Lana by R.K. Lilley Page B

when we’d arrived, but I hadn’t seen what he was grabbing.  
      I smiled at him.   “Thanks.”   I grabbed them from him, heading past him to the nearest room to change in.  
      He grabbed my arm, grinning.   “It’s just the two of us, Lana.   Do you really need privacy?”  
      I raised my brows at his about-face.   Taking his question as a challenge, I stepped out of my shoes, unzipping my skirt to let it drop around my ankles.   I unbuttoned my shirt, and had my bra unclasped before he could do more than stare.   I’d never been shy with my body.   Growing up on the island, spending every day in a bikini, it had never even occurred me to cover up.   And frankly, I knew his reaction to my stripping would be gratifying.   I was not disappointed.   His jaw dropped as I got out of my clothes in record time.  
      I got dressed nearly as quickly, slipping on the bikini, shrugging into the dress, and slipping into the flip-flops while he just watched me, looking hot and flustered, which was how I liked him best of all.  
      I gave him a radiant smile.   “Ready.”   I grabbed his hand, tugging him with me outside.   He didn’t resist.  
      I didn’t even pause at the pool, going directly for the long trail that led into the lush green forest and to our private beach.  
      Akira stopped me at the forest line, reaching to pluck a white plumeria from one of many trees that dotted our property.   He smiled as he tucked into my left ear, then started walking again.
      “Wrong side,” I told him, feeling silly.   Of course he knew that a plumeria over the left ear meant I was taken, and one on the right meant I was looking.   Mari had been the one to teach me, years ago.
      “I don’t think so.”  
      I felt my heart turn over in my chest with a fearful kind of hope.   “Oh?” I asked in a weak voice.   “Why don’t you think so?”  
      He sent me a suspiciously innocent look.   “Well, you’re not looking for a man, are you?   A flower on the right side means you want every interested guy to hit on you.”
      I supposed he had a point, since that was the last thing I wanted.   I fingered the flower as we made our way from the small patch of lush forest that led to the ocean.   “It’s as beautiful as I remember,” I told him, taking in the enchanted green serenity around me.
      “Yes,” he said simply.  
      The black sand beach was just as I’d remembered it, too.   And the ocean.   Oh, the ocean.   I’d always had such a fascination with that endless expanse of blue, and I always found it to be the most beautiful right at sunset, which was fast approaching.  
      Akira sat in the sand, pulling me between his spread legs without a word.   I leaned back against his chest, thinking that this was my own perfect little slice of paradise.  
      “I think I could stay like this forever, with you,” I told him quietly.  
      He pressed a cheek against my hair, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.   “Why don’t you, then?   Give me one good reason why you can’t stay on this rock?”  
      My breath grew ragged, and I couldn’t seem to find the breath to speak.   I’d been so brave when I was younger, declaring my feelings with no hesitation or reservation whatsoever.   It seemed as though I’d just used it all up back then, with none of it left for the grown-up me.   It made me sad, but I still couldn’t seem to ask him the questions I wanted to.   Could I just stay here?   Was it a terrible idea, or a brilliant one?   I couldn’t live my life based on whether or not Akira could love me like I did him.   I knew that was not way to live.   But could I live here, and see him every day, and be able to endure the longing, if we weren’t together?
      “I’ll have to think about it,” I told him quietly, watching the sky turn brilliant with the sunset.  
      He nuzzled his face into my neck, placing a soft kiss there.   “You do