Hope

by Tia Wylder

  I shrink back a little, unsure of how to answer. “I don’t think I can tell you. Because I don’t know. It just came out of nowhere.”

  Zachary takes another step toward me, a sly smile forming at the corners of his mouth, the stubble on his jaw crying out to be touched.

  “I’m glad you did it, Ava. Because I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first moment I saw you, but I just didn’t think you were interested. You’ve seemed like you kind of… hate me? I don’t know how to explain it. But I didn’t want to push, or do anything that would make you uncomfortable.”

  I stare at Zachary, and I begin to feel as if I could cry, tears welling in my eyes. He wants what I want, even though I didn’t know I wanted it. But I also feel like I have to tell him the truth. About Josie. About why I took the job at the law firm. About everything. A lie of omission is still a lie, and I can’t lie to him anymore. I need him to know who I am, but I also still need to understand what happened between him and Josie. And yet, the way he is looking at me…

  My knees are going absolutely weak.

  “Zachary, you're right. Things have been really complicated for me, and I haven’t been able to explain anything to you. But I do want you. I want you now, and I want to explore whatever this is that is going on between us. It's just that…”

  He reaches up and touches a finger to my lips. “Don’t overthink it, Ava. Let’s just see where the moment takes us. What I’ve been feeling for you, and it’s something I haven’t felt for anyone else in a very long time, I feel an ache for you. It’s the only word that can describe it. It's profound, and it’s more real than anything I’ve felt for anyone else in my life.”

  I nod my head, listening to his every word and trying not to overthink it, but also trying to push away thoughts of all things I’m not saying. I want to see where things with Zachary can go. I want to see if what I’m feeling for him is real, even though it’s only been a few days. I want, just once, to follow my heart. Zachary is staring at me, waiting for me to decide, but then… He decides for me. His hand drifts over and slides up my leg, under my dress, stroking my inner thigh. I instinctively lean toward him, wanting more. My eyes slowly close and our lips find each other once again. I let out a long sigh as his tongue enters and explores my mouth, sending shivers of desire down to my toes.

  Zachary slides his hand up the rest of the way between my legs. I feel waves of pleasure running through my core down to my lower abdomen. His fingers trail up and over my belly button, and then even higher until they are hovering tantalizingly below my breasts. I am overcome with lust and without a second thought in my head, pull Zachary's hand up the rest of the way to cup my breast.

  We stop kissing, and Zachary pulls away, his eyes full of passion and pure sex. He gently takes my hands and pushes me back, then he reaches down and takes the edges of my dress in his hands. In one adept move, he whips my dress up and over my head, so I am standing in front of him in just my lacy black underwear. Zachary runs his hands down my bare arms and takes in my whole body. His eyes devour me, and all I want is for him to pull me close to him, to hold me. But then he stops for a beat as if considering what is about to happen.

  “Ava, obviously, I want this to happen. Obviously. I also don’t want to do anything that will make you uncomfortable. Or cross any lines. But if you want to do this, we’ll do it. And I’ll show you what it means to be mine.”

  I appreciate his warning, but all it does is make me want him more.

  “I’m yours. Take me, Zachary. I want all of you. Now.”

  Something comes over me, and I can’t help myself as I reach out and begin to tear at the buttons of his shirt, pulling it away to reveal the defined muscles I'd seen when he’d poked his head out of the bathroom in his office. His skin is smooth and tan, his chest is muscled and smattered with the perfect amount of manly chest hair. I run my hands up and down his torso before kneeling and unzipping his jeans, letting them drop to the floor. I look up at him from my knees, and I see the immense bulge of his cock through his boxer briefs. I reach up to pull them off, freeing a rock-hard cock. He’s thick and huge, and I’m almost worried he’ll be too big to fit inside of me. But I’m so wracked with desire for him, I don’t care.

