She nodded and smiled, and I leaned in to kiss her again. This time, neither of us held back. I stroked her face, and she curled her hands around my neck. I moved my hands to her back, and then down to her hips. I stroked up her waist and my hands glanced over her breasts, enough to feel their softness beneath my fingertips. I groaned as I felt myself harden, my desire to feel her skin against mine, suddenly burning. Her hands were in my hair and on my face as our kiss deepened, her desire matching mine.
I stopped to loosen her hair, desperate to push my fingers into the soft auburn curls. She helped and I groaned as it fell in soft curls around her shoulders. I drew her close again, claiming her mouth once more while my hands were lost in the softness of her locks.
She became more aggressive; her hand moving downward until her fingers skimmed over the bulge of my jeans. I was consumed with desire for her. I reached up her dress to the top of her briefs, but just as I wanted to tug them down, I hesitated.
“This is a little awkward,” I said, breathing heavily against her lips. “It’s not the most comfortable place.”
“Don’t stop,” she whispered. “We can just move to the back seat.”
I paused. “Have you done this before?”
“What, kissed a boy in a car?” she giggled.
I had to laugh at her silliness. “No, not that. I meant move to the back seat with a boy in a car.” She knew exactly what I was referring to and she shook her head.
“No, not yet,” she said, and I was strangely glad to hear it. I pulled my hand away, but she grabbed hold of it. “I want to, though. It’s not like I’m desperate to stay a virgin forever. It’s just that I’ve never really had a boyfriend I wanted to go all the way with.”
She blushed, and I caught it. It brought a smile to my face. “Mm, a boyfriend? I like the sound of that.” And she smiled, too, and kissed me again, but I pulled away and curled her hair behind her ear.
“Maybe we should call it a night,” I said, although it took everything I had not to take her up on her invitation. “I’ll take you home. We don’t need to rush anything. I’m not going anywhere.”
I knew that we were both sorry we had to stop, but there was no way that I wanted to be like most high school guys who didn’t care where he took a girl’s virginity. Elle was a different kind of girl, and she made me want to act like a different kind of man.
So, I drove her home, pulling up outside her house a little before midnight. Walking her up the drive, I had my arm around her shoulders.
“I should apologize to your dad for getting you home so late,” I said.
At that moment, the porch light automatically flicked on, both of us startled by the sudden light that illuminated the entire front of the yard. I grinned at Elle’s once-more shy face.
“Sorry, I forgot about …,” she said, but I cut her off mid-sentence and leaned in to kiss her again, pressing my body against hers. Suddenly, the door flung open and there was Simon Evans. Elle leaped away from me and put her hands behind her back.
I cleared my throat. “Evening, Sir,” I said, and then I reached out and shook his hand as I did earlier that afternoon. “I’m sorry to have Elle back so late.”
“It’s fine. As long as she’s safe,” Simon said. “Did you two have a good time?”
“Yes, Daddy. It was wonderful,” Elle said, and I smiled.
“I’d better be going,” I said, and I nodded to Simon. “Goodnight, Sir.”
He said goodnight to me, and Elle went inside, the door closing shut behind her. I slowly walked back to my car and took my time securing my safety belt. As I pulled away, I looked up to see her peeking at me through the curtains of her bedroom window.
I smiled and muttered the words that I’ve read so many times before, “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
9
________
ELLE
For the rest of the weekend, I was soaring on cloud nine. As I had done with the time I’d spent with Liam at his dad’s party, I replayed every moment of our date in my mind as if my thoughts were stuck in a never-ending loop.
I recalled every time he’d touched my hand and every time I’d made him smile. I downloaded Pride and Prejudice onto my laptop just so I could see it and be reminded of exactly where I was when I watched it for the first time.
When he kissed me, I was sure I felt like no other girl had ever felt before. I suddenly knew why people spouted clichés about love and romance, and it sounded so dumb to explain to Colin over the phone that Saturday afternoon just how wonderful it felt.
“If he’d have wanted to go further with me, then I wouldn’t have said no,” I confessed, as I pressed the phone to my ear and spoke in a low voice just in case anyone was listening outside the door. “Is that terrible?”
“Absolutely,” said Colin. “It’s utterly disgusting and thoroughly unbecoming. What would Elizabeth Bennett have to say about that?”
I gasped. “Oh, don’t say that,” I said. “It’s not like I just want to throw myself at the first guy that comes along, but he’s the one, Colin. I swear to God.”
Colin laughed. “Relax. I’m only kidding. I thought you were going to call me to say you’d done the deed already. So, I’m a little disappointed in you, young lady.”
I shook my head at his silliness.
“Well, I’m not disappointed,” I said, and I knew that as I said the words, I meant them. “Because I know he’s not going anywhere, and neither am I. Last night I made the mistake of referring to him as my boyfriend, and he said he liked the sound of it. Shit, Colin, I think Liam might actually ask me to go steady.”
“And you’re definitely sure he doesn’t have a hot gay brother, right?”
“Sadly, no,” I said. “I don’t believe he does.”
“Rats. A cousin maybe? I would so love to dive into that gene-pool,” Colin joked. “Was it a long drive into the city?”
