Nine in the morning?! That’s like five hours from now, more or less!

Bass was right on one thing though, what better way to debut myself than to do a Lombardo film?

However, amazing as the idea was, I couldn’t help feeling frightened. What if my acting was subpar? What if they hated it? Would I be able to handle acerbic reviews and comments angled towards me by critics?

My heart was galloping. It was already heightened from making out with Bass, but then it had skyrocketed to an unparalleled level. I was agitated and in dire need to speak to someone other than Bass. First, I needed to be alone to soothe my nerves then I would call Lindsey.

Yes, I would call my friend even at this ungodly hour.

I was in dire need of a 911 emergency therapy discussion.

“Do you mind if I go shower?” I asked Bass. He looked a bit confused about my question. I was sure he wasn’t expecting me to say something so random, but I felt like I needed a hot shower. Right now. PRONTO.

“Go ahead and feel free to use my bathroom upstairs. You know where everything is. There is an extra toothbrush in the second drawer on the left and there are soaps and shampoos in the shower, use whatever you need.”

I hesitated a second before I leaned over and gave Bass a peck on the cheek and hastily left the pool area. I knew it was stupid to hesitate after what we were doing a few minutes ago, before we got interrupted by Martin, but I was beyond confused.

Why wouldn’t Bass kiss me? It seemed like the more I pushed him to do it, the more he hesitated. Well, he could keep his kisses ‘cause his licking and biting sure as hell got me hot and bothered in no time. I knew girls shouldn’t compare, but I couldn’t help doing it. Carter was awesome, but I felt like with Bass, it would be explosive. I had concluded this after that teeny, tiny stint in the pool? Hell yes!

I felt it—in my bones and in my core. God only knew what would’ve happened if we hadn’t gotten interrupted. I wanted to see Bass lose control. Crazy, wasn’t it? I wanted the real him unleashed and unbridled. I wanted the real man behind the controlled restraints. I had a quick glimpse of it and I wanted to see more. I thought.

I made a quick stop at the movie theatre to fetch my belongings. It was weird that I felt right at home here. I barely knew him and yet here I was—not feeling awkward at all.

Walking upstairs in my barely clad state, my mind boggled as I went to his room on auto-pilot. Per his instructions, I found a toothbrush and immediately took care of brushing my pearly whites while I went to turn on his shower, making the water as hot as I could stand it. When I jumped in, my eyes surveyed the selection of hair care products and shower gels I had to choose from.

Amused, I scoured for his scent amongst the scented selections. After a few tries, I figured he was a Lime Basil & Mandarin kind of guy. You’d think lime and basil would be an icky combination, but nope! It was alluringly sexy and zesty at the same time. The smell was so him and I contemplated inhaling the damn scented shower gel until I passed out. I’d much rather smell it on him, of course, but that was a close second.

After my quick shower, I wrapped my head with a towel and covered my body with another one.

The screen on my phone read 4:24 am. I bit my lip nervously before I hit dial. I was about to give up after a few rings, but thank heavens, the woman managed to pick up before I ended the call. “Do you need someone to bail you out? Which station?” Lindsey grumbled as she made a loud, noisy yawn.

“This is not Amber calling, babe. I know you’re probably half asleep, but I need to talk to you. It’s a 911.” After a full minute, I thought she passed out on me.

“Sorry, had to pinch myself to wake up. What’s up?” Lindsey asked with another yawn. Yeah, buddy, thanks for making me feel guilty for waking you up!

“Okay, well, we both know I went to Martin Lombardo’s place tonight, right?”

“Who would forget about tonight after Carter’s impersonation of a growling bear?” Lindsey asked amusingly.

Right, Carter’s growling. What the hell?

Mentally shaking my head, I continued my story, “Well, Martin insisted for Bass and me to read lines tonight and half an hour ago, he called out of the blue and offered me the lead in a movie that he’s going to be filming this summer with Bass. Martin needs my answer by nine in the morning, that’s in a few hours. I’m calling because I don’t know what to do, Lindsey! I mean, I want to do it, but I don’t want to embarrass myself either. You know?”

“Hold up; Martin Lombardo offered you to star in his movie with Bass and you’re fucking thinking this over?” Lindsey asked hysterically. She started blabbering, “Okay, I get why you’re hesitating, going from your high school drama classes to the big screen. I get that this is a big, BIG deal for you, but Emma, Martin Lombardo himself offered you the role! He must believe you’re good or good enough for him to even consider you. So do me a favor and stop it with this boo-hoo party you’re giving yourself because you’re going to be a movie star, BABY! Get that? A. MOVIE. STAR. Ahhhh! I knew you were going places with that angelic beauty of yours, Em, but an actress? That’s incredible!”

“It’s great and all, but what if I embarrass myself or my family? Do you know how much this is scaring me? I would be devastated if I became an embarrassment to everyone I know. What if I let Lombardo or Bass down?" I voiced out my fears. “I don’t want to give it my all and not be good enough. I don’t think I have it in me to be butchered by the rest of the country or better yet, the rest of the world! God, the thought alone sends me into overdrive and I might just end up in a mental hospital.”

“That overactive imagination of yours will really send you into a psych ward if you keep going on like this! I don’t know why your confidence lacks sometimes because you fucking ROCK, girlfriend! Besides, if you ditch this, do you want to go on forever wondering ‘what if?’ Think about that because I sure as hell don’t want a big fucking ‘what if’ in my life.” Lindsey, the voice of reason.

“Geez, a big ‘what if,’ huh? Well, maybe you should check out Brody Thompson then, girlfriend, because from where I’m standing, the man is a big hot ‘what if’ to me.”

