Round 15

I t took an entire week to summon the courage to see William again, even though he lived in my every waking, and sometimes sleeping, thought.

What would have happened had we been alone?

I couldn’t shake the look in his eyes or the feeling of his warm breath on me. My body was filled with want… and fear.

But time was running out, and my game wasn’t done yet.

So, after work, I went to his apartment with Shaun at my side. There would be people around, and none of the inappropriate things I’d been thinking about would be possible.

Yet, when I got there, my heart beat in my throat—which was medically impossible.

I did google it.

Stepping inside, I raised my chin, determined not to let William know he’d won the last round. “Hey.”

Hunched over his desk, his hair standing sideways, William shut down one of my favorite games. It disappeared from the screen as he spun toward us.

“Hi and goodbye,” Shaun said, never looking up from reading a text on his phone. He picked up the backpack he’d dropped on the floor only seconds before and then grabbed a set of keys from the rack. “Neema’s car broke down at work. I need to rescue her.”

“Wait, uhm, I…” I stammered.

“Play nice!” Shaun grinned before stepping out the door and closing it behind him.

Whatever little confidence I had in beating William at his own game was gone the second we lost our buffer.

William stared at me with one dark brow raised as I made it to the couch on wobbly legs.

“What?” I snapped, retreating to the safety of a snarky tone.

“The game?” He gestured to the bag I clutched against my chest.

“Oh.”

Smooth, Rose. Really smooth.

I removed the scarf from my hot neck and set up the game before taking a seat directly across from where William had sprawled out, keeping a healthy distance between us.

He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his parted knees while he stared at the board. “No one wants to play a board game for four hours.”

I sighed. “I know. There’s so much I wanted to fit in.”

A smile played on his lips, and his tongue shot out and took a swipe against the bottom one.

My traitorous cheeks flushed.

“Sometimes the fun is better in small bursts.” He stretched, and his T-shirt slid up, exposing his Adonis belt.

My gaze dipped to where it shouldn’t. It was more of his body than I’d planned to see, and far more than I was capable of handling in this state.

Damn those low-riding sweatpants.

“You okay?” In one swift move, he hopped from his couch onto mine. His movements were careful and intentional as he leaned closer. “Did you hear any of what I said?”

No, I didn’t. Not while fighting the inexplicable desire to kiss him.

Instead, I told him another truth. “Your pants are so low, I’m surprised they manage to stay up.”

His gaze dropped to my cleavage, and I wondered if he could see my erratic heartbeat.

He rubbed his palms across his thighs. “I’m surprised you couldn’t find a shirt with an even lower neckline.”

“You wish I had.” My breath caught at how easy it was playing with William.

“I really do,” he conceded in a voice barely more than a growl.

The depth of his voice snapped whatever it was twisting in my stomach. A soft laugh escaped me, and I turned away to hide what I imagined were blood-red cheeks.

“What are you so nervous about?” A wolfish grin made an appearance on his face. Taunting. Teasing. Wanting . His body was turned to face mine.

“How do you know I’m nervous?” The nerves I was pretending not to have climbed with each careful word.

“Because I know you.” He inhaled with a struggle. “I know that little laugh when you’re nervous, or how you fidget. You look away when you’re lying, and you bite your cuticles when you’re planning but also when you’re anxious and stressed. But it’s different when you pick at them…”

My heart jerked almost painfully in my chest, shoving every coherent thought from my brain and replacing it with his words, his smooth voice, and his ability to notice things about me that most people didn’t.

Unable to take it anymore, I twisted toward him, tentatively reaching out to touch the arm nearest me. “How do you know all that? Why do you know all that?”

William remained silent while my fingers trailed over his defined bicep that he often flexed for my attention, then found its way to his chest. We froze, and for a second, his heart raced against my palm.

“I like looking at you.” His right hand slid to my waist. And squeezed. A gasp escaped me, and I lifted my gaze to meet his.

“If you know me so well, tell me what I’ll do next,” I managed in a soft, shaking voice.

“I think you’re going to kill me.” He dragged his teeth across his bottom lip, his fingers pressing deeper into my side with a desperation that flowed through him and into me.

“I want to.”

