“You didn’t mean I can keep it forever.”
“What if I did?”
“I’d laugh and ask you if you’ve been drinking.”
My lips twitch. Most of the women I’ve dated over the past ten years would have simply said, “thanks, I’ll keep it.”
Not Willa.
“I don’t need it.”
“Then why did you buy it?” she asks.
“Good question.” I sigh and slow down to stop at a red light. “Because I can? Does that make me sound like an asshole?”
“No, it makes you sound rich,” she replies.
“I am rich, Wills. No more Datsun trucks for me. I can buy pretty much anything in the world.”
“I have so many questions,” she says with a smile. “And not in a bad way, in a truly curious way.”
“Let’s get inside, and you can ask me anything you like,” I say as I park outside Ed’s Diner and escort her in. We’re given the booth in the back corner, the same one we always sat at when we were kids.
“Did you do this on purpose?” Willa asks.
“Nope, just coincidence,” I reply.
Of course, I did it on purpose.
But a man has to have a few secrets and tricks up his sleeve.
“Can I get y’all something to drink?” the waitress asks.
“Chocolate shake for me,” I say.
“Can I share yours?” Willa asks, making me grin.
“One chocolate shake it is,” I say. The waitress nods and leaves us with our menus. “What are those questions of yours?”
“Let me start by saying, I’m so proud of you, Max.”
I stare at her, surprised. This isn’t what I expected at all.
“You grew up middle-class like the rest of us. And you took advantage of every opportunity to get an excellent education, to work your butt off, and it’s paid off for you in spades. I’m not just talking about the money, but all of your success. You’re respected, and you’ve earned all of that and more.”
“Geez, Wills. You’re embarrassing me.”
“And now for the good stuff,” she says, leaning in after the waitress drops off our shake. It’s huge, and there’s more in the steel malt cup she brought with it. “What’s it like to have that much money? I mean, I do pretty well, but I still have a budget, and I have a small retirement plan and a college fund for Alex, that sort of thing. What you have is on a whole other level.”
I nod, trying to think of how to explain it.
“Honestly, it’s like everything is free for me.”
Her eyebrows climb into her bangs.
“Really.”
“Really,” I confirm. “When I spend money, it doesn’t matter. I don’t even have to think about it because no matter how much I spend, it’ll never make a dent in my bottom line. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah,” she says with a nod. “It does.”
“But, I also enjoy the game of the financials, so I have a team of accountants who help me with investments and taxes.”
“I don’t even want to think about your taxes,” she says, shaking her head.
“No. You don’t.” I laugh and reach out to take her hand in mine again, needing the skin-on-skin contact. “I love to invest, so I have real estate all over the world.”
“Where?” she asks.
“Here, California, Seattle, New York, London, and Paris. I’ve been looking at a cabin on Lake Tahoe.”
“Wow,” she breathes. “That is a lot.”
“But at the end of the day, I’m still just me,” I insist as our burgers and fries are set in front of us. “I love French fries with ketchup and my coffee black.”
“Ew.”
“No ketchup?”
“No black coffee. I need it sweet.”
I grin. “I like to go on dates with my beautiful Willa, and I love my little town.”
“So, you’re just Max with a lot of money.”
“Yep.”
“That’s not why I’m here.” Her face is serious now. “I don’t care about the money, Max. I’m proud of you, and happy for you, but that’s not—”
“I know,” I say, squeezing her hand, then letting go so we can eat. “That’s one of the reasons why we’re here tonight.”
“How are your parents?” she asks. “I didn’t get to talk to them much at Brad’s wedding.”
“You probably know that they live most of the year down in Arizona now,” I begin. Willa nods, and we spend the next half hour enjoying our food and talking about our families. Our businesses.
Alex.
“He’s started drawing pictures of puppies and sticking them on the fridge. He thinks he’s being nonchalant,” Willa says with a laugh. “Like I don’t notice the new pictures every couple of days.”
