The Wright Brother (18 page)

Crickets chirped and bullfrogs sang. It was slightly chilly for being so late in the summer, but that sometimes happened living so close to the coastline.

Elisa wasn’t sure how long she’d been outside when she became aware of a presence standing behind her.

With a gasp she twirled around and grabbed her chest. It was just Julian.

His hair was messy, as though he’d been running his fingers through it. He hadn’t changed out of the shirt and jeans he’d been in earlier.

“You scared me,” she gestured and then frowned. “How did you know I was out here?”

He was quiet as he joined her on the bench, his palms ran along his jeans a couple of times before he finally said, “I saw you walk outside. I figured it out.”

The wind picked up his clean, soapy scent, and she couldn’t seem to help swaying toward him.

He grabbed her hand, and it was like all the nerves that led to her heart connected from his fingertips to hers. Every glide of his callused fingers over her skin made her tremble.

She swallowed hard when he finally began to talk into her palm.

“I’m sorry.”

She shook her head and he looked at her lips, waiting for her to speak to him. The moon was so full and bright that it was more than enough light for him to see her by.

Her gaze devoured him. Julian was just one of those guys who commanded attention wherever he went. And not just because of his piercings and his tattoos, but because of his quiet intensity, the way he moved through life with purpose and intent.

“It’s okay. I deserved it.”

He frowned. “No, you didn’t. She should never have said that to you. Roman told me what she said.” His jaw clenched and she couldn’t stop herself from using her free hand to palm his whiskered cheek.

A visible tremor coursed through him when she did.

“She loved you, Jules. We do stupid things when our hearts break.”

Hanging his head, he said, “Yes. We do. Like me leaving you.”

She took in a shuddery breath.

“We could never really have worked, could we, Jules?” She enunciated each word slowly so that he’d have no problem understanding her.

“We could work.”

“I don’t see how.” She sniffed as a single tear slid down the corner of her left cheek. “I’m going back to college in a week.”

Leaning forward he pressed a kiss to her wet cheek, and there wasn’t a power strong enough on Earth to have forced her to move from that spot.

“Elisa, I got accepted to two colleges.”

Lips tugging downward, she gave him a wimpy smile. “That’s good, Julian. I’m so proud of you.”

“I didn’t know where I wanted to go, so I toured both.”

Biting onto a corner of her lip, she asked him, “And where did you decide?”

“I hadn’t decided until about fifteen minutes ago.”

She cocked her head. Confused why he’d switched the subject the way he had. What did colleges have anything to do with—

She gasped. “Are you saying that—”

He nodded. “I’m going to go to Ashe College.”

She’d read that wrong, she had to have. “Say that again.”

His lips tugged into an indulgent smile. “Smile Girl, I tried and I failed, and now I’ve come to one unavoidable conclusion.”

“What’s that?”

“That home is wherever you are.”

The silence of the night didn’t tremble with tension, but instead with hope and possibility. Another tear slipped from her eye, he groaned as he swiped it away with the pad of his thumb. Then his beautiful, long-fingered hands framed her face and she knew he was going to kiss her, but there was something she needed to tell him first.

Grabbing one of his hands, she rested his palm against her throat and said, “Look at my lips, real good.”

He nodded and she shivered under the weight of his gaze.

“I. Love. You.”

He closed his eyes and this time it was his turn to shed a tear. But just to make sure that she drove the point home, she whispered it to him one more time.

“I love you, Julian Wright. I think I always have.”

And whether he understood all of what she’d said, didn’t seem to matter to him. Tugging her into his arms he did what she’d been dying for him to do since the morning she’d discovered him missing.

He kissed her with reckless, wild abandon.

Neither of them went to sleep that night, they stayed on that bench, kissing, and touching, and learning not only each other’s bodies, but each other’s souls.

As much as Elisa wanted to take him to her bed and make love until the sun came up, that was impossible right now. For either of them.

So they remained where they were until the sky turned a soft shade of peach and pink.

“Julian, I’m going back two whole weeks before you get there.” She frowned as she spoke the words on his palm.

