I’ll take whatever she’s willing to give me, for the rest of my life, if I can just have her.
But not ever hearing the words come out of that sweet mouth will make me resent her eventually, and that’s something I never want to happen.
Ever.
I love her too much for that shit, so it’s best to cut our losses now.
“Wait!”
She sounds panicked. I clench my eyes shut and grip the car door tightly. Just go back to the house, babe.
“Will, wait.”
She’s at my side now. I look down into her tear-filled hazel eyes, and it takes everything in me to not gather her to me and tell her everything will work out.
Because I don’t think it will.
“Meg, look—”
“No, you look,” she cuts me off, her hands in fists on her lush little hips, fire coming out of her eyes.
I’ve pissed her off.
“You don’t get to drop that bomb on me and then just ride off into the sunset, never to be heard from again, Will Montgomery. And if you think you’re breaking up with me, you have another thing coming.”
I love it when she’s pissed. But the knot in my stomach hasn’t eased yet.
“Will,” she starts and takes a deep breath, “I love you more than you will ever understand.”
The breath leaves me, and I can just stare down at her.
“What?”
“Of course I’m in love with you, Will.” She swallows and closes her eyes.
Before she can say another word, I take her face in my hands, the touch of her skin a balm to my frayed nerves, and make her look at me.
“I don’t want you to say those words just because you’re afraid I’ll break up with you without them.”
Her eyes smile up at me and for the first time in the past few hours, a calm settles over me.
“You’re smarter than that,” she murmurs in her sweet voice. “And you know me better than that.”
I pull her up into my arms, nudge the car door shut with my foot and carry her inside her tiny house.
I plan to sell this town house and move her in with me as soon as possible.
Which means next year, because she’s so damn independent. God, I love her.
I carry her into her living room and sit on her couch, cradling her on my lap.
Her eyebrows climb into her hairline. “I thought you’d be taking me upstairs.”
“Later,” I respond and trace her lips with my fingertip. “First, talk to me.”
She sighs and bites that lower lip. “I couldn’t tell you I love you because in my life, that’s always meant that people would leave.” She shrugs and blinks, trying to hold back tears, and it’s like a fist clenching my heart.
I hate it when she cries, because she rarely ever does.
“Go on,” I whisper and smile down at her. I love the way her small body feels in my arms, all soft and small and like she’s meant for me.
“I think I loved my mom when I was small. I don’t really remember.” Her brow creases as she thinks. “But I was taken from her, and honestly, I’m thankful, because that was for the best. But then I was tossed from foster home to foster home. I met Leo in the first one, and I latched on to him like he was a lifeline, because for me, he was.” She looks up at me with pleading hazel eyes, begging for me to understand, and I think I’m finally beginning to.
“He was the first person I’ve ever had in my life that was truly family to me. He took care of me and was kind to me and didn’t want anything from me.” She swallows, and brushes away the tears on her cheeks. “But then I was taken out of that first home, and Leo was taken away from me. Thank God I didn’t lose touch with him then.”
I cradle her to me and let her talk it out.
“It was always made very clear to me in each of those homes what my place was, and it wasn’t as a part of the family I was staying with. I was relieved when the state emancipated me at sixteen and I could go live with Leo.”
She pulls back and looks up at me. “But then, after I’d been with him for years, and we’d had the band and done well, he decided to take the band and go to LA to try to make it in the business.”
“Why didn’t he take you with him?” I ask.
“He insisted I stay here and pursue my nursing career. He knew I was good at it, and I’d worked so hard for it. And I think he could see the toll the long hours of working and then playing gigs on the weekends was taking on me. He didn’t want me to quit.”
I frown down at her. “I hate to say it, but that makes sense, sweetheart.”
“Yeah, now it does,” she agrees and nods. “But then it just felt like another person I loved, the most important person I loved, was leaving again.”
“I’m not going to leave you, baby.” I don’t care if she can’t stand that nickname. “I love you so much, Megan.”
She cups my face in her hands, the way she always does, and pulls her fingertips down my cheeks, her eyes happy. “I love you, too.”
Sucker punch to the gut.
“Say it again,” I whisper.
“I love you, too, Will,” she whispers.
I stand with her still in my arms and carry her up the stairs to her bedroom and set her on her feet. With my fingertips, I push the straps of her dress off her shoulders and watch it fall off her delectable body and pool on the floor at her feet.
“Fucking hell, you’re naked under there.”
She’s standing before me in just her black stilettos and diamond earrings, and it’s all I can do not to come in my pants like a fucking teenager.
She smiles shyly. “You’re entirely overdressed.”
“Undress me,” I demand, holding my arms out to my sides, but she shakes her head and sits on the bed, then scoots on her ass to the middle of the mattress, leaving her heels on.
“I wanna watch,” she responds with a sassy grin, showing off that dimple.
“So damn lazy.” I smile at her and can’t get out of this goddamn suit fast enough. Her eyes darken as they roam over my nakedness, and I smirk at her.
I will train every day for the rest of my life to keep that look in her eyes when she gazes at me.
