Better Than the Best

by Amabel Daniels

  Staggering to the door, she yawned as she pulled it open.

  A young woman faced her. “Where is he? Bill? Will? I think his name was Will.”

  Oh Christ. Will’s lover of the night. Kelly accepted the truth she really must be completely lame. She didn’t want to get in the middle of it so she said nothing.

  The girl smoothed her hair into a ponytail. “I need a ride to my boyfriend’s house. He’s going to freak I was cheating. Will can’t dump me in the middle of nowhere without a ride.”

  Kelly whimpered, only wanting more sleep.

  Will came to the door in his boxers, and by his slit-eyed scowl, he was missing sleep as much as Kelly was. “Sorry Jamie. I’m an ass. Figure out a ride yourself.”

  The younger brunette gasped dramatically as though she couldn’t believe he dared to brush her off.

  Heat seared the tips of Kelly’s ears. Now I’m going to look like a slut for having him here. And I didn’t even sleep with him!

  “My name’s Jane!” the brunette said.

  Will slammed the door in her face, then retreated for the bed.

  Dumbstruck, Kelly stared at her door, unable to compute a reaction. After a moment, Will returned, picked her up and carried her back to bed. He dumped her on the sheets, crawled in and reached to hold her.

  Coming to, Kelly smacked his hand. “She thinks I stole you and slept with you!”

  “Shh.” He closed his eyes and reached for her again.

  “You’re an ass.”

  He sat up and glared at her. “Tell me something I don’t know. How about this? I’m tired. You’re tired. She doesn’t matter to me and she doesn’t matter to you. Go back to sleep.” He gave her his back.

  She flipped him off, then flopped back down.

  A half hour later, the knocking returned. They had mysteriously gotten into the spoon position again and Kelly flung his arm from her. She growled as she went to the door.

  Clay stood on the other side. He was probably used to her morning cranky face, but he’d never seen what she slept in. “Damn, baby.”

  She started to shut the door.

  “Hey, hey. Hang on. Some girl’s on the porch whining about Will. Says he took her home and left her there.”

  Kelly tried to pull together some words.

  “Can you get rid of her?”

  She pursed her lips.

  He yawned. “Come on. I’ve got someone over.”

  No surprise there.

  “And I don’t know where he is.”

  Her lips didn’t move.

  “Come on,” he pleaded. Kelly wasn’t sure what was more annoying: his conviction she would never have anyone over, or how she had to get involved with his problem because she was too nice for her own good.

  She opened her mouth to say, what, she didn’t know, but Will’s yell from the bedroom beat her.

  “Shut the door!”

  Clay’s eyes widened in recognition and the furnace at her ear tips flared. Burned. Embarrassed was the mild version of what she experienced. And all she had done was let Will crash for the night. Pathetic. Idiot. Pushover.

  “Kel?”

  She shook her head, not liking the smile on Clay’s face. “No. No, no, no, no. It’s not what you’re thinking. He’s—we— No.” She pointed at him sternly. “It’s not what it looks like, Clay.”

  He grinned like a Cheshire cat as Will came out from the bedroom. Without a word, he picked Kelly up, put her over his shoulder, and shut the door in Clay’s face.

  “You jackass!” She tried without avail to escape his grip.

  “Stop fidgeting.” He dropped her on the mattress.

  “You realize this caveman crap is really—” Kelly jumped out of bed with the urge to strangle him.

  He reached up and grabbed her at the waist, then sat down in bed and pulled her to his lap. His arms strapped her with her back to his chest and she struggled to get free, her arms locked under his.

  “He— You—”

  “Calm down.” His breath blew at the hair on the back of her head.

  “Let me go.” She wiggled and he hardly budged. Kelly tried silence, counted to ten and tried again. Fine! “He thinks we slept together.” She bit the words out.

  “I don’t care.”

  “I do.”

  Will leaned to his side to look at her profile. “Why?”

  “Because. I’m not a piece of ass.”

  “I know. He knows.”

  “But—”

  “So why do you care?”

