering it my own piece of heaven on earth, but without Garrett by my side, it just felt cold and empty. I missed the sound of his voice and the sparkle he’d get in his eyes whenever he teased me.
I decided I might as well go ahead and pack my own bags to help pass the time, but it didn’t take me nearly as long as I’d hoped. I took a shower next, carefully grooming myself and styling my hair until it lay just right. Once I was dressed, I checked the time, groaning with frustration when I saw that only an hour had passed. I glanced around for something to do, but all I really wanted was to get back to Garrett. Time was slipping away from us and I was powerless to stop it or to even slow it down, but what I could do was make sure I didn’t waste one more second.
I drove over to his place, parking my car in front of his bungalow and got out, racing up the front steps. The door swung open before I even had a chance to knock. Garrett was standing on the other side, and as he flashed me his adorable grin, I suddenly felt like I could breathe again. I closed the distance between us quickly, grabbing him up in my arms and stealing his mouth in a kiss. His body immediately melted against mine and I kicked the door shut with my foot.
“Don’t leave again,” he gasped in between kisses.
“Not a chance. You’re all mine for the rest of the night,” I swore. He let out a contented sigh and I wondered if he felt as relieved to be back together as I did. We spent the next hour making out on his couch like two teenagers. Our clothes stayed on the whole time and our movements were unhurried, each of us seemingly satisfied with simply being in each other’s arms.
“We should probably get going soon,” I said, sifting my fingers through his hair.
Garrett lifted his head. He folded his arms over my chest and rested his chin on them as he gazed up at me. He’d taken his glasses off while we’d been kissing, and his lashes looked even longer without them as they swept over his cheeks with each blink. I stared at him, memorizing the dark ring that circled his gray irises and the three tiny freckles that formed a triangle at the corner of his right eye.
This entire thing had started out so casually. It was supposed to be a bit of fun, a way to enjoy our vacations to the fullest. And yet here we were, two weeks later, and I felt like I was about to lose the best thing to ever happen to me. Maybe these feelings would diminish once I got home, after the euphoria of being on vacation had passed. Perhaps I’d settle into my normal routine and before I knew it, Garrett would be just a memory; one that I looked back on fondly, but a memory nonetheless. It was possible…but I doubted it.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. The luau will be starting soon. I just need to grab my other shirt.” Garrett bent his face down and planted a kiss in the center of my chest then he stood up and went to his room. I watched him walk away, absentmindedly running my hand over my chest at the spot where he’d kissed me, as if by doing so I could sear his kiss into my skin.
He came out moments later, pulling his arms through the sleeves of his shirt. We were dressed similarly in shorts, tank tops, and the matching Hawaiian print shirts we’d purchased at the beginning of our trip. I grinned at him.
“Come here.” He gave me a curious look as I pulled my phone from my pocket but moved closer anyway. I threw my arm around his shoulder and pulled him into my side, stretching my other arm out in front of me. “We need at least a couple of pictures together.”
“Oh my God! I can’t believe we haven’t taken any before this,” he exclaimed as we smooshed our cheeks together, looking at the camera and smiling. I took a couple of others, including one of me kissing his cheek and then another of us kissing each other. “Make sure you send a copy to my phone,” he said when we were done.
I quickly pressed a few buttons and then looked up at him with a grin. “Done.”
“Thank you,” he said, checking his phone and smiling at the screen. He shoved it back in his pocket then gave me a soft kiss.
The luau was in full swing by the time we made our way down the beach and we were greeted by beautiful Hawaiian women who draped colorful leis around our necks. Tiki torches lit up the area and a group of men played festive Hawaiian tunes on their ukuleles. Garrett and I made our way through the long buffet line, sampling a bit of everything, from island-style taro rolls to lomi salmon and Kalua pork. When our plates were full, we wandered over to a table that had an empty set of chairs.
“This is amazing! There’s so much to see,” Garrett exclaimed, a look of wonder on his face as he looked around.
“I’m so glad we got to do this together,” I told him. I grabbed his hand under the table and held it while we ate.
We took turns sampling food from each other’s plates and comparing which ones were our favorites. When we’d finished eating, we sat back to watch the show that was just getting ready to start. Women dressed in colorful tops and long, flowing grass skirts performed a beautiful hula. Garrett and I watched in amusement as they began pulling random audience members up on stage with them, thankful when neither one of us got chosen.
The show continued with fire dances, hula hoop challenges, and a limbo contest which we did get chosen to participate in. I knocked the pole down on the third round, but I watched proudly as Garrett showed off just how limber he was and ended up winning the entire thing. He laughed when they presented him with a large pineapple-looking trophy and held it up in the air as they took his picture.
With the soft glow of the firelight on his face, a wide smile, and pure happiness shining in his eyes, he was absolutely breathtaking. Without giving it a thought, I swooped him into my arms and spun him around. He threw his head back with a laugh but curled his arms around my shoulders as I set him back down.