“He’s campaigning for what he wants,” I say with a smile. “He’s smart. Is it working?”
“It’s all in vain,” she says with a laugh. “I chose a puppy weeks ago. We’re going to go pick it up tomorrow after his party.”
“He’ll be over the moon,” I say. “You’re an excellent mom, Willa.”
Her eyes suddenly fill with tears.
“Shit, what did I say?”
“Nothing bad,” she says, dabbing at her eyes. “Thank you. Being a mom is hard. Harder than I ever thought it would be, and there are days that I don’t think I’m very good at it.”
“Have you seen Alex?” I ask. “He’s great. A lot of that is because you’ve done your job.”
“I’m lucky,” she says, her eyes drying up. Thank God. I never could stand to see her cry. “Alex was an easy baby. So laid-back and sweet. He wasn’t colicky or high-maintenance. It was like the universe knew that I was already a wreck, and it cut me some slack.”
“I’m glad,” I murmur. “Should we get out of here?”
“Sure.” She stands, reaches for her purse, and I follow her out to my car.
“Can I take you somewhere else?” I ask.
“Of course. Where do you want to go?”
“Paris.”
I watch as she goes pale, and her mouth drops, making me laugh.
“Just kidding. We’ll save that for another time. I’d like to take you to the movies.”
She laughs and reaches over to smack my shoulder.
“Ouch. I don’t remember you being this violent.”
“I don’t even have a passport.”
“Oh, sweetheart, we need to change that.”
She doesn’t say anything as we pull away from the diner and head toward my house. I know this is a lot, and moving fast, but I don’t know any other way to be with Willa.
I stayed away for so long, it’s like I feel as if I have to make up for lost time.
I pull into my garage and cut the engine.
“Uh, I thought we were going to the movies?”
“We are.” I grin and hop out of the vehicle, then open the door for her and lead her inside. “You’ve been here before with Jenna.”
“True, I have,” she says with a nod. “You’ve never been here.”
“Well, now I can give you a proper tour.”
It takes us a half hour to make our way through the big house on the lake. The last room is the theater room with a popcorn machine, candy, and soda. It’s decorated with movie posters, including one of the show we’re going to see tonight.
I did that on purpose, too.
“Do you want popcorn?”
“Of course,” she says. “And Milk Duds.”
Just like that first date.
“Coming right up.” I toss her the Duds, put in some fresh popcorn to pop, and cue the Blu-ray disk.
“What are we watching?” she asks.
“You don’t remember what we saw on our first date?”
She frowns. “It’s been about fifteen years, Max. I don’t remember.”
“Pirates of the Caribbean,” I reply as I pass her some popcorn and a soda. I hit play on the remote, and the lights go down, the curtain goes up
, and the screen comes to life.
“Leave it to you to have a real movie theater in your house,” she says playfully.
“It’s handy,” I say. “Besides, we could have watched this in my car on my iPad. We went to the drive-in on that first date.”
“It’s a bit cold for that,” she concedes and snuggles up against me on the soft red loveseat in the middle of the room. “And this way, we can snuggle.”
Or, I could lay her back, strip her bare, and fuck her right here in my theater.
Instead, I shove some popcorn into my mouth and watch as Captain Jack Sparrow slurs his way through the movie.
After Willa sets her empty popcorn bucket aside, I yawn, stretch my arm high over my head, then drop it over her shoulders.
She gives me the side-eye, but her lips are tipped up in a grin.
My fingers play against the soft skin of her bare shoulder before moving up into her silky hair. Her chest rises and falls in a deep sigh, and I know she’s as turned on as I am.
Using my moves from back in the day, I lean in and press a kiss to her earlobe. The next thing I know, she’s turned, plunged her hand in my hair, and my lips are on hers, hard and sure, drinking her in like I’ve been lost in the desert for a month.
She’s sweet, giving, and so damn good. She hasn’t changed at all.
I need her. All of her.