His left hand found the other side of my waist and he lifted me onto his lap. “Do it, then.”

There was so much intention and power in his grip. A shaky breath pushed out of me as I widened my legs to accommodate his width and straddled him. An ache of desire burrowed into the depths of my stomach. I tried to look away, but he caught my chin and held my gaze with his obsidian eyes, as if breaking eye contact would break the spell. His thumb traced against the mole on my jaw, while his free hand pulled me closer.

A sound of wanting escaped me. I slid my hands along either side of him, bracing myself against the couch, supporting me so I wouldn’t fall into his gorgeous face. His fingers found the small patch of skin where my waistband and the hem of my shirt met. Our breathing synced, deep and wordless.

“Rose,” he choked out, his eyes almost black, “you’re succeeding.”

Strong fingers twisted into my hair, and he pulled me so close I felt his every heavy, struggling breath.

It was my turn.

His mouth was so deliciously near to mine that I couldn’t resist. Leaning forward, I kissed him. Softly at first, mapping the shape of his lips, which were new and, somehow, everything I’d expected. The same lips that had pouted and smirked at me for years.

I darted the tip of my tongue across his top lip, then the bottom, followed by the corners where they met, enjoying the way he reacted.

“Rose,” he said again, even deeper this time. He slid his hand from my hair to my neck and pulled me against him.

Our mouths crashed together in a hard kiss, desperate and hot. William kissed me as though I were the only person he’d ever kissed with such urgency, such desperation. As if it were something he’d waited for his entire life. His tongue parted my lips, and my breath hitched as it greeted mine.

He tasted like sweet, black coffee, and I wanted nothing more than to keep touching him and tasting him.

William leaned back for air, but kissing him was more important than oxygen.

“More.” I slipped my hands into his soft black hair, dragging his lips back to mine. I needed his mouth—needed every part of him—against me. I cursed at the layers separating us.

I didn’t know kissing someone could feel this way. And it was William. William Ashdern.

Against my lips, he let out a husky laugh, his palm sliding down my back and playing with the waistband of my pants, edging me closer until we were as close as physics would allow.

But it wasn’t enough.

William’s eyes, dark and simultaneously playful, met mine, and his expression shifted. Lifting me, he turned and set me beside him on the couch. “I think that’s about enough of that game. But it’s not over.” His eyes challenged me to play along.

I struggled to catch my breath, and my cheeks flushed hot with confusion. I’d been rejected by Patrick, but this didn’t feel like rejection.

Before I could respond, William placed a finger over his delicious lips.

“Listen.” He lifted his hand to the shell of his ear.

Shaun’s voice carried from the hall into the apartment, followed by Neema’s familiar cackle.

I blew out a breath, willing my brain to form a logical thought. I straightened my clothing while he patted his and shifted around.

“Tomorrow?” he asked, still breathless.

I shook my head. “Pole dancing tomorrow.”

His flushed cheeks paled, and he mouthed the words back to himself. I relished in the idea of leaving him with that thought.

“I’ll see you at game night,” I said, surprised I still knew how to use my mouth to talk.

He leaned down and kissed my cheek only seconds before the front door opened.

Game night came around quicker than I was prepared for, but took far longer arriving than I’d have liked. My heart had pounded all day, from the minute I woke up to the second I walked into William’s apartment and he jumped off the couch to greet me.

“Rose.” He shrugged, obviously attempting to appear casual when calling me by my name was anything but. Part of me missed being called hobbit.

He shifted on his feet as though staying away from me was taking every last inch of self-control. He threw himself back down on the couch and let his eyes rake over my knee-length gray dress, cinched at the waist and paired with black, sheer stockings and the high heels I’d nearly broken my ankle in.

I bit back a smile. “William.”

As soon as Shaun had his back turned, I winked at William, only to catch him winking at me first.

A tie.

Not unheard of for us. In our years of competing, many of our games—both on and off the board—ended in a draw.

But this one wouldn’t, so I sat beside him. “What are you playing?”

“I’m working.” His tone dripped its usual annoyance, but a coy smile played over his handsome features.

I studied his profile, and heat coursed through my veins. I turned my attention to the screen, where he was playing a fantasy-adventure video game I’d never seen before. “This looks cool.”

