Wilson Mooney Eighteen at Last (17 page)

Max tossed them the typical ‘guy head
nod’ before we actually ambled our way to our shoes.

Max leaned in to me and whispered
against my ear, “I didn’t think you’d wanna spend our first night
out on the town listening to two dudes talk about their conquests.”
His breath was hot, causing shivers to ripple across my scalp and
down my back.

“
Thanks. Sounds like your
friend Reid is a
play-aah
,” I said as I turned and
wrapped my arms up around the back of his neck.

Max dropped his head, dragging his
freezing nose across my cheek as his tepid lips warmed a path
toward my mouth.

“
I guess. I wouldn’t
know—this
play-aah’s
off the market,” Max said breathy against the corner of my
mouth between my upper lip and bottom pout. He swayed his hips
against my body and pressed his hands into the small of my
back.

“
God, just take me home
now,” I whispered as
I tangled my fingers
in the wisps of his hair and we kissed in the Aspen chill. Shots of
electricity attached to every atom in my body and caused me to feel
like I was going to burn up in his touch. Suddenly, it wasn’t so
cold out.

“
Okay, let’s go,” Max
whispered as he pulled away from me and grabbed my hand. I stood
frozen, unable to believe I had just said out loud that I was ready
to be with him.

We changed out of our
skates, slipped on our boots, and rushed past all the cheery people
beneath Christmas lights dangling from tree branches.
White Christmas
blared
from the outdoor speakers of a happening, trendy bar as Max pulled
me along. I felt the drops of damp snow tap across my cheeks as the
bitter cold dried my lips.

Now that we had a place to go and our
stride showed intention, suddenly everyone and their mother—anyone
who had any type of connection with Max—seemed to have showed up
downtown to celebrate Christmas. The butcher, the baker, the
candlestick maker; we couldn’t go fifteen feet without having to
stop and greet someone.

By the fifth introduction, my head was
swirling, and any attempt of keeping who was who and how he knew
them was completely jumbled. I just gave up and smiled wordlessly
at everyone after that. The butterflies urgently fluttering at the
bottom of my stomach at the ice rink began to disappear into
memories of what could have been. Aspen’s evening snowflakes danced
icily against my exposed skin and clung to the strands of my hair
until they dissolved against my scalp.

It wasn’t until he grabbed my hand and
we jogged across the snowplowed street lined with Christmas-lit
trees and snow-covered cars, that I felt the cloud of butterfly
wings begin to beat low in my stomach again.

“
Watch your step,” he said
as he hopped onto the curb. He turned and stopped next to his car.
His jet black hair became peppered with snowflakes and I watched
them attempt to hang on for dear life as they melted away to drops
of water trailing his face and down across his lips. His eyes
narrowed, trying to avoid the heavy snow working to cling to his
eyelashes, before they climbed from my lips to my eyes and back.
Suddenly, his pouty lips pulled into a sexy crescent smile and that
was it. Everything that had me excited earlier came flooding
back.

Max pulled his gloves off
his hands and shoved them into his jacket pocket before he stepped
closer and pushed his hair back off his face. He lowered his head
toward me and brushed a damp hand across my cheek. His fingers
tangled gently in my hair as his lips tickled the corner of my
mouth.
Yeah, he remembers why we’re
here.

I brought my hands up around his neck
as he pushed me against the side of his car. His body pressed
urgently and my cheeks ran cold as he dropped his hands to my hips.
He tasted so much better than any hot cocoa or peppermint candy
cane, and ignited a spark in me that made me want to take him and
possess him. I felt his hands drop to my thighs and lift me up off
the ground. Instinctively, I hitched my legs around him and felt
how much he wanted me.

As he lowered me and
pulled away, steam radiated from my mouth, evaporating as I caught
my breath. He smiled wickedly before he swung the passenger door
open. My heart pounded hard and fast as he made sure I was in and
buckled. He scurried around to the driver’s side. The freezing air
swirled around my neck and through my hair as he got in. It didn’t
matter that no words were exchanged between us; I could hear his
every thought. I watched his eyes mirror the want that twisted deep
in my
own
groin
as he looked at me.

Finally, he started the car and I
welcomed the powerful vibration it created in my core. I loved the
way the muscles in his jaw tightened and his hair curved just right
around the back of his ear. I couldn’t help but study the remnants
of spent snowflakes as they melted down to the tips of his glossy
black hair. God, I ached to kiss the space where his hair lay fixed
against his neck.

He swallowed and I watched the muscles
in his neck dance before he caught me staring at him.

“
Are we still going to my
house?” A smile crept across his face.

“
Well, it’s still my
birthday, right?” I teased.

“
According to the clock it
is,” he said as his hand crossed the chasm between us and found the
right spot on my upper thigh. His touch ran hot through my jeans,
causing me to feel an excitement immediately thunder through every
sacred space of my body. I tried to say something sexy enough to
draw him in but lost my words when his hand began to creep inward.
My heart thrashed faster, and the familiarity of him touching me
invaded every inch of my body. I willed myself to relax, letting
the sensation of his fingers brush against the seam of my pants
with just enough pressure to keep me wanting more.

When Max pulled his hand away and the
warmth receded, I shuddered. God, he knew how to tease me. I pushed
my thighs together, trying to keep the feelings from disappearing.
He let out a slight laugh before he hummed the remaining air from
his lungs and ran his hand across the steering wheel.

I rested my elbow on the edge of his
seat before brushing my fingers into the back of his cool, black
hair. He rocked his head back and forth just enough to tell me he
liked it. Goose bumps rushed his neck as I pressed my palm against
the space where his hair met his skin. I could tell we were both
vibrating on the same wavelength; it was like we were trying to
press each other to the edge of nirvana without tumbling
in.