When we come up for air, her forehead is pressed to mine, and we’re both breathing hard.
“God, I’ve missed you,” I whisper.
“Me, too,” she whispers back.
Chapter Six
~Willa~
“TELL ME EVERYTHING,” Jenna hisses next to me. We’re at yoga the morning after my date with her brother, in the back where we always are during class.
“Take a deep breath, everyone,” Fallon McCarthy, our yoga instructor, says from the front of the classroom. There are maybe ten of us here today, including Brooke and Maisey Henderson, Jillian King, and Lauren Sullivan. “And exhale. Beautiful. Reach way up…”
“It was a first date,” I whisper loudly. “Literally. He recreated our first date from back in the day.”
“Oh my God, that’s sweet,” Brooke says. “Sorry. I’m totally eavesdropping.”
“We all are,” Jillian replies with a laugh. “Max and I have been friends for years.”
Fallon glances back at us, but just when I think she’s going to yell at us for chatting during class, she just smiles.
“I don’t care if we chat about Willa’s love life, as long as we do it while we yoga,” she says, making us laugh. “Let’s do some cat and cow poses, ladies. Let’s strengthen those cores and backs.”
“So, tell us about the first date,” Lauren says.
“We had dinner at Ed’s. We shared a chocolate shake and each ordered burgers and fries. Just like before.”
“Damn, I’m trying to shed some of this baby weight, and she’s talking about burgers and fries from Ed’s,” Lauren mumbles.
“And then we went to his house to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. We watched it at the drive-in back then, but it’s a bit cold for that now.”
“Does he really have his own movie theater?” Maisey asks.
“Yeah. It’s gorgeous,” Jenna replies. “We’ll have a girls’ night over there sometime and watch a bunch of chick flicks.”
“I’m in,” Maisey says with a smile.
“Downward dog,” Fallon instructs us.
“I bet Max knows all about downward dog,” Brooke says, making me choke on my own spit. I fall to my knees and cough, trying to catch my breath.
“That’s disgusting,” Jenna says. “He’s my brother, Brooke.”
“He’s not our brother,” Jillian says with a laugh. “And Willa would know all about his downward dog abilities.”
“Can’t breathe,” I stutter, laughing and coughing at the same time.
“Gross. Ew. Tell them you’ve never seen my brother naked,” Jenna demands, but all I can do is shake my head as I take a deep breath.
“It’s been a long time, but yes, I’ve seen him naked.”
“Just think about how much better it’ll be now,” Lauren says thoughtfully.
Oh, trust me, I have.
His body is so different. He grew a couple of additional inches after he graduated from high school, and man, has he filled out! The muscles are ridiculous. I couldn’t help but try to touch him everywhere last night when he was kissing the life out of me.
And that groping was over the clothes. I can’t even imagine how good he’ll look and feel naked.
“Oh, no, she’s thinking about it.” Jenna snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Willa. Wake up.”
“Sorry. It’s hard not to think about it. But, no sex with him yet.”
“Or ever,” Jenna says, scowling.
“On your backs,” Fallon says, “and into the happy baby pose.”
We grab our feet and let our legs fall wide.
“Now, I can’t stop thinking about sex and yoga poses,” Maisey says. “Is it just me, or is this very sexual?”
“Yoga helps with sex,” Fallon offers with a smile. “Being more flexible and open to feelings makes intimacy incredible.”
“I’m coming to yoga every day,” Brooke says, making us giggle.
“Fallon, you’re the best,” I say as I stretch my legs out and lay flat on my back. “Most instructors would yell at us for being immature during class.”
“You’re all fun,” she replies happily. “This is a space for acceptance and rejuvenation. If you reach that by being a little silly with your friends, who am I to say that’s wrong? Take a deep breath, now, and sit up into meditation pose, legs crossed.”
We breathe some more, and are finally quiet for a few moments.