  “Because it will take two seconds for everyone in this gossipy little town to know we slept together, when we didn’t, and everyone will think I’m a piece of ass.”

  “Clay won’t say a word.”

  She turned to face him. “How do you know?” Moving was a mistake, she realized as his lips were inches from hers, his breath tickling her cheek. Her heart neared cardiac arrest. Kiss him. She slammed the brakes on the thought.

  “He won’t.” Will’s expression conveyed sincerity she could believe in.

  She inhaled deeply. “Why are you doing this?”

  “What?”

  “The caveman hauling around deal.”

  His chest heaved against her back like a slow warm tickle. “I came here because I needed to sleep. Apparently Jane wanted to use me to piss off her boyfriend. I took her home last night because she was too drunk to drive home herself. She passed out at the bathroom and I stayed outside to pee. So I was locked out.”

  Still doesn’t explain why he’s holding me on his lap.

  “And I didn’t know the boat was going after you. I still don’t know who the hell was driving and I hate it.”

  She pursed her lips as her skin mapped out the comforting details of his body under hers. “Why haven’t you let go of me yet?” She pushed to test her arms against his grip.

  His cheek rose in his almost smile against her temple. “You have a violent temper. I can’t trust you to settle down. I want some peace and quiet before I have to bust my ass at work.”

  Sounded simple. But it still didn’t explain why he wouldn’t let her go. She had stopped ‘fidgeting’, as he had called it.

  They sat there, in peace and quiet with tension and chaos. Will’s chest moved in a lullaby rhythm at her back and she relaxed enough to lean back on him. She guessed she wasn’t going to get out of his arms until he was good and ready to let go of her, but she couldn’t lie and say she didn’t like it. There was nowhere else she wanted to be. He was strong and warm and it was like a comforting cocoon.

  His lips brushed her shoulder and she shivered.

  She cleared her throat. “Will…”

  “You say stop and I’ll stop.”

  It was a wicked tease. He had to know she wanted him, putting her on the spot to make the call. Damn him.

  He spread kisses on her shoulder then up her neck, nuzzling the skin below her ear.

  Her breaths came faster and deeper as he pulled her cami strap down with his teeth, kissing and licking her skin.

  She swallowed, suddenly parched from the building burn inside her body. Shivers almost turned to shudders and she gasped when his lips found her ear and he nipped and tugged. Her cheek, the corner of her mouth, along her jaw, her shoulder, her collarbone, her neck. She relished the slow exploration of his lips.

  Too slow. Leaning back against him, Kelly turned her face towards him and he caught her with a soft kiss. She melted at the faint touch. It was hot and gentle, screaming of his hunger. Murmuring, she tilted her face up to his, reaching for more of his lips and heated caresses.

  One of his arms left her waist. He smoothed his palm over her skin then cupped her jaw, turning her closer to his mouth.

  She pulled her arms from his grip at her waist and snaked them up, over her head and back to grip his hair. Her chest arched back to him and he spread his palm under her cami, smoothing her breasts, teasing her nipples.

  Will’s hand made its way down to her panties to stroke her, an
d she whimpered at his slow and agonizing touch.

  He clutched the flimsy material in a fist and ripped it off of her. Uninhibited, his fingers brought her close to a climax.

  She gasped with impatience and lifted off his lap onto her knees while she pulled his boxers down. He slipped her cami off. Sitting down again, she sat above his erection and stroked him while he kissed her and teased her nipples.

  “Will,” she whispered his name at his lips and smoothed her hand over his cheek. She lifted her hips, then slid down over him to the hilt.

  He gripped her hip, his arm over her waist possessively as she trembled. She rode him, the smooth skin of her back sliding up and down his chest. Both her hands roped above and behind her head. She threaded her fingers into his hair without breaking the kiss.

  He smoothed his calloused palms down her thighs as she moved on him. He pulled her knees apart, bringing her intimately closer and deeper on him.

  In a tight grip, she came and melted against him with a mind-shattering heat, sending him to thrust once up into her and fill her.

