“Let’s go find some more food for you to try,” I requested, once I’d let him pull back to breathe and he’d stepped away to face me. “There’s still steak tartare, and-”
“I like steak,” he asserted quickly. “What’s the tartare part?”
“It’s a raw preparation,” I explained. “With egg and shallots, and-”
“Rawmeat?” He asked, sounding repulsed.
“Did I steer you wrong about the caviar?” I asked.
“Well… No,” he admitted. “But I draw the line at snails.”
“No snails,” I promised him.
At one point during the evening, he looked down at his phone, his eyebrows furrowed a bit in worry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Ah, nothing, really,” he said. “It’s just that I texted my mom earlier this morning to check in, and she hasn’t responded yet. She usually doesn’t take that long.”
“I’m sure she’s just busy with the holiday,” I assured him. “You can call tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, putting his phone back in his pocket. “I’m sure you’re right. My niece is probably running her ragged or something.”
When the countdown to midnight finally rolled around, we’d eaten, we’d danced, and we’d talked. We’d had an amazing time, and it seemed like he’d actually started enjoying the glitz and glamour of the evening, instead of feeling unnerved by it.
As everyone started counting down from 10, Aspen gazed down out of the glass wall at the gigantic crowd of people in the street.
“You know, they say whatever you’re doing at midnight will be what you spend most of your time doing for the rest of the year,” I told him. He smirked a bit, giving me a flirtatious look.
“Should we run and try to find a closet we can take off our clothes in?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care what we’re doing, Cupcake.”
He leaned into my chest, tilting up his face for my long, slow, deep kiss. As the ball dropped, and the countdown finished,followed by cries ofhappynew year, I wondered if I would always remember this first one with him, or if the memories would fade to be replaced with all the others we’d have together.
Only time would tell.
ASPEN
I WOKE UPthe next morning with my face smashed into a big, plush pillow, a tiny puddle of drool soaking into the soft cover. I’d slept like the dead, cradled by the super luxurious mattress and silky sheets provided by the hotel Faulkner had rented out for all the guests of his party. If I wasn’t careful, I’d get too used to all this rich people stuff, and then it’d be a pain to go back to my plain dorm bed.
Caelyx was still unconscious next to me, spread eagle on his back, and snoring. We’d stayed out way too late, the party going on well into the new year. When we’d finally retreated back to the room, I’d crawled into his lap and bounced on his cock until we’d basically blacked out from exhaustion.
The bright rays of sun attempting to peek through around the thick rectangles of curtain on the windows alerted me that it was well past morning. Carefully untangling my leg from Caelyx’s, I sat up, rubbing the grit from my eyes. With his shirt thrown carelessly onto the floor, his whole chest and torso were exposed, along with all the little bites and marks I’d left on him. I’d added a few more since the plane ride, and even some that were hidden by his boxers. Part of me itched to tug his underwear down and see how they’d developed overnight, but I’d let him sleep for now and admire my handiwork later, once I convinced him to jump in the shower with me.
We weren’t flying back to school until the next morning, so we had plenty of time, though Faulkner had asked us to have lunch with him, along with Caelyx’s mom, who I’d only justlearned was named Wilhelmina. I didn’t know her well enough yet to decide if I liked her, but… I didn’t anticipate it. The way she talked to Caelyx, like he was disposable and not even worthy of her attention… It was awful.
Seeing the way they had interacted, even just for a few minutes, made me understand where a lot of his issues had come from. And it definitely helped me understand why he needed positive attention and praise from me all the time. If that’s what he needed, then I could be that. I couldn’t believe I was saying this, even in my head, but having such a clingy and needy boyfriend really wasn’t so bad. Not that I was going to tell him that or anything. I couldn’t let him gettoocomfortable.
… Even if he really was completely living up to his self-proclaimed title of Best Boyfriend. He’d somehow totally predicted that one.
Hoping we hadn’t slept intoolate and wouldn’t need to rush to get ready, I picked up my phone off the nightstand to check the time. It wasn’t that late, but… I had six missed calls, all from my sister.
My stomach dropped, my heart speeding up in my chest as I fumbled to my messages.
You need to call me now.
Shit. Shit. These were all from this morning. Had something happened last night? Was something wrong with Mom? Glancing back at Caelyx briefly, I silently slipped off the bed, padding across the floor to the bathroom and closing the door as quietly as I possibly could.
