last hurrah

"Wait here, I'll go back in the house to get my cigarette."

"Sure."

I watched Maverick as he got up from sitting on the mat and walked back to the house. The man wasn't wearing anything on top. It's just his boxer shorts as usual.

"Tsk. The man's got a thick skin. He didn't feel any coldness."

I returned my eyes back to the violent waves of the sea and drank from the can of wine I was holding. The moon is bright in the sky illuminating the white sand and blue ocean. You can also hear the strong gusts of wind around.

I have no idea what Maverick has eaten again to invite me for night swimming. I guess he's not satisfied with all the swimming and forcing me to surf all day.

I shook the can of beer I was holding and looked out to sea.

"Maybe he wants to make the most out of the place tonight. After all, it's our last night here in this magical place. It's our last night together."

The strange sadness and regret that had been living in my heart for several days returned to me.

Tomorrow, it'll be the end of everything between us. Our connection, our snide remarks, and our moments together.

Tomorrow, everything will be back to reality.

Tomorrow, I'll be back to being the errand girl.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" I remembered his question to me.

It was a rhetorical one given our set-up. Nonetheless, it never failed to make me hope for a thing that I am very aware of that I will never have.

"How insensitive of you to ask me that. If only things were not complicated. If only..."

I adjusted the blanket on my body when I heard Maverick's footsteps. He sat next to me and lit a cigarette.

"Want a stick?" He offered it to me.

I didn’t answer and just took the packet right away. I put the cigarette in my mouth and brought my face close to Maverick's. He brought closer the lit part of his cigarette to me and lit my cigarette using his.

I suck and then blow the smoke through my nose and mouth.

"Did you enjoy my company for the past week?" I started the conversation. "Cause I enjoyed yours."

He raised the canned beer at me asking for a toast. I squeezed our cans and we drank it together.

"I enjoyed you. I enjoyed talking to you and having sex with you. Especially the sex part. It was good."

"Even though I didn't do anything?" I grinned at him.

He also smiled at me and nodded.

"Yes, even though you didn't do anything. You're a good student."

It was then that I laughed out loud.

"Thank you, sir. Latin honors are coming?"

Maverick cackled and then got serious all of a sudden.

"My offer still stands."

"And my decision is still the same. I will just be inviting a pain in the ass if you'll be my boyfriend. You're too big, too powerful, too rich for my own liking."

"Is that a bad thing?"

He turned to the side to place the empty wine can on the sand.

"For me? Yes, it's a big deal. I can't handle you."

I tapped the cigarette on the sand while holding it against my index and middle fingers.

"Really? The great Femella I know will not say that thing. She is the most confident and strongest woman I have ever encountered, except my mother of course. So far, I think you're handling me well."

I chuckled. "Nah. Maybe you just didn't know her." I took in a long breath and exhaled the smoke. I averted my eyes and focused on the waves. "Let me tell you a story, Mav. There was once a girl who was living in fear. She's scared and scarred... and loneliness is all she ever knew in her entire life. She didn't experience being chosen. She never experienced being loved. Her parents have no choice but to choose the other weaker child for them to survive. In short, she was banished to a place with no identity. She grew up lonely and always fearful for what's to come. She is always insecure to people who get to be prioritized just like her sister, something that she has never experienced."

I shuddered when Maverick wiped away the tears that I didn't realize had already escaped my eyes. I brushed away his hand and continued drying my tears.

"Sorry, I just got carried away with the story. It's so good. I considered it a masterpiece."

"Who's the author?"

"Just someone very dear to me."

I put the cigarette back in my mouth and immediately blew the smoke out and then stuck the stick in the sand. I stood up and let the blanket fall on the mat. I held out my hand to Maverick wearing the familiar smile as if nothing had happened.

"Come on, let's swim. Let's just enjoy ourselves for the last time, okay?"

Maverick looked at me as if he wanted to ask something but he eventually reached for my hand and stood up.

I didn't realize what he's up to when he swooped me in my feet and effortlessly swung me in his shoulders. Then he ran out to sea and threw me into the water. I was paralyzed by a sudden rush of cold all over my body.

