by Alice Ward
A mask.
Almost like hers, but not quite.
I’d just pulled it into place when the door opened, and she walked in, all bubbly and shining like the star she was. Then she saw me, and the smile fell off her face and her tone went from elated to monotone as she excused herself and shut the door.
She faced the door for a long second before she finally turned. “Roman.”
The sound of her voice lanced through my heart, and I knew if she didn’t forgive me I’d be worthless without her for the rest of my life.
“You were wonderful. Magnificent. There are no words.”
“Why are you here?” Her voice was small, like it had been when I took her out of Jewel.
“I told you. I’m a huge fan. I just wasn’t a crazy fan then.” I took a deep breath. “But I am now. Crazy without you. Forgive me, Adara.”
“I don’t understand. You left for Brazil, never called, nothing. I thought…”
I stood up. “I wanted you to think it. I thought you needed to be free, not tied up with me at some property a thousand miles from anywhere. Not subjected to scandal when you were coming back to all this.”
She looked at me strangely, peering at my eyes through the slits of the mask. “I was the scandal.”
I took a step forward. “What? No.”
But she was shaking her head, holding her hand out, palm forward. “Stop, Roman. You wanted me to be open with you, but you didn’t do the same. There’s things I need to know.”
“Ask.”
“Tell me what Brandy was talking about that day, about a woman you were going to marry. Was she a Jewel?”
My eyes locked on hers, and I felt real fear, possibly more fear than I’d ever felt in my life. I could lose her. Even my adept business skills wouldn’t be enough to hold someone like her if she didn’t want me.
“She wasn’t a Jewel. Her name was Sabrina, and yes, I thought I loved her, and I was going to marry her.”
“Is that all?”
I smiled wryly. “No. She was sweet, smart, beautiful. Since I was worth so much money and she didn’t have nearly the wealth I did, my lawyer suggested we sign a prenuptial agreement, protecting me should our marriage end.” I moved a step closer as I spoke. “I never anticipated it ending, but I saw my lawyer’s reasoning. Her getting half of all I owned would be motivation alone to end the relationship over anything. Marriages are hard work, and I was ready to invest in one with her, but she’d have to be motivated to do the same.”
Adara just looked at me with unreadable eyes, so I continued.
“As soon as she discovered how much I was really worth, she pushed back on the prenup, saying I didn’t love her and that’s why I was doing it. She became obsessed with my money and the damn prenuptial agreement, which in the end she refused to sign. I promised that should our relationship end, I’d take care of her financially and had my lawyer draw up the papers to prove it, but she wagered our love against my need for financial protection.”
I kept moving closer, praying she didn’t stop me. If I could just touch her…
“In the end, it wasn’t her not signing the agreement that drew us apart, it was the fact that she’d shown her true colors and become a woman I didn’t love anymore. I don’t think you’re like her, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“You did.”
“What? Nev—”
“The night you paid me to talk to you. You thought I was like her. But I’m not. And you aren’t aloof or cold or a womanizer. You once told me that your knowing who I am doesn’t change anything for me. But it does. I couldn’t have faced the painful memories that I did without you. I couldn’t have resumed my life without what you did for me.”
I’d been a fool. She’d distanced herself from me because I’d shut her out. “I was an asshole,” I said in a low voice as I slowly lifted my hand to run it along her jawline. “I was afraid, and I made a mistake. I should have never let you go.”
She reached her hand up and pulled on my mask, letting it snap back against my face. “Why the mask?”
“Ouch.” I grinned in spite of the pain. “That’s a long story.”
“I’m listening.”
I told her about what I found out about Jack in Brazil, and going to the coffee farm, and meeting the workers in the fields to see how they harvested the coffee beans. But I’d noticed something else.
“They worked hard in the beating sun and yet none of them complained. They showed me what to do, and I helped.”
She smiled at the image of me picking coffee beans.
“Most spoke some English and we told stories. These women picked basket after basket with smiles on their faces, some of them singing as they worked. They harmonized, it was amazing. A mix of cultures, of hardships and of joys. I noticed that some of them had deep scars on their arms from working in the fields, others had harsh lines in their faces from being in the severe sun day after day, some looked haggard and older than their years, yet all of them radiated such incredible beauty and strength.”
I stopped and willed every bit of love for her to show in my eyes. “Like you. They worked hard for a living and despite anything, they were proud of who they were, and it showed on their faces and in the sound of their voices. I realized I’d been hiding behind my own mask, the one being a billionaire gave me. I’d let pain and suffering build a wall between me and the world and I was wrong. I was wrong, Adara. I should’ve been proud of the hardships that marked me. So I came here to take off my mask. I’ll never shut you out again.”
She just stared at me, her eyes imploring as she took a deep breath. I could see her trembling and I knew the effort she was making to stay calm. It was costing me the same.
“I want to trust you,” she confessed, “but—”
“But you don’t,” I finished her sentence.
And there it was. Another woman I’d opened my heart to who was changing before my eyes.