  Zachary pulls me up from the floor and takes me into his strong arms, abandoning all of his clothes by the balcony door as he carries me over to the bed. The warmth of the late-afternoon sunlight is bathing the room in a soothing glow, and that combined with the heat from Zachary’s body is making me dizzy. I am already squirming in his arms, feeling my desire building inside of me, driving my anticipation. I want him inside of me, filling me up, immediately. I don’t even want to waste time with foreplay.

  He lays me tenderly back on the soft, luxurious bed and then gets down on his knees in front of me. He parts my legs wide, and then begins to kiss the outer lips of my pussy, tracing his tongue around my welcoming entrance and then nestling it inside. My hips instinctively buck upwards toward him. I run my hands through his hair, and try to pull his face closer to me, grinding against him as I ache for more. I am about to come, and there is nothing I can to do stop it. He spreads my legs wider and licks at my clit until I am shuddering with desire. I feel myself about to come, hard, and I bite down on my lip to try and suppress a scream.

  But there is nothing I can do to hold back any longer, and my back arches as my screams explode from a place I can’t even begin to explain. I am suddenly immensely grateful that we are so isolated in The Residence. I orgasm with an intensity I’ve never felt before in my life. Zachary keeps his tongue inside of me, probing elegantly, and I come again. His tongue swirls around my clit, and he begins to gently suck. I orgasm again, this time with even more intensity. I feel like my whole body goes completely liquid. I quiver in a flurry of smaller, but just as powerful, orgasms until my body finally goes limp and I collapse backward on to the mountain of pillows behind me.

  Zachary gets up from his knees and begins to pull away the pillows from behind me until I’m laying flat on the bed. As he lingers next to me, I stroke his thick cock, taking it in my hands and almost coming just at the thought of him being inside of me. He takes the last pillow and slides it under my ass so that my hips are elevated, giving him perfect access to my waiting sex. I have to bite my lip from crying out that I want him inside of me now. I’m tired of waiting.

  As if he can hear my thoughts, he begins to lower his beautiful body to my waiting pussy, and I shiver as the tip of his cock touches my entrance. He enters me gently, leisurely, and gradually, allowing me to stretch and adjust to his massive size. Only when his strong body is on top of mine does he push fully inside me, and it’s like my whole body comes alive. I squeeze my muscles tightly around his cock and rise to meet his first powerful thrust.

  He jams himself inside of me, and I’m suddenly overwhelmed by a sensation that is driving me wild. With my hips elevated, he is hitting my G-spot, and I feel like I might cry from the pleasure.

  “God, yes, Zachary, harder. Harder, please,” I keep repeating. I’ve never been with anyone like this in my life. We fit together perfectly, and I can’t imagine ever being with anyone else ever again.

  Zachary thrusts harder, faster; his own orgasm is close. I wrap my legs around him and just let the feeling wash over me. I know I’m about to come again too. I close my eyes and grab onto Zachary’s strong arms, my nails digging into skin. We come at the same time, our cries filling the room, his voice deep and masculine. He is loud and powerful as if being inside of me has made him lose control. I love the feeling of him pulsating inside of me, filling me up as his cock explodes.

  Zachary’s strong, sexy body collapses on top of me, and I can hear his heart beat, rapid at first, then slowing to normal as the sweat on our skin mingles. I wrap my arms around his stomach, as he slowly pulls out of me, and I feel deeply empty at the loss of him. But he smiles at me, then leans over and licks a bead of sweat from my collarbone. Then he grabs one of the abandoned pillows and slides
it under my head, before scooting down and rest his head on my stomach. He softly traces his fingers up and down my side, and the last thing I hear before I fall asleep is the gentle sound of his own snoring.

  Chapter Five

  My eyes dart open and look at the clock. It’s 6 pm. I look down and see Zachary is still asleep on my stomach, his long legs wrapped around mine and his arms splayed out in different directions. Between the mind-blowing sex and the warmth of the Caribbean sun, we passed out hard, and we are supposed to have the dinner planned for the record executives at 8 pm. I don’t want to startle him, but we are also way behind, and the panic mode is about to set in.

