Page 85 of Can't Take My Eyes Off You

‘They just bring it out in me. I didn’t even have to try,’ I say, not feeling even an ounce of remorse. It’s a little scary.

‘If the bookstore thing ever didn’t work out, I’m thinking prison guard might,’ he jokes. ‘You’re even more amazing than I remembered.’

‘Me tormenting your family gets you off, does it? I feel like I should be worried about that.’

He shakes his head. ‘You do realize I can’t let you stay here with them alone, right? I don’t trust even one of them. If I have to, I’ll sleep in the office chair and Mike can sleep on the floor.’

‘If youhaveto? Is there another place you assumed you were sleeping?’ I ask like I don’t already know exactly what he’s thinking.

He laughs to himself. ‘Yeah,’ he says, glancing at me with puppy-dog eyes. ‘There isoneplace I’d rather sleep.’ The way he holds my gaze while he says the words sends a flutter of butterflies through my body.

‘Where?’ I keep playing the game.

‘Youknowwhere, Berx.’

‘Perhaps I have some idea, but I could be way off so I’m afraid I’ll need you to spell this out for me.’

‘I want to be where I was last night. Holding you in my arms again. Though I’d literally sleep on a bed of nails outside the shop’s front doors if that’s what you preferred.’

‘Hmm… tempting, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary. We could probably work something out,’ I tease right as his family walks back in, every one of them mumbling about how mean I am. Mission accomplished. And we’ve only just begun.

30

BERKLEY

Once the demons downstairs are tucked in for the night, Will and I lock ourselves into my apartment. I’m walking out of my bedroom in my pajamas to find Will standing at my kitchen island, working on the cold pizza I forgot about.

‘Is it weird I’m eating a pizza Alex ordered?’ he asks.

‘Nah,’ I say, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and hopping onto the counter a few feet from where he’s at. He sure is taking his time with all this. Maybe he’s just being respectful but I’m tired of waiting.

‘Why haven’t you kissed me yet?’

He practically chokes on the pizza he just took a bite of. ‘Uh.’ He clears his throat, turning his attention to me. ‘Two reasons. One, I thought you wanted to make me pay, and wasn’t sure you were done with that yet. Two, you literally dumped a guy thirty minutes ago. Is there not a timeframe you give a woman recently single before you start begging her back?’

I laugh to myself. ‘Yet here you are, in my apartmentaftersaid break-up,aftertelling me you came back for me, andaftersaying you want to sleep in my bed, and you’re more interested in the pizza he ordered?’

Will tosses the slice of pizza in his hands back into the box, walking to where I am sitting, and stands between my legs.

‘I didn’t realize you wanted to just get down to business.’ He shyly slides his hands up my thighs to my hips, pulling me closer.

‘That’s what we do, Will. We get down to business and deal with the fallout later.’

‘Exactly,’ he says. ‘I don’t want to do that again. I want more.’

‘Well, welcome to club “I’ve always wanted more”. Took yaforeverto get here.’

Ha laughs. ‘I’m trying to be romantic here. I’ve got a whole plan to earn you back.’

Do I want him to be romantic? Yes. Am I afraid of just taking what I want from him? For years, yes. But that’s gotten me nowhere, so no more. From here on out I tell him what I want no matter how difficult that might be.

He’s leaning into me, his hands on my hips, his face inches from mine as he stares at me. Hesitantly, I reach up, rest my hands on either side of his neck then press my lips to his. He gasps like he didn’t expect it, then kisses me back like a soldier home from war. God, I missed him. He guides my legs around his waist, pulling me closer. The power plant from the karaoke bar just flipped back on. Full power. Sweet Lord, I wanna do the hell out of him right now. And I can. I’m suddenly single. He’s single. Sure, I’ve got a building full of monsters downstairs, but the one kissing me desperately seems to have come to his senses. I’ve never seen him so present. No phone. No distractions. Just him and me, like he’s suddenly grown up and knows what he wants.Me. Finally.

His fingers in my hair send shivers down my spine, practically knocking the breath right out of me. I haven’t kissed him in a long time, and it feels nothing like I remember. It’s… better? Like electricity is indeed surging through me to him. A moan leaves my lips, and he takes this as his cue to move down my neck, kissing softly to my collarbone then back to my ear.

‘Oh my God, please just do me,’ I say.

He laughs, lifting me from the counter, his hands on my ass and mine around his neck. He never removes his lips from mine, just carries me backward towards my room, ramming me into the door frame in our anxiousness to get there.

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