Chapter's song: Like I'm gonna lose you y Meghan Trainor. The best song describing Marianne's feelings...

҉       A ƤriƝɕҽsslɣ CoƝƝҽCƬioƝ        ҉

ChaPtEr EIGHTEEN      _________________________

Bittersweet

“Want to talk about it?” Jason’s grey eyes were intense as his thumb traced circles on my hand.

My breathing was still ragged from our heated make out session. My body was still tingling all over. And if we hadn’t pulled away…I didn’t want to think what would have happened. We were in a public place, after all. His kisses were addicting and I just wanted more and more…it was scary and quite pathetic. I knew there were just a few days if not weeks to be together. A pang played in my chest as I looked towards the crashing waves.

Softly, I shook my head. “Things are just more complicated than usual…”

He chuckled quietly. “To be honest, I never thought that a princess life could be hard.” I glanced at him and he had a small smile on his face, “I think it’s Danielle’s fault. She made me watch all those bloody princesses’ movies,” he muttered annoyed.

I burst out laughing. I couldn’t picture him watching those movies. Maybe with a scowl on his face and crossing arms. That must have been something…

“I was like thirteen,” he rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away. His lips were twitching, though.

“I think you’re a great brother,” I passed an arm around his muscled right arm and pulled myself to him. “And you know, I’m a sucker for princesses movies myself,” I shrugged as his grey eyes landed on me.

“You?” he snorted. His voice tone changed as he pulled me so I could straddle him. In a darker, huskier voice, he asked “Are you screwing with me?” I laughed at his innuendo. “Because I really don’t mind, you know?” he whispered huskily as his lips brushed my neck.

My heart was already racing as I entangled my hands in his soft hair. The sunlight made it shine as I ran my hands on it. A burning stare made me look directly at his eyes. They were darker and lustful. My stomach fluttered like crazy.

Almost out of breath, I mumbled, “Princess Diaries and Princess Bride are my favorites.”

His eyes roamed all over my face as a lopsided smile formed on his lips. “You are the most beautiful princess, ever.”

I swallowed hard as I swooned all over. “You aren’t too bad yourself,” I murmured with a small smile on my face.

His lips tugged on a wide smile. “What are you talking about?” he stood up grabbing me by the thighs. “I’m the best looking guy,” he leaned closer as my whole body felt on fire. A mischievous glint played on his eyes before he jumped in the water. With me in his arms.

I screamed and grabbed tighter to him as I touched the water. Jason was laughing hard. Squirming all over, I tried to free myself but his hands gripped my thighs harder. Knowing that I wasn’t strong enough to actually move, I resorted to splashing him on the face.

Still laughing, he just said to take a breath before diving deeper. His hair was moving slowly with the water movements. His eyes were darker. His mouth was closed. He watched me for a moment before pulling me closer and kissing me underwater.

My hands gripped his t-shirt tighter as the kiss deepened. His hands were on my bottom pulling me closer to him. My whole body was on fire. There were small bubbles everywhere. We were enveloped in the blue water.

It was surreal, exciting and oh so good…

Out of breath, we surfaced still entangled in each other. My heart was in overdrive. Jason’s breaths were rugged. His eyes bored into me one more time.

Softly, in a husky tone, he whispered, “Do you want to go see a movie tomorrow night?”

My heart almost stopped. Like a date? I bit my lip to keep me from saying it out loud. His eyes looked down. He leaned closer and I closed the small gap in between.

As we pulled apart, his lips tugged up on a lopsided smile, “I take it that as a yes?”

His hair was all over the place and a few water drops were running down his neck. He looked good. With a racing heart, I cupped his chin brushing the subtle hair on his chin. His smile faltered and his eyes darkened.

My breathing was ragged again as I leaned closer and kissed him again. I softly bit his bottom lip, making him groan while pulling me closer. The kiss deepened while his hands roamed all over my back. The soft waves crashed against us but we didn’t noticed them.

“Bloody hell, Marianne…” his voice was rough and dark and really sexy as we pulled apart. He leaned on my forehead. His breath was coming out in pants as his hands gripped me tighter. “If you don’t stop kissing me like that, I don’t think I can control myself,” he mumbled against my neck. I arched to give him better access as he trailed soft kisses down my neck.