And this is where I proudly told him that not only had Liam taken me to New York, but he’d done so in a freaking helicopter. Colin was speechless, only able to make strange squeaking noises in the back of his throat, and I giggled. He was the perfect person to relay the story to. His enthusiasm almost matched my own.
Liam was quiet for the rest of the weekend and by Sunday lunchtime, I began to worry a little. He hadn’t replied to any of my texts, but he’d made a few comments on social media and even posted a picture of him and his friends together at a club. I tried not to let it bother me too much, but I began to have a feeling that something might be amiss. It was unlike him not to respond to any of my messages.
On Sunday evening, I sent him a text to ask him if he was okay and if anything was wrong. I wanted to hold out, to act like I wasn’t really bothered by his silence, but I couldn’t.
He replied a little later, telling me that everything was fine and that he missed me, but that he wanted to talk to me. He asked if he could come by so we could go for a drive.
It was getting late, and Mom and Dad weren’t happy. I could have told them Colin needed me, but when it came to lying to my parents, I was the worst liar. It wasn’t really so much what my mouth was saying, but what the rest of my face was saying that gave me away every time.
So, when I told them Liam wanted to go get Starbucks with me, they first looked at each other and then back at me. Mom was the first one to speak.
“What about your homework? Is it all done?”
“We don’t have any homework right now,” I said. “It’s all revision.”
“Well, are you up to date with that?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want you flunking your exams because of a boy,” Dad said, sternly. “You can go out tonight, but don’t think this is going to be a regular thing. We want you back by ten, at the latest.”
I hugged him and went upstairs to get ready. I think they knew that this was more than just a crush for me, but I knew they were concerned about the timing of it all. Looking back now, I
know why they were worried. The last thing I needed was to be distracted by a boy when I was so close to finishing high school.
But at that moment, the only thing I could think about was Liam. I was relieved they’d allowed me to go out that evening because it saved me climbing out of the window and shimmying down a drainpipe. Nothing would have kept me from him.
He was waiting outside in the car by eight, and I left the house and practically leaped into the car. He kissed me as I got in, his lips against mine long enough for my stomach to flip. Then he pulled away and we drove off into the cool evening.
We picked up our coffee at the Starbucks drive-through. I had a Flat White and Liam ordered a Toasted White Chocolate Mocha. He was quiet and said he wanted to take a drive so we could be alone and talk.
Needless to say, I was getting more than a little bit concerned, but he held my hand and kissed my fingers. I was certain that for as long as I was with him, we could fix anything. I nearly said it aloud but didn’t want to sound foolish. So instead, I just squeezed his hand and slowly sipped my coffee.
We drove to Buckingham Lake Park, where he switched off the engine and sat back in his seat, taking a deep breath. “I can’t believe school’s nearly over and we’ve only just got together,” he said. He turned to me. “Why couldn’t we have done this two years ago?”
“Because I was far too awkward then and only had eyes for Zac Efron,” I said lightly, trying to lift the mood. “It wouldn’t have worked.”
He laughed and stroked my face. He seemed sad, and I held his hand and kissed it.
“Let’s go for a walk,” he said.
10
________
LIAM
Elle would never know it, but that night, I’d driven to her house to break things off with her.
It wasn’t my choice. In fact, it was the very last thing I wanted, but the day after my date with her in New York, my parents came home and it wasn’t long before I was summoned to the study once more.
“So, I hear you had a little jaunt into the city last night,” Dad said, and my heart sunk.
“Yes, Sir,” I replied. “I wanted to take a friend out to watch a movie. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“A friend?” Dad asked. “I heard you took out Simon Evans’s daughter.”
“That’s right.” Behind my back, my hands curled into fists. That asshole, Jordan, I thought. He took my five hundred bucks and he still ratted me out.
“Do you think it’s appropriate to fool around with the daughter of an employee?” he asked, and I could feel my jaw clenching as he spoke.
“It’s not like that,” I said, willing myself to remain as calm and as respectful as possible although it was difficult. “Elle and I have been in the same school for a few years, and I’ve always liked her, but recently it’s become something more.”
“I have a horrible feeling that she’s the reason you disappeared on the night of the party.”
You don’t become a billionaire business magnate by being stupid, and while my father might have inherited a fortune, the only way he could have turned that fortune into an even greater fortune was by being intelligent and shrewd. He used both of these skills now, to come to the correct conclusion. My silence confirmed it.
He rubbed his eyes. “I thought we talked about this,” he said. Then he slammed his hands down on the desk, the intensity of it making me flinch.
“Why do you insist on fighting me at every turn?”
“I’m not,” I said. “None of this is to make you mad or to deliberately provoke you. My relationship with Elle has nothing to do with getting some reaction from you, Dad. I can’t help the way I feel.”
He leaned back in his chair. “The way you feel?” he said, sarcastically. “You’re eighteen. You don’t know anything about feelings. All you boys know about are popping pimples and getting laid.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “Elle’s become more to me than I even realized. I think I’m really falling for her.”
