by Harlow Layne
I did understand, and I knew that if the shoe were on the other foot, I’d want the same thing he did.
“Yeah, I understand that, and I appreciate it more than you know. I’m not poor. I mean compared to you and everyone out there.” I pointed out to the beach. “I’m poor. I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars, let alone millions, but I do have some money.”
“Baby,” Luke laughed. “I’m poor compared to everyone out there. Don’t feel bad or like you have to compete. If you do, it will only make you miserable. Just be you and be happy with yourself.”
“Yeah,” I hugged him and kissed the dimple in his chin.
“Now, if we’re done talking about how we’re going to try to live the rest of our lives together, I’d like to get to the makeup sex.”
A laugh escaped, my eyes wide. “I’ve heard it can be quite good.”
“I think we should find out.” Luke husked out as he leaned into me with a lascivious smile on his lips. We descended until he was flush against me, his legs tangled in mine, and our hands intertwined above my head.
3
Luke
“Is everything okay now between the two of you?” Anna asked as I took my place on the lounger next to hers.
I nodded and let out a deep breath. “Thanks for talking to her.”
“Honey, she would have come to the same conclusion whether I talked to her or not. The only thing I did was maybe speed up the process.”
“Either way, I’m still thankful. I don’t know how much longer I could’ve taken not knowing. For a little while there I thought she might be done with me. Decker fucked her up in so many ways that still affect her.”
“Exes will do that to you and when it’s made public it's even worse.”
Internally I flinched. From what Alex had told me about her ex when he found out about us it wasn’t going to be good. I could easily imagine him going to a tabloid and selling his story with lies he could dream up that would wreck her the most. He’d do anything to hurt her and I’d do anything to protect her.
“I don’t see good things happening when he finds out about us.”
Anna looked at me with sadness. “You’re worried.”
“I am. That’s what I was speaking to Colton about when he offered her the house. Hence the fight. Well…”
Giving a grimace, she turned to look out at the water. “It’s complicated. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Alex told you?”
Knowing how much Alex liked Anna, I hoped that Anna, and by extension Colt, wouldn’t hold my stupid thought against me.
“Hey,” she called quietly, placing her hand on my arm. “Don’t worry about it. You don’t know Colt and sadly we know how things are in this business. Rarely are couples faithful with long distances keeping them apart, thinking they can get away with it, the egos that are involved, and in your and Colt’s case having women throwing themselves at you all the time. But I know that Colt’s one hundred percent faithful.” She drew in a breath and then a mischievous smile spread across her face. “If he wasn’t, he knows that I’d chop off his balls.”
Anna and her ex-husband Kevin’s divorce was very public. The media wouldn’t leave them alone, especially when the world found out that Kevin had been cheating on Anna on just about every film set he’d been on since they’d met. “Yeah, the ex and public.”
“Kevin made it hard for me to trust again, and after what Decker put Alex through and then Matt, she’s got baggage. It’s hard for her to trust anyone with her heart. We’ve all got baggage, but what I am certain of is that she trusts you not to be them. It would hurt for you not to trust her.”
Did Alex think that I didn’t trust her? I needed to make sure she knew that I trusted her implicitly.
“I trust her. I trust her with my life. With my heart. With my soul.”
A smile lit up her face. “You love her.”
“More than anything.”
“I’m sorry about Ruby.” Her change of subject so abruptly caught me off guard. “Normally there’s not this much drama. It’s all drinking and lying on the beach soaking up the sun.”
“How were you to know?”
Anna shrugged, shaking her head. “I don’t know, but I don’t think either one of you will want to come next year.” She gave a bitter laugh looking over at the other girls. “You should go be with Alex. Enjoy this beautiful place and each other.”
“I will. We will. I left her so that she could talk to Mason and not feel rushed. She won’t say anything, but she misses him and worries about him when he’s with his father.”
“Go be with her and tell her that you love her. Don’t worry about us. I promise that Colt and I won’t hold it against you.”
“How much do I owe you?” Humor laced my words.
“Oh you!” She swatted her hands at me. “Don’t be silly. Just go be happy.”
I stood towering over her thankful for her therapy sessions with both Alex and me.
“Can you rub this on my back? I don’t want to get burned.” Alex held out her sunblock. My gaze had been transfixed as she rubbed the lotion on her legs, and across her chest. I was hard as I moved behind her, nudging my erection in her back.
Squeezing a glob out, I rubbed my hands together to warm the cool lotion before I placed them on her sun kissed skin. Slowly I massaged her back making sure every inch was coated. She hadn’t done her arms, so I leisurely started at her shoulder and worked my way down to the tips of her fingers. She moaned making me harder. We needed to get into the water before someone caught a photo of me dry humping her from behind.
Wrapping my arms around her, my voice was rough at her ear. “Hey, beautiful, how about we get into the water?”
Looking back at me over her shoulder, she smiled softly. It struck me then how much I’d missed her smile and having her in my arms in the month we’d been apart. I didn’t want to think about how hard it was going to be the next couple of months with my busy schedule.