As the car sped and swerved through
the mountains of Colorado, I noticed the radio playing a key role
in building the synergy between us. Max leaned his elbow on the
console between our seats, his hand hanging in the air, inviting me
to curl my fingers between his—I did. He collected my hand, holding
it tightly enough to pull it up against his lips. The edges of my
knuckles fit perfectly between his kiss and the bottom of his nose.
I felt the warmth of his breath swirl and tickle across my fingers
before he dropped our hands back between us.

I felt my scalp ripple and
chase the excitement through my arms and down my legs. Even a month
later, his touch still created energy that pulsated heavily
throughout my body. Okay, maybe the fact that
Faster
—a Matt Nathanson song—came on
the radio had something to do with it too.

“
Ooooh, I love this song,”
I said, reaching over and turning it up. Max smiled as he listened
to the words hover and fill the car.

“
I’ve never heard this
before. I kinda like it,” Max said with a grin.

“
Kinda?” I asked as I
tickled the tips of my fingers down his wrist and across his arm.
“It’s only like one of the most super sexiest make-out songs ever,”
I teased.

“
Ever?”

“
Yeah, ever.”

“
Well, if that’s the
case…” Max turned up the song and pulled over on the side of the
road. I felt his determination as the car skidded to a stop. The
space outside the car, pinched by huge pine trees, seemed to crowd
out the sprinkling of stars blanketing the sky; a perfect
moment—alone.

Max turned off the engine. “Did he
just say bite my lip?”

I nodded
yes
as I pushed over to
him and traced my fingers across his lips, pressing to keep them
from moving. I felt the mood of the song tease every space of my
body and I wanted to at least get to first base before the song was
over. His lips were soft, waiting for me to taste them. I wanted to
kiss him forever, but the damn center console between us made it
pretty hard to make out.

He kissed me back, biting my bottom
lip. He tasted like freshly melted snow on a warm spring day. His
hands slid around my hip and ran hot against my back pockets. I
felt his fingers slip behind the waist of my jeans into the small
of my back, and my skin rushed with chills that collected between
my legs.

His balmy growl tickled across my hair
before his lips gently caressed the bottom of my ear. Chills
pulsated in waves up through my head and across my neck as I felt
his scorching mouth close in on and nibble my earlobe. God, he had
the key to my soul and he knew just how to turn me on.

I leaned my elbow on the center
console and struggled to adjust my body closer to his. Leaning my
hip over, I tried to swing my leg across his, but it got caught
between his knee and the steering wheel. He pulled my shoulder over
toward him and I felt the muscles across my stomach twist and pull.
God, I just wanted to press up against him. I wanted to feel the
heat through his shirt against my chest.

“
Ow, ow, ow,” I whined as
I rammed my forehead into his mouth. He leaned forward as I twisted
to sit on him, but my leg was still stuck between him and the car’s
steering wheel.

“
Shit, my lip,” he
spat.

“
My leg is stuck. Oh shit,
ouch, damn...” I leaned back into my seat to free my
leg.

Max pressed his fingers to his lip and
looked at them for traces of blood. I didn’t realize I’d hit him
that hard.

“
Here, let me see,” I said
as he turned to me and I pulled down his bottom lip. His teeth must
have pinched the inside of his mouth but he wasn’t
bleeding.

“
Am I gonna need
stitches?” he teased.

“
Oh, it’s pretty bad; I
think I’m going to have to tend to your mouth pretty much all
night. I’m going to have to keep waking you up. You could possibly
have a concussion,” I stated before I tapped the tip of his nose
with my finger. “But no stitches.”

“
Just so long as it still
works,” he said before he smiled and leaned over to kiss me. I felt
him flinch slightly as he pressed his lips against mine. But it
didn’t take long for the pain to vanish and his deep passionate
kisses to return.

“
Yeah, it still works,” I
said as I pulled away and leaned back into my seat. “So how about
you take me somewhere a little more comfortable?” I growled in a
whisper as I rubbed my hand across the inside of my knee to stop
the throbbing.

“
You make my heart beat
faster
,”
sang
Matt Nathanson in a breathy
moan, further encouraging the rush of adrenalin Max already created
throughout my body. Suddenly, neither of us seemed to notice any
pain. Max twisted the keys, shoved the car into drive, and sped
away from the dark, tree-filled side of the road. He turned down
the driveway and sped through the gate, hurrying to get back to the
cabin.

“
Hey, it looks like we
might be alone,” Max grinned before his eyebrow spiked and he
pointed out the empty spot in the enormous snow-cleared blacktop
driveway where Camille’s Escalade had been parked
earlier.

“
Wouldn’t that just be our
luck? I wonder if someone had planned it this way?” I teased as he
pressed the remote to open the garage.

“
Well, we’re about to find
out.” Max pulled into the garage and pressed the button, closing us
in.

He checked his lip in the rear-view
mirror before he turned toward me; then a smile crept across his
face. He pushed out of the car and sped around to open my
door.

“
Let me help you out,” Max
said as he held his hand out to me. His sexiness seized me.
God he is beyond scrumptious
. His hair was just wet enough to invite my fingers; his lips
plump, teasing me to taste them; and his lush green eyes drilled
deep, waiting for me to come clean. I didn’t even know what I was
supposed to confess to. The surge he created swirled low in my
groin as he pulled me out of the car. As much as I liked his
family, I prayed they weren’t home.

Max called out to Nancy and Camille
while I took off my boots, just like I always did. Distracted by a
lone pink sticky note pressed to the stainless steel and glass
refrigerator, Max hurried through the kitchen to read what it
said.

“
They all went to the
Vaughns’. How lucky is that?” He pulled the note off the fridge and
held it up, stuck to his finger. “Looks like it’s just you and me,”
he continued in a sexy voice as he pulled me through the kitchen
and into the great room.