When we were done, Caleb started all over again. This time harder, rougher, holding nothing back of his fierce desires.
Afterward, I lay in his arms, staring at the sunbeams.
"Caleb?" I asked softly just in case he was asleep.
His eyes opened. "Yeah?"
"I want you to pick where we go to college."
He stroked my cheek with a thumb. "It doesn"t matter to me. I just don"t want us to be apart again."
"I don"t care where we go and I don"t want us to be apart either."
His laughter made his chest shake under my head. "Then it"s decided. We won"t be apart and we"ll go wherever we both get into."
"If you don"t go to an art school, I at least want you to get into a really good art program at a university."
"You really don"t know what you want to do for a career?"
I had no clue. "No. I may not know for another few years. So, we"ll concentrate on you first."
"What if I don"t want to be an artist?" he asked.
"Then we"ll figure out what we want to do together."
"Should we stay in Colorado?"
"If you want," I said, hugging my arm tighter around his torso.
"Chance would miss you if we left," he pointed out.
"You"re right, and I don"t want to miss him growing up. Can we stay in Colorado?"
"Whatever you want. Boulder would only be a fifteen minute drive to your mom"s house."
"Maybe she"d let us live with her while we"re in school?" I teased him.
"No way," he said, pulling me up higher on his chest. "I want my girl to myself. When we move in together, I"ll be able to f.u.c.k you whenever I want."
Giggling, I slapped his chest lightly. "You"re so romantic."
"I try," he joked, slapping my bottom through the sheet. "Now get dressed, I need to feed my girl."
"Can we go to the diner?" I asked, hungry for a big hamburger and fries.
"That"s what I had in mind," he replied, stepping into his underwear. I was a lucky girl. My guy was hot, his abs toned along with the rest of him. "Quit perving on me, Gianna."
I pulled my dress back on. "Oh, I"m the pervert now?"
"When you look at me like I"m a piece of meat, yes."
"I am hungry for a piece of meat, but I want a milkshake with it."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.
"Forever is composed of nows."
-Emily d.i.c.kinson CALEB.
"I don"t see why we have to buy all this c.r.a.p for Ian," I complained as I pushed the red shopping cart through Target.
"You said why yourself, Caleb. He"s lonely and his dad doesn"t ever visit him. We"re not family, so we can"t get in to see him. This will let him know we care."
I pulled the Thinking About You greeting card out of the basket. "I"m not signing this."
"That"s okay," Gianna said smugly. "I"ll sign it for you, even include a note."
I threw the card back into the cart. "No, you won"t."
Gianna gave me a pouty face. "He probably misses you."
"What he misses is t.i.ts and a.s.s, told me so himself."
"Caleb!" Gianna said, glancing around to see if anyone heard me. "Could you not talk like that when we"re in public?"
"Nope," I answered, ignoring her scandalized expression. "Love me, love my dirty mouth. And, baby, I know you love my mouth."
"I can"t believe you," she muttered, blushing.
As she marched ahead of me, I stared unashamedly at her heart-shaped a.s.s. When we got back to her house I was taking her from behind. She turned down an aisle, causing me to swerve right to follow. "What"s Ian"s favorite candy?"
"How the h.e.l.l should I know?"
"You"re no help," she huffed. "I"ll just get him a little bit of everything."
"Starburst," I told her.
She grinned, bending over to grab a bag.
"I only know because he b.i.t.c.hed every other day about wanting some."
A cruel idea entered my mind. I"d slip inside the care package a picture of me holding a handful of Gianna to rub it in his face that he wasn"t getting any while the hottest chick ever belonged to me.
"Come here, baby," I told her. She dropped more candy into the cart.
"Why?" she asked, reaching down for Snickers.
"I want to take a picture of us for Ian."
She moved into my arms while I held my phone outstretched in front of us. "That"s so sweet, Caleb." She couldn"t see the smug look on my face as I snapped the picture. I"d print this out later after dragging myself off of Gianna.
Jim had asked my mom and me to meet him to pick up the check for my portion of the sales. The three remaining paintings which hadn"t sold yet would be displayed for a while longer at the gallery.
My mom was already in discussions with a larger gallery in New York to get me another exhibit. There were far more artists in the world than there were galleries or collectors, so she wanted us to move fast now that a ripple of momentum had begun.
Painting had become almost as addicting as Gianna, but I aspired to what very few artists achieved, true success. If this career didn"t work out, I"d alter my plans for the future. Any show in New York would be scheduled months in advance, possibly next year.
As we entered the gallery, Norah sat at the front desk. "Jim is waiting in his office for you. He said to just go on back." My mom and I ignored her, both still p.i.s.sed about her stunt with Gianna during the show.
Jim sat behind his desk, swiping at the tablet in front of him. His head came up as when we stepped inside his office. "Caleb, Eliza," he greeted. "Normally the artist has to wait weeks or months for their cut, but I"m hoping to entice you into allowing me to exhibit you again next year."
"We would love that," my mom lied smoothly. She wanted international acclaim for her son"s talent and we"d have to look outside of Denver for it.
