“Will!” I cried, again and again. Loud, then softer, until finally, with one last flick of his tongue, it was only a whimper: “Will.”
He sat up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand with mischievous glee.
“You make me a fucking animal,” Will said as he crawled over me, fitting himself between my legs. “I don’t act like this with anyone else.”
“That’s because you’re never around anyone else,” I said in a half daze after he engulfed me with another ferocious kiss.
He pushed up and scowled, but the dimple that emerged in his right cheek told me he wasn’t totally angry.
“Do you know what I thought when I first saw you, up on that stage?” he asked as he nosed around my neck, nipping my ear, my jaw—anything he could that drew breathy sighs from my chest.
“N-no,” I whispered. “What?”
“Mine.” His teeth bit down on my earlobe, with a delicious pinch of pain that made me squirm against him. His erection, heavy on my hip, quivered. “And again when I saw you in the woods. Scared the shit out of me, but that’s what you are, you know. Fucking mine.”
“Ahh!” I cried as his teeth closed over my neck. “You are an animal!”
“Only for you, baby,” he growled as he nudged my thighs apart with his knee. “Only for you.”
I tensed slightly as the tip of him found my entrance. I was used to it by now, but that first movement was always a shock. The sheer size of him always took a moment to get used to. But as he sucked on my lower lip, my thighs automatically relaxed, stretching to accommodate him slowly, steadily, as he pushed inside.
“Fucking hell, Lily,” he breathed. His eyes closed in concentration, and then mine did too as we lay there together, getting used to the feel of our bodies joining.
“God, you look so beautiful,” he whispered as he pushed in further. His eyes didn’t leave mine as he threaded his fingers into my hair, palming my scalp for leverage.
“Oh Goooooddddddd,” I moaned loudly, certain the neighbors could hear me from across the lake as he filled me completely. My back arched, and Will sat up on his knees, his hands slipping under my spine to support the movement. He bent down again and took one nipple into his mouth, sucking hard as he began to move.
“Fuck!” I shouted as he rammed in, again and again. He was so big; I was so full. I wouldn’t be able to take much more like this, and by the way he slowed a bit, he wasn’t going to be able to last long either.
“Maggie,” he heaved as he pulled my hips up further. His thumb found that spot that he’d been worshipping with his mouth only moments before, and moved over the slick bundle of nerves with the sure practice of someone who was already learning my body better than I knew it.
“Ah!” My head fell back into the pillow, but Will’s other hand, still splayed under my shoulder blades, lifted me easily so I sat atop his thighs
“That’s it,” he said, closing his eyes, almost as if in pain. “Feel it. Take me all. The way. In.”
I couldn’t speak anymore, could only moan and whimper against his lips while he ground into me from below, all the while pressing and flicking and squeezing as I came closer and closer to falling apart.
“Fuck,” he hissed as I squeezed around him involuntarily. “Jesus, baby. I’m—fuck, Lil, I’m not going to be able to last much longer.”
My head fell back as I ground down, taking him deeper than I ever had before. “Will!” I cried out. “Oh, God, I’m so close.”
His teeth found the sensitive spot just under my ear and bit, like the animal he said he was. The hand around my back slipped down to grab my ass hard enough to leave bruises.
“Come with me, baby,” he ordered as his hips moved mercilessly. “Let go, Lil. Now.”
The finger on my clit pressed down and rubbed furiously at the same time that Will rammed upward. He repeated the action, once, twice, and then on the third, I shattered.
“OhGodohGodohGodohGodohGodohGodI’mcomingWillpleasebabypleaseIcan’tOooooooohhhhhhhhhh!”
The words flowed, a jumbled, alien song of deliverance and pleasure that had never sounded so beautiful or so harsh. Will groaned into my shoulder, biting hard enough that I was sure there would be marks as he pumped out his orgasm while he kept me in a vise-lock against his chest. He was big enough that I could feel him pulsing within me, a rhythm that matched my own heartbeat vibrating through my body.
And then finally, together, we came down from our beautiful incomprehension. Our breaths mingled as we both sought the kiss that would temper the ferocity of the moment before—a kiss that spoke not just of passion and desire, but also of the other, more potent emotion that neither of us had the guts to say. Not this soon. Not quite yet.
But it echoed through the back of my mind just the same while Will savored my mouth, my cheeks, my entire face. The word echoed, like it was a part of the primal rhythm we had just established, one that would never completely fade away.
The word was there, though I wasn’t quite ready to hear it.
Wasn’t I?
I closed my eyes and thought it to myself.
Love.
27
When I woke up, the light of the newly risen sun was glowing through a thick layer of fog still hovering over the lake’s surface. Everything was socked in. I frowned. Although that meant it wouldn’t be terribly hot for the race this morning, I wasn’t too excited about swimming through fog so thick I couldn’t see the person next to me.
The sheets stirred beside me, and I rolled over with a smile. Will had actually slept in (if you could say that five thirty was sleeping in), stretched out, long and tan beside me. Instead of curling against his lean muscle the way I had been getting dangerously used to for the past few weeks, I took a moment just to observe him.