  Sitting on his lap, she relaxed her cheek on his chest and he held her until they both fell asleep.

  If Eddie hadn’t licked her hand and woke her up an hour later, she wouldn’t have been able to escape. Slowly and lightly, she moved off of Will’s lap and sat next to him as he slept.

  I can’t believe I caved. He was irresistible in the most damning ways, but it was wrong. She knew it had to be. The sex, phenomenal. But the aftermath?

  She traced his lips with her finger and planned to run away. She was in love with him. No more guessing. No more pondering. It was a fact to her as she watched him sleep. She loved him. Gruff attitude, depressing baggage, almost smiles, gentle touches and all. She loved a man who would never return the sentiment, and with a heavy breath, she left before he woke.

  Chapter 24

  Will wasn’t surprised he was alone when he woke up. He smiled at the ceiling and turned to see Eddie lying next to him with his tongue lolling. It was the first morning in a long time he felt alive and with purpose. He had a reason to get out of bed. Something about a certain messy-haired blonde who was both sweetly submissive and damningly dominant in bed. Reaching out to rub the dog’s head, he sat up and studied the apartment.

  He showered and stalled in her apartment before heading to Clay’s apartment for a ride to the garage where he kept his spare key in his desk. She had even taken the time to drape his wet clothes by the window. With a shake of his head, he tried to stop smiling. It was an overdose.

  “Morning, boss.” Clay grinned with an abundance of enthusiasm. Will glanced at him, daring him to comment. Either the man had gotten exceptionally pampered the night before, or he was teasing.

  Clay chuckled at his non-answer. “Knew it.”

  Will didn’t know everything about Kelly, but he figured he knew her well enough to assume she would be edgy, standoffish and shy since they had actually engaged in intercourse. He expected it. And he’d give her time to wrap her head around the idea. One-night-stand wasn’t going to cut it. They’d survived it and Will missed her as soon as he saw the kayak hut on the way to his garage that morning.

  But nothing could have prepared him to be cut out of her life in the following weeks. She’d walk Eddie on the beach, run the kayak hut, deliver for Alan. She was everywhere he looked. Even when he was sleeping.

  But she hadn’t talked to him. Hadn’t acknowledged him. Hadn’t looked his way. Hadn’t met his eyes. It was as though he didn’t exist. In the first week after he had slept with her, he had decided to let her come to him, reasoning if he approached her, she might still give him the cold shoulder.

  But she never came to him.

  There was no joking in the garage. No more small smiles she reserved for him. He didn’t have the pleasure of meeting her gaze. Debating silly stupid mysteries of life. Discussing baseball.

  It was over.

  After three weeks, he resembled the world-hating monster he had been after Matt died. The realization irritated him. One woman? One simple ordinary blonde from Atlanta had rendered him more morose and angry than losing his best friend had? In brief moments of introspection, he wondered if this was another of her tricks. Another of her games where she would break his walls. But she still never came.

  He grew angrier with her with every passing day. He’d ordered from Alan’s twice a day, to force her to physically enter the garage. But she always left the subs with Clay when he wasn’t looking.

  Sex. It was sex. He grew furious she was acting so childish, so immature. Taking the whole thing out of proportion. Wasn’t he her friend, too? That idea enraged him even more. He had tried to let her in his life and she had cut him out.

  Impatient and tired of it, Will ordered from Alan’s, nothing unusual about it. But this time, instead of his own pizza sub, he ordered Clay’s ham grinder.

  ***

  Kelly counted the cracks of the sidewalk as she delivered Clay’s sub.

  Yesterday Alan had seen her putting pickles on Will’s sub and laughed. He said he’d told the mechanic years ago pickles don’t belong on pizza. She’d done it anyways.

  In the garage, the music was low and she considered it a sign of Will’s absence. She inhaled deeply with relief.

  “Clay?” she called out and stepped around to find him. “Food’s here.”

  Will walked out from the rear bay.

  Dammit. She tensed at the frustration which sparkled from his eyes.

