With Me in Seattle Bundle One
Page 89
“I love you, too,” I murmur and watch him walk out of the restaurant.
“Have a seat.” Leo gestures to the other side of the booth, and I automatically plop down in it and just stare at him.
His beanie is pulled low across his forehead, covering his eyebrow piercing. His gray eyes are happy but guarded, as if he doesn’t quite know how I’ll react to him.
He’s gripping his coffee cup with both hands.
“You have new tats on your fingers,” I murmur.
“You have a new tat on your arm,” he returns.
I smile. “I’ve had it for a while.”
“What song?”
“Dare You to Move.”
He nods, understanding why. “The floor line?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
He nods again.
“How long are you in town?” I ask, trying desperately to start the conversation. It’s never been hard to talk to Leo. I hate that it is now.
“Awhile. The tour is done, and we’re taking a hiatus.”
“I thought you lived in LA now.” I frown.
“I have a place there, but I miss home.” He shrugs and offers me a half smile, and I can’t help but zero in on that silver hoop in his lip. It actually looks really hot on him. “I miss you, Meg-Pie.”
“I miss you, too.” I sigh and nod at the waitress as she offers me coffee and sets menus in front of us. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“No, it’s not. I have your number. I never called you either.”
“Why?” I ask.
“I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me.”
“I guess we were both wrong,” I murmur and smile at him. “So you’re gonna be here awhile, huh?”
“Yep. Gonna work on the next album and just regroup.”
“Good.”
“So, Will Montgomery?” He sits back in the booth and narrows his eyes on me.
“Yeah.” I smile shyly and look down at my coffee.
“You love him?” he asks, cutting to the chase.
“More than anything,” I confirm.
Leo nods, watching me. “He makes you happy.” It’s not a question.
“Very.”
“Is Sylvia still around?”
My eyes shoot to his in surprise. “How did you…”
“I’m not stupid, Megan. I knew you were paying her. Is she still around?”
“No, Will paid her off.”
“Looks like he makes me happy, too.” Leo takes a sip of his coffee, and I laugh, my stomach finally settling.
“What about you? Settling down with any groupies?” I ask sweetly, and he throws a sugar packet at me.
“No settling down. Sex, fine. Relationships, no.”
“Leo…”
“No.” His face is hard, and I know the subject is closed.
“Stubborn ass.”
“Just like the rest of the women in the country, you adore me.” He gloats and takes a swig of coffee, smacks his lips and smiles smugly.
“I’m glad to see you’re still modest.” I shake my head at him, so happy to be with him again.
“So, tell me about Will, and why I shouldn’t break his throwing arm for touching my sister…”
Epilogue
~Will~
Two months later…
“Why didn’t we hire a moving company again?” I ask as I carry the four-thousandth box off the moving truck into the spare bedroom.
“Because, they aren’t careful. I don’t have much, but what I do have I don’t need getting broken and ruined.” Meg is sitting on the floor in the guest room, going through a box.
“Can you help us finish unloading the truck before you start unpacking boxes?” I ask her, hands on my hips.
“Hey! Where are you guys?” Caleb and Leo both come into the guest room with scowls on their faces.
“You guys do not get to go have sex while we unload your truck,” Caleb says, pointing at us.
“Dude, that’s my sister.” Leo crosses his arms over his chest, and Meg laughs.
“Come on.” I hold my hand out to her and pull her to her feet. “Let’s go, lazy bones.”
All of the brothers are unloading the truck. The girls are directing us on where to put stuff, as if we’re all illiterate and can’t read bedroom written in black Sharpie on the side of a box.
Women always need to boss us around.
I love them.
Megan joins Nat in the kitchen, merging her things with mine, and my chest swells with happiness. It took me six long weeks, but I finally talked her into moving in with me.
“You know,” Meg announces to the room at large. “you didn’t all need to come help. I don’t have that much stuff. Leo and Will could have handled the big stuff.”
“Thanks so much for volunteering me,” Leo mutters. “Why didn’t we hire a company again?”
“That’s what I said,” I agree, and we both earn glares from Meg. She looks so hot when she’s irritated with me.
“So, Sam...” Leo saunters over to Samantha, who’s trying to decide where to hang some artwork Meg brought with her. “What are you doing later?”
“I won’t be doing you,” she mutters, and we all bust out laughing.
Sam is a hard-ass. She’s no-nonsense and tells it like it is. She’s also gorgeous, and I can’t blame Leo for trying.
“Uh, I wasn’t offering, honey.” Leo smiles smugly. “I was wondering if you’d like me to take you to have that stick pulled out of your ass.”
The girls gasp, and Luke’s eyes go hard as stone, but just before he makes the move to kick Leo’s ass, Sam laughs and shakes her head. “Nope, I like the stick right where it is.”
“Let me know if you change your mind.”
“You’ll be the first to know.” She hammers a nail into my wall and hangs the picture that was at her feet. “But, just so you know, I don’t date famous people.”
“Neither do I.” Leo winks and saunters into the kitchen, pulls a beer out of the fridge and takes a sip.