He really was beautiful. His hair, long pulled from its typical knot at the top of his head, spilled over the pillowcase, an unruly mass of about five different shades of gold. Only a little bit of his scruff had regrown overnight, so I could still enjoy the clean lines of his jaw and cheekbones, razor-edged even in his sleep. His full lips pouted slightly while he slept, almost like he was still begging for the kisses he had taken again and again before we had both fallen into a dazed slumber.
But there wouldn’t be any more of those today. I had a race. More than a race. A reclamation. It had been a simple goal, but one to work for until I could wrap my head around the larger questions, the ones that really mattered. And then there were a few more questions that needed to be answered: namely, what did the future hold for my mother and me?
Not wanting to wake him, I slid cautiously out of the bed and started putting on the gear I had set out the night before: the old triathlon suit I’d dragged out of storage and a pair of flip-flops. I’d packed everything else into the race day bag a week before.
“You’re awake.”
I zipped up the front of my suit and turned around. “Yeah. Call for the race is at six thirty. I doubt there will be big lines, but I want to get there first to get my stuff set up.”
Will toppled out of bed, doing little to cover his naked body. He caught me ogling him and grinned. “You know, you don’t have to do this race.”
“Are you already trying to talk me into underperforming in my life to please you?” I joked after accepting his warm kiss.
Will frowned. “Of course not.” He glanced behind me at the bag. “You look ready to go.”
“I was just going to grab some breakfast at the house before I head back to the inn. You can stay here and sleep if you want.”
Will just tugged on his jeans—without anything under them, as it was—and rolled his eyes when he caught me ogling. “Give me a second, Lil. I’ll be right behind you.”
We walked up to the main house and into the kitchen, where I went about making some coffee for Will (and Mama when she was up for the day) and grabbing a small breakfast for myself.
“That’s all you’re going to have?” Will asked, looking skeptically
at the small bowl of oatmeal I set out.
I shrugged as I tucked in to my food. “I don’t need much. Otherwise I’ll feel sick later.”
Will examined the oatmeal. “I’ll make sure I have a couple of extra protein bars for you when we meet up for the run.”
I swallowed my bite. “You don’t really have to do the run with me, you know. That’s where it will be really crowded, especially at the end when we get to the finish line. A lot of people will probably have friends and family race the last bit with them, not to mention the well-wishers. If you want to stay at your house, I can meet you there later.”
“I’m coming, Maggie,” Will said before taking a measured sip of his coffee. “Important to you?” He pointed at me. “Important to me.” He pointed back to himself. “Enough said.”
I opened my mouth to respond. I wasn’t used to this—a man actually caring enough about me to put aside his own comforts. Show up. Be there. But before I could express my gratitude, a chime interrupted me—a text message from my phone.
Will flinched at the sound, like he’d never heard a basic text chime before. When I made no move to answer it, he just closed his eyes and exhaled.
“You’d better get that,” he said as he pushed off his seat. “I need to use the bathroom anyway.”
I nodded absently as he left. I unlocked my phone, opening up the message.
Good luck on the race today, Flower. I’ll be rooting for you. And then we’re going home.
I stared at the text for a very, very long time. The number was unknown, but only one person in the world had ever called me “Flower.” And he had just been released from a minimum-security state penitentiary. With a potentially large grudge.
I shuddered and closed my eyes. Relax, Maggie. It’s going to be fine.
“What’s wrong?”
When I looked up, he must have seen something in my face, because immediately, Will returned to his stool at the counter and tugged me between his legs.
“Who was that, Lil?”
“N-no one,” I said closing my eyes against the stutter that would not disappear completely. The phone lay innocuously on the countertop, but when I looked at him, Will was glaring at it.
“Maggie.” He enunciated my name clearly. “You look like a ghost. Who the fuck was that?”
When I didn’t answer, Will grabbed the phone off the counter and stood up as he tried to look at the screen. If I hadn’t already been upset, I might have laughed. From the way he was using it, it seemed like Will hadn’t used a cell phone for a very long time.
“Hey!” I yelped, jumping up. “That’s my phone! Give it the fuck back!”
“How do you even open this thing?” Will demanded, turning his broad back on me while he swiped his thumb again and again across the screen.
“It’s an iPhone, you goon. They’ve updated their technology since you threw yours off a pier.”
I reached around and snatched it back, but there was no dissuading him.
“Maggie,” Will said again. He opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, then shut it, apparently to try another tactic.
“It’s nothing,” I pleaded as I moved to the other side of the kitchen. I set the phone on the counter and made a big show of starting the dishes.
“Maggie.”
“Please. Will, can you just let it go?”
There was a long silence while I ran a sink of soapy water. Then he said the last thing I expected.
“I love you, Lil.”
I shut the water off and looked up. “What?”
Will smiled—not the kind of smile that was mischievous or vulnerable, but one that was open and, well, loving. A smile that was for me.
“I love you,” he repeated. “Do you love me too?”
The question was so simple. So disarmingly direct. Since I’d met him, Will had been cagey and secretive, offering pieces of his past, of himself to me in crumbs that left me starving for more, and often frustrated when no more was offered.
