“You still have your briefs on.” I bobbed against him and his mouth came down onto mine, shutting me up. I felt his tongue dart into mouth and I reached my hands down and pulled his briefs off before grabbing him. His eyes popped open at my bold move, and I winked at him as I eased him into me. I closed my eyes and cried out as he pushed into me hard and I bit down on his shoulder. I cried out as we bobbed back and forth in the water and it was minutes before I realized that I had let go of his briefs in the water.

Zane grunted in my ear as he pummeled into me and we both came pretty quickly. I held onto him tightly and we were both gasping as we bobbed in the ocean.

“That was hot.” He grinned.

“Yes,” I gasped. “It was.”

“I want to take you home now so I can have my way with you slowly.”

“Uh, about that.” I grinned.

“What?”

“I let go of your briefs.”

“What?” His eyes widened and he chortled as he realized what that meant. “You do realize there is a very good chance I could be arrested for flashing now.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Oh, man.”

“We’ll have to walk out slowly with you in front of me.”

“Okay.” I nodded.

“You planned this, didn’t you?”

“No, no. I swear.” I laughed. “It was a mistake.”

“I guess I’m to blame.” He winked.

“Why?”

“I made you lose your mind with my good loving.”

“Yeah,” I snorted. “That was it.” At the same moment, a huge wave crashed over us and I swallowed a mouthful of saltwater. I started coughing and spitting and Zane grabbed a hold of me tightly.

“Are you okay?” He looked concerned and I nodded.

“I’m just a bit cold.”

“I guess we need to get out now?” He paused and grimaced and I stuck my tongue out at him.

“It was your bright idea.”

“I didn’t expect you to drop my underwear in the ocean.” He shook his head. “I bet you did it on purpose.”

“Who me?” I shook my head in denial. “I promise I didn’t, but I can’t say it’s not funny.”

“You won’t think it’s funny if I get arrested.” He laughed and we swam back to shore.

“Now what?” I looked at him as we got to the shore and he winked at me.

“Now we run.” He grabbed a hold of me and we ran to our clothes with him pressed against me. He let go of me quickly and grabbed his pants and tried to drag them on. I laughed as I watched him wiggling and hopping around, trying to pull his pants up his wet body.

“What are you laughing at?” he growled as I watched him struggling and he shook his head. “Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.”

“It would have been better if you had a towel.”

“You’re so helpful, Lucky.”

“I try.” I walked around and slapped his pale white ass before reaching down and helping him to pull his pants up. I had noticed a couple walking towards us and I knew we only had a few seconds left to cover his na**d penis.

“Thanks.” Zane buttoned up his pants and turned around to kiss me. “I’d do it over again if I had to.”

“Sure you would.” I winked at him and held onto my panties and bra tightly. “Let’s go home. I need to shower.”

“You need to shower?” he groaned. “I have sand in places that nothing should ever have access to.”

“Ha ha. I’ll have to guess where those places are.”

“Perv.” He reached over and grabbed my breast through my wet top and licked his lips. “Oh the things I want to do with you right now.”

“You wish, Beaumont.” I screamed and went running as quickly as I could across the sand and to his car. I heard him behind me and I increased my pace. I felt Zane grab hold of me and we fell to the sand, laughing and exhausted. “No fair.” I studied his face and smiled up into his eyes and he gazed down at me.

“You know all’s fair in love and war.”

“Are you in love with me or are we at war?”

“I love you more than words can say, I’ll love you for a million days, I love you in many different ways, I love you if you’ll always let me pay, I’d love you even if you were made of clay.”

“You’re a goof.” My heart thudded at his short little ditty. “But thank you.”

“I never told you before, but I like to write songs.” He stared down at me carefully. “I’m not great, but I like to do it for fun.”

“Ooh, write me a song.” I grinned. “I love music and musicians.”

“Oh, so now you love me because I’m a musician?”

“Well, of course.”

“Let’s make a deal.” His eyes sparkled. “I’ll write you a song, if you write me a song.”

“I can’t sing,” I wailed. “There is no way.”

“You don’t have to sing it.”

“You want me to write you a song?” I looked at him in amazement. “Why?”

“The same reason you want me to write you a song.”

“But you have talent.”

“I’m sure you do as well.”

I thought about it for a moment, and while I didn’t want to accept the challenge, I did very much want for him to write me a song. “Okay, you’re on. Get ready for a reggae masterpiece.”

“Reggae, huh?”

“I am from Miami.”

“No, you’re from the South. I was expecting some country. A little something about me, your pickup truck, and your dog.”

“That’s messed up, Zane. All country songs are not about pickup trucks.”

“Sorry, should I clarify it’s a Ford?”

“Idiot.” I swatted him in the arm. “I do like country. I just really like reggae as well.”

“Like Bob Marley, mon.” Zane spoke in a Jamaican accent and I burst out laughing.

“Don’t ever do that again,” I chortled. “Is Bob the only reggae artist you know?”

“No, I know his son, Ziggy, as well.” Zane bent down and kissed me on the lips. “Okay, you do your reggae song and I’ll do my creation.”

“Please no heavy metal.”

“Wait, you don’t want me to scream about how I want to love and kill you? Lucckkkkkyyy, I want you to knoooowwww, that I love you sooooo. Don’t ever goooooo,” he started shouting in a rock voice and I covered my ears.

“Please, no.”

“Come on.” He pulled me up. “Let’s go home and shower.”

