Chapter 14 – Stella
STELLA
I’m rushing out of my bedroom, shoving my phone in my purse with one hand and using the other to pull the door closed behind me. I’m also smiling like a fool because Beau is picking me up.
When I look up, Felix is standing at the other end of the hall.
“Hey,” I say, trying to appear casual and like I’m not about to head out with his nemesis. I have on a dress and more makeup than normal, so I doubt I’m fooling him.
“Hi.” His mouth opens and closes like he wants to say more, but he clamps it shut and his jaw flexes.
We’ve barely spoken all break. It isn’t that I’m mad at him exactly, though it definitely still rankles how everything went down the night Beau showed up at the resort.
But Felix is my brother. I love him, even when I’m angry with him.
I think it’s more disappointment. We’re at an impasse.
I don’t want to stop seeing Beau, but I want things to be good between me and Felix, too.
“I thought you were hanging with Teddy tonight?”
“I did,” he says. “He and Holly wanted to drive around and see the Christmas lights. I decided to call it an early night.”
“Oh.” I nod. That’s the same thing Beau and I did a few nights ago. Except we only made it into one neighborhood before we were more interested in talking and kissing than looking at lights. I guess I understand why Felix wasn’t into that.
“Where are you headed?” he asks. His tone and the hard set of his jaw tell me he already knows.
“Just out for a little bit.” I adjust the strap of my purse on my shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
With that, I start down the stairs.
“Stella,” Felix calls.
I take two more steps before I stop and look over my shoulder.
“Be careful,” he says. “Call me if you need anything.”
“Yeah.” I swallow around a lump in my throat. “I will.”
I jog toward the curb, pulling on the beanie Beau gave me last night, as he comes to a stop in front of the house.
“Hi.” I climb in quickly and lean over the console to kiss him.
“Hey,” he murmurs against my lips. His gaze flickers to the house and then back to me. He grins at my hat. “You look nice. I can almost picture you sitting on the sidelines cheering me on.”
“Thanks. So do you.” He has on jeans and a white T-shirt with a black leather jacket. Plain and casual, but so damn handsome. His dark hair is styled neatly and he’s wearing the gold glasses I like so much.
“Where are we going?” I ask as he drives away from the house.
“It’s a surprise.” He lifts both brows in a playful waggle. His right hand leaves the steering wheel and rests on my knee.
I don’t pay a lot of attention as he drives and neither of us says much.
He turns up the music, and I enjoy the feel of his fingers brushing over my bare thigh and the way he bobs his head to the beat, occasionally glancing over to hit me with a smile.
We’ve spent so much of our relationship talking, it’s nice to be together and just soak it up.
Beau pulls off onto a gravel road. It winds about a half mile until we come to a scenic pull-off spot. It’s dark, so we can’t really see anything, but it has a serene feel and there are dots of color in the horizon from all the holiday lights in the distant neighborhoods.
He backs into a small clearing, gets out and rounds the front of the car, then opens my door.
“Where are we going?” I ask. I borrowed a pair of Holly’s shoes, which make my legs look amazing but aren’t great for hiking.
“Not far,” he says. He pulls me to the back of the SUV and lifts the back. My jaw drops when I see the blankets and pillows spread out in the space.
One hand is in his front jeans pocket and the other rubs at his jaw. “Too cheesy? I just saw this for a second time how you must be seeing it. I just thought we could hang out and talk. This isn’t me bringing you to a secluded spot to have sex. We could go out to eat or to a movie if you’d rather.”
Laughing, I press my lips to his. “I love this, and if you don’t try to feel me up in this dress, then I will be very disappointed.”
I get in and sit, legs stretched out in front of me, looking out the back of the vehicle into the dark night sky.
He grins and climbs in beside me.
“Does your dad know you turned his vehicle into a shagging wagon?”
“The blankets were already back here.” He pauses as if his words are slowly sinking in. “Oh man.”
I burst out laughing. “I’m sure it’s for picnics and such.”
“Yeah,” he grumbles. “Let’s go with that.”
He reaches for a thermos and two mugs, handing me one, and then filling both with hot chocolate.
“Marshmallows?” he asks, holding up a bag of the mini ones.
“Absolutely.”
He sprinkles some into each of our mugs, then pops a few extra into his mouth. We sit shoulder to shoulder, sipping our drinks and staring out into the dark horizon dotted with lights.
“This is nice.” I lean into him and let my head rest on his shoulder.
“Yeah.” He sets his mug down and then shifts, so he’s sitting behind me. My back rests against his front and my head is tucked under his chin.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been more content in my life. Sitting here with Beau feels like enough in a way I can’t describe.
When we finish the hot chocolate, he turns on music and we talk about school, our friends, and college. We talk about everything until the only topic left is the one we’ve been avoiding.
“I saw Felix on my way out of the house tonight.” I drop my gaze, not quite able to look him in the eye. I really thought he’d come around by now and each day he doesn’t, it gets harder.
He gives me a small, apologetic smile. “I hate that I’m making things tense between you and him. I know how close you are.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I admit. “I thought all he needed was time to get used to us being together. What if he never does?” The thought makes me nauseous.
“Maybe I should talk to him?” Beau offers.
“And say what?”
His chuckle is quiet and rough. “Yeah, good point. I don’t know. I’ve been thinking, though, about what you said last night and about Felix, Garrison, that game, all of it.”
I turn to face him.
“My playing football is everything to my family. It’s three generations of hopes and dreams all looking to me to do the thing they couldn’t or didn’t get a chance to do.
I know I’m not responsible for living up to that, but some part of me wants to, you know?
It drives me, and maybe on occasion, it’s made me sloppy and reckless, but I wasn’t trying to take out Garrison. ”
“I know.” I cup his cheek. “You’re a good guy.”
