Eva, her sweetness—what could he do but break it? That was why he had wanted to avoid doing this in the first place with her, but the attraction was too strong. When she was around, he couldn’t even think straight.
What was more surprising was her own hungry lust. Not because he couldn’t imagine such passion coming from a person like her, but rather, he thought of her like a delicate flower that he didn’t want to pick from the garden, for fear of ruining its loveliness. The fact that the flower chose to bloom and brighten once picked, instead of withering and dying, was what had shocked him. He had been afraid to really touch her, for fear of what someone like him could do to someone like her.
Or was I more afraid of what someone like her could do to someone like me?
Will swallowed hard against the unsettling thought and his suddenly dry throat. He rubbed his hands hard against his face and stood up from the shitty salon couch. It doesn’t matter, the end is the same. This can’t happen. She’s no different from the rest of the women—time to get out of the champagne room.
Yet he wasn’t entirely convinced. Those familiar thoughts seemed more foreign to him now. Almost out of place. Shrugging, he cracked his back and shoulders and headed into the kitchen to start up a pot of coffee. In any case, he resolved to stick with it. Will had to create some distance between he and Eva. With any luck, he’d only be here a day or two more, anyway. The cartel was sure to show up soon. He could do his job here, and get the fuck out.
What job is that, again? taunted another dissenting voice within his head. A job no one asked you to do?
He shook the thoughts from his mind, focusing instead on the drip of the coffee machine, watching the way the glass blossomed with steam as it brewed. There was stirring from down the hall as Charlie left his bedroom and made an immediate turn into the bathroom for about thirty seconds, then returned. Will had just poured his first cup when Charlie came into the kitchen, dressed and more bright-eyed than Will expected.
“Morning,” said Charlie as he reached for an empty mug.
Will nodded. “Morning.” His voice came out gruff and dry.
Charlie turned to him with a frown. “Didn’t get much sleep?”
Will tried, but failed, to hide the half-smile that crept to his lips at the question. Instead, he kept his eyes down, hoping he didn’t look as stupid as he felt. “No, I guess not. That couch is a bitch.”
Charlie gave him a nod, as if in agreement, and filled himself a cup of coffee. “I need some breakfast. Eggs?”
“Sure, I’ll take two.” Will only just realized how grouchy his stomach was.
Charlie put his coffee down and said, “I’m going to go see if Eva wants some.” He disappeared for a minute, and when he returned, went straight to the fridge and started pulling out ingredients.
“Are you still okay with what we talked about yesterday?” said Will.
As he cracked eggs into the skillet, Charlie nodded but didn’t look at him. “Yeah. I mean, as okay as I can be, I guess. I’d just rather not shoot anybody, you know?”
I forget that there are people like you in the world. “Ideally, you won’t have to. But with a shotgun at that range, you’ll be the most powerful fucker in the room. So you have to be ready to nuke the place if it comes to that.” Antsy, Will stood up and wandered to the other side of the kitchen, coffee in hand, looking out into the living room.
“That’s really relaxing language you’re using there, really putting me at ease,” said Charlie, turning to give Will a half-smirk.
Will knew the guy was doing his best to deal with all this bravely, and was actually doing a decent job so far. Sometimes, he just didn’t know how to talk to people that didn’t understand how he thought. “You only pull if you have to. If you’re pulling, something’s already gone wrong anyway. This will give us a big upper hand, and a chance to end it on our terms. But I’m not planning on you needing to touch it.”
A sound from down the hallway broke Will’s concentration. He watched until Eva skirted into his view, dressed in her soft white bathrobe, her hair still disheveled. When she saw him she stopped and smiled.
“And do your plans always work?” Charlie flipped one of the eggs in the pan with impressive skill.
Will stared at Eva. He devoured the beautiful vision and felt his lust fire anew. He stared until she disappeared into the bathroom, a dull ache filling the void she left in her wake.
Will didn’t care enough to answer Charlie’s question with a lie.
“No. Not always.”
~ TWELVE ~
Eva only had two thoughts on her mind when she woke that morning: she wanted Will inside of her again, and she wanted to call Laura and tell her what had happened. The bed felt twice as empty now than it had, after sharing its space with Will.
Will. What the hell are you? she wondered, staring at the ceiling. She pulled the soft sheets up around her still-naked body and drifted effortlessly into a daydream version of their passionate sex the night before. She couldn’t believe Will had kneeled in front of her at the bar and eaten her like they were some college kids at a frat party.
And that was to say nothing about letting him bend her over it and fuck her like an animal. Eva had never been touched so expertly, so enthusiastically by a man before. She’d never had a man care about her own pleasure in bed, even though she had plenty of appreciation for sex and enjoyed her own company several nights a week since she found herself single. The men she had been with never seemed to give a shit about anything past the point of getting her into bed, and then it was just lifeless mechanical humping until they spasmed on top of her and fell into an exhausted coma.
Eva had almost resigned herself to believing that most men were just like that, and it was no use to hope for anything better. But now here she was, so satisfied from the night before that she could barely get her legs to listen as she told them to move for the floor. And all of this from some hard-drinking, dangerous man who probably chewed up hotter women than her for breakfast every morning—literally and figuratively.
And yet he’s a man who can quote Coriolanus to me at a whim. Will was certainly an enigma, and she didn’t feel unlucky to be the one unraveling it. She felt like he was some dark rider come to her boring little village in the middle of a storm, trailing adventure and excitement behind him.
But she also knew, deep down, that she couldn’t fall for him. There was just no godly way falling in love with Will Bowers was going to end in anything but pain for her. He was dangerous, and he was in pain.
He’s more than his pain.
Eva tried to shake the heavier thoughts from her head by conjuring instead the sensation of Will’s mouth devouring hers, his lean muscles moving over her, hands on her skin, cock buried inside of her… she bit her lip as she trailed a hand down her own bare breasts and stomach to gently stroke her clit, still swollen from Will’s attention. She moaned at her own touch. He wasn’t even in the room and he still had her body pulsing.
“Do you taste as good as you look?” What a thing to say!
She didn’t even hear Charlie’s footsteps down the hall until he was knocking on her door. Eva jumped with her whole body, and felt her building orgasm disappear into the ether as soon as she opened her eyes with a grumpy growl, yanking her sheets up to cover herself completely. “What is it?”