Stolen Wishes (3 page)

I shake my head. “I’m the one who’s sorry.
They’re all going to think we’re having sex up here.”

He chuckles and brushes my hair from my
face. His callused fingers set my skin to life, and I want to feel
more of them. I imagine them tangled in my hair as he lowers his
mouth to mine. I imagine the way they’d feel skimming over my neck.
Lower.

“I don’t think any of my friends really
believe I’m that lucky,” he says with a wink.

“You haven’t heard yet, have you?”

His face turns serious. “Heard what?”

“Kenny Riles is telling everyone that we—” I
swallow hard, my cheeks blazing with a new wave of embarrassment.
“He’s saying he saw us having sex on the bleachers.” Then I add the
new detail the girls learned before we left their house tonight:
“He’s saying you paid me.”

Will steps back, his hands balling into
fists, his jaw going tight.

“I wanted you to hear it from me first. I’m
so sorry.”

“Why do you keep apologizing? It’s not your
fault Kenny’s a piece of scum who has to make shit up to feel like
he serves a purpose in this world.”

“I don’t want to hurt your reputation.”

He narrows his eyes, then his whole face
softens and he steps close again. “You’re serious, aren’t you?
You’re worried about
my
reputation? What about yours?”

I lift a shoulder in a half-shrug. “My mom
pretty much screwed up any chance I had of having a pristine
rep.”

He draws in a breath, like he’s shocked I
said it out loud. I guess I’m a little surprised too.

“I’ll do whatever you need to fix this,” I
promise. “But we should probably start by getting back downstairs
so we’re not fueling the gossip mill.”

“Maybe we should start by getting down there
and dancing.”

“Dancing?” I can’t think straight when he’s
this close to me. The only thing dancing with William is going to
accomplish is making me crush on him that much harder. “How is that
going to help?”

He takes my hand and squeezes my fingers. He
draws me toward him until my mouth is just a breath from his. Then,
his lips curving into that charming, knee-melting smile, he reaches
around me and opens the door. “Follow me.”

Almost everyone is too preoccupied with
their own conversations to notice our return, but Will’s buddy Max
spots us and shakes his head. “Stamina, man. You gotta work on the
stamina if you want the beautiful ones to stick around.”

“Cut it out, Max. Cally, this is my idiot
best friend, Max. Max, this is Cally, my
guest
.” He says the
word like it has some sort of secret meaning then slides his hand
around my waist and tugs me close.

Max’s brows shoot up and he gives a knowing
nod. “Say no more.” He has a nice grin and he shows it off as he
offers me his hand. “Nice to meet you, Cally.”

“You too,” I say, but the words come out as
a whisper. I’m still tangled up in the sensation of Will’s arm
around my waist.

“I saw you brought your friends.” Max nods
to Lizzy and Hanna. They’re at the island in the kitchen, laughing
about something.

“I hope that’s okay.”

He lifts a brow. “Are you kidding? Beautiful
girls are always welcome in my house.”

“Max has a thing for Lizzy,” Will whispers
in my ear.

Max punches him lightly in the stomach.
“Hush it, man.” Then he turns to me, serious. “But do you happen to
know if she’s…available?”

Crap. Hanna’s the one who likes Max. “Um. I
don’t think so. I mean, she doesn’t seem really interested in more
than just, you know, friends and stuff.”

“Figures,” Max says with a heavy sigh.

William takes me to the makeshift dance
floor at the back of the living room and pulls my body next to his.
I recognize the song as Nine Inch Nails’ “The Fragile.” I love this
album. Hanna and Lizzy tease me for listening to it, but something
about it has always spoken to my heart.

“You don’t mind, do you?” His words are lazy
puffs of air at my ear.

“Don’t mind?” Wow. His presence seems to
take away my ability to construct complete sentences.
Real
attractive, Cally.

He pulls me closer and settles a hand at my
hip. “Dancing with me,” he whispers. “Pretending to be my
girl?”

I pull back so I can see his eyes, but
they’re all serious and expectant as he waits for my reply. God,
he’s gorgeous.

I don’t know what to say, so I don’t answer
at all, just move with him to the music. His hand slides from my
hip to under my shirt, his thumb against the sensitive skin above
the waistband of my jeans.

