Shut Up and Kiss Me (14 page)

Stopping at a hotdog stand, I ordered my usual—a red hot and a Diet Coke—and while waiting, I turned and surveyed the park. The days were growing considerably cooler, the trees nearly devoid of their leaves. I inhaled deeply, smiling as my cell phone began to vibrate again.

Will: What are you doing for lunch?

Mila: I’m busy.

Will: Liar.

I giggled, receiving an odd look from the vendor as he handed over my hotdog. After plying it with far too much ketchup, I headed to a nearby bench.

“
I could think of nicer things to eat than a hotdog, Mila.”

I turned abruptly, finding Will standing behind me, smiling down at me.

“
So you’ll go to lunch with a hotdog, but not me?” he continued. “What does it have that I don’t?”

I laughed. “Ketchup,” I replied, and took a bite.

Rounding the bench, he took a seat beside me and gestured for my hotdog. Curious, I handed it over and watched him break it half. Handing me back one half, he popped his portion into his mouth.

“
Ketchup is an odd choice, but if you really want me covered in ketchup…” He swallowed the hotdog and grinned at me.

I choked on my hotdog, blushing at the image I’d conjured—of Will, naked and covered in ketchup. “Sexy,” I murmured.

He shook his head. “Not nearly as sexy as watching you eat that hotdog.”

I burst out laughing. “What?” I sputtered. “Really?”

Will started nodding, then switched to shaking his head. “No, not really. Hotdogs aren’t sexy. You, however—you’re very sexy.”

I grinned, a blush heating my cheeks as Will’s hand found my thigh.

“
So, tonight?” I asked.

“
Yes, tonight.” Moving closer to me, reaching for my cheek, he cupped the side of my face and pressed his mouth to mine.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of his soft lips and the way his tongue was insistently stroking mine.

“
Nikki will be home,” I said, breaking away. “We should go to your place.”

I hadn’t seen where he lived yet, and it hadn’t bothered me—at least not until this very moment, when I noticed something flicker across his features.

“
How about dinner out then?” he prompted.

I frowned, knowing full well both of us wanted more than just dinner out tonight.

“
What’s wrong with your place?” I asked.

“
Aside from my two roommates, nothing.”

“
Okay,” I said slowly, feeling confused. He’d never mentioned roommates before. “Dinner then.”

Balling up my hotdog wrapper, I tossed it into the trash can beside me and stood up.

“
I need to get back to work,” I mumbled, the earlier heat I’d felt for him slipping away and being replaced with suspicion. I knew a lie when I heard one. I was well-versed in lies.

“
I’ll walk you,” Will said. Getting to his feet, he took my hand in his.

I squeezed his hand and started walking, though I still felt uneasy, knowing that something was off. Yet, as the warmth from his touch extended through my palm and up my arm, filling me with the affection that I had been craving from him, I dismissed my instincts. What reason would Will have to lie to me? Glancing sideways at him, examining his profile, I realized that I trusted him. If he said he had roommates, then he had roommates.

When we’d nearly reached the restaurant, Will suddenly turned to me, his arms pulling tightly on my waist, trapping me against him.

“
I need to get to work,” I said, smiling.

Ignoring me, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my lips, then quickly pulled away. Grabbing him, I pulled him back down and kissed him again.

“
People are looking,” he murmured against my mouth.

I didn’t care, and was about to tell him just that, when he suddenly broke our kiss, grabbed my hand, and began dragging me down the alley behind the restaurant. Will pushed me gently up against the wall, and began pressing quick messy kisses all over my face. Then, once I was giggling uncontrollably, he cupped my face in his hands, covered my mouth with his and kissed me deeply. Heat trembled through me, and desire pulsed between us. I kissed him back eagerly, and my hands moved to his hair, then restlessly to his back and up under the hem of his shirt, desperate to be beneath his clothes and touching his skin.

I needed more. This wasn’t going to be enough.

“
Come with me,” I breathed, breaking our embrace. Grabbing hold of his hand, I pulled him toward the back door of the restaurant, giving the cooks a small wave as we weaved around them, tugging Will along with me.

Peeking into the hallway, making sure Carlos’s office door was closed, I continued on, bringing Will into the back room and locking the door behind us.

Breathing hard, I tossed my purse aside and turned to look at him, seeing the same needy and desperate hunger on his face that I knew I had on mine. But before I could contemplate it, take it apart and dispute my actions for being reckless and stupid, his lips crashed against mine and I was moaning into his mouth.

His hands grabbed and pulled at me, my own hands gripping his hard length that pressed against the zipper of his pants. It wasn’t like me. This was hasty and unplanned, two things that just weren’t me. I was careful, practiced, I didn’t take risks—I couldn’t afford to take risks.

“
Mila,” he groaned, his tongue drawing lines of heat up the side of my throat, his hands taking handfuls of my skirt and lifting it.

I gasped as he pushed me backwards, my backside bumping against a small table. Pushing my legs apart, his hand dipping between my thighs, Will’s kisses grew feverish, his tongue dancing over mine, plunging deeply and sucking greedily.

Pushing my underwear to one side, Will grazed his fingertips over me, palming me before slowly pushing one finger inside. I closed my eyes as my toes curled. Desire flooding me, I whimpered loudly, demanding more, though he continued stroking me slowly, driving me insane with want. Time ticked by, his heavy breathing at my neck, his scent wrapping all around me, and my body raging and begging for more. I wanted more, needed more...

