Page 137 of Learn Your Lesson

Until today, when Will had opened up to me about Jenny at the park. I didn’t even have time to analyze what that meant, what he was trying to say before Ava got hurt.

I miss her, but I miss you more…

When I made it downstairs, there was a soft light glowing in the kitchen. My body ached as I made my way over, and I found Will with his palms on the kitchen island counter, his eyes on a glass of amber liquid that looked completely untouched.

“She’s down,” I said, wincing a bit as I slid onto one of the barstools. You would have thoughtIwas the injured one for how my body was protesting the movement. “Took two times reading that new book she loves so much, but she’s sleeping now.”

I looked at Will when he didn’t respond. He was just staring at the glass, his jaw tight, chest slowly inflating and deflating.

“Hey,” I said, reaching across the counter to grab his wrist.

His eyes flicked to mine when I did.

“She’s okay,” I assured him with a soft smile. “You raised a tough kid. If anything, I bet she’ll be bragging about this tomorrow.”

I chuckled a bit, and Will looked at where my hand was on his wrist before he pulled away completely. I frowned as he stood there, just…staringat me.

Then, slowly, like a predator creeping in on its prey, he rounded the kitchen island until he was standing just inches from where I sat.

He gazed down at me, the heat of him radiating off his skin in waves that made chills sweep across my arms.

“Will?”

His jaw flexed at the sound of his name, and he took another step, slipping into the space between my legs as his hands reached for me. They slid along my jaw, over my cheeks, until his fingers were in my hair and cupping my neck and tilting my chin.

My eyelids fluttered at the feel of him, at the overwhelming waves of electricity that coursed through those hands and into my soul.

His throat constricted, eyes searching mine, thumbs gliding along the line of my jaw.

He tilted my chin more, until my neck was arched, my eyelids heavy as I watched him bend. His dark eyes were locked on mine, never faltering, his hands strong and steady where they held me in place.

Will pressed his forehead to mine, inhaling a long, slow breath and letting his eyes shut at the contact. It was as if he were breathing me in, memorizing me with his hands as his fingers curled in my hair.

He swallowed, jaw muscles popping, nose flaring like he was battling a war I couldn’t see.

And then he lowered his mouth to mine.

And he kissed me.

Shock zipped up my spine, replaced quickly by a longing so deep and intense that it hummed in every inch of my veins. I sucked in a breath at the same time Will did, like we were resurfacing after being under water for years.

Oh my God.

He’s kissing me.

He’skissingme.

His lips were warm and firm against mine, his hands holding me to him. My heart seemed to float away on a cloud the longer we were connected, and when he peppered that kiss only to start a new one, it soared to another universe.

I’d had this man in so many ways. I’d had him on his knees for me, been on my knees for him. I’d had him inside me. He’d had me twisted up in dozens of positions. I’d had him in beds and in baths and against kitchen counters.

But none of it compared to how it felt to have his mouth take mine.

Slow and intentional, sweet and needy. His soft lips met mine time and time again, exploring, discovering. The first time I parted my mouth and his tongue swept inside to taste mine, I moaned, a shock of pleasure ripping through me.

I pressed up out of the barstool and into his touch, into the kiss, my body igniting at the low groan in his throat when I did. One hand stayed firmly in my hair, his thumb still caressing my jaw, as the other snaked around my waist and pulled me into him. He couldn’t get me close enough. He wanted more when there was nothing more to take.

And yet I wanted the same, like if I could strip my entire self and bestow it at his feet — I would.