Beyond Eighteen (10 page)

“
No, umm, I’m going
upstairs. I need some time to think about this.”

I stood up and it felt like the world bore
down on me. I didn’t want this. I wanted to be with Wilson in
California. I wanted to have the life my father never got. I didn’t
want to be stuffed in a suit, stuck in a high-rise, telling people
what to do. I need Wilson. I had to get to her. I stood at the
bottom of the stairs looking up at the twenty-something steps I had
to climb to get to the one thing that made me happy. I started on
the first step and stretched to skip the second. I got to the top
faster than ever before, almost unconsciously aware of trying to
leave behind the words Dan had so carelessly forced on me. My
biggest fear just hijacked my life and Wilson had no idea our lives
were about to change forever.

~ Wilson ~

My phone vibrated in my pocket.
Thank
God, Joanie must be calling me back.
But why was my heart
thundering in my chest? Okay, so I was nervous to tell her about
Nick. The third ring was even louder as I pulled the phone out of
my pocket.
Come on, Wilson, you can handle this.

There was a noisy thud in the hall before
the doorknob turned fast and the door flew open. Max stood in the
doorway, his black hair looking severe against his ghostly skin.
His eyes were narrow, the corners of his mouth swaying south as he
forced breath through his nostrils. His usually strong, sturdy
shoulders hunched with each exhale. I stood watching him, not
knowing if I should run to him or stay where I was. My phone
continued to ring as I dropped it on the bed.

“Max? What happened? What’s going on?” I
asked rapidly as I took a couple of steps toward him. He looked at
me, his eyes filled with the burden of somewhere else. He held his
arms out to me and I hurried to him. It was at that moment I knew
he needed me. I pushed my body into his. I had no idea what had
happened, but it didn’t matter; he needed to hold me, and that was
enough.

His rigid body leaned heavy against mine and
his breathing became lengthened and determined.

“Wilson, I need to— I need to talk to you,”
he struggled to whisper.

My heart pounded violently in my chest and
my stomach twisted into knots as his words passed through my hair
and cascaded into my ear.

“Okay,” I said as I pulled away from him to
look in his eyes. Damn, he looked so tortured. His expression
struck the chords that connected us; he looked like he wanted to be
anywhere else but there. “Tell me, Max,” I murmured.

“Sit down, please,” Max said as he grabbed
me by my biceps and eased me back. I lowered myself to sit on the
edge of the bed. My eyes tracked down the front of him—from his
broken expression down his white button-up dress shirt. I watched
his shirt shift with each breath. He kneeled down and ran his
fingers through his hair. I watched his expression change and his
jaw tighten as he swallowed. His eyes vacillated between mine, back
and forth as he spoke. He slipped his hand against the side of my
face and I leaned into his touch.

“Wilson, I love you—more than anything,” Max
whispered before he stood up and walked toward the door. My face
went cold and my heart dropped into my stomach.

“Damn it,” he continued, “Why is he doing
this to me? It’s not what I want. He knew I never wanted this.” He
thrust his hands into his hair and bent forward. I could see
tension through his shoulders and back.

“Who? Max, what are you talking about?
Listen, I’m starting to get a little freaked out.” I got up and
slid my hands around his waist as I pushed my lips against his
spine, between his shoulder blades.

“My dad, Wilson.” Max spun around and caught
my shoulders. “He’s made it so I can’t ever get away. I’ll be
stuck—just like he was.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked as I
held his face between my hands and made him look me in the
eyes.

“Dan told me I’m going to be named the CEO
of Goldstein Petroleum tomorrow—when we go over my father’s will.”
Max’s words exited from his mouth like vomit; like if he said the
words fast enough the poison they exuded wouldn’t penetrate his
system and cause him to become the president of his dead father’s
company.

“Whoa, slow down, Max. What does that
mean?”

Max started shaking his head no. My hands
dropped to my lap.

“Nothing. It means nothing, because I’m
gonna find a way to get out of it. I’m not CEO material. Let Dan
have it. Hell, let Cal take it. I don’t want that life,” Max spewed
as he stood up and started pacing back and forth.