“Thanks,” he says softly.
“I haven’t met your family, but I doubt they know how their actions are impacting you.”
His jaw works back and forth. He’s told me his family isn’t big on talking, and I can see that now in the way he seems set to bury this and continue to let it eat at him.
“Are you planning on playing in the NFL?”
“I don’t know,” he says.
“I’m sure your family will want that, so you should probably just plan on it. Oh, and maybe you could be a broadcaster when you retire or even coach.”
His brows tug together.
“My point is if you keep making decisions based on other people’s happiness, you’re going to end up with a life you don’t want. And that’s dumb. I hear we only get one of these.”
A little of the tension eases in his features. “Okay, wiseass.”
“I am very wise,” I chirp. “You have to talk to them. Soon.”
He nods his agreement. “What are you going to do after college?”
“I haven’t planned that far ahead. Right now, I have my eye on a gold medal.”
“Yeah?” One side of his mouth quirks up. “I knew it.”
I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about the possibility.
“My girlfriend is a total badass.”
He takes my mouth and slides a hand behind my neck, his tongue seeking entrance immediately, and I climb into his lap. He drops his hands to my thighs and slides them up below the skirt of my dress.
My heart races and my core throbs. I arch into him and the ends of his fingers brush against my panties.
He groans as he drags a thumb over my clit through the damp material. I’m breathless as he breaks the kiss and stares into my eyes. Those green eyes see right into my soul.
I push his jacket off his shoulders and then go for the hem of his T-shirt. His upper body is broad and sculpted. I run my hands over every inch of his warm, toned skin.
“Do you have condoms?” I ask, still catching my breath.
His gaze searches mine. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
He closes the back of the SUV, and then as he gets a foil packet from his wallet, I pop the button on his jeans. Together, we push his jeans and boxer briefs down his legs.
My pulse races as I wrap my fingers around him. He’s long and smooth and pulses under my touch.
Beau sucks in a breath. “Come here.”
He grips me by the waist and brings me back onto his lap. We can’t seem to fuse our mouths together tightly enough. My body tingles everywhere as we kiss, and I grind over him. My panties still keep us from being skin to skin, but it doesn’t keep my orgasm from climbing to the brink.
When I’m delirious with it, quivering and shaking, he reaches for the packet and rips it open. I scramble to remove my panties as he rolls the condom over his length.
My chest heaves as we stare at each other in the back of the dark SUV. While he watches, I drag down the side zipper of the dress and then lift my hands to let him lift it over my head. He does and then I get another delicious groan from him when he realizes I’m now completely naked.
“You’re stunning, baby.”
I light up at his words and can’t resist kissing him again. I rest my hands on his shoulders and he guides me down slowly until he’s buried inside me.
“Oh, damn,” he grits out. “You feel so good.”
I let out a shaky laugh that sends a new wave of sensation through my core and Beau groans.
His mouth fuses over mine and we get lost in more hungry kisses.
I’m not sure which of us moves first, but soon, I’m rising and falling in a steady rhythm with his hands at my waist. We only stop kissing when the sensation gets too much, and I drop my forehead to his and let out a gasp.
“I’m so close,” I tell him.
With that knowledge, his touch is rougher and his hips lift to thrust into me from below. My orgasm is on a hair-trigger, detonated when he whispers my name in a guttural, throaty tone.
I cling to him, near sobbing with pleasure, and he follows me over the edge.
We clean up and then hang out a little longer, talking and kissing some more. But eventually, both of us are yawning and fighting sleep, so reluctantly, we move to the front of the vehicle, and he drives me home.
Beau parks in front of the house. It’s dark, except for the Christmas tree that’s still lit up in the front window. Everyone must have gone to bed.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” Beau asks.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You’re going to Valley for New Year’s Eve, and I leave the day after.”
“Tomorrow is our last day together,” I say. I knew our time was limited, but it sinks in with a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“For this trip.” He brushes my hair away from my face and then runs his thumb along my trembling bottom lip. “Don’t be sad. This has been my favorite Christmas vacation.”
“Yeah. Same.”
“I promised my cousin I’d toss the football around with him, but we should be done around lunchtime. Hang after?”
“I am going to see a play with Holly and my mom tomorrow night. We do it every year. I am free before that and maybe after.”
“I’ll take whatever I can get.” He leans forward and slants his mouth over mine. “See you tomorrow.”
The next afternoon, I pull into the parking lot of a middle school and drive back to the football field where Beau said he’d be. I can’t see much of the field from the car, and he isn’t answering his phone, so I get out and walk.
They’re easy to spot once I get close, at least Beau is.
He’s surrounded by kids half his age and height.
He’s wearing shorts and a T-shirt that stretches over his broad chest and muscular arms. The way he runs down the field, easily catching a bad throw and then zig-zagging through the players makes a smile spread across my face.
I sit on the first row of bleacher seats and watch him. He looks so happy, so in his element that if I didn’t know about the pressure from his family, I’d never believe it was possible his love for the game wasn’t one hundred percent genuine.
After he carries the ball into the end zone, he tosses it to a kid who’s probably around twelve with shaggy brown hair that Beau ruffles as he gets close.
The kid sees me first, says something to Beau, and a second later, those green eyes find me.
He lifts a hand in a wave and then runs over to me, sweaty and smiling big.
“Hey.” He bends down to swipe his lips over mine. “Are you early or am I late?”
“The latter, but it’s fine. I don’t mind.” I don’t mind one bit.
“Give me five?” he asks.
“Of course.”
“I want to let Scottie run it one more time, then I’m all yours.” He winks as he jogs backward onto the field.