Page 40 of Full Circle

The ride to the top was otherwise silent and quick. I never would have known it was an elevator otherwise. I assumed all of them were as clunky and loud as the ones back in River’s Run, but this was efficient and quiet. When it stopped, we stepped out into a similar gray vestibule as below, only larger with a small seating area and a few flower arrangements on glass tables. Another scanner was on the wall next to a sleek wood panel door that opened after Wesley placed his hand on the screen.

Stepping into his home caught me off guard, though I had no idea what to expect. None of it looked real. We walked into a three story living room of glass and white. Windows on both sides were so crystal clear that I was momentarily afraid someone could fall out to their death. A white marbled fireplace roared to life as Wesley stepped further inside, which would have been cozy had it been surrounded by furniture that looked lived in. The circular couch was white leather with a glass coffee table in the middle. Far beyond, I could see an enormous kitchen that opened into the joint dining/living area. The cabinets were all sleek white, shiny enough to reflect the lights hanging from the ceiling, and I knew my mama would have put the stainless steel appliances to good use. The white marble island was large enough to seat ten people, as evidenced by the white leather barstools perfectly posed around it.

As I took it all in, I realized there were no photographs or paintings. No shirts or shoes anywhere, no blankets to curl up with, or any real signs of life. While the entire ambiance was imposing, it grew less impressive as I looked around. It almost felt sterile, like a scene from a catalog meant to feature the items displayed. There were no movie nights or family board games going on in a room like this.

Wesley looked nervous, worrying his bottom lip in a way I rarely saw. He turned around with his arms spread out, halfheartedly explaining, “So this is it.”

Nana had the good grace to pat him gently on the shoulder. “It’s very nice, young man, but I’m gonna fall asleep standing up soon, so why don’t you show me where I can hunker down for a bit.”

Wesley smiled warmly. “Of course, Nana. This way.”

He led us down a hallway behind the kitchen that followed a line of clear windows. I realized as we walked that there was actually a glass encased terrace outside, with small glass tables and chairs place periodically along as if at any given moment someone would want to step out to admire the view. As he walked, Wesley gestured to closed doors to say things like, “Here’s the gym,” or “This is the game room.”

At the end of the hall, it opened into what Wesley called the den. This area looked far more lived-in, with a plush couch, a large screen television mounted on the wall, and several candles that already had burned wicks. A small side table had a display of trophies while a few plaques hung on the wall above it. There were four closed doors along one wall, and a black spiral staircase to my left led up to another level of the penthouse.

“It’s only my dad’s stuff up there, so I wouldn’t bother with it,” Wes offered when he caught me peering up the stairs. “This is primarily the area I stay in whenever I’m here. Nana, you can rest in here.”

Wesley opened the door on the far left and my jaw dropped. It was a bedroom bigger than the entire downstairs of my house. The four poster bed actually had silk curtains hanging that perfectly matched the silk bedspread. It faced out towards another wall of windows that had a matching private terrace. On the opposite end of the room, I could just make out a large bathtub beyond the open doorway.

“There should already be fresh towels and things in there,” Wes said, gesturing towards the bathroom. “And feel free to hang anything up in the closet or put things in the drawers. If you’d like to watch tv, you can press this button and the tv will come up.” He picked up a tablet from the nightstand and showed Nana the icon to press. What I had assumed was a hope chest at the foot of the bed opened up and a flat screen tv rose out of its depths.

Nana whistled. “That’s all too fancy for the likes of me, Wesley. Is there a way to put up some drapes or something? It’s almost blinding in here.”

He grinned at her and pressed another button on the tablet. The windows immediately darkened to almost black, blocking out any view or light from outside. A small row of low lights came to life around the bases of all the furniture, including the bed, making it just enough that you could see where everything was located in the dark. Wes hit a button and the windows returned to normal, flooding the room with sunshine.

“If you hit the button twice, the furniture lights will go out, too.” He enveloped her in a hug before retreating towards the door.

I followed, unsure of what to do. Wes said this was Nana’s room, implying I would have a room of my own.

Nana noticed my hesitation and put her hands on her hips. “I’m telling y’all right now, there ain’t gonna be any funny business, you hear? I’m dead tired and don’t want to stay up to keep my eyes on you. Be respectful and don’t get into any trouble!” She pointed a finger at me in warning. “I mean it, Celeste. Be a good girl.”

