Aria’s face lit up, her laughter so quick and deep it seemed to get trapped in her stomach.
He chuckled. “It smelled so fucking good, and we were so, so—”
“So hungry,” she finished.
“We filled our bowls to the brim with fried rice, so excited, and practically drowned it in soy sauce. Then, right when we were about to dig in… Roaches….”
“Roaches!” she cried, covering her face with her hands.
“Dead roaches at the bottom of the bottle. Dozens of them.”
She screamed into her hands.
“To this day, I have no idea how the fuck they got in there. And I’ve asked around.”
She brought her hands down and covered her heart, laughing hysterically.
A slow smile grew on his face, and he pressed his forehead to hers. “I didn’t want you to think I was disgusting for wanting to eat it anyway. I was starving, but I was ready to throw it out, just so you wouldn’t look at me differently. I was ready to go to bed on an empty stomach. Then, you said ‘fuck it’ and took the first bite.” He matched her gut laughs, stroking her hair. “That’s when I knew I loved you.”
“God,” she whispered. “I swear I was waiting for my stomach to cave in for like a week after that. I was waiting to be hospitalized for flesh-eating bacteria. I cannot believe we ate that rice.”
His gentle fingers moved her hair away from her face, away from her blue eye. “Marry me,” he said again, softer, slower.
She frowned, and didn’t even realize a tear had fallen until it raced into the crease of her lips and she tasted the salt. “Are you serious?” she breathed, feeling her eyebrows tighten even more.
Yoshi sat up, never breaking their eye contact.
Aria shifted so she was on her back, her arms over her head on the white pillow behind her.
Yoshi’s gaze ran across her body, drinking in the angles from the new position she’d just rolled into. Then, his eyes fell to his wrist. He eased his lime-green bracelet off, the thin piece of string still holding on by a safety pin, some super glue, and a piece of duct tape that was on its last leg.
“Yosh…” Another tear jetted down her cheek, soaking into her hair when he took her left hand.
“Say yes,” he whispered.
She didn’t say yes. She couldn’t. Vocal cords paralyzed, all she could do was nod frantically, laughing out loud when he tied the bracelet around her ring finger. He wrapped it several times, until it was on as tight as he could go, and then he leapt for her, catching her jovial laughter in a passionate kiss.
And he was between her legs in moments, spreading her thighs with the strength of his own. Entering her with his whispered words of love sealing her lips, his hardness—as well as his heart—finding its home with the only woman it would ever fully belong to.
--
Many would believe Yoshi had chosen a resort in the Maldives for his and Aria’s first vacation as a couple because, well, it was the Maldives. The once-in-a-lifetime ocean views, the secluded locale, and the undeniable romantic vibe would surely make it the perfect vacation spot. The truth was Yoshi had chosen that hotel in Maldives for one reason, and one reason only.
It was the only hotel in Asia with free breakfast.
He found himself breathing in the delicious scent of eggs, bacon, and carbs as he trudged to the breakfast buffet. It had been set up outside, right next to the pool. Several couples, most of them older, were already situated in the white tables and chairs that had been set up ocean-side, enjoying pastries and mimosas while carrying on calm morning conversations.
Yoshi smiled to himself when his stomach growled with need, swiping up two plates from the end of the buffet. He thought about Aria, still naked as a jay bird in their villa, fast asleep with his lime-green bracelet wrapped around her ring finger.
His stomach rolled with joy at the very thought, still unable to accept that she’d said yes. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but hearing the word leave her mouth had left him overcome with relief, surprise, and pure, unadulterated joy.
The terror that had been plaguing him—the success of his album, his upcoming tour, the fact that he was beginning to be recognized and he was slowly losing control of his life—no longer seemed significant. All that mattered was the chocolate angel who awaited him, and surprising her with a plate full of morning sustenance so they’d be ready and raring to stay in bed all day, all over again.
“Well, well, well….”
