Zara

Sometime after our little chat I fell asleep. It was a restless stage caught between consciousness and crazy dreams of girls chasing Lance. Females everywhere, all ages, all sizes, running after him as he chased me.

I woke with a start, panting heavily and my heart pounding within my chest. He stirred behind me, his one arm under my pillow, the other holding me firmly against him. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck, his forehead touching the back of my head, and his naked torso pressed up against mine.

There was so much more I’d wanted to say last night. Things I’d been thinking about since arriving on Oahu. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I loved him. And truth be told, I hoped that one day I went to California to be with him. Yes, I’d miss my family. Yes, I’d miss my simple life. But it was better than missing him. The one thing that scared me more than all of that was his fame. I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. In spite of all the scenarios he had warned me about, it was still a vague existence that eluded me. However, seeing Elan’s and Rosalani’s reactions toward Lance last night did freak me out a bit.

The sun filtered through the blinds enough to reveal that it was early morning. We couldn’t have gotten more than a few hours of sleep between making love repeatedly and lying awake, lost in our own thoughts. Yet I wasn’t the least bit tired. Instead, more so riled up and anxious to get back to Lanai to tell my parents all that I knew, and all that I wanted.

I had no idea exactly what I would say to them once we got back. From explaining who Lance really was to explaining that I was now in love with the impostor, either way it wouldn’t go over well with my father. I wasn’t concerned about that as much as their opinion of Lance. It would crush me if this caused a divide between them that could never be closed.

One step at a time, I argued. I had to take things one small step at a time.

The muscular forearm that wrapped around me like a vine tightened. “Mmm,” he said before rubbing his nose in my hair.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, beautiful. Are you tired?”

“Not really, although I should be. You gave me quite a workout last night.”

His fingers flexed into my hip just as his hips flexed into my ass. “You know what they say about workouts?”

“No, what?”

“Keep the momentum going to avoid getting sore.”

A subtle shift behind me clued me in to his plans. Using his nose, he moved my hair to the side and began nibbling on my neck. His lips felt so warm, so comforting against my skin. He felt like home to me.

It was crazy how being with him instantly erased any worries I carried. And it’d been like that since day one. Even before I knew who he really was. Even knowing that my father was home griping about me being with Lance, the moment I saw him again, the moment he took me into his arms and kissed me, all the anxiety I lived with at home was forgotten. It was scaring me how much I depended on him to comfort me, to settle my nerves. Even more so how much I needed him.

He stopped at my earlobe and tugged it between his lips. I flipped, surprising him when I crushed my lips against his. I didn’t care that I had yet to brush my teeth, or worry that he did. I didn’t care that my sister and brother-in-law were one room away. All I wanted and needed was Lance at that moment.

I curled a leg around his hip, and his eyes widened farther. “Someone is frisky today.”

Wiggling closer, I successfully lined him up right where I needed him to be in the process. I reached between us and guided his hardened length inside me. He continued to watch my face as I took the initiative to take him without pause.

After a few frantic thrusts on my part, his hands stilled my hips. “What’s wrong?”

How could he possibly have known something was wrong, when I didn’t consciously know that? Not until he halted my harried movements did it occur to me that there was a reason for my urgency.

“Zara.” He scanned my face, a small frown puckering his brow.

“I want you,” I said quietly.

“You have me. Always. You do know that, right?”

“I do.”

“Something is bothering you. Talk to me.”

The confusion warring within me caused a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to continue, needing him to remind me of our connection. I also wanted to just sink into his embrace and cry my eyes out.

Why was I so emotional, why now?

He slowly pulled out and closed the distance between us by wrapping both of his arms around me. “This will only work if we continue to communicate, baby.”

“I’m not sure what’s bothering me,” I murmured against his chest. “I don’t know what this is. I feel panicked all of a sudden.”

He lifted my chin, forcing me to look at his face. “It’s because time is marching on, taking all these wonderful days we’re sharing with it. We may never again have days like we’re sharing here in Hawaii, but we’ll have others that are just as wonderful.”

“I know. I just worry that…”

Again he examined my face, his gaze looking for a clue to what I was struggling to say. “That your parents will be upset once they know the truth? That my lifestyle is so different from yours? That I’ll be leaving soon? What? Talk to me.”

“I worry that once you get back you’ll forget what it was about me that you fell for in the first place. I’m just an ordinary, sheltered, clueless girl from a remote location as opposite from Hollywood as it can get.”

Opposite from those beautiful women you work with, like Kaelynn, I wanted to say but couldn’t. A large lump of emotion clogged my throat, preventing me from further explaining myself. When I felt the tears coming, I laced my fingers with his before sliding out of bed.

“Where are you going?” He continued to hold my hand, his arm stretching as I stepped away.

“I’ll be right back.” I heard him getting out of the bed and following me. Before I reached the bathroom, he stopped me with another crushing embrace.

For the first time since meeting him, since learning his true identity, even since professing our love, I cried my eyes out over the unknown and all that was coming that I couldn’t change.