Eighteen (18) (25 page)

Everyone gasps.

“You are not doing this,” I whisper, my back to the crowd.

“I am,” he whispers back, then raises his voice. “She’s the smartest girl in here, but she doesn’t think she is.”

Kids start calling out sweet things about my brain and I almost double over in laughter.

“I’ve been tricking her for months now. Making her solve problems so that when I asked her this question, I could trace her solutions in the stars and get the answer I wanted.”

Snickers.

“So, Shannon Drake, here’s my question.” I roll my eyes. I know he’s not going to ask me to marry him, that is ridiculous. I’m eighteen years old. “What do you think about me so far?” He winks. “Should we see what Shannon’s answer is in the stars?”

“Yes!” they all call out.

He hands me the little clicker he’s using to start each animation. “Be my guest,” he says. “I can’t wait to see what you have to say.”

Jesus Christ. I have never smiled so much in my life.

I click through the animations, one at a time. Slowly at first, but the kids urge me to go faster to see what it says.

They call it after a few letters.

“I love you,” I say, when the presentation is complete.

“I never doubted you, babe.” He’s grinning so wide, so proud of himself. And the kids are going crazy with excitement. “Thank you for coming, everyone, and there’s lots of puzzles for you to solve in your programs today, so make sure you go home and figure them all out. Now let me ask you one more question.”

He waits as they settle.

“Do I make science and math fun or what?”

A chorus of screaming yeses.

Wildly successful presentation over.

It’s only then that I notice a large group of people dressed in suits in the back of the room. They are smiling and clapping for Mateo as he takes my hand and raises it up with his in triumph.

They are the representatives, I realize. From other planetariums around the world. People he’s counting on to buy his new educational software. His very expensive educational product that came from the fruit of all his years of hard work and research.

And they are sold.

I fuck the shit out of Mateo Alesci that night on the beach outside our room. I fuck the shit out of him every night we spend there. And every morning. And during our afternoon naps. I cannot get enough of him.

I do love him. And I never want this to end.

Chapter Thirty

“Stop it,” I say, pushing Mateo off me.
“I’m working, dammit.”

He bites my shoulder and I can’t help but smile. “School’s out.”

“Not until next week. I need to finish this assignment.”

“The only assignments that matter are mine,” he growls, taking his nibbles to my earlobe.

I shake my head and try not to giggle. “Not true. Your mother is expecting mad skills for her website and I’m not even done with my own site yet.”

“Play with me, Shannon,” he whines. “Please. I’ll let you suck my cock.”

I look at him from the corner of my eye. “Behave now and I’ll let you spank me later.”

His gaze goes all drifty as he pictures it. He likes to play Bad Little Schoolgirl with me. He has a paddle with my name on it and everything.

I can only roll my eyes. But I’m more than willing to put on knee socks and a tartan skirt and let him bend my bare ass over his lap.

He hits hard too. He leaves red palm prints on my cheeks and then he takes a picture of them so I can see when we’re done. But just picturing myself spread open for his inspection, my long hair dangling down his legs, my hands grabbing on to his suit pants…

Jesus. I close my laptop and say, “What do you have in mind?”

“Hmmmm,” he moans, letting his hands explore my body. They leave my shoulders and grab my breasts. I’m already naked because it’s a kitchen work day. “I want the whole neighborhood to hear us,” he whispers. “Everyone. I want to fuck you in the front yard.”

“Oh, no,” I say. I don’t tell him no often, but no. “I’m not having sex in your front yard.” I might be sitting naked in his kitchen, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Plus, the blinds are closed and it’s late. So no one is looking in here.

“No?” he says, taking my hand and pulling me up from my seat.

“No,” I say, but I’m already smiling because he’s sucking on my nipple and there’s no chance he’s not getting his way. I might
say
no, but it never works. Mateo always gets his way.

“I want everyone to know, Shannon,” he says, taking his kisses up to my shoulder again. “I’m tired of hiding you in here.”

“We’re not hiding.” Not really. We stopped hiding after Hawaii. But there’s nothing to hide anyway. I finished my last trig test two weeks ago and Mateo turned in my grade. Even Mr. Bowman couldn’t stop us now.

“I want to flaunt you. Make you come so hard, everyone within two blocks hears you scream my name. But I want to do it my way.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a yellow silk scarf.

“Really?” I ask. “I mean, I get the whole blindfold thing, but yellow? It’s probably see-through.”

“Let me put it on you and find out.”

I throw up my hands, unimpressed. Mateo’s ten years on me have not gone unnoticed. He’s got a lot more experience than I do in the sexual imagination department. “Give it your best shot, cowboy.”

He chuckles as he places the soft silk over my eyes and ties it tight at the back of my head. “Now follow me.”

“Wait, we’re not going outside.”

“Define outside.”

“Mateo—”

“Shannon—”

“I don’t want to fuck in the front yard.”

“You do,” he whispers, biting my ear again. “Trust me.”

When he says trust me he really means it. It’s not a flippant joke or something casual. He’s serious. He’s asked me to trust him a lot over the past few months. “Fine.” I give in. I always give in.

