Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (29 page)

“
How nice it would be
to
not
have to
hide. If it was a normal situation, we could go anywhere and do
anything without a second thought. But it’s not that way. So right
now, we have to take what we can get and protect what we have.” I
stared at his profile. His eyebrows lowered and his jaw
clenched.

“
So what are you going to
tell her? About not being there when she came home? And the fact
that you are here, with me, in my car.” He stopped driving. I
turned away and looked out the window. We were at the gate to
Cindy’s cabin.

“
I don’t know.” Knots of
dread tangled around my confidence.

Max pulled out his phone and texted
Calvin. His thumbs bounced and clicked the keys quick.

“
I told Calvin we were
here.” He laid his phone on his thigh. I watched, waiting for it to
chime and vibrate. It was forever before it responded. He grabbed
it and read it to me.

“
Come down. Nick pressing
button. Cindy not here yet,” his voice lightened.

“
Oh thank god; Cindy must
have hooked up with someone from the club,” I breathed. The huge
block of stress that weighed heavy on my shoulders dissolved to
nothing. The gate swung open and Max drove the car through. We were
so lucky Cindy wasn’t there yet. We dodged another bullet. He drove
through the pitch black night down the long drive way to the
Browler’s mansion. The beams of our headlights bounced and danced
off the snow around us as we turned and twisted through the acres
and acres of front yard. I was able to breathe deep and the muscles
in my neck released a wave of pressure across my back.

We could actually walk up to the front
door together, hand in hand to say goodnight. Not that I wanted to
do that, but it was reassuring that it was a
possibility.

He came around to my door and opened
it. I grabbed his hand and slid out of his car. He, like every time
before, wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me against his
hip—a comfort I was getting used to, something I was going to miss
back at school. He pulled me up the steps to the front door of de
Casa Browler and stopped me from going in.

“
I want to kiss you good
night.” He pulled me close. My heart fell to my feet.

“
No, I don’t want you to
go,” I mumbled. I balled my fists and tapped them against his chest
as he held me. I stared into his eyes, they danced for me. He had a
twinkle that told me he was teasing and a smile that roped me
in.

“
I want to know what it
feels like to kiss you goodnight on the front porch,” he said as he
leaned into me and pressed gently against my lips. It was as good
as I could have imagined it. I twisted my fingers around the hair
on the back of his neck and pushed up on my tiptoes. He slid his
hands pressing them below my ears cradling my face. He tilted his
head to one side and opened his mouth.

“
Mmmm, feels good,” I
breathed. My entire body was smiling. I tasted the excitement of
our first porch kiss and the disappointment of it being our
last.

There is no porch at the dorms and
when I graduate, who knows where I’ll be for college. But I could
almost bet, not one of the colleges would have a huge beautiful
porch like the Browler’s. My heart pushed for him, but at the same
time, was broken by the thoughts of a Monday morning existence
together at Wesley. I tried my best not to think about it. I pushed
hard against his chest and wedged my head under his chin. His arms
pressed heavy across my back. I felt the muscles in his body
tighten around me. I never wanted to let go.

He loosened his arms from around me.
Suddenly, his head snapped up and he reached for the door.
Instantly he had me through the entry and pulling me towards the
stairs.

“
What are you doing?” I
stumbled over my boots. Max tossed Calvin the keys to the
car.

“
I’m not here,” Max told
him.

“
Okay bro,” Calvin played
cool.

“
There’s a car coming down
the drive. Might be Cindy,” Max told me as he pulled me
upstairs.

My heart leapt high into my chest.
Selfishly, part of me wanted it to be her; that way Max would have
to lock himself in my room and wouldn’t leave until she was asleep
or better yet, stay all night. At the least I would be guaranteed
my last night alone with him. He hurried into my bedroom and pushed
the door shut pressing the lock. I grabbed the chair from the desk
and propped it tight under the knob. I’ll admit, it might have been
a little overkill, but there was no way I was going to let anyone
interrupt my last night alone with Max, especially
Cindy.