  I gently shake his shoulders. “Zach… Please don’t freak out but it’s after six and we were supposed to meet with the chef at the hotel an hour ago.”

  He looks up at me dreamily, then rubs at his eyes like a little boy waking up from a really good nap. For a second, he seems calm. Then, he looks at the clock. I watch his face register the time, and he does, indeed freak out.

  Zachary leaps up from the bed, his beautiful body glistening with a thin sheen of perspiration from sleeping in the warmth of the sun.

  “Shit! I should have set the alarm! I should have… We shouldn’t have…”

  I must make a face that betrays any reserve and instead makes it clear that if he finishes that sentence, I’m going to lose it. He quickly recovers with a charming grin, and crawls across the bed, giving me a long, slow kiss that ignites my core all over again.

  “We should have,” he says as he pulls away. “We absolutely should have. That’s not what I meant. But the timing probably wasn’t great. We can make up for it later. How about a quick strategy meeting in the shower and then we can run over to the hotel?”

  I almost didn’t catch the shower part, but then it kicks in, and I nod enthusiastically. We barely avoid devolving into another situation like the one earlier, especially when we get into the huge glass shower and Zachary’s beautiful cock goes hard again. But I manage to keep it together, and we end up deciding on a meal plan, seating arrangement, and room choice while still getting cleaned up.

  We reward ourselves with a light make-out session before quickly getting dressed, and then speeding back to the hotel in the golf cart.

  When we get to the hotel, we are met by an impatient and annoyed looking woman in a chef’s jacket, tapping her toe and muttering to herself in French. Zachary hurries up to her and gives her his best, million-dollar smile, but she just scowls.

  “So sorry we’re late, mademoiselle! Something came up with another client, and we were unable to tear ourselves away.”

  The chef looks at Zachary, then back at me, then back to Zachary, then she rolls her eyes. “Oh, yes. I am quite sure you were deeply indisposed. Now, tell me how I am supposed to make a proper meal for all of these people in two hours with no prep time?”

  Zachary looks at me with a conspiratorial grin, which means it’s my turn to take over.

  “Well, since it is our fault for holding you, and delivering our ideas at the last minute, we thought we should make things as easy possible for you. So, how about an Asian ‘street food’ menu? Lettuce wraps, bánh mi sandwiches, fried bananas… simple foods that the crowd can mostly put together themselves! Then, you can just supply them with the ingredients, and we will have to give you a far more detailed, and advanced, plan for tomorrow’s dinner.”

  Zachary winks at me, and for a moment, I think the chef is still cranky. But then she nods thoughtfully and strokes her chin. “Yes, yes, I can make that work. That is an excellent idea. And a clever way to showcase some of the fresh ingredients on the island. You’re quite smart, young lady. If you ever decide to abandon your job with this Casanova, please give us a call.”

  Then she hurries off, and I double over with laughter. Zachary snorts.

  “I don’t think it was that funny. Where did she get the idea I’m a Casanova?”

  Reality washes over me in a wave again, and Josie floods my mind. Oh, god. I should have talked to him first. I should have said something. What did I do?

  I open my mouth, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to talk to him about everything when Bethany comes walking in from the beach. She looks gorgeous, like a pink-haired doll. She’s wearing a purple sweater covered in big white hearts and jeans, and she’s fixed her makeup from earlier. Her full lips are bright purple, and her huge lashes are coated in thick mascara, making her giant eyes look even bigger. I know I’m staring at her, but she really is beautiful, even though that same sadness from earlier is coloring her whole demeanor. Zachary rushes over and gives her a giant bear hug, which she melts into gratefully.

  “Are you doing okay, sweetie?” Zachary asks when he pulls away. Bethany nods.

  “As okay as I’m going to be. I don’t want to let that asshole ruin this opportunity for me, so for now, I’m going to push it away. I’ll let my therapist deal with it when I get back. So, how long do I have before the performance?”

