“You say that as if it’s the biggest mood killer,” I say, frowning.
“No, believe me, it’s far from a mood killer. I just never expected it.” he says, taking a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter though, I wasn’t going to allow things to go that far tonight regardless.”
My eyes travel from Max’s face, down to his bare chest, and I grab another pillow from beside me and place it between us.
Max laughs, grabbing it. He tosses it to the wall his shirt had hit. “I want things to be different with you.”
“Are you, Max Miller, telling me that you want to have an emotional relationship with me, prior to having a physical one?” I ask, turning my eyes to his face.
“I’m telling you, Harper Bosse, that I want to learn everything about you, and I want us to be able to have a strong enough relationship that when I piss you off … because that will happen on occasion and when it does, you and I have something stronger than sex that will help us get through it.”
“You are such a girl,” I tease.
Max grins at me. “I blame Jameson, he looks like a dude, but really, that guy probably has more estrogen than your entire house.”
I laugh and then start thinking about Max’s previous relationships; it never seemed like any of them stuck around long, prompting me to my next question. “So how long is slow?” I ask.
“I don’t know, a while,” Max says, shrugging. “A month or two, maybe more?”
“You’re serious?” My eyes widen in shock and disappointment. That wasn’t the answer I had been expecting.
“I’m going to make sure you don’t regret it.”
I sag into the pillows in defeat. Honestly, I’m glad he stopped us. The fact that Max respects me enough to not want to have sex right away, even when he hadn’t known that I’m a virgin speaks volumes to me. However, there’s a frustration brewing in me that makes it difficult to focus on being rational.
We watch nearly the entire movie with our full attention. Well, nearly our full attention; occasionally something breaks our focus, like when I try to resituate to get my phone out of my back pocket and accidentally scoot a bit closer to him than I’d intended and feel Max’s muscles tighten. At first he does nothing to my disappointment, so I press back even further into his pelvis and feel his breathing stop for a moment before he surprises me by rolling me onto my back and straddling me, locking both of my hands in one of his above my head and kissing the hell out of me.
Once, I’m not even trying to catch his attention and simply brush some hair back that tickles my neck, then I’m being pulled on top of him, his hands splayed over the curve of my hips.
“I should go home.” My voice is soft as the credits finish and the screen goes dark. Really, the last thing I want to do right now is leave, even if nothing more happens. Just staying right here in Max’s warmth with his scent enveloping me makes me resist wanting to ever move again.
“I’ll text Kendall and find out what she’s doing.” I grab my phone off his nightstand and prop myself up on my elbow to text her, trying to remain in our cocoon as long as possible.
Me: Hey, you still awake? We should probably go.
I hit send as Max lightly trails the tips of his fingers over my shoulder and down along my spine making goose bumps erupt over my skin. I watch as he smiles, his eyes seeming to notice the effect he has on me.
I climb out of bed knowing that if I don’t, it will be me that tries to cross the boundary line again.
“Jameson and I are going to San Diego tomorrow … or today to bring a couple of car loads up. I should be home by like five. Do you want to grab some dinner with me?” Max gently holds both sides of my face in his hands and moves my head up and down in a nodding motion.
I laugh, cupping my hands over his. “I’ll be here.” Max grins, softly kissing me once more as my phone buzzes indicating a text message.
Kendalclass="underline" Ready when u r ... Anxiously aw8ing details.
“Your entire family is going to know when slow ends, huh?” Max asks, making no attempt to hide the fact that he just read my screen.
“That is a risk.”
“Talk about pressure,” he jokes, heading to retrieve his shirt from the floor.
Downstairs we find Kendall and Jameson making out against the wall in the foyer. I step around them to slide my feet into my flip flops before returning to Max. Grasping his shirt in my fists, I give him one last kiss.
“Say ‘goodnight, Jameson,’” I instruct, stepping around Jameson and Kendall again and opening the front door.
“Goodnight, Jameson,” Kendall mumbles, still kissing him, making no attempt to move as I head outside.
When I get up to my room I turn on the lights and see Max at his window, looking at me. I smile and wave, crossing the room and open it.
“Goodnight, Ace.”
“Goodnight, Max.” I call and leave the window open as I go and change and brush my teeth to get ready for bed.
Max’s light goes off shortly after mine, and I lie in my bed hardly able to sleep as the excitement of the last few hours runs through my head on repeat.
The next morning I make my way downstairs, shocked that it’s past nine. I never sleep in.
“There she is.” Kendall sits at the kitchen table with a grin spread across her face. My mom and Jenny are with her, each wearing matching guilty expressions confirming they’ve been discussing me.
“Max wear you out last night?” she asks, arching an eyebrow.
I shoot her a death glare as my face flushes.
“Kendall!” Mom chastises her, but she still has the shadow of a smile playing on her perfectly made-up face.
“I can’t believe you guys are talking about me,” I say incredulously.
“Oh, come on. You and Max have practically been dating all summer!” Jenny cries with a grin.
“It was just a matter of time,” Mom adds, bringing her coffee cup to her lips to hide her smile.
I reach for the granola as I take a seat.
“I like Max. The Miller boys are hot!” Jenny says with an approving smile, “Gosh, do you remember how obsessed Savannah was with Hank when they first moved in? She’s going to want details! Hell, I want details! How was it?”
My sisters have little shame when it comes to discussing sex, even in the presence of our mom, something that even when the day comes I don’t think I will ever be ready for.
“We didn’t sleep together!” I cry out. “When did you even get home? Where’s Lilly?” I ask, turning to glance around the room.
“You didn’t?” Kendall looks at me with genuine shock before her eyes narrow, speculating whether or not I’m telling the truth. “But you guys are together now, right? Like officially, exclusively together?”
“Officially, exclusively together,” I fight the climb of my lips as I repeat her words and pour milk into my cereal. “What about you and Jameson, did you guys finally figure things out?”
“You’ll be happy to know we did,” Kendall says, grinning proudly.
“Are you texting, Mom?” Jenny asks, leaning across the table toward her.
“I just started. Your daddy was showing me how so I can get in touch with you girls, since apparently you don’t talk on the phone or write notes anymore. You simply send these weird coded messages to each other.”
“Text Ace, Mom. She spells things out. She’s the only person I’ve ever seen send a message with a semi colon.” Kendall smirks. “Didn’t you get her text last night?” she asks, looking to Jenny who’s looking over our mom’s shoulder.
“You’re such a liar!” Jenny accuses, laughing out loud.
I’m barely able to ask what’s going on when my phone, as well as Kendall’s and Jenny’s all buzz and chime simultaneously. I look down to see I have a new text message from Mom and open it.