“You were amazing. I hope you’ll show me some of those moves again later,” I growled in his ear.
“I’ll give you your own private show,” he whispered back. I kissed him then, sealing the promise.
There were more games and entertainment and, eventually, they led us all down to the water where they handed us paper sky lanterns and told us it was customary to make a wish before letting them go. Garrett and I headed a little further down the beach, away from the others. We were quiet as we both thought about what wish we wanted to offer up.
I knew what I wanted my wish to be. I wanted to keep Garrett, to make him mine and to have him in my life permanently, but I knew that wasn’t possible. So, I closed my eyes, sending out to the universe, the only wish that mattered. I wished for Garrett to be happy.
When I opened my eyes, he was staring at me. It may have just been a play of light from the moon, but I thought I saw tears in his eyes. I reached for him instinctively and drew him into my arms. He circled his around my waist and I pressed my lips against his temple, breathing in the fresh coconut scent of his shampoo.
“You ready?” I whispered. I waited for Garrett to nod and then we both let go of our lanterns at the same time. They lifted, floating up in the sky and getting carried away by the gentle breeze. We held each other, watching until they had disappeared.
I barely heard the cheering from the crowd as I placed my hands on either side of his face and kissed him. His hands came up and I felt his long fingers encircling my wrists, holding me in place. The three words that had been burned into my heart began screaming at me, begging me to release them, but I knew it wouldn’t be fair to either of us to say them now. Not with each of us heading in different directions the very next day. I couldn’t say that, but I could at least show him.
“I need you,” I told him, my voice sounding scratchy and rough.
His response was immediate. “Yes.”
We stumbled through the doorway of my bungalow, slamming the door behind us and nearly tripping over the suitcases sitting in the hallway, but we were too busy to care as we fought to see who could strip the fastest. I won and then quickly turned my attention to Dean, helping him to shed his clothes as well.
As soon as he was naked, he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me down the hallway, kissing me the entire way. My head was spinning by the time we made it to my room and he lay me gently on the bed, following me down and covering my body with his own. The heat emanating from his body soaked through my skin, warming me all the way to my bones. Our frantic kisses took a turn, becoming deeper and unhurried as if we both realized that we needed to slow down. This was our last night together, the last time we’d be together like this, and I wanted to savor the moment.
Once I returned home, the memories of us making love would be all I’d have left. And what we were doing was making love…at least it was for me. Because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was in love with this man. Dean had managed to touch something inside me that no one else had ever gotten close to; not Akio or any of my past boyfriends. It was deeper than anything I’d ever felt before, truer than anything I could have hoped for, and strong enough to break me when I had to let it go.
There had been a moment, on the beach, when we were making our wishes, that I’d wanted to tell him how I felt. I could feel the words burning on my tongue, but I forced them back. There was no way I could tell him when all it would accomplish was hurting us both. I could tell that Dean cared about me; he showed me how much in the way that he listened to me and in each of his touches. I could see it in his eyes too. But caring about someone didn’t mean you wanted to be with them in the way I wanted to be with him.
I’d spent the last two weeks getting to know Dean Wilder, but that wasn’t the only person he was. He was also Vincent Wilder, known to the rest of the world as the sexy heart-throb who lit up the silver screen with his bulging biceps and megawatt smile. His life was full of celebrity functions and talk show interviews. I spent my days locked in an office with only the voices in my head for company. The last thing he would possibly need, or want, was someone as awkward and shy as me hanging on his arm as he walked the red carpet. So, with tears stinging my eyes, I’d kept my mouth shut. I held onto him as I set my lantern free along with my wish that Dean would find someone who would love and appreciate the incredible man he was.
I might not have been able to have Dean forever, but I had him right then. For the remainder of that night, I could choose to ignore that the rest of the world even existed and show him all the ways I loved him. So, that’s exactly what I did.
My hands slid to his back, brushing my fingers up and down his spine in a soft caress. His tongue delved in, dipping and swirling into the deep recesses of my mouth. His lips moved downward, and his thumbs pressed against my jaw, urging my head back. The moment I lifted my chin, his tongue began a long, sensual glide down the column of my throat, leaving a wet path along my skin that threatened to scorch me.
Dean gyrated his hips and I moaned as our hard cocks brushed against each other, creating a delicious friction. Cum leaked between us from one, or maybe both of us and I drew in a ragged breath from the exquisite sensations running through me. My cock jumped, and I cried out as he latched onto the sensitive skin at the base of my neck and began sucking hard. He’d done the same thing the night before, and just as it had then, it felt as if he were marking me. The thought brought tears to my eyes because there was nothing I wanted more than to be claimed by this man, for the whole world and, more importantly, for him, to know that we belonged together.
