"Hey, lazy bones, are you ready to go home?"

"When you are. I'm in no hurry."

He smiles gently down at me, his eyes soft. "I love you," he mouths.

I grin up at him, happily, and run my hand down his smooth cheek. "You're so handsome."

He grabs my hand and kisses my palm. "Let's get out of here."

He helps me out of the couch and we say our goodbyes, which takes another half hour. Will's mom, Gail, hugs me close.

"Please, come back soon, Meg. We enjoyed you."

"Thank you," I murmur shyly.

"She'll be back," Will comments as he kisses his mom on the cheek.

I tilt my head back as we step outside and enjoy the rain. It's dark now, and the rain is heavy, but not cold. It's that warm, late summer rain that feels like tap water.

"I love the rain this time of year."

"Great. Get in the car, babe."

I laugh over at him. "You don't like the rain?"

"It's fine, but you'll get sick if you don't get out of it."

"No I won't, that's a myth." I wave him off and stand in the rain for a minute longer, then join him in his car.

"Are you always this stubborn?" he asks.

"How long have we been seeing each other?" I ask.

"A while. More than a month." He responds and pulls away from his parents' house.

"Then you should know by now that I'm always this stubborn." I grin sweetly as he chuckles.

"So, about those texts you sent me..." He turns hot blue eyes on me and offers me a half smile.

"Yes?"

"Gonna make good on them?"

"I don't know your mood seems to have improved without me needing to resort to oral s.e.x." I feel my phone vibe in my pocket and I pull it out as I laugh at Will's scowl.

Tell your bf thx for the $250k.

"Pull over."

"What?"

"Pull the f.u.c.k over."

Chapter Nineteen.

"What's wrong?" His voice is panicked but I can't look at him. I have to get out of this car.

Now.

"Just pull over, Will."

"Are you sick?"

"Yes! Pull over!"

We're in a remote part of Seattle, mostly deserted, and dark. The sky has opened up even more, pouring rain as if someone has turned on a faucet.

He skids to a stop at the side of the road, and before he even puts it in park, I barrel out of the car, slam the door and start walking, fast, in the headlights.

"Meg!" he calls from behind me. "Megan, stop!"

"Leave me alone, Will."

"What the f.u.c.k has gotten in to you?" I hear him gaining on me, his feet shuffling in the gravel on the side of the road, so I twirl and confront him.

"How dare you?"

He stops in his tracks, his eyes wide with fear and worry and holds his hands up like he's being robbed.

"What?"

"I told you not to give her any money."

"f.u.c.k." He hangs his head and props his hands on his hips, both of us ignoring the rain falling in sheets around us. "Meg..."

I spin on my heel and start to stomp away from him again, but he grabs my arm and spins me back to him. "You're not walking home."

"f.u.c.k off, Will."

"Megan, stop this." He takes both of my shoulders in his hands and holds me in front of him, and all I can do is glare at him, panting. My anger is palpable.

"I told you, Will. You saw how it was last week. Why in the h.e.l.l would you do this? She'll just keep coming back for more. She would have gone away if you would have just left it alone." I can't stand the break in my voice as I feel the tears mix with the rain on my face.

"She never would have gone away, sweetheart." His voice is calm now, but firm. I shake my head back and forth and bury my face in my hands.

"I don't need you to clean up my life!" I step back out of his grasp and look up into his face illuminated by his headlights, water running down the sides, his hair soaked and plastered to his head. "I can handle this myself."

"Megan, that woman is toxic. She drains you, financially and emotionally. You don't need her."

"I know that! You think I don't know that?" I throw my hands in the air and march in a frustrated circle.

"I'm trying to help you."

I stop, my back to him, and shake my head, hands on my hips. "I asked you not to help me like this."

"Look at me."

I stay where I am.

"Look at me, Megan."

"Will, you betrayed me."

"I did not f.u.c.king betray you!" He yells, and I whirl to look at him. His eyes are feral now, and his hands are in fists at his sides, every muscle taut with anger and frustration. "I paid off a woman who hates you for existing so she'll never bother you again. She signed a contract, Megan. She can never ask you for another dime."

"What?"

"Let me finish. That woman is the reason you can't tell me you love me. That. f.u.c.king. Woman." He shakes his head in frustration and turns away from me, then turns back. "If I have the opportunity to remove her from you, why wouldn't I do it? The money is nothing to me. She is the reason you have trust issues. She is the reason it's so hard for you to show people you love them."

