by Ali Parker
"I'm good. Just not feeling too hot." I stood and smiled down at him. "Or maybe feeling too hot. Just a little fever I guess. I'll be okay."
"Let me know if you need me. Go splash your face with cold water." He gave me a fatherly smile and leaned back in his seat.
I glanced over at the girls to find Riley still asleep, looking like an angel, and Deza staring out the window.
"Hey. I'm sorry." I reached over Riley and brushed my fingers down D's shoulder. "I'm just tense with all the shit going on. You know I suck at change."
"I'm sorry too. Love you." She reached out and gripped my hand, brushing her cheek by it. "You running a fever?"
She started to get up, but I motioned for her to stay still.
"I'm good. Just a little hot is all. I'll be all right. Stay there." I turned and walked toward the back of the plane as I forced my anger and hurt back into the tight box I kept them in. It was no one's fault that I'd suffered some crazy shit as a kid. I'd almost take it all again to keep the relationship Liam and I had forged out of the madness.
A shiver ran through me as I walked into the moderate-sized bathroom and turned on the cool water. After splashing water on my face several times, I dropped down on the toilet and let my head fall back.
Deza was right. Offering myself to Riley was fucking stupid, but it didn't matter much. The pretty girl hadn't taken me up on it, nor had she mentioned it again. She was too focused on keeping her old life intact and moving into a new one. I couldn't blame her. I'd not have diverged from the path to reach super-stardom for anything a few years back. Now it felt like a ball and chain most days.
"Hey. You okay?" Riley's voice was filled with concern as she knocked on the door.
"Yeah. Just feeling a little feverish." I reached up and unlocked the door.
She opened it and moved to stand in the opening. "You look like shit."
I chuckled and closed my eyes. "Awesome."
"Well, you look incredible, but your looking like shit is someone else's best day." The sound of the water starting brought an odd calm over me.
"I'm fine." I blinked slowly as my heart slowed down a little. I was fine until she moved to squat in front of me. She was too close, the scene was too intimate. I could almost hear the porn music cued in the backdrop of my thoughts.
"You don't look fine." She reached up and ran the cold rag over my cheek as her face filled with concern.
"I'm good. I can do that." I wrapped my hand around hers and groaned as my stomach contracted painfully. Maybe I wasn't as good as I thought. "Get out."
I move up and knocked her over, not stopping to pick her up as I turned and pulled the toilet seat up as my breakfast came back up. I gripped the sides of the seat and groaned again as I moved down to my knees.
"Ethan. What can I do?" Her voice was so soft.
"Nothing." I wanted to care that the finest girl in my world was standing behind me while I barfed my guts out, but nothing mattered other than getting through the moment.
The brush of the soft rag against the back of my neck calmed me. I panted softly and sat back on my heels as she tugged at the bottom of my shirt.
"Take this off." Her voice drove a spike of desire past my sickness and caused the room to grow fuzzy.
"Trying to get me naked while I'm out of it, I see." I lifted my arms as she pulled the shirt off and knelt behind me. The soft swipe of the cold rag in her hand felt good against my hot skin. I pressed my arms to the toilet and rested my head against them.
"What happened? What's the matter?" Deza's voice was loud, aggravating.
I groaned again and lifted up to my knees to start another round of vomiting.
"He's not doing so well." Riley sounded worried.
It was odd to have her taking care of me. I'd long given up on finding anyone other than Deza and Liam that would be something special in my life. She was going to whittle her way down into my heart. I could tell that I wouldn't have a standing chance if she tried.
"Get out," I groaned again and swatted at them wildly. "Seriously. Fuck."
"I'm out. He turns into a diva when he's sick." Deza snorted.
"I'm not going anywhere, you ass. Just get it out and let me take care of you." Riley's fingernails dragged over my back.
I moaned and pressed my hands to my face as I tried to catch my breath. "That feels good."
"Good. Just breathe through your nose. Long, slow breaths." Her finger brushed down my spine followed by the cold rag as she pressed it open and coated my skin in its coolness.