“That’s class for today,” Fallon says cheerfully. “Have a wonderful Saturday. Namaste, friends.”
“Namaste.”
“Good luck, Willa,” Jillian says with a smile. “Not that you need it. Max has been gone over you for years.”
“He looks at you like you’re a new computer,” Lauren agrees. “And that’s pretty great, because he loves his computers.”
Jenna and I laugh, waving goodbye to the others, and gather our things to head out.
“What’s on tap now?” she asks me.
“I have to go pick up Alex from my mom’s, then take him home and get ready for his party. He invited eight little boys to come over, and they’re going to build snow forts.”
“Fun,” she says with a smile. “Your property is perfect for it.”
“It really is. I’ll have a hot chocolate bar set up for them because that’s one of Alex’s favorite things, and cake, of course.”
“Max is excited to come,” she says with a wink.
“He’ll have a rude awakening when he has to watch me wrangle nine little boys.” I shrug. “I guess he has to see the not-so-sexy sides of my life too, huh?”
“I don’t think he’ll find you being a good mom unattractive,” Jenna replies. “I know that he admires you very much for being a good mother.”
“He said that last night,” I agree with a sigh. “And then I was stupid and cried over it because it surprised me.”
“I’m sure he didn’t think it was stupid.”
“He looked mildly terrified,” I admit and shrug. “He never knew what to do with me when I cried.”
“No, Max isn’t good with tears. So, he’s coming to the party today, but do you know when you’ll get to have more one-on-one time with him?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “That’s the tough thing, Jenna. I have a kiddo, and I like spending time with him. I’m not willing to farm him out to my mom all the time because I want to go on dates.”
“I don’t think it needs to be that extreme,” she says with a frown. “Max likes Alex. But maybe you could farm him out a couple of evenings a month so you can have an adult dinner with a handsome guy.”
“True. Last night was
fun, and if I’m honest, I needed it. Not having to worry about someone spilling their soda or wiping their mouth was a nice break.”
“Max rarely spills his soda,” Jenna agrees. “And if he ever has an issue with spending time with both you and Alex, well, he’s not the guy for you.”
“You’re right.” I nod, feeling better. “You’re absolutely right. So, time will tell. Because Alex is wonderful in small doses, but when real life hits? Fevers and exhaustion, and not getting his way? They’re not often, but they do happen, and it’s not fun.”
“Like you said, time will tell,” she says. “I’m just happy to see you dropping your walls with him.”
“I’m not doing that,” I insist. “I can’t do that, Jenna. The walls are there for a reason. If he wants to get inside of them, he has to make the effort, and I will admit that he’s doing a good job of making an effort. I’ve done my share of resisting.”
“Are you going to keep resisting?”
“It’s hard not to. It’s just been me for so long.”
“I know. I reminded him of that, too. Just remember, if Max offers to help you in any way, it’s because he wants to. He doesn’t do much that he doesn’t want to do.”
“I’m slowly remembering that.” I take a deep breath and pull Jenna in for a hug. “Thank you, for being an amazing best friend, despite the fact that I make drama with your brother.”
“Oh, honey, this isn’t drama. Have you seen The Bachelor? That’s drama. I love you. Tell Alex I’ll bring him his present in a couple of days.”
“Will do. See you later.”
***
“We made the best fort!” Alex exclaims as he runs into the house, followed by three of his friends. Their cheeks are rosy, and their eyes are shining in excitement.
All of the kids will sleep well tonight.
“We made six forts,” Pierce, Alex’s best friend, reminds him. “And we have to build a road that connects them.”
“Can I get my sled out so we can drag it over the snow and pack it down?” Alex asks. “That’ll be the road.”
“You can do that after cake and presents,” I reply with a smile, tugging his stocking cap off and smoothing down his hair. “Go let your guys know to come in for a while. And shed all of the gear in the garage. I’d rather not have a wet mess in the house.”
Waiting for Willa (The Big Sky Series Book 3) Page 6