Yoshi turned his head and caught sight of Carmen sashaying over to him. She wore a pair of glittery gold bikini bottoms and a beige bikini top. Her blonde hair was in its usual perfect spirally ringlets, and Yoshi could already see her skin was a few shades darker than when they’d arrived, giving her an Egyptian glow.
“Good morning, Carmen.” He smiled, watching as she picked up her own plate.
“I wondered if you two were ever going to come up for air,” she said, nudging him gently while filling her plate with a few of the more healthy items at the buffet. “My God, you’ve got that glow. Glad to know you’re finally getting it in. Where’s the woman of the hour?”
“She’s still asleep.”
“I’m sure she is. Looks like she’s had a busy night.”
Yoshi stopped filling the plates and met her eyes.
“Since she’s asleep…” Carmen added a few more pieces of fruit to her plate, grabbed one of the mimosas that had been lined up at the end of the bar and nodded towards an empty table, sitting at the edge of the pool, one step away from the ocean. “Why don’t you come sit and have breakfast with me?”
“Nah. I should get back to Aria.”
“And I should tell you that we’ve been spotted.” She nodded to her left.
Yoshi followed her eyes and immediately caught sight of an elderly couple smiling at them from one of the tables. The woman, with white hair halfway down her back, waggled her fingers at him.
“Love your music,” she said, giving him a glorious smile, followed by a wink.
Yoshi waited for her to approach him, and when she didn’t, he moved his eyes back to Carmen.
“How did you know they recognized me?” he asked.
“Years of dating powerful men have left me very keen to people and their ways. They’ve been eyeing you since the moment you got out here. They’re keeping their distance, but word will spread. Maybe even a few of them will take photos of us, thinking they’re slick.” She nodded towards the table again. “So come sit with me. Just a few minutes. A quick photo op for our very not slick fellow vacationers, and then you’ll be free to go balls-deep in your lady once more.”
“I was so sure no one would recognize me up here. The Maldives? Aria’s already pissed…” He stopped himself.
But it seemed Carmen didn’t need him to finish. “You continue to underestimate yourself. That beautiful album you wrote has changed your life irreversibly. There isn’t a corner of the world you will ever be completely alone in again.”
Raising an eyebrow, she turned away and began towards the table.
With a sigh, Yoshi followed her, eyeing the building with each step he took, hoping Aria stayed asleep. She’d been genuinely upset with him—hurt—the night before because of Carmen. When he’d told her that the vibe she’d been giving him was reminding him of his tumultuous childhood, he hadn’t been lying. Never in his life had he hurt Aria the way she’d seemed to be, and he knew he’d only fixed it by the skin of his teeth.
How would she feel to wake up the morning after he proposed to find him sitting at breakfast with the very woman they’d been arguing about?
The frown on his face grew deeper every moment, even as he sat across the table from Carmen.
He produced his lighter from his pocket and flicked it on. Then off. Then on again.
“You’re watching that door like you owe somebody money.” Carmen laughed, tossing her hair over her head. She claimed the golden sunglasses nestled between her breasts and put them on. �
��I’ve never seen a man so pussy whipped in my life.”
He threw her a tight smile.
“Look.” Carmen nodded towards the table where the older couple sat. “Already taking pictures. You see how she has her camera under the table, angling it towards us? So obvious.”
Yoshi slouched back in his chair. “I suppose you would know all about this, huh?”
“I’ve canoodled with the famous and the infamous. So, yeah, you come to learn a lot about people. All people. The celebrities and their followers, the kings and their minions.” She nodded towards him. “You’ve got that royalty in your blood. The kind that makes people sneak pictures under tables, start conversations about you with the strangers around them….”
Yoshi looked back to the older couple just in time to see that, sure enough, they’d brought their neighboring tables in on the news of his arrival. Now several people were sneaking looks their way.
“It feels different, doesn’t it?” she asked. “From the way you thought it would feel?”
Yoshi squinted at her, lost.