"You're making me want to be nice all the time. Stop." I pursed my lips as my stomach revolted against the peace she was working to help me find.
"Stop being cheeky and breathe. You can be an ass when we get out of here and you're feeling better."
I wanted her arms around me. Wanted to feel her lips against my ear and the soft press of her cheek against my skin. I wanted more than I should have wanted. It was unfair to either of us to even give voice to my needs or her desires. To mix the two would be explosive in the moment, and then much like a bomb going off, we would be left with the aftermath to clean up.
"I'm better." I sat back again and blinked through the haze around me. "Can you get me a sprite or water?"
"Of course." She stood up and walked out of the bathroom as I sagged against the wall to my left. "Here. Small sips."
I took the drink and moved back to my ass. "Thank you."
"Of course." She leaned over and flushed the toilet before kneeling beside me again. Her pretty pink top accentuated the feminine features I'd come to enjoy seeing. Her little button nose and luscious full lips. Caring blue eyes and flawless skin.
I reached out and brushed the back of my fingers down the side of her face as I lifted the cup to my lips. "Tell me Jace isn't your man. Lie to me."
"Hush. Don't start this Casanova shit again." She picked up the wet towel beside the sink and moved closer, wiping at the side of my face. "You're just not feeling good."
"True, but still. You deserve a good man."
"Do those exist?" She gave me a cheeky grin and fuck if I didn't want to reach out and pull her into my lap. I felt like hell was waging war on my stomach, but kissing her sounded like the best-laid plan I could devise. She's taken care of me. I wanted to return the favor.
"I'm not sure to be honest." I took the towel from her and pressed it to my head. "I think I'm good. Honestly. Thank you for taking care of me."
"We promised each other that we would protect the other. This is just an extension of that, right?" She moved back and stood up before offering her hand. "Let me help you up."
"I'm too big." I set my sprite on the counter above me and gripped the side of the sink.
She huffed at me. "You are not. Give me your damn hand, you lug."
"See. You just called me a lug." I gave her my hand and let her half pull me up. The room spun, and I reached out and gripped her arm with my free hand. "Fuck. I have no clue what I ate, but never again."
"Come on. Let's get you back in your seat." She pulled me out of the bathroom and wrapped her arm around the back of my waist, letting me lean on her a little.
"How the hell did that go from bad to worse so fast?" I mumbled and sat down in my seat as Frank stiffened next to me.
"What's wrong? Did you get sick?" He took the sprite from Deza, who must have gone to get it for me.
"I'm good. Just something I ate." I leaned back and reclined my chair. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get there."
"Rest up. We're not doing anything today, but I do want us to have a mini-scene camp tomorrow before the big scene shooting gets underway. Nothing too crazy, but just a few things on technique and style, especially for you, Riley."
I waved my hand in the air to get him to shut up. "We'll get it down. Hush so I can rest. Hopefully whatever was fucking me up is over."
Riley pressed the wet cloth to my head as I glanced up at her and caught her wrist.
"Thank you. Seri
ously." I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed her wrist softly. "I needed that."
Her cheek turned pink as Frank grumbled next to me. I didn't care.
"Sure. Of course." She pulled her hand from me and walked to her seat, dropping down with a sigh. "Just get some sleep."
"Don't let Frank molest me. He's had the hots for me for years." I smiled as he laughed beside me.
"He's going to be fine. He's already acting like himself again."
Funny they would know what the real me looked like. I hadn't seen him in years, but for a moment in the bathroom, with Riley behind me, taking care of me... I almost felt him. Almost.
Chapter 12
Riley
We flew throughout the night, and Ethan barely moved through the whole event. Not even when we hit a pretty bad storm near the end of the trip. It was almost lunchtime the next day in Rio when we finally got off the plane. I'd never been so glad to see solid ground before. Not being someone who'd flown more than once in my life, I'd held it together pretty well through the whole ordeal. Having to help Ethan was almost a godsend. It kept my attention on him and not on my worries about being in the air for so long.
