MY HANDS SHOOK A LITTLE as I put lip gloss on my lips. I was thirty minutes early. I sat on my bed and slipped on a pair of brown booties. I had no idea where Adam was taking me tonight. I only knew he was taking me on a date and I was beyond excited. It was my first real date and I was nervous as hell, but if it was anything like our evening on the beach a few nights ago, I was all in.
That night things had changed. Our relationship had grown, despite Adam trying to break things off with me. He’d opened up. He’d confessed his greatest fears and I’d known since that night in his apartment when he’d told me about his mom why Adam hid. He didn’t want to be hurt. He didn’t want to lose anyone again. You couldn’t lose people you loved if you didn’t open your heart enough to love them in the first place.
I stood in front of the mirror in my room and pulled down on the bottom of my denim dress. It was short but that was the point, wasn’t it? I wanted to look sexy for Adam, especially after our night on the dunes. Harry stood in the mirror next to me.
“How do I look, bud?” I raised my eyebrows at him in the mirror.
One of his ears popped up and he whined a bit.
“I’ll take that as I look amazing,” I mumbled more to myself than to the dog.
Since our night in the dunes I found myself worried Adam was going to break things off with me. That day, I’d been so happy to see him unharmed. I’d launched myself into his arms, my relief palpable. And he’d crushed it, crushed me with his words. I knew he was scared. I was scared, too, but I was willing to risk it all. I could only hope Adam was, too.
The dunes. God, I’d never felt like that. Sure, I’d touched myself, but having someone you loved touch you, that was a completely different thing.
I paced around the room nervously. Stopping in my tracks, I realized my thoughts. Oh my God, did I love Adam? Oh my God, I did. I loved him and now all I could think about was him touching me again.
Or me touching him. Yes, that sounded good, too. And I had to admit I looked good tonight. A vast improvement from the hoodies and leggings I’d been sporting when I wasn’t in my school uniform.
I’d spent the last couple of days skipping out on etiquette classes and totally hiding from Mel. I wasn’t ready for the inevitable confrontation I knew I had to have with her. She’d done me dirty. I would’ve never ratted her out like that. Part of me didn’t even understand why she’d done it. All I knew was that I was beyond thankful that Georgina and Sebastian weren’t home now. There would most likely be a throw down if they were, because I was going on a date with Adam Nova come hell or high water.
I wore my hair in a thick braid to the side, fussed with it and checked to make sure my mascara hadn’t run. I wasn’t big on makeup or dressing up usually, but I really wanted to look good for my first date and for Adam.
He was supposed to pick me up any minute and I wondered where we were going and what we would be doing since he’d said he’d wanted to surprise me. I knew nothing except that he would come here to get me. He’d insisted since it was a date.
The doorbell rang and I checked my teeth in the mirror to make sure there wasn’t any pink gloss on them. I grabbed my purse and headed down the stairs on shaky legs, Harry at my heels. I was nervous as heck.
I didn’t know why. I’d been out with Adam lots of times, but this felt different. It felt big.
I teetered on my booties as I answered the door. The humid air hit me as I swung the door wide, but it wasn’t the heat that took my breath away. There he stood. The boy who starred in all my fantasies. Only he looked better than he did in my dreams.
He’d clearly brushed his dark hair off his head and gelled it back off his face so I could really see his stunning blue eyes. They took me in from head to toe while my eyes ate up the length of him, all the way from his black leather jacket to the white T-shirt underneath and down to his dark denim jeans he wore like a second skin. I wondered how he got in them, all the while wondering how I would get in them. My cheeks were pink at the thought as I stared at the same black knockoff Docs he always wore.
“Jesus. You’re trying to kill me.”
It was like he could read my mind.
I looked up and his warm eyes were on my legs. It was like they were touching me. Goose bumps broke out on my thighs. I grinned. “No, I like you too much to kill you.”
“Thank God,” he said, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around my waist. “Because then I couldn’t do this.” He kissed my forehead and then my nose before finally getting to my lips.
I opened for him eager to taste him. It had felt like days when in reality I’d just kissed his face off last night in our spot under the stars.
He backed out of our kiss, smiling, and I felt like it was heaven on earth, seeing Adam smile like that. He hardly smiled at all when we first met. And, man, he smelled delicious.
“You smell good,” I mumbled into the front of his jacket. I breathed in the scent of leather and smoke and some of the most amazing cologne I wanted to bathe in. I pulled at the collar of his jacket. “You dressed up for me.”
He bit his lip and his eyes flirted with me. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me through the door and down the steps to where an old Honda Accord sat parked in the driveway.
“Where did you get a car?”
Adam didn’t drive and neither did his dad. They took the public transportation everywhere or walked.
