Admit You Want Me Page 23

  He seemed to be on the same wavelength. The hand that had been holding my upper back fisted my hair at the nape of my neck and pulled my head back. He kissed me. His mouth sought mine like he was trying to tell me that he owned me.

  Our tongues fought for dominance, and it lit a fire inside me that I knew only he could quench. I shifted atop him, moving to straddle him, and was rewarded with a smile against my lips. He lifted his t-shirt over his head and went right to work on the buttons of my top, peeling it off my shoulders and looking at my bared chest like he’d been years without seeing a woman.

  “I missed you,” he said, and I got the feeling he was just talking to my boobs.

  “My eyes are up here,” I grumped. He squeezed my ass in response, hard enough that I squealed and then giving me a swat for good measure. “Hey!”

  “Do you have any idea what you did to me when you left?” He told me, grabbing my right hand and guiding it down to the bulge in his jeans. I stroked him happily over the thick fabric, rubbing him in time with the thrusts of my hips.

  “Made you recruit another waitress on short notice?”

  He swatted my behind again. “Technically yes, but that’s not what I meant.” Another swat.

  “It can’t have been worse than what I did to me,” I answered. “I missed you too.”

  Ward shook his head at me and kissed me senseless. He seemed determined to tease me, although really, he was the one that deserved teasing. He should have just told me the truth.

  But thoughts were getting difficult to form, especially as he twisted me around again to pull off my pajama bottoms. Before I realized what was going on, I was sitting on his lap facing the opposite direction, now naked. Huh?

  “Bend down and put your hands on the ground,” he told me. His voice was a low, sexy rumble against my ears. I didn’t know where this was going, but he seemed like he did. I was happy to comply. Once I was down there, it made more sense. From this angle, my ass and pussy were on full display to him. It was a sort of leaning forward reverse-cowgirl position. I could do this.

  He scooted far forward, and I heard the familiar sound of his zipper. I was hypersensitive since I couldn’t see much besides his feet this way unless I craned my neck. A moment later, he rubbed the thick, hot head of his cock over my wet entrance. I was so ready I could hardly stand any more teasing. I pushed backwards as much as I could, but I didn’t have to wait for long. Ward joined our bodies with one quick thrust, filling me completely and sending my upper body toward the ground. With my head angled toward the ground at forty-five degrees, I was at Ward’s mercy as he pulled my hips back down onto him over and over.

  My body reacted to his urgency, becoming totally pliant. It felt so good like this, totally spread open and yielding to him. He was so much more possessive now that all the cards were on the table, and I adored it. His hands were everywhere on me as we moved together, and my climax took me by surprise, leaving me loose-limbed and still pushing senselessly down on his cock. He didn’t slow for my orgasm, either. He kept pounding into me heavily from behind, making my pussy start to ache again immediately for a second round of pleasure.

  He pushed me forward even farther, until I was fully on my hands and knees, off the edge of the couch with him kneeling behind me. I had more leverage this way, and ground back into him with an increased eagerness. His hand slipped around my thigh to pet me, and I could hear his breathing coming faster. I rubbed my ass hips back up against him as hard as I could while he worked my excitement right back up to the edge. When I glanced back at him, his gaze was glassy and vacant; he needed this as much as I did.

  I came again, staring into his eyes at an awkward angle, moaning his name and collapsing down onto my forearms while he continued his thrusts into me from behind. When he came a few slick, hot strokes later, it was with a low, satisfied moan of my name. We curled up together, sweaty and happy. Although relieved and deeply satisfied, I was mentally and physically exhausted, too. We lay there on the floor, naked and panting, for a long time.

  “I feel better,” I managed to say eventually. Ward, who had wrapped himself around me from behind, chuckled. It came through more as a feeling than a noise against my back.

  “Me too. Does this mean you’ll take me back?” Ward’s voice was tired but happy-sounding.

  “I don’t think I ever really gave you up. At least in my heart.” Admitting it seemed only fair.

