“Never,” I teased, but I meant it. I remembered being so scared back then. I couldn’t imagine how I would feel now as an adult losing James. I’d come to care for her more than I liked to admit. Or maybe just didn’t know how to admit.
“I’m glad I came,” she said out of nowhere, almost sensing my feelings.
It was odd, but James was always the yin to my yang. We fit from day one, but what did I do with that information now, in our forties? I didn’t have a clue. Sure, I’d made declarations on our back half, but what did I really mean?
“Me too,” I said rather than getting all existential on James. Then I joked, “It was touch and go there. But see, you’re getting all your work done, no worse for the wear.”
I stopped and ran my hand through her hair, pulling her in for a kiss for anyone to see. Within five minutes of my arrival, the entireSuper Ladyproject was aware I’d brought a guest. They’d all run to Billy for the scoop, and she was happy to oblige and take focus away from what she called “the blatant nepotism” which had brought her on set.
The cast had all been excited to see my “childhood sweetheart,” James, at the hotel. Billy had prepped the other actors on Jamie’s presence. One that would have made the highest-paid publicist proud. “Family friend, childhood sweetheart, works in the nonprofit world, and would love to keep her being here private,” were her party lines. As celebrities, they got the private part. Not to mention, James kept her cool despite their celebrity status.
The one exception to all of this was Bella. James hadn’t met Bella, but Bella had caught a glimpse of her from afar when she was at the hotel for a cocktail. She’d been on a mission to capture me and disregard James ever since. Crazy, because I brought James here to get away from my mother, and we’d found a new enemy on the island. Both of which I was keeping from James.
Now, we stood still for a while—kissing and holding tightly onto one another—breathing in whatever this was, and the reality of my feelings was starting to crumble around me.
“Come on,” I said, giving her ass a squeeze. “Want you naked,” was the only explanation I gave, but I needed to be closer to her.
James didn’t respond to my demands, but her fast-paced walk to the suite was answer enough.
“Two weeks is a long time. By the end of this, you may be tired of me.Of this,” she said, waving her hand between us.
“You mean this?” I said as we entered the room and I started pulling her sundress off, tugging her thong down with one hand, my mouth attacking hers as soon as I got the words out. “Not happening,” I murmured.
“I mean, you don’t know,” she said as I sank to my knees in front of her bare pussy.
Thankfully, the suite had been turned down and the shades were drawn. Otherwise I wasn’t sure I would have stopped to do it. Tea lights flickered inside the dim room; chocolates adorned every flat surface. And I thought of the ice cream and wondered how the chocolate would taste off James’s skin.
“I mean, I know it sounds juvenile, but I can’t help but have these…worrisome feelings. No one has ever lit me up like this. I hope I do the same for you.”
James worried on, and while I wanted her to know I cared about her worries, I didn’t even give her the courtesy of a verbal response. I showed her. Hoping she knew her anxiety was unfounded as I leaned in and stroked my tongue up her core. I began to eat her with a vengeance, my finger joining the party and then a second plunging deep inside her while my mouth worked its magic on her. I kept at it, my fingers putting pressure on her G-spot. Occasionally I allowed my mouth to break free to blow warm breath on her sensitive spot. Within minutes she was bucking into my face, making a mess of my five o’clock scruff, her head thrown back and hair starting to curl as she moaned my name.
I stood, taking her mouth with mine, letting her taste herself on my lips. We stood like that, in the center of the sitting room—James in only a bra, every item of my clothing still on, my hard-on digging into my khaki shorts, the air smelling like James’s orgasm—and all I said was, “Don’t say it again. There is nothing I’m going to tire of.”
Then I took her hand in mine and led her to the bedroom, where I dropped my shorts. Kicked off my flip-flops and yanked off my shirt in no specific order and laid her on her belly before entering her from behind. With one hand putting pressure on her lower back, I used my other to grab her hair and pull her head back a bit. I wanted to hear her moans as I felt myself slide deeper. With every draw in and out, I went a little faster, my climax beginning to have a sense of urgency.
“Fuck,” I grumbled into the back of her neck.
“Ford,” she whispered or pled back.
Letting go of her hair, I picked up my pace and snaked my hand under her, finding her spot all over again—the one quivering and somehow calling to me—flicking it and adding pressure. Pumping in and out of her, my name a prayer dripping from her lips, I felt the niggle in my spine. I was about to go off, but I wanted to draw one more orgasm from her. With a quick pinch to her delicate spot, I did just that. She went off with a yelp and a long, hoarse moan, and I felt myself spill into her before collapsing on her back.
I didn’t know how long we lay like that, our sweaty bodies tangled up in one another, but the next thing I knew my alarm was going off and James was in the shower.
I didn’t waste any time joining her.
James
We’d been on location for two weeks, and our space had been fully invaded by paparazzi over the last few days. I’d learned from Billy that Ford had desperately tried to keep things under wraps for reasons unknown, but he wanted to keep the shoot quiet. “Too many secrets in the script” was his party line. Although Billy explained there wasn’t much we could do since awhole potpourri of important peoplefrom Los Angeles invading Kauai was sure to set off alarms. And that it did.
Apparently, Bella’s staying in a private house had been intentional.If her vibe can be kept out of the paps’ eyes, we’d all be better off—also Billy’s words.
Billy and I had spent a good bit of time together. A cocktail here or there. Sometimes we would reminisce about when we werelittle, not young. Despite trying to stay young in appearance and age, Billy had a realness in her I’d come to admire. She and Ford were obviously close and had made a small effort at separating themselves from their mom’s world.
It was my final weekend, and I was grabbing a drink with Billy at the hotel, and then Ford was taking me off the property for dinner. We planned to drive ourselves in a convertible with the top down. It was a final kiss to Kauai and a last hurrah for us. At least, us on the island. I hoped not us altogether, but I was learning to temper my expectations.
After fourteen productive days, I decided to cut my workday short and go for a run. The crew filmed five days a week and Ford put in seven, so I had time every day to work, and I found the blue skies and palm trees to be especially motivating to plow through my to-do list. Now, in my final hours, as I wound my way around the property I’d come to call home, with Vivaldi playing in my ears and the light reflecting off the foliage, my heart ached. I hadn’t wanted to come, and now I didn’t want to leave. Nelle came to mind, and how she’d told me to lean into what I wanted. Well, I’d leaned, and now I was afraid to step back.
As I neared the open-air lobby, I slowed my pace and put my hands above my head, breathing back in life force as I came to a walk. Shaking my legs out, I decided to grab a coffee in the atrium coffee shop before heading to our room. I plucked my earbuds out and slipped them into the small pocket inside my shorts, noting my skin was now a tinge darker. I’d almost call it light pink. My hair was another story. The curls were uncontrollable, and small streaks of honey blond kept popping up. I’d never spent this much time in the sun, and a tiny part of me wondered if this was what life in Los Angeles was like.
