Page 59 of Sweet

“Hey, Jesse,” I say with my most dazzling smile. I’m petty, I know. “Will.”

Jesse’s still got a hand on Will and that makes me a bit twitchy, but for some reason that continues to elude me, I am not mad at Will for this. Instead, I want nothing more than to prune Jesse’s fingers off him with a pair of shears, then stuff each one down his throat. Not going to do that in public, though.

“What brings you all the way out to my neck of the woods, baby?” Will smiles back at me like the cat who ate the canary.

Now, Will telling Jesse about us isn’t part of the plan, but a lovely surprise for me, nonetheless. Mostly because Will does it himself. Maybe that shouldn’t be so surprising given how he goes out of his way to stake his claim at every given opportunity, but his eyes stay locked on me like nothing and no one else exists.

Jesse snaps his head over to Will, questioning whether he hears that right. Yes, you do.

“Just had to grab something real quick,” I say to Will.

“Shoot, here I was hoping you wanted to run into me at work.” Will smiles wider while he teases me.

“I don’t need to when you’re due back at my place in…” I look at my wristwatch. “Less than four hours.”

Will looks even more pleased by this, Jesse still does not, and I head to the back of the store for a believable impromptu purchase. Jesse remains in the bagging area when I return, and the fact that Will either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care that his best friend looks seconds away from a rampage brings me intense joy. As soon as my card’s back in my wallet, but before I’ve grabbed my bag, Will walks around the counter with a dreamy smile and smooches me.

“Have a good day. I’ll see you tonight, baby,” he says right before kissing me yet again.

And what the fuck, because that wasnice. So much so that my face warms and I can feel myself smiling without thinking about it yet again. Jesse about throws my bag of groceries at me on my way out, but I don’t give a damn.

Will gets out in the afternoon and will be here right after work, but that’s still not soon enough for my liking. Any amount of time away seems too long. He’s become something of an addiction and one I don’t think I’ll break easily. That’s because I often tire of people, but not my obsessions. People have always let me down, so people continually lose my attention, eventually. Bees? Never. Any other special interests of mine? Not a chance. Hobbies offer the comfort of structure and familiarity. People? Rarely.

Yet, I almost feel that way when it comes to Will. He’s not as predictable as I’d like, but I do find myself easing into comfort more and more around him. He’s been ingrained in my daily routine since long before we even met and now that we have, I feel more out of sorts by his absence than I ever have been by his presence.

That being said, we have a lot in common. Maybe even too much, considering our overlapping traits. And maybe that should scare me, since it probably would any normal person, but it doesn’t. He doesn’t. Will excites me in more ways than one, and I suspect I do the same for him. He reminds me of a caged animal systematically testing the walls of their enclosure for any weak spots. Only, I’m what’s keeping him contained and those weaknesses he finds are what he’ll use to bury his way under my skin. And this man, he’s got me fighting the urge to be pressed against the window the minute I hear the tires of his car in my gravel driveway.

Will knocks on my screen door, and I try to act as if I haven’t been waiting by the door for the last ten minutes or like I’ve known he was here since before he parked. He smiles when I open the door for him.

“Honey, I’m home.”

I roll my eyes, mostly disgusted that yet again he’s successfully made me respond not only positively but involuntarily. I’m beaming from ear to ear and I can feel it.

Before anything can be said by me, Will scoops me up and throws me over his shoulder. Then I’m too stunned to address anything but the subject at hand. “What are you doing?” I ask while the front door recedes from view.

“Abducting you,” Will cackles.

“I live here,” I laugh with him.

“The term can also apply to holding someone against their will.” And even though I can’t see, I can hear him kicking the door to my bedroom open. “Like I keep telling you, baby. You’re mine.” And he literallythrowsme back onto my bed. “I’m starting to think you enjoy making me jealous.”

“Oh, I do?”

“Yeah, youdo.” Will grabs my hips and yanks me closer, hurriedly undoing the buckle. “You always look so damn cute wearing my clothes, then you had to go and ruin it by talking to Jess before me.” And he moves on to undoing my jeans next. “Luckily for you, I very much enjoy reminding you that Iownyou, baby.”

My breath hitches when his fingers graze my thighs and he looks especially wicked when he rips my jeans down my legs. He’s got me stripped in seconds and he only needs a few more to undress himself, too.

“I’d love nothing more than to fuck you right now,” Will whispers as he drags me across the bed toward him, his fingers gripping my hips while he pulls me right into his lap so we’re facing each other.

“You can.” My chest rises and falls even more rapidly at the very thought.

“I know I can,” he says with another smile. “But I’m not letting you off that easily.”

Will’s hands move toward my ass, kneading the flesh and only gripping harder when I jolt away in response. My body shudders from the mixture of discomfort and arousal in my response, which only makes his cock swell. He presses me closer against him and that’s when the alarm in my head always seems to go off. I don’t even know why, only that I don’tlikefeeling as if I’m not in control. As soon as I lose that sense of the situation, I revert to immediate panic.

“Cas.” He’s said my name a few times already but only now does it register. “Look at me.”

My eyes flick up to meet his.

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