Page 102 of Love Me Steadfast
“I’ll bring it to her tomorrow,” I say with forced lightness.
Theo checks his watch. “You need a ride home? I could drop you?—”
“I’m taking her,” William interrupts, his tone even but I note the tension in his jaw.
Theo’s gaze meets mine again. “I’m good,” I say to reassure him.
With one final flick of his gaze toward William, he slips past the living room and through the front door.
“Um, what was that about?” I ask him, frowning.
“It’s an old story,” William says just as the rest of the party migrates into the kitchen, empty platters and plates in hand, their bright chatter and laughter filling the house.
After everyone pitchesin cleaning up, guests depart one by one. William and I say goodbye and I pick up Morgan’s guitar. The driveway is empty by the time we step outside.
Cricket song crowds the silence. The cool night air is heavy with pine and hints of the lavender growing at the edges of Zach and Sofie’s yard. Above us, the sky is an inky bowl of bright stars. Ollie trots by my side, her soft fur brushing my bare legs.
I fight the urge to reach for William’s hand with my free one. The yearning for him has been growing inside me all day, and now that we’re alone, it’s vibrating from inside my very bones. It’s confusing, and powerful, and wrong. Or is it?
At the back of the truck, William lowers the tailgate and Ollie leaps up.
But before Will can close her inside, she spins to my face and licks my nose.
“Hey!” I say with a laugh, wiping my face with the sleeve of my sweater.
“That’s a high honor,” William says, scratching her head. “Isn’t it, girl.”
She licks his knuckles.
Will walks me to the passenger door and folds the seat down so I can slide in Morgan’s guitar. Just as I flip the seat back into place, a white burst of light burns across the horizon. “Shooting star!” I say too late.
Will whirls around. “Damn. Missed it.”
“Maybe there will be more.”
He turns back, and I realize how close we’re standing, with the darkness pressing in.
My heart wallops into my throat and a lush heat unfurls inside my chest, releasing a fresh crop of butterflies that spin and dive.
William’s nostrils flare, and his inhale is so shaky, his chest rattles. His fingertips graze the side of my cheek, ghosting along my jaw. Slowly, so slowly while I unravel from the inside out.
He curls a stray lock of hair behind my ear, the tenderness of his touch drawing my cravings and fears right to the surface.
Kiss me!
Don’t kiss me!
His thumb glides behind the shell of my ear to the pulse now throbbing below it.
“Are you scared?” he asks, the muscles in his jaw tensing as he stares down at me.
Emotion stings behind my eyes. I try to catch a breath but it sticks to my numb tongue. “Are you?”
“The only thing I’m scared of is losing you a second time.”
“William,” I get out before the rest of it bottles up inside my throat. I slide my hand to the back of his neck and tug him to me. The emotions I’ve been so disciplined in controlling surge loose, sending quivers down my thighs. I close my eyes as his lips touchmine, his peppery scent enveloping me like a cloud I could get lost in. I grip his neck tighter and drink in the plush warmth of his mouth on mine. The way he lingers, drawing out each slow, hungry kiss. In the back of my mind, alarm bells are screaming, but they’re no match for the desire ratcheting up inside me.
So I tune into the gentle flick of his tongue, the sweet tension in my muscles and the heat purring inside me like an engine, and the thump of my pulse dropping down, down, to the growing ache between my thighs. I place my other hand on his chest. His steady, quickening breaths expand into my palm, the muscles beneath his shirt taut and lean. He caresses down my spine to rest the flat of his big hand in the small of my back, and tugs me closer.
