Beyond Eighteen

by Gretchen de La O

  “Mmmm, that feels so good,” he purred as his hands tightened their grip at the small of my back.

  “You ready to go to bed?” I whispered before another yawn caught my breath and took over control of every muscle in my face.

  “Soon. I think we should finish our conversation about Candi and the lawyers first,” he said as he tilted his head to meet my eyes.

  “I thought I told you enough,” I groused. I was dog tired and I didn’t really want to continue discussing anything about my loser of a mother and my dead grandparents’ estate.

  “I understand, but sweetheart, I think you should at least listen to the voicemail he left you. What if it’s something about Candi and the restraining order?” he insisted as he kept looking into my eyes. I blinked for a lengthy moment before I answered him.

  “I don’t think listening to the message right now would be any different than listening to it in the morning. Besides, I really don’t give a rat’s ass about Candi or the restraining order. She made her choice…drugs over me,” I spat before I lifted his head off my lap and sprang up from the sofa. “I’m going to bed. Are you coming or not?” I asked as I turned to go upstairs.

  I didn’t hear Max get up to follow me; it was only after I felt his arms wrap around me from behind and his lips warmed the space tucked right behind my ear that I knew he’d agreed to go to bed with me.

  “I’m sorry,” he growled against my neck in a raspy voice that sent shivers down my spine. His hands clung to my stomach, pulling me against him. It was as if his embrace was telling me that he never wanted me to walk away from him again. I turned in his arms until we were face to face, heart to heart. Then I brought my hands to his cheeks and answered his apology.

  “Don’t be sorry. There is nothing to be sorry about. The woman that left me on my grandparents’ porch, over ten years ago…that woman died the minute she drove away. If Candi thinks she can call me up and somehow expect me to magically become the daughter she left behind, she’s sadly mistaken. I’m not that wounded little eight-year-old girl any more. Whether I have a restraining order or not.”

  My heart thrashed against my sternum and my breath sped shallow as I struggled to stop the vice-gripping thoughts of her from shutting down my lungs. Max pulled me tight against his chest as he parked his lips against the crook of my neck. His breathing entered into a real deep, slow rhythm as he hummed words of comfort against my skin.

  “Shhhh. Come on, sweetheart, just slow down. You’re right.”

  If there was a way to fade into him, I would have. I wanted to dissolve into his good intentions, get lost in his words, and evaporate in his love. But for now, I’ll take being wrapped in his arms while I collect all the painful memories of Candi and bury them away…again.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ~ Max ~

  I liked holding Wilson, and if there was any way to get closer to her, I’d find it. How could I explain the need to pull her so tight against me that she’d melt into my body? I didn’t want to ever let her go. I didn’t even really care who was on that phone. At that moment, none of that mattered. All I wanted to do was take her to bed. I shifted my weight and hoisted her into my arms. She wrapped her hands up around my head and buried her face into the crook of my neck. Her breath blazed hot across my skin, and her meditative moans as I carried her upstairs caused my heart to speed in my chest. Every last intention sailed south, collecting below my waist.

  When I reached the top of the stairs, even though I was exhausted, I was buzzing. I couldn’t wait to get her in my room, on my bed, and feel close to her. I let her feet drop to the floor, steadying her stance before I pulled her to my room. The distance from the top of the stairs to my door seemed like a lifetime, even though it was less than five steps away. I pushed my bedroom door open, still holding Wilson’s hand, she trailed behind me a step or two. Truthfully, before I got so tired, I wanted to ravage her body. It didn’t matter to me where we made love—on the floor, against the fireplace, or even on top of the pool table in the great room—all I wanted was to be close to her. In a flash I pulled off my shirt, stripped off my pants, and turned back to stare at her for a mighty second. She was closing the door and pressing the lock. God, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Her smile wickedly sensual, her eyes so skilled at taking in everything she wanted as they pulled me back to her. I reached across and took hold of the base of her top.

