Now she was close enough to feel the heat coming off of his body. Their arms brushed, her thigh pressed against his and she could feel his warm breath against her cheek. For a moment she closed her eyes and simply…felt. And when she opened them, she met his heated gaze. His name was a mere whisper, a plea.
“This isn’t why I brought you home,” he said, even as his head tilted and his lips lightly touched hers.
“Will?”
“Yeah?”
“Kiss me.”
****
And he did.
Over and over and over again. It was amazing how he’d always thought Serena’s kisses were an incredible turn on, but now that he was able to touch her too, he realized just how wrong he’d been. This was a total sensory experience and it was escalating quickly.
And that’s when he pulled back. There was no way he was going to feel comfortable with seducing Serena at this early stage of their relationship. And the last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable in any way, shape or form. So they’d take it slow. Move at her pace. After all, they’d basically waited three years, what was another few days or weeks.
He opened his eyes and saw that Serena’s were still closed. Her lips were red and wet and he groaned as he rested his forehead against hers.
“You stopped,” she said quietly.
He nodded. “I did.”
“Why?”
This time when he lifted his head, he saw her eyes were open as she studied him curiously. Reaching up, Will caressed her cheek. “For starters, we just met.”
Serena shook her head. “We met three years ago.”
He laughed softly. “Not formally. We were never introduced. I don’t want you to feel pressured or to have any regrets. You’re here for the weekend and I’m just happy to be spending time with you.”
Whether it was intentional or not, Serena slowly licked her lips and then gave him a grin so sexy and sweet at the same time that he almost jumped up to take a cold shower. “Serena…”
“Maybe we should find something else to do,” she suggested, slowly scooting away from him. “What should we do for dinner? Go into town?”
As much as he hated the idea of sharing her right now and being the object of the town gossips, maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.
“Mary mentioned something about the Come Again on a Saturday night being the best place to be.” She looked at her watch. “It’s almost six. We could probably go and grab a bite and then…”
“Serena?”
“Hmm?”
What the hell was he going to say? Her eyes were wide, her skin was still flushed and damn if she wasn’t the sexiest woman he’d ever seen. If he stayed sitting here with her for another minute, he’d reach for her. So he quickly stood up.
“Um…I’m going to go and uh…get changed. Maybe you want to go and freshen up or something and we’ll leave in about a half hour. How does that sound?”
Will immediately saw the confusion on her face but didn’t comment on it. Instead he started to walk backwards toward his bedroom. “You can use the bathroom first. I’ll um…I’ll be out in a bit.”
And then he hightailed it to his room and quickly shut the door.
Then he mentally cursed himself for having so little self-control that he couldn’t even be in the same room with Serena. She must be thinking she’d made a huge mistake in coming to find him.
Hell, he was beginning to think it was a mistake too.
After three years of fantasizing about meeting Serena and being alone with her and he still ended up coming off like a sixteen-year-old virgin with his first girl.
“Well, shit,” he murmured.
Will had no idea how long he stood there against the bedroom door when Serena knocked on it. He jumped and then mentally cursed himself for behaving like such a damn idiot. Turning, he opened the door and froze.
She freshened up.
Her hair was slightly mussed. Her lips were freshly glossed and she smelled like heaven.
But it was the look in her eyes that had him swallowing hard. “Serena…”
“I know that earlier I mentioned that I normally take things slow with the men I’ve been involved with, but…”
His heart began to hammer hard in his chest.
He watched her take a steadying breath and then she met his gaze head on. “Will, we’ve had three years’ worth of foreplay. I don’t want to go out tonight. I don’t want dinner or to go out drinking or dancing. I came to Sapphire Falls to find you and…I want you.”
A slow grin crossed his face as he reached out and tugged her to him. “Thank God!”
His arms went around her as she went up on her toes to kiss him. There was no pretense…no awkward adjustments…it was all just like a perfectly-choreographed dance. For a minute he second-guessed this – after all, just a few minutes ago he was the one to get up and walk away. But knowing that it was Serena’s decision and that she was comfortable with it, there was no way he could walk away this time.
Slowly he turned her and began to walk her backwards toward his bed and said a silent prayer of thanks that he’d cleaned up the place this morning. Serena sighed against him and when they were next to the bed she surprised him by snaking her hands under his shirt. Her hands felt incredibly smooth against his skin and Will couldn’t help but break the kiss and sigh.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since you got out of the truck back at the Stop,” she said reverently.
Will immediately whipped his shirt off and then groaned when Serena leaned in and began kissing his chest.
Seriously. Best. Day. Ever.
His hands skimmed up her sides, over her shoulders and anchored in her glorious mane of hair. He whispered her name. And then again. After the third time, she looked up at him, her eyes glazed, her lips wet and so damn sexy he almost forgot what he was going to say. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I sat out there for a few minutes and realized that we do know each other. I learned more about you today than I think I knew about some of my previous boyfriends who I had dated for months.” Then she gave him a knowing smile. “And besides, Mary said you were one of the best.” As she said the words, her hands skimmed down his chest, over his abs and further down to the button of his jeans.