“I don’t really know what I’m doing…” I trailed breathlessly as he reached my chest.

“Let’s not think, shall we?” he looked at me with those intense eyes. I nodded. “Come on,” he grabbed my hand, “I think it’s time for you to take those clothes off.” He smiled mischievously, “You can’t get sick, can you?”

I laughed at him. He held my hand as we walked back to my room. Before we reached it, turned to me and kissed me passionately for a moment.

Breathless, I asked him, “What happened with the whole being inconspicuous thing?”

“I just don’t give a fuck anymore…” I smiled at him before he kissed me one more time.

We didn’t leave my room until dinner. Quite reluctant, Jason left my room to take a quick shower and actually change clothes. I smiled goofily as I did the same.

I really didn’t know what the hell I was doing. It was perfectly clear that whatever we had going on wasn’t going to last more than a few weeks, at most. My stomach churned uneasily. It was going to be beyond painful to go back to London and try to be without him. I knew I would be completely shattered. But I rather have days with him that nothing at all. Even if it was going to cost me later.

I just wanted to be with him.

Swallowing hard, I opened my room’s door and my lips tugged up instantly. Jason was leaned on the wall with crossed arms waiting for me. He had cargo shorts and a bright green t-shirt. His eyes were intense. I felt a small shiver ran through me as I remember what it felt like being with him. Pushing all negative thoughts away, I walked up to him and kissed him pouring all my heart.

His hands encased me tight. Through the kiss, he said, “do we really have to go to dinner?” making me laugh and pull away.

“I’m starving,” I touched my belly while pouting.

He shook his head with a smile on his face. Grabbing my hand, he murmured, “Just stay away from the beans. I’m sleeping in your room…”

Blushing, I shoved him away. “Am I ever going to live that out?”

He shook his head with a huge smirk on his face, “never.” His hand found my arm and he pulled me close to him, kissing the tip of my nose.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. As we reached the kitchen, I narrowed my eyes. “Besides, that’s like a total false accusation. You made that up!”

His grey eyes sparkled mischievously, “That’s something that you’ll never know.”

“Well, you better behave or I won’t let you sleep in my room,” I said mocking offense placing both hands on my hips.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t plan on sleeping anyway,” his tone was dark and a sly smile played on his face. I swallowed hard but managed to roll my eyes playfully.

The kitchen was as noisy and aromatic as usual. Sol’s eyes brightened as we walked inside. She was standing up next to Maria helping her serve dinner. Pablo was on the table nibbling the veggies placed on a large tray on the middle. It smelled great.

I reached the huge pot on the stove and saw some sort of chicken broth with little white balls and shredded pork meat. “It’s pozole,” Maria smiled at me. She passed me a served bowl to place on the table. We finished serving everyone just as my Aunt walked through.

As we all started to dig in, my aunt frowned. “Where were you all afternoon? Did you go to town or something?” Jason started to choke. This time, I slapped him hard on the back as he coughed. However, my cheeks felt too hot. My aunt observed us for a minute with curious eyes.

Pablo and Sol shared a knowing look and smiled. For a moment. Then, he looked away completely freaked out. I almost rolled my eyes at that. That boy needed a wake-up call or something.

Shaking her head, my aunt started to tell us about the fact that Huatulco had over twenty-nine bays. Most of them were reachable through boat. She encouraged us to visit at least half of them. “It’s heaven on earth,” she smiled as she finished her soup. “You should ask Edward. I’m sure he knows where you could rent a boat. Maybe he can take you there…” she trailed. I turned to Jason. He gave me a small smile while nodding his head.

“So, where were you today?” Pablo pushed slyly. “We searched everywhere for you.”

“We were doing some research,” Jason said matter-of-factly. Pablo raised an eyebrow.

Ignoring him, I turned to my aunt, “Patricia, could I talk to you for a moment?”

“Yes, of course. Let’s go to my office.” She stood up and placed her plates on the sink.

“I’m just going to help out with the dishes…” I smiled at Maria.

“I’ve got it,” Jason interjected.

I bit my lip. He had just earned brownie points. Not that he needed them, anyway…

“Thank you.” Jason gave me a you’ll-get-even-later look, making me flush.