The amount on the check wasn"t enough to retire on, but it was a promising start. If things went well, art dealers would be able to demand higher prices for my work.
Since I only needed one cla.s.s to graduate high school, my mom was looking into me taking college art courses though Metro State during my senior year. It"d mean I"d only be at the high school with Gianna half of each school day, but I"d also get a jump start on my degree.
We got to our feet, Jim reaching out to shake our hands. "One more thing."
He pressed a b.u.t.ton on his desk phone and Norah"s voice came over the speaker. "Yes, Jim?"
"Could you come back here, Norah?"
"Be right there."
She showed up seconds later. "What did you need?" Her tone polite and face blank, she focused only on Jim.
"I lost two sales because of your lack of professionalism at the show. You"re fired, Norah."
Her face fell as her posture slumped. "But, Jim!" she protested.
He handed a check over to her, also. "That should cover your wages through today." I hadn"t realized it was a paid internship. It would suck for her to lose it, but she deserved to be fired after the s.h.i.t she"d pulled.
Walking to the car, I caught the satisfied smile on my mom"s face. "You tattled on her?"
My mom"s grin disappeared. "Do you care?"
"Nope," I answered, shutting her car door for her.
Her body swayed against mine to the pulsating beat of the music. She wore that red dress again at my request and had already reapplied her lipstick twice. Gianna"s pa.s.sion for dance mirrored my own for art. Music was her medium as mine was paint.
Blue eyes shining, hair mussed, her entire body rocked to the music. The seductive curves rolled under my hands. Multicolored strobe lights flashed overhead as the crowd around us lost themselves in the song about s.e.x, some people mimicking the act on the dance floor My hands ran up Gianna"s front as she ground back against my crotch. She whirled, her legs entwined with mine as she arched her back. The song changed to something with a faster beat and her body moved a few inches away from mine. Not having that, I hooked her waist and hauled her against me.
Her body felt warm in my arms. "Time for water," I yelled in her ear.
She nodded, fanning herself in silent communication. Guiding her off the dance floor, I kept her close so other guys couldn"t brush against her. The club was one we"d gone to when we"d first got together. Her dad had dropped her off at ballet cla.s.s this morning and I"d picked her up afterward. She hadn"t been out of my sight for more than ten minutes since.
Cece had called her this afternoon declaring her need to get out of the house for a night of fun. The last we"d seen of her, she"d been dancing up on one of the guys from the crew. Loyalty had me wanting to text Dante to tell him where she was. Gianna"s threats had held me back and I figured Cece deserved a drama free night.
Nudging my way between two people waiting for drinks, I signaled a bartender and asked for two bottled waters. I uncapped one and handed it to Gianna before drinking my own.
Flynn, the guy from the crew Cece was hanging out with tonight was someone I"d met a few times but didn"t know well. Gianna swore he and Cece were only friends, but I wouldn"t want Gianna dancing with any guy friend like that. Come to think of it, I didn"t want her dancing with any other guy at all.
Gianna hadn"t received any new letters or email from her stalker for the last week. Hopefully, it was some jealous, vindictive girl who posed no real threat. Prepared for the worst case scenario, she hadn"t been left home alone or allowed to go anywhere by herself.
Which had begun to annoy her.
Over Gianna"s shoulder I spotted a familiar face and shouted, "Hey, I want my money back!"
My girlfriend whirled to see who I"d spoken to. I brought an arm around Gianna"s front and pulled her back against me.
Hailey wore a smirk but her eyes were venomous. She jerked her chin to indicate the girl in my arms. "Looks like you got your way as usual, Caleb. And it"s not like you didn"t get your money"s worth." She licked her bottom lip in implication.
Gianna went stiff in my embrace. I put my lips at her ear. "Shh, princess, I didn"t let her near my d.i.c.k."
A guy who appeared at least a decade older than us came up from behind Hailey. "Hey, babe, these friends of yours?" His eyes wandered down Gianna"s body.
Hailey made a disgusted face. "f.u.c.k no, these aren"t friends of mine." She spun on her feet, grabbing him by the hand to drag him away. The pedophile gave Gianna one last leer before allowing himself to be led away.
Peeking around at her face, I took in Gianna"s grin. "What are you smiling about?"
She bit her bottom lip in an effort to hold it back. "You and Hailey aren"t friends anymore. That makes me incredibly happy."
"We haven"t been for a long time. Now, where did your little friend get off to?"
The place was packed. It"d take forever to find Cece. "I"ll have to text her," Gianna said, holding her hand out for her phone.
I pulled it out of the pocket of my black dress pants. "Tell her time is up if she wants a ride home."
Gianna"s screen glowed as she turned it back on. "It"s only midnight. You have somewhere else to be?"
"Yep, alone with my girl."
She attempted a stern look. "No more sneaking into my room, Caleb. I want my dad to keep liking you." Her fingers moved over the screen as she spoke.
I wanted those fingers on my body. "I can"t make any promises. We still have a year more of this c.r.a.p. I gotta get my fix somehow."