Lana (13 page)

 
He groaned, and I knew instantly which option he’d chosen.
 
He held my thighs wide apart with his hands, lining himself up at my entrance, his eyes intense and hungry.
 
“Last chance to change your mind, Lana,” he said on a gasp.
 

 
I reached down to stroke him, trying to tug him inside of me.
 
He began to push in with a harsh groan.
 
He worked himself in agonizingly slowly, inch by hard inch, feeding that magnificent length into me with his hand.
 
He stopped when he’d reached that barrier.
 
His breathing was ragged.
 
“This is going to hurt.
 
I’m sorry; it’s unavoidable.
 
I need to rip this barrier.
 
It will only hurt like this the first time, okay?”

 
I just nodded, wanting him deeper inside of me, no matter the pain.
 
He propped himself on both elbows above me, tensing his entire body in preparation.
 
He thrust in hard, sinking to the hilt with the force.
 
He shuddered as he paused inside of me, waiting for me to get used to the fullness.
 
It had hurt a lot, but it still felt good, too.
 
I was so achy and needy for him, and had wanted this for so long, that the pain seemed like a little thing when compared to the joy I felt at finally having him inside of me.
 
He brought a hand between us, circling my clit with his thumb.
 
I began to writhe.
 

 
“You’re so fucking tight that I’m going to embarrass myself, baby.
 
I want you with me when I come,” he whispered.
 
His sexy words, combined with all of the wonderful things he was doing to me, made me pant with my building orgasm.
 

 
He began to thrust, big, heavy thrusts that went on and on, his finger still working on me.
 
He kept going until I began to clench around him with another glorious orgasm.
 
“Yes,” he grunted as he began to shudder and come himself.
 
“Oh, yes, Lana.”
 

 
After we’d recovered, he carried me up to his bed, tending to me and holding me.
 
We spent the night together, and it was the best night of my life.
 
He made love to me, over and over again, worshipping my body with his.
 
The spell wasn’t broken until morning, when he was thrusting inside of me yet again.
 
He had used me so thoroughly that I was deliciously sore, each movement reminding me of how much he’d enjoyed my body.
 
He brought me to climax first, before he let himself go.
 

 
“I love you, Akira,” I said to him as he lay on top of me when we’d finished.
 
My voice was quiet, but sure.
 
“I always have, and I always will.
 
I want to be with you forever.
 
I don’t want anyone else.”
 

 
He stiffened at my words, immediately taking his weight off me and sitting up on the side of the bed, his back to me, his legs on the floor.
 
“That’s not possible, Lana,” he said, his tone very final.
 

 
My heart stopped in my chest, my mind racing.
 
“You said you and Milena had broken up,” I said, my voice sounding accusatory.
 

   
He turned to look at me, his features anguished and severe.
 
“We are.
 
This has nothing to do with Milena.
 
This has to do with you.
 
You have the world at your feet.
 
And you’re still so young.
 
You can’t possibly know what you want, at your age.
 
You need to go to college.
 
You need to go experience life and see the world.
 
You’re unbearably beautiful, and smart, and your family’s wealth means that the sky is the limit for you.
 
You have an amazing life ahead of you, and I would never dream of being the thing that stood in your way.
 
This can’t be anything more than what it was, Lana.
 
It was an incredible night, you were incredible, but I won’t tie you to this rock.
 
I’m not that selfish.”

 
His tone was kind, even tender, but all I heard was a rejection.
 
In just a few short minutes, he had stomped all of my dreams of a happy life into dust.
 

 
I was a little numb that morning as I showered, dressed, and left his house.
 
He hovered over me, studying me with worried eyes as I prepared to leave.
 

 
“Are you okay, Lana?” he asked, his voice concerned.
 
But he didn’t touch me, not once.
 
He didn’t correct his clear rejection, or take it back.
 
And he never even came close to saying that he loved me, too.
 

 
I left his house with a broken heart.
 

 
I galvanized myself into professing myself to him one more time, going to his bar that afternoon.
 
I would hate myself if I didn’t give it my best shot.
 
I couldn’t just give up on the thing that I’d always wanted.
 

 
I never even got a chance to speak to him again.
 
I was told by the bartender that he was in his office.
 
I went to the employees only section of the bar without asking.
 
No one paid me any mind.
 
They were all used to me doing as I pleased, since I had dogged Akira’s every step for years now, going wherever I wanted whenever I pleased.
 

 
I nearly barged into his office before I heard the voices nearly shouting inside.
 
The door was open just a crack, and I peeked inside.
 
Milena was pressed against Akira, his hand in her hair.
 
They were embracing, though they were talking, not kissing, as it at first appeared.
 
It was still a clear embrace, though.

 
“Don’t lie to me.
 
I saw that little piece of jailbait leaving your house this morning!
 
I’ll
kill
her!” Milena was saying to him, her voice low and mean.
 

 
“Leave her alone, Milena.
 
It isn’t what it looked like.
 
Lana is just a family friend with an inconvenient infatuation.
 
Just leave her alone, k?”
 
His voice was earnest and pleading.
 

