Most of what Ali had read online about Will had focused on his company, his many accolades and the fact that he was labeled as one of the youngest and richest bachelors in the internet world. She’d seen various pictures of him with beautiful women on his arm, but she’d never come across anything regarding him being in a committed relationship. However, that didn’t mean he hadn’t been seriously involved with someone in the past ten years.
Which brought her right back to the reason he was here at the reunion. “You still didn’t answer my question,” she said softly, meeting and holding his gaze steadily. “Why did you come here to see me?”
He exhaled a deep breath, and there was no mistaking the remorse that etched his handsome features. Gently grabbing both of her hands in his, he held them securely as he stared so deeply into her eyes she wondered if he could see into her soul. It certainly felt like it to her.
“I came here because you and I didn’t part ways on the best of terms in high school,” he said, stroking his thumbs across the back of her hands in a soothing caress, even though his voice had a rough edge to it. “With everything that happened at the end of our senior year, how things ended between us… Well, I have a whole lot of regrets, even now. There’s so much I’d change if I had the chance to go back in time and do it all over again.”
Oh, wow. The candor behind his words left no doubt in Ali’s mind that he meant exactly what he’d just said. And it also compelled her to say something to ease his conscience. “We all do stupid things, Will. Especially as teenagers.”
The frown furrowing his brow didn’t ease. “I know, but I was really stupid, and I hurt you badly.” He wove their fingers together, entwining them intimately. “I knew that then, and I wanted, no, needed, you to know how sorry I am for the way I treated you.”
“Thank you,” she said, realizing just how much she appreciated his honesty. “That means a lot.”
If there was any shred of reservation left in her for what had happened in the past, his candid, heartfelt words wiped the slate clean. That he’d openly apologized and still felt bad about the incident after all these years said a lot about Will—about the upstanding, decent man he’d become, and possibly about how he still felt about her. Because who in their right mind would subject themselves to facing all the classmates who’d ridiculed him, just to make amends with a girl he’d once had a crush on if there wasn’t still something there?
As for her, it was becoming increasingly clear that the attraction they’d once shared was still simmering between them, a small spark just waiting for the right tinder to turn it into a full-fledged wildfire. But there was suddenly an emotional component involved, all based on how he’d opened up to her, not knowing if she’d even accept his apology. That took guts and courage, and now that the olive branch had been extended, and accepted, a wealth of possibilities awaited the two of them. A second chance to see where all this might lead.
She visibly shivered as desire blossomed and spread through her veins in a heady rush, and Will mistook her reaction to a chill in the air. Releasing her hands, he shrugged out of his jacket to give to her.
“Here, take my coat,” he said, then draped it over her shoulders, pulling it close around her body.
She really wasn’t that cold, but he was so insistent she didn’t want to refuse. And once his jacket settled around her, warm from his own masculine heat and smelling like his woodsy cologne, she didn’t want to give it up.
“So tell me, how are you handling your major success?” she asked. They’d turned toward one another on the seat, and now his hand rested on her knee, which she didn’t mind at all. His touch was both comforting and arousing. “Has a lot changed for you?”
“Everything’s changed,” he admitted, shaking his head as if even he couldn’t believe how his life had turned out. “It’s actually very surreal. I love what I do, especially when it comes to the programming part of the job, and I have to admit the money is obscene. But for me, it’s not about being a millionaire and living a lavish, excessive lifestyle. I don’t drive a fancy, high-dollar car. I don’t live in a huge mansion. And I only have one vice—buying the latest and greatest electronic gadget to hit the market.” His expression was sheepish, his grin boyishly sexy.
She remembered he’d taken on tutoring jobs in high school to not only help out financially with his family, but also to buy his first used laptop computer. They’d also had conversations about how Will’s father had died when he was just a boy, and with four hungry mouths to feed, Will’s mother had taken on two jobs to support the family, working over sixty hours a week. The Beckmans had struggled, but he’d never complained, not even when Ali knew he’d worn clothes from Goodwill because that’s all his mother could afford, and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a daily basis.