"What are you now, a shrink?" I ask with a smirk, and then hate myself for it when I see the hurt in his eyes.

"I know you," he murmurs quietly. His chest is heaving. "I love you, Megan."

I love you too.

I can't make the words come out.

"I love you, Megan." The words are stronger now, louder, and he's willing me to say them back.

I turn and start to blindly walk again, my steps quick, away from him, from his car, from all these f.u.c.ked up feelings that I just don't know how to trust.

Suddenly I'm in his arms, and he's carrying me back to the car. He sets me down, a.s.s on the hood and pins me, his hands on the hood at my hips, his face level with mine, nose millimeters from brushing the tip of mine, his eyes on fire. He's glaring at me with love and hurt.

"I. Love. You. Megan."

"Will." It's a sob. I take his face in my hands and brush his cheeks with my thumbs. "Will."

"I love you," he whispers, his lips so close to touching mine I can feel them move. I close my eyes and feel the tears on my face. I can feel the hot tears on his face, running into my hands, mixing with the warm rain.

I'm hurting him. And it's killing me.

"You can't say it." It's not a question.

"I can show you," I whisper.

He closes his eyes for a heartbeat, tips his forehead down to mine, and then suddenly grips my hips and pulls me to the side of the hood of the car and peels my sopping wet jeans roughly over my hips and down my legs, throwing them on the ground in a wet heap. My eyes are wide and on his, mouth gaping open.

"Someone could drive by."

"I don't give a f.u.c.k," he growls and sinks to his knees, pushing my thighs apart and burying his face in my core. He licks and kisses and sucks on my lips, my c.l.i.t, pushes my metal against my nub, making me plant my feet on his shoulders, grip his soaked hair in my hands and lift my hips off the car, coming apart at the seams, crying out, not caring who can see or hear us.

He stands and shoves two fingers inside me roughly, pushing and pulling them quickly, teasing my c.l.i.t with his thumb, and he's kissing me in the same way, with frustration and anger and I grip onto his shoulders, holding on for dear life.

"Will."

"You are mine, d.a.m.n it. I will protect you from anyone and anything, do you understand?" His eyes are narrowed, on mine. "I don't need your permission to make you safe."

Before I can answer, he's kissing me again, and pushing me over into another o.r.g.a.s.m.

He's claiming me, branding me in a way he never has before.

It's f.u.c.king hot as h.e.l.l, and I want him. I want to be his. I love him more than I ever thought possible, and that scares the living h.e.l.l out of me.

He pushes the hem of my jersey up under my armpits, dragging my bra along with it, unveiling my b.r.e.a.s.t.s and feasts on them, pulling and biting the nipples roughly. I let my head fall back and cry out in pain and pleasure, loving his mouth and hands as they a.s.sault me.

He's never been this rough.

Suddenly, he unzips his pants and unleashes his ma.s.sive erection and I instinctively scoot even closer to the edge of the car, needing him inside me.

"I can't wait," he mutters against my mouth and slams himself inside me, hard. He grips my hips and jerks me down on him, over and over, f.u.c.king me with all he has, his eyes still pinned to mine.

"You are so beautiful. You are everything, Megan. When are you going to believe that?" He moves faster and harder until I feel him explode inside me, his muscles tensing, and growling deep into my neck.

He stays here, on me, in me, panting, for what feels like forever, before he slides out of me, and steps back. "Stay here."

He zips himself up, straightens my shirt, and scoops my pants up off the ground, walking briskly to the back of the car. He rummages around in the trunk and walks back to me, a blanket in his hands. "Scoot off the car."

I obey immediately, and he wraps me in the blanket, plants a soft, sweet kiss on my forehead, and suddenly the tears start again.

I love him so much.

"Don't cry." He lifts me in his arms and carries me over to the pa.s.senger side, and gently lowers me down into the low seat.

Instead of taking me back to my place, he drives us to his house, pulls into the garage, and lifts me back out of the car, carries me inside, and up the stairs through his bedroom and into the bathroom. He sets me carefully on the toilet and turns on the hot water, then kneels in front of me, takes my face gently in his hands and wipes the tears off my cheeks with his thumbs.

"Did I hurt you?" he whispers.

I shake my head no and bite my lip, looking into his soft blue eyes. He's tender now, the anger gone out of him.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

"For what, honey?"