“Let’s go, handsome. Even in December it’s hot here.”
With her arms wrapped around my neck and her legs around my hips, Alex leaned her head back into the water. Her hair fanned out all around her like a blonde halo making her look like an angel. Her smile was radiant as she looked up at me with love in her eyes.
Closing her eyes, she spoke quietly as she came up out of the water. “I love the water and the sound of the waves. This is perfect. The best of both worlds. No sharks, but still the smell, the gorgeous water out in front of us, the sounds, and best of all, you.”
Kissing her forehead, I murmured against it. “I’m glad you think so.”
Placing her head on my shoulder, she spoke against my neck. With each word her warm breath tickled my skin causing my cock to ache. I desperately wanted to take her again even though it had only been a couple of hours since I last had her, but there were too many people around.
“Thank you for coming here with me. For giving up going somewhere cold so I could have this.”
“It’s not a hardship, Alex.” I let out a small chuckle. “I know I said I like the cold, but it’s not as if I’m going to melt.”
She laughed, squeezing me tighter.
Turning, I kissed the top of her head as I ran a hand down her back until it cupped her ass cheek. We both groaned as I pushed her into my aching erection.
I would never figure out what her fucking ex’s problem was because when I touched Alex, she lit up like a firework and was so responsive. I thought it would take me weeks or maybe even months for her to open up to me sexually after what she told me she’d been through with Decker. Instead she instantly blossomed at my touch. How could he ridicule her for the things he asked her to do? How could he not give her the same pleasure he expected from her?
Now we were like two teenagers who couldn’t get enough of each other.
“How are we going to work out?” She asked out of nowhere.
Where the fuck had that come from?
“What?” I choked out unsure if I hid the hysteria that was rising inside of me.
Her fingers tangled with the hair at the nape of my neck calming me some, but not enough to take me off edge. “Someday I want to live on the beach and you want to live in Antarctica.” Her grip on me loosened as she yawned.
“My beautiful girl, I don’t want to live in Antarctica.” I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped at her crazy statement. “I simply want to spend time in my homeland and visit a place or two that are not beaches and are mildly cold. If one day you want to live on the beach, then one day we will live on a beach, and maybe one day you’ll agree to vacation somewhere that’s not tropical.”
“You’re too good to me and of course I’d go wherever you wanted to go. Within reason.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. One of the reasons I loved her was how often Alex made me laugh. “Of course, within reason.”
Alex responded, but her voice faded out when I caught sight of a flash of light in the bushes that surrounded the outer edge of the pool area. Had it been a camera?
I moved so that my back was to the wall of the infinity pool that way Alex could look out at the ocean and I could keep my eye on those around us. We were in the big pool area so that we could take advantage of the bar that was in the pool itself. Alex thought it was fun and who was I to deny her. But it meant we were not alone, and anyone could be watching us or taking pictures.
I didn’t want to alarm Alex if I didn’t have to. She knew that there was always a possibility that our picture could be taken, but she was always in the now. Always acting as if it was only her and I, and I loved that about her. I didn’t think she minded the pictures, but I didn’t want the world to scrutinize our relationship.
Alex was the first person that I’d dated that didn’t care that I was an actor. In all truth, being an actor probably didn’t help, and I worried that one day something would happen that would make her think twice about being with me and possibly leave.
The bushes moved by where we’d laid our towels out on a couple of loungers. A hand snaked out to the table only to then withdraw quickly back into the shrubbery.
What the hell! Had someone took something of ours?
It wouldn’t be the first or probably the last time if someone had stolen something from me. That was why I usually never left anything out in the open, making me wonder what the hand I’d spotted had been doing?
Alex’s worried face popped into my vision. Her hand rested on my cheek as her eyes took me in.
“What’s wrong?” Her mouth turned down as I shook my head and let my eyes sweep the area once more. Her hand pressed against my chest making me stop and look down at her. She had been sleepy, but now she was worried and for some reason sad. “Luke don’t lie to me. If you want me to trust you, you have to trust me. It’s a two-way street.”
My throat dried up so much that I could feel my Adam’s Apple bob with each swallow. Turning away I looked down at her and saw that she was hurt. I’d done that to her by trying to protect her, and I knew that I needed to tell her the truth or eventually I’d lose her.
“I do trust you. I only wanted to protect you.”
Her brows knit together as she looked over my shoulder. “From?”
“I thought I saw a flash from a camera.”
“Oh,” her mouth stayed in the ‘O’ as she looked around and then started to squirm out of my grasp. “I didn’t know that we were still hiding what we are.” She swallowed what looked like a rock in her throat before she placed her hands on my chest and started to push. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Alex, baby. No,” I shook my head. How had she mistaken me so badly? “We are not hiding anything. Never again will I hide who you are to me and what you mean to me.”
“I don’t understand then.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide that we’re together. I… I don’t know if I saw anything or not, but I worry that one day it’s all going to be too much for you and you’re going to leave me.”
Her arms tightened around me, her face warring with emotion before she closed her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened them again, they were clear and resolved.