“How is your mom doing?” she asked.
His eyes lit up, along with his smile. “She’s doing amazingly well. She just got married to a great guy, they’re both retired and travel a lot, and she’s very happy.” He stared at the fire pit for a moment, then met her gaze again. “The one thing all the money I’ve made has enabled me to do is to take care of my family, and I’m so grateful for that. The first thing I did when I had enough cash was buy my mom a new house, paid in full. And I’ve made sure that my sisters don’t have anything to worry about, either.”
She wasn’t surprised to hear that Will’s first priority was his family, or that he was still humble about his enormous success. He’d come from very frugal beginnings, and had become a man who knew how to save a dollar and spend it wisely, too.
“The one thing I’ve done that I’m extremely proud of is I started a program at Sentinel for teenagers who are having a hard time fitting in at high school and have an interest in computer software. If they have a strong GPA, I offer them an internship at the company, teach them about programming and software and give them a place where they’re accepted and not bullied because they’d rather be tinkering with an HTML code than partying or playing sports.”
Ali was content to listen to Will talk, impressed by the choices he’d made and how passionate he was about his company, and making a difference in the lives of kids who didn’t easily fit in. He offered scholarships to various organizations, went to high schools to give speeches on keeping one’s drive and focus on what mattered most to them, regardless of what anyone else thought. Will was a man who gave, and wanted nothing in return but to better the lives of those less fortunate—because he’d once been there himself.
For the next hour or so, their conversation ran the gamut of the past and present, giving them both better insight to the lives they’d led since high school. Their exchange was relaxed and comfortable, with laughter and flirtations, reminding Ali of how it had once been between the two of them ten years ago, before things had ended so painfully. And now, in just a matter of a few hours, she felt herself falling for him all over again. An exciting, scary prospect.
The fire in the pit had died down, and even cocooned in Will’s jacket, she was starting to get a bit chilled. She suddenly noticed how quiet it was and glanced around, realizing everyone who’d been out on the patio earlier had gone inside. She had no idea what time it was.
“It’s getting late, and colder,” she said, even though she was reluctant for them to part ways. “We should probably head back in.”
He exhaled an exaggerated sigh and stood, then extended a hand to help her up. “If we must.” He sounded just as disappointed.
She laughed, something that came very easily around him. “I know exactly how you feel.” Placing her fingers against his warm palm, she let him pull her to her feet.
Once they were both standing, she expected Will to lead the way back to the party, but he didn’t move. Face-to-face, with less than a foot of space separating them, she tipped her chin up and caught his serious expression. Then, she looked into his eyes, the same deep blue eyes she’d gotten lost in so many times as an infatuated teenage girl while he’d gone ove
r her calculus homework with her. Now, she felt as though she were drowning in a sea of desire, and needed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to survive how breathless he made her feel.
“God, I’ve missed that,” he murmured, gently tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear before letting his fingertips trail sensuously along the shell of her ear, then down the side of her neck.
Deep inside, she trembled. The husky quality of his voice, combined with the heat in his gaze, completely and totally entranced her. “Missed what?” she asked, her own voice barely a whisper.
“The sound of your laughter. And especially you.” He brazenly grazed the pad of his thumb along her lower lip, his gaze fixated on her mouth, which had parted on a sigh. “I was prepared for you to have changed, and you have, but all the wonderful qualities I fell so hard for ten years ago are still the same, just as I was hoping. Only now you’re so much more vibrant. And sexy as hell.”
Her body couldn’t help but respond to his words. To him. Her pulse fluttered in her throat, and the breaths she managed to inhale were shallow. Each was filled with the warmth of him and the dark, enticing scent of his body, which had edged to within a tempting inch of her own.