Finally naked, I climb onto the bed and cover her small body with mine, her hips cradling me, my elbows on either side of her head, brushing little wisps of hair off her forehead with my thumbs.
“I love you,” she murmurs with a happy smile.
“God, I’ll never get tired of hearing those words come out of your sexy mouth, babe.”
She chuckles and grips my ass in her hands. I tip my head down and kiss her, gently at first, and then harder, and roll us so she’s straddling me.
She sits up straight and rocks her hips, rubbing her already wet pussy against my cock. I suck a deep breath in through my teeth. “Easy, baby, or I’ll come before we even get started.”
“Really?” She looks happy with herself as she continues to torture me, the little vixen.
“Megan,” I warn her, and suddenly she’s scooting down and sucking on my cock, jacking me off at the same time, and I jackknife up on the bed. “Holy fuck!”
She laughs and laps at the head like it’s an ice cream cone, and then sinks over it again, sucking as she pulls up. I thread my fingers through her soft hair and moan.
“Meg, come back up here.”
She shakes her head stubbornly and continues to wreak havoc on my cock.
“I swear to Jesus, Megan, if you don’t come up here…”
“What?” she asks after she makes a loud pop noise. “You’ll what?”
I grip her shoulders and pull her back up to me, kissing her deeply, and reach between us to play with the piercing that I’ve grown to really fucking love.
It makes her crazy.
“Ah God, Will,” she moans against my mouth, and I smile.
“That’s right, sweetheart, come for me.”
Her hips are moving quickly against my fingers, and I know she’s so close, and when I f
eel the shudders start, I guide myself inside her and feel her sweet muscles milk my cock as I sink farther and farther in.
I grit my teeth and hold on to her hips tightly to keep from coming with her.
As her inner muscles relax, I begin to move her, and she takes over, riding me hard and in the sweetest rhythm. She sits up and pulls her arms up, resting her forearms on the top of her head as she rides me, and I reach up and cup her breasts in my palms, tweaking the hard nipples with my thumb and forefingers, making her even more crazy.
She throws her head back and leans her hands on my chest, and I reach between us again, looking down at where I’m buried deep inside her, and run the pad of my thumb over her clit and piercing, and I feel her orgasm build again.
“Look, babe,” I instruct her, and she complies, looking down at us, at me rubbing her clit, and she falls apart, crying out.
She bears down on me, clenching and shuddering, and I have no choice but to come with her. I reach up and grip her hair in my fist and pull her down to me, kissing her hard as I come inside her violently, pushing my hips up, burying myself as deep inside her as I possibly can.
She collapses on me, and I roll us onto our sides, still inside her, gazing at her flushed face, her eyes closed, lips parted as she pants.
This, right here, is my whole world.
“I love you, Will,” she whispers, and I can’t help the wide grin on my face, or the way my cock twitches inside her at the sweet words.
“I love you, too, sweetheart.”
***
Meg fell asleep about an hour ago, but I’m not tired. I can’t stop looking at her sweet face, can’t stop running my fingers through her soft hair.
She loves me.
I smile, remembering how the words sound coming from those sinful lips, and can’t wait to hear them again.
It kills me that she thinks that loving means leaving, that if she admits to me that she loves me I’ll bail on her.
I’m never going any-fucking-where. She’s stuck with me, forever if she’ll have me.
I’d like to know more about Leo, have some time to talk with him. But more than that, I think she needs time with him. He didn’t look like someone who had deserted her tonight. He was protective and clearly loves her.
I ease away from Meg, careful not to wake her, grab my phone from my slacks and descend the stairs of Meg’s town house as I dial Luke’s number. It’s late, but they’re probably still at the reception.
“Williams,” Luke answers. I can hear the band in the background, and people laughing and talking.
“Hey, I need a favor.”
“Name it,” he answers quickly, and I grin. Natalie picked a good guy.
“I need Leo’s number.”
“He’s still onstage, Will,” Luke answers drily.
“Don’t be a smart-ass.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
~Meg~
I wake to a heavy arm wrapped tightly around my waist, a nose pressed to my cheek, and a large, muscled leg draped over mine.
I sigh and wiggle, trying to stretch without untangling myself from Will. He feels good and, after last night, I need his closeness.
He almost left me.
And I can’t blame him.
“Good morning,” he whispers.
I turn my head, rubbing my nose against his and grin. “’Morning.”
“Sleep good?” He asks and hugs me tight.
“Yeah. You?”
“I did.”
“I like waking up with you.”
He leans back and offers me a confused smile. “You wake up with me all the time.”
“No, I don’t.” I shake my head. “You’re always up before me.”
“Hmm.” He kisses my temple and links my fingers with his, and we just lie here and wake up. “You okay?” he whispers.
“I’m good.”
“So,” he begins with a sigh. “Tell me about Leo.”
I frown at him, confused as to where this is coming from. “I already told you about him last night.”
“No, you told me about how you met him. I want you to tell me about Leo.”
“Why?”
He shrugs. “Call it curiosity.”
