STELLA
"Just hear me out!"
My footsteps pattered urgently against the wooden boards of the walkway leading up to our overwater bungalows as my legs burned to keep up with Killian's wide gait. My cover up whipped about my calves and I had to keep one hand on my crown to prevent my hat from flying off my head and losing it to the ocean surrounding us.
But the damn man was refusing to listen to reason.
I also half suspected he was trying to outrun me.
If it wouldn't look ridiculous being chased by a half-mad, desperately crazy woman, I rather think he would have bolted already.
"Nope, I will not be doing that," he said, resolute, and he kept his attention directed to his destination: his suite, which was looming ever closer.
"Killian, please," I urged, begged, cried- at this point I'd be willing to get on my knees for him and I wouldn't have any shame about it, too- "I need you."
"Stella, it's not gonna happen," he griped. "Let it go."
Oh, but I didn't let it go. I just needed him to agree to a few activities with me, save me a few bucks, and save my ass at the same time. It was the perfect plan. Abida had explained that as a single occupant, the rates were almost doubled, but as a couple the price would decrease substantially. In some cases, cutting the cost of an activity in half.
It meant I could potentially take part in two, or even three, activities a day. It also meant that I could possibly have money left over to spare- even though I would need to send receipts and invoices to Zahra, it would still be awesome if I had some cash to spend on something other than the ridiculous cost of the activities at the resort.
My only answer to this conundrum, however, was steadfastly trying to ignore my existence. "I don't have the budget for the activities," I went on, blithely ignoring his attempts to refuse me, "and I need to take part in them for the piece I'm putting together about the resort. Couples are discounted! You'd be saving money, too!"
He snorted. "I'd be saving money by not doing them entirely," he pointed out.
"True, but that would be boring!" I protested. Sheesh, this boy could walk fast! I was breaking out in a sweat just trying to keep up with him. "Do you honestly want to sit around and do nothing inside your bungalow each day?"
"Ideally, yes," he answered dryly. "What more could I possibly need? I have my own private pool-"
"Well, semi-private," I corrected.
"-and the ocean before me. Drinks and food can come to me anytime I desire it, and if I feel like exploring I can head to the bar." He gave me a glance out of the corner of his eye. "That is the extent of my holiday plans."
"Ugh, how boring!" My sandals were slapping noisily against my sweaty heels and I was slipping a bit, but I persevered over the loud thumping of Killian's own footsteps beside mine. "There's so much to do! And you've never been to the Maldives before- you should want to do as many things as possible, to get the true experience of it all."
"That's how you travel. Some of us actually enjoy rest and relaxation."
"Come on, Kills, please." My toe caught on an errant unstable plank of the boardwalk and I lost traction, wobbling unsteadily as my knees jarred to a halt and my sandals slipped about under the soles of my feet.
He pivoted to catch me, fingers clamping onto my wheeling elbows and steadying me before I face planted onto the hot wood. I let out a whoosh of relieved breath, smiling up at him even if sweat was stinging my eyes as it dripped down my face. "Thanks," I told him appreciatively. I'd be as honey-tongued as possible if it meant this guy would agree to take me snorkelling today.
He gave me a look before releasing me once more and resumed his unattainably long stride towards the end of the boardwalk.
Hurriedly straightening the straps on my sandals, I was quick to follow once more. On his heels like a determined labrador.
"It'll be fun," I promised him- an empty one at that. I had no idea what snorkelling would entail for us with this resort in particular. They could very well intend to dump us at a sandbar where the only interesting thing to see would be a bit of dried up seaweed.
"Just go by yourself."
I could practically hear the eyeroll in his tone.
"Surely you are compensated for the money you spend at the resort considering you are working and not on holiday."
Reasonable point, but very untrue. "I have a small stipend, but not enough to cover each day," I explained, my breath huffing from me. Thank God we were almost upon the bungalows because I was seriously struggling to keep up. "I need to- no, I want to- impress my editorial team so that they can plug my content to a branding company. The more content I write about, the better! And that means I have to take part in the most that the resort has to offer. I'm lucky that I even have the stay and board complimentary, Kills! They won't send me anything more for leisure activities- the rest is up to me as an independent writer."
He snorted, unconvinced. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and I felt myself losing the battle. I mean, I could see why he was resisting. Spending time together? After I had ditched him at Sadie and Sipho's wedding a few nights ago? I had made it clear that I didn't want anything more to do with him relationship-wise.
And now I was trying to convince him to spend more time with me.
But what choice did I have? My career depended on his acquiescence. I could keep things platonic between us.
I hoped.
Killian paused in the shadow of our bungalows, the brightly painted turquoise suite doors side-by-side. One hand removed the sunglasses perched on the bridge of his nose, clutching them loosely in his fist while he fished for his keycard in the pocket of his shorts with the other.
