“Are you okay, Maeve?” Maggie asks. “You’ve been acting weird all afternoon.”
“I’m fine,” I assure her. “I’m just—actually, my stomach is kind of bothering me, so I think I’m just going to head home.”
“Sarah was just saying we should sleep over!” Maggie says. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”
This new information solidifies my resolve. I don’t want to wait until tomorrow to see Wes.
“Yeah, I’m feeling worse,” I tell her. “Can you let Brooke and Sarah know? Tell them I’ll see them at school tomorrow.”
“Okay…” Maggie replies, still looking at me suspiciously. Whatever she’s thinking, I’m certain it’s nothing close to the truth.
I pull my car off the main road into the cabin’s driveway fifteen minutes later, and Wes’s car is already there. He’s leaning against the side of his SUV, typing something on his phone. I climb out of the driver’s seat and close the door behind me.
Night has almost completely fallen, and I shiver at the rapidly falling temperature as I walk over to Wes in the dusky light.
He looks up and smiles, and I’m a goner.
This boy.
I walk right up to him. “Hey—” he starts, but I don’t give him a chance to finish.
I kiss him urgently, eagerly, grasping generous handfuls of his soft shirt and using them to tether myself to him. It’s the furthest thing from a quick peck. I immediately seek entrance to his mouth, and he gives it to me, letting me slip my tongue inside. The hard ridges of his abs are outlined underneath the cotton material I’m pulling taut. I tug his bottom lip between my teeth. Wes groans in response, and I feel the vibration reverberate against my tongue.
I angle my head to deepen our kiss, and he winds his arms around me to pull me flush against his body. I can’t stop kissing him, driven by some urgent need to mark my claim. To prove to myself I can.
Wes’s lips leave mine to plant open-mouthed kisses along my neck, and I moan at the sensation of his tongue against the sensitive skin. I let go of his shirt and shove my hands in his hair so that I can pull his lips back to mine. He thrusts his talented tongue back inside my mouth. I let one hand trail down along his shoulder and the muscled planes of his chest until I reach the waistband of his joggers.
Wes pulls back abruptly. We stare at each other, chests heaving from our hot and heavy make-out session.
“Are you hooking up with other girls?” I blurt.
“What? No!” Some of the pressure leaves my chest following his immediate, adamant response. He studies my face. “Did someone say something to you? Why do you think I’d cheat on you?”
“It wouldn’t be cheating, Wes. I just wanted to know.”
“What do you mean, ‘it wouldn’t be cheating’? Are you hooking up with other guys?”
“No, of course not! I just—I mean, we’ve never—some of the girls were talking about the rumors about you, and since we don’t—I thought maybe—it would have been fine…” I trail off when I see Wes’s confused expression.
“I didn’t follow any of that,” he admits. “You text me hours before we’re supposed to meet, attack me like we’re acting in a porno, and then ask if I’m hooking up with other girls? I don’t get it.”
I sigh. “I was at my friend Sarah’s house. Maggie was there—the one who moved to Alleghany over the summer—and some of my other friends started asking her about things there. And then you came up. And she didn’t say much, except that you haven’t been around a lot, but she mentioned a rumor about you and Natalie, and I realized that there could be other girls. That we never talked about it. About what this is. Or is not.” I’m studiously avoiding eye contact and fairly certain I’m blushing. “Especially since we’re not having sex.”
I glance up to see Wes grinning broadly.
I shove his shoulder. “It’s not funny, Wes!”
He laughs once and then turns serious. “You’re right. It’s not. Listen to me, Maeve Stevens. I have not—and will not—touch another girl when I have the option to touch you instead. Okay?”
“Okay,” I mumble.
“I’m flattered you were gossiping about me, though.”
I roll my eyes. “It actually sucked. Listening to my best friends going on about how hot they think you are.”
Wes’s cocky smirk grows. “Unfortunately for them, I can’t seem to stop thinking about this one girl.”
The heat I extinguished with my blunt question rapidly flares to life.