I nodded and smiled softly at her. “Of course, Nana. We’re all just gonna get some sleep.”

“In separate rooms,” Wesley added from the doorway.

Nana snorted like she didn’t believe us, but turned towards the bathroom anyway. I joined Wesley at the door and my heart did the fluttering thing again when he returned his hand to mine. It was like they were meant to be joined. Lacing my fingers through his felt was a natural extension of myself.

“Now be a good girl,” he whispered mischievously. My stomach did a somersault at his words.

Wes pulled me to the door on the opposite end of the wall, furthest from Nana’s. “This is my room,” he said quietly. He paused just at the threshold, his shaggy blonde hair enveloping him like a halo as he leaned down to kiss me. His lips were firm, but soft, cutting off the kiss before it could deepen into anything more.

I, on the other hand, was barely keeping a grip on my composure or my sanity. My pulse was racing to the point where I wanted to clock it against a metronome. Nana was only a few doors away, so why did it feel like once I crossed through his door, I would be stepping over the line into something far more serious? Wesley’s bedroom here was almost sacred, the place where he spent the majority of his time, if his recollections were accurate, and it was the most intimate place I would ever be with him. The walls here were way too thick and if Nana was the only adult in the place, we were basically about to be on our own. Nana slept like the dead on a bad night, and given the emotional chaos of the past couple days, I had no doubt that it would require a nuclear missile to wake her up now.

He opened the door, then stood back to allow me entry first. A light switch flicked behind me and I gasped in shock. The entire right side of the room was floor to ceiling windows, but this room was two stories tall. An oversized red sectional dominated the front half of the room, with a projection screen on the wall in front. Glass stairs led up to a loft area in the far corner and an office set up occupied the space beneath. It was all an open concept, but the office and loft both felt like separate rooms within the room. Tall bookcases lined the wall across from me until it reached a door that opened into a bathroom or closet, I couldn’t tell which. The wood floors were so shiny, I could see my own reflection, and when I stepped farther into the room and looked out through the windows, I realized the terrace here was big enough to boast an outdoor kitchen and a rooftop pool. Cabana chairs lined the perimeter that wasn’t encased in glass like the others, but had a wall of ivy for privacy.

It took me several moments to catch my breath. “What’s up there?” I whispered, pointing to the lofted room at the top of the glass stairs. There was no good reason to be whispering, yet I was too awestruck to speak at a normal register.

Wesley came to stand in front of me, all once awkward and unsure. His voice sounded too throaty and deep as he gulped and replied, “My bed.”

My feet moved on their own accord. I could hear the soft pitfalls as he trailed behind me, but I climbed the glass stairs and my heart caught in my throat. The pseudo room was also surrounded on three sides by glass, but it was a white glass you couldn’t see through. A bed larger than any I had ever seen was centered in the space, leaving enough room only to walk around the bed with a nightstand on either side. But that wasn’t the part that had me stunned. Dozens of our photographs, just Wesley and me, hung from wire and twinkling lights along the ceiling. It looked so much like my tower—even like Wes’ bedroom at Aunt Shirley’s—that I wanted to cry.

“I just wanted it to feel like home,” said Wesley from behind me. I turned to find him standing a respectful distance behind me at the top of the stairs, both hands in his pockets. “And well, anywhere you are feels like that. When I first came home for the summer, I asked Mrs. Aguilar to put this together for me.”

That was all it took for my brain to turn to mush and my hormones to throw caution to the winds. I threw my arms around his neck to pull him in for a savage kiss. My fingers threaded themselves through his hair, locking him to me. His resistance dissolved with a groan and he opened his mouth to allow my tongue access. We were in a frenzy of emotions and desire, and when Wesley’s hands slid down to grip my backside, I didn’t hesitate. My hips pushed into his, craving some kind of friction, and it took an extra few seconds to register the hard length I felt in his jeans.

Before I knew it, my knees were hitting the edge of Wesley’s bed and we both fell onto the sheets in a tangled mess. Our lips never broke apart, only sought comfort from the other. Kissing Wesley Madden was like getting to have dessert for dinner. You had to go back for seconds.

One of his warm hands worked its way under my shirt and splayed his fingers across my abdomen. He pulled away just enough to look me in the eye as he asked, “Can I touch you?”

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