Page 18 of Confessions

“I don’t—”

“Oh, hell, sure you do! You’ve got to know it! I’m crazy when I’m around you.” With his free hand he reached up and tilted her chin so that she was forced to look into his eyes, then slowly, deliberately, he circled her nipple with his other hand, gently rolling the taut bud in his fingers.

Nadine could barely breathe. Her diaphragm pressed hard against her lungs. His hips were snug against hers and his hardness was forced deep against her midriff. “You’re all I’ve thought about for days,” he admitted. “I want you, Nadine,” he said simply. “And I can’t have you.”

She wanted to ask why, but knew the answer deep in her heart. He was the rich kid, the boy who was used to taking anything he wanted, and she was a poor girl whose father worked for his, a nobody, and therefore off-limits.

“Nadine?”

“Oh, God, that’s Ben,” Nadine said with a gasp as she pushed herself away from him.

“What is it with your brother? Doesn’t he trust you?”

She glanced back at Hayden and flipped her hair away from her shoulders. “I think it’s you he doesn’t trust.”

Hayden’s eyes narrowed. “He’s smarter than I gave him credit for.”

She looked back to the dance, the torchlights being lit, the streamers and balloons and Sam, standing a little less steadily, laughing with a group of his friends. Ben was walking crisply along the path leading toward them and if it weren’t for the fact that Patty Osgood called out to him, he would have surely discovered his sister with Hayden.

“I want to come with you,” Nadine said impulsively, and for a second, the ghost of a smile played upon his lips. He reached for her hand, then dropped it quickly.

“Forget it.”

“But you invited me—”

Hayden stared at her so hard, she didn’t dare say a word. “I want nothing more in the world than for you to climb into that car and go home with me,” he said, shoving a handful of dark hair from his eyes. “But it would only get you into trouble again.”

“I don’t care.”

“Your brother—”

“It’s none of his business what I do!” she said indignantly.

“But your parents?”

“They’ll never know if we come back quickly.”

He hesitated, then let out his breath in a whistle. “You’re not making this any easier, you know. Besides, what about your...‘friend’?”

“I don’t owe him anything.”

“You came with him.”

“I came with my folks.”

“You know what I mean.”

She did, of course. But she’d risk hurting Sam’s feelings to be with Hayden. “It’s okay.”

He shook his head, though reluctance shone in his eyes.

“Hayden,” she said, her voice throaty, “I want to be with you. Maybe it’s a mistake, but if you want to be with me, then—” Impulsively she wound her arms around his neck and he groaned.

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Tell me.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, as if closing out her image would push her from his mind, as well. “Nadine, don’t—” He started to untangle her arms. Startled, she looked into his eyes and he moaned loudly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”