Laughing, I swam to the bottom and pulled his foot but he was able to grab my waist and pulled me above the water.

I removed the wet hair that covered my eyes and seductively stared at Maverick. The cigarette was still in his mouth.

I bit my lower lip and ran my wet tongue over it. I moved my head to the side and gestured to him to come to me using my two fingers. He looked down at my exposed neck and swallowed. His Adam's apple moved in a very sensual manner.

I approached him and without taking my eyes off him took the cigarette from him and smoked from it. I gathered the smoke in my mouth and grabbed his head. I clung to his shoulder and exhaled the smoke to his mouth.

He parted his lips and willingly received it.

Our eyes were still on each other as we puffed out the smoke.

The side of his mouth moved into a smile. I grinned. And then without saying a word, we both grabbed each other and kissed like forever, like our lives depended on it alone.

We kissed until our breaths almost ran out. We kissed until everything dissipated. It's just me and him kissing under the moonlight and drenched in cold salty water on this island where no people know me and no past to drag me down.

"Are you sure you're not changing your mind?" Maverick fingered my swollen lip.

"N-no, I guess." My lips quivering while looking at his red lips.

He took the cigarette in my hand and threw it into the water..

"If I call you one of these days for an arrangement, will you not disappoint me with your response?"

He wrapped my legs on his waist and started walking back into the shore. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

I locked my eyes on him, never letting a single second leave us.

"Expect me to reject you..." His face tightened into a grim one. "Or not, which greatly depends on what kind of arrangement I will receive."

"Good."

He laid me on the mat and started unfurling the strings of my bikini.

His face is filled with lust and something else I can't name while he caressed my neck down to my arm towards my undulating stomach.

I caressed his face and pulled him to me.

"You're too sweet and caring for someone like me. It's just a sex escapade and you paid for me. Why do you have to be like this, Maverick? Why do I have to see your other side?"

My finger dropped to his lips and touched them.

"It's because I'm not doing it with that thing in my mind."

He cupped my face.

I caught my breath at his revelation.

"Do you hear yourself now? Do you even know what you mean by now?"

"Like I told you over and over again, I'm simple minded. If I like the person, I tell her right away. Life's too short to waste in running in circles." He pressed his forehead to mine and closed his eyes. "You make me feel things, Fem. Strange emotions that I never thought I would feel in this lifetime. So please, will you explore this crazy feeling with me?" His eyes are pleading, his gaze turning me into a molten rock.

"What if we won't work? What if the past will catch up with us? Our meeting is so unconventional. It's just in the beginning where everything feels so right," I whispered, my voice full of doubt.

"I don't make empty promises, Fem. I'm practical and pragmatic. When I see a potential, I do anything to make it work," he groaned while slowly opening his eyes.

I just smiled sadly before pulling him to me so that our lips met. I kissed him warmly and sweetly. I kissed him to say the things I could not say in words.

Words felt underwhelming at this moment like anything I would say is never enough so I just did what I think is the best response.

"I take it as a yes," he said after pulling out briefly, his eyes smiling

He didn't give me a chance to answer anymore. He covered my mouth with his. The kiss was passionate. It's crazy. It consumes everything about us and burns our sanity.

I groped his ass and lifted myself to meet his sweltering solid frame. My softness is a direct contrast to his firm and solid body.

"Stop."

Maverick's confused eyes darted at me. His hands stopped in mid-air.

"Let me," I speak softly.

I left under him and pushed him to the sand. The man grinned.

"So you want to be in charge. Hurry up, babe. I'm not in the mood for some teasing. I'm fuckin' horny. We can save the slow dance later."

I put my finger on his lips. "Shhh. Don't be a killjoy. Just enjoy the ride, master."

I rode on his stomach and started kissing his ear. I poked his earlobe with my tongue and intentionally spat on his neck. I felt Maverick's heave a sigh and his hands tighten around my waist.

My lips traveled to his neck. I twirled my tongue over the soft skin and sucked it hard for seconds. I felt satisfaction swelled when I withdrew and saw my mark on his skin.