“Hey, William,” a girl calls from the
kitchen. “Why don’t you come in here and take a shot?”

I hardly have a chance to tense before Will
pulls me closer. “Can’t do that, Meredith. My date’s here.”

Lizzy and Hanna both turn to us at his
words, and I feel my own eyes go wide.

“I’d consider it a personal favor if you
could roll with this,” he whispers into my ear. “Meredith has been
trying to get me to do body shots since she got here two hours
ago.”

“You don’t drink?” I ask, not that it’s my
business. I’ve just never been to a party with alcohol before, and
I’m not sure what to expect. From the stories I’ve heard, I half
expected everyone to be wasted by the time we got here.

“It’s not the drinking that I mind. She’s
just not my type.” When I frown at him, confused, his lips quirk in
a half-smile. “You do know what a body shot is, don’t you?”

I shake my head.

“Want to find out?” His fingers trail over
the sensitive dip in my spine as he asks, and I nod. I would
probably agree to anything he asked me right now.

He takes me to the kitchen, his hot hand
never leaving the small of my back.

Lizzy and Hanna step back and study us as he
leads me to the island. I’d feel guilty about abandoning them
tonight, but they seem to be having a great time.

“Where’s the tequila, Max?” Will calls.

Max hoists a bottle of amber liquid in the
air and snags a shot glass off the counter.

“Do you know what a snakebite is?” Will asks
me quietly. He’s standing close so only I can hear him when he
talks.

I bite my lip. “I don’t really go to many
parties.”

Next to us, Max fills the shot glass with
tequila.

“A snakebite is a shot of tequila that you
take with salt and lime,” Will explains to me.

“What makes it a body shot?” I ask.

His throat moves as he swallows, and his
blue eyes go darker somehow, his pupils getting bigger. His lips
part as he studies mine. “It’s a body shot if you take all the
parts of the snakebite off someone else’s body.”

That
makes my pulse kick up a notch.
I’m still trying to puzzle out the logistics when Max calls, “No
hands, Bailey.”

Will winks at me. “And I can’t use my hands
for anything but putting the salt on you. Are you still game?”

I nod wordlessly, and I’m rewarded with one
of Will’s full-out grins. I don’t need to know details to
understand his mouth is going to be on me, and I like the idea of
that. A lot.

Will’s hands slide to my waist and tighten,
and before I realize what he’s doing, he’s hoisting me up on the
counter. I squeak, and the girls cheer. All of them except Kristen
and Meredith, that is. They’re leaning against the fridge, scowling
at me like I killed their puppy.

Max hands me the shot glass and looks at me
expectantly.

“Do I hold it?” I whisper.

“If you want,” Max says. “But I think you
shouldn’t make it so easy on my boy here.”

Will shakes his head. “Whatever you’re
comfortable with.”

Lizzy rushes over and cups her hand around
my ear. “Slide it between your breasts. Trust me.”

I gape at her, and she shrugs innocently
before joining Hanna at the edge of the kitchen.

I may be inexperienced, but I’m not naïve
and I get what this game is about. My cheeks heat as I slide the
glass into my cleavage. It’s cool against my hot skin, and Will’s
eyes burn into me as he watches me position it.

Max offers me a lime wedge.

“Do you need your friend to tell you what to
do with that too?” Kristen calls.

“Shut up, Kristen,” Will says. “You didn’t
know what you were doing your first time either.”

But she’s right. Lizzy shouldn’t have to
tell me what to do. I take the lime and put it between my teeth,
facing out. The citrusy pulp presses against my lips, making them
tingle. Or maybe the tingle is from the idea of William’s lips
close to mine.

Will grins and brushes my hair off my neck.
“Ready or not.”

When his hot tongue hits my neck, I’m
assaulted by shivers of pleasure so potent I’m embarrassed to have
all these people watching me. Instinctively, I tilt my head to the
side to give him better access to my neck.

He nips the skin before lifting his mouth to
my ear. “Still good?”

I can only nod.

“Good.” He sprinkles salt onto the spot he
just wet with his tongue, then licks it off and brings his mouth to
the tequila. Since I’m on the counter, he doesn’t have to lean down
far, but he takes his time wrapping his lips around the glass. His
face is practically buried in my cleavage, his breath hot against
my breasts, and my cheeks burn with embarrassment and arousal.

