"Tell me about Sylvia."

Will and I are back in his car, heading to his house, and the nerves have kicked in. This is it. Tonight is the night.

I really, really wish I'd had something to drink.

"Sylvia doesn't matter."

"She's your mother."

"Trust me, genetics doesn't make someone a mother."

"Tell me." He looks over at me, his face unreadable and I sigh.

"Why?"

"Because we have to talk about something or I'll pull this car over and take you on the hood. And the date isn't technically over until I get you inside the house. So talk."

"Okay." I clear my throat. "But can we do the f.u.c.king on the hood thing sometime soon?"

He glares at me and his hands tighten on the steering wheel. He's not touching me.

"Yes. Talk."

"I was taken away from her when I was twelve."

"Why?" he asks, deceptively softly.

"Because she sucked as a parent. Drugs. A revolving door of men."

"Did any of them...?" he can't finish the sentence.

"No. She made me go in my room and lock the door when the men were around. Mostly she just neglected me. Forgot to buy food, forgot to send me to school. Eventually a teacher took interest and I was taken away."

"What happened then?"

"I got shuffled around. Ten foster homes in four years."

"And then you found a family to stay with until you turned eighteen?" he asks.

"No, then I got cut loose. The system couldn't afford me anymore."

"You were on your own at sixteen years old?" he asks, shocked and angry.

"I had Leo. He had already come to Seattle to go to school, so I followed him and stayed with him. He made me get a job, finish school, enroll in college. He's really like a brother to me."

"How did you meet him?" Will's voice is softer, but he still doesn't sound happy.

"The first foster home. He was there too. We had music in common. He taught me to play the guitar, and he had a job, so he got me a cell phone so I could stay in contact with him."

"I'm glad you had him," he mutters. "Why do you even still talk to your mother?"

"I send her money every month." d.a.m.n it. I hadn't meant to say that.

"What?!" Now he's really, really angry. "Why the f.u.c.k do you send her money?"

"Because I feel guilty." I look down at my hands and feel ashamed. "Because she would probably starve without it."

"She would have let you starve, Megan."

"I don't need the money. She does." I shrug. "And if I send her money and keep her in Montana, maybe she won't ever come here to ask me for anything."

The last part is a whisper. I've never told anyone this before. Not ever.

We pull into Will's drive.

"What's the code?" he asks me with a smile.

"051877," I respond and he nods happily, inputs the code and drives us to the house and into the garage.

We climb out of the car and he leads me into the house. The garage enters into a mud room, and then into a gorgeous kitchen. It's open to a dining s.p.a.ce and family living area, with floor-to-ceiling windows covering one whole wall, showing off the Sound.

"I really love this s.p.a.ce," I murmur and walk over to the windows, taking in the view. It's dark out. Lights twinkle from homes and businesses on the island across the water.

"I really love having you in this s.p.a.ce."

Will's voice is soft. He's standing a few feet behind me. I see his reflection in the dark window. His hands are in fists at his sides, and he's breathing quickly.

His eyes are running up and down my back. I slip the shrug off my shoulders and let it fall to the floor. The red sundress has spaghetti straps and flows down around my hips to my mid-thigh. His gaze meets mine in the gla.s.s and then he closes his eyes tightly and exhales roughly.

"Will?" I ask as I turn around to look at him. G.o.d, he's so gorgeous. He's wearing a gray b.u.t.ton-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms. He's in black jeans, and he already took his shoes off, so he's just in black socks.

His blue eyes are hot on mine.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Is this date over?" I ask.

"I believe so, yes."

"Thank G.o.d."

Chapter Nine.

I jump into Will's arms, wrap my arms around his neck, thrust my fingers into his hair and kiss him like I'm dying. He grips onto my a.s.s as my legs circle his waist and groans.

"Let's do this right here, on the kitchen counter," I mumble and kiss his neck. He chuckles and carries me up the stairs toward his room.

"No way. My bed first, kitchen later."

"Okay," I agree. I lean back, completely confident that he won't drop me and unb.u.t.ton his shirt. He sets me on my feet at the edge of the bed, turns on a sidelight and grabs the hem of my dress and pulls it over my head in one swift move.

I immediately reach for his shirt but he backs out of my grasp.

"Come here, I want you naked."

"Let me look at you," he murmurs, bringing me to a stop.

"No, you've seen me. Let me see you, babe. Seriously, I'm gonna die if you don't get naked like thirty seconds ago."

His eyes burn over my body as he quickly shucks off his jeans and shirt, leaving just his tight, white, short boxer briefs.

I allow myself the luxury of standing and staring at him. Dear G.o.d, he's physically perfect. The muscles in his arms, chest, abs and legs are defined. He's sporting that s.e.xy V down his hips, disappearing into those s.e.xy as f.u.c.k underwear. His body is so well taken care of, it's almost intimidating.