Will clamped his hand over hers and chuckled softly. “I greatly doubt that’s what she was referring to.”
Then her expression turned serious. “If you’d rather we…I mean, if you think we should wait…”
What? Was she kidding him? “Serena…”
Taking a step away from him, Serena held his gaze as she slowly lifted her shirt up and over her head. Standing before him in a black lace bra and a pair of matching skinny jeans, she was beyond sexy. “I know I’m not playing fair…”
And then a grin began to spread across his own lips as he took a step toward her. Toe to toe, he reached out and cupped her breasts in his hands and watched her eyes close and her head fall back slightly. “I don’t want you to play fair,” he growled, lowering his head so he could kiss her throat. “But know that I may not play fair either. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
She was quiet for a minute. Will wanted to think she was lost in sensation as he kissed and touched her everywhere he could. And when she lifted her head a few minutes later, she raked her hands up into his hair and said, “I think we’ve both waited long enough.”
He readily agreed.
Six
WILL KNEW HE was getting curious looks at the garage on Monday and he didn’t care. He couldn’t wipe the grin off of his face and he wasn’t even going to try.
Serena had stayed for the entire weekend. She left early that morning to go back to Lincoln. He worried about her leaving so early but she had been emphatic that she was fine and that she needed to get home to shower and change so she could go to work.
Not that she was overly enthused about it.
And Will knew it had nothing to do with him. She wasn’t happy w
ith her job right now and as much as she wanted to find another one, it just wasn’t working out that way for her. It seemed like the kind of job that could be done from anywhere – not necessarily only in an office – and if she was as good as he suspected she was, she could possibly branch out on her own.
And if they’d done more than leave the bed for sandwiches and something to drink, he might have thought to ask her to show him some of her designs.
But they hadn’t.
And now he was grinning again.
She was going to come back next weekend and Will was already looking forward to it. This time they would go out and he couldn’t wait to introduce her to his friends and the people of Sapphire Falls who had been witnesses to his crazy behavior over her for the last few years. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that there would be a collective sigh of relief that he finally found his mystery girl.
He knew he sure as hell was.
“Okay, we get it, we get it,” his boss Dylan said as he walked across the garage toward him. “Obviously you got laid this weekend. Quit looking so damn sappy about it.”
Dylan was grinning the entire time he talked and Will just chuckled. “I seem to recall you having that same look when you met Chloe. Or do I have to remind you of how I ordered you to take the day off after that night when you carried her off over your shoulder in front of half the town?”
Shaking his head, Dylan joined in the laughter. “So? Why didn’t you just call in sick today?”
Will shrugged. “Because she had to leave early and head to work.”
The next thing he knew, Dylan was leaning against the Ford SUV Will was working on. “And who is…she? Seems to me that I’d remember if you mentioned having a date. When you do, you normally talk about it the whole day leading up to it. Anyone I know?”
“Not really.”
That response had Dylan quirking a brow at him. “Vague much?”
“I don’t think that was vague at all. You don’t really know who she is.”
Dylan sighed dramatically.
“Okay. Fine.” And for fifteen minutes, he told his friend all about how he met Serena in the parking lot of the Stop and about how they spent the weekend together. He left out the specifics on the sex, but from the look on Dylan’s face, he pretty much figured that part out.
“Well I’ll be damned. She really does exist.”
“Was there any doubt?” Will asked.
“To be honest? Yes! I mean, how was it possible that you kissed this woman at every festival for three years straight and no one in town noticed or saw her? You have to admit that it seemed a little odd.”
As much as Will wanted to deny it, he couldn’t. “Okay, fine. But she does exist,” he said with a confident grin. “And she’ll be back this weekend and I plan on introducing her to everyone in Sapphire Falls.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Dude, she lives in Lincoln and it seems like you may only be seeing each other on the weekends. You sure you want to waste that time hanging out in town?”
Damn. He hadn’t thought about that. “I thought it would be a good thing…”
“I’m not saying that you have to lock her up in your house or anything, but…it’s all still new. You’re just getting to know each other.”
“You and Chloe socialized with everyone,” Will said a little too defensively.
“It was totally different,” Dylan argued lightly. “Chloe and I were working together every day and she was living in my house. We had plenty of time alone. If I were in your shoes? I’d want to spend all of our weekend time alone. Take her out on a proper date – one that doesn’t involve playing darts at the Come Again – and maybe make this weekend a little less about the physical and get to know her more.”
In theory it sounded good, but there was no guarantee that Will was going to have any kind of self-control by the end of the week. As of now it had only been a couple of hours and he was already missing Serena and thinking about seeing her again.
Kissing her.
Touching her.
“Oh, man…I know that look,” Dylan murmured. “You’re a goner.”
Yeah, tell me something I didn’t already know, Will said to himself.