His hands went to the collar of the suit jacket still draped over her shoulders, his fingers curling beneath the lapels and gently pulled forward, using those flaps as an anchor to draw her mouth closer to his, yet leaving her own hands unable to touch him. “Do you believe in second chances?” he asked, touching his lips to hers, ever-so-softly.
Her lashes drifted shut, and she managed, just barely, to stifle a needy moan. Because that’s exactly what Will did to her. He made her want and yearn, and it had been forever since she’d been so thoroughly seduced. “Yes,” she replied in a hushed tone.
He smiled against her lips. “Good. So do I.”
Then, his mouth claimed hers, so confident and sure. He’d become a man who wasn’t the least bit hesitant about taking what he wanted. His tongue swept inside, swirling slowly, seductively with her own, and pure pleasure rushed through her veins. He tasted like whiskey and toffee and the most delicious kind of sin.
Too soon, he lifted his head. His hot, hungry gaze—brimming with pure, undisguised lust—searched hers. “It’s still there, isn’t it?” he asked in awe.
“Oh, yeah,” she rasped, knowing exactly what he meant. But this time around, the passion between them was stronger, more potent, more demanding.
Groaning deep in his chest, he released the lapels of his jacket and delved the fingers of one hand into her hair, and slid the other around her waist, bringing her flush against his hard thighs, his flat stomach and his muscular chest. Tangling his fingers through her blond waves, he angled her head and went in for another deep, thoroughly arousing kiss. Lips meshed, tongues mated and the erection making itself known against her belly only made the moment more heated and intense.
The hand he’d tucked beneath the coat skimmed over her hip and along her rib cage, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. He swept his thumb beneath the fullness of her right breast, and her nipples tightened painfully against the sheer lace of her bra. She made a small, wordless noise of approval, and he daringly cupped the fullness in his palm and teased the aching tip between his fingers.
She gasped into his mouth, but he continued to tempt and tease, his hips flexed against hers, making her feel wild and impulsive. She desperately wanted to be alone with him, preferably somewhere with a soft bed. The thought was shocking and spontaneous, especially for her, but all the signals were there, and there was no denying the instinctive way her body craved his. It was as if she’d been waiting the past ten years for him… .
“Ali?” A high-pitched female voice called out from somewhere behind Will. “Ali, is that you?”
Startled out of her passionate haze, Ali jerked back, ending the kiss to end all kisses. Her face was still close to Will’s, they were both breathing hard, and her cheeks felt flushed with desire—and soon-to-be embarrassment. As if realizing the compromising situation he’d put her in, his hands fell away from her hair and breast, though he didn’t move away. He remained standing in front of her, shielding and protecting her, giving her a moment to catch her equilibrium, which she appreciated.
But that didn’t stop Lori from invading their personal space. She came right up to the two of them, her eyes a bit glassy, most likely from too much alcohol.
“There you are, Ali,” Lori said a little too loudly, a sly smirk playing across her lips as she glanced from Ali, to Will, then back to Ali again. “Sorry to interrupt whatever was going on, but we’ve been looking all over the place for you. The girls want to take a picture of the cheerleader squad, so we all have a ‘then’ and ‘now’ photo.”
The last thing Ali wanted was to reminisce with people who were no longer friends, not when she wanted to spend that time with Will. But Lori didn’t give her any choice. She looped her arm through Ali’s and started tugging her toward the patio doors, and Ali knew she’d look like a bitch if she refused. A few pictures, then she was leaving the cocktail party with Will.
Except he wasn’t following her. She stopped for a second, forcing Lori to do the same. “Aren’t you coming inside?” she asked Will.
He sent her a warm, sexy smile and pushed his hands into the front pockets of his pants, reminding her that he most likely needed a little more time to cool down before being seen in public. “You go ahead.”
“I’ll be back,” she assured him.
“Come on,” Lori said, giving her arm an exasperated tug. “The girls are waiting.”
And Lord forbid they keep the girls waiting, Ali thought with a roll of her eyes.
