She tucks the note back in her pocket and resumes eating.
“That’s it?” Matt asks.
“Yep,” she replies with a smile.
“You didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know.”
“I know, I just wanted to talk about my wedding for a minute.” She’s smug as she takes a bite of steak and smacks her mouth as she chews. “Oh! And the bachelorette party is next Sunday night.”
“Why on a Sunday?” Sam asks with a frown.
“Because we have some stupid business thing on Saturday.” Jules rolls her eyes, and Nate chuckles. “So, it has to be on Sunday. Every other weekend is full of wedding and football crap.”
“I love you, too, sis.” Will throws a roll at her, and she blows him a kiss.
“So, everyone just take Monday off work to recover.”
I giggle to myself. Jules is so not a selfish woman. She just thinks that things are simple. Like, everyone in the world should have no problem taking a day off work to recover from a hangover.
“You’re coming.” She pins me with a glare, daring me to say otherwise. I quickly run through my schedule in my head, aware that Will’s eyes are on me.
“I believe I have next Sunday night off. I’ll let them know I’m not available for on-call that night.”
“Good.” Natalie grins. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Steven stands, holding his beer in the air. “I want to propose a toast. To my family, which has grown by leaps and bounds this past year. I am a blessed man, to be surrounded by good men, beautiful women, and the most amazing babies ever born.”
“To family!” Luke’s dad agrees, and everyone drinks, and then breaks off into conversation again.
As we’re finishing dessert, the sky opens up. I knew I smelled rain earlier. We are, thankfully, under a covered patio, and most of the food has been cleared away. The four brothers and Luke work together to cover the now-cool grill, and we take the babies inside out of the humidity. For the rest of the afternoon, a football game plays on the television and adults play card games with the twins. The babies are fed, rocked, changed and fussed over.
Luke’s, Stacy’s and Brynna’s parents all leave.
Will and I are lounging at one end of a large leather sectional couch, watching football, my head in his lap. I yawn and feel my eyelids droop.
“Hey, lazy bones, are you ready to go home?”
“When you are. I’m in no hurry.”
He smiles gently down at me, his eyes soft. “I love you,” he mouths.
I grin up at him, happily, and run my hand down his smooth cheek. “You’re so handsome.”
He grabs my hand and kisses my palm. “Let’s get out of here.”
He helps me out of the couch, and we say our goodbyes, which takes another half hour. Will’s mom, Gail, hugs me close.
“Please, come back soon, Meg. We enjoyed you.”
“Thank you,” I murmur shyly.
“She’ll be back,” Will comments as he kisses his mom on the cheek.
I tilt my head back as we step outside and enjoy the rain. It’s dark now, and the rain is heavy but not cold. It’s that warm, late-summer rain that feels like tap water.
“I love the rain this time of year.”
“Great. Get in the car, babe.”
I laugh over at him. “You don’t like the rain?”
“It’s fine, but you’ll get sick if you don’t get out of it.”
“No, I won’t. That’s a myth.” I wave him off and stand in the rain for a minute longer, then join him in his car.
“Are you always this stubborn?” he asks.
“How long have we been seeing each other?” I ask.
“Awhile. More than a month,” he responds and pulls away from his parents’ house.
“Then you should know by now that I’m always this stubborn.” I grin sweetly as he chuckles.
“So, about those texts you sent me…” He turns hot blue eyes on me and offers me a half smile.
“Yes?”
“Gonna make good on them?”
“I don’t know. Your mood seems to have improved without me needing to resort to oral sex.” I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket, and I pull it out as I laugh at Will’s scowl.
Tell your bf thx for the $250k.
“Pull over.”
“What?”
“Pull the fuck over.”
Chapter Nineteen
“What’s wrong?” His voice is panicked, but I can’t look at him. I have to get out of this car.
Now.
“Just pull over, Will.”
“Are you sick?”
“Yes! Pull over!”
We’re in a remote part of Seattle, mostly deserted, and dark. The sky has opened up even more, pouring rain as if someone has turned on a faucet.
He skids to a stop at the side of the road, and before he even puts it in park, I barrel out, slam the door and start walking, fast, in the headlights.
“Meg!” he calls from behind me. “Megan, stop!”
“Leave me alone, Will.”
“What the fuck has gotten into you?”
I hear him gaining on me, his feet shuffling in the gravel on the side of the road, so I twirl and confront him.
“How dare you?”
He stops in his tracks, his eyes wide with fear and worry, and holds his hands up like he’s being robbed.
“What?”
“I told you not to give her any money.”
“Fuck.” He hangs his head and props his hands on his hips, both of us ignoring the rain falling in sheets around us. “Meg…”
I spin on my heel and start to stomp away from him again, but he grabs my arm and spins me back to him. “You’re not walking home.”
“Fuck off, Will.”
“Megan, stop this.” He takes both of my shoulders in his hands and holds me in front of him, and all I can do is glare at him, panting. My anger is palpable.
“I told you, Will. You saw how it was last week. Why in the hell would you do this? She’ll just keep coming back for more. She would have gone away if you would have just left it alone.” I can’t stand the break in my voice as I feel the tears mix with the rain on my face.
