Page 9 of My Ex-Best Men (Ex Marks the Spot #4)
***Will***
C laire stiffened under me and I was already pulling my fingers away from her wet sex when she planted her hands on my chest and pushed.
My dick throbbed painfully in my jeans, hoping against reason that she just wanted to switch positions.
Once I sat back on my heels and saw her face, though, I knew the moment was over.
“We can’t.” Crawling backwards, she didn’t stop until she was pressed against the headboard with her arms wrapped around her knees. “Your tattoo… She was just staring back at me.”
I looked down at the tattoo of Soph and scrubbed my hands down my face. It was the result of a drunken bet but I’d never regretted it until that moment. “Claire…”
“Nothing’s changed.” She looked away from me and ran her hand through her mussed hair. “Shit. I’m sorry, Will. I… I don’t know what to say to make this better.”
Frustration bit at me. “Everything’s changed, Claire. We’re both adults who can do what we want.”
“We can’t betray Soph again. We lied to her for almost two years before, Will. I don’t want to do that to her. I hated lying to her then and I don’t want to go back there. I know you don’t, either.”
“No, I don’t. I was willing to date you openly back then and I’d do it now, too.
Soph wouldn’t love it at first but she’d get over it.
” I let out a groan when I heard myself.
I was arguing for the same thing I had a decade earlier.
It didn’t feel good to know I was still in the same place with the woman in front of me.
“She means too much to me to chance it.”
I stood up and dragged my shirt back on. “Alright. I didn’t mean to jump you. I wanted to have dinner and catch up. Let’s just both take a breather and eat.”
Looking up at me with honey-brown eyes and enough pout to her lips to make me want to yank my hair out, Claire shook her head. “I think we both know that being alone next to a bed is a bad idea.”
“You want me to leave?”
She looked so sad that my anger immediately faded.
Instead of making her answer I walked around the bed and grabbed her into a tight hug.
She clung to me tight enough that I knew she didn’t really want me to leave.
It didn’t matter, though. She wasn’t willing to chance hurting Soph and I respected her for taking care of my sister, even if it sucked for me.
“Alright, I’ll go. Promise me you’ll eat.
” I pulled back enough to look down at her crestfallen face.
Her glasses were sliding down her nose but she didn’t reach to fix them.
I reached up to do it myself and forced a smile.
“Don’t look so sad, sweetheart. If you think I’m leaving for good, you’re sorely mistaken. ”
“What do you mean?”
I dropped a kiss to the corner of her mouth and backed away. “You want the PG version or the TV-MA version?”
She watched me closely. “I’ve always been a masochist. TV-MA.”
“I have the feel of your ass on my palms and the scent of your pussy on my fingertips, baby. Sex with you was fucking amazing when we were both teenagers and I’m hungry to find out just how good it would be now. Because it would be. You and me? We’ve got unfinished business.”
I watched her thighs clench as she shifted from foot to foot. Her cheeks darkened but she didn’t look away from me. “The PG version?”
“I made a mistake all those years ago, sweetheart. Walking away from you is still my biggest regret. I may not be a rocket scientist but I’m smart enough to not make the same mistakes more than once, not when they hurt so much.
” I reached out and gently pressed up on her chin to close her mouth.
I still got a thrill from seeing her shocked by something I did or said.
For most of my time knowing Claire Morgan she’d been a vault, a beacon of keeping her shit together. She was hardly ever caught off guard. I liked being the person who’d always been able to surprise her.
“You want me to go back to the TV-MA version?” I grinned and tapped the end of her nose. “Get some rest, sweetheart. You’ve got a big week ahead of you.”
She followed me to the door and before I could open it she was there, pressing her body into my back. She took a deep breath and then was gone again. “Night, Will.”
A fiend for the woman, I spun around and grabbed her up again.
Pulling her to my chest, I kissed her hard once more and then left the room before it got even harder.
I stood on the other side of her door, chest heaving as I fought for control.
Every part of my being ached to go back inside and be with Claire. It felt unnatural to walk away.
I breathed in the thick night air and shook my head. I couldn’t push Claire. I’d made that mistake once before and I’d shot myself in the foot.
I heard a sound from a few rooms down and glanced over to see Zane fucking Wilson standing there watching me.
I wanted to punch the asshole for even daring to exist so close to Claire.
I was beyond annoyed at my future brother-in-law for inviting one of Claire’s exes.
He didn’t know I was interested in Claire but still.
The rockstar shit stain had abandoned Claire for a chance at fame. He didn’t deserve to be near her.
He was sitting against the porch railing with a guitar in his arms and I just knew he was going to start dramatically strumming it at any moment to get Claire out of her room. Not on my watch.
I walked in his direction and sat in one of the rocking chairs lining the porch. I shot him a smirk and crossed my arms over my chest. “Go ahead and play me something, big shot.”
He smirked back at me but I could see the anger behind his mask. “Your sister know you’re sneaking around her best friend’s room?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Does your girlfriend know you’re wearing her jeans?”
“So the muscles haven’t cut off all oxygen to your brain? Good to know.” He stood up with his guitar and shook his head at me. “You won’t always be around, fire boy.”
“I wouldn’t count on that if I were you.”