It was then that I knew I had little option left but to beg, to supplicate myself before him and hope that I could possibly bribe him somehow into agreeing. "Please, Kills," I whined, skirting my body between his and the door to bar him access into his suite. "Please, please pleaseeee?" I blinked up at him imploringly, hoping I looked contrite and desperate enough to thaw the frosty resolution of his heart.
But he shook his head, his lips a firm line of dismissal and stubbornness.
"I'll polish your shoes!" I offered. "I'll clean your toilet, serve you your food and drinks whenever you want something! I'll press your clothes each day!"
One side of his mouth twitched, amusement creasing the corners of his eyes. "Stella, you don't even do those things for yourself," he remarked dryly.
"Which means I have more time to do them for you!" I countered, beaming up at him cheerfully.
But my humour didn't have the desired effect. In fact, Killian's brow seemed to darken with concern, and then something else entirely.
A deep sigh left him and I felt the air between us come alive with thick tension that licked over my skin in a faint caress. It sparked and zapped at my awareness, a fervent ache rooting in my core when he edged closer to me, so close that the merest millimetre separated our bodies.
I stiffened, my hands dropping to either side of my thighs and splaying against the cool wood of his door. My back pressed against the solid surface, the sheer gauze of my cover-all brushing lightly against Killian's shorts and legs.
Alarm and something else rocketed through me when his hands settled on either side of my head, flattening against the door and caging me with his body. He tipped his chin down, and the manner in which his dark gaze pinned me in place with the ardent need coalescing in their depths made the smile fizzle from my lips entirely.
"Should I tell you why doing activities with you would be a terrible idea, Stels?" he asked in a rough voice, a murmur so low it coiled insidious tentacles up my inner thighs. "Or should I show you?"
I swallowed, loudly. There was no way I was going to entertain either one of his questions- that would be detrimental to my health, I reckoned. Instead, I heard myself say in the most pathetically weak voice known to mankind, "I can behave myself."
He smirked.
Smirked.
"But can I?"
The bigger question, I realised, was whether I wanted him to. I didn't say anything- I don't think I could because my throat had dried up completely as I stared up at him. Every muscle in my body was frozen against his door, poised and quivering with things he shouldn't be making me feel. I was helplessly swept away by everything he was provoking me to feel to prove his point and I fought valiantly against allowing him to see it.
Killian leaned closer and I stopped breathing all together. His lips paused, suspending an inch above mine. He was so close the handsome lines of his face blurred. I teetered, unsteady with the bolts of desire that were charging my entire being at the mere hint that he might kiss me, press me up against his door and urge my legs to wrap around his hips.
"I still want you, Stels," he told me, his voice marinated with a dark need that made my thighs clench tightly together. "I know I shouldn't. I know we're done. But as long as you exist, I'll always want you. And having you so close, always within my reach but forbidden- is the sweetest torture, a consistent ache."
A tremble arced through me. Lord, this man... I grappled with my thoughts, with anything that didn't involve me climbing his body and begging him to put an end to both our misery.
Before I could say anything more, Killian retreated- just slightly, enough to restore a miniscule amount of my equilibrium. "So, you can understand why I am reluctant to spend any more time with you than necessary," he said. He lifted a hand, fingers poised before my cheek as if he contemplated touching me there. Indecision flickered behind his gaze for a moment, but then he clenched his fist and dropped it to his side, joined soon by his other hand as he pushed off the door, away from me.
It seemed I had lost all my faculties because I couldn't speak, I couldn't move... I couldn't even bring myself to stop looking at him with a dumb expression on my face.
Seeing this, Killian's smirk diminished and he nudged me out the way, swiping his card into the slot at the side of the door that opened it with a beep. He opened the door, paused, and told me, "It wouldn't be a good idea, Stels."
And then he slipped inside and closed the door on me, leaving me standing there like a gaping idiot.
It took me several moments more but I shook off whatever spell he had concocted. My limbs felt watery in the aftermath of his effect, but I put it aside as nothing more than sheer horniness. I had been horny and wanting for a while now, that's all it was- hormones.
I could control this, whatever it was.
Regardless, I still needed Killian.
He was only being dramatic... surely.
I fished around for my own room card from a pocket in my camera bag slung over my shoulder, hastily beeping my door open and trotting inside the suite. I dumped the bag and the cumbersome hat on the table nearby, and ran to the adjoining wall of our suites. I knew he could hear me- it was evident since yesterday that the slightest movement or sound could be heard through the walls.
And I raised my voice, so I knew for certain that he would hear me, and hollered, "But it wouldn't be a bad idea, either! So, will you come with me?"