 
I backed away from the doorway, my hand flying to my chest.
 
He’s still involved with
Milena, I realized in horror.
 
I had shamelessly seduced him, not taking no for an answer, but he hadn’t wanted
me
.
 
He was clearly concerned that he might lose the one that he really cared about, going by the earnest note in his voice.
 
If he did lose her, it would be my fault.
 
He must hate me
, I realized, so disgusted with myself that I wanted to be sick.
 
I was just a family friend with an inconvenient infatuation, he’d said.
 
I walked away on leaden feet, feeling sick down to my soul.
 

 
I flew off the island that night.
 
I didn’t return for eight long, desolate years.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The staff at the hospital recognized us both on sight.
 
My family was well known on the island, and Akira was, well, Akira.
 
He was a local legend.
 
We got the local treatment, a nurse taking me back immediately and cleaning off my cuts in short order, Akira hovering at my back the entire time.
 

 
“She got you good,” the nurse said as she checked over the cuts very carefully.
 
She was a local, a short, heavy-set woman with a friendly face and a long black braid running down her back.
 
“But it’ll heal up in a few days.
 
You don’t need stitches or nothin’.”
 
She grinned suddenly.
 
“Word is you won.
 
Good job.
 
Milena beat up my cousin a few months ago, and for no good reason.
 
I hate that crazy bitch.”
 
Word traveled fast on the island, apparently.
 

 
I couldn’t help it.
 
I grinned back proudly.
 
“I tried not to resort to fighting like a girl, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”
 
Akira tugged on a lock of my hair.
 
It was a reprimand, I knew.
 

 
The woman threw back her head and laughed.
 
“That’s a good one.”
 

 
We were in and out of the hospital within a half an hour, thanks to the local treatment.
 
“Just be sure to avoid any sitting water, and the ocean of course, until those cuts close up good,” the nurse instructed.
 

 
That killed my good mood.
 
I had wanted so badly to go surfing again in the morning.
 

 
I was sullen as Akira pulled me by the hand out of the hospital and to his car.
 

 
“Can we go to your house?” I asked him as he pulled out of the parking lot.
 
I was a little worried that he would drop me off at the resort.
 

 
He didn’t look at me as he grimaced.
 
“Tutu and Mari will torture me for at least a month if we don’t swing back by the shops and show them that your arm got patched up fine.”

 
“And then can we can go to your house?” I asked.

 
He sent me a searching look.
 
“Yeah,” he said.
 

 
I felt a wave of relief.
 
I had been worried that, after the drama-filled night, he wouldn’t want to spend any more time with me.
 

 
I considered what to do the next day, since we couldn’t go in the ocean.
 
I sighed heavily.
 
“I guess I need to work all day tomorrow.
 
Since I can’t surf, and I’m already hopelessly behind on my schedule.
 
I’ll need to start really early, I suppose.”
 

 
He glanced at me, his eyes almost sad.
 
“Please, don’t.
 
Spend the day with me,” he said.
 
It was a simple request, uttered in his gentlest tone, and nothing on earth could have made me refuse him.
 

 
“I never could say no to you,” I told him, revealing my vulnerability.
 
It wasn’t as though I’d ever been able to hide it.
 

 
He gave me a wicked grin at that.
 
“I’ll be taking advantage of that.
 
You might regret telling me that.”

 
I sighed, my chest hurting a little.
 
“Never.
 
I’d be happy if you wanted anything from me, anything at all.
 
It’s always been that way, Akira.
 
You must know that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do just to make you smile.”
 

 
“Oh, Lana,” Akira said, stroking a hand over my hair, his eyes sorrowful.
 
I wondered if he looked so sad because my heart was in my eyes, and in my voice, and he felt bad that he could never return those kinds of feelings, not for me.

 
We were silent for the last few minutes of the drive, both of us lost in our own thoughts.

 
He opened my door, holding out a hand to help me out.
 
He had me pinned to the side of the car in a flash, his mouth on mine in a hard, passionate kiss.
 
He didn’t pull back for long minutes.
 
I pressed up against him, snaking my arms around his back to squeeze his butt.
 
He jumped a little, but didn’t stop me, so I took full advantage, gripping him to me, and caressing that perfect butt at my leisure.
 

 
When he finally ended the kiss, I protested.
 
He just kissed the top of my head, pulling me towards the bar.
 

 
“I’ve been dying to kiss you all afternoon,” he told me.
 

 
I was both floored and thrilled by his words.
 

 
Only the bar remained open, so Mari and Tutu had taken up residence there, since their own establishments were closed for the night.

 
Mari started humming the theme to
Rocky
loudly when we walked in the door.
 
Tutu joined in, showing the room her impressive shadow boxing techniques in accompaniment.
 
Their little show of support had me laughing until tears ran down my face.
 
They had the entire room joining in, even eliciting a rare, loud, carefree laugh from Akira.
 

 
Tutu and Mari were in such rare form that we ended up sitting at the bar and talking with them for four hours, catching up and joking and just talking like we used to.
 
It was like old times, and I had missed old times.