Without You

Will pulled his head back and looked at me. “I’m not sure Grace wants me bunking with y’all.”

I bit down on my lip and grinned. “We have our own rooms.”

The smile that spread across Will’s face caused me to giggle.

“No shit?”

“No shit. When she said she wanted to come, I told her she had to get her own room, and she agreed. She didn’t want to spoil our weekend.”

“God, I love Grace,” Will said as he lifted his eyebrows.

“Me, too!”

Will reached over and quickly kissed me. “Give me a few minutes to go back to my room and grab some stuff. When I come back, we can get some dinner.”

I nodded my head. “Sounds good. Be careful, but hurry!”

“I will, baby.”

I jumped out and headed into the Hilton Hotel. When I got up to my room, my phone pinged, and I pulled it out of my purse. Grace had dropped me off earlier at Will’s dorm, so I figured she was texting me. Instead, I saw it was from Libby.

Libby: OMG! Grace told me y’all are in town all weekend!

Me: Yep! What are you doing?

Libby: About to go to dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse.

Me: With who?

Libby: A guy named Zack. We went out to a movie and will be heading to dinner soon.

My heart dropped to my stomach. Libby was out on a date.

Damn it, Luke.

Me: A date, huh? What about Luke, Lib?

Libby: I can’t wait for someone who clearly doesn’t want the same thing I want. Besides, he’s been hooking up with that Abigail girl the last few months.

Me: What about what he said to you, Libby?

Libby: He was drunk. Alex, I’m done waiting. Want to meet us for dinner?

Me: Okay. Will went back to his dorm to get some clothes, so he could stay with me at the hotel for the weekend. Can we meet you there in half an hour?

Libby: Sure! We’re just talking at Starbucks.

Me: Okay. See you soon, sweetie!

I sucked in a breath and let it out as I got up. I changed my clothes and fixed my makeup and hair. I had texted Will and told him a key was waiting for him at the front desk. I also texted Grace and told her we were meeting Libby at Saltgrass for dinner in about thirty minutes.

I heard the door open and close, and I instantly felt my lower stomach clench with anticipation. Will walked in and leaned against the doorframe.

My breath caught for a moment. He was so handsome. His brown hair had just been cut, but it was still long enough for me to run my fingers through and grab while we made love. He hadn’t shaved in probably two days, and he had that perfect scruff look. Will had an amazing body, and I could see his muscles through his tight blue T-shirt. With all that working on the ranch, he didn’t even need to go to the gym, but he did every single day, and his body showed it. His blue eyes made my stomach do crazy flips. I licked my lips as I practically undressed him with my eyes.

“You like what you see?”

I blushed, knowing I had probably been eye-fucking the hell out of him. “I do very, very much. It’s a shame we have to meet Libby and Zack for dinner because I really want to be—”

My phone began ringing. I held up my finger for Will to hold my thoughts. He laughed as he went to sit on the sofa.

I looked at Will with a shocked expression on my face.

Why is Luke calling me?

“Hello? Luke?”

“Hey there, baby girl. Grace told me y’all were in town.”

I smiled. “We sure are. We wanted to come check out the campus. Plus, we both have appointments tomorrow.”

Luke laughed. “Uh-huh. I’m sure that’s the only reason y’all are here. I see Will has already been to our room and packed up his shit.”

I felt my face blush as I looked over at Will.

“Why, I don’t know what you mean.”

“You never could pull off a lie, Alex. Hey, Grace told me about dinner. Gonna jump in the shower. I’ll see y’all there.”

“Okay. See ya.” Then, it hit me. Shit! “Wait! Luke?”

He had already hung up, and I looked at Will with a look of horror.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Oh God, Will. Libby invited us to dinner, and I sent Grace a text to invite her as well.”

He looked at me, confused. “Okay. And what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that Grace invited Luke to come along, and Libby is with her date, Zack.”

Will’s face dropped. “Oh shit, this is not good, not good at all, Lex.”

“What are we going to do? Tell Luke he can’t come?”