“Hey, Max, come on, babe. Just because your
father wants you to be CEO doesn’t mean you have to do it.” My
words were sharp with the intention piercing through his
impenetrable fear of being any part of his father’s company.

Max stopped pacing, his eyes filled with the
same pain I saw the day his father died. “No, he took care of that
option too. If I don’t become CEO, GP will be sold off in pieces.
Dad’s last twist of the knife to make sure I’d become the man he
has always wanted me to be,” Max complained. “He knew I’d never do
that to my mom,” he said under his breath.

“Well, then, you’ll do what you need to do,”
I said as I slipped into his arms and pressed the side of my face
against his chest as I listened to his heart break. It wasn’t
perfect, it wasn’t what he wanted, but sometimes choices aren’t
always the most comfortable thing in the world.

“What are you saying, Wilson? That I should
forget about my life in California? Just leave you at Wesley, and
come back here—alone? That isn’t an option for me.”

I felt his words tumble and mix with his
breath as he spoke. His arms tightened around my back as I slid my
face up, meeting his stare. He wasn’t going to accept my idea. And
to be truthful, I was glad.

Pushing my lips to his, I swung my arm up
around the back of his neck. I just wanted to kiss him forever. He
opened his mouth, desperate to convince me I was the only thing
that mattered in his life. His tongue mingled with mine. I wanted
him to taste as sweet as butterscotch, but instead it was a twist
of bitter sadness with a splash of salty regrets.

“Max, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll graduate
in May. That’s only five months. What’s five months?”

“Longer than I want to be away from you,
Wilson.”

“Well, I don’t want to be away from you
either, but what’s our other option?”

“Let’s run away. Come on…we’ll sneak through
the window. Nobody will know the difference.” Max pulled me up onto
his chest and shuffled toward the bed. I was glad one of us broke
the tension that was filling the room, because it was getting way
too thick. He stopped carrying me, loosened his grip, and pushed me
back against the bed. As my body hit the down comforter the cool
air that swept between my skin and his bed was refreshing. I lay
there for a moment, watching him stand above me, before I felt his
leg push between my knees. My body warmed as he pressed me into the
soft mattress and the space where the cold that occupied my skin
became the heat I craved. I noticed his dress pants weren’t as
loose as they’d been before. Pushing my hands behind my head I
pulled my hair from under my shoulders. The cool kiss of the
comforter against the back of my neck sent chills down my spine. He
noticed.

“Was that for me?” he asked in a low growl
before unbuttoning his dress shirt and tossing it on the bed. His
aroma danced through the air as it landed next to me. The space,
saved only for him, tingled.

“Don’t you know by now you are always
causing me to shiver?” I whispered as I snatched his shirt and held
it to my nose for a heavenly inhalation.

“You like to smell my clothes?” he asked as
he stretched his white t-shirt over his head. I loved to watch his
muscles flex and soften. It was a sight I never got tired of
witnessing.

I nodded as my eyes gave way to my smile.
“I’ve missed smelling you,” I teased softly.

“Me too,” he whispered pushing against the
bed. He wedged his knee between my legs again as he slunk on top of
me then slid his hands up the outside of my thighs, across my hips,
and to the button on my pants. He exhaled slowly, growling
something about how much he wanted me. I closed my eyes and let the
chill of his fingers own me as he slipped his hands between the
waist of my jeans and my skin. The vibration of the zipper on my
jeans caused me to catch my breath. I grabbed his hands and stopped
him from pulling my pants off.

“Max, as much as I want this—and God knows,
I really want this—your family is downstairs making dinner, and you
know as well as I that your mom isn’t going to give us a pass on
skipping out.”

“I know, but come on…just a little…maybe a
touch? How about I just press against you, like this?” he asked as
he pushed his hips against mine. “I need a little something to get
me through dinner. Damn, I want you so bad,” Max growled against my
skin as he continued to kiss my neck and up behind my ear.