“You see celebrities being followed, photographed, fawned over, worshipped… and you think, ‘I want that.’ To be loved. To be recognized. Then, when it starts to happen, you slowly begin to see that your life isn’t yours anymore. You start to feel off-kilter. You start fearing for your safety. That’s why I was so surprised that Simon hasn’t gotten you a real security team yet. You’re going to need it, Yosh.”
“You feel unsafe?”
“If I’m doing something mundane—like shopping for eggs—and someone I’ve never met approaches me? Yeah. They know you inside out, but you don’t know a damn thing about them. The craziest thing is that they can’t conceptualize that. They feel like, because they know you, you know them too. It’s strange. It’s scary.”
“When we landed in Dubai and all those people surrounded us in the terminal…” He made a claw at his gut, squinting out into the water. “For a quick second—”
“You were scared.”
He met her eyes. “Yeah.”
“Get used to that feeling.”
Yoshi held her gaze, then sat up. “I should get back to Aria.”
“How did you two meet?” Carmen asked, just as he was going to stand. “You and Aria?”
He sat back down, slouching again. “We grew up together. Same foster home.”
Her mouth dropped before she popped a piece of watermelon in it, the first piece of food she’d eaten off her plate. “That explains a lot.”
“What does it explain?”
“Why you love her so much.”
He couldn’t help the gentle smile on his face. “I asked her to marry me last night.”
Carmen’s jaw went slack. She went to speak, but nothing came out. Leaning back in her chair, breaking her perpetually straight spine for the first time, she crossed her arms over her chest and chuckled.
“What’s funny?”
“No. Nothing. I was just…” She shot him a look.
He couldn’t see her eyes through her sunglasses, but somehow, he could feel what they held.
She continued. “I was just thinking how nice it must feel to know someone loves you that much. She’s lucky.”
“I’m lucky.”
“How did you do it? If you don’t mind me asking? I’m not trying to be nosey, it’s just… Being an industry whore takes its toll after a while. Hearing sweet proposal stories has a knack for reminding me that not every facet of this life—this world—is completely terrible.”
“You’re not a—”
“I’m a whore,” Carmen stopped him. “You don’t have to spare my feelings. I’m aware of the situation. I’m not in denial about it; I’ve accepted it for what it is. No need to pretend you didn’t meet me with my legs spread wide. That you’re not calling me a whore behind closed doors.”
“I would never call you that. Not to your face, or behind your back. I grew up in a house where I was constantly, constantly, exposed to the damage that word can do. I don’t believe in that word, and I would never call you that.”
Carmen uncrossed her legs and re-crossed them, looking back towards the ocean again.
“Why do you do it?” he asked. “If it makes you feel bad?”
Her eyes shot back to him. “So you are judging me.”
“I see you judging yourself, and I’m just responding to what I see.”
She swirled her crossed leg and back forth.
“I’m just saying, if you’re unhappy about your situation, change it. You’re a beautiful woman…” He motioned to her. “Shit, who am I fooling? You’re exquisite. And you know it too.”
She smirked.
“You could act. You could model…” He faltered. “Do you sing?”
“I can’t sing. I’ve gotten a few acting jobs here or there. Enough to get me recognized every now and again. And modeling…” She guffawed. “Maybe five years ago.”
“Or… right now.”
“I’m flirting with thirty, and thirty is as good as eighty in Los Angeles. The modeling and acting gigs are already drying up. Only a matter of time before my reputation precedes me and even being a whore won’t be enough. But don’t worry; I’m stacking every penny I earn.”
“You’re not a—”
“I’m a whore.”
He fell back into his seat. Looking over his shoulder again, he noticed the couples behind them had grown bored of his presence.
“That video that played on Marissa Ball,” she started. “Did your foster parents make you do that? To scrape up a little extra cash?”
