Lana(24)

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.

Akira sat in a barstool beside his female relatives, but when I went to take the seat beside him, he’d just pulled me tight against him. I stayed in his arms for the joy-filled evening, soaking him in as I leaned against him, his arms tight around me. When it became clear that we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, he stood, tugging me into the chair, but resuming a similar hold on me from behind, but with him standing. He was affectionate and cuddly, stroking my hair, and bending down to kiss the top of my head often. His actions seemed to make Tutu and Mari giddy with excitement. They kept elbowing each other, huge smiles on their faces every time he kissed my head. He didn’t seem to care what they had assumed by the way he was acting, so I didn’t let it trouble me either. If he wanted to touch me, I wanted to be touched.

Tutu was well into her cups when she began to get truly outrageous. She pointed an accusatory finger at me.

“Are you on the pill?” she asked, her tone low and mean.

I nodded, laughing as she clutched at her heart, shuddering. “That will make you barren. It’s a fact. Get off those pills immediately. It might already be too late. Let me see your purse.”

Someone from the resort had delivered my red handbag, and I’d stashed it under the stool, but I shook my head.

The bag was at my feet, and she dove for it, bouncing back spryly when she had a good grip on it. I just laughed, wondering what she was doing. She dug through it, fishing out my packet of birth control pills almost immediately. My eyes widened. What was she up to now?

“Um, I need those, Tutu. What on earth are you doing?”

She shook her head stubbornly, pursed her lips, and took off for the bathroom, running like she was sixteen instead of sixty. I turned in Akira’s arms, giving him a baffled look. “Akira, that was my birth control. This is bad.”