The girls are all smiling broadly at him, and I have to say, I want to high-five him.
There’s no way in hell he’ll talk her into going out with him.
Finally, after what feels like days, everyone leaves. I thank everyone for their help as they climb in their cars and drive off, shut the front door and go in search of my girl.
I find her in the guest room again, going through that same box from earlier.
“What are you looking at?” I ask her and lean against the doorjamb. She looks so young, sitting there on the floor in my old jersey and her black yoga pants, hair pulled up in a ponytail and no makeup.
“I found these pictures that Nat took of me when we were in college.” She’s thumbing through the photos, and I frown in confusion, and then it hits me. Natalie takes naked pictures.
Naked pictures of Megan.
“Show me.” I push away from the door and lower myself to the floor behind her, my legs on either side of her, and pull her against my chest, her sexy ass snuggled up against my groin.
And then my world stands still.
The photos are black and white. Meg is holding her guitar, and not wearing a stitch of clothing.
“Holy hell,” I mutter as she shuffles through them slowly.
There must be two dozen of them, Meg in different poses with that guitar. Her hair is down, framing her face. She was slimmer then, in the way women are when their bodies are changing from being a teen into a woman. I much prefer her rounder breasts and hips now, but damn, even then she was a knockout.
“How old were you?” I ask.
“Nineteen,” she replies shyly, looking at the photos.
She comes to the last one. She’s sitting cross-legged on a bed covered in white sheets that have been messed up. Her arms are wrapped around the guitar, and it’s covering her completely, but it’s the sexiest photo of the bunch. Her face is sober, her wide eyes
staring into the camera, and she’s biting her bottom lip.
“Can I keep that one?” I ask.
“Sure. You can keep them all.”
“Really?” I run my hands up and down her arms and kiss her neck, just below her ear. I’m sure she can feel how much these photos have turned me on.
“I don’t need them.” She leans into me and turns her sweet face to me. I run my fingers down her cheek and kiss her nose, her dimple and then her lips.
“You are beautiful, Megan. Then and even more so now.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“I’m glad you’re here, in our home with me.”
She smiles widely, her eyes happy, and I will do whatever it takes to keep that happiness there for the rest of her life.
“Me, too. Can we get naked now?”
“I thought you’d never ask, sweetheart.”
THE END
A Very Montgomery Christmas
Dear Reader:
For Christmas of 2013, I decided to check in with Will and Meg, to see how they’d decide to spend their first Christmas together. I love what I found! I hope you do too.
Happy Reading,
Kristen
~Meg~
“Where are we going?” I wonder aloud for the third time since we left our North Seattle home. All I know for sure is that we’re heading east on I-90, and we’re in the Rover rather than the Mustang.
“You’ll see.” Will repeats, way more patiently than he usually would. He grips my hand in his and pulls it up to his lips, kissing me gently, sending sparks of awareness down my arm and through my body.
Even after all this time with him, I get butterflies and just a simple touch gets me all hot and bothered.
“It’s the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Will. We’re in the Rover. Our options are limited.”
“If you don’t stop harassing me,” he begins without sparing me a glance, “I’m going to turn this car around go back home and you’ll never know.”
“You’ve never been mean during holidays before,” I remark lightly and then giggle when he glares at me. “Okay, okay. I’ll be good.”
“You smell good,” he murmurs and kisses the inside of my wrist again. “Is this a new perfume?”
“I don’t wear perfume,” I reply with a grin. “But thank you.”
I turn up the radio and am content to sit beside my man, my hand clenched safely in his, and watch the world go from green and wet to white as we climb higher into the mountains. I love snow. Love it.
After a couple of hours on the road, Will turns off the freeway and pulls into a tiny town in the mountains of Washington called Leavenworth. The town is Bavarian, has a gorgeous German design and feel to it, and is also a hotspot during Oktoberfest.
“I’ve always wanted to come here!” I exclaim when he parks in front of a property management office.
“I know,” he replies with a grin. He leans over the console to kiss my lips quickly. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
He hurries inside the office and then less than five minutes later returns with a key in his hand.
“We’re staying over night?” I ask with wonder.
“We are,” he confirms and throws the Rover into reverse.
“Are you sure?” I ask uncertainly.
Will shoves the car back into park and turns to face me. “I’m sure that I want to spend Christmas Eve with the woman I love in a cabin in the snow. Are you not okay with this?”
“I’m definitely okay with it, I guess I’m just surprised that you don’t want to spend Christmas with your family.”
“I am spending Christmas with my family, Megan.” He cups my face in his big hand and smiles gently at me, stealing my breath. “You are my family, sweetheart. Besides, we’ll head back tomorrow afternoon to have Christmas dinner with everyone else tomorrow evening.”
I’m still stuck like stupid on you are my family, sweetheart.
“Okay,” I croak.
He nods and drives the short distance to a small cabin surrounded by tall evergreen trees and lots of snow. “Home away from home,” he comments with a grin.