“I do,” she corrected me.
“I was never with any of the women at Jewel.”
“I know.”
“How? How would you know? Brandy all but told you that I did.”
“In my heart, I know. I just do.” She took a step closer to me and searched my eyes while I held my breath. “I’ve been wrong so many times in my life, I don’t think I could take another.”
“You’ve never been more right. I love you, Adara Wilde.”
Her megastar smile lit up the room. “I love you too, Roman Wellington.”
Then she reached behind her and locked the door, making my blood pressure shoot so high it could have lit up the stage lights all on its own.
She took my hand and led me to the couch on the other side of the room, and when I would have helped her to be seated, she shoved me down into its softness and hovered over me. Smoothing her hand over my leg, she let it glide dangerously close to my groin, which awakened my cock.
I tenderly stopped her hand’s progression, knowing what I’d want to do if she went any further. “What are you doing there?” I asked, trying to sound playful, but my words came out sounding choked.
She looked down at me and nuzzled her head into my shoulder as she straddled me, her fingers tickling up my thigh. “I think gargantua wants to come out and play.”
“God, I missed you,” I said as I leaned in and claimed her lips.
She kissed my cheek and removed the mask from my face. “That’s better,” she whispered, kissing my temple, my cheek, the way I had hers the night she took her own mask off. As she moved in closer to me my erection grew, and she wiggled her hips over me.
I laughed. “Here you are, finally. I’ll never let you go again.” I moved the hair away from her face and asked, “Does it bother you that my company’s reputation is in question? You trust me?”
She grabbed my shoulders and settled herself over me, my hard dick right between her legs.
“I was wrong to ever doubt you,” she said as I ground up into her.
I cou
ldn’t stop the growl that came from deep in my chest and I held her still for a moment, her heat pressed against me, savoring.
“Are you sure? I want us to be completely real with each other. There is a good chance that I won’t be able to completely clear my name in the court of public opinion. The matter is very complicated and almost too difficult for the general public to understand. I’m not the bad guy, but it looks like I am.”
“Roman.”
“Yes?”
“Stop talking.”
I laughed and wrapped my hands around her hips. When her eyes met mine, I knew we were okay, more than okay. And we were the luckiest two people on the planet.
I missed her body against mine. All I wanted to do was make love to her, so I trailed kisses over her neck, down her chest to her nipples that were hard and poking through the thin material of her bodysuit, flicking my tongue over them and listening to her moan. She ran her hand down my chest and lower, then wrapped it around my cock, making my hips jerk up into her center.
I held her hair back with my hand as she slinked down into my lap and eased my pants over my hips. Then gargantua was free and she took me between her lips as I did the best I could not to thrust too hard into her mouth.
She swirled her tongue around the tip of my cock until I was moaning and only wanted her heat wrapped around me. Then she pressed me down onto my back and sat on my lap, gyrating over my stiff dick with her spandex still on until we were both wild-eyed and panting.
I loved watching what she was doing to me. I stripped her of the stage costume, and she crawled up me, kissed my lips while she grabbed my cock and danced it across her slit until she was ready. Then slowly positioned it in just the right place and slid down on my shaft.
We both gasped, it felt so amazing to be one with each other again.
We made love hard, deep and rough. We needed each other, and we’d been so far apart for too long. Even though it’d only been a short time, it felt like this was where we belonged.
We laughed at how ferociously we were making love and I pumped harder and harder into her. I was about to come inside of her when I remembered. Groaning, I pulled out, rolled over, grabbing my pants, pulled out a condom, put it on and dove right back in.
This time I rolled her on her back, spread her legs then plunged in, making her scream. She dug her nails into my back as my name left her lips. She clenched around me and her breasts arched up to my chest. I leaned in and took one nipple into my mouth, sucking, giving her my teeth, and growled as my balls tightened. She flew apart around me, and I let go as her pussy milked my cock. She screamed again as I emptied myself into her.
Making love to her that night was passionate and beautiful. We showered and made love again, long into the night until we fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms on the dressing room couch. I didn’t care where I was, as long as I was with her.
Having Adara back was like coming home again after far too long being gone. I thought we both came to the realization that no matter what life threw at us, we would handle it. We would overcome it together.
EPILOGUE
Adara
When we got back to Montana, I feared there would be a retaliation from Jewel, however, everything was silent. I was hopeful.
Roman’s sister and Peter came over as soon as we got home. I was nervous to meet Liliana, but Roman assured me that she would be an even bigger fan of mine when we met.
When we heard them talking to Ms. White in the hallway downstairs, I panicked a little.
“Don’t be nervous,” he said. “She’s a huge fan of yours, and I want to gloat a little.” He smiled and winked. “I’m really going to score cool points when she not only sees that I’m in a relationship with Adara Wilde, but I also unearthed her from missing.” He’d told Lil he had a surprise for her, but she had no idea how big a secret it was. It was a miracle we’d been able to keep it for this long.
As soon as we came down the stairs, Liliana screamed. I gripped Roman’s hand as she rushed over to us.