  “Good, because you’re mine.” His voice was surprisingly possessive.

  I smiled. This morning I would never have imagined we’d end up like this on the living room floor. But I was as happy as I’d ever been. “You’re mine right back.”

  “That’s the idea.”

  “I’m not coming back to the bar though,” I told him, stretching and turning to look at him. “I really don’t think we should work together, plus, I’d just have to quit in another month and a half anyway.”

  He shrugged. “You were a great waitress, but I’d rather have you as my girlfriend than my employee any day.” Then he looked sheepish. “Also, and don’t get mad, but Kate already replaced you.”

  Epilogue

  Emma

  Eighteen months later…

  “A little bit farther, keep your eyes closed,” Ward coaxed, urging me forward through the condo. I fumbled along towards the sound of his voice, carefully shuffling my feet forward and wondering why we were heading toward the guest room. When I came home to Ward when he was this excited we usually ended up in our bedroom.

  “This had better not be another small kitchen appliance,” I joked. Ward’s last surprise, a crockpot, was perfectly welcome but not particularly romantic. He’d gotten into cooking lately, and while I very much appreciated being fed tasty food, the reveal of the actual crockpot had been a bit underwhelming.

  Ward laughed. “Just keep your eyes closed for one more second,” he said. “And I promise, this toaster is going to absolutely blow your mind.” His voice was sarcastic enough that I knew he was joking. Which was good. We didn’t need another freaking toaster. There was already one on our wedding registry. He turned me by the shoulders and then made a pleased noise. “Ok, yes. Perfect. You can look now.”

  I opened my eyes. The guest room was no longer a guest room. The guest room was… an office right out of my dreams?

  “Is this for me?” I asked, turning around to look at Ward. He looked surprisingly anxious.

  “Do you like it?”

  He must have been reading my mind. The room was no longer military green and had been painted a tasteful light mocha brown. Crown moldings and a chair rail had been installed and painted ivory. Plush, heavy cream and pale pink velvet drapes had replaced the dated vertical blinds. In front of me, a huge, long wooden desk in a simple style already had my computer set up on it, along with a framed copy of our engagement photo. A plush, blush pink velvet chair swivel chair sat in front of it. In the corner, another cushy tufted ivory armchair sat beneath a cozy reading lamp. My books had been carefully arranged on the bookcase nearby, and there was a brass vase containing pink and ivory roses sitting next to the chair on a little table. ‘A Room of One’s Own’ by Virginia Woolf sat prominently displayed next to the roses. It was almost too-perfect.

  “I love it.” My voice was properly astounded. “Did you decorate this?” I tried to picture Ward carefully choosing the lacey pillows, and just… couldn’t. He was fundamentally not a decorative pillow kind of guy. Picking out our wedding registry had been the longest afternoon of either of our lives. The poor people of Crate and Barrel probably despised us both.

  Ward shook his head and chuckled. “God no. I can’t really take credit for anything here but the idea. Kate and Lily did pretty much all the design. And something called Pinterest?”

  Oh, that explained it. Lily and Kate had access to my Pinterest pages for the wedding planning. They must have taken a look at the one called ‘dream office’.

  “Ward… It’s so perfect!” I blinked a few times, just
trying to make sure I was really seeing my office. I touched the little throw blanket that sat draped over the back of the reading chair. It was super-soft plush ivory fake fur. “Everything here is so… me.”

  He grinned. “Thank god. I was afraid it was too over-the-top girly,” he admitted. “Lily and Kate promised it was right, but when they brought in the chandelier…” he trailed off and then added, “but as long as you like it, I’m happy.” He grinned, obviously genuinely pleased.

  Chandelier? I looked up. A little gold and crystal chandelier had taken the place of the horrifically ugly green ceiling fan that had been there before. Ward’s condo—our condo—had once been owned by a small family that apparently housed their young son in this room. He’d been into green. I was into, well, girly stuff. And now everything was exactly like I wanted.