“It’s awesome,” I reply and jump out of the Rover, ready to play in the snow. Will treks around to the rear of the vehicle and pulls out two small overnight bags. “You packed me a bag?”
“I did,” he nods. “If I had my way, you’d spend the next twenty-four hours naked, but you can’t walk around town like that. They frown on it.”
“I think I’d frown on it too,” I agree and move to take one of the bags but he holds it out of my reach.
“I’ve got this. Here,” he hands me the key, “you go open the door.”
I lead him up a freshly shoveled path to the front door and gasp in surprise. The whole place has been decorated for Christmas. There is a tall, real tree in front of the large picture window of the living room, lit and covered in red and gold ribbons and bulbs. Fresh garland hangs around an open-hearth fireplace and other small Christmasy touches are sprinkled through out the whole place.
“This is beautiful!”
Will sets our bags down, shuts the door and wraps his arms around me, pulling me against him. “Do you really like it?”
I turn in his arms and gaze up into his stunning blue eyes, my love for this man overflowing my heart. “You did this because I said that I’d like to spend Christmas in the snow, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” He nods and then rests his forehead on mine. “And because I wanted you to myself for Christmas, at least for a little while.”
“Thank you, babe.” I rise on my tiptoes and press my lips to his, and he takes over, plunging his hands in my hair, plundering my mouth with fervor. Like everything Will does, when he kisses, he gives it one hundred percent.
Finally, he brushes his lips to the corner of my mouth and nibbles gently before pulling back. He pushes a strand of my hair off my cheek and grins.
“Let’s go walk through the town,” he suggests. “It’ll be getting darker soon, and the whole place lights up.”
“Let’s go,” I agree and hold my hand out for him, which he happily takes and pulls me back through the front door and down the driveway. The main street of Leavenworth is only about five blocks from our cabin, so we walk into town and I’m immediately enchanted by the atmosphere. The whole town is draped in lights and garland, bells and bows. It’s busy, given that it’s Christmas Eve and perhaps the most famous town in the state to be in on the holiday, but we just wander down the snow-packed street, glancing in store windows, admiring Christmas artwork and even ducking into a wine store for a tasting.
Will isn’t recognized even once, or if he is, he’s left alone, which I’m thankful for.
When we make our way to the center of town, there is a gazebo with live music. The town has grown dark, as it’s prone to do this time of year, despite still being well before dinnertime.
There are three men, playing acoustic guitars, and a little girl of around nine is singing The First Noel, in her sweet, innocent little voice. A crowd has gathered to listen, swaying and holding onto their loved ones as she sings about the baby Jesus being born.
Suddenly, Will turns me in his arms and begins to dance with me, right here in the middle of the crowd, as snow falls softly around us.
“You have a habit of dancing with me in public streets,” I murmur as he plants his lips on my forehead.
“Just seems appropriate,” he replies softly. “I love you, Megan. Thank you for sharing Christmas with me.”
I grin up at him and push my hands up his arms and into his hair as the little girl begins to sing, Where Are You, Christmas?
“I love you too, football star.”
He brushes his cold lips over mine, once then again before tucking me under his chin and swaying us both back and forth as the little girl continues the sweet holiday song.
“I have another surprise for you,” he whispers in my ear and leads me away from the crowd at the gazebo.
“Wha
t?”
“Dinner.”
“Is this a surprise for me, or a necessity for you?” I ask dryly, knowing my handsome fiancé’s love of food.
“Okay, it’s for both of us. We need to eat,” he insists, making me laugh. He leads me into a Bavarian restaurant, and when he gives the hostess his name, we’re immediately led to a private dining room on the second floor with a beautiful view of the town and all of the many lights. A horse-drawn sleigh glides by and we can see hot chocolate or cider stands, handing out hot drinks to people walking through town.
“Thank you for this,” I say to Will and take his hand in mine.
“Just wait until later,” he replies with a wide smile.
~Will~
Dinner was spectacular, but damn if it didn’t drag. All I could think about was getting Meg back to the cabin.
Tonight is all about her.
“It got cold out,” she murmurs, hopping on the balls of her feet, as I unlock the front door.
“Come on, I need to warm you up. I won’t have you sick.” I peel both of our coats and boots off and lift her in my arms. She wraps her arms around me and buries her cold nose in my neck.
“You’re warm,” she mutters with a smile.
“I’m about to be a lot warmer if you keep that up,” I reply as she kisses a trail down my neck. “Let’s have a bath.”
“Oh my God, look at this master suite!” The king-sized bed dominates the room, and there is another lit red and gold Christmas tree standing in here. Just off the bedroom is a big master bath, with a sunken bathtub, big enough for two.
“It’s too cold to get naked,” she pouts, her lips pursed and brows pulled together. She’s the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
I sit her on the closed toilet seat and start the hot water then flip on the towel warmer so Meg won’t get chilled when we climb out.
She grins and watches me, her eyes happy and calm.
I tug my sweatshirt over my head and toss it aside, then lower my jeans and underwear, my eyes never leaving her face as she rakes her eyes up and down my body. She swallows hard and her breathing increases, making me harder.