“Ssssh—kiss me. Let me kiss you. We owe it to ourselves to explore this attraction between us,” Will whispered. “I’m sorry I messed it up the first time.”
“No, really I don’t want this,” Jessica protested, but Will’s hands stroking her hips and lower back were starting to change her mind.
“You told me the truth about my art, so I’m going to tell you the truth about us,” Will said softly, his lips on her cheek. “We are going to be so damn good together that you’re going to forget all the other men you’ve known.”
Jessica snorted despite her fear that Will was right. The only man she ever still thought about with any regularity was the one she married, even though she couldn’t remember the details anymore. She only remembered the want and the want never left her. She had often thought that all the men after her first had just been a way to fill the lonely years without her husband, but she certainly wasn’t confessing that to Will.
“I’ve known a lot of men, Will,” Jessica cautioned. “Most of them were good men. Many of them were good in bed. If you want honesty, then you’re going to have to accept I’ve lived the kind of life most men dream about living.”
Will sighed and pulled her tighter. “Stop trying to piss me off. I got that much information from Steve Lipton’s warnings. Right now, I just want you to kiss me so we can find out what
we
have. Damn it, Jessica, I want your permission and your cooperation this time.”
Frowning, Jessica ran her hands over his shoulders, his very broad, very attractive, very masculine shoulders which ran down to a chest men decades younger would envy. It was honed from what he did, she now realized, honed by the hammer, the chisel, and who knew what other tools he used to coax people out of the stone.
“Will—this is so not a good idea,” Jessica insisted, even as Will ran a hand up the middle of her back to her neck, lining her entire body up with his in a very exciting way.
“
Chicken
,” he taunted, laughing with his mouth inches from hers. He could see the longing in her today just as much as she saw his the day of their bike ride.
This level of need, Will decided, this was the only reason to ever kiss someone.
“Damn you,” she said, leaning into him and putting her lips urgently on his. His moan of pleasure against her mouth had her hand going to the back of his head. She kissed him, pulled away, and then dove back, slanting her mouth in another direction. He tasted just as good from every angle, Jessica thought, falling against Will in relief.
With Jessica’s full weight in his arms, Will had to plant his feet more firmly to hold them both up. Mother Nature was making the urge to get horizontal almost overwhelming. Jessica’s mouth on his was all energy and motion, all encompassing desire, and gloriously all for him today. Her desperate kiss was even better than he had imagined.
He locked strong arms around her, lifting and pulling her onto him as he leaned back. Her toes almost left the ground and her thighs went around one of his legs. Deciding to oblige her, he lifted a thigh to rub against her crotch, making her shiver and groan.
“Okay. Stop,” Jessica said hoarsely. “Just stop. Please.”
“If I start begging you to let me use the condom, would you change your mind? I’m only a few seconds away from it,” Will informed her, pulling her hips against his and putting the evidence of his need against her fully.
“Will,” Jessica said, trying weakly to push herself off him. “I don’t want to get this involved with you.”
Will lifted his thigh against her crotch again, gaining another groan from both of them. “Really? You sure have both of us fooled then. I pegged you for a more sexually honest woman.”
“Will, that’s all this is—it’s just sex,” Jessica said.
Will lifted a hand trembling with passion to her face. “Who disappointed you so badly, Jessica Daniels? What experience sent you into the arms of men who couldn’t touch your heart?
This,”
he insisted, pulling her tight against him, his leg firm and hard against the ache he was purposely creating, “
this
is not just sex. This is me telling you, showing you that you are the most incredible woman I have ever met. Yes, I want inside you. I ache for you, just like you do for me.”
Her heart was going to explode, Jessica thought. The panic was so large she almost couldn’t breathe around it. All she could do was shake her head in denial.
“No. No, you are weaving a dream around me just because you haven’t been with anyone since your wife,” Jessica whispered softly. “What we have—this is just sex, just chemistry. I admit we have a lot of it. I admit I—I admit I want you back.”
“My marriage was over long before it was officially over, Jessica,” Will answered firmly, feeling the words in a way he hadn’t since the divorce was final. “And this is a hell of a lot more than just sex. If all I wanted was sex, that’s easy to find.”
“Yes. It is,” Jessica agreed.
“This is more than just sex,” Will denied emphatically, lifting her hips to his again, sliding her up his leg until his erection was pressed between them. “This is the best kind of foreplay. This is me letting you know that I want to see you fly apart for me. I want to learn what you like, what turns you on, what you need. Then I plan to exceed all your expectations.”
Jessica used her hands to push away from Will’s chest and off his leg. She put two steps distance between their vibrating bodies. Her instinct to push him to the ground and climb on top of him was almost strong enough to make her do it. Getting physical with Will literally robbed her of common sense every time.
“I’m not emotionally equipped for anything more than sex in my relationships,” Jessica said quietly. “I haven’t felt more for a man since my husband died. And I’ve dated some good men, really good men, Will.”
“Yes, I know you have,” Will said harshly. “Steve Lipton seemed like a great guy, and I think he really cared about you, but I’m still glad it didn’t work out with him. I want you for myself.”
Jessica couldn’t have been more shocked. What in the hell had Steve told Will, and why had Steve said anything in the first place?
“I swear it always amazes me to find out how much guys talk to each other. Used to be only women shared the intimate stories of their lives,” Jessica said, running a nervous hand through her hair.
Will smiled at her embarrassment. “Don’t worry. Steve didn’t share any of your preferences in bed. I’m sure he instinctively knew I’d prefer to find out for myself. He just said you never loved him.”
Jessica stared at the partial statue without seeing it as she was wondering what had possessed Steve to confess the details of their relationship to Will. “No. I never loved him. There’s no sense in denying it.”