“She never would have gone away, sweetheart.” His voice is calm now but firm.
I shake my head back and forth and bury my face in my hands. “I don’t need you to clean up my life!” I step back out of his grasp and look up into his face illuminated by his headlights, water running down the sides, his hair soaked and plastered to his head. “I can handle this myself.”
“Megan, that woman is toxic. She drains you, financially and emotionally. You don’t need her.”
“I know that! You think I don’t know that?” I throw my hands in the air and march in a frustrated circle.
“I’m trying to help you.”
I stop, my back to him, and shake my head, hands on my hips. “I asked you not to help me like this.”
“Look at me.”
I stay where I am.
“Look at me, Megan.”
“Will, you betrayed me.”
“I did not fucking betray you!” he yells, and I whirl to look at him. His eyes are feral now, and his hands are in fists at his sides, every muscle taut with anger and frustration. “I paid off a woman who hates you for existing so she’ll never bother you again. She signed a contract, Megan. She can never ask you for another dime.”
“What?”
“Let me finish. That woman is the reason you can’t tell me you love me. That. Fucking. Woman.” He shakes his head in frustration and turns away from me, then turns back. “If I have the opportunity to remove her from you, why wouldn’t I do it? The money is nothing to me. She is the reason you have trust issues. She is the reason it’s so hard for you to show people you love them.”
“What are you now, a shrink?” I ask with a derisive snort, and then hate myself when I see the hurt in his eyes.
“I know you,” he murmurs
quietly. His chest is heaving. “I love you, Megan.”
I love you, too.
I can’t make the words come out.
“I love you, Megan.” The words are stronger now, louder, and he’s willing me to say them back.
I turn and start to blindly walk again, my steps quick, away from him, from his car, from all these fucked-up feelings that I just don’t know how to trust.
Suddenly, I’m in his arms, and he’s carrying me back to the car. He sets me down, ass on the hood, and pins me, his hands braced next to my hips, his face level with mine, nose millimeters from brushing the tip of mine, his eyes on fire. He’s glaring at me with love and hurt.
“I. Love. You. Megan.”
“Will.” It’s a sob. I take his face in my hands and brush his cheeks with my thumbs. “Will.”
“I love you,” he whispers, his lips so close to touching mine I can feel them move.
I close my eyes and feel the tears on my face. I can feel the hot tears on his face, running into my hands, mixing with the warm rain.
I’m hurting him. And it’s killing me.
“You can’t say it.” It’s not a question.
“I can show you,” I whisper.
He closes his eyes for a heartbeat, tips his forehead down to mine, and then suddenly grips my hips and pulls me to the edge of the hood of the car and peels my sopping wet jeans roughly over my hips and down my legs, throwing them on the ground in a wet heap. My eyes are wide and on his, mouth gaping open.
“Someone could drive by.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” he growls and sinks to his knees, pushing my thighs apart and burying his face in my core. He licks and kisses and sucks on my lips, my clit, pushes my metal against my nub, making me plant my feet on his shoulders, grip his soaked hair in my hands and lift my hips off the car, coming apart at the seams, crying out, not caring who can see or hear us.
He stands and shoves two fingers inside me roughly, pushing and pulling them quickly, teasing my clit with his thumb, and he’s kissing me in the same way, with frustration and anger, and I grip on to his shoulders, holding on for dear life.
“Will.”
“You are mine, damn it. I will protect you from anyone and anything, do you understand?” His eyes are narrowed, on mine. “I don’t need your permission to make you safe.”
Before I can answer, he’s kissing me again, and pushing me over into another orgasm.
He’s claiming me, branding me in a way he never has before.
It’s fucking hot as hell, and I want him. I want to be his. I love him more than I ever thought possible, and that scares the living hell out of me.
He pushes the hem of my jersey up under my armpits, dragging my bra along with it, unveiling my breasts, and feasts on them, pulling and biting the nipples ruthlessly. I let my head fall back and cry out in pain and pleasure, loving his mouth and hands as they assault me.
He’s never been this savage.
Suddenly, he unzips his pants and unleashes his massive erection, and I instinctively scoot closer to the edge of the car, needing him inside me.
“I can’t wait,” he mutters against my mouth and slams himself inside me, hard.
He grips my hips and jerks me down on him, over and over, fucking me with all he has, his eyes still pinned to mine.
“You are so beautiful. You are everything, Megan. When are you going to believe that?” He moves faster and harder until I feel him explode inside me, his muscles tensing, and he growls deep into my neck.
He stays here, on me, in me, panting, for what feels like forever, before he slides out of me and steps back. “Stay here.”
He zips himself up, straightens my shirt, and scoops my pants up off the ground, walking briskly to the back of the car. He rummages around in the trunk and walks back to me, a blanket in his hands. “Scoot off the car.”
I obey immediately, and he wraps me in the blanket, plants a soft, sweet kiss on my forehead, and suddenly, the tears start again.
I love him so much.
“Don’t cry.” He lifts me in his arms and carries me to the passenger side and gently lowers me into the low seat.