“
Will!” I cried softly, jerking my hips.

A masculine rumble tore free from his throat, and then Will was inserting another finger inside me, working me quickly and without reservation. Pressing his body firmly against mine, covering my mouth with his, he kissed me as hard and as fast as he was penetrating me. My orgasm came on quickly, hitting me with the force of a tsunami, leaving me breathless and winded and nothing more than a body of quivering jelly, still standing only because Will was holding me up.

“
How about a quick dinner tonight?” he whispered.

I opened my eyes and smiled up at him, for once not blushing like a madwoman. “I—”

“
Who’s in here?” Carlos’s voice boomed from the hallway.

Panicking, I pushed away from Will and shoved him toward the small employee bathroom. “Hide!” I hissed.

He gave me a sly grin before darting inside, and as soon as the door was closed behind him, I took a deep breath, straightened my skirt, and pulled the door open.

“
Did you lock the door?” Carlos asked, frowning.

I frowned back at him, trying to appear confused. “I must have,” I said, shaking my head. Pushing past him, I started down the hall, headed for the dining room.

“
Are you okay, Mila? You look red. Are you sick?”

“
I’m fine,” I called over my shoulder, “it’s just hot in there.”

He was a dick. First he’d lied to her about his job, and then he’d lied to her about his living situation. And then, in order to distract her further, hoping she’d forget his ridiculous excuse as to why they couldn’t go back to his place, he’d used sex to divert her.

Yes, he was a dick.

“
I’m a dick,” Will said. Crossing his arms over his chest, he slumped down in the passenger seat of his car.

Beside him, he heard Richard snort. “You’re just now figuring this out?”

Ignoring the barb, Will
went on. “I don’t like lying to her. I should have never lied in the first place, and now she thinks I’m the manager of a nightclub and I share an apartment with two other guys.”

“
You have fish,” Richard suggested. “Maybe they’re male?”

Cutting his eyes at his friend, finding him grinning, Will scowled. “I’m not laughing. I really like this woman. I should have been honest from the beginning. I shouldn’t have presumed she was like…”

“
All the other superficial bitches you’ve dated before?” Richard helpfully supplied.

“
Yes,” he replied sulkily, sinking further down onto his seat.

“
It’s still early,” Richard said. “Tell her the truth now, explain to her why you lied, and maybe she’ll forgive you for it.”

Will didn’t respond; he was too busy envisioning how that particular scenario might play out. One possibility was that Mila would forgive him, understand why he’d done it, and accept who and what he was with grace and class. On the other hand, she could take great offense to being lied to so early on in a relationship. They were supposed to be getting to know one another, not outright lying about their lives. She’d been nothing but honest with him—in fact, she was honest to a fault—and here he was acting like a fool. A spoiled fool, looking out only for his best interests and not taking her into account.

He’d seen the suspicion on her face when he’d lied to her about having roommates, and he couldn’t blame her. It was odd that they only ever went to her place, that she had yet to even see where he lived, and he didn’t blame her for her uncertainties. Now he was just plain worried about how he was going to right his wrongs.

“
After dinner I should bring her to my place tonight,” he muttered, “and tell her the truth.”

Beside him, shifting his large body around in the driver’s seat, Richard made a noise of agreement.

“
And if she wants to leave after that, I’ll have you drive her home.” He glanced to Richard, waiting for the man’s confirmation.

“
And do I commiserate with her?” Richard asked, his lips twitching as he tried to contain his smirk. “Nod in agreement while she’s cursing you out? Or do I play the friend card? Tell her about all your good qualities? Tell her you’re not quite as big of an asshole as you seem? Only a sort of an asshole, and only on Mondays and Thursdays?”

“
Shut up. Stop enjoying this, and maybe be helpful for once and give me some damn pointers to make this right.”

Richard laughed. “Seeing as how I haven’t been on a date in over a year, not sure I’m the right person to be asking for pointers.”

“
You’re always with a different woman,” Will protested.

“
One-night stands don’t count as dates,” Richard said, laughing. “I don’t even know their names half the time. When it comes to women, I’m as clueless as you are.”

“
I’m not clueless,” Will muttered. “I just didn’t really care…until now.”

“
Again, because you’re an asshole.”

“
Watch it, Jeeves. I could fire you, you know.”

Richard laughed loudly. “You could—and then who would give it to you straight? Your family?”

Will cut his eyes toward his friend and raised his brow. “Then give it to me straight: what do I do?”

“
Take her someplace nice,” he said, shrugging. “Really nice. Give her something pretty, and then lay it all out for her to either spit or swallow.”

“
Spit or swallow?” Amused, Will shook his head. “Are you twelve?”

Richard shrugged again. “Hey, you asked.”

Laughing, Will turned toward the window, watching the never-ending stream of people on the sidewalk pass by. “Something pretty won’t cut it with her. She’s not like that. Material things, money—it doesn’t impress her.”

“
And that’s part of her charm, right?”

“
It was at first… but now…I like everything about her.” Will grinned to himself, even knowing that he sounded ridiculous. But he couldn’t help it. Mila had definitely gotten under his skin, and was burrowing deeper by the day.