“Oh my god, Adara Wilde! Roman!”
I laughed, and the night began. We had fun together, and Liliana and I became fast friends. All we talked about was music, and I played guitar with Liliana joining in on the chorus.
After they were gone, I cozied up to Roman on the couch. “Liliana told me that you were going to be sponsoring the Coachella Music Festival.”
“Yes…” I responded with a dramatic note of suspicion in my voice.
“Well, I think I want to be a surprise guest and debut a song.”
“The festival’s not until next spring, but anything you want.”
I smiled. “Terrific. I’ll be undergoing surgery in a couple weeks to help loosen up the scar tissue. That will give me time to recover and grow stronger in the meantime.”
And grow stronger I did.
In addition to the studio, Roman had a fitness center built for me, along with an indoor pool where I could swim for hours. I spent weeks at the ranch writing songs and developing my voice. Ms. White and Roman would spent hours listening to me play and practice the songs I’d written. Each was different, complex. I was so excited to share my calling with the world again.
I was happier than I could ever imagine being.
Jack still haunted us and had planted more people throughout the different businesses that were supported by his company to decimate Roman’s reputation, even though he was in deep legal trouble himself. I was stressed, but as fast as Jack started fires, Roman and his company put them out. Roman continued to counter what Jack threw at him and started to open up positive dialogue between people and offer absolute transparency. Slowly, this grassroots effort was taking hold.
Public trust was a hard thing to win, but I was doing my best to encourage him, to be his cheerleader.
My singing career was taking off again. I used my iPhone to film a home video and posted it online. I think it was the rawness of it that made it go viral, along with sneak peeks of new songs I was writing.
I even got a call from Pink saying she loved my rendition of “Glitter in the Air,” which I sang with a mix of gritty, raw emotion. She said it had a real Adara Wilde vibe, and she wanted to meet with me at Coachella.
I was thrilled. I’d always wanted to sing with Pink. We’d met several times over the years, but never got a chance to work together.
Roman and I were happy, our relationship grew and flourished as we began to love each other more and more.
Finally, there was only a week before the festival and I was ready. My video was edited, my place was set in the Coachella line up, and Roman’s company was sponsoring the event. There was a lot of dialogue started about sustainability, child labor, trafficking and things that mattered, all because Roman was fighting back against people who questioned him. All and all we were in a good place, we just had one more shot to fire.
We packed our things and Pete and Liliana brought their camper van, and this time Roman had to go along with the crazy idea, because he needed to work the festival with Adam and a host of other people from his office. They all rented camper buses and it was so much fun. I loved camping in a tour bus for a couple of nights. Roman hated it, but he had to learn to loosen up.
Before the craziness began, we were all sitting under the stars having wine with his crew when he reached over and took my hand as he so often did.
“You know you’re amazing, right?” His face glowed with love.
“You know you are, right?” I countered and we kissed.
“Oh my god, I love you guys so much. Adara, you have to marry my brother so he’ll stop being such a snobby bore. You’ve got to start rubbing off on him,” Liliana chimed in right in Roman’s ear.
I loved his sister, she was the perfect friend for me. We hung out a lot, which left Roman with Pete. Roman had admitted, however, that Pete was growing on him.
On the day of the show, Pink and I sang “Glitter in the Air” as a duet. The crowd went wild. As she walked off
the stage while I took the mike, I had to wait for the audience to calm down before I was able to speak. When they finally stilled, I sat on a chair, my leg in a glittering brace, not hiding any longer.
“Thank you for being here and for welcoming me to the stage, it’s been too long.”
There was another round of thunderous applause.
“I’m glad to be here, but I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for one man.” I had asked the cameraman to highlight Roman during my speech before the show.
The camera focused on Roman and he looked surprised as the monitors displayed his face.
“Without Roman Wellington, I wouldn’t be here with you tonight. His company, Crave, is sponsoring this festival.” The crowd roared. “His struggles trying to get people to understand his heart and passion inspired my next song tonight. I hope you enjoy it and understand that the beauty around us isn’t always revealed in the places where we are looking. He taught me that, and I hope after seeing this video, you will be the first to understand what’s really happening around us.”
The music to “See” started, and I sat at the piano and began to sing as a video played behind me. In the video were clips of the women in Brazil on the coffee plantation, singing, eating, and enjoying each other, despite the sun and the hardship of their labor.
If you always had a mirror, what would you see?
What would that reflection be?
There were clips of women at Jewel, which painfully highlighted the horrible abuse they had suffered.
Could you divine god’s plan?
Could you fight against the tyrants of the land?
Pictures of Jack’s company flashed onto the screen, and the video we took of the people he’d paid to hurt Roman saying that hunger and poverty drove them to it.
Could you see me screaming there behind the vacant stare?
Then images of people working together, and phrases about unity and change.
It’s time we take a mighty stand and reach out to our fellow man….
At the end, a full orchestra joined me on stage as I sang with a close-up on my face.