****
Friday afternoon Serena found herself driving by the town square in Sapphire Falls and smiling. She was back to see Will after what had seemed like the longest week of her life! Her job was slowly sucking her will to live and she was frustrated beyond belief. No one was listening to her ideas and she was stuck doing the kind of boring websites that no one should want to have in their portfolio.
“What are you complaining about?” her boss had asked. “You’re getting a paycheck.”
Didn’t he realize that at this point a paycheck was secondary to her frustration level? If he’d just let her have one of the bigger name accounts – the ones that were looking for a high visibility and eye-catching designs – she’d be able to prove that she wasn’t that same intern who came to him three years before!
She pulled into Will’s driveway and smiled when she saw him coming out the door to greet her. Yeah, the week had seemed endless but seeing him right now made it all just fade away. As soon as she climbed out of her car, Will was there to scoop her up in his arms and kiss her.
How was this possible? She wondered – not for the first time. Getting swept off of her feet was not typical behavior for her and yet with Will, it seemed natural. When they finally broke apart and he lowered her back onto her own two feet, he was smiling that devastating smile that made her weak in the knees.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said, caressing her cheek. “How was the drive?”
Shrugging, Serena took a step back and reached into her car for her overnight bag. “I hit a little bit of traffic as I drove through the city limits of Lincoln, but other than that, it was fine. It took a little over two hours rather than the usual hour and fifteen.”
“Maybe next weekend I’ll come by you,” he suggested. “What do you think?”
“I think I’d like that a lot.”
Together they walked hand-in-hand into the house where Will took her bag to his bedroom and put it down before coming back out to the living room. “I got us a couple of steaks to grill for dinner. I hope that’s okay.”
“I believe we’ve already talked about my love of food,” she teased.
“Yeah, well…that doesn’t mean it’s what you’re in the mood for.”
The blush was instantaneous and when Will pulled her in close to kiss her again, she was grateful for the chance to hide her reaction for a minute.
When they broke apart, he pulled her with him toward the kitchen. “I have to go into the shop for a couple of hours tomorrow in the morning. I tried to get out of it but in order for me to have off next weekend, I needed to put in the time this weekend.”
She was disappointed and wasn’t very good at hiding it apparently because when Will looked at her, his shoulders sagged. He was about to say something, but she stopped him. “It’s okay. I know it will just be for a couple of hours and maybe I’ll go into town and walk around a bit.”
The first thing that came to mind was calling Peyton and seeing if her cousin was available for lunch, but she was kind of enjoying this cocoon of privacy she and Will currently had.
“Actually…I had something else in mind. If you’re open to it.”
“Like what?” Serena had a feeling it was going to be something that involved waiting for him in bed or maybe thinking sexy thoughts of him while he was gone.
“I thought maybe you could come to the shop with me.”
Her eyes went wide. “To the shop? You mean the garage?” Why? Why on earth would she want to hang out at a garage? The thought of sitting there watching him work was…well, it wasn’t completely unappealing. After all, she did enjoy simply watching Will.
“Dylan’s business has been growing fast and he’s trying hard to do everything
himself. He’s the owner, lead mechanic, bookkeeper, carpenter, customer service rep and our IT guy.”
“Wow. That’s impressive.” They started to move around the kitchen getting ingredients out for dinner. Will poured her a glass of wine that she readily accepted. “Why is he doing it all? Is the business making money? Can’t he hire out some of those positions?”
Will nodded as he grabbed a large salad bowl down from the top shelf of a cabinet, handing it to Serena. “He’s starting to and for the most part, his load is getting lighter.”
“O-kay…”
“But the shop really needs a good website. He’s got a very basic one going on that is little more than a web page with a picture of the shop, our hours of operation and phone number.”
She nodded. “With this particular kind of business, it would seem that he doesn’t need much else. He’s not selling products through the website, he’s simply letting people know where to come to get work done on their cars.”
“Why can’t it be more?” Will asked casually.
Chopping vegetables, Serena thought about it. “What are you thinking? Or…what is Dylan thinking?”
“He would love a new logo for the shop and for the site to be a little more informative – show some of the restorations we’ve done and a page where people can ask the mechanic a question.”
It wouldn’t be too hard to do, she thought to herself. “Sure. I can look at it and take it to my boss and see…”
“I thought you’d like to do it,” he interrupted, a sheepish grin on his face. “You know, on your own. As a side gig.”
“Oh.” Wow. For so long Serena had toyed with the idea of doing stuff on her own but it scared the hell out of her. “I guess I could. I’ll have to talk to Dylan and see exactly what he wants and…and it’s not a fast fix. Especially to design a new logo. So it wouldn’t be done tomorrow but I can certainly come in and talk to him to get a feel of what he’s looking for and then work on it over the next week or so. Unless he’s in a rush. Because if he’s in a rush he should probably take it to someone else who has the time and resources to put into it.”
“Serena?”
“Hmm?”
Sapphire Falls: Going To Be Yours (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 4
