Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (20 page)

I had to be grateful one of us was
looking out for our best interests, because I sure wasn’t. He had
me so worked up; I could’ve sold my soul to the devil, and wouldn’t
have discovered it until it was too late.

Damn, his honorable
intentions made me want to be with him even more.

“
What if I didn’t want to
wait? What if I told you I was ready right now?” I rubbed my hand
across his bare stomach and pressed his chest. The mountain of
pillows were wedged firm behind him.

“
I know you’re not.” He
caught my hair and pushed it behind my ear.

“
No, I mean, what if I said
I changed my mind and I’ve decided I wanted you to make love to me
right now? Just take me right here, right now.” I felt the
butterflies agree with my decision. I swung my leg across him and
sat low on his lap. He clasped his hands quick around my waist, and
I could feel how much he wanted me.

I smoothed my hands to his and grabbed
them from my waist. I locked my fingers with his and pinned them
down above his head as he pretended to try to break free. My lips
tickled his, soft and warm.

“
Wilson—you know you’re
making it hard for me to wait.” He thrust his mouth open against
mine when I pressed downward against his lap. My lips trailed his
chin, then his neck and across his chest. I let go of his hands and
he grabbed around my waist, expecting him to lift me off, instead
he drove me down against him. His hands sped up under my shirt
caressing my back, weighing me solid on his chest. Our mouths
locked tasting the sweet flavor of ecstasy. We rolled over, his
body pressed heavy against mine at the same moment his breath
caught a low growl deep in his throat as he pulled away.

“
Don’t stop.” My body
shivered.

With the tips of his fingers, he
brushed my skin and pushed the hair back from my face, our eyes
met.

“
I have to wait. I have to.
It’s important to me. I need to wait for both our sakes.” He tried
to convince me, like I should believe in fairytales or the Easter
Bunny. I didn’t need anything to persuade me. I knew what he wanted
and I was supposed to respect that.

“
How long?” My heart
thrashed.

His brows crumpled uneven. “A
month.”

“
Thirty days!”

“
Once you’re eighteen.” He
stared at me.

I sat up on my elbows, causing him to
back off me. Those weren’t the words I expected to come bolting
from his mouth. I thought he wanted to wait because it was going to
be my first time and he wanted to make sure I was ready for all the
emotional baggage it carried. I could feel the pressure in my chest
explode and roar to life, a blaze that burnt deep to my core. I sat
up and pushed my hands to my eyes.

“
Wilson, when I look at
you; when I am with you, I don’t see a seventeen year old girl. I
see a beautiful woman I want to spend time with. But that doesn’t
erase the fact that you’re seventeen and I am twenty-two.” He
seized my wrists, and then pulled my hands off my eyes.

“
I wish it wasn’t so
complicated.” I twisted off his bed and swiped up the ski suit that
brought me there. “I’d better change so you can take me back.” I
headed to the door, stretching, he caught me at my waist, “Hold
on.” He pulled me back on to the bed, his expression plastered with
burdens I never considered. He struggled with what to
say.

“
There is this part of me
that keeps battling with these thoughts of you resenting me—for
being
the guy
that took your virginity. I don’t want to be that guy. The
last twenty-four hours have been incredible, spectacular, but in
less than another twenty-four hours, we will be back at Wesley. You
will still be seventeen and considered underaged. I will still be
twenty-two. You’ll still be my student and I’ll still be your
teacher.” His eyes tightened as he searched for my
reaction.

As ridiculous as it was, I could see
his point. After all, he was the one that had the most at stake. He
would lose his job and be thrown in jail for sex with a minor, his
life would be ruined. Me, I would most likely be treated like a
victim.

“
I understand. I wish it
didn’t matter. But what’s a month?” I leaned back between his legs
against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me.

“
Thirty days.”

“
We can wait four
weeks.”

“
Seven hundred twenty
hours, but who’s counting.” He pressed his face to my ear, his
smile caught my hair, and swells of contentment flooded my body.
“I’d better get you back before Cindy starts wondering where you
went,” he tried to push me up off his chest. I didn’t
budge.

My heart fell into my stomach. I
wanted to spend my last night in Aspen with him. Who knew what it
was going to be like when we were back at Wesley on
Monday.

“
I wish I could stay with
you.” I pushed harder against him, I wasn’t going to let go until I
absolutely had to. He felt so soothing.

I heard a soft knock at the
door.

“
Maxi?” a silky warm voice
swam through the air.

He pushed me up and grabbed a shirt
from on top of his dresser, “yeah mom.”

“
You decent?” her voice was
soft and comforting. He pulled the t-shirt over his body and opened
the door just enough to peek out.

“
Yeah.” He made sure she
saw him.

“
You coming… downstairs? I
have the Vaughn’s coming over for dinner tonight; your sister and
Dan are coming too. I was hoping you’d help me with dinner.” He
tried to say something. She continued to talk. “Have you seen your
brother? He mentioned something about bringing a friend tonight.”
She reached up and pulled a little at his bangs. “You need another
haircut.” He took a breath to respond and she sustained the one way
conversation. She slid her hand around his waist. “What are you
eating down in California? You’re getting too thin.”

“
Ma! I’m fine.” He shifted
and shrugged without letting go of the door handle or the door jam.
She released his waist and walked down the hall. “Hey I’m bringing
someone to dinner tonight okay?” he told her, trying to ask without
looking like he was asking. He leaned out into the hall and tapped
his foot on the floor waiting for her to say something.

“
That’s fine,” she echoed
down the hall.

“
She’s
from California,” he volunteered. I felt my heart leap in my
chest. Her voice grew closer. I wish I could see her but I didn’t
want to intrude on their family moment.