I'd tried to sound like a Billy-bad-ass with Deza the day before like dying on the plane was all part of the risk, and was no big deal. Truth be told, I was terrified and hiding it like I did everything else.
"It's beautiful here." Ethan moved up beside me, looking a little too pale still.
"Yeah. How are you?" I turned to face him and reached out to press the back of my fingers to his forehead. "You feel good."
"You ain't seen nothing yet, baby doll." He winked and turned as Deza moved up beside us.
"All right. We have two small cars coming to take us to the beach condo we rented. You boys ride together and me and Riley will ride together. We get the first car that comes though. I need a shower or I'm going to turn into a class-A witch." Deza gave us a look as if to compound her words with truth.
"Turn into? What are you now?" Ethan chuckled and lifted his hands as she moved to pop him. "Be careful with the goods please. I'm feeling better, but I'm not nearly one hundred percent yet."
"You'll be better by tomorrow. We have the rest of the afternoon to lay around the condo, or soak up the sun for those of us who are desperate for a tan." Frank pulled up the sleeve of his Hawaiian shirt and we all flinched.
"Oh the agony of the whiteness." Ethan turned and acted as if he were ducking from a nuclear blast. "That's bad, man."
"I told you." Frank chuckled. "Here is car one. You girls go ahead."
"Unless you want to go with Deza and I'll ride with Frank. I know you're not feeling good." I turned my attention to Ethan.
"No. I'll be all right. Really." He smiled. "You're being too sweet for your own good. I wanna marry you instead of just turn you into my bedroom toy. Be careful, woman. You'll get yourself in too deep."
"Does he use these lines on everyone?" Frank snorted.
"Nope. I'm going to give Riley the down low in the car. She's in trouble and the boy has hearts in his eyes."
"Hey. We're right here." Ethan winked at me. "Hearts in my eyes? Dumb. You guys are old."
It was interesting how open everyone was with one another. I wasn't sure if I would ever get there, but it was fun to watch the others in action.
"Yes, well, I'm taking my old ass to the condo." Deza moved toward the car as Ethan motioned for me to join her.
"I'm good. Go to the condo. I'll find you tonight and we can have a drink or something." His eyes moved across my face as if memorizing me. How easily it would have been to fall in love with him.
I was lying if I thought I wasn't already there, but was it him that I was in love with, or his talent? Or the parts he played, even better yet?
"All right. Thanks." I rolled my bag to the small car, and thanked the driver for loading it for us.
Deza was resting with her eyes closed when I got in. I didn't want to bother her, so I pulled out my phone and worked through the text messages I had from Charlotte. She was about the only one I spoke with. It would seem that my boss from the restaurant had called a few times in the last day to apologize for being so harsh with me. Funny how people realized just how good they had it, but only when it was gone.
"Did Ethan offer you a friends with benefits-type relationship?" Her voice caught me off-guard.
"Hm? No. I don't think so." Embarrassment raced through me. He's hinted at it, but I couldn't really tell if he were being cheeky or honestly wanted me to come to him when I was horny and away from home. It seemed far too casual for my liking.
"You sure? You can tell me, you know." She pinned me with a hard stare.
"He might have mentioned it, but honestly, I figured he was just kidding."
"Right, well, he wasn't." She rolled her eyes. "I swear that boy is going to be the death of me."
"Did he mention it to you?" Horror raced through me that they were that open. The teasing and picking at Ethan about his man-parts and stuff, I could get used to. Getting into the intimate details of my sex life? Not so much.
"Yes! Yes, child. He wanted to make sure I was good with it." She pressed her hands to her face. "He has absolutely no sense of modesty at all. You should be warned. If you were on one film with us, no biggie, but knowing that you're most likely going to do three? That's three to four years of working together. Be warned."
I forced a laugh and leaned back, turning my face to look out the window as we passed the busy city and headed out to the water. She seemed to take the hint that I was done talking for the moment, and I was grateful for the silence.