But here he was, putting his trump card on the table, and asking for mine in return.
And, to my additional surprise, I found I had absolutely no problem giving it.
I loved him. Of course I loved him, though the thought, the word, caught me off guard. I’d loved him a long time before it had occurred to me that I could. It didn’t matter that we still had so much to learn about each other. It didn’t matter that we were both clearly damaged people with a mountain’s worth of baggage. Will made me sing in ways I never thought would be possible again—both literally and metaphorically. He played my body like it was an instrument he’d studied his entire life, not because of the physical connection, but because when we were together, I didn’t feel like I was Maggie Sharp or Lily pad or Margaret or anything else. With Will, I was my purest song, a voice that sang much more than a simple melody.
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “I love you too, Will.”
Our eyes were glued to one another, locked in a tight bond that only comes from moments like these: moments where you truly bare your soul. Will leaned across the counter, set his big hands atop mine, over my phone, my bent fingers, and pulled me forward. His green eyes reflected the glassy surface of the lake outside—full of light and fathomlessly deep.
“So,” he murmured as he bent close enough to kiss me. “Here we are.”
His mouth hovered over mine, but didn’t touch.
“Will,” I murmured, transfixed. He smelled of coffee, sun, water. My Will. The message and the race seemed extremely unimportant. Forgettable, even.
“Maggie.”
“You should kiss me now.”
The smiled widened. “Okay, then.”
When his lips touched mine, it didn’t matter that it was almost six in the morning. That there was a mildly threatening text on my phone. Or any of the other myriad problems we still had to deal with.
All that mattered was this kiss, this love. This moment.
That was what Will did to me.
“Okay?” he asked a minute later after he pulled back, looking like he was anything but as he adjusted the front of his pants.
I sighed, fully content. My eyes clenched against the waves of emotions rocking through me. I felt solid and strong, yet also like I could crumble. It was intoxicating. Terrifying. Electrifying.
Slowly, my body came back to me.
“Yeah,” I said. “I am.”
“Good. Now open your phone and show me the text.”
My eyes shot open. “What?”
Will smirked. “Do it, Maggie.”
“You told me you loved me so I would show you my phone?!” I shrieked in a half whisper, not wanting to wake up Mama. “You asshole!”
Will quirked a blond brow. “Yeah, but I’m an asshole who loves you. And I deserve to know who the fuck is making my woman look like a goddamn sheet. Just show me.”
I swallowed. “It’s—it’s nothing.” But I was all out of excuses. I unlocked the phone and handed it to him, feeling like a guilty child while he read the message for what seemed like an hour.
At first he didn’t say anything after he set the phone back on the counter, just rubbed his chin, which was still only lightly covered with gold stubble.
“Your ex?” he said finally.
I nodded. “I—I think so.”
“I’m assuming his real name isn’t ‘Unknown.’”
I shook my head. “I wish I didn’t know him. Theodore del Conte is what’s on his birth certificate.”
Will started at the name, and his eyes flew open. “Your ex-boyfriend is Theo del Conte? The producer’s son?”
I frowned. “You know him?”
Will swallowed. “I worked in the entertainment industry in New York, Maggie. Max del Conte owns one of the largest conglomerates in the world, including a big studio. So yeah, I know who Theo del Conte is. He’s a spoiled prick who treats everyone like shit. What was someone like you doing with him?”
He looked at me strangely, almost like he
was trying to see something I was hiding.
I gulped. So many people had asked me that over the last year, since Theo and I had split so violently, and I’d never had a good answer for it. It was hard to explain—the way his attentions in the beginning had been so overt, almost naive in their over-the-topness, how addictive it had felt, for the first time in my life, to be the center of someone’s life. To be told, without reservation, that I was beautiful. Adorable. Brilliant. Worth loving.
And then it was even harder to explain how that effusive praise had devolved, but gradually, slightly. First accompanied by minor criticisms that only undercut my sense of self so much to hurt, but never so much he couldn’t deny the effects. I’d be even more beautiful if I got a nose job. I’d be close to perfect if my hair was straightened or if I just did a few more lunges. And all of it, all of it, was offered under the pretense of grooming me for my future music career, which he knew drove just about everything I did.
All I wanted in the world was to share my music, and while I wasn’t dating Theo for his connections, I’d have been lying if I said the carrot of his father’s influence wasn’t attractive. But I wasn’t ready, he always told me. He wanted to give my music to his father. He wanted to see me soar. And that was how he justified all of his insidious critiques for as long as he did—he was just getting me to a place where I’d be heard.
Finally, though, I began to see his bullshit for what it was. I’d speak out when he put me down, sometimes even in front of people. The first time I did that was also the first time he slapped me across the face, hard enough to see stars. I didn’t stop, though, and neither did he, not until I gave him what he wanted: my obedience. My acquiescence. This continued for months, years, until finally, I refused completely. And that was the day I paid for it with nearly everything.
Will remained still and unwavering while I explained it all to him as best I could. His eyes showed none of the usual suspects that generally made me clam up when I had to do this: there was no pity. No disgust.
Vote Then Read: Volume I Page 199
