Beyond Eighteen(41)

Max noticed this and dragged his thumb across my face, dissolving the evidence in his touch.

“You okay?” Max’s words delicately danced and tickled against my lips.

I nodded.

“What is it, Wilson?” he asked as I felt him shift his weight across my body. Every curve and bump of him communicated his intentions and he became awkwardly heavy.

“Noth—,” I began.

“Don’t say nothing. Come on, Wilson,” Max stated as he moved his body off of me, leaving me between him and the back of the sofa. I twisted to face him as he wedged his arm under his head and swung his leg over mine. He pushed his fingers into the side of my head, clearing my hair away from my face.

I felt the words surge up through my throat but I couldn’t find a way to tell him. I didn’t want to be selfish or make him feel even worse knowing he had no choice. So I came up with a compromise.

“I’m just thinking about how I’d feel if I lost you.”

“Well, you won’t. I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered as his eyes converged with mine. His blinking gaze tugged at my heart.

That’s right, you’re not. You’ll be here with your family and I’ll be the one who has to go back to Wesley. Without you.

He leaned in slowly as his eyes gleamed with every hidden plan to keep me wrapped up in him forever. And just as if there was a force that wanted to keep us from kissing, our lips grazed right as my phone started vibrating in my pocket, shattering the trance we had.

His breath rolled, firm and short, across my mouth as he growled, “Let it go to voicemail.”

Normally, being consumed by Max, I would; but seeing that I hadn’t heard from Joanie in quite a while…

“What if it’s Joanie? I can’t let it go, knowing she’s with—” I stopped talking before mentioning Nick. I noticed his expression shift slightly to annoyance before he seemed to forget about it. He watched me lean back as I retrieved the phone from my pocket. It wasn’t Joanie calling me after all. It was Dax Fuller, the lawyer for my grandparents’ estate. My heart crashed down into my stomach. I didn’t really want to hear what he had to say so, as Max suggested, I let it ring until it stopped mid-jingle and got swallowed by voicemail.

“I take it that wasn’t Joanie?” Max ribbed. I shook my head and attempted to toss the phone over him and onto the coffee table, but Max jetted his hand into the air and stopped it.

God, he’s so quick. He clipped the bottom of the phone with his fingers, causing it to somersault over and over in the air above me. I covered my head and shrieked, hoping he was going to catch it so it wouldn’t bonk me. He bobbled it, one-handed, over me until he had it securely in his hand.

“No, it wasn’t Joanie. Oh my God, you scared the shit out of me,” I said, instinctually thrusting my hands against his chest. He swiftly caught my arms and hooked his leg around mine as he slid off the slick leather sofa and onto the floor. I sailed off, too, and landed squarely on top of him.

Max smiled wide. It was the type of smile that was uncontrollable and hurried to keep up with his twinkling eyes. It was filled with spontaneity, and reflection, as he twisted my hair in his fingers and pushed it behind my ears.

“If it wasn’t Joanie, are you going to tell me who called and interrupted our kiss?” he asked as I watched his sultry eyes draw me in, slowly and deliberately.

“It was nobody,” I said as I lowered my face closer to his, waiting for him to kiss me again. I could feel my body ride the swell and lull of each breath he took.

“Nobody? Then I guess you won’t mind if I check?” he teased as he held my phone up. My heart thrashed against his chest.

“Give me my phone,” I commanded, wiggling to reach for my phone.

“No, I wanna know who was rude enough to call my girl when she was about to kiss me,” he rebutted as he held the phone farther away from me. I stretched, trying to get it from his hand, but he wrapped his other arm around my waist and clamped me down against his body.

“Max, give it to me, please,” I insisted, my voice flat and serious. I really didn’t want to deal with telling him who called. I didn’t want him to get all serious about something I had no control over until I got back to California. I just want to be with him tonight. I wanted to touch him, play with him, kiss him, and live in the discovery of how we both felt as we made love.

I felt his body shift and his embrace tighten as he took a huge breath and exhaled. His whole demeanor changed and his eyes filled with everything he felt he needed to say, yet his lips tightened as if he was trying to hold back words.