  “Hiding’s over, Kelly. It was sex. Not the end of the world.”

  She crossed her arms. “I’m not hiding.”

  “You’ve been acting like I don’t exist for almost a month.”

  “That’s what I’m supposed to do! One-night-stand means one night, right? You got what you wanted.”

  He came close and glowered at her. “Don’t you dare tell me you didn’t want it. And don’t even think about saying I forced you.”

  “Oh, I wanted it.” She licked her lips, readying herself for the argument. “I wanted you. There. Did I cushion your ego?” She stabbed her finger at his chest. “You should be thanking me for graciously giving you a wide berth, Will. I wouldn’t dare to stand in the way of the next woman in line.”

  “What’s the matter with you? One minute you’re intelligent and sexy and now you’re crazy. Do you get like this with anyone you sleep with? What, you want to get married now? You want me to tell you lies about how you’re the only woman in the world who can make me happy?”

  Kelly bit her tongue and ordered the tears to stop in her eyes. She turned away. He could never understand how much it hurt to love him.

  “Yeah, walk away. Be a coward.” He scoffed as she left.

  Walk away. She cringed at his words. He was angry she was leaving him? She wasn’t like his parents, or anyone else in Churchston. She wanted him. All of him. She loved him because he was strong and brave and didn’t litter. She was attracted to his curiosity and intelligence and rough patience. She enjoyed his wit and gruff tolerance of the world. Kelly didn’t want to leave him or walk away. But since he thought love, the very thing she was looking for, was a myth, he was making her walk away. And breaking her heart. She wasn’t deserting him. She loved him, and that was the crime.

  Turning, she looked back at him. “Why are you so upset?” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “You could go through women like the days on a calendar. Commitment is a foreign word for you. Why are you pretending to care?” She faced him and threw her arms up in exasperation. “You don’t believe in love. You got exactly what you wanted from me. It was sex. Not the end of the world, right?”

  He stormed toward her. “What if it wasn’t just sex?”

  She laughed a single noise of disbelief. “Yeah. Which will explain why after you got in my pants you didn’t want me around anymore.”

  “I knew you’d be edgy like this. I was waiting for you to calm down and come to me. You’re so damned independent I though
t I’d give you space.”

  “I’m not mad, Will. I knew what I was getting into. You explained yourself before. We want different things.”

  Will crossed his arms and ducked his head down to her eye level. “How? Tell me how it’s different. You wanted me and I wanted you. Clean-cut math.”

  “You want sex. I need something more.”

  ***

  Once Will had taken care of the confrontation bit, Kelly could manage her days easier. The storm had passed. Contrary to his belief, she had known damn well he existed, working and living day in and day out so tantalizingly close to her. She hadn’t hid, per se, but she hadn’t tried to cross his path either. She’d said what she needed to and he had made himself perfectly clear. Crusading to change him seemed stupid and she wasn’t that pathetic.

  Like a bright spotlight in her dark days of missing Will, Heather came to visit.

  “Kels!”

  Kelly turned to her friend’s yell. Heather had parked her car on Main at the beach and was running to her at the kayak hut. They hugged in a giggling display of friendship.

  “Look at you!” Heather gripped Kelly’s shoulders and held her arms out to see. “You’re like a Baywatch babe!”

  Kelly smiled and shook her head. Heather played at her waving blonde tresses like a mother fussing over her daughter. “Look at you. All tanned and sun-bleached and toned. You look great!”

  “You do remember there’s no such thing as a good tan, right? Skin cancer’s the most common—”

  “Oh, Kel. You haven’t changed a bit!” She draped her arm around her shoulder.

  Heather had only secured time off to stay for a couple days, so Kelly crammed in everything she could. They kayaked and bowled. Walked Eddie on the beach. She introduced her to the guys, staying away from any mention of Will’s name. She hadn’t needed to worry Heather would meet him because he had gone back to his reclusive ways.

  It was too soon before her friend had to leave. They sat on the kayak hut counter, killing time before Heather drove home.