AllFreeNovel
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“We’re allowed to have something nice once in a while.”
“Nice” doesn’t even begin to describe it. The hotel is all gold and emerald decor and dripping chandeliers, his arm around my waist as we take the elevator up, up. When it reaches the seventeenth floor, it opens with a cheerful ding.
Inside the room, we both let out audible gasps. Even the bathroom is beautiful, with terrazzo countertops and a walk-in shower. I’ve never considered what it might be like to shower together, and yet the image appears in my mind with such a fierce determination I suddenly fear every fantasy with him has been utterly wasted. Slippery skin and slicked-back hair. Water pounding against our backs.
And the bed, huge and elegant, with a wrought iron headboard and brocaded duvet and at least eight different pillows.
“You like it?” I ask, and he just laughs.
I’ve missed that sound. Even over the phone, it’s not the same—I don’t get to see the way his eyes crinkle at the edges, the way his glasses slip down his nose and he has to push them back up. All these details I’ve sworn I could never forget, even if we were on opposite sides of the globe.
It feels so precious, this night together.
“That was amazing, seeing you up there with them. At the bookstore.” He moves closer, slipping down the sleeve of my dress so he can expose my bare shoulder.
My lashes flutter shut. “Please don’t talk about my parents right now.”
“No, I’m talking about you. How confident you looked when you talked about writing. Your whole face just lit up—I’d missed seeing that.” His teeth flirt with the skin of my shoulder, and when I let out a sigh, he does it again. “I was so proud of you.”
He delivers the compliments in between kisses along my neck, undoing the zipper of my dress only a few inches so that his mouth can dip lower.
“Oh God. I think I might have a praise kink.” A soft bite at my collarbone. “File that under least surprising things about me.”
“Good, because I could do this all night.”
When our mouths finally collide, it’s all urgency and heat. His hands on the sides of my face, diving into my hair. I reach for the tie I loosened earlier. Let it drop to the floor. In an instant, he has me pushed against the room’s desk, our hips pinned together.
“How about those indecent thoughts?” I manage between kisses, loving the way this draws a laugh from his chest.
“Too many. Don’t know where to start.” A groan as I wrap a leg around his waist, urging him closer. His fingertips burning a path up my thigh.
I’m already dizzy with the scent of him, the one that’s faded from his hoodie and scarf. I throw off his suit jacket and tug at his shirt where it’s tucked in, freeing the white fabric. Without breaking the kiss, he reaches into his pants pocket for his phone. Tosses it onto the desk.
Just as it lands there, a message pops up. I don’t mean to look—really, I don’t—but the screen is bright and the room is dark.
Mom: I could call him. Or make a visit. This isn’t fair to—
That’s where the preview cuts off, but it’s more than enough to set off sirens in my mind.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Hmm?”
I pull back for a moment. My breaths are still coming in hard bursts, my heart hammering for an entirely different reason. “Why is your mom texting you something about a visit?”
Neil’s exhales start to slow down as he fumbles for the phone. “… Oh.”
Even though everything in my body is begging me not to stop, I straighten my dress, the message a shock of cold water to my system. I still only have pieces of the story. Fragments of whatever he’s been keeping from me.
“You weren’t—I didn’t want you to see that.” He pushes a hand into his face, jostling his glasses.
“Neil. What’s going on?”
He backs up, the sleeves of his shirt pushed to his forearms. His cheeks are scarlet and his jaw is tight, a thread of tension I’m not sure I’ve seen on his face before. “My dad sent me a letter,” he tells the carpet, not meeting my eyes. “Two of them, actually. Including one here at school.”
“How did he—”
“He just addressed it to ‘Neil McNair, NYU.’ Somehow it found its way to me.” A wry, not-quite smile. “The mail room staff deserves a raise, evidently.”