"So this is what you do when you're off training every day." I realize I must have said that out loud when Will smirks. "You're just... wow."

And cue the self-consciousness. I'm not too fat, not too thin, I'm just an average girl. I'm not terribly toned. I don't run. I work a demanding job that keeps me on the go, so I don't work out often.

I start to cover myself, but Will quickly lifts me in his arms and gently lays me down on his bed, covering me with his large, hard body.

"No covering up this amazing body, sweetheart."

I smirk and try to look away but he grips my chin and forces me to look him in the eye. "You. Are. Amazing. Meg, I love a woman who looks like a woman. I don't want to be worried that I'll snap you in half, and when I lay on your stomach, I don't want your ribs poking me in the face."

He braces himself on his elbows at the side of my head, buries his fingers in my hair and kisses the dimple in my cheek and then down to my neck.

"You smell good. Like fresh air." His lips travel down my neck to my collar bones and then down my sternum. I brush my hands over his arms and shoulders, up through his soft hair, and then down his shoulders again.

"Will..."

"Shh. Let me enjoy you."

"You've already enjoyed me. It's my turn," I whine and he smiles against my stomach.

"You'll get a turn, trust me, babe. But first I want to kiss this delicious body all over."

I wiggle beneath him, impatient.

"We've waited long enough. Can't we f.u.c.k fast first and then make love after?"

He moves up me quickly, lowers onto me so I'm cradling his pelvis in my own. His eyes are on fire and he's panting.

"We aren't going to f.u.c.k, Meg. Even when it's hard and fast or a little rough or a lot dirty, I'm not f.u.c.king you. In the kitchen, in the bedroom, on my car, or any d.a.m.n where I want to take you, will not be f.u.c.king. f.u.c.king is for strangers or people who don't give a s.h.i.t about each other." He circles his hips, pushing his erection against me, and I bite my lip to stifle a moan.

"Okay," I whisper and close my eyes.

"Open your eyes." I comply. "You're not a fast f.u.c.k for me. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I think so."

"We haven't spent all this time together, getting to know each other, driving each other crazy, to have a quick f.u.c.k and go our separate ways. You need to understand, Megan, once I make love to you, you're mine."

I feel my eyes go wide and jaw drop and I can just stare up at him in shock. Did he just say that?

And why doesn't it scare the living h.e.l.l out of me?

He's looking at me, waiting for a reaction, and suddenly, I feel... happy. This is who I want. This is where I'm supposed to be.

"Say something, darlin', 'cause I'm dying here."

I run my fingers through his hair and cup his face in my hands, drawing him down to me so I can kiss his lips gently. I brush over them once, twice, my eyes never leaving his.

"You are so mine." I whisper and watch with satisfaction as his eyes dilate and the breath he's holding escapes him.

"You bet your sweet a.s.s I am," he growls and takes my mouth again, harder this time, as though he's branding me. He moves down my body again, paying close attention to each breast, down my stomach and then abruptly flips me over.

"Hey! I can't see you from here."

"This is an angle I haven't explored before." I hear the smile in his voice. "I see the dimple in your cheek isn't the only dimple you have, babe."

"It's impolite to mention my cellulite the first time we have s.e.x, Will. You haven't even been inside me yet."

He slaps my a.s.s firmly, making me yelp.

"Hey!"

"There is no cellulite back here. But you do have the cutest dimples right above your a.s.s." He kisses and then nibbles each of them, making me raise my a.s.s in the air. "You have the sweetest rear-end." He kisses each cheek, and the next thing I know, he's parted my cheeks, spreading my l.a.b.i.a open, and his mouth is on me.

"Holy s.h.i.t!" His large hands pin my hips to the bed and his mouth is going to town on me, sucking, lapping, nibbling, and when he sucks my c.l.i.t and my metal into his mouth, I come unglued, pushing my p.u.s.s.y against his mouth and screaming into the pillow, my muscles pulsing.

Finally, he loosens his grip and I flip myself over beneath him, brush my hair off my face, and before I can say anything, he lifts my hips and puts his mouth on me again, harder this time, rhythmically pushing his tongue in and out of me while his nose pushes on my piercing.

It's too much.

"I can't," I murmur but he only grunts against me and speeds the movements of his amazing tongue.

"Will, d.a.m.n it, I can't." He pulls his face away from me and replaces his mouth with fingers, two of them, slowly working my v.a.g.i.n.a, spreading the wetness around my lips and c.l.i.t.

"Yes, you can. I need to get you good and ready, babe, so I don't hurt you."

"You won't hurt me."