Page 34 of My Ex-Best Men (Ex Marks the Spot #4)

***Will***

M y hands still shook as I held Claire close and led her down the side street to my house.

I couldn’t stop seeing the panic on her face when her ex tried to climb into the tub with her.

I wanted to murder Jordan. I wanted to pulverize him until he was just a fucking stain on the ground.

He couldn’t touch her. End of story. I didn’t even want him to look at her. Ever again.

I looked down at her and blew out a harsh breath. There was something about having her back on the island, being able to touch her again, that had gone straight to my head. I didn’t know what I was going to do when she left.

Claire looked up at me, her big eyes still full of sadness. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Are you worried about Soph?”

Shaking my head, I led her past my truck and to the front steps of my wraparound porch. “No. She’ll be angry at me for a little while but she’ll get over it. Once she understands that it wasn’t some skeezy thing I did to her friend, she’ll forgive me for keeping it from her.”

“So it wasn’t some skeezy thing?” Claire looked at the rocking chairs on the porch and her mouth hung open. “This is your house? It’s so beautiful, Will.”

I opened the door for her and guided her inside.

The open floor plan, single floor house was decorated sparsely but I’d taken the time to pick each item I brought in.

I was proud of my home and proud to show it off to Claire.

“This is mine. I bought it a few years ago and have been working on it ever since. It a was a time suck in the beginning but it was worth it.”

She did a little circle as she looked at everything. “You really are so impressive. The apartment I rent in London is pathetic. It’s the size of a closet and I never bothered to decorate it. It’s never felt like home.”

“Maybe it’s never been home.” I took her hand and pulled her with me towards the bathroom. “I know that Soph and Sal would both be over the moon if you decided to move back here.”

She hesitated when we reached the bathroom. “And you? Would you be happy if I did?”

I held her gaze as I slowly undressed her.

The towel pooled at her feet and the ruined bikini went into the sink.

Then she was bare before me, her hands itching to cover herself but she didn’t.

She stayed perfectly still and let me look at her.

“If you came back, you would never say those words again, Claire. You would never stay somewhere that didn’t feel like home because I’d make damn sure every place you laid your head was somewhere you knew you belonged. ”

Her eyes watered before she tucked her face into my chest and sniffed.

“I’m not sure what I’m doing anymore, Will.

I didn’t come back here thinking that I’d feel things again.

I especially didn’t come back thinking I was going to be thrust into an alternate dimension where my exes all want me.

I’ve never quite understood how I caught one of you, much less all of you now. ”

I ran my hands down her sides and watched as her eyes went wider than usual and her cheeks flushed a pretty deep red color.

“Not that I’ve caught you. Or all of you.

I’m not saying that. Or even that you all want me.

That sounded presumptuous, didn’t it?” She groaned.

“I’m just going to break my glasses and throw away my contacts.

If I can’t see the way people look at me when I say things, I’ll never know if I should be horrified by the things I say. ”

Gripping her hips tight, I pulled her flush with my body so she could feel just how much I wanted her. “You caught me. And I want you. You don’t need your vision to know that.”

I pulled her into the shower with me and took the brunt of the cold water before it turned hot.

Claire plastered herself to me and licked water droplets from her lips.

One of the things I’d always loved so much about her was the way her eyes hid nothing.

She’d never been able to look at me when other people were around because those pretty honey brown eyes would’ve told everyone just how much she wanted me.

I could see her need then, shining up at me like a lighthouse in a dark stormy night.

She called me to her in ways she’d never known and would never know.

There’d never been another woman who ever came close to making me feel what she did.

“Let me clean you.” I grabbed the soap and lathered my hands instead of a cloth.

I wanted to touch every part of her. I cupped her full breasts and watched her nipples turn dark pink as blood rushed to them.

They pebbled under my attention and I only moved on from them when I was sure she was spotless there.

Her soft stomach and flared hips made me think filthy thoughts about how she’d look swollen with my child.

I turned her around and started at her shoulders, working my way back down.

I pressed kisses to her spine as I lowered myself to my knees behind her and took special care washing her ass and thighs.

I stroked and massaged them until she had to grip the wall in front of her to stay on her feet.

“Spread your legs.” Cleaning her sex was an act of restraint.

I teased her but never gave her what she needed.

I planted wet kisses on her ass and inner thighs but that was all I’d do.

Standing again, I took even more time washing her hair.

I worked the shampoo into her scalp and smiled as she moaned and let me contort her body any way I needed.

“Good girl, Claire. We just need conditioner now and you’ll be all clean. ”

Once I had the conditioner in her hair, she turned on me and glared at me through heavy eyelids. “You need to be cleaned, too, Will.”

I held up my hands and braced myself for her revenge.

It was worse than I thought possible when she started on her knees and took her time cleaning every inch of my skin from my feet to my thighs.

She ignored the way my cock jumped and pulsed in front of her and thoroughly cleaned my balls and ass.

I was so damn lost in the feel of her hands that I happily leaned against the cold tile wall and let her take care of my chest and arms.

She turned me around and managed to clean my back with her body pressed as closely as possible.

Then she reached around me from behind and cleaned my cock with long, slow strokes.

Her lips and tongue made the muscles in my back clench and release while her hand lost its soapiness and still stroked my length.

Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to take another second, she froze and snatched her hand away.

I groaned in pain and tried to reach around for her but she pressed her fingers into a spot under my ribs on my side and ignored me.

“Will…”

I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead into the wall, unsure of how she was going to react to the tattoo hidden amongst the many others that decorated my skin. I hadn’t considered she’d ever see it.

“I figured if you ever saw it, you wouldn’t realize what it was.” I didn’t recognize my own voice or the rawness of it.

“When… When did you get this?”

“The first summer after you left.”

Her fingers traced the detailed sun tattoo. “Why here?”

I took her hand and slowly pulled her around so she was pinned between my body and the wall. “In protective gear, that spot under the arm is still vulnerable. At the right angle, a shot to the heart is possible. What better place to put your namesake?”

Her eyes stayed on the tattoo. “You’re the only person who ever looked up the meaning of my name… Is that what I was, Will? A shot to the heart?”

I smiled. “Every fucking day.”