Chapter Twenty-two:

“
Wow, you’re serious,” he
said after I checked the force pressuring the chair tight against
the door. His fingers ran across the top of the chair and down the
spiral dowel finally reaching my hand. “Do you really think Cindy’s
gonna bust in here?”

“
I’m not taking any
chances. Tomorrow we fly back to California, and that’s a reality
I’m not ready to deal with,” I said. He pulled my hand and pressed
it against his chest.

“
Wilson, you’ll be fine. We
will do what we have to until we don’t have to anymore.” His heart
pounded an excited rhythm against my skin. My feet shuffled forward
towards him as he led me gently to the middle of the
room.

“
I don’t know Max, I can’t
stop thinking about tomorrow. I don’t want to go back right now.
I’m not ready to let
this
go.” I pushed my hand between us. I felt my eyes
well with anticipated disappointment. My tears tasted
desperate.

I visualized us in his classroom. He
had totally ignored me, wouldn’t even look my way. He helped Bonnie
Wente with her questions. His hand pressed against her back. His
smile warmed his eyes as he spoke to her. Painful thoughts
tarnished my visions of him touching her. Irrational thoughts,
desperate wishes, and heartbreaking nightmares took over any
normalcy I had. The door wedged closed with the chair was the only
thing I thought could keep him here with me, away from
tomorrow.

“
Wilson, please don’t cry.
I’ll keep tomorrow away as long as I can. I promise.” He cradled my
head in his hands and pressed his lips to taste my tears. His
fingers pressed solid against the back of my neck as his thumbs
cleared what his kisses missed.

“
I’m sorry. Stupid isn’t
it? Crying for something I haven’t even lost.” I grabbed the waist
of his sweatshirt, clinging to any hope that he would agree to stay
forever with me in Aspen.
Was it crazy?
Yes, but it’s the only thing I could rationalize in the moment of
pure lunacy.

“
Not stupid, I wouldn’t
call it that; meaningful—significant—even emotional—but not
stupid—far from that.” His eyes studied my expression from my lips
to my eyes as he spoke. He pulled me close, his lips warmed my
forehead. His sweet aroma flooded my body finding its way to my
heart. He held me standing in the middle of the room.

“
I swear, throughout my
entire life, I’ve never cried as much as I have this weekend.” I
looked up at him, my head still weighed against his
chest.

“
Is that a bad thing?” He
smiled down at me. His hand stroked my hair away from my
eyes.

“
No. It’s a safe thing, a
trust thing.” I rose to touch his lips to mine, he tasted as sweet
as his smelled.

“
Wilson, I won’t hurt you,”
he whispered across my lips.

“
I know,” I answered. His
arms tightened across my back. His words were my aphrodisiac,
carrying endorphins throughout every part of my body.

I trusted him. It was
strange to have such an unfamiliar feeling. I’ve never
trusted
anyone
like this. With him it was instantaneous. I don’t think I
could have experienced him the way I did this weekend if I didn’t
trust him. Completely unprotected, open, and raw; it was sometimes
painful to face, but he made it okay to own who I was and where I
came from.

I elevated my hands up around his neck
and kissed him allowing him to taste my desire for him to take me.
He pulled his mouth from mine, cool empty air blended with my skin
as he took off his shirt, then mine. We both hurried to unbutton
each other’s pants. I knew what he looked like in tight boxers and
welcomed that view again. We shuffled and kicked to be free of the
tangled pants at our feet. I felt his weight press me towards the
bed as the back of my legs hit the edge and my body tilted to fall.
He crawled up slow and deliberate, lying heavy against my body. I
felt his desire through his Calvin Klein’s. His body swayed as his
mouth climbed to breathe in my ear.