Instead of taking me back to my place, he drives us to his house, pulls into the garage, and lifts me out of the car, carries me inside, and up the stairs through his bedroom and into the bathroom. He sets me carefully on the toilet and turns on the hot water, then kneels in front of me, takes my face gently in his hands and wipes the tears off my cheeks with his thumbs.
“Did I hurt you?” he whispers.
I shake my head no and bite my lip, looking into his soft blue eyes. He’s tender now, the anger gone out of him.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“For what, honey?”
I shrug and look down, but he tips my chin up to look at him. “For what?”
“For hurting you. I don’t want to do that. You mean the world to me, Will.”
He sighs deeply, relief written all over his face, and kisses me softly, then sits back on his heels and smiles softly. “I know.”
I nod, still feeling shitty.
I want to give him the words. So much.
He strips me out of the blanket and the remaining wet clothes, and does the same with his own, takes me by the hand, and leads me into the hot shower. The showerheads are still adjusted for me.
He takes his time washing me, lathering up my body and my hair, and then rinsing me thoroughly, before doing the same for himself.
“I love your body,” he murmurs with a smile as he leads me out of the shower and begins to dry me with a large, warm towel.
“Back at you, Football Star,” I remark and offer him a half smile.
He blows my hair dry then leads me to bed.
“It’s a bit early for bed, isn’t it?” I ask drily.
“I have to be at the training center at six.” He frowns and pulls the covers back on the bed, grabs the remote for the small TV mounted to the wall, and we climb into the soft bed, snuggle up together, and watch a bad action movie from the nineties.
“Thank you,” I whisper without looking at him.
“For what?”
“You know.” I tighten my arms around his waist and drop a kiss on his chest. “Just thank you.”
He sighs and kisses the top of my head.
Chapter Twenty
It’s been two days since we fought in the rain. Since the best damn car sex of my life. Since Will practically begged me to give him the words he needs to hear and I couldn’t.
I wonder how long he’ll wait before he decides I’m not worth his time and he cuts out. I hope I can give him the words he wants before that happens.
I sit across from him in a little diner in North Seattle known for its twelve-egg omelets. Even Will can’t eat that much at once, but he’s decimating the six-egg version, which makes me slightly queasy just to watch.
The man can eat.
“You look beautiful today.” He smiles softly at me, and I grin back. I’m just in my usual: a loose T-shirt and jeans, hair down around my face.
“Thank you.” I let my eyes travel over his dark blond hair, startling blue eyes, blue T-shirt and strong arms. “So do you.”
I take a bite of a waffle and sigh. “I love the food here.”
“I know, it’s awesome. You have to draw a picture for the wall.” He points at the artwork with his fork, and I giggle as I look around.
Hundreds of drawings done in crayon cover the walls, some really good, some just plain funny.
“Why don’t you do a drawing?” I ask.
“I did. It’s up there somewhere.”
“Excuse me, aren’t you Will Montgomery?”
Two young girls are standing at the end of our booth, grinning, twirling their hair. They’re young and cute and flirty, and I can’t help but roll my eyes.
“I am,” he replies with a sigh and looks over to me, begging me with his eyes to not get mad.
I just shrug and smile. He can’t help
that he’s a superhot football star.
“Wow, can we get your autograph?”
“Yeah, and maybe your photo? We’re big fans,” the other one adds, and they giggle.
“I’m sorry. I’m having lunch with my girlfriend. I’d really appreciate it if you’d just respect our privacy.”
They stop and frown down at him, but he holds their gazes firmly.
Holy shit! This is new.
They both look at me for the first time, then back at Will.
“We saw in the paper that you had a new girlfriend, but we thought it was a lie because you never have girlfriends.”
Will smiles coldly, and I can hear his inner dialogue. You don’t know anything about me.
“I do have a girlfriend, and I’m enjoying her company. Have a good day.” He turns back to me, effectively cutting off anything they were about to say when the waitress comes over with a carafe of coffee.
“You heard the man. Either sit at a table and place an order or leave.” She scowls at the girls as they leave the diner. “Sorry about that. They slipped by me.”
“No worries.” Will smiles up at her as she refills our coffee.
“That surprised me,” I say.
“Why?” he asks and takes a sip of coffee.
“You usually like being the center of attention.” I shrug and push my mostly empty plate away.
“Not always.” He shakes his head. “As long as I’m your center of attention, I’m good.”
“Needy much?” I ask sarcastically and laugh when he pins me with a glare.
“I am not needy.”
“Okay.” I sit back and grin at him.
“I’m not.”
“I just agreed with you.”
“Uh huh.” He takes another sip of coffee and takes my hand in his, running his thumb across my knuckles. “What do you have going on today?”
“I have to work the swing shift tonight,” I reply and check my watch. “You?”
“I have to go to the training center to watch some film this afternoon.”
“Did you train this morning?” I ask.
“Yeah, early this morning.”
“I slept through it.” I smile over at him, and he shakes his head, his eyes happy.
With Me in Seattle Bundle One Page 81