  Zachary gestures for me to join them since the details are my job. I sidle up next to them and give her a reassuring squeeze on the arm.

  “You’ll go on at 10 pm, after dinner. All you need to worry about is being yourself. We’ll take care of the rest.”

  Bethany gives me a small smile, then sets her head on my shoulder. “Thanks, friend,” she whispers, and my heart melt a little. I can’t say I’ve had many female friends in my life; just Liza and my sister. But a connection has developed between Bethany and me, and I don’t hate being friends with her. Zachary laughs and gives a little bow.

  “Well, I know a moment when I see one. I’m going to go speak to the concierge about making sure the audio equipment and stage are all properly set up. Why don’t you two chat about the details of the performance?”

  Zachary disappears, leaving Bethany and me to wander into the ballroom that will act as both the dining room and the performance space. Bethany pokes around for a moment, then picks up a guitar off the stage, sits down on the edge, and starts strumming absent-mindedly. I sit down next to her and hum along, and she looks over at me with a smile.

  “I want to thank you for everything. Not just what you’ve done here, but over the last few days. I’m not good at this stuff, self-promotion, or even knowing where to begin when it comes to getting my music out there. You and Zachary have been godsends.”

  I shrug slightly. “I mean, thank you, but I’ve been working for Zachary for all of five minutes. I’m sure most of this stuff was in motion well before I arrived.”

  “Yes and no,” she says as she tunes the guitar. “Zachary saw me playing my guitar on a street corner in Venice. I had played a few coffee shops here and there, but I was living out of my van. You hear about things like that happening all the time, people getting discovered out of nowhere, but I’ll be honest, I never thought it would happen to me. And Zachary was putting out feelers for me before you started working for him, but I think you re-energized him somehow. I wouldn’t take that for granted.”

  I know I am blushing, for a plethora of reasons, but I try to reign it back in. “I’m glad I could help, in whatever small way I did. And I hope I can continue to help, for the rest of the summer anyway. This isn’t a permanent job. I’m just an intern, after all.”

  Bethany gives me a serious, almost incredulous look. “Girl, if you have the chance to keep working with Zachary Graham, you need to take it. He is a good man, in an industry where that quality is sorely lacking. From what I’ve seen, first hand obviously, good men are hard to come by in Los Angeles. In any capacity.” She gives a little, conspiratorial wink as if she knows a lot more than she’s letting on. I feel another blush creeping up my neck and then try and get control of myself.

  “I have to be honest with you, Bethany. This isn’t exactly the industry I planned to go into when I started law school. I really want to work for a non-profit, and do charity work of some kind,” I say looking at my feet, not wanting to offend her. “All I’ve ever wanted to was
help people who really needed it. I’m not sure that is something I can do in the music industry, and still feel good about myself at the end of the day.”

  But Bethany nods thoughtfully.

  “That’s a shame,” she answers putting down the guitar and picking up a bass, which she plays just as skillfully as the guitar. “You’re really good at this. And I bet you anything you can get more accomplished from a position like the one you’re in now than working for a smaller charity. Right or wrong, people listen when you have a little bit of power. Plus, I have a suspicion that if you worked for Zachary, he would let you do whatever you wanted. But, I’m just basing that on the fact that every time he looks at you, his eyes dance like a kid in love.”

  My jaw drops. “Bethany! Come on. That’s… ridiculous.”

  “Whatever you say,” she responds with a wave of her hand. “But trust me, girl. Something is brewing there. I wouldn’t let it go without a fight. You never know when an opportunity like that, the job or the guy, will come around again. Once in a lifetime is called that for a reason.”

  Bethany jumps off the stage and leaves the room, taking the guitar with her, and I’m left sitting there with nothing but my confusion and mild panic. Is it possible that Zachary has feelings for me? Real feelings? What happened between us earlier was amazing, but it could have just been two people succumbing to a moment of passion. I never really considered the possibility that what was happening between us…