Lindsey huffed on the other end. “Whatever. I have to go back to sleep ’cause I have a stupid quiz first thing this morning. Just remember that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Emma. This is like one of those opportunities that are life changing and can undoubtedly alter your universe. This is it, Emma Anderson. It’s your time to shine. I just want to tell you—either way—that I’m proud of you. Okay fuck it! I will be prouder if you do take the damn role, woman! Imagine all those award shows and the free goodies that come along with it. Accept the role before I smack some sense into you, comprende?”

As Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Heck yes, failure is not fatal. Yet, I don’t want a big ‘what if’ haunting me.

“All right, Lindsey Mason, you’ve finally gotten through to me. Now, go sleep and ace that quiz of yours. I will call you tomorrow after the meeting, okay?”

“Damn straight! Now you owe me some tacos and margaritas. Over and out.”

I so do, I thought with a smile. After a quick goodbye, we ended the call.

Feeling convinced and assured, I strolled towards the bedroom to get a new shirt and boxers. I chose all white this time. I mean, there was only black and white to choose from. Why didn’t he wear any other color? I bet he would look gorgeous in blue, especially with those eyes of his.

I found Bass in the theatre on the makeshift bed he made earlier, lounging in a pair of white drawstring pants and nothing else. His blond hair was wet and when I got closer, I breathed in the scent of his intoxicating shower gel. Dammit, it smelled much more delicious on him.

Without thinking, I traced the ridges of his tanned, steel abs with my forefinger, feeling the smoothness of his skin that was hot on my skin. Boy, he felt wonderful in all his steely, hard muscled goodness.

Bass groaned as my finger went a little lower, an inch above the top of his pants. He immediately grabbed my hand and kissed each of my fingers as he laughed. Tingles reverberated all through me.

“As great as that feels, I can’t let you go on. Tell me though, have you thought about it?” Bass inquired. He sure was eager to know.

”Well…” I teased, smiling at him.

“Yes? No? Come on, Emma. You can’t miss out on this opportunity! Not only will it be awesome, but imagine spending all that time with me in Greece. We can explore the islands when we aren’t filming; get to know the culture and the history. You’re going to love Greece, it’s beautiful. I’ve been there once and it was marvelous! I want to see it again, with you.

Bass Cole, I think you’ve just disarmed me. The picture he just painted was pure bliss. “How long will we be out there?”

He grabbed my hand and started to caress it. “Three months—possibly four–depending on how well it goes. I believe the privately owned island is somewhere on the Aegean Sea and is small. I think it has a population of roughly one thousand.”

Three to four months with Bass. That’s ninety to a hundred and twenty days with him. That’s a long… long time… on an island… a beautiful Greek island… with a beautiful man. Hmmm, what to do?

“Well, that’s quite a long time, you know?” I teased as he shifted me onto my back and positioned his super sexy body atop mine.

Yes, yes, yes! my mind rejoiced.

“Say yes!” he commanded with a lopsided grin, exposing his sexy dimples. Gah!

“Um,” my voice trailed off when I felt his hand slide inside my shirt and caress my side. Was it wrong of me when I ‘accidentally’ opened my legs a tad wider to accommodate him better?

His blue eyes became dilated as they looked into mine. “You feel like silk,” he rasped out as his hand moved a little higher. I pushed my hips against his and found out how aroused he really was. Bass hissed from my bold gesture. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t be touching you this way. It’s too early for you.”

Are you for real dude? Come on! “Don’t you think that’s for me to decide?”

Bass kissed my nose and held my chin. “No. I’m not taking you while you’re in love with Carter.”

Well, there goes my sex drive, thank you. If that’s how he felt, then there was no way we were going to have sex anytime soon. Bummer.

“I see… then I guess it would help if you didn’t make me all aroused then?”

“Promise it won’t happen again.” He moved to the side, got the remote, turned off the lights then gathered me in his arms.

How could he just turn me down like that? He was all relaxed and here I was, uncomfortably wet and turned on. How annoying was that?

“Tell Martin ‘yes’ when he calls.”

His strong arms pulled me tighter against his chest. “You won’t regret this, Emma. This will open a lot of doors for you, just you wait and see.”

I didn’t doubt it. I just hoped that I could handle all of it.

“I’m going to call my agent first thing in the morning and take care of that for you. Barbara will take you on and she has a great team with her. So, go to sleep. I’ll figure everything out before you wake up tomorrow morning.”

Sigh, I couldn’t continue brooding while he was being all nice.

“Thank you. You don’t have to, really, but still, thank you for arranging it for me.”

“No worries. Just don’t forget to thank me when you’re accepting your first statue though.” Bass chuckled.

Ha!

“I’ll be leaving for Canada in a week to film the third KOC movie. I really needed the good news.”

He’s leaving in a week? What?!!! “You never once mentioned that. How long will you be gone?” I felt hurt for some reason. He never said a word!

“Six months,” he grunted and nuzzled the crook of my neck. “Saying it out loud would have made it real. I like spending time with you and I’m not ready to go, but I have to. I apologize for not telling you any sooner.”

Shit. I guess it was a good thing we didn’t have sex or anything to complicate things. He was leaving after all.

“That’s your job, your life, Bass. You don’t have to say sorry about that.” I knew how much he loved his job and I sure as hell wasn’t going to interfere.

“I know; that’s why I wanted you to get the role Martin offered. I think it would be the best thing for us both. You get to see if acting is something you’d want to pursue and I get to be around you every single day.” Man, he was really serious about me. How long would that last, I wondered.

“Trust me, Bass. You’ll get bored seeing me every day after a week. You’ll be running in the other direction afterwards.” I smirked at the thought, picturing him running away from me like he did when he was trying to avoid his fans. I guessed only time would tell…

His arms squeezed me tighter as he let out a long sigh. “May you have the sweetest amongst the sweetest dreams, my dear Emma.”

Sweetest dreams, indeed.