“Mmmmm, stop kissing me like that before we
get to a point where we can’t turn back,” I moaned as he swayed and
pressed against me.

Oh my God, how embarrassing would that be if
his mom came up and found us?

“Wilson, I need you. Now,” he breathed.

With my body scorching I caught his face
between my hands. “Max, I just want your family to accept me again.
If we don’t go down for dinner—”

“Okay. I just can’t help it. Now that I have
you back, I just want to be with you…in every way,” he mumbled, as
he rolled off of me. We lay there, on his bed, both of us looking
up at the ceiling, breathing like we’d just ran a marathon.
Okay, so I hated stopping him, and I know that he’ll be sitting
down at dinner touching me under the table. I don’t think I’ll be
able to handle it without wanting him to take me. Shit, a fantasy
for another time.
My stomach rolled in knots and my legs shook,
weak from wanting him so badly.

“Can’t we just lock the door and stay up
here forever? I really don’t want to go down there and deal with
the bullshit we're in for when Dan opens his mouth,” Max breathed
as he turned on his side, propping his head against his hand. The
muscles under his flawless skin flexed and relaxed as if they were
a perfect collection of ocean waves rolling in perfect
sequence.

I knew he was uncomfortable with the
position his father left him in, but I also knew we had to show his
family that we were built of something more than a couple of lusty
people who couldn’t keep their hands off one another.

Suddenly Joanie’s voice popped in my
head…
“You can’t keep running away from problems because they
make you uncomfortable.”
Yeah, well, that’s so easy for her to
say, she wasn’t lying in bed next to the man she dreamed of
marrying some day.

“Are you considering my proposal?” Max
asked.

I gulped.
What proposal?

“Well? Can’t we just stay here forever?” Max
repeated. He watched my expression as his hand tickled my skin and
he played with the charm on the necklace he’d given me.

“I wish I could stay here with you every
moment of every breath I take, but I can’t. I have to go
downstairs, and so do you,” I whispered as I captured his fingers
in my hand.

He leaned into me, our lips met, and the
steamy heat he built in my body ravaged every reason we were
supposed to go. I pushed my hands into the back of his hair, which
was cool against my hands. I opened my mouth, wanting more, when
Max pulled away and my hand slid down his neck.

“Yeah, you’re right, we’d better go. I
wouldn’t want anyone to come up here and find you taking advantage
of me,” he said, teasingly, against my lips before he backed off
the bed.

My hand fell down against the cool down
comforter and I lay there, worked up and steaming for Max. I felt
my chance to change my mind dissolve as he bent down, snatched his
dress shirt and covered up his sexy physique.

Can I change my mind? God…I…want…him.

~ Max ~

Backing off of Wilson while she lay there
ready to be with me was so difficult. Everything in my body was
fighting against the responsibility of heading downstairs to have
dinner with my family. Going down there right then was like
sticking my hand into a wasps’ nest. I knew I was about to get
stung. How could I not? Calvin had always been the one that looked
for Dad’s acceptance. He just played the “fuck it” card so he’d
never have to admit how hurt he was by our father’s lack of
confidence in him. And now…he’d never get the chance. Once Cal
found out I was left in charge…the shit would hit the fan and
splatter the walls. What a fucking mess.

I looked over at Wilson.
Her hands were stretched above her head and she was spread so
perfectly across my bed. I could see her firm nipples pushing
against her top.
Damn, really?
I pulled at my pants, trying to make a little
room.

“
Stop lying there like
that or else I’ll lock this door and have my way with you and we’ll
never get down there.” I walked over and pulled at her ankle. She
lifted her hand to me and I helped her off the bed.
Yeah, we’re going to do this…face my family
together.

Wilson swung her arms up
around my neck and her hands tangled in the back of my hair.
Damn, she’s beautiful.
Her full breasts pressed against my chest and her stomach
brushed perfectly across my hard-on. Her eyes cased my face and I
could tell she wanted me to kiss her; instead I dragged my hands up
her hips to her waist and pushed her away, just enough to make her
groan.

“
Well, your choice,” I
told her.