Yoshi smiled. “Nah. Our foster mother, Miss May, she was all right. She didn’t beat us or anything. Did what she could. Taught me to play drums. Her worst quality was letting her boyfriend-of-the-moment give us a few ‘love taps’ every now and again, but nobody’s perfect, right?”
“She let them hit you?”
“Sometimes. But I set her house on fire, so it’s all good. We’re square now.”
Carmen made a horrified face.
He shrugged. “She didn’t die or anything.”
The horror on her face doubled.
“The fire trucks got there before any damage was done. And her boyfriend at the time, the one who fucked up Aria’s eye, he didn’t die either. Unfortunately.”
“Well, I knew you were crazy, but I didn’t know you were fucking crazy.”
Yoshi laughed. “Nah. Miss May was way too lazy to exploit anybody. The person capitalizing on the cute kid in that video would be my father.”
“He left you?”
“As soon as I got old enough that the shtick wasn’t cute anymore.”
“How old were you?”
“Four. Maybe five.”
“Do you remember the day he left?”
“I do. Vividly. I think it’s my first real memory.”
“The traumatic ones usually are,” she said. “Wow. I knew I saw something in your eye when Marissa played that tape.”
“I thought I did a good job masking it.”
“You didn’t. The audience probably noticed it too, but don’t worry. They don’t just want to see you vulnerable behind the mic. They want to see you vulnerable in your everyday life too. Don’t hide yourself.”
“You should take your own advice. Stop underestimating the power of your own mind. If you keep saying ugly things to yourself, about yourself, calling yourself a whore, you’ll eventually start to believe it. Even if it isn’t true.” He leaned in. “The rest of the world will never stop trying to tear you down. Let them. But don’t ever let that ugliness become real in your own head. Never forget what’s real, Carmen.”
“What’s real?”
“I just told you. Pay attention.” Yoshi shook his head, grinning. “It’s so easy to hear the bad that you forget to hear the good. You’re exquisite.”
Carmen’s lips tightened, and so did the arms she had crossed tight over her chest. She fought a smile.
Yoshi hesitated, and then
grabbed his plates. “I gotta get back to Aria.”
That time, she didn’t stop him when he stood. “Have fun fucking.”
“I always do.”
He walked away with both plates in his hands.
A thought occurred to her, and she opened her mouth to call after him, but she clapped it closed before the words came to fruition.
11
The Maldives came and went in a flash, as did the next six months. Turns out, Aria realized, finally sleeping with Yoshi hadn’t made everything ten times more complicated, like she’d always believed it would. Now that they were no longer running from their feelings, counting to three every time they were hit with the unbearable urge to kiss, they were free to just be.
Free to write.
Free to sing.
Free to live.
The stage lights warmed her skin, so bright she had to squint against their power. She looked to her right, where the two women she’d spent months rehearsing with bopped along to Yoshi’s final song of the night, providing flawless vocal backing and counter harmonies, showcasing their vast talent just enough to enhance the performance without outshining Yoshi. Aria smiled at them.
The huge crowd in the Paris arena was a beautiful sight, because she knew it was all down to the love of her life. Yoshi had worked his ass off for this. Yoshi had sold those tickets. Yoshi had filled that arena. It was Yoshi’s name on the tongue of every screaming mouth in the house.
The first show of his hundred-city tour—a massive international event that was going to stretch on for a year and a half—and not a single seat went lonely.
Aria had found herself struggling to focus at the start of the show, so busy silently cheering Yoshi on that she’d come very close to missing her own cues. One of her fellow background singers had actually been forced to nudge her back into the present during the first song, and Aria hadn’t made that mistake twice.
She was just so damn proud.
Even if she could only see the back of his head and the spotlights shining through his long legs as he addressed the audience, letting them know it would be the last song of the night. Even if she couldn’t share the stage next to him like she’d always dreamed, or see the look on his face as he finished his first show, she didn’t care. She couldn’t see his face, but she heard it in his voice.
Encore (Stereo Hearts Book 2) Page 15
