All she’d needed was him.
* * *
Harper’s taste on Will’s lips lingered as the elevator doors opened and they stepped into his flat.
“Wow.”
Harper’s breathy exclamation of wonder called him to her. She glided to the wall of windows showcasing the vast blackness of a nighttime San Francisco Bay, with the blazing lights of the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito, and the East Bay surrounding the water like a ring of fire. Abandoning the champagne glasses on the coffee table, Will shadowed her.
“It’s so beautiful.” She spoke to the inky night and to him.
With the room still dark behind them and moonlight falling across her, she was more beautiful than any landscape. He shifted to stand close at her back, seeing through her eyes. He’d bought the place because of the view, but he’d long since stopped noticing it. Harper made it fresh again as he shared her awe, revealing the beauty he’d forgotten.
She turned her head slightly to gaze at him over her shoulder. “Do you sit here at night just staring at all this?”
“I haven’t.” But he could sit here all night watching her. “But I see now that I’ve been missing something.”
He’d been missing so damn much until she’d walked into his life. If only what he felt for her was enough to wipe out ten years of his past, from the ages of eight to eighteen...
She turned back to the vista, leaning against him. “Just looking out your windows would be like meditation after a long work day.”
“Maybe I should rearrange the furniture and make this window the centerpiece.”
“Yes, you should,” she said, and her hair, still fragrant with some sweet shampoo, brushed his cheek, his chin.
He’d planned the evening meticulously, from dinner to the sold-out tickets for the two-week run, the limo, the caviar, the fruit in the champagne glasses. He’d wanted to wow her.
But he was the one wowed. From the very first moment he’d set eyes on her.
She needs to know how you feel. Trust her with your secrets.
Susan’s words had been his constant companions since their talk. Wrapping his arm around Harper’s waist, he pulled her back tightly against him, as he wondered for the hundredth time: Could she handle what was in his heart? Or would it send her running?
Rich men in fast cars, the teenager who’d run her brother down, the wealthy father who’d bailed him out—Will knew he embodied all Harper’s fears and he instinctively stiffened at the thought of losing her.
“Will?” She turned slightly to look up at him again, her eyes meeting his. “Is everything okay?”
He brushed her hair aside to plant a kiss on the sensitive skin of her neck. “You’re here.” He sucked her skin, leaving his mark on her, then moved up to her ear, a sweet little hot spot, and nibbled. “Everything is amazing.”
“You make me totally crazy when you do that.” She twirled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re such a tease.”
He wanted to tease her right up to heaven, wanted to give her so much pleasure that she’d never, ever think about leaving him. “The word tease implies no follow-through. And believe me, I intend to follow through.” He kissed her lightly. “All—” Kiss. “—night—” Kiss. “—long.” Then he parted her lips and took her mouth, hot need spiking through him. “You’re absolutely perfect.”
“So are you.”
But he wasn’t.
Not even close.
* * *
Harper was dying for him to tear off her clothes, throw her down on the carpet, and take her right in front of the window.
That was how he always made her feel—totally wild, crazy, and out of control. But this was going to be a night for firsts: the first time in his bed, the first time with him completely naked, the first time she’d have him all night long and wake up beside him in the morning.
They’d rushed everything else, but she couldn’t bear to rush this.
Even if it killed her.
And yet, when she looked into his eyes, she saw shadows. The same shadows that had been there moments before when his whole body had tensed against her back.
“Will.” She reached for his cheek. “If something’s wrong—”
“No.” The word sounded choked. “Nothing’s wrong when you’re here. Nothing’s wrong when you’re with me.” But there was a storm in his eyes. “Let me love you, Harper. Please, just let me love you.”
His words rippled over her, through her, tugging at her heart. So even though she knew this was just supposed to be for fun, how could she say anything but, “Love me, Will.”