“Hogwash,” Dad said, dismissively. “What a crock of shit. You’re falling for her? You think you’re in love? Give me a break. She’s only after one thing, Liam.”
“And what’s that, Dad?”
He held out his hands. “Look around. Look at what we’ve got. Now look at what they have. Sure, Simon’s a damn good employee, soon to sit on the board. But don’t kid yourself for a second that that puts him in the same league as us.”
“Elle and her family are good people, Dad,” I countered. “In fact, I think they’re better. Because their success hasn’t turned them into egotistical assholes.”
Dad pointed a finger at me. “Be very careful,” he said, his voice ice-cold. “I swear to God, Liam. Don’t start this shit again.”
“Start what?” I cried. “Dad, you never listen to me. You never hear me when I tell you what I want. I’m eighteen. I’m old enough and mature enough to make my own decisions and date whoever I want.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re only chasing after Sarielle because she’s so willing to open her legs for you,” my father said, cruelly.
Hearing him talk about Elle that way was a step too far. I wanted to reach over the desk and punch his red, sweaty face. Instead, I did the thing he hated the most. I turned my back on him and left the study.
Chasing after me, he grabbed the back of my t-shirt and spun me around, slamming me against the wall. I pushed him away, hard, the way I had last time, only now, I raised my fist and stood over him, panting.
“I told you, don’t you ever lay a hand on me again. Just give me one more reason to knock you out,” I said, and I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body.
“I’m sick of you talking to me like shit. And I won’t have you talking about Elle like that, either.”
“You’re going to hit me?” Dad spat. “Want to feel like a big boy by punching your old man?”
If it wasn’t for Mom coming out at that moment, then I don’t know if I would have been able to back away without hitting him. But as I held my fist in the air, all of a sudden she shouted from where she stood in the doorway of the den.
“Patrick!” she cried. “What the hell’s going on?”
Embarrassed for my mom to have seen my father and me in this way, I lowered my hand. Dad pushed me to one side and I didn’t react. He went into the study and slammed the door shut behind him, and I walked over to Mom. She looked horrified.
I hugged her. “Sorry you had to see that, Mom. It just got out of hand this time.” I explained why we had been arguing, and she sighed.
“Your father just wants the best for you, honey,” she said.
“No, he wants me to be a clone of himself. He has this unquenchable need to fulfill his dreams for the Wilde Dynasty through me. If only he would trust me enough to realize that I can do it in my own way. We all know the score. I know what I’m supposed to do and where my future lies, but I can’t be expected to do every single thing the way he wants.”
Mom didn’t want to take my side, I could see. It would only have made Dad angrier. Instead, she touched my arm and went into the study. It was getting late, so I took myself off to bed.
The following day, Dad didn’t come out of the study at all. While Mom, Catherine and I went to the club for lunch and a game of tennis, my father remained holed up for the entire day. I met up with some friends, played a few games, and went for a swim. By the time we returned, it was already after seven and that was when I saw Dad for the first time that day, seated at the head of the dining room table. He was silent throughout most of the meal.
Dad had only a glass of scotch while the rest of us were served fruit pudding for dessert. It was as I was about to pick up my spoon and eat that he dropped the bombshell.
“There’s been a change of plan,” he said. “I’ve booked Liam a flight to London the day after graduation.”
We all looked up; Catherine dropped her spoon and Mom’s eyes were wide.
“Patrick, what are
you talking about?” she asked. “Liam’s got a summer job at the club, remember?”
“Not anymore,” Dad said, knocking back his scotch. “He has a summer internship with Graham and Howard in London, and he’ll be staying at Howard’s place in Kensington. After that, he’s going to Oxford.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, utterly stunned. “Dad, I’m going to Princeton. I don’t know anything about a summer in London.”
“That’s because I only arranged it today,” Dad said, and he reached for the Glenfiddich again and poured himself another glass. He didn’t need to add any more ice; the cubes hadn’t had the chance to melt from the first glass he’d drunk.
“I made a few calls, pulled a few strings, and Professor Slater will be waiting for you at the end of September. Until then, you’ll work for the company over there. You want to be treated like a man, you got it. It’s time you learned what being a real man is all about.”
I felt sick. I stared at my dessert, unable to say anything. My head was spinning.
Leaving in a week? For London? College in England?
It was crazy. I wanted to bang my fists against the table like a toddler throwing a tantrum, but as I looked up, I knew that doing so would only give my father cause to call me an ungrateful brat. I knew exactly why he was doing this and I could see the triumph all over his face. He knew that he’d won.
There was no way I could finish dessert, but I stayed at the table until Dad left the room. After that, I grabbed the keys to the Mercedes and texted Elle. I had to see her.
Now, as we walked slowly alongside the lake, a light spring breeze blowing softly around us, I told her as gently as I could what had happened.
“Please know that it’s not what I want,” I said, as her eyes filled with tears. “I wanted to be with you this summer. Hell, I even planned things we could do together. I really wanted to get to know you, Elle, and now it’s all been taken away.”
She leaned against my chest. “I wanted to spend time with you, too,” she said. “I really believed that there could be something real between us.”
FIRST LOVE_A Single Dad Second Chance Romance Page 6
