Lana(4)

His arms raised, as though to embrace me, but dropped, probably at the shocked look on my face. I hadn’t expected him to ever want to touch me again, for any reason.

Impulsively, I walked to him, throwing my arms around his neck for a hug. He wrapped strong arms around me instantly, and I closed my eyes, burrowing into his chest as though I were still a child. This felt like home. Home was a lie, I knew. But I let myself live the lie, for a few minutes, at least. I breathed him in. He smelled divine, like the ocean, and the island, and himself. The best smell in the world. I felt him stroking my hair, his cheek pressed to the top of my head. I don’t think either of us had a clue what to say, so we stood like that for long minutes, just comforting each other.

“How are you?” he finally asked. Mortifyingly, the question brought tears to my eyes. Adrift, I thought. I’m just adrift, banned from my home, and utterly rejected by the only man I’ll ever love. I wanted to hate him for it, but I just couldn’t. I had only ever known how to love him. Whole-heartedly. Too much so.

I swallowed hard, finally answering the innocent question. “Busy. Busy with work, as usual. How are you?” I finally pulled out of his arms, my tears mercifully dried.

I looked up into his eyes. They were troubled.

“The same, I guess. All of the businesses are prospering, so things are good. I didn’t know you were in town. How long have you been here?”

“I got in this afternoon. I just finished visiting with Tutu and Auntie.” As I spoke, Akira bent down, gathering up my things. I blushed when he handled some rogue lingerie. It was a tiny scrap of nothing that had nothing to do with island wear. I had no idea why Mari had added it to the bag. He paused when he saw it, then hurriedly shoved it into the bag. I didn’t bend down to help him, strangely transfixed as he handled several of my new, tiny bikinis. It made my face flush, and my skin heat. His hands were so big, and the bikinis were so tiny. And I remembered those hands. Those wonderful, talented, perfect hands…

“It looks like you’re planning a trip to the beach.” He grinned up at me. “Let me know if you want company. We could go to the old spot and try to catch some waves.”

I agreed before I could wise up and turn him down. “Okay.”

He straightened, handing me my purse, but carrying the over-stuffed bag for me. “We could go right now, if you’re up for it. I just finished up for the day.”

I knew I should say no, to preserve a little of my sanity, but I just couldn’t do it. “Sounds great. I just need to change into one of those bikinis.”

He was eyeing the keys in my hand, his brow furrowed.

“Auntie loaned me her car. I was going to have one of the hotel drivers bring it back for me,” I explained.

He led me to a dark SUV instead, opening the passenger door for me, and putting my bag in the back. He turned on the car, cool air rushing out of the A/C vents immediately. I sat in the seat, and he came back to my door, crowding me a little. “I’ll go return her keys, since I can drive you.” He touched the flower in my hair lightly, his eyes intense. “Be right back.”

He was gone for maybe a minute before I realized that I could just change while he was gone. I had changed into my swimsuit in his car countless times. Why should it be any different now? I climbed into the back seat, sliding out of my stilettos and then my tight skirt. I grabbed the first matching bikini pieces that I saw, slipping on the bottom before taking off my top. Because I was trying to hurry, my fingers fumbled with every button of my blouse.

I unsnapped my front-clasping bra, shrugging out of it. I realized, only after I was topless, that the bikini top was a tangled mess. I was still untangling the thing when Akira opened the driver’s seat door.

He froze, just froze, staring at my naked br**sts. They were heaving in agitation, my ni**les hard from the car’s blasting A/C.

I grimaced at him. “Sorry. I thought I’d save us a trip and get my swimsuit on now,” I said, expecting him to close his door and wait outside, to give me privacy. The windows were tinted dark enough that they did actually conceal most of the interior of the car.

But he didn’t close the door. Instead, he sat, buckling his seat belt. And then he did something that absolutely stunned me. He reached up one of his big, dark hands, and adjusted his rearview mirror, blatantly watching me. It froze me in my tracks, and I was too surprised to move for long moments, my br**sts quivering as my breaths grew jerky and uneven.

Finally, I bent back down to the stubborn bikini top, working on untangling the strings. But I couldn’t focus on the task for more than a few seconds, my eyes flying back to Akira’s as he watched me in the mirror, his heavy-lidded eyes very obviously on my br**sts. I arched my back, showing them off to better advantage. I had been a professional poser at one time, I told myself, so why not use it to my benefit?

His jaw went a little slack, and I felt myself growing wet. To affect him like that, to make him want me, was the biggest turn on in the world to me. I had been kneeling on the seat to change, but I shifted my position, facing him, on my knees now on the seat. I leaned back, letting my arms rest along the seat, the movement thrusting my br**sts forward provocatively. He sucked in a harsh breath, but didn’t look away, didn’t speak. I cupped both of my br**sts in my hands, kneading them. They overflowed in my hands, and I pushed them together, stroking them up until my ni**les just peeked out between my fingers. I pinched them, and Akira’s head fell back against his headrest, his breathing audibly heavy now. Still, we didn’t speak. And he never took his eyes off me.