by Tasha Fawkes
Why did that bother me so much all of a sudden? Chad wasn't long-term relationship material. He was all about fun and living in the moment, not about setting down roots and committing to someone.
I groaned in frustration, and the person minding the stall I was in gave me an odd look. I grimaced and backed away, moving on to a stall selling silver jewelry. I fingered a filigreed pendant, remembering for the first time that I was supposed to be looking for something for Kim. She would love the pendant. I paid for it, and the merchant passed it back to me in a small brown bag, which I tucked into my purse.
My thoughts did not get any simpler. In fact, I reached new heights of crazy when I started to feel like someone was watching me. At first, I thought I was two seconds away from seeing Chad or one of the guys, but I whirled in a circle and saw only strangers. I tried to ignore the feeling, attributing it to the intense emotional spectrum I was traversing, but it persisted.
I was officially losing it.
It wasn't until the cab ride back to the hotel that I made my decision. This trip was my vacation—from my life, from my worries, and from my tumultuous emotions too. I was living in a fantasy here, and that was exactly what I needed. If that fantasy happened to include a stunningly attractive YouTuber with abs any washerwoman would be thrilled to have on hand, then so be it. I could handle that. I just needed to take a step back in terms of emotions. We could have fun together and be friends, but if I wanted to not get attached I needed to leave it at that and not think about him when he wasn't around.
I had a bad feeling that was going to be easier said than done.
Twelve
Chad
I left the room while Brin was still in the shower, not sure of what to make of her sudden change in mood. One second we were having a weighty chat, the next she was vaulting as far away from me as possible. But, in typical Brin fashion, she made it seem like that wasn't her aim at all. After our conversation, I understood a little bit more about her, about why she was so guarded and flighty, and I figured having some space from me would help calm any ruffled feathers. I needed a little space too. The inside of my head was like a fireworks show at the moment, and I needed some time to unpack.
I grabbed my laptop and headed down to the lobby, where I jumped into a waiting cab and directed the driver to take me into town. I scoped out a relaxed cafe and snagged a table outside, ordering a coffee from the diligent waitress and opening my laptop to my most recent video.
I still couldn't believe how much it was taking off. This trip was going better than I ever expected, and I knew I couldn't have done it without Brin. My fans loved her. They loved us together too, which I found particularly interesting considering it was all a lie.
If the view count kept soaring like this, it could be my most viewed video ever. My head was spinning with the rush of it. The reaction to the video was more exciting than making the video itself. But even more exciting than that? The morning's events before the shoot.
I still couldn't get my hot encounter with Brin out of my head. We hadn't spoken about it,
and when we got back to our room last night, we'd gone right back to our separate duvets and separate sides of the bed. If we weren't so dead tired, maybe we would have had a repeat performance. Then again, I had no idea how Brin felt about it. I had no idea how I felt about it. I couldn't get her out of my head and that was unusual for me. I barely knew the girl, but something about her had been reeling me in since that first night I saw her perform. It wasn't real though. It couldn't be. We were both living in a fantasy land for these three weeks and that was that.
I was glad to be spending the afternoon on my own, in any case. I needed some time to remember what I was here for and why. When Brin was around my head got all foggy, and all I could think about was trying to make her smile and how exquisitely she moved.
My coffee came, and I closed my laptop. I needed space from the new video too. I just wanted quiet, to let my mind wander for a little while. A little peace.
"Hey, stranger," came a high, drawling voice from somewhere behind me.
I nearly jumped in my chair. Lori?
She came into my field of view a second later, draping a hand over the back of the free chair and smirking down at me.
Lori looked hotter than ever. Her hips were wrapped in a tight black skirt, and the white chiffon tank top she wore revealed a bright pink bikini top underneath. She was propped up on high wedges that looked impossible to walk in, but as a model, her walk was one of her greatest strengths. As always, her hair and makeup were impeccable. Her wheat blonde hair was tied in a knot at the nape of her neck, a few strands framing her face.
My first thought was that she was incredibly sexy. Then Brin's face flashed through my mind, the rounded cheeks and laughing eyes, the way she scrunched up her nose when she laughed, and something about Lori didn't look right. She was trying too hard, always trying way too hard.
"Are you going to sit there and stare at me all day or are you going to invite me to sit?" she asked.
Fuck. My heart raced, and I couldn't tell whether it was the surprise of seeing her or just from seeing her in general. I nodded coolly, trying to appear more composed than I felt.
"Go ahead."
Lori draped herself across the chair and reached for my coffee, bringing it up to her lips for a delicate sip. She never wasted an opportunity to make an impact, always acting like there were cameras on her at every second. It was one of the reasons she'd made such a good companion in my videos.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
Lori smiled coquettishly and looked up at me through her lashes. "I made a mistake," she said. "I miss you."
I'd been waiting to hear those words for the last two weeks. Hell, I'd constructed a whole ruse of a relationship in the farfetched hope that it would urge her back into my arms. I should have been delighted, thrilled, fucking jumping for joy, but I couldn't help but feel hollow inside. This was what I wanted, so why didn't it make me happy?
"You came all the way here just to tell me you missed me?" I asked.
