"I know … it's just hard. I need to work through these emotions I have."
"Not alone," he stated. I wasn't sure what he meant and knew my face held questions. "I just mean I won't let you go through this sadness alone. Either you're going to stay over tonight or I'll stay over at your place. In fact, from now until I leave we'll literally be glued together. Literally," he reiterated with a glint of longing in his eyes.
I felt my stomach do a somersault at his double meaning as he leaned over and pressed his lips to mine. Parting my lips, I felt his hot breath exhale deeply into me and his tongue pleasantly caress mine. Rooting my fingers into his hair, I held Jensen tightly as our breathing quickened and his hands found their way under my shirt, onto the planes of my stomach, and up to my bra. Shuddering lightly, I broke the kiss to take a deep breath. Our foreheads rested together as we breathed heavily and fogged up the windows to my truck. For a second I wondered if any of his family knew we were out there.
"I want you." Jensen's voice was barely above a whisper. "Maybe we’d better stay at your house tonight."
I crushed my lips back onto his because I couldn't get enough of him. Finally, he pulled away and reminded me that, even though we wanted to be somewhere else, we still needed to go inside and share a few toasts to our engagement before we could be alone.
"Don't worry, we won't stay long. I don't think I can keep myself at bay for much longer," he said with thick desire in his voice.
"Good, because I just may combust." My eyes flickered unconsciously to his groin, confirming how much he wanted me. Damn it felt good to be wanted so much.
We got out of my truck and stood for a few minutes collecting ourselves and allowing the air to cool us down before going inside. I thought it would take forever for Jensen to lose the erection he'd gotten in the car when we were kissing, but soon it was gone. Thank God for cold air! While I waited patiently, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen and slightly bent forward, putting my hand over the area. Jensen looked at me in panic and asked what was wrong. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the pain subsided.
"I'm fine … a case of eating too much, I guess.”
"OK,” Jensen said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, “I think we're OK to go in now.” Guiding me toward the house he teased, “You don't look all flush anymore."
Shaking my head, I teased back that he needed to completely deflate the bulge still in the front of his pants. He briefly looked down, shook his head and laughed loudly, pulling me toward the door by my hand. Inside, Jensen's parents had already poured the champagne and were waiting for us to join them.
"It’s about time! What were you guys doing out there?" Alicia asked, handing us each a glass of light red liquid that seemed to bubble up from the bottom of the glass.
"Talking," we quickly said at the same time.
Alicia gave us a knowing look and called everyone to take a flute of champagne before wishing many happy years together. We all clinked glasses and sipped our champagne. The cool liquid was sweet and silky as it rolled down my throat. Jensen took a sip, swishing the champagne around in his mouth to get the full effect, and must have been thinking exactly what I had been when his mom answered that it was a red moscato champagne meant to be very sweet. Although it tasted wonderful, Jensen nor I took more than a few sips since we were underage and he still had to drive me home, although it was only a stone's throw away from his house. Karl and Jessica didn’t hang around for long after that, and taking a cue from them, Jensen announced he needed to get me home.
"Are you coming back?" Ashlyn wanted to know, something she hadn’t ever asked him before, at least not in front of me. I looked at Jensen and felt slight panic wash over me, anticipating how he would answer.
"Um, I wasn't planning on it," Jensen said, caught off-guard. "I just want to spend as much time with Mia before I leave."
"Yes, of course,” Jensen’s mother answered uncomfortably, “I was just curious if you'd be back so we could talk about your trip and some last-minute arrangements for college." Turning to me she asked, “Mia, I hope you don't mind if Jensen and I take some time tomorrow to do that?"
"Sure, it's no problem at all," I said, a little embarrassed that I was obviously being excluded.
"I'll see you tomorrow then," Jensen said to his family as he put his arm around my shoulders and led me out of his house.
"What was that about?" I asked once we were safely outside.
"Not sure, but I can guess,” he answered as he opened the passenger door of my truck for me. “I think she wants to talk to me about our engagement. I wouldn't worry about it, though." Jensen looked deep in thought as he jogged around to the driver’s door, but he didn’t look worried about what his mother might say.
It took only a few minutes to drive to my home, which was a little cottage-style place I had been renting from Jensen's parents for almost a year. Jensen had insisted on using his key to unlock the door anytime he came over and tonight was no different. He opened the door and motioned for me to go in before following behind me and locking the door behind us.
"Do you want to call Emery to tell him how it went, or wait until tomorrow?" I questioned since I thought he might be anxious to report back to Emery.
Jensen set the keys down on the table by the phone and came up behind and put his arms around me; his lips were at my ear. "I can wait until tomorrow. It might be too late to call tonight."
"It's only around nine, right? Aren't they an hour ahead? Come to think of it, maybe I should call my dad and let him in on the news."
"How about later? There’s always tomorrow for that," Jensen suggested, moving my hair away from my neck and kissing me softly. He was very persuasive as I turned toward him and took his hands in mine to lead him to my bedroom. Now that we were finally alone we could give in to our craving for each other.
Jensen left around eight the next morning to go home to talk to his mom about “college,” but promised he’d be back as soon as they were done so we could spend the day together. I got up and showered, reminiscing over the previous night with Jensen. His touch had been different, more loving somehow, and his blue eyes explored every inch of me, as did his hands. I remembered tracing my fingers over his chest and abdominal muscles, and finally around to his back as I pulled him as close as I could, which still wasn’t close enough. I thought of his heated body as I closed my eyes and let the water flow down my face. A twinge of desire gripped my abdomen and suddenly I wished he was there with me in the shower. The memory of the night turned into a fantasy of what could be. Taking a deep breath, I shuddered and hugged myself before forcing my eyes to open. Having that fantasy was doing me no good, so I finished washing my hair and turned off the shower, making a mental note to get him in there with me sometime in the near future.
After fixing myself a quick breakfast, I decided to look over information that had been sent the previous week regarding school registration and senior pictures, which was going to happen a lot sooner than I wanted it to. With my focus on Jensen these were among the things I had casually put aside.
Registration was scheduled on a Tuesday with the seniors going first, of course; juniors were on Wednesday. I suddenly remembered that Krissa, Aria, and Nate were slated to register before me this year, so I had to rely on Nate to choose a good locker that was not located in the English wing with the bottleneck traffic of students coming and going. It was enough to drive a person insane. Somehow I knew he would probably be calling to tell me we were stuck with the English wing, stuck being the operative word. Nate and Aria had talked at one point about sharing a locker this year, but Krissa and I pointed out the obvious question of what would happen if they broke up. So, to keep on the safe side, we decided Krissa and Aria would share one, and Nate and I would double-up in a locker that was as close as possible to the other two.
Pushing the thought of lockers and crowded hallways