After dinner, they ask me if I want to watch a movie with them at home. I politely decline and step away to my room to call Emmett. I’m not ready to talk to him about Southern California, but I do want to share the good news with him. He says he’s just watching TV at his apartment, so I ask to come over. Once I arrive, I tell him that I received five acceptance letters that day, all but one offering a scholarship. As I say the words out loud, it’s still hard to believe.
“I’m not surprised at all,” he beams as he takes me in his arms with a flurry of kisses up and down my neck and face. “Of course, you’d get into all of them.”
As I pull back, I want to ask him if he has spoken to Theo again or if he has given any more thought to what he might want to do after graduation, aside from following me wherever I go. But the spark in his eyes pulls me in. The last thing I want to do with him right now is talk.
I lunge forward, crashing my lips into his. His hand rakes up into the back of my hair with a deep moan as he leans back, pulling me on top of him. I breathe heavy with excitement as I look down at him and the crooked, sly grin on the corner of his lips.
“I’ve missed this,” I whisper as I press into the growing strain against his jeans.
All at once he sits straight up and kisses me more deeply, running his hands up my thighs and around to the small of my back. He guides my hips back and forth across him until we can’t stand it anymore and start ripping off each other’s clothes.
The moment he slides my panties down and tosses them to the side, he slowly runs his fingers across my upper thighs before finally reaching my pulsating folds. He slips inside of me enough to feel the pooling wetness, and then uses it to massage in soft circles over my clit, causing me to hiss and groan impatiently.
“Oh, Ophelia,” he hums in his deep voice against my ear. “I want to feel you cum.” He works his fingers faster and harder, knowing all the right ways to push me to the edge.
With his fingers still moving over me, I grab onto his long shaft and begin massaging it up and down, relishing how hard he feels. I love how much I turn him on. I guide him inside of me and begin riding him, keeping his fingers pressed against me.
“You’re so wet,” he murmurs, his voice cracking.
I collapse across his chest, muttering into his ear. “I’m close.”
His eyes burn into me, his chest rising and falling as I claw into it. I pin his wrists against the couch and roll my tongue into his mouth. We explore each other’s mouths with our hands clutching and grabbing at every inch of skin they can find. We move greedily with labored breaths and pained moans.
I throw back my head with the intensifying satisfaction, trembling with ecstasy as he pushes in harder against my tight and aching muscles. He lunges his hips, his skin growing hot and sweaty. Almost too hot to touch. I yell out with unintelligible strings of words and exclamations as a violent wave of ecstasy crashes over me. The moment my own rippling orgasm fades, he quickly pulls out. I take him into my hands and grin as I work him to his own climax with him trembling beneath my touch.
Once it’s over and we’ve caught our breath, we can’t help but look at each other and start snickering over how good everything just felt.
“I needed that,” I laugh as I lay my head across his chest.
“I’m sorry,” he says in a more serious tone as he strokes my hair. “I know I haven’t been…in the mood much lately. I guess I’m just stressed.”
“I know,” I offer. “Me too.”
As I lay across his chest, slowly rising and falling, moving my whole body up and down with it, I feel closer to him than I have in a while. For a moment I think maybe I should just come clean about the prospects of me moving to California, but everything feels so perfect. The room is dark with only the light of the moon shining in through the window. All I can hear are his breaths and the pounding of his heart. My naked body is pressed against his warmth. I just want to fall asleep right here and forget about everything else for a little while.
14
Chapter Fourteen
“You’ll have to decide no later than June,” Coach Granger urges me as he looks over my collection of acceptance letters and scholarship offers which has only grown in the past week. It should make me ecstatic. But it is starting to get overwhelming. “Have you at least narrowed it down some?” he asks.
“Sort of,” I nod intently, not wanting to seem indifferent. “I’m trying to.”
“Anything we can do to help?” Jada adds from her seat at the other end of his desk. “These are some amazing offers. You don’t want to wait until the last minute and miss out on anything.”
“I know, I know,” I respond with a sharp exhale. I know they are just trying to help and have my best interests in mind but having so many options has only made me more indecisive. I feel panicked every time I consider making a final decision. At this very moment with my leg bouncing like crazy as I try to sit still, I really just want to take off running.
I’ve been running even more than usual lately, and when I’m not running, I’m usually thinking a
bout it. Which means when I finally do pick a school, I’ll be in top-notch shape by the time I get there. At night I go to sleep imagining that I could just start running and see where I end up. Wherever my legs take me, that’s where I’ll go to school.
“I’m sorry,” I add, snapping back to the conversation. “I’ll do my best to start narrowing it down. Anything else? I told my mom I’d be home in time for dinner tonight.”
“No, nothing else,” Coach sighs, seeming disappointed. “But let’s talk again next week. I’d like you to have made a short list of your top picks by then.”
“I can do that!” I announce confidently, but inside I’m dreading the deadline.
I’m relieved to finally be dismissed and out from under the pressure, at least for a moment. As I start walking to my car, I hear someone call out to me.