Will chuckles. “Okay.”
“He went into foster care at the age of twelve, after both his parents were killed in a car accident. There weren’t any relatives to take him.” I sigh as Will scowls. “He could have gone down some bad roads. But he just lost himself in music, and then he had me to worry about, and thank God he is so fucking stubborn, or I shudder to think what kind of a mess he could have made out of his life.”
I clear my throat and trace Will’s shoulder with my fingertip. “He moved to Seattle when he turned eighteen, armed with his guitar and a trust fund that was set up with the insurance money from when his parents died. That’s how he was able to help me pay for school and basically take care of me for so long. He’s a smart guy. And he’s so talented.”
I smile at Will. “It was fun singing with him last night.”
“You two are great together.”
I nod. “It was like no time has passed,” I whisper. “I’ve missed him.”
“Why did you lose touch when he went to L.A.?”
“Because I’m a brat.” I smirk at Will’s frown.
“You are not.”
“Oh, yeah, I am. I threw quite the fit when Leo told me he was leaving for L.A.” I shake my head. “I acted like a kid who wasn’t getting her way. I just didn’t want him to go. And it hurt my feelings that he didn’t give me the option to go with him.”
“From what you told me, it sounds like he was looking out for you.”
“He was,” I nod in agreement. “But it still hurt. I loved him, and he left. And I was too stubborn to stay in touch with him after he was gone. And then when the mad wore off, and I wanted to hear his voice, I felt like too much time had passed, and I didn’t think he’d want to hear from me.” The last sentence is said with a whisper and brings tears to my eyes.
“I’m quite sure that’s not the case,” Will murmurs and brushes a tear off my cheek with his thumb. “No matter how stupid Jules acts, I’d always want to hear from her.”
“Yeah,” I mumble, not knowing what else to say.
“I think we should get up.” Will pulls away from me and bounds out of bed, all naked and rumpled from sleep.
“I think you should get your sexy ass back in bed.” He grins wolfishly at me and pulls the covers away from my naked body.
“Nope, up.”
“Hey! It’s cold.”
“Get your hot ass out of bed and into the shower. I have a surprise for you.” He rolls the blankets into a ball and throws them on the floor, stomping into the bathroom to start the shower.
“What about morning sex?” I yell after him.
“In the damn shower!” he yells back.
“You mean we can have morning sex in the shower?” I yell.
Will appears in the doorway and leans his shoulder against the jam, crosses his muscular arms over his chest, naked as a baby.
“I love it when you’re naked,” I tell him happily from my position on the bed.
“I’m happy to hear that,” he smiles and crosses one leg in front of the other, looking all relaxed. “Are you going to get in the shower under your own power, or do I need to carry you in there?”
“Why are you so bossy this morning?” I ask with a laugh.
“I’m bossy every morning, babe. Now,” he pushes away from the door and saunters to the bed, grabs my ankle, and pulls me to the edge of the bed. “Let’s get in the shower.”
“Okay,” I hold my arms up, and he pulls me to my feet, but rather than letting me walk into the bathroom, he lifts me onto his shoulder and carries me.
“I can walk,” I tell him wryly and slap his firm ass.
“Not fast enough.”
“Tell me about this surprise,” I slap his ass again just before he sets me on my feet.
“No. You said something about shower sex.” He grabs my shower gel and lathers up a wash cloth.
“I’ll have shower sex with you if you tell me about the surprise,” I offer and have to grip his biceps to hold steady as he glides the soapy cloth over my breasts and down my stomach, landing between my legs.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“What was the question?”
* * *
“Where are we going?” I ask from the passenger seat of Will’s car.
“You’ll see. We’re almost there.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“I’m getting that. You’re really bad at just shutting up and letting me do my thing, sweetheart.”
“You should never tell me you have a surprise for me.”
“Lesson learned,” he mutters and parks the car in front of the café with the twelve-egg-omelet.
“Breakfast is the surprise?” I ask with raised eyebrows.
“Shut up, Megan.”
He exits the car and opens my door for me, pulling me up by the hand, wraps his arm around my waist and plants a hard kiss on me, right there on the sidewalk.
“You can shut me up like that anytime, football star.”
He winks and leads me into the restaurant, through the shabby booths and to the back where a guy is sitting with his back to the room, beanie on his head, hoodie on, tattooed hands holding a cup of coffee.
Leo.
My wide gaze finds Will’s and he just shrugs.
Leo looks back at us and smiles, stands, and holds his hand out to Will. “Hey, man.”
“Hey. I’m gonna let you guys catch up. Do you mind giving Meg a ride home when you’re done?”
“You’re leaving?” I ask him, butterflies swarming crazily in my stomach.
“I’m a third wheel, and won’t understand your inside jokes anyway.” He brushes his hand down my face, leans in and whispers in my ear, “You’ll be fine. I love you. Call me if you need me.”
“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 grey eyes are happy, but guarded as if he doesn’t quite know how I’ll react to him.
He’s gripping onto his coffee 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 conversation. It’s never been hard to talk to Leo. I hate that it is now.
“A while. The tour is done, and we’re taking a hiatus.”
“I thought you lived in L.A. 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 a while, 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.
“V
ery.”
“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 the boxes, as if we’re all illiterate and can’t read bedroom written in black sharpie on the side of the 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 my 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 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 door jam. 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 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 knock out.
“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
The With Me In Seattle series continues in book four, Leo and Samantha’s story, ROCK WITH ME, to be released in May, 2013.
Acknowledgements:
As always, I have a long list of people to thank.
First to my husband, for being patient and supportive of this amazing job of mine. I love you.
To my family. Thank you for loving me so completely.
To the best brainstorming partner and the sharer of long hours of sipping wine while we laugh and chat, Nicole Brightman. You are awesome, full of great ideas, and you just get me. I don’t know what I would do without you. Thank you for sharing your imaginary people with me, and for loving mine, too.
To Lori, Tanya, Holly, Nichole and Kara: you are the best beta readers EVER and I love you to bits!
To my sprinting buddies, A.L. Jackson, Molly McAdams and Rebecca Shea. You guys inspire me every single day. Thank you for being such amazing friends and for sharing your talents with me.
Kelli Maine, Michelle Valentine and Emily Snow: you guys are ah-mazing. I can’t tell you what your friendship means to me. I am blessed to be surrounded by such talented and truly extraordinary women. Thank you for all you do for me. Xoxo
To Renae Porter for your great talent. Thank you for producing yet another stellar cover.
To the many, many bloggers who spend so much time and energy promoting my books, T
HANK YOU! Your generosity does not go unnoticed! You have my undying gratitude, every day.
And as always, to you, my friend. Thank you for reading this book. I hope you enjoyed it.
Happy Reading,
Kristen
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