Tracing the line of her cheek with his thumb, he smiled. “Then we wait. Because that’s all we can do. We’ve waited eighteen in a half years, Smile Girl, what’s two weeks?”

For their last few days together the two of them were inseparable. They’d find any open moment they could to sneak away and kiss and touch and dream about the day they’d finally get to come together again without the threat of parents or siblings getting in the way.

No one acted surprised by their relationship. In fact, everyone gave them looks that almost seemed to imply,
Well duh, what in the hell took you so long?

When the day came that she packed up her Beetle and drove back to campus and she watched as his silhouette became smaller and smaller in her rearview mirror, those two weeks suddenly seemed like a lifetime away.

“Will you stop fidgeting? You’re making me have to keep redoing your eyeliner,” Chastity growled and gave Elisa a stern look.

“I can’t help it,” she cried, grabbing hold of her stomach. “He’s going to be here today.”

Chas sighed and then chuckled, setting the black eyeliner down. Her bold magenta silk top and black slacks attested to the fact that Chastity hadn’t even bothered to change out of her work clothes before cornering Elisa and telling her in no uncertain terms that she would be in charge of her beautification for the evening.

“Lisa, if you’re worried that the kid’s changed his mind, I really doubt it. You guys have only been Skyping every night, and making goo-goo eyes, it’s really enough to make a girl nauseous.”

She swatted Chastity’s thigh.

Chas had dragged her into the bathroom almost an hour ago, plopped her down on the toilet seat, and taken out all manner of torture devices. Flat irons, foundation, mascara, eye shadow, everything Elisa never did to herself.

Julian was going to be here any minute now, and the thought of it made Elisa feel almost sick.

Dropping her head to her hands she groaned, which caused Chastity to shriek and slap her hands away.

“You’re ruining your makeup. You have got to stop.”

“Easy for you to say,” she snapped. “You and Luke have been together almost two years, it’s so easy for you guys.”

“Yeah, easy.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think so. You know he wants me to move in with him. Me.” She thumped her chest and sounded like the idea was absurd. “I mean, really, we’d kill each other. We almost did that summer he stayed here.”

Elisa’s jaw dropped. “You didn’t tell me he’d asked you that.”

“Yeah.” She smiled, and then, picking up a jar of blush, dusted a little on Elisa’s cheeks. “Asked me over the summer.”

She laughed. “He got used to your yummy cooking.”

Snorting, Chastity rolled her eyes. “He probably did, the jerk.”

But she said it fondly. Elisa knew how much Chas loved Luke, and vice versa. Luke was Chastity’s Julian. It was easy to see how sprung Chas was whenever she looked at him. Even when they fought, Elisa never worried that they wouldn’t work things out.

What they had was what Elisa wanted too. And there was only one guy in the world that she wanted that with.

Julian Wright.

“You should move in with him,” Elisa said.

Chastity shook her head. “I couldn’t do that to you, Lis, the monthly payments would be way too expensive to just bail on you that way.”

But Elisa could hear that even though Chastity was saying no, she actually really wanted to say yes.

It would have been perfect if she could have convinced Julian to move in with her, especially since he hadn’t settled into his dorm yet, it would be unbelievably convenient, but they were only just starting out and moving in together was a big deal. Huge, really. There was only one more step after that, and that was a walk down the aisle.

As much as the thought of having him here every day and every morning appealed to her now, she also knew that that level of intimacy could ruin such a fresh relationship by putting too much stress and expectation on it right out of the gates. It was why she’d never tried approaching Thomas with it.

“Look, I’m a big girl. I can figure something out, but if you want to go, Chas, then don’t worry about me.”

The beatific smile that broke across her friend’s face told Elisa that she’d said the right words.

Just then a heavy knock sounded on the front door.

Elisa leapt to her feet, nearly knocking Chastity down in her excitement.

“Whoa!” Her friend held up her hand as she clutched the bathroom sink. “Try not to kill me.”

“How do I look?” she asked and twirled.

Chas had even gone as far as picking out her outfit for the day. A hunter-green thigh-length summer dress that showed off the toned muscles of her body beautifully.