“So is that the problem? Are you afraid you’re going to love me, Jessica?” Will asked.
Jessica laughed mirthlessly. “Will, I already know I’ll never love you. I’m afraid of disappointing you and hurting us both if we get involved. I’m not a heartless woman. I don’t enjoy the suffering of the men I’ve ejected from my bed. I bleed and hurt, but then I move on because I know that’s the only sensible choice. You’re the kind of guy who wants to own a woman, body and soul. I am not that kind of woman,” she said tightly, but meaning every bit of it.
“How do you know what I’m like, what I would expect?” Will asked, unable to believe she thought so little of him and what they could be to each other.
“The very first day we spent time together, you shut me up by kissing me roughly. You punished me for speaking what I considered only a truth,” Jessica said softly. “I’ve been with men like you before, Will. I won’t be silenced or controlled by my attraction to a man. It’s just not who I am.”
Will walked to his tools table and started rearranging them, getting them ready to store away. He’d never be able to work calmly now. He was too upset at Jessica and her stubborn ideas about them.
“I told you I panicked. That’s not the kind of person I am normally. I’ve honestly never done anything remotely like that to any woman before you. Damn it, Jessica, you stripped me bare with your insights and I overreacted. I was already attracted to you, even though I was in denial then. Then when I touched you, I got carried away.
I’m sorry
,” Will said emphatically, packing his tools into a wooden box he retrieved from beneath the table.
“Will?” a softly feminine voice called.
Jessica swung a startled gaze to the willowy, sleekly groomed blond standing near them with tears in her eyes. She would be barely five foot six on a good day in heels.
Will also swung a startled gaze to the woman, then his forehead wrinkled. “What’s wrong? Are the kids okay?”
She shook her head, sending her chin length bob swinging and more tears flowing. “It’s not the kids. It’s Luke. He’s asked me to leave.”
Jessica watched as the woman ran the rest of the distance across the pavers and flung herself into Will’s arms. To be fair, the woman didn’t really give Will a choice except to catch her and hold her. Will’s irritated gaze went to Jessica’s over the woman’s head.
“I knew it. You’re one of those guys after all,” Jessica said snidely. “Now look who was lying.”
The tears that threatened moments ago vanished with her wry amusement and what she was going to regard as divine intervention. Maybe it helped that Will did not look pleased with the other woman.
“I was not lying. Keep up the smart-ass comments, and I
will
end up being the kind of guy you accused me of being,” Will warned, his arms gripping the blond’s arms and pushing her away from him a little. “Ellen, this is Jessica Daniels. Stop pretending you don’t see her and say hello.”
Ellen turned and crossed her arms, her tears still flowing as she hugged herself. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Ms. Daniels. I—Will and I have remained good friends since the divorce. My husband and I separated today, and I just needed to talk to someone.”
Jessica waved her hand. “No need to explain anything to me. I just came by to return a book.”
She turned on her heel and started out of the courtyard.
“Jessica.” Will stalked after her, leaving what he guessed was a very surprised Ellen staring after him. He stopped when Jessica halted. “We need to finish our conversation.”
“It’s over, Will,” Jessica said wearily. “So is our conversation.”
“The hell it is,” Will said automatically, his face darkening with determination.
“Go back and help Ellen. You just got offered a second chance with a woman who is probably better equipped to be what you want all day every day,” Jessica told him.
“If we got along, Ellen wouldn’t have divorced me in the first place,” Will said harshly. “She left me for somebody else.”
“Exactly. Now you can fix it.” Jessica shook her head, slid the patio door open, and walked through the house.
“Will?” Ellen said softly. “Are you okay?”
“No, I am not okay,” Will said harshly. “Couldn’t you have waited in the house? Don’t tell me you didn’t see a six-foot tall redhead standing out here with me because I won’t believe you. And I’m sick and tired of hearing about the soap opera your marriage to Luke is, Ellen. You know damn well he’ll be home before you get back there tonight.”
“Why are you so angry at me, Will? Jessica Daniels was the one arguing with you. I heard her tell you she couldn’t be what you wanted,” Ellen said, then blushed, ashamed for confessing it.
“That’s because she doesn’t understand yet,” Will said, stomping back to the table and throwing his tools into the box with enough force to rattle the metal. “Jessica already is everything I want.”
“You are never going to get to be the aggressive man you naturally are with that woman, Will. Don’t you know who she is?” Ellen asked.
“She’s a high school art teacher, Ellen,” Will said, angry at his ex for eavesdropping on his private conversation with Jessica.
“You honestly don’t know who she is, do you?” Ellen said softly, then the light dawned. “I’m not surprised she didn’t tell you. She faded out of the limelight almost a decade ago. You should do an Internet search on her before you get too involved.”
“I am already involved, and I plan to get more involved,” Will said firmly, rounding on the woman who still knew how to push his buttons by insinuating he had a lesser understanding of life than she did. “What the hell are you dying to educate me about, Ellen?”
Ellen was shaking her head. “It’s a personal matter for her and connected to her art. You need to find out for yourself or ask her about it.”
“I carve
disgusting naked statues
as you so eloquently put it a thousand times. What the hell could be so personal about Jessica’s art that no one wants to talk about it?” Will demanded, disgusted with Ellen’s hints. He slammed the lid shut on the tool box.
“Fine, I’ll tell you then. Jessica Daniels was violently raped when she was young and pregnant. Her husband had been killed in the military only a couple months before it happened. The three guys who raped her hurt her pretty badly. Doctors had to deliver the baby early because both of them were traumatized. She went through some serious therapy after she got well and came out socially swinging. She brought charges and testified against all three men, got involved in women’s issues, and created art that—well, I can’t really describe it,” Ellen said quietly, alarmed at last because Will’s face had lost all its color.