  “Let me help you,” I whispered as I pulled it over her head and laid it across my chair. I took her in as I closed the gap between us, dragging my fingers up the inside of her arm. I noticed the goose bumps ripple across her skin, and her pulse was racing with my touch.

  “I’m so tired,” she whispered as she rested her hands against the waistband of my boxers.

  “I know,” I answered in a low rumble as I traced my fingers down the seams of her bra to the front clasp.

  I pushed and twisted, releasing the pressure that bound her breasts. I dragged my fingers under the straps that hung loosely on her shoulders and pulled her bra off her body. Her skin was soft, warm, and so inviting.

  “I’m going to get you ready for bed,” I said before I dipped my body lower and kissed her, nibbling and tasting, just below her earlobe. I busied my hands with the top button on her jeans.

  “Yeah, right, doesn’t seem like it,” she breathed before she yawned again. I knew at that point we weren’t rounding any bases tonight, we weren’t going anywhere but to sleep. And, truthfully, I was okay with that.

  I tucked my fingers behind the waist of her pants and felt the muscles in her stomach tighten as my scraped knuckles rubbed roughly against her skin.

  “Sorry,” I murmured as I unzipped her jeans and dragged my thumbs around the inside edge of the waist. Almost as if peeling away the worries of the day, I pushed her pants down to the floor.

  Wilson pressed her hands to my shoulders and maneuvered her feet out of the pile of denim around her ankles. I stood up, tenderly dragging my fingers up her calves, across her thighs and around her hips. Her nipples unyieldingly rigid, I couldn’t stop contemplating her beautiful body. With every deep breath she took her pulse visibly hurried as it hammered through the vein in her neck.

  She slowly tickled her fingers down my arms as she dragged my hand from her waist and held it up in the slight space between us, delicately inspecting the scrapes and cuts. Her gorgeous blue eyes constricted as she brushed her fingers around my knuckles. Swallowing briskly, her eyes rose to meet mine, causing my mouth to run dry. She turned my hand over before her eyes closed, and brought her healing lips to my palm. Everything she was belonged to me. Everything we were lingered in this moment.

  “My pajamas—” she started to whisper.

  “Let’s just leave your pj’s where they are,” I growled.

  Wilson smirked as I pulled her toward my bed. “I promise we’ll just sleep tonight.”

  “Promise?” Wilson teased.

  “Yes, as hard as it’s going to be not to make love to you…I promise,” I said as I edged my chest against hers, nestling in the heat building between our bodies. Her skin was silky soft as my fingers tickled across her lower back. Her flesh rushed with goose bumps and every hair on my body stood on end as I dragged my nose across her neck, soaking up her aroma. She smelled like a refreshing summer day drenched in a field of honeysuckle. I pushed my lips up under her jaw.

  “You won’t need these either,” I growled as my hands lingered on the waistband of her lacy white panties before sliding them down her thighs.

  “Promise?” she whispered.

  “Absolutely,” I answered as I traced my fingertips up the lines of her hips and around her body.

  “Then I’d better take these off too,” she teased as she yanked on my boxers.

  “Well, now I don’t know what I can promise. You’re about to enter my bed at your own risk,” I quipped as I pulled up the comforter and held it aloft, waiting for her to slip her gorgeous body into my bed.

 
; “I’ll take my chances. Sleeping naked next to you is a risk I’m willing to take. Either way, I end up winning.”

  “That’s what you think,” I answered as I slipped into bed. I pushed up against her as she rolled on her side and our bodies fit together perfectly in spoon position. I pressed my mouth next to her ear, and with the lowest tone I could muster, I whispered how much I loved her.

  Now that she was back in my arms and I could feel her warmth and heartbeat radiate through my body, maybe, just maybe, I could keep my promise. And finally I’d have a good night’s sleep.

  ****

  The sun shone through the window, bright as the fresh snow that had fallen during the night. Waking up with Wilson in my arms, feeling her breath as it rushed across my skin, was the comfort I needed. If only, I could lie here all day wrapped up in her aroma, lost in the rhythm of her heart beat, and taken by how her voice sparks a temptation so deep within me. My body throbbed to make love to her.