“It’s okay. Good concept, poor execution. The idea I’m toying around with is the same genre but way, way better.” His shoulders relaxed, and he turned to me with a childlike smile so different from moments before.

“What made you design a game in the first place?”

He nodded at the bag housing my board game. “What made you?”

“I wanted to play a game that combined my love for fantasy and strategy and, admittedly, economics.”

From the kitchen, Shaun chuckled. “That may be the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard you say, and based on the fact that you’re you, that’s saying plenty.”

“Oh, shush.” My cheeks heated, and I looked down, picking at my cuticles.

“I think it’s impressive,” William leaned in and whispered.

Pine and lavender. Intoxicating.

“By the way,” he continued, gesturing to the screen, “the characters in this game have different strengths and different goals and, therefore, have different routes to winning. I think that might be what we’re missing. At the moment, it’s far easier to win as a ruler or warrior.”

The gears turned in my head as I considered my game. “You’re onto something!” I said with more excitement than I’d anticipated. Then I spent the next few minutes rambling off ideas with no stop or pause button in sight.

But William received it all with a wide grin.

“So, when do you need to submit?” Shaun asked, sitting on the couch across from us.

“In about a month.”

He sighed. “Good, good. So both of you will have the capacity to focus on the wedding after that.”

“When is the wedding?” I asked. “Neema said you guys hadn’t agreed on a date yet.”

“Well, as of two hours ago, it’s about three months from today! Neema’s dream venue had a cancellation. It’s gonna be a weekday wedding, but we don’t wanna wait any longer.”

“Three months?” I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my calendar. My brain buzzed with scheduling as I made notes of all the appointments that needed shifting.

“Why’d you tell her now?” William turned his focus back to the screen. “Now she’s going to be stuck in her planning mode.”

“It’s the best mode.” Shaun offered me a nod of encouragement and sat next to me as we went through all the appointments I had scheduled for him too.

The apartment door opened, and Neema walked in already talking. “Rose, I hope you’re up to the challenge of throwing an amazing bachelorette party within three months?”

Hopping to my feet, I squealed. “Of course!”

“What are you planning?” Shaun asked, greeting Neema with a kiss.

“I can’t tell you our plans because that will ruin Neema’s surprise, but we’ll end up at VOX.” Neema and I shared a secret look that left my cheeks burning.

“We can meet you there after whatever William has planned?” Shaun asked.

William shrugged. “Sure. Doesn’t change my plans much.”

I wondered what he’d planned. Knowing William, he’d make sure everyone had as much fun as possible.

Turning to me, he pointed at Shaun, who was opening their wedding Pinterest board. “We may as well take advantage of them being distracted.” His hands breezed against my thigh while he packed away his console.

At this point, I wished I were a PlayStation controller.

I headed straight for the balcony, needing air or anything to cool my overheating body. “Going to discuss some bachelor party things,” I shouted at Neema and Shaun. “Stay out.”

The balcony door closed, and William reached me in three quick steps. He wasted no time, twirling me out of view and pressing my back against the wall before lifting me. My legs instinctively curled around his strong waist in a way I had been wanting since he’d peeled me off his lap a couple of days ago.

William’s warm lips landed on my neck, burning my skin with desire as he ran more soft, slow kisses across my collarbone. His teeth nipped gently, sending lightning shocks throughout my body. A whimper escaped me, and he looked up with wide eyes, an even wider grin, and that cheeky dimple.

I needed that mouth on mine.

Using both hands, I cupped his jaw and pulled his face toward mine, kissing him as if it were our last opportunity. His body pressed against mine through the four thin layers of fabric separating us. I pulled him even closer, and he groaned, my name slipping through his lips. A name he so rarely used.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his soft, messy hair. I didn’t know how to get enough of him. I wanted more from him, and he knew it.

Claire’s laughter from inside the apartment pulled me from my desperate thoughts, and I unwrapped my legs, cursing. William lowered me to the ground, a frustrated groan vibrating through his chest against mine. Our gazes met while we tried to catch our breath.

I was sure I’d electrocute anyone who touched me.

Leaning in, he whispered into my mouth before stealing a last kiss. “To be continued.”