  “You didn’t have to do this, Ward.” I honestly still couldn’t believe he had. “You didn’t have to give up the guest room.” We technically had another room that could be used as a guest room, but it was where Ward’s trophies lived.

  “We can just shove a futon in the trophy room.” He shrugged. “You needed a proper office… Professor Williams.”

  “That’s Dr. Williams to you,” I said, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He kissed the top of my head. I was still technically Professor Greene until I graduated with my PhD in a few years. Many name changes were coming. I’d already taken a job teaching part-time at a community college in town, and I was looking forward to teaching far more than I ever thought I would. And now, I’d have the perfect place to write when I got home.

  Ward grinned broadly. “Dr. Williams,” he shook his head. “That’s going to take some serious getting used to.”

  “Well if it makes you feel better, I’ll technically be Professor Williams for several years first.”

  He made a comically annoyed face. “That makes it more complicated, not less. Why does this have to be so tricky? Can’t you just stay Emma?”

  “Well, back in the day when a woman married, she stopped being under the authority and protection of her father and started being the property of her husband. It was a legal term called coverture. The term ‘Mrs’ actually used to be the possessive ‘Mr’s’.”

  Ward gave me a funny look. “That’s fascinating. I wasn’t actually asking that question literally, professor dear.”

  I stuck my tongue out at him. “Well look on the sunny side, you get to stay Ward Williams.”

  “Thank god for that. It took me long enough to learn how to spell my name the first time around. Just ask Kate.”

  Ward was still convinced that he wasn’t particularly bright. I rolled my eyes at him.

  “Kate was a toddler when you were in kindergarten.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t learn to spell until high school.”

  I patted him on the arm. Kate had actually told me Ward was an honor roll student until he started playing football and was too busy to keep his grades up. Ward’s self-deprecating tendency was just part of his personality.

  “Speaking of illiteracy, is Cole going to make our party tonight?” I asked.

  Ward winced. “Hey now. That’s not nice, Honey,” he chided. “Cole isn’t that dumb. Definitely not any dumber than me.”

  I giggled at him. “That’s not what I meant. I was talking about your financial literacy thing.”

  “Oh!” Ward looked vaguely chagrined that he assumed I’d just been casually insulting his friend. “Yeah. He came in this afternoon.”

  Ward and Cole were teaming up to talk to other young players in the NFL and excelling at college football about making smart investments and protecting themselves. It was just an informal drink here and there right now, but it helped Ward feel like he was doing his part. Cole had the idea to incorporate the conversation into a larger discussion about head injuries. The fact that more players were retiring earlier meant it was even more important to be careful during the years the players were high earners. Although it was a world I had no place in—and helping millionaires stay millionaires wasn’t exactly rescuing war orphans—I knew that it meant a lot to Ward.

  “Do we have time to take a shower before the party?” I asked Ward. As much as I wanted to spend some time in my new office, I wanted some sudsy time with Ward more.

  “We’ve got two hours,” he said, glancing at a little brass clock I hadn’t noticed yet on the desk.

  “It’ll be a bit tight, but I think we can make it work.”

  Ward winked. “That’s what she said.”

  The party was at the bar, of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Ward wasn’t bartending though, and neither were Willie or Kate. We’d hired a catering company to do the hard work tonight.

  “Emma! You already look like a bride,” Kate cried. I was wearing an off-white bodysuit and a tea length off-white and blue ombre tulle skirt. My heels were silver to match my jewelry. The whole look did look vaguely bridal-ballerina—of course, that was the idea. Her idea. My future sister in law had a serious knack for design. I did a little twirl at her instruction and she squealed in delight when the skirt flew out in a satisfying poof.

  “Ward showed me the office,” I told her. “I can’t believe you and Lily kept that from me!”