She’d secretly been thrilled at the selection since the color green always tended to remind her of Julian.

“You look stunning,” Chas said without a hint of sarcasm.

The knock sounded harder, more impatient. Stomach swarming with a nest of butterflies, Elisa glowered. “Do not come back home tonight, Chastity. I’m warning you.”

With a laugh and a finger wave, her friend walked out of the bathroom first. “I wouldn’t dare. Now you knock ‘em dead and make that boy remember that there is only one Elisa Jane Adrian.”

Rolling her eyes, she swung the door open and both girls stood there stunned. But for entirely different reasons.

Elisa’s heart raced as she gazed at Julian. Dressed in a black leather riding jacket that highlighted his wide strong shoulders and dark blue jeans that hugged his body, she was glad that she’d planned to keep things home tonight.

His eyes were only for her as he stared right back, biting onto the corner of his lip piercing and sucking it into his mouth.

Tucked under his arm was a motorcycle helmet. And if she wasn’t desperate to get her hands all over him, Elisa might have considered asking him to give her a ride.

“Wow,” Chastity sighed, and then cleared her throat with a sharp jerk of her head. “Holy wow, batman, you never told me how hot he got, Lisa.”

Julian’s lips twitched, he’d obviously understood her.

Even though Chas dressed femininely now, deep inside she still had that dark streak. Luke was about as sweet a guy as they came, but Julian was definitely the stuff bad boy fantasies were made of.

Tattoos, piercings, leather, and a motorcycle. It didn’t get much more sexy than Julian Wright.

She grabbed his hand and yanked him in the door, even while she none too gently shoved her friend out.

“Yeah, and he’s all mine. So go away.”

Chastity snickered. “Just answer me this.” She placed her hand against the door as Elisa tried to close it. “Are the brothers this hot too?”

Elisa rolled her eyes. “Goodbye, Chas.”

She pouted.

“You have a boyfriend, Chas.”

“I know, but a girl can have a fantasies too. Are they coming to this school too?”

“Go away, Chas.”

“Just a yes or no, come on, Julian, put me out of my misery.” She turned and pleaded with him.

His eyes sparkled as he nodded once quickly.

“Yes.” She rubbed her hands together. “At least your boy still loves me,” she said with a twist of her lips and then, with a melodramatic glower, she stomped down the steps and headed toward campus, where she’d be spending the night with Luke.

Elisa had just barely closed the door when Julian was on her.

Lifting her off the floor, until she was forced to wrap her legs around his waist, he slammed his mouth to hers. His kiss wasn’t gentle, or tender, but she didn’t want it to be.

They banged into walls as he slowly made his way toward her room, groping her with one hand, while groping the wall with the other. His excited, frenzied movements made her groan deep into his throat as she clawed at the back of his skull.

All the nerves were gone. Replaced by a fire that made her burn and ache down low, made her feel as though she might combust if he didn’t slack it now.

If it’d been possible to climb inside his skin just then, she was pretty sure she would have.

Clothes dropped at the speed of thought.

Shirt.

Pants.

Underwear.

Her dress.

Her bra.

Her panties.

All of Chastity’s hard work was gone in less than three minutes.

Then he was shoving her down onto the mattress and she laughed as he crawled on top of her. But she stopped laughing when his strong hands parted her thighs and his head dipped straight toward the center of her.

Julian had clearly come with one purpose in mind and he was making no bones about what it was.

Good, because she felt exactly the same way.

“Oh my God,” she moaned at the first touch of his tongue, grunting as he stroked her masterfully.

And she didn’t care at all that her makeup was now hopelessly ruined, or that he’d never even complimented her dress, because she felt his need for her in every touch and caress of her sensitive flesh.

She came so unbelievably quick that she hadn’t even been prepared for it. The sweeping tide of her orgasm frightened her with its ferocity, making her thighs twitch as he wrenched every last drop of pleasure from her.

But just because she’d come, Julian was far from done. He kissed his way back up to her lips, making a short detour between each breast, planting a wet kiss on each nipple, and stoking the fire deep inside her to a raging inferno all over again.