Page 127 of In Spades

I flinched. He was a breath away from the crease between my thighs, and all my friends were watching. My core burned with lust and unmet desire, but he didn’t move closer.

Instead, he used the edges of the chair to show off his taut biceps. He pumped up and down, completing a handful of push-ups before rolling his body upright like a snake.

My awareness of the crowd around us vanished. I reached out and trailed my fingers between his pecs to his riveted six-pack.

He kicked his boot up onto the edge of the chair. His muscles flexed as he thrust his pelvis in time with Honky Tonk Badonkadonk like a fuck-hot ranch hand.

I slid my fingers down the path of dark hair that disappeared beneath his belt. Will leaned down to kiss me as the song faded to a slower tune.

“Holy fuck,” Maddie said, her jaw hanging open. “Methuselah’s got moves. Damn, Kris—he’s hotter than chicken grease.”

“Geez,” Will laughed as he pulled his crisp white undershirt back on. “I’m like a year older than Luca.” He shot me a wink. “I’m barely robbing the cradle, here.”

“Way to be a good sport, Father Time,” Maddie said, laughing as she and Will fist bumped. “You make AARP look sexy.”

With the dog and pony show over, the rest of the girls ran back to the bar for drinks. Steve looked down and poked his abs, grumbling about still being the ripped one.

Before I could turn, Will caught my hand and pulled me into his arms. His palm covered my waist, and his hand swallowed mine.

“Dance with me?” he asked. The rumble of his voice soothed me. I relaxed in his arms as we swayed.

“You were a good sport about all that,” I said as he spun me under his arm.

The song changed to a faster tempo, and we wordlessly moved into a two-step. Will led me without bulldozing me, boot-scooting across the dance floor.

“I could say the same about you,” he said, smiling. “And for the record, it’s fucking hot when you blush like that. You’ve got this innocent thing going on during nights like this, then you turn into a confident little goddess in the bedroom. I love both sides of you. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of it.”

Will pulled me closer and splayed his hand across my back. My breasts flattened against his muscular body. I turned my head and rested my temple on his chest as we slowed to a sway.

Before Will came by the house to pick me up for girls’ night, the kids questioned why he never stayed at our place. I’d never let it be an option because it felt like a million roadblocks were in the way. The kids’ feelings, my lack of a bed, the single bathroom we all shared.

But mostly, it had been my pride.

One by one, Will took a wrecking ball to all my excuses. And he did it while he distracted me with the most selfless love I’d ever felt.

I felt like Cinderella, dancing the night away with her prince while humming, So This Is Love.

“What are you thinking so hard about, Sunshine?” Will said, murmuring against the top of my head.

I could trust him, I reminded myself. Will was the most honest, gentle man I had ever known. Trust him, Kristin.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” I asked quietly. “If you can’t because you have things to do tomorrow morning, or if you just don’t want to, I get it?—”

He shut me up with a kiss. Supple and soft. Will cupped my jaw, stroking my cheek with his thumb.

“Is that a yes?” I asked when we broke away for necessary oxygen.

Will’s nose bumped against mine, and my lashes fluttered closed. “Sweetheart, I thought you’d never ask.”

29

WILLIAM

“You’re sure about this?” I asked as we pulled into the mobile home park.

It would’ve been a dirty lie to say I didn’t want to stay the night with Kristin. I had wanted that for so long, but she’d been adamantly against it. I was scared that crossing that boundary would be one step forward and ten steps back.

We rolled to a stop in front of her single-wide, and I killed the lights. “I don’t want to push you…”

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