“
Wilson,” he inhaled. “It’s
a good thing I’m not seventeen.” He pushed his hands heavy in the
bed above my shoulders raising his chest off mine. Pressure filled
low between our bodies. “Because I don’t think I could wait to be
with you if I was.” He pressed his hips against me
again.

I lost my breath. I felt
the same way. I thought about being alone with him. Nobody would
know. I could be with him and share that part of me that ached to
have him take me,
completely
. I dug my fingertips into
his lower back; he bit his bottom lip and studied my expression.
His lust-filled eyes danced purposefully and slow before he dropped
his head. His hair fell towards me. His breath paced fast as he
moaned. His motion snared my butterflies in his net. He owned them
and they were ready to go, willingly.

I let out a deep instinctual growl as
the space between our bodies vanished in rhythm. My mind swimming
in his pool of confidence, I was his entirely. He brought me to
teeter on a razor thin edge of anticipation and ecstasy. The only
thing separating us was the thin snug fabric of his Calvin Klein’s
and my panties. My mind raced with the thoughts of his weight heavy
against my body on my eighteenth birthday with nothing between us
but my own inhibitions about my virginity.

My soul found its mate, causing us
both to shudder and twitch in pleasure. He pushed his mouth heavy
against mine. His arms circled my shoulders as his muscles
tightened around my body, he laughed as I raked my hands down his
back. Ticklish, he adjusted to lie next to me. My body rippled with
chills as the cool air danced on my uncovered skin. Max noticed and
pulled a blanket over us from the foot of the bed.

“
Thanks,” I
breathed.

“
You’re welcome,” he
answered as he pressed his forehead to my cheek, his nose dragged
across before his lips tasted my face.

A wave of fatigue splashed fast
through my body and my eyelids became victims of the weight. His
face pushed against the side of my head, his breathing slowed and
became deep.

“
Max? Are you sleeping?” I
asked fighting to stay awake. His arm became heavy across my
waist.

“
Hmm? No,” he mumbled as
his breath quivered into a yawn.

“
You have a nice family,” I
mentioned to him.

“
Mm, hum,” he breathed. He
tightened the space between us and pulled his arm across my
stomach.

“
I’m serious. You don’t
know how lucky you are to have such a nice family.” I pushed
against him.

“
Wilson, what you saw was
what they wanted you to see.” He rolled over onto his back. The
soft sheets tugged at my side. He tucked his hands behind his head
and stared up at the ceiling.

“
Well Max, I think your
mother is amazing and I loved her.” I rolled over, my arms draped
his chest, my hands held my chin firm looking at him. “And your
sister was sweet.”

“
Don’t think that my family
hasn’t had its own sets of problems. I had a lot of pressure from
my father to follow him into the family business. When he found out
I had different ideas for my life, watch out.” He glanced at me
before looking back up at the ceiling. He flexed the muscles in his
jaw.

I hit a nerve.
What was it with me and putting my foot in it?
Great, I was so wrapped up in my own pathetic life story I didn’t
give him a chance to tell me his. How frickin selfish? This whole
weekend it never crossed my mind that even with two parents, his
relationship with them might not be perfect.
He sat up and leaned against the head board. His chest rose
with each deep breath.

“
I’m sorry Max. I just
assumed—that wasn’t fair of me.” I sat up next to him and pushed my
fingers through his hair, wedging his thick black locks behind his
ear.

“
You didn’t know. My dad
always thought I was the golden boy. See, I was the one that was
supposed to work my way up through his company then eventually take
over for him when he retired. And of course, I didn’t do it.” His
shoulders rounded.

“
You became a teacher
instead,” I whispered.

“
Yep, I saw what the oil
industry did to my dad. It ate him up fast and consumed every part
of his life. It wasn’t what I wanted.” He shook his head back and
forth.

“
I’m certainly glad you
became a teacher.” It was awkward to say considering my
relationship with him outside of Wesley. I rubbed at my ear and
scratched the back of my head. A lump sat perched in the back of my
throat.