***

“I called Leo, he’s going to come over tomorrow and pick you up for dinner.” Zane looked up as I stepped out of the bathroom in shorts and a t-shirt.

“Okay.”

“Thanks for doing this, Lucky.”

“I don’t even know why this is needed.”

“I don’t know what Braydon and his lot are capable of. I don’t want to risk anything.” His voice rose and I groaned.

“Okay, okay. I don’t want to get into it again.” I rolled my eyes and Zane sighed.

“I don’t think you understand the seriousness of the situation, Lucky. These guys aren’t going to care if they have to hurt you.” He grabbed my face. “Please do not do anything stupid.”

I shook him off of me, feeling annoyed again. “I’m not a little kid. I don’t want to have to keep telling you that, Zane. Sometimes you can be so annoying.”

“I’m just trying to be your protector.”

“I don’t need a protector.” My voice rose.

“You’re right; we don’t need to go into this again.” He turned away from me. “I’m going into my office to do some work. Will you be okay by yourself?”

“Yes.” I nodded, annoyed at him. “I’ll start making some notes for the documentary.” And looking up your mom online.

“That’s good. I’m glad it’s something you love.” He smiled at me sweetly and came over and gave me a kiss on the head. “Be good, and I’ll be in the study if you need to talk.”

“Yes, papa,” I whispered under my breath as I rolled my eyes at his retreating back.

“What was that?” He turned to look at me with a frown.

“Nothing, sir.” I stood to attention and saluted him. “Nothing at all.”

Zane shook his head at me and walked out through the door. I flopped down on the bed and checked my phone. I had another message from Leeza and I decided to call her.

“Lucky!” she answered on the first ring.

“Hey.” My voice was hesitant and not super friendly as I was still upset at her from the previous call.

“Evan and I broke up,” she sighed. “He’s an asshole.”

“I didn’t even know you guys were dating.” I shook my head and my words were angry.

“Well, we weren’t dating dating. We just hung out a few times and had sex.”

“You slept with him?”

“He was hot.”

“You didn’t even know him.”

“I don’t have your rules, Lucky. Anyway, did you ask Zane if I can come to Los Angeles?” I could hear her pout over the phone.

“I thought you said he was creepy.”

“Oh, I just said that. Evan made me think that, but maybe he’s just sweet. And not a stalker.” She paused. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I sighed. “And you can come to L.A. whenever.”

“This weekend?” she asked hopefully.

“I guess.” I wasn’t really too anxious to see Leeza.

“What about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? You can’t afford that.”

“I got a ticket already.” Her voice was low.

“Why? You didn’t even know if it was going to be okay.”

“Well, Evan and I were going to take a trip, and …”

“And you broke up, so now you want to come and visit me instead?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was low. “Don’t be mad at me, Lucky, please,” she pleaded. “I miss you. I want to see you and make sure you’re okay. You just left Miami so quickly, and I know you don’t really know Zane that well.”

“You can come,” I groaned.

“Thank you, Lucky,” she squealed. “I’m so excited. I‘ve never been to California before. Can we go to Beverly Hills tomorrow?”

“I already have dinner plans for tomorrow.” I frowned. “I guess you’ll have to come.”

“Oh, I don’t want to interrupt your dinner date with Zane.”

“I’m actually having dinner with a different guy.” I paused to think if I should fill Leeza in on all the drama.

“Oh me, oh my. Are you guys swingers, Lucky?” Leeza’s voice sounded shocked. “I blame myself, like, I knew this would happen. It always does. You had no sex, for like, what two years?”

“A year.”

“And now you’ve gone crazy. That’s why I just let myself indulge when I feel like it.”

“Yeah, that’s why.” My voice was sarcastic. “Anyway, I have to go. I’m getting another call. Email me your flight info and I’ll see if we can pick you up.” I didn’t wait for her to reply, and clicked over to the other line. “Hello?” I asked slowly and cautiously, praying to God that I wasn’t about to hear Braydon’s voice on the line.

“Lucky?” Sidney Johnson’s warm voice filled the airwaves and I smiled.

“Yes, hi, Sidney. How’s it going?”

“Good, good. Betty just made me some pound cake and tea. I think she’s trying to fatten me up.” He laughed into the phone.

“That must be nice.”

“So, I was just thinking about our conversation the other day,” Sidney continued and I heard Betty mumbling something in the background. “Well, I told Betty and she told me to give you some information.”

“Oh?”

“I told her it wasn’t our place to get involved, but she said she thinks Noah would have approved, had he been here.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, when we saw Noah for the last time, he gave me some files, and well, me and Betty never really went through them before. But today, we had a look and, well, there’s some information on his mom.”

“On Noah and Zane’s mom?” My jaw dropped and I lowered my voice. “You mean he found her?”

“Well, it looks like he did.” Sidney’s voice was worried. “I don’t really know, but there’s a number and an address. I don’t know if they are good. But yeah, Betty thought I should give you the information. Save you some time, if you were going to look for Zane’s mom.”

“Oh, Sidney, that would be great,” I gushed with my heart beating fast. “Let me get a pen and paper so I can write the information down.”

“So there’s one thing,” Sidney continued. “The address and number, well they’re in Paris. Paris, France.”

“Oh.” My heart dropped momentarily. There went my images of a happy family reunion and a trip to Disney.

“But we figured you could still call her.”

“Yes, yes. I’ll call her.” I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote the number and address down. “Sidney, thank you so much. You don’t know just how much this means to me.”