I wasted no more time and kissed every inch of his body my lips had happened to pass by. I went down and down even further.

Every groan, growl and howl of him is music to my ears.

I continued what I'm doing because of the pleasant sound that comes from him. Every growl of it was a sign that he liked what I was doing so I was even more aroused. I didn’t miss paying equal attention to his hard chest and stomach.

I kissed and tasted every ridge and crest of his taut body imprinting and branding him as mine.

Even if it's just only for tonight.

Maverick rumbled and pulled me above him but I refused. I continued touching his body and giving appreciation to it.

I traced my tongue across his stomach while fondling his erect nipples. Maverick gently tugged at my hair but I did not give in.

I restrained myself even though I was already trembling with lust.

I went down between his thighs to see his cock jutting to the waistband of his boxer shorts. I crouched to kiss it but Maverick yanked me to him and devoured my lips.

He managed to flip our position in an instant.

My hands went to her hair and pulled at them. I reciprocated his kiss with the same intensity. I closed my eyes and focused on the bewildering sensation.

I shut down all the other coherent thoughts and concentrated on this temporary madness.

I'm trying to collect memories with him as much as possible and this one is a good addition to my growing collection.

He tore the crumpled piece of my underwear and lowered it down. I gasped at his roughness but instead of feeling scared, my pussy dripped more juices. He opened his thighs, touched his erected manhood and finally claimed me. Each thrust filled the sweet ache until I became full of him.

I let out a sigh when he is completely settled inside me. He didn't move for a while. He just stayed there with his teeth clenched while looking at me as if I'm a fragile thing that needs protection.

I ran my fingers on his face. He is such a beautiful sight to behold under the moonlight. More so when he's on top of me.

"Do you know that humans are at their most vulnerable state when they're having sex?"

Maverick stripped the skimpy top off of me. "I didn't know that."

"Now you know."

"You just made that up." He released a guttural sound when I moved my hips.

"Maybe, maybe not but I can't think of anything else when we are so defenseless and helpless other than this act."

He placed my hands on his shoulders and started pumping slowly. "I could agree on that but on one thing."

I bit my tongue when his movement went wild.

"What?"

"Look me in the eyes. Never close them until we're finished. Let me see your vulnerability, Fem."

"O-okay," I stuttered in agreement and complied with him.

I met his dark eyes, my fingers already clawing over his back while we danced in the rhythm that is as old as time.

"You're beautiful," he murmured, his voice almost a growl.

"I know," I replied which earned a smile from him.

He took my hand and wrapped it around him. Under the moonlight on this paradise island, we had unparalleled pleasure together. The moon and ocean witnessed how I gave up the last thing I owned.

It's out of the question, not in my plan, and especially out of my mind but I must admit that I have completely fallen for this man I swore I would never like. I don't know what happened. I just woke up one morning staring at him while my heart seemed to stop beating. It was as if I could leave everything and forget my mission.

Because being with him is pure happiness. Being with Maverick is going back to my years of joy.

We reached orgasm together without taking our eyes off each other.

He dropped to my neck and nuzzled his nose there.

He's still gasping for breath like me. I stroked his back and kissed his head. I closed my eyes as I made a decision...

A tear rolled off the side of my eyes.

MAVERICK IS snoozing already on my side while I sat on the bed holding his spare cell phone.

I'm waiting for a text from Dave.

The phone beeped. I opened and read it.

Hello, Fem. I have the information we need. I already know the identity of the dog owner. Bad news. He is planning to go to the US together with the subject. You need to decide right away. Just one wrong step, they can hasten the departure immediately. I need to see you soon.

"No, I won't let that happen."

I looked at the sleeping man beside me before sending a message. I stared at the ceiling for a moment before forming a plan.

I sent a text message to a number and then took out the sim card and went to CR to flush it. I put the cellphone back in the closet and went back to bed.

I leaned over and smiled sadly at Maverick.

"I'll miss you," I whispered.

I hugged the man and immediately felt at peace.