I didn't know how I felt about him mentioning to Deza a friends with benefits relationship between us. Where the idea of stripping him naked and making him moan was something I could find at the edge of my desires, it was a risk. A risk I wasn't sure I was ready to take. My daydreams were more than enough for now, and even though getting sweaty and rolling around in the sheets with him was inevitable, I was going to hang on for as long as I could. Hopefully.
*
"I'm going to the beach for a while. You wanna come?" Deza stood by the front door with her sunglasses on and towel draped over her arm.
"No, I'm good. I'm going to read for a while. I'll find you later." I offered her a warm smile and turned onto my side as I pulled up Ethan's bio on my phone. It seemed almost like snooping around, and yet I couldn't help it. He wasn't going to give up too much information from what I could tell. He protected himself almost to the extent that I did.
"No wonder he doesn't have anyone close in his life but those that work beside him." And his brother. Thinking of Liam brought a smile to my lips. He'd been so entertaining on the boat ride out to Catalina Island the weekend before. He and Ethan had the type of relationship I'd want if I had a brother or sister. The thought of my brother Derick brushed across my thoughts, but as always, I dismissed it quickly. Too much sadness surrounded it to let it penetrate my soul and bring me down.
I switched to my texts and shot my mother another one. It would be the fifth one in the last week without a reply from her. I was worried, but there wasn't much I could do until she returned my calls or sent me a text back.
"Not gonna worry about it. I've been waiting for this big break half my life." I flipped it back to Ethan's bio as a knock resounded at the door. I groaned softly and got up, half-expecting it to be Deza.
Ethan stood on the other side of the door in a pair of swim trunks, sandals and a bright pink towel over his shoulders. "Come down to the water with me."
"Deza just went down. Go find her. I wanted to read for a while."
"Nope. I want time with you. You saved my life yesterday. The least I can do is buy you dinner and a drink." He moved around me into the room. "This is nice. Why are you guys sharing a room? The house is huge. It's almost like a mini apartment complex."
"This is the only room with two beds. We figured it would be easier for us to share a room than to get one of the film cre
w guys to share rooms." I shrugged and walked into the room, letting the door close behind me. "I'll go down for dinner, but I'm not very hungry."
"We'll share something." He pulled my white bikini from my open suitcase. "Wear this. I like it."
I laughed and snagged it from his fingers. "I don't care what you like. I'm wearing what I have on."
"You can't get wet like that. Well, you can, but not the way that would keep us both safe." He sucked in a deep breath and ran his eyes along me.
Chill bumps broke out along my skin as my body tightened due to his nearness. I reached out and gripped his wrist, pulling him toward the door.
"Let's go. Out of my bedroom."
"This is new. I've never in my life heard those words put into one congruent sentence together." He offered me his arm, and I would have been an ass for not taking it.
"Stop being cute. It's getting on my nerves." I smiled at him as we moved down the hall and out the side exit of the condo.
"Would you rather I be an ass?" He released my arm and touched the small of my back as we moved through a crowd of people. They whispered something which included his name. "Damn. I thought we were staying on a private island."
"We are." I glanced around. “I don't see many people here. They're probably part of the camera crew. New movie, new people working for you guys, right?"
"That's true." He seemed to accept my explanation and relaxed again. "Thanks again for helping me yesterday."
"Of course. Are you feeling better?" I wrapped my arms around myself and glanced up as the sun sat near the water's edge. It was going to be a beautiful sunset, but felt a little too romantic beside him.
"Much better." He glanced toward the water. "Look... the sun's going to almost look like it bursts when it hits the water. Let's go watch." He gripped my hand and moved us out there as tension drove me toward silence. "Beautiful."
"Can I ask you something?" I looked up at him as my heart shuddered in my chest.
"Anything." He glanced down at me and turned back to watch the sunset. "Just don't ask me to marry you. It's too soon, and I'm not sure we're compatible in the bedroom. If you wanna have dinner and use each other for dessert just to make sure everything fits in its proper place, you can hit your knees afterward.”