Eighteen: 18

“Yes!” they all scream.

“OK,” he says, clicking the remote in his hand. “But we have to solve problems to do it. So who knows the answer to this problem?”

It’s an easy multiplication problem, so they all shout it out. And up above us, a line appears. It connects one star to the next. He calls out another problem, and another, and each time the lines connect the stars like a dot-to-dot puzzle.

“He’s spelling something,” rowdy Kani whispers from the other side of pigtail girl.

“It’s a name,” my new friend whispers back.

It is a name. My name.

“Are there any Shannons in here?” Mateo asks once it’s all spelled out.

Everyone looks around, searching for Shannon.

“Come on, someone here is named Shannon.” He looks right at me. I shake my head, so embarrassed. “You?” he calls out to me. “Your name is Shannon?” He holds out his hand. “Come here, Shannon.” And he says it in that growly voice he usually reserves for our kitchen antics.

The girls next to me squeal and the pigtailed one starts pushing me to join him up front.

“Oh, my God.” But I get up and walk over to him, taking his hand.

“This is my girlfriend,” he says, looking at me with the biggest grin. “And I tricked her into coming to see this show today so I could ask her something.”

Everyone gasps.

“You are not doing this,” I whisper, my back to the crowd.

“I am,” he whispers back, then raises his voice. “She’s the smartest girl in here, but she doesn’t think she is.”

Kids start calling out sweet things about my brain and I almost double over in laughter.

“I’ve been tricking her for months now. Making her solve problems so that when I asked her this question, I could trace her solutions in the stars and get the answer I wanted.”

Snickers.

“So, Shannon Drake, here’s my question.” I roll my eyes. I know he’s not going to ask me to marry him, that is ridiculous. I’m eighteen years old. “What do you think about me so far?” He winks. “Should we see what Shannon’s answer is in the stars?”

“Yes!” they all call out.

He hands me the little clicker he’s using to start each animation. “Be my guest,” he says. “I can’t wait to see what you have to say.”

Jesus Christ. I have never smiled so much in my life.

I click through the animations, one at a time. Slowly at first, but the kids urge me to go faster to see what it says.

They call it after a few letters.

“I love you,” I say, when the presentation is complete.

“I never doubted you, babe.” He’s grinning so wide, so proud of himself. And the kids are going crazy with excitement. “Thank you for coming, everyone, and there’s lots of puzzles for you to solve in your programs today, so make sure you go home and figure them all out. Now let me ask you one more question.”

He waits as they settle.

“Do I make science and math fun or what?”

A chorus of screaming yeses.

Wildly successful presentation over.

It’s only then that I notice a large group of people dressed in suits in the back of the room. They are smiling and clapping for Mateo as he takes my hand and raises it up with his in triumph.

They are the representatives, I realize. From other planetariums around the world. People he’s counting on to buy his new educational software. His very expensive educational product that came from the fruit of all his years of hard work and research.

And they are sold.

I fuck the shit out of Mateo Alesci that night on the beach outside our room. I fuck the shit out of him every night we spend there. And every morning. And during our afternoon naps. I cannot get enough of him.

I do love him. And I never want this to end.

Chapter Thirty

“Stop it,” I say, pushing Mateo off me. “I’m working, dammit.”

He bites my shoulder and I can’t help but smile. “School’s out.”

“Not until next week. I need to finish this assignment.”

“The only assignments that matter are mine,” he growls, taking his nibbles to my earlobe.

I shake my head and try not to giggle. “Not true. Your mother is expecting mad skills for her website and I’m not even done with my own site yet.”

“Play with me, Shannon,” he whines. “Please. I’ll let you suck my cock.”

I look at him from the corner of my eye. “Behave now and I’ll let you spank me later.”

His gaze goes all drifty as he pictures it. He likes to play Bad Little Schoolgirl with me. He has a paddle with my name on it and everything.

I can only roll my eyes. But I’m more than willing to put on knee socks and a tartan skirt and let him bend my bare ass over his lap.

He hits hard too. He leaves red palm prints on my cheeks and then he takes a picture of them so I can see when we’re done. But just picturing myself spread open for his inspection, my long hair dangling down his legs, my hands grabbing on to his suit pants…

Jesus. I close my laptop and say, “What do you have in mind?”

“Hmmmm,” he moans, letting his hands explore my body. They leave my shoulders and grab my breasts. I’m already naked because it’s a kitchen work day. “I want the whole neighborhood to hear us,” he whispers. “Everyone. I want to fuck you in the front yard.”

“Oh, no,” I say. I don’t tell him no often, but no. “I’m not having sex in your front yard.” I might be sitting naked in his kitchen, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Plus, the blinds are closed and it’s late. So no one is looking in here.

“No?” he says, taking my hand and pulling me up from my seat.

“No,” I say, but I’m already smiling because he’s sucking on my nipple and there’s no chance he’s not getting his way. I might say no, but it never works. Mateo always gets his way.

“I want everyone to know, Shannon,” he says, taking his kisses up to my shoulder again. “I’m tired of hiding you in here.”

“We’re not hiding.” Not really. We stopped hiding after Hawaii. But there’s nothing to hide anyway. I finished my last trig test two weeks ago and Mateo turned in my grade. Even Mr. Bowman couldn’t stop us now.

“I want to flaunt you. Make you come so hard, everyone within two blocks hears you scream my name. But I want to do it my way.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a yellow silk scarf.

“Really?” I ask. “I mean, I get the whole blindfold thing, but yellow? It’s probably see-through.”

“Let me put it on you and find out.”

I throw up my hands, unimpressed. Mateo’s ten years on me have not gone unnoticed. He’s got a lot more experience than I do in the sexual imagination department. “Give it your best shot, cowboy.”

He chuckles as he places the soft silk over my eyes and ties it tight at the back of my head. “Now follow me.”

“Wait, we’re not going outside.”

“Define outside.”

“Mateo—”

“Shannon—”

“I don’t want to fuck in the front yard.”