I followed my aunt to her office in comfortable silence. As soon as I closed the door after me, she asked “do you need more condoms?”

My eyes widened, “No…” I looked everywhere but her.

She chuckled, “I have a huge box. Guests tend to ask for them.” She reached down her desk and took out a large box brimming with condoms. “I’m just going to give you more, you know, just in case…”

Had we been that obvious?

Probably. Pablo hadn’t helped, either.

Whoops.

“I just wanted to tell you that it doesn’t feel right to get paid. I’m not doing much, to be honest. And you’re feeding me and giving me free time and stuff.”

My aunt took a seat and sighed. “I know honey but no matter what, I will always pay my employees. And you’re one of them.”

My heart warmed for her. “That’s really nice of you, but I can’t take it. Just take it as my room’s rent.”

“Well, I can’t do that-“

“Good night, Auntie,” I smiled sweetly before grabbing a handful of condoms and walking away from her. I heard her laughing as I stepped down the stairs.

What can I say?

We had almost run out of them…

I passed the kitchen and they hadn’t finished the dishes. Shoving the condoms on my pockets, I walked up to Pablo and gestured him to come outside with me. Sol shot me a worried look as he followed me.

As soon as we were out of reach, I slapped him on the head. Hard. “You’re an idiot, Pablo! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He winced and was rubbing the back of his neck, “you’re too violent, woman!”

“And you’re acting out like an ass.” I raised an eyebrow.

Pablo looked away. His shoulders tensed as he clenched his hands in fists. “I don’t even know what to think anymore,” he muttered frowning.

“Then don’t.”

His brown eyes turned accusingly towards me. “What? Like you?”

That touched a chord. My stomach plummeted to the ground as I frowned. “It’s different, Pablo…”

He shook his head. “You can’t deny that you’re beating yourself up. What are you going to do when you’re back in England?”

I took a deep breath. Through a clenched jaw, I muttered, “it is different. Things back in England are too complicated to even begin to explain.”

“You’re still the other girl...you know that, right?”

My temper flared. “Why are you being an ass to me?”

“Because you have no freaking idea on what you’re doing,” he spat accusingly. “So, don’t come around and tell me to figure out something that I didn’t even know existed.”

I glared at him for a long moment. “Sol deserves to be treated right.”

“So do you,” his voice was soft.

My eyes brimmed with tears. There were so many emotions going through me that I didn’t even know where to begin with. “It’s different…” I whispered sadly.

“It is. But you’ve made your choice. I’m just not sure if I want to change things around here.” He kicked a stone. “I mean, I have to be completely sure that I want to be with her. She deserves that much.”

A pang played in my heart. Swallowing hard, I patted him on the back. “I’m just going to say that she’s crazy for you…and you’re a bloody idiot to never notice that.” His brown eyes told me that he wasn’t convinced at all. But as he had just stated, I couldn’t say anything. My own situation was too complicated. I wasn’t even sure what the hell I was doing…

I left him deep in thought as my own mind rambled.

Was it worth it? I knew I was going to get hurt.

I had never in my life felt like this. It was like he was making me feel…complete…like I wasn’t even sure how I was supposed to keep going without him when we returned to England.

I loved his smile, his jokes, the way he looked at me, the way he touched me. Jason was charming, funny and caring at the same time. It was really hard not to fall in love with him. Even in his overprotecting mode he was completely alluring.

A heavy burden pressed against my chest. What the fuck did I want?

I leaned against my room’s door with heaviness surrounding me. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. A musky cologne reached my nostrils. My lips tugged up. A strong hand caressed my waist. Soft lips brushed against mine.

I wanted him.

All of him.

In whatever version I could.

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So, I got in the writer's affair contest with Turn around. I'm still not sure how the voting will work out but they told us to promote the story so people could vote on the story's first chapters. It's, in my opinion, my best story so far. It doesn't have so many reads as the others...but it's really good. I'd love to see it published. Please help me out by voting on the story!

Also...I'm not so sure about this chapter...ugh...(feeling bleh...) but my eyes are closing and I did say that I was going to try to update on Wednesday.

Thank you as always for your votes and comments :)

Gabs