He continued his thorough exploration into all of my erogenous zones, eliciting a cry as his tongue flicked over my nipple. He worked both nipples over with his mouth, nibbling and sucking until I thought I would spontaneously combust. He started to move further south, but I stopped him. I loved the feel of his mouth on my cock, but if this was the last night I ever had with him, I wanted it all.
He looked surprised when I suddenly rolled us both over so that I was lying on top of him. “Get on your stomach. I want to eat your ass,” I panted.
Fire ignited within his green eyes as he responded with a loud and guttural, “Fuuuuuck!”
He did as I asked, rolling onto his stomach quickly and spreading his legs so I could kneel between them. My hands slid down over the smooth, muscled planes of his back and my lips kissed over the sexy little divots on either side of his spine. Using my nose, I ran a path up to his neck and then followed the same path back down with the tip of my tongue until I reached his crease. Spreading him open with my hands, I stared down at his pretty pink ring, remembering vividly how snug and warm it had felt the night before. The way it gripped my shaft perfectly as if it had been designed specifically with my cock in mind.
Flattening my tongue, I swiped a line all the way from his balls to the top of his crack. A long moan escaped from his lips. I pursed my lips, blowing cool air over his wet flesh, watching in rapt fascination as his hole quivered in delight. I growled with pure, animalistic satisfaction at the knowledge that what I was doing was pleasing my lover.
Nestling my body between his spread thighs, I began feasting on him. Every sound that he made, every shudder he gave me in response was like fanning a flame, and I began thrusting my hips, desperately fucking my cock against the mattress.
“Garrett…don’t…” His voice broke off into a string of curse words as I buried my tongue inside his ass, swirling it around and sucking down on his rim. He tasted like soap and clean sweat and my nostrils flared as I breathed in his rich, musky scent.
“Dammit, Garrett! Baby, you’ve got to stop. I’m going to come, and I don’t want to unless I’m buried inside of you. Please,” he panted. I took mercy on him then, rising up on my knees and giving him the space to roll over. I stared down at him, stroking my cock and wearing a self-satisfied grin. “You little shit,” he growled right before he pounced.
I laughed as he flipped me onto my back, landing on top of me and sealing his lips over mine. “I’m going to fucking miss this,” he murmured in between kisses.
Afraid that anything I said would wind up being too much, I rolled over instead and grabbed the condom and bottle of lube that I’d left on the nightstand, handing them both to him. With practiced movements, he pinched the tip of the condom and rolled it down his thick shaft. He slicked his fingers and brought them to my entrance. I jumped slightly at the first cool touch of lube against my pucker and I clenched reflexively.
“Let me inside, baby. I want in that hot little channel. I want to feel you surrounding my cock in all that tight heat, gripping me with your snug little hole.” Dean’s litany of filthy words sent flames licking up my spine and I spread my legs wider, inviting him to do whatever he wanted to my body.
I whimpered as he removed his fingers, but then I felt the head of his cock, nudging against me and begging for entry. As he began to breach my hole, he bent down, kissing me through the discomfort until it turned into waves of pleasure. He swiveled his hips, grinding against me in slow, methodical movements. I clung to him, devouring his mouth and reveling in the feel of being one with the man who had stolen my heart.
I wanted to slow down, to make the moment last forever, but our passion got the better of us and, soon, we were nothing more than a tangled mess of thrusting hips and tasting tongues and the erotic sound of wet skin slapping against wet skin. The smell of sweat and sex hung in the air, clinging to our skin and hair and filling my lungs.
Dean sat up on his knees and began thrusting harder, forcing his cock in deep. I braced my hands flat on the headboard to keep me from cracking my head and went along for the ride. He reached between us and curled his fist around my cock. Fluid dribbled over his fingers as he stroked me, and I saw stars as his cock brushed over that perfect spot inside me.
Seconds later, I slammed my eyes shut and cried out as a powerful orgasm crashed over me, sending wave after wave of pure bliss spreading throughout my body. Cum splashed over us both, landing on my chest and neck and pooling in my navel. His breaths turned ragged and I forced my eyes open, not wanting to miss a second of him as he fell apart. His chest glistened and sweat beaded along his temples. I reached up and ran my hand over his sculpted chest. I pinched one of his nipples between my finger and thumb and twisted slightly, giving him just a bite of pain to help push him over the edge.
He threw his head back and I could see the veins of his neck popping out as he roared loud enough to send the neighbors running. He collapsed on me, breathing heavily in my ear and smearing my cum between us. I could still feel him inside me, his cock pulsating with the last vestiges of his orgasm.
“Oh God, Garrett. That was amazing,” he whispered against my neck. “I don’t know how, but it just keeps getting better and better.” I wrapped my arms and legs around him, wanting to hold on just a little bit longer, as I tried to block out the questions that my mind was begging me to ask. Questions like how much better could it get if we gave it a chance, and why did it ever have to end?