"Of course not. I came all the way here to get you back, handsome. We belong together."
I sat back in my chair, grinding my teeth as I considered everything she'd said. Maybe not what she said, but how she said it. I hadn't noticed until now, or I suppose hadn't acknowledged, how fake everything sounded coming from Lori's lips. The whole winning me back "speech" sounded contrived and lacked any emotional depth. I couldn't help but compare it to Brin, who even when she said something as simple as "thank you" meant it from the core of her being. She didn't say things she didn't mean. The contrast was off-putting.
I couldn't make this decision right now. I couldn't give Lori what she wanted, not until I knew what it was that I wanted. The only reason I wasn't sending her packing right off the bat was that this was what I'd been angling for this whole time.
"I need time," I said finally. "Things have changed since you left. I think I might have changed."
Lori raised a questioning brow and scoffed. "I highly doubt that."
Her comment grated on me, but I chose to ignore it. Lori never reacted well when she didn't get what she wanted.
"Give me a couple of days, Lori. Please."
She studied me like she was trying to discern meaning from an abstract painting without context or clues. I'd never seen Lori genuinely puzzled before, and I found myself enjoying it. She expected me to take her back without question or complaint, which made it that much more satisfying when she finally gave a short nod.
"You can have two days," she said. Her gaze turned sharp, anger briefly marring her pretty features. "After that, I'm done. And we're done for good. Think about that."
Lori rose just as elegantly as she'd sat down, but her energy had changed. Me needing time to decide had angered her, but for whatever reason, she was trying to contain it. But, like a cracked window, her facade was letting the cold air through.
Lori left, and the more I
thought about what it would be like to get back together with her, the more that hollow ache expanded in my chest. Finally accepting that my afternoon of being alone was ruined, I finished my coffee and hailed a cab back to the hotel. I texted the guys on the way to see if they wanted to get out and do something, but only Russell replied. Martin was probably sleeping, which was a shame. I couldn’t wait to tell him about this latest development. He was going to be shocked.
Thirteen
Chad
Russell thought I was insane to be even considering getting back together with Lori. He couldn't believe she'd come all the way to Oahu to win me back at all since she'd never been the pursuant before.
As I headed up to the room later that evening, I couldn't get Russell's words out of my head. He kept telling me how well the fans were reacting to Brin, but more than that how happy we looked together. He said he'd never seen that kind of happiness when I was with Lori. I wanted to tell him the truth, that Brin and I weren't even together. I wondered how he'd react. I wondered if he would still think we had all this chemistry.
I hovered my hand over the doorknob of the room, just about to swipe my card. I didn't know if Brin was in there, but if she was what was I supposed to say? Things were complicated between us now. If we hadn't slept together, if I didn't feel for her what I did, I could easily confide in her my issue with Lori. Except she was my issue with Lori. I didn't know how I felt about Brin, if these emotions raging around my head were real or just another illusion. Everything about this trip had a dreamlike quality to it. Would it still when we went back home? Could it still? We lived in different worlds. We were different people. At least I knew how my relationship with Lori would look and feel, and I knew that the cogs of our careers fit together perfectly. I didn't know what to think about Brin.
I sighed and swiped the keycard, letting myself into the room. Housekeeping had straightened it during the day, and a fresh, lemony scent wafted to my nose. Brin was reclining on the bed with a book in her hands. She looked up at me and smiled when I entered.
"Hey, you. I was beginning to wonder if you'd abandoned me here."
I forced a smile, even though the joke cut like a jagged blade. "What are you reading?"
Brin put the book down on the bedside table and shimmied over to the side of the bed. "Nothing exciting," she said, rising to her feet. "Besides, I don't want to read anymore."
"What do you want to do?"
Lust darkened her eyes, eliciting a hungry twitch from my cock. She was wearing a cotton shirt with a wide neck that hung off one of her shoulders, and her coppery hair fell in loose waves over her bare skin. Her little blue cotton shorts completed the look, showing off her long, tanned legs in a way that was just as cute as it was sexy. She looked like she could be ready for bed or ready for an adventure in a second. That kind of inherent versatility was just one of the things I loved about her.
Brin strutted toward me like the room was her stage, stopping close enough that our chests bumped against each other with every breath.
"Guess," she whispered.
Oh, fuck. I was in trouble.
It took a great amount of effort, but I took a step back and adopted a silly smile. "Scrabble?"
Brin's expression fell flat. "Obviously not Scrabble."
"I always thought you were more of a Monopoly girl."
Shit, shit, shit. I couldn't do this to her. If she ever found out that I'd only brought her here to make my ex jealous, she'd be crushed. If she then found out that I'd just spoken to Lori and she was giving me two days to decide, she would never forgive me. As sexy as she was, sleeping with her right now would be a mistake.
"Fine, you wanna play like that?" Brin stepped forward again, and her hand grazed the front of my pants. My cock was now at full attention. "Let's play Twister."
She massaged my length, and my knees went weak. I was a goner. No mortal man could resist the perfect kind of sexy Brin brought to the table, and I was no saint.