“Will, he’s like a brother to me…”
“Stop.” He presses his fingers against my lips and smiles reassuringly. “This isn’t a pissing contest. I’m really curious to know more about him.”
I search his face, then rub my hands down my face, turn on my side and face him. “Okay, I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version.”
Will chuckles. “Okay.”
“He went into foster care at the age of twelve, after both his parents were killed in a car accident. There weren’t any relatives to take him.” I sigh as Will scowls. “He could have gone down some bad roads. But he just lost himself in music, and then he had me to worry about, and thank God he is so fucking stubborn, or I shudder to think what kind of a mess he could have made out of his life.”
I clear my throat and trace Will’s shoulder with my fingertip. “He moved to Seattle when he turned eighteen, armed with his guitar and a trust fund that was set up with the insurance money from when his parents died. That’s how he was able to help me pay for school and basically take care of me for so long. He’s a smart guy. And he’s so talented.”
I smile at Will. “It was fun singing with him last night.”
“You two are great together.”
I nod. “It was like no time has passed,” I whisper. “I’ve missed him.”
“Why did you lose touch when he went to LA?”
“Because I’m a brat.” I smirk at Will’s frown.
“You are not.”
“Oh, yeah, I am. I threw quite the fit when Leo told me he was leaving for LA” I shake my head. “I acted like a kid who wasn’t getting her way. I just didn’t want him to go. And it hurt my feelings that he didn’t give me the option to go with him.”
“From what you told me, it sounds like he was looking out for you.”
“He was.” I nod in agreement. “But it still hurt. I loved him, and he left. And I was too stubborn to stay in touch with him after he was gone. And then when the mad wore off, and I wanted to hear his voice, I felt like too much time had passed, and I didn’t think he’d want to hear from me.” I whisper the last sentence, and it brings tears to my eyes.
“I’m quite sure that’s not the case,” Will murmurs and brushes a tear off my cheek with his thumb. “No matter how stupid Jules acts, I’d always want to hear from her.”
“Yeah,” I mumble, not knowing what else to say.
“I think we should get up.” Will pulls away from me and bounds out of bed, all naked and rumpled from sleep.
“I think you should get your sexy ass back in bed.”
He grins wolfishly at me and tugs the covers away from my naked body. “Nope, up.”
“Hey! It’s cold.”
“Get your hot ass out of bed and into the shower. I have a surprise for you.” He rolls the blankets into a ball and throws them on the floor, stomping into the bathroom to start the shower.
“What about morning sex?” I yell after him.
“In the damn shower!” he yells back.
“You mean we can have morning sex in the shower?” I yell.
Will appears in the doorway and leans his shoulder against the jam, crosses his muscular arms over his chest, naked as a baby.
“I love it when you’re naked,” I tell him happily from the bed.
“I’m happy to hear that.” He smiles and crosses one leg in front of the other, looking all relaxed. “Are you going to get in the shower under your own power, or do I need to carry you in there?”
“Why are you so bossy this morning?” I ask with a laugh.
“I’m bossy every morning, babe. Now”—he pushes away from the door and saunters to the bed, grabs my ankle, and pulls me to the edge of the bed—“let’s get in the shower.”
“Okay.” I hold my arms up,
and he pulls me to my feet, but rather than letting me walk into the bathroom, he lifts me onto his shoulder and carries me.
“I can walk,” I tell him wryly and slap his firm ass.
“Not fast enough.”
“Tell me about this surprise.” I slap his ass again just before he sets me on my feet.
“No. You said something about shower sex.” He grabs my shower gel and lathers up a washcloth.
“I’ll have shower sex with you if you tell me about the surprise,” I offer and have to grip his biceps to hold steady as he glides the soapy cloth over my breasts and down my stomach, landing between my legs.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“What was the question?”
***
“Where are we going?” I ask from the passenger seat of Will’s car.
“You’ll see. We’re almost there.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“I’m getting that. You’re really bad at just shutting up and letting me do my thing, sweetheart.”
“You should never tell me you have a surprise for me.”
“Lesson learned,” he mutters and parks the car in front of the café with the twelve-egg omelet.
“Breakfast is the surprise?” I ask with raised eyebrows.
“Shut up, Megan.”
He exits the car and opens my door for me, pulling me up by the hand, wraps his arm around my waist and plants a hard kiss on me, right there on the sidewalk.
“You can shut me up like that anytime, football star.”
He winks and leads me into the restaurant, through the shabby booths and to the back, where a guy in a hoodie is sitting with his back to the room, beanie on his head, tattooed hands holding a cup of coffee.
Leo.
My wide gaze finds Will’s, and he just shrugs.
Leo looks back at us and smiles, stands, and holds his hand out to Will. “Hey, man.”
“Hey. I’m gonna let you guys catch up. Do you mind giving Meg a ride home when you’re done?”
“You’re leaving?” I ask him, butterflies swarming crazily in my stomach.
“I’m a third wheel and won’t get your inside jokes anyway.” He brushes his hand down my face, leans in and whispers in my ear, “You’ll be fine. I love you. Call me if you need me.”
With Me in Seattle Bundle One Page 88