“I trust you. That should be no surprise to you with all the shit that Ashlyn Jade has been spewing about you.” She sputtered but continued with fire in her eyes. “Never once did I think what she said was true.” With her voice rising, she vehemently cried. “Not once. Do you understand me, Luke Sandström?”
“Yes.” I didn’t get another word in before she kept going.
“You’ve got to have faith in me that I know whether or not I can live your life with you. You are worth whatever stands in our way unless you do something to fuck this up. If I thought for one minute that I wouldn’t be able to handle the stress of being with you then I wouldn’t be here. I would never lead you on like that. I would never have let Mason meet and become attached to you.”
She meant every last word, and it rocked me to my core.
“Fuck, Alex,” I growled deep and low. My lips only an inch from hers. “I want to be inside of you so badly right now.”
“What’s stopping you?” She asked her voice turning breathy in an instant, her hands ran up my chest to my shoulders.
“The fact that we’re out in public and I don’t want to be arrested in Mexico.”
“Mmhmm,” she purred against my ear. “You make a fine point. This was nice and all, but I think we need to go back to our room now.” She said the last as she ground her hips with mine. “Can you walk out of here?”
“Not if you keep rubbing against me like that.” Even then I would be sporting some sort of wood, but that seemed to be the case anytime Alex was near. There weren’t that many people around, so no one should notice in the short amount of time it would take to wrap a towel around my hips and get up to our room as quickly as possible.
“Maybe you should put me down then.” She flashed me a smile as I released her only to then grab her hand as we made our way out of the pool and over to what little stuff we’d brought down.
My steps faltered when I saw on the table a note in bold marker with the word, ‘CHEATER’ on it. I only stopped for a second before I grabbed the note and crushed it in my hand, all the while looking around the area. Who had left this here?
I could feel Alex’s breath against my arm as she clutched it with her free hand, but she didn’t say a word as I picked up our towels and started to make our way back to our suite.
There was no worry about my erection as we made our way through the crowd at the intersection that took you from the pool to either the main hotel, the outdoor restaurant, or the private houses that we were staying in. The moment I saw that note it was gone, and only left fury in its place.
Just as we made it passed the crowd and down the path to our place, I spotted a woman who was way too skinny to be healthy, with medium length brown hair and brown eyes looking back at me with a smirk on her face. It wasn’t just any woman. It was Ashlyn.
This woman was trying to ruin the best thing that had ever happened to me and I had no clue why. I’d only met her a couple of times and spoken just as many words to her. My vision went red and my feet started moving against the hot concrete. I felt nothing but my rage. The only thing on my mind was to stop her from spreading her lies, trying to ruin me, and what I had with Alex.
“Luke! STOP!” Alex appeared in front of me, her hands on my chest pushing me backwards. “You can’t do whatever’s going through your head right now. This is what she wants.” Her eyes widened as if she knew what I wanted to do. “Think of what will happen. Please!” She begged, pushing with all of her might to stop me in my tracks.
I kept moving forward, my only agenda to stop Ashlyn until I heard Alex squeal and start to fall. Without thought, I swept Alex into my arms as if she were my bride, turning in the direction of where we were staying. I no longer cared about what Ashlyn was trying to do and only wanted to make sure Alex was unharmed.
“
Luke! What the hell is going on?” she whisper-yelled, looking alarmed.
Instead of answering, since I’d already drawn enough attention, I focused on getting us back and keeping my cool.
Once we were in our room, I sat Alex down on her feet and then quickly closed the door and all the curtains and blinds.
Walking back, Alex watched me with unblinking eyes. “Will you please tell me what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
Kneeling down in front of her, I took her small hands in mine. “I’m sorry, baby. I never meant to scare you. I lost my head there for a minute and I wanted to regroup and make sure no one could see or hear us.”
“But why? One moment we were coming back here to jump each other and the next thing I know, you…”
“I lost it. You know how I was telling you about how I thought I saw a camera flash?”
“Yeah, of course, I remember.”
“I had my eyes on the area and I saw a hand reach out from the shrubbery next to the table that was between our two chairs. It was there one-second and gone the next. I got distracted with your gorgeous body against mine and your words, but when we got to our stuff, there was a note on the table.”
“Okay? This started you acting weird?” She asked with a small amount of uncertainty in her voice.
“It was Ashlyn Jade. When we were coming back here, I saw her in the crowd watching us with a smirk on her face, and I knew that it was her that put the note on the table. God knows what else she’s done since she found us. There’s a good chance that she posted more pictures on the internet of her with me in the background, and possibly you too. There’s got to be something to make her stop. I’m going to contact my publicist to see if there’s anything that can be done, or if I should put out a statement.”
“There’s got to be something we can do. Its slander against your character.” Her sweet face became red, her eyebrows drawn in anger. “Maybe you need to set up your own social media account and post some pictures of your own, showing you’re not with her and that she’s lying. Hell, I don’t know. Up until recently, my life has been pretty boring, so I haven’t had anything to post. I only have a Facebook account.”