  But it didn’t take long to feel the chill of the morning scrape every nerve that waited to be fucked with. Instead of enjoying the moment of waking up grateful in the arms of Wilson, I found myself getting agitated. Suddenly I didn’t want this day to come—ever. I was happy living my life before my father died and left my dreams to dissolve in his wishes. I flipped the covers down—great, morning wood. Useful if I wasn’t preoccupied with the fact that I’m being forced into acting as CEO of my family’s company, a company I’ve despised since I was five years old. I stretched to get up when I felt Wilson’s hand flit across my stomach and her mouth push against my shoulder.

  “Good morning,” she mumbled against my skin. Wisps of her dirty blonde hair tickled me as she spread herself against my chest. I pushed my arm around her and collected my fingers at the small of her back. She dragged her leg across mine as she cuddled against my side. I felt her grind against my hip, nudging to fit comfortably around me. Hmm, she never put her panties back on last night. She was as naked then as she was when we’d fallen asleep against each other the night before.

  Wilson crooned her neck and gave me a small peck on the cheek before she flung the covers off and rolled to get out of bed.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to the bathroom. And I have to brush my teeth,” she said as she held her hand in front of her mouth.

  “What, you don’t think I wanna kiss you first thing in the morning?”

  “Not with this breath,” she answered as she got out of bed, completely naked and totally beautiful. The curve of her waist and the stretch of her ribs as she moved against the open air captivated me.

  I tucked my hands behind my head and watched her move. Her silky smooth skin, from where her hair brushed across her shoulders to the soles of her feet, created an uncontrollable urge within me to snatch her up and drag her back into bed. How did she do that? How did she make every agitated nerve in my body surrender when I looked at her? I watched her ass bounce and rock with each step she took away from me. Her arms swayed, in sync with her shoulder blades, as the sun’s rays through the window heralded her skin. When she pulled her hands up to her hair and collected it on top of her head, exposing her neck, I couldn’t take it. I bound out of the bed and pushed up against her back, biting at her shoulder blade before skating my tongue up across her spine and connecting my mouth with the back of her neck. She arched, urging her ass against my erection. I slipped my hands around the front of her, one clinging to a breast while the other slid across her thigh and in between her legs. She moaned as she dropped her hands from her hair. One of her hands clung to mine between her legs while her other wrapped around and clutched my hip, pulling me against her.

  “If you keep doing this to me I’ll never get ready,” Wilson moaned as she pushed and moved against my fingers.

  “Mmmm, maybe you are more ready than you think. God, you’re soooo hot,” I said, growling into her ear from behind. She moaned and trembled as my fingers teased and played with her.

  “You have a condom this time?” she breathed roughly. I nodded as she bent down just enough to let me cocoon my body around her back. “Go get it, now,” she demanded pulling my hand out from between her legs and stepping out from under my hold.

  The cool air rolled across the front of me, her heat replaced by the chill of the room. I snatched her hand and brought her back in. Our bodies mingled, tangling, as our hands and lips tracked our way around each other’s bodies. Wilson dragged her fingernails through my hair, scratching across the back of my head. Chills shot down my spine and through my legs. I kissed her frantically, pushing her until she was pinned against the wall. Her breath became ragged as her stomach flexed. I raced my hands up to either side of her face, tangling my fingers in her hair as I tasted her sweet lips. I couldn’t keep from forcing my body against hers. My shoulders rose, her hands dropped to my ass, and I pushed my knee between her legs. I caught her foot and pushed, making her straddle my thigh. She was steaming as she thrust against my leg. I pulled away from our kiss, keeping my eyes locked on hers, and caressed my thumb against her delicate chin and across her curvy mouth before I plucked her bottom lip loose from the top. It sat quivering, waiting for me to take it between my teeth. I did. She stroked her hips against my leg as I devoured her mouth. Tracing my tongue down her neck, my lips tickled across her breasts. Her nipples reacted to the hot touch of my mouth and the cool air of the room. Her hands, knotted in my hair, pressed just enough as I slid my tongue down across her stomach. Her delicate skin reacted to everything I did to her. I slid my hands down her abdomen and around her back as I dropped to my knees. I needed to drive her crazy; I needed to hear her moan. There was nothing that turned me on more than hearing every little noise she made as I pleased her. It was as if her panting and whimpers clicked something inside of me and inspired me to make her reach ecstasy. It was like a drug that pumped more and more adrenaline through my system. I dragged my lips down to her inner thigh, her hands still nested in my hair. Her low, begging moan drove me fiercely wild. Every time I pulled away, just enough, she’d bend her knees, widening her stance as she swayed her hips until the tip of my tongue would find its way to her just enough to make her whimper and hold her breath.