When he comes up with the shot and tosses it
back, I offer my open palm to take the glass. His mouth closes
around the lime, and he holds there for two heartbeats, his eyes
closed.

When he pulls away, he takes the lime out of
his mouth and licks his lips. “Thanks for that.” He brushes my
cheek with his thumb, eyes locked with mine.

We hang there for a moment, not moving or
breathing, time suspended as our eyes lock. It doesn’t matter that
there are at least a dozen other people in the room. For that
moment, with his gaze equal parts hot and tender, I don’t even care
what they must think of me or what rumors might or might not be
circulating when I return to school on Monday.

“Shit!” someone says. “Did you hear that
thunder? It’s going to rain!”

“Bailey,” Max murmurs by Will’s side, “can
we get a little help moving the couch back into the house before
it’s destroyed?”

“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” He
winks at me, then disappears out the back door.

“Well,
that
was hot,” Lizzy says,
offering her hand to help me off the counter.

“So hot,” Hanna agrees as I hop down. “I’d
be jealous if I weren’t so happy for you.”

“Same here. Crap.” Lizzy winces. “I
shouldn’t have broken the seal earlier. I need to pee again.”

“I’ll go with you,” Hanna says before
turning to me. “You okay?”

“I think so.” I put my hands to my blazing
cheeks. “I just need a cold drink.”

Lizzy snorts. “I’ll bet you do. We’ll be
right back.” Then the girls are gone.

For the first time, I look around the
kitchen and living room to survey the other party guests. Several
of the guys rushed outside at the threat of rain, but the house is
still pretty crowded, more so than when we arrived. There’s a
couple not two feet to my left who may need protection if they
dance any closer, and another in the corner practically dry
humping.

I look around the kitchen and find a cooler
with bottles of water. I really just want to stick my face in the
ice for about ten minutes, but this will have to do.

“Look who decided to close her legs for a
few minutes,” someone snipes as I come up with a bottle. It’s
Kristen, and she’s scowling at me.

“Excuse me?”

“Listen. I know you’re just trying to climb
on up the social ladder. Heck, if I were a social pariah, I’d do
the same. I’m just gonna do you a favor and spell this out for you
before you have to learn the hard way. William Bailey can have any
girl he wants. Money, good looks, status, Will’s got it all.
There’s only one reason he’d go out with a girl like you. And I’m
pretty sure he just showed you what that was.”

Anger surges inside me. “You don’t know
anything.” When are Lizzy and Hanna going to be back from the
bathroom? I could use some reinforcements about now.

Kristen shrugs and pours herself a shot of
tequila. “I’m not judging you for doing it. Hell, I’d fuck him
until he couldn’t see straight if I had the chance. But I can work
in his world, whereas you’ll just get hurt if you try. But maybe
I’m giving too much credit to a girl who gives it up on the
bleachers.”

“Who told you that?”

She smirks. “Will was bragging about it to
his boys right before you got here.”

William

“So, Cally Fisher, huh?” Max says for my
ears only as we push the couch back into position in the living
room.

I shrug. I like Cally. A lot. But I’m not
about to say anything definite to Max until I know the feeling is
mutual. It’s gotta be, though. The connection between us it too
intense to be one-sided. Damn, my blood still runs hot in my veins
when I think about the smell of her skin and the little shiver that
ran through her when I pressed my tongue to her neck. I want to
think she enjoyed that as much as I did. “I don’t know yet,” I say,
scanning the crowd for her face.

Meredith sidles up to me and rubs against me
like a cat. “You can do better than her,” she purrs in my ear.
“Come upstairs with me and Kristen and we’ll show you just how much
better.”

“Give it up, Mer,” I say, nudging her away.
The last thing I need is for Cally to see one of these drunk girls
throwing themselves at me like they give a shit. All they care
about is what I can do for their reputation. Or worse, what my
money can buy them. I’m so over that kind of girl.

I go to the kitchen, but Cally isn’t waiting
for me there. She’s not in the living room, and she’s not
dancing.

I glance down the hall and see a long line
of girls waiting for their turn in the restroom. Maybe that’s where
she went. I wonder if I can get her back upstairs. I want to talk
to her without all these people watching us. I want to put my lips
on her neck again without the excuse of alcohol.