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Will and I walk through the hotel lobby, towards the lift, and I catch the permanently gobsmacked receptionist staring.
“You’re staying here?” Will asks, taking in his plush surroundings.
“Um...yeah. It was kind of a last-minute thing.”
“Since when?”
“Since about a week ago. But I haven’t actually stayed here yet.”
“So...you haven’t slept in the bed?” I shake my head, puzzled at his delighted tone. “Don’t expect to get any rest tonight either, baby. We have time to make up.” That delicious ache I associate with Will has begun to build in my belly. And he only makes it worse in the lift. He backs me against the wall and hikes me up, perching my bum on the handrails and nudging his way between my legs, nipping and sucking my neck.
He lowers me back to my feet, when the ding announces our arrival at our floor, and leads me dazed and dazzled to our suite. He takes the key from my fumbling, impatient hands and unlocks the door.
We walk inside, and he pushes it slowly shut. He leans against it and kicks off his boots and discards his socks. “I’d tell you to slow down. That we need to take our time and savour this, but I’m so fucking desperate for you, baby.” He swallows hard, his eyes on my mouth. “But...I can wait...if you’re... fuck! Eva!”
He groans as he kisses me back, just as wildly as I’m kissing him, his hands tangled in my hair as I pull hungrily at his clothes, alternating between his shirt and his jeans. I want him. Now.
“Show me,” he growls. I know what he means. And I’ll do anything to get him naked right now. So, I show him exactly how badly I need his touch when I touch myself.
***
Will stretches out beside me on the bed, his fingertips trailing up and down my thigh as I try to regain use of my limbs. “Baby, this...us...this has never been just sex. You are the first and only woman I have ever made love to.”
“Will...” I screw my eyes shut and turn my face away. “I don’t want to know.”
“No, listen.” He guides my face back to his and kisses my lips lightly. “Yes, I’ve had sex with a lot of different women, with one notable exception,” he growls. “But that was all it was. Sex. In fact, it wasn’t even that. It was me making them want me...” He moves over and pins my hands when I pull away from him. “I didn’t want them. But there was part of me that was glad they wanted me, because no one else did. There was part of me that wanted to make them want me.
“And it turned out I was good at it. I could make them want me. Well, not me. I wasn’t a person to them. I was a toy. A meal ticket. I learned to accept that. To play to it.
“It was easy. But I didn’t ever want them. I just fucked them, and left them to pick up the pieces when I turned over my evidence.”
He kisses away the tears that are trickling down my face. “But then I met you. And I was so desperate to make you want me, Eva. Because I wanted you. I wanted to be the man who made you smile. I wanted to be the one to see those eyes when they first open in the morning. I wanted your heart. Yes, I wanted your body, but most of all, I wanted your love.
“That first time. The first time we made love, I finally felt loved. I felt love. For you. And I knew I was yours for life. And I was so scared you wouldn’t want me when you found out what kind of man I was...and that day...with the pregnancy test for Bells. I wished it was yours.”
“Will...” I choke, reaching up for his beautiful face. “I’m yours. I always have been. I always will be.”
“I’m sorry for what I said. In Mexico... I—”
“You are the love of my life, Will. Not Dan.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. Yes, baby. I know. And you are mine.”
“I know.” I lift my head and press my lips to his. “I know.”
“I still hate that you married him though.”
“Oh, Will...It wasn’t....” How do I explain this? “It was different. We weren’t together very long. And it wasn’t a wedding; it was signing a piece of paper. I almost didn’t go through with it.” Will gasps. “I didn’t want to marry him. I just thought I was out of options.”
“You didn’t want to marry him?” I shake my head and peek up at him.
“I understood it after, when I was past the hard grieving and had time to think. But what I wanted was my family back. He was Gary’s brother...And Gary was my one tangible link to my own brother, but he was gone...”
“You were trying to hold onto Gary and Davey?”
“Yes...and my dad...”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Will lowers his mouth back to mine and kisses me gently. “I never thought of it like that.” He pauses, his lips pressed together. “Did you love him?”
“I thought maybe I could at the time. But now I know how wrong I was. It’s like...when you and I met, I knew. I knew I wanted you, and I knew you were trouble, but I couldn’t get you out of my head. Every time you touched me, I wanted to climb inside you and keep feeling that forever. I’d never experienced that before. But then, I don’t suppose I could have. If this is a once in a lifetime love.”
“It definitely is.” Will reaches around my neck, his eyes never leaving mine as he unclasps my chain. He slips the ring off and into his palm, before he takes my left hand.
“Don’t ever take this off again.”
“Never,” I promise.