She dutifully posed for the pictures, forcing a smile while the other women laughed and cracked raunchy jokes that Ali didn’t find funny at all. Oddly enough, she felt out of place, as if she didn’t belong—and she was more than okay with that. There had been a time when she’d been popular, the young girl who had it all, but she knew that none of that mattered in the big picture of life. Especially her life.
Nearly twenty minutes later she was finally able to break away from the group, and she immediately headed back outside to the patio for Will. Except he wasn’t there. She was definitely disappointed that he’d disappeared on her, but not at all disheartened.
Because a man didn’t kiss a woman like Will had kissed her and not intend to follow through. At least she hoped that was his intention.
But old insecurities reared their head, reminding her of another time, and another place, when he’d left her waiting, and wanting. Only time would tell if history would repeat itself, if she was always destined to be the girl who got left behind.
4
WILL FINISHED THE LAST of his coffee as he shut down his laptop computer after reading emails and making sure there wasn’t anything pressing he needed to take care of while he was gone. Since it was Saturday, all seemed quiet on the work front, but he always liked to be available to his clients, just in case anything required his attention.
Standing, he stretched his muscles, contemplating the day ahead. He’d woken up early that morning, spent an hour in the gym doing cardio, then ordered a light breakfast from room service while he’d taken a shower and changed. It was now eleven-thirty and the entire afternoon stretched ahead of him.
Feeling restless, he headed out the sliding glass doors to the patio overlooking one of the main pool areas, the Chicago summer heat already climbing into the high eighties. With his room on the twelfth floor, he had a wide view of the resort’s impressive landscape and amenities. At Celebrations, there was definitely something for everyone, and it was a great place to have a reunion of any sort—if that was your sort of thing.
The only thing Will was interested in this weekend was Ali, and he was pretty certain he’d made those intentions clear last night.
Walking into his high school reunion’s cocktail reception and ignoring everyone but Ali had been liberating. It didn’t matter that people had stopped
and stared at him, or whispered behind his back about how much he’d changed. Even the women had looked at him differently, with not-so-subtle interest in their eyes, but the only person’s opinion he’d cared about was Ali’s and she hadn’t disappointed him. Their time together out by the fire pit, the talking, laughing and getting caught up on each other’s lives, had bridged the gap between past and present, and reignited the connection they’d once shared.
And then there was that smoking-hot kiss to consider. He groaned even now, remembering how soft and warm she’d felt in his arms, how sweet and lush her mouth had tasted, how her full, firm breast had fit so perfectly in the palm of his hand. Her uninhibited response had nearly blown his mind, and if it hadn’t been for Lori’s untimely appearance, there was no telling just how far their make-out session would have gone.
As frustrating as the interruption had been, he’d been grateful for the distraction. Without it, he probably would have pulled Ali right back down to the love seat and who knows what would have happened? Sending her back into the reception had given him time to tamp down his arousal and clear his head. And it had given Ali time, too, to make sure that whatever happened next in their new, tentative relationship, she would be making the decision without the haze of desire clouding her judgment.
This weekend, he wanted no regrets between them. No lies or secrets or anything else to undermine the trust they needed to rebuild. And that meant finally confiding in Ali the true reason he’d severed their relationship back in high school. It wasn’t a topic he was anxious to discuss with her, but it was necessary to clear the air and equally important for them to be able to start over fresh, without the past being any kind of bone of contention between them. And knowing that the desire was stronger than ever made it easy to pursue her, to do things right this time around.
The sound of people cheering, laughing and generally having fun drew his attention back down to the main pool, where a group of men and women were playing a game of volleyball in the water. He recognized most of the players from last night’s reception. Two coed teams had squared off, and the game seemed to have taken on an aggressive, competitive edge with the men battling it out for the win, while trying to impress their bikini-clad teammates with their skills.
The Guy Most Likely To...: Underneath It AllCan't Get You Out of My HeadA Moment Like This Page 9