“It’s on loan from Raven.” He tapped the top of the car and opened the door for me. I slid in, feeling on top of the world. I had a sexy tattooed boy who opened car doors for me and put on cologne. He’d borrowed a car. He’d brushed his hair and gelled it. He liked me. A lot.
My stomach somersaulted as he closed the door to the car and walked around. I fidgeted with the bottom of my dress while he got in the car and cranked it up.
He glanced over at me before he very slowly leaned over until we were face-to-face. I thought he was going to kiss me senseless. Instead he backed away as he pulled the seat belt across my body and snapped it into place.
“Precious cargo,” he muttered.
My heart melted into a big old fat puddle right in that seat.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we pulled out of the drive. I was giddy. So excited.
“I’ve already told you. It’s a surprise.”
I looked around the small car and noticed it was very well taken care of and ridiculously clean.
“Raven must love you to let you borrow her car.”
He shrugged. “We’ve been friends most of my life.”
“And Boone?”
His body locked tight at the mention of him and I felt like a fool for mentioning him tonight. But it had just slipped out. After all, he’d been hanging with him that night in the field. In fact, that was the very first night we’d officially met.
“Boone isn’t a friend. He was more of an acquaintance. And now he’s dead when I finally see him again.”
I turned in my seat and grabbed his hand from his knee and held it in mine. “I don’t want you doing anything to him. You’ll get into trouble. Let the police handle him. I’m sure Sheriff Rothchild is on top of it.”
He scoffed and shot me an angry look before watching the road again. “Is that what you think, Liv? Really?”
I didn’t understand. It was the police’s job to protect us. Why would I think anything other than that? “I don’t understand.”
We pulled into a dark parking lot and Adam removed his seat belt and turned to me. My chin was nestled in the warmth of his palm. He ran his thumb over my lip. “You’re sweet, baby. And innocent. Too innocent.”
I pulled my chin out of his hand. He made it sound like a bad thing. My sweetness. “What does that even mean, Adam?”
“Nothing,” he said gruffly, exiting the car.
He came around my side and opened the door and helped me out.
I leaned against the closed door, wanting answers even at the expense of my first date. “What does it mean? That I’m too innocent.”
He leaned into me, kissing the tip of my nose like he so often did. “Nothing. I’m sorry. You’re perfect just the way you are. I wouldn’t change a hair on your head.”
His eyes were sad, so I didn’t question him further.
“Let’s just have fun tonight, okay?” His words whispered over my lips.
I shivered as I nodded my answer.
He stepped back with a smile, but his eyes held a weariness that worried me. Opening the back door of the car, he waggled his brows and reached in, producing a cute white wicker picnic basket from the back seat.
“We having a picnic?” I asked as he held my hand and walked me toward a brick building with a round dome.
“Mmmhmm. A picnic under the stars.”
He let go of my hand and reached in his pocket for a set of keys and started to open the door to the building.
“How can we have a picnic under the stars if we’re going inside?”
His eyes were lighter now, sweeter. “You’ll see.”
And that’s when I saw it, the sign for The Madison Planetarium.
“Oh my God!” I grabbed Adam’s hand to stop him from opening the door. “We can’t go in here. It’s not open, Adam!”
He finished unlocking the door and held up the key ring, swinging it back and forth. “But I have a key,” he said, grinning playfully.
I was terrified we were going to get in trouble. “How did you get a key?”
He opened the door and ushered me through with a hand to the middle of my back and his other hand carrying the white basket.
“You know, it’s this crazy thing. Sometimes when you work somewhere, they give you a key. Ya know, so you can get in and out.”
I stopped in what looked to be a huge reception area complete with shining marble floors, a customer service desk, and a huge planet that looked to be Saturn on the wall.
I was stunned. “You work here?”
I looked around the room, trying to picture him here, in this cool but totally fancy place, working. I felt like all of a sudden I didn’t know him at all.
“Yeah. Since I was fifteen. Started sweeping the floors and shit. Now I run the school kids show in the mornings before I go to school.”
He ran the school shows? I didn’t even think Adam had a job. I thought he went to school and helped take care of his dad.
“School shows?” I looked at him, standing there all easy breezy, the basket dangling from his hand.
“Yeah, I do the live shows for the field trips in the mornings. I’m what they call a Sky Show Actor.”
He rocked back on his heels and looked around the place like what he was telling me wasn’t rocking my world. Like it wasn’t the craziest, most unexpected, most amazing thing he’d ever told me about himself.
“You work here? And teach little kids about the stars?” I asked, dumbfounded.
He gave me a look that said he thought I was crazy. “Yeah?”
I honestly couldn’t believe it. My tattooed, smoking, ill-tempered, one-word answering boyfriend working at a planetarium. Teaching children about the stars he loved so much.
