You’ll be waiting a long time, Maximillian Fucking Hemsworth.
She broke the rules and stayed after class. I didn’t mind. Once the door was shut, I pulled her out of view from the window and picked her up to sit on her desk. Parting her legs, Blakely grabbed my tie and yanked me between her thighs. It was a compromising position, but my resolve was weak. “It’s kinda hot when you’re jealous,” she whispered, though her eyes were fixed on the door. We wouldn’t stay like this for long, but I was willing to saturate my skin with her presence for every available second.
“Boyfriend in Texas, huh? Is he as smart and good looking as I am, or should I be worried?”
I could tell by her grin and the way her eyes moved from the door and to my lips that she wanted to kiss me. “He’s really hot,” she whispered. “He’s nice. Kind. Smart. I think…” Her voice trailed off as a locker slammed shut outside. Our little bubble was one bad move from bursting. One casual onlooker. One random pop in from a coworker.
“You think what?”
“I think I’m falling for him,” she admitted before touching her lips with the tips of her fingers.
I sucked in a breath and once again hated this secrecy. It was so stifling and made me clench my teeth. I wondered fleetingly if the allure had something to do with how forbidden this all was, and even though it made it fun, it wasn’t worth the pain of not being able to touch her when I wanted to.
I wanted to kiss her on my desk and make her come on the stack of papers I needed to grade. I wanted to hold her hand in public. Wrap my arm around her shoulders in front of her brother and joke about our relationship with Rose. She didn’t deserve to be hidden.
Right now, she deserved to be rewarded for that admission. I knew it didn’t come easy to her. “I don’t want to say this here, because we don’t have time and it’s cheap and fast and not what you deserve, but I love you,” I rushed out before mentally kicking myself.
And then the classroom faded away. The time slowed. The secretive seconds and distance between us melted into hot lust. Blakely leaned up as I leaned down and somewhere in the middle, we met at the perfect angle for a kiss. As her hand rested on the waistband of my pants, each rise and fall of her chest had me aching to slide my finger inside of her.
“We’re so bad at this secrecy thing,” she groaned.
“Secrets are overrated,” I conceded before clinging to her lip with my teeth and pulling at the soft pillow of flesh. She tasted like mint, and my hands went to her neck just so I could feel her erratic pulse.
“We should stop,” she whispered while parting her legs wider. I pressed against the soft fabric of her black underwear. I’d probably have a wet spot on my pants for how heated she was.
“We should,” I agreed between kisses while palming her breasts.
“I’m going to stop. Any minute now,” she said again before grinding on my dick. The desk she was sitting on squeaked.
“One more minute,” I pleaded while sliding my hand down to her skirt and dipping inside of her heat. She was dripping.
“Fuck,” she said before pulling away. “I’m going to lunch because, if I stay here, you’ll lose your job for sure.” I took my finger and sucked on it, enjoying the look of her heady eyes and the taste of her on my tongue.
She got up from the desk and pushed at my chest. The space between us was torturous. It was all so new; I didn’t feel like I was adequately acquainted with every freckle on her face or the curve of her breasts. Every moment of my day was filled with wanting to know her better, and I wasn’t sure this desperate newness would ever fade.
I watched her walk to the classroom door with her messenger bag slung over her shoulder, and when her hand landed on the handle, she paused. “I love you too,” she whispered so low I almost didn’t hear, but my chest swelled with pure, blinding happiness long after she disappeared into the hallway.
I love you, too.
I love you, too.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
“Good girl,” I whispered into my empty classroom.
27
Blakely
“I’m not going to the fall formal, Maximillian. My boyfriend is in Texas. I don’t see the point,” I argued for the fifteenth time while slamming my locker shut. He’d been hounding me for weeks, begging me to attend with him as friends. The only thing friendly about his persistence was the smile on his face.
Maximillian’s blond hair was a mess today, and he tugged at the strap of his backpack while he grinned. Handsome, cheeky little devil. “It can be casual! Let me talk to your boyfriend. I’ll assure him that my intentions are pure,” he teased. He was continually mocking me about my elusive Texas boyfriend, and it annoyed the hell out of me. Maximillian knew. He knew. I knew he knew by the way he taunted Decker—Mr. Harris—relentlessly. And yet he never said anything.
“Nah. I’ve got plans tonight anyway. I don’t even have a dress!” That was a lie. I had a dress. It had been hanging in my closet since I got here, just waiting for an opportunity to be seen. The only problem was, the only person I wanted to wear it for couldn’t actually take me out on a date.
“You should just go naked,” Maximillian offered, and I gave him a pointed look. He held his hands up in surrender. “Fine. Be lame. Don’t go to the dance that literally everyone is going to be at, you rebel hipster loner.”
“Have fun with Taylor!” I called over my shoulder while heading to Physics.
That night, Lance was off with Sean again. I still hadn’t met this mystery boyfriend, but I didn’t mind. The more time Lance spent at his apartment, the more time I had with Decker.
I was sitting at the kitchen table when Decker walked through the front door, carrying his leather bag. His eyes lit up the moment he saw me, and I took a moment to appreciate the black suit he was wearing. He’d undone his gray tie some and unbuttoned the top of his button up shirt, revealing some of his delicious chest.
“Hey,” he said. “It’s not too late for the dance if you still wanted to go.” I warmed at his thoughtfulness but shook my head. He’d told me numerous times that I could go to the dance tonight, though I knew the idea of me spending any amount of time with Maximillian drove him mad. I appreciated that he reined in his jealous tendencies, but still didn’t want to attend. Time with Decker was precious, and I was determined to enjoy whatever I could.
“I was thinking,” he said with a grin. “We should have a dance of our own tonight.”
“Oh, really?” I replied while closing the textbook in front of me and grinning back up at him.
“Really. Go put on a pretty dress, though you don’t need it. I’ll get the music going.”
“None of that old school shit, Mr. Harris,” I chided before disappearing into my room. The dress I wanted to wear once belonged to Mama. It was deep blue and short. The fabric was soft, and anytime I put it on, I felt pretty. I loved how it lightly clung to my skin and draped along my torso. Mama got it from one of her boyfriends. She hated that the bust was too large for her and that it fit me perfectly; she was always self-conscious about her breasts. I cherished the satin dress. Not because of its origins or because it reminded me of her, but because it was one of the few precious things I owned that genuinely made me feel beautiful.