“
She?
A girl? Well she must be someone pretty special if you’re
bringing her here tonight,” her tone was expectant.

I couldn’t breathe. Her desire for his
happiness took every bitter memory I had stored on my mother and
shattered it to powdered dust. She was his mother; he was her son.
My memory bank of a perfect family held a zero balance.

“
Yeah, she is,” he said. I
heard her kiss him.

“
Well, honey, then I can’t
wait to meet her,” she told him and walked back down the
hall.

I took a deep burning breath. I wanted
to be a part of her so bad. I wanted what he had, own it, live it.
Let it pour over me and fill every hole my birth parents tore into
my heart. My body trembled and my muscles cramped, I tried not to
cry. I heard his feet land on the floor fast. His hands pushed my
hair back from my face, and held me tight to his chest. I
wept.

“
Hey, shhh. It’s okay.
Sweetie, what’s wrong?” His voice was reassuring, his body swayed
with soothing intentions. It was all consuming to acknowledge there
were people in this world worth crying for.

“
You don’t know how lucky
you are to have normal,” I choked.

He had everyday interactions, mundane,
plain experiences with his mother, something more priceless than
gold. Something so rare to me, I could’ve killed for a tiny drop of
it, but to him it was as common as grains of sand on a
beach.

“
I know I’m lucky; my mom
is a very special woman. Wilson, please say you’ll come to dinner
with me tonight?”

I nodded against his chest; wedged
underneath his chin.

“
Good, now how am I going
to get you all to myself tonight?” He held his lips to the top of
my head. The warmth from his breath sent chills down through my
body. I was where I belonged.

Chapter
Fifteen:

The ride back to the ski resort was
anything but silent. We were busy trying to figure out how to steal
me away from Cindy’s to be with him and his family for dinner.
Everything we came up with seemed impossible. Kidnapped, held from
ransom, or even that I ran away with a guy I met on the ski slope
were all totally too creepy to consider. Then it hit me, the fact
that Nick knows about us and he hasn’t said anything to Cindy,
shows me he might be our best option. Now I just had to come up
with a way to convince him to help us.

“
I could try and get Nick
to cover for me,” I said.

“
I don’t know about that. I
think there’s more to him than you think,” Max snapped back, “I saw
the way he looks at you.”

“
He’s grateful to me for
standing up to Cindy. That’s all,” I played down his
concerns.

I wasn’t blind. I knew Nick liked me
more than a friend. But I wasn’t going to worry Max with that, or
give Nick the opportunity.

“
I can tell when guys are
checking out my girlfriend. He’s got something for you.” He glanced
at me and back to the road. His eyes widened trying to assure me he
was right. I was too busy replaying the word
girlfriend
in my head. He called me
his girlfriend. My butterflies cheered. My heart overflowed with so
much excitement I had to keep reminding myself to
breathe.

“
Maximillain Goldstein,
you’re not jealous are you?” I watched his profile as he drove, I
got my answer.

“
Jealous? No. Fully aware
of other guys checking you out? Absolutely. He’s one I gotta watch
out for.” He glanced at my reaction, his hand glided through the
air between us and landed on my thigh. “And to have my girlfriend
dressed in this curve catching, body hugging suit just makes my job
that much harder.”

Oh My God. Okay, if I could
climb over and start making out with him I would.
He was so good at nurturing my butterflies. They
loved it when he touched me and used words that feed their
insatiable appetite. I was silent for a delectable
moment.

“
I’ve noticed you’ve used
that word quite a few times,” I said looking down at his hand rub
across the satin baby blue fabric of my ski suit.

“
What word?” he was
confused.

“
Girlfriend.” I took in his
expression as I looked at him. His face ran warm, his lips curled
to catch my excitement and his eyes danced glimpses with
mine.

“
Is it okay to call you
that?” He pulled over.

“
I guess that depends on
your definition.” I followed his eyes tracing up my body. His jaw
flexed and he pitched a growl low in his throat.

“
Well, how would you like
the definition to read?” he asked.

Now that wasn’t fair. I know exactly
how I wanted it to read and it included words like relationship,
exclusive, and monogamous. The problem was I didn’t know what his
definition was going to be. If I go and blurt out what I want it to
be and it doesn’t match his ideas? I will be the fastest
ex-girlfriend of a relationship that never developed beyond a
misinterpreted definition.

“
Tell me one word that
represents your definition.”
I got him
now.
I watched his face as he thought
about it. If he came up with a word, then I could just build on
that one a meaning that satisfied both our
interpretations.

“
One word? It would have to
be—what if I can’t come up with one word?” he teased. I reached
over and tried to push him, he grabbed my hands.

“
Wilson.” He looked me in
the eyes. I was still trying to battle past his hands to his
chest.

“
Yeah?” I stopped
pushing.

“
That’s my one word
definition of my girlfriend,” he said. I froze. He did it again. He
never stopped making me want him entirely way too much.

“
Your turn. What one word
would define being my girlfriend?” He leaned towards me as he
asked.

“
Okay, it would have to
be—yes.” His eyes smoldered a desire that was automatic within me.
I captured his neck and pulled him across to kiss me.

I didn’t care really what words
defined the feelings, emotions, and events that have taken place
this weekend. What I had right now was so much more than I truly
ever thought was going to happen. Name it, define it, and even own
it. I loved the fact that he was with me, calling me his girlfriend
and wanted me to meet his family.

“
Magnificently sensual,” he
breathed as he pulled away. His eyes slowly opened to look at my
lips.

“
Only one word at a time.
That was the challenge. You lose and I win.” I grabbed his shirt
and pulled him closer to me.