You could have knocked me over with a feather. And if for one second I thought that I couldn’t adore this boy any more than I already did I was dead wrong. Dead. Wrong.
But still, I wondered if we should be in here at night when the place was closed. I’d never dare jeopardize Adam’s job, even for a really cool date.
I looked around the big room again and walked over to the mural of Saturn on the wall. “Are we even supposed to be in here?”
Adam grabbed my hand. “It’s fine, Liv. I promise.”
He walked me down a hallway that seemed to go on forever before we entered a domed room. I looked around, amazed at how big and dark it was.
He placed our picnic basket on the floor in the middle of the room. It seemed like a million chairs circled us in amphitheater seating. Reaching into the basket, he smiled at me before pulling out a blanket and laying it on the floor.
“Have a seat.” He gestured to the blanket.
“I’ve never been to a planetarium,” I rushed out excitedly.
“Really?” He seemed surprised.
I nodded as I sat on the blanket, making sure my dress covered my behind.
He held up a finger. “I’ll be right back.”
He left me in the dark of the room for a few minutes. I wanted to peek through the basket, but I didn’t.
The dome over my head lit up with a sky full of stars and it nearly took my breath away. I had no idea how real it would look. How up close it would appear. It was almost better than my field beneath the stars.
Adam returned and the show began. The stars moved sometimes seeming to come at us. Other times seeming to move away. One thing remained the same, I was enchanted. Adam pointed to the sky, his deep voice washing over me as he told me stories, legends, and myths about the stars.
I sometimes watched him in a daze. His passion, his love for astronomy was deeper than I had even realized. He was brilliant and astonishing and I didn’t think I’d ever meet another man in my life who came close to Adam Nova. He was amazing and to think he’d been hiding all this time.
Sometime in the middle of his show, he pulled a fast food burger from the wicker basket and handed it to me. He uncapped an old school glass bottle of soda and passed it my way. It reminded me of his notes in the bottle and I smiled like a fool.
I ate my dinner and drank my soda while a million stars danced over my head to the sound of Adam’s voice. It was the most perfect date ever.
And it only got better when Adam ended the show with, “Until the next time I see you beneath the stars.”
I laughed in the middle of a sip of Coke and the bubbles burned my nose. “Oh my God. Do you say that every time?”
He grinned at me. “Every time.”
I pretended a serious look. “And see, I thought that was just for me.”
He closed the gap between us and brought his lips to mine. “It seems like everything I do lately is just for you.”
“Yeah?” I whispered back, beyond flattered.
“Mmm,” he moaned against mouth, tasting me. He pushed the wrappers and empty bottles away as he crawled over me. He never stopped kissing me through it all. They weren’t the same as our kiss in the rain. They were methodical kisses peppered with a sweetness that seemed to be the general antithesis of Adam. But still, they didn’t surprise me. I’d come to learn to never expect anything of Adam because most likely he’d prove you wrong. And sometimes in the best possible ways.
But I wanted the passionate kisses. The wild ones. Like our night in the rain. So I pressed my chest into his and ran my fingers through the back of his hair. That did the trick. He growled and kissed me hard, like I wanted.
And all of a sudden, we were two stars colliding. Electric. On fire. But like everything Adam did, he was slow. His licked the roof of my mouth. Bit my bottom lip. Sucked the sting. All the while his hands traveled the expanse of my thighs and up, until his fingers ghosted around the sides of my panties at my hip. He brushed the hair off my forehead and leaned back so he could look me in the eye.
“Okay?” he asked.
There wasn’t a second that I questioned what he was asking.
I nodded and pulled his lips back to mine, the fever back and blazing through me like a wild fire in my veins. His knuckles brushed over my panties right at the apex of my thighs and I groaned.
“I like that,” he muttered against my mouth. “I love you when you make those sounds.” His words sounded slurred like he’d had too much to drink. But no, he was drunk on me.
My skin prickled, my hands shook. The place between my legs ached. If he was drunk on me, then I was high on him. I wanted. His hands swept my dress up and up some more until I felt cold air around my thighs. While he pushed my panties down, I lifted my hips, feeling the most powerful I’d ever felt in my life.
I felt like I was going to float right off the floor and into the starry sky above us, but the intensity of his stare kept me pinned firmly to the floor. I wanted. I craved.
I needed him to touch me. I wanted to feel him. Sliding my palm down the front of his chest, I kept my eyes glued to his. I’d never done this; touched a boy. But it didn’t matter with Adam. I knew there wasn’t a wrong way to do it. I kept going, past the bumps of his abs, the smoothness below. Slowly, so slow because I just innately knew that’s how this boy would like it. I palmed him there. Right over his hardness. Soft at first. He blew out a hard breath that made me squeeze my thighs together. And then harder, until I was gripping the full length of him. Until he was moaning and I was moving my hand up and down and gripping over the denim of his pants and he was sweating and cussing.