  Lily was on her honeymoon right now with Ivan in Stockholm. They were due to move there at the end of the year, which would just about kill me. We’d already exchanged promises to visit and Skype date regularly, but I knew that neither Lily nor Ivan really belonged in the States. They were much too European. Texas didn’t agree with them at all.

  “You could have gone in there at literally any second,” Kate said, laughing. “I was so scared you’d go and ruin the surprise, but if we told you not to go in there, it only would have tipped you off. It was all very nerve-wracking.”

  I shook my head at her. “You poor thing.”

  “So, do you love it?”

  “Oh my god, yes!”

  We both made the high-pitched noise that I thought only cheerleaders and teenagers made. It turns out a really, really beautiful office can bring out the cheerleader in me. Ward, who was standing a short distance away, looked over in horror.

  “What’s going on over there?” he said, coming to sweep me away from his sister. “That noise was straight out of my nightmares.”

  “Oh, it’s because Emma’s pregnant,” Kate said matter-of-factly, and then laughed when Ward turned a color that could not have been healthy. His eyes went the size of saucers and I feared that he might faint. “Congratulations!”

  “Stop that! Stop that! You’ll give him a heart attack!” I scolded, hugging my future husband protectively and covering his ears. “Don’t worry, baby, that’s why we use protection,” I whispered when I pulled back. He hugged me to him again and glared daggers at his sister.

  “You’re evil, you know that?” he scolded.

  She shrugged. “It runs in the family.”

  “Kate,” I said, touching her arm to reclaim her attention, “I have something really important to ask you.”

  She looked suddenly nervous. “Oh no, what did I do?”

  Ward grinned, and I elbowed him. This was a solemn moment.

  “Will you be my maid of honor?” I asked, watching eagerly as her nervousness melted into joy.

  She made the noise that Ward had cringed at again and threw her arms around my neck in answer. Her towering height forced me to stagger back a few steps, laughing.

  “Is that a yes?” I asked to confirm.

  “Of course, it’s a yes!” she replied, and then added, “oh my god, does that mean I get to go dress shopping with you?”

  I nodded, and she gasped and giggled with such glee that I actually became a bit nervous. Shopping with Kate usually meant that I got turned into a living fashion doll. According to her, all clothes were made for tiny people like me. If I had legs for days like her, however, I would not be complaining about having to hunt for pants.

  I could already see the dress-hunting wheels
turning behind her eyes, but her smug smile slid off her face, and she turned the same purple-puce combination that Ward had been wearing a moment before.

  “Kate?” I asked, following her gaze. Cole had just arrived at the party and was standing in the doorway looking over at us, or more specifically, looking at Kate. “Are you ok?”

  Ward and I stared between Kate and Cole in confusion.

  “Yeah, fine,” Kate said distractedly. “I’m going to go powder my nose. Be right back.” She took off toward the ladies’ room. Cole watched her go, frowning.

  “Am I missing something?” I asked Ward. He looked just as confused as me.

  “I think I need to go have a chat with Cole, I mean, other than the whole best man thing,” he said. His confusion had hardened into something conflicted but overall less pleasant. Ward was nothing if not protective of Kate, but he was close with only two of his friends: Lucas and Cole. The idea that either relationship might be at risk worried me.

  “Be nice,” I told him. “Don’t assume anything.” If there was something between those two, our meddling probably wouldn’t help matters.

  Ward frowned. “I’ll try to keep an open mind, but he had better not have ever hurt Kate.”

  I rolled my eyes at that. “Keep in mind the fact that Kate would have simply murdered him if he had. She’s already proved that she’s perfectly capable of dousing the guy in freezing deer urine. Maybe she went to go buy some just now.” I truly believed that Kate could fight her own battles. If Cole had done something to deserve Kate’s wrath, well then it was his funeral. Ward might be big enough to take him on in a fair fight, but Kate was the one that would ambush him in a dark alley, stage a mugging, and then fake an airtight alibi. Only a total idiot would mess with her, and Cole didn’t seem like one to me.