He takes my hand again and leads me forward, flipping out all the lights in the house as we pass through rooms. The scarf is see-through, but only when the lights are on. So by the time we make our way to the front of the house, I can’t see shit. It’s got to be past eleven at night right now, and the porch light isn’t on when we cross over the threshold, him giving me a little warning about the lip of wood trim that separates the house from the porch.

“Does this excite you?” I ask. “Fucking me on the porch in the dark?”

“Should I turn the lights on?”

“No.” I laugh.

“Then don’t jump to conclusions about what we’re doing.”

I bite my lip, nervous. What did I agree to this time?

“Stand right here.”

I take a deep breath and let it out as I listen to the creak of the screen door on the porch. “Mateo?”

“Don’t move,” he orders me. But he’s not on the porch, he’s out in the yard. And the screen door is still open because I never heard it slam shut.

“What are you doing?” I whisper. But he’s either ignoring me or he’s not close enough to hear.

His footsteps get louder as he comes back up the stairs and passes me, his hands on my shoulders as he gently moves me aside and then flips a switch.

The front yard lights up. “Oh, my God, what the hell are you doing?”

“Quiet,” he says. “I want you absolutely quiet until you can’t stop yourself from screaming my name.”

“That’s never gonna happen.”

“So you say now. And don’t worry, I might want to fuck in public, but the whole point is to never let anyone see you but me. The lights are on the flower bed, not the porch.”

He’s right, I realize. I’m not lit up, I’m in the shadows. In fact there’s just enough light to—“Hey.” I squint my eyes at the dark shadow of his body as he walks down towards the street. “Where are you going?” I call. What the fuck? I want to take this blindfold off and see what the hell he’s up to, but I don’t want to spoil the game just yet.

A few seconds later his shadow jogs back towards me.

“Where did you go?”

“I was checking something across the street.” He closes the front door to the house and pushes me up against it. “A tripod, Shannon. I put a camera across the street zooming in on you.”

Fuck.

There’s plenty of cars going by on Broadway, so if anyone was looking real hard, they could probably see me. But it’s late, so not many people.

He places something cold and hard in my hand. “Take it,” he says.

It’s a vibrator. The one we use to play. He loves to watch me masturbate. Especially when I’m in my bedroom at home. And even though he doesn’t watch every night, I put on a show for him anyway. I’m like a fucking nympho these days. And when he doesn’t fuck me, I’m desperate for an orgasm when I get home. Every once in a while he texts me a picture that he took while he was watching.

It makes me wet. Right now. It makes me wet just thinking about what he’s doing.

“Get off,” he whispers in my ear. “Right here, on my porch. With the screen door open and the camera rolling. I’m going to sit on the chair off to the side and do the same. And then I’m going to take you inside, play it back on the bedroom TV, and make you come again.”

I take a deep, deep breath.

“Begin.”

I press the controls on the vibrator until it’s at full power, and then I place it between my legs, pressing it into my folds and letting out a sigh. All I hear are the cars and Mateo’s breath hitching up a notch, but the thumping in my own chest soon drowns out those sounds.

“I like that,” he says. “You should see yourself.” And then he chuckles in that throaty way that drives me wild. “You
will
see yourself.”

“What are you doing?” I ask, hearing his clothes rustle around.

“Taking my dick out and wrapping my fist around it.”

“Tell me more, since I can’t see you.” This request gives me a little thrill. I’ve never had this much control over him before. I never get to ask him these things.

“The light is filtering in from the front yard so that it climbs up your body in a soft haze. I can see your pussy as you play with it.” He scoots his chair across the concrete and the next time he talks, he’s closer to me. “It’s wet, isn’t it?”

I press the vibrator against my clit, moving it around the way I like it. “It’s ready for you, Mateo,” I say. “Not this stupid piece of plastic.”

“Yeah?”

I nod, biting my lip a little. “How much can people see?”

“When you watch the film you’ll know. Now keep focused because I’m not letting you go inside until you come.”

“Talk dirty to me. I need your help.”

He chuckles. “I will, but not because you need my help. I’ve watched you dozens of times in your bedroom. What do you think about when you play with yourself, Shannon?”

“You, of course.”

“My hard cock in your mouth.”

I lick my lips. “Always. I want it now.”

He moans and I can hear the friction he’s creating with his pumping. “When I stand outside your window and watch you with your vibrator, I jerk off every time.”

I start moving the vibrator faster, the sensations increasing. It’s not cold out at night now that it’s spring, but my nipples are bunched up in tight knots. “Why not just come inside and fuck me then? You know I’d never say no.”

“I love that about you,” he says, his breathing even heavier now. I hear more rustling and I can feel his body heat as he gets closer to me. His cock bumps up against my stomach, his fist vigorously moving back and forth, thrusting against my skin with each stroke. “I love that you never say no. But I like to watch you alone. You never give in completely when we’re together. Always so guarded, even when you’re naked. Always so careful, even when you’re vulnerable. But in your own room, you let all that go and just relax. Do you feel safe there?”

“No.” I laugh. “I feel safe with you.”

He kisses my neck, one hand grasping at my hair, the other still working on his cock. “Right answer. You’re always safe with me. Do you want to trade places?”

“And you put the blindfold on?” I ask.