Landon

The moment the door was firmly closed and locked, separating us from that douche and his date, I pushed her up against it. My fingers wrapped around her tiny waist, gripping her firmly as I traveled the skin from her ear to her shoulder with my lips.

“I need you,” I rasped before firmly attaching my mouth to her neck.

“You have me.” Her hands slid under my T-shirt, skimming my abs before firmly pressing against my pecs. The feel of her hands on me erased every moment of annoyance I’d suppressed over the past few hours. Having her against me, breathing in her sweet scent, feeling her touching me, instantly caused all angst to vanish into thin air.

Our mouths fused together, forming an open forum for our tongues to dance together. They perfectly interacted while each of us showed the exact same amount of urgency. It was neither slow nor harried, but instead just fluid motion. Not until I first began kissing Zara had I even thought about kissing and how very erotic it all could be.

She broke our kiss long enough to pull my shirt over my head and throw it to the floor, before resuming right where we’d left off.

Muted laughter from outside filtered up to us. Knowing that that prick was still downstairs on the back deck, while I was upstairs about to consume every inch of her, caused my cock to swell further.

I skimmed one of my hands that rested on her waist, down to the top of her thigh. When I no longer felt the fabric of her short sundress but instead smooth skin, I started the climb back up under her skirt. She straddled my thigh, pressing herself against my leg, and in the process, pressing her thigh against my hardening mass.

When I took a half step back, she grumbled into my mouth and tried to pull me closer. Undeterred, I slipped my hand into her panties, and her griping immediately halted. I then pulled my mouth from hers so I could stare into her eyes as I explored her with my fingers. Those stunning golden-brown eyes slid shut, but flew back open the moment my movements stopped. Without words, she knew what I wanted and continued to stare back at me.

I needed so much more than just touching her as I was. A few more seconds, and then I’d move on to what I really wanted…to taste her, to own her. But for that moment, the look on her face as I skimmed my fingertips over her clit was something of absolute beauty. I dug the fingers of my free hand into her hair, holding her gaze to mine. When I slid two fingers into her, she immediately clenched around me in response. I kissed her softly on her lips with each gentle thrust. I did everything I needed to get her to come undone.

“Lance, please,” she begged. Not only could I hear it in her voice, I could feel her body coming dangerously close. At the touch of my thumb on her clit, her pussy began to spasm around my fingers. At the touch of my tongue on hers, she came on my hand, literally.

“That’s one.”

“One?” she asked, breathless.

“Yeah, baby, one of many.”

I had no idea what time it was, probably somewhere around three a.m. We’d been in the guest room for hours, and up until a little while ago, we’d engaged in nothing less than a sex marathon. It was as if we both knew our time together in Hawaii was coming to an end, and we needed to get it all in before it did.

Things would be very different once I left. Even if the world didn’t know about Zara, there would be a lot of hiding and sneaking around. Sure, we’d be together, and that was what counted. But the innocence of our relationship would forever be tainted once news broke that Landon Price was seeing someone.

“Are you awake?” she asked in the darkness.

“Yeah. You, too?” Her head moved up and down against my chest. “What are you thinking about?”

“You. Me. Us.” Her warm breath fanned my neck with her admission.

“Me, too. Can I ask you something?”

She shifted to bring her face closer to mine. “Anything.”

“You freaked out tonight, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“Zara. There will be times when you can’t run or even hide from it. I won’t be here to help you through it.” I skimmed my knuckles down her cheek. “To help distract you.”

“I know. But we’ll talk all the time. I’ll get a cellphone, and no one will have that number but you. Please promise you won’t constantly worry about me and how I’m handling things.”

I couldn’t promise that, and my silence confirmed it.

“Please?” She searched my face and waited for a response. I wasn’t going to lie to her, not ever again.

“I can’t promise that, Zara,” I admitted. “I have one regret since meeting you. I hated starting our relationship on a lie, and once you knew how I felt about you and who I really was, I swore I’d never lie to you again. You can trust in that, especially when things get crazy with the media, as I warned you they would.”

It was hard to tell if the way her eyes shimmered was from the dimly lit room or emotion. I gripped her chin and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

“I’ll do everything in my power to protect you, but I can’t promise to not worry about you. I can’t pretend I’m not scared this will change things between us, change you. I’ve seen it too many times in my world. But I love you…always.”

“I love you, too.” She leaned her head back on my chest, and the worrying within me intensified. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her, but the more she heard it from me the more I hoped she’d be prepared for the onslaught of chaos to come.