“Fuck,” he growled, his damp forehead to mine. “Jesus, I want you.” The words tore from his throat.
“Well, then take me,” I said, feeling strong, compelling, potent. I wasn’t just high, I was flying. Some girls lost their virginity in the back of a truck out on a dirt road. Some on their small twin bed in their parents’ home. But no, me, I’d lose mine under the stars with my favorite boy in the world on the most romantic date ever. I was ready.
Pinching his eyes closed, he rolled his forehead against mine. “No. Your first time, it should be special, it should—”
“It should be you,” I cut him off. “It should be here with you. Because my first time should be exactly how I want it. And I want you.” I kissed one closed eye. “Here.” And the other. “Now.”
Slowly his eyes slid open. He lifted his head from mine, the small wrinkle in the middle of his forehead deep with concern. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” I ran my hand up and down the length of him again before giving him a long squeeze. “Positively.” I had my hand on him. My dress was up around my waist. What did he think was happening here?
“Jesus,” he grunted. “I knew you were trying to kill me tonight the moment I saw you in this dress.”
“Not a bad way to go, though,” I reasoned.
And he smiled. It made my heart flip. It made my stomach swarm with what felt like an unfathomable amount of butterflies.
He kissed the tip of my nose. I was learning that it was our thing. I liked having an our thing with Adam.
He nestled his body between my legs, with a look of purpose on his face. And he kissed me. Slowly. Sweetly. Thoughtfully. Until he was touching me. Stroking me. Small strokes. Pulling down the top of my dress, he peppered the tops of my breasts with small, delicate kisses that made my skin break out in chills. He whispered to the middle of my chest that I was beautiful.
He ran his hands across my chest and under my bra straps, pushing them aside even as he pushed my dress higher, exposing me.
He pulled a nipple into his mouth and I shuddered beneath him as his hand climbed my thigh all the way to my core.
“Oh, God,” I breathed as he sucked at me and stroked me, my heart feeling light.
He kissed his way to my other breast and flicked the tip of my nipple with his tongue. It sent a beat of electricity right to my center.
“Please,” I begged, feeling like it wasn’t enough. Feeling like I wanted it all. Him and me together when I came this time.
“Shhh,” he soothed between nips and bites that were driving me painfully wild. “I have to get you ready. I don’t want to hurt you. Ever.”
One finger entered me and then another while he kissed every available surface of skin he could reach with his mouth. And by the time he leaned back and slid his wallet from his back pocket, I was a sweaty, panting, needy pile of want.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, wanting him back between my legs, this time filling me up.
He slipped a foil packet from his wallet and opened it with his teeth. “Keeping you safe,” he said, sliding his hand between us.
And then his hand went back to my heat. Two fingers slid inside of me while his thumb worked my clitoris. It was too good. It felt like the best mix of pain and pleasure. He bit the skin beneath my ear and whispered there, “Come for me, Liv.”
And it wasn’t long before I did. Before my eyes flew open. The stars may have been swirling above me, but I was falling. So hard. So fast. And before I came down, he was there, right at my entrance, pushing in, his thumb to my nub still, his lips to mine.
One hard thrust and he was in, while I was still descending, the slight sting only heightening the drop.
He was full hilt, his breathing labored, and completely still when he kissed me hard. Kissed me like I was the only girl he’d ever kissed in his life. He kissed me like I was his first and his last. He kissed me like I was the only thing keeping him alive. He kissed me like he owned me. He kissed me like I owned him.
And when he wrenched his mouth away and laid his cheek to mine, I expected him to pin me to the floor and have his filthy dirty way with me. I’d seen videos. I’d heard rumors. I knew how boys fucked.
But I should have known better. Because this was Adam.
“Okay?” he whispered.
A tear slid down my cheek before I even felt it hit my eye. “I’m better than okay,”
I breathed, afraid this sweet boy was about to have me a sobbing mess on one of the most important nights of my life. “I’m the best.”
His cheek slid across mine until our eyes connected. His hand came to my cheek and he wiped my stray tear with his thumb before he began to move above me. In me. He set a slow pace and I watched as he went from my sweet, thoughtful Adam until he lost himself. Until he pushed into me one last time with a grunt that stole my breath all over again.
Most girls’ first time would be a fumbling mess of hands and teeth and pain. But not mine. No, mine would be a night I’d think back on the rest of my life as one of the most romantic experiences ever. My boy with the tattoos had given me the stars. It made me want to give him the universe.