  “Oh. Yes. Max,” she gasped as I held her hips and thrust my tongue over and over again against her. She was so free, and so fucking hot as she kept panting my name. I anchored my hands across her ass and felt the rhythm of her hips as she rocked back and forth. She let out a beastly growl and my body reacted. Her fingernails scratched at my shoulders as she tried to push my mouth harder between her legs.

  “Make…love…to me…now, Max,” she begged in broken words filled with huffs and groans.

  I wanted to please her, to make her go ballistic before I made love to her, but she dropped her hands and pushed me back, looking into my eyes. I saw the need rage and flare in hers. It was beyond want or desire; it was visceral, and something fundamentally inherent that she needed from me.

  “Takemenow,” she whispered in one extended word as she bent her head back and I watched the muscles in her body react to the level of euphoria she was experiencing.

  I nodded as I reached for my nightstand and frantically pulled at the top drawer to rummage for a condom. I grabbed it and struggled to rip it open. Hot and bothered, and unwilling to lose the level of ecstasy, Wilson slid her hands up her body and tangled them in her hair, loosely pulling it on top of her head. Her knees bent and her body swayed and she smiled before she dropped one of her hands to her inner thigh. Shit. Focus, Max. I ripped the wrapper open with my teeth and rolled the condom down over me. Then I reached for her, pulling her against me before shoving her back against the wall, our kiss infectious, our hands uncontrollable. I needed to be inside her. I slid my hands up her thighs as she hitched her legs around my waist. Her hips widened, and as if we were meant to fit together, I slid completely into her. She was warm, tight, and perfect for me. She moaned as I thrust my hips and pulled her down on me. The more she
’d moan and arch her back, the faster our rhythm became. The friction, the motion, the cadence of our bodies was seamless. Hold on, Max, hold the fuck on, she’s almost there. Don’t do it…Damn, if she keeps moaning like that I’m going explode.

  “Wilson, I can’t hold on much longer. Are you gonna—” I managed.

  “Uh-hum,” she breathed as she pulsated around me.

  I couldn’t hold on. She started tightening and that was it. I pushed my mouth against hers and thrust into her several more times as we both detonated. I felt her entire body clench and convulse. She pawed at my back and let out a guttural moan, gasping, as she dug her fingernails into my back. The pain stole my breath as it bit at my skin before flooding my body with relief. She was uninhibited and naturally sexy.

  With wobbly legs, I carried her over to the bed and we collapsed against each other. Every muscle in my body was shaky, like jolts of electricity that ricocheted down to my toes and up to the curves of my ears. I didn’t want her to get up. I didn’t want to separate from her body. So I lay there with her until our breathing slowed and the air in the room reintroduced its slow, rippling chill across my skin.

  “First the bathroom sink, now up against the wall—maybe we should get daring and make the pool table our next destination,” I teased before I leaned in and kissed her smile lightly.

  “Yeah, well, if you want the pool table, you’re either gonna have to carry it up here or buy one for your room.”

  “Well, I’ll order one today,” I answered before I cleared the slightly damp curl away from her face.

  “Wish you could, but we both have a lot to take care of today,” she whispered.

  “Yeah, we do,” I murmured back as I held my forehead to hers. Feeling her breath curl and brush across my lips, I closed my eyes and imagined making love to her again.