I crushed my mouth down against Brin's. She responded eagerly, threading her arms around my neck and pushing her body hard against mine. Her tits pressed into my chest, and I moaned into the kiss. I grabbed a handful of ass, squeezing her soft flesh between my fingers.
I deepened the kiss, spearing my tongue into her mouth and laying claim to it. She kissed me back with just as much fervor. And we were lost.
I pushed her backward, so fast that she stumbled and made a noise of alarm but I didn't care. I would never let her fall. Her back met the wall with a slam, and I jammed my hips into hers, grinding my arousal into her belly. She always made me so hard. I was throbbing in my need for her, aching just to get inside of that sweet pussy. I practically ripped her shirt off and tossed it across the room, pleasantly surprised to find she was braless underneath.
"Naughty girl," I murmured.
Brin moaned and arched against the wall as I began to knead her tits. Her nipples pebbled under my touch. I brushed my thumbs over them, teasing her, and Brin panted desperately. I loved seeing her undone like this, completely lost. She put up no barriers, no walls, and the pleasure that rippled through her features was primal and raw. I knew she was mine. Completely mine.
I lowered my face to a nipple and sucked, grazing the sensitive bud with my teeth and making her shiver. I sent an exploratory hand into her panties. She was soaked.
"Very naughty girl."
I ran my fingers along her wet seam, diving straight into her heat. She was so tight that I could hardly fit two fingers in. I bit down on her nipple lightly. Brin cried out, and her pussy quivered around my fingers.
“Why don’t I show you just how naughty I am?” she growled.
Fuck. I died a little.
"Why don't you?"
She pushed me back, then spun me so my back was to the wall. She pulled off my shirt and tossed it to the side, then began to kiss down my chest. I groaned in my need for her, in anticipation of her mouth on me. She looked up at me with those sultry eyes, the ones that begged me to fuck her, and feathered kisses down to just above my belt.
Brin started undoing my belt, and my knees shook. She quickly unzipped and pulled down my pants, and then ran her lips over the tent of my boxers.
I muttered obscenities. The feeling was intense. Primal. I wanted her more than I'd ever wanted anything in that moment, and she was about to give me everything.
Brin hooked her fingers into the waistband of my boxers and pulled them down. My cock bobbed in her face, and she wasted no time in giving the head a wet kiss.
"Jesus Christ girl," I murmured, tangling my fingers in her hair.
Brin chuckled and looked up at me, opening her mouth and guiding my cock inside with a firm hand on the base. I saw stars. The inside of her mouth was so hot, so wet. She sucked me down deep, nearly managing to take my whole length in one go. I could see from her face how much she was enjoying the moment, my reactions, the feeling of my heavy rod weighing on her tongue. She swirled her tongue around the shaft and began to bob, making little sighs and moans as she worked.
I'd had a lot of blowjobs in my life, but none compared to this. It was more than just the expert way she handled my meat. It was the way she allowed herself to succumb to every base desire, the way she owned the moment and me. She'd been through so much in her short life, but she left all that at the door and came to play, to show me how much she wanted me. Not to mention the fact that I'd never seen a hotter sight than Brin on her knees with a mouth full of my cock, looking up at me like I was the only thing in her world.
Brin took me deeper, gagging slightly before pulling away. She tried again, and I bit my lip. This girl would be the death of me. It was so hot, so intense. So fucking good.
I wouldn't last long if she kept this up, and I wanted to give my girl her reward. I also was desperate to fuck her. I pulled her off my cock by her hair and angled her face toward me.
"Get on the bed," I told her.
She scrambled up to comply with my request, pulling off
her shorts and panties as I kicked off my pants and boxers. She spread herself across the bed, her hair making a silky screen across the pillow and her pussy spread wide before me. It was a sight I wouldn't soon forget.
I grabbed a condom from the suitcase and rolled it down my length, then climbed over her.
"You're so sexy," I said. "And full of surprises."
She giggled. "So you've said."
"What am I going to do with you?" I angled my cock at her entrance and pushed in just enough to make her gasp.
"It seems like you already have that figured out," Brin said hoarsely. "Why don't you show me."
"Naughty, naughty girl."
I couldn't hold back anymore. I slowly eased inside of her. She held me in a vice grip, expanding around my cock perfectly. As I bottomed out, I captured her mouth in a deep, passionate kiss, reveling in the feeling of our bodies pressed so tightly together. Her fingernails scratched lightly down my back, and I jerked my hips forward, eliciting a cry of pleasure from her. I swallowed it and bit down on her lip as I pulled back out slowly, then slammed in without mercy.
Brin swore and gripped my shoulders. I got lost in the moment, in the ecstasy. I thrust inside of her over and over again, our bodies thrashing against the sheets in a dance of pure passion. We crashed into each other like waves, great hungry tsunamis that destroyed all in their path.
"Oh my god!" Brin screamed. "Like that, yes!"
She was close, and I was going to give her everything she wanted. I kept up the pace and sucked hard on her neck, scraping my teeth down her throat in the way I knew she liked. She bucked against me. Then, with a keening wail, her body spasmed. She gripped me so tight, milking me for all I was worth. I squeezed my eyes shut and gave two last, hard thrusts, finally spilling inside of her.
