“I’m already starving.” I sensed the change in his tone without even needing to look at him. “Turn around.” I followed his instruction without a second thought, swivelling my hips in the little space he’d left me to move.
“Again?” my voice squeaked out in shock.
He nodded, dark eyes growing darker as he inhaled deeply. “Again.”
Running a hand over my hip, he cocked his head and frowned. “Unless you’re too sore?”
After our second round out by the pool, I had sworn that was it for the day. I was stretched and tender and couldn’t possibly imagine any more. But my body did strange things where Will was concerned, and when he’d come for me later in the afternoon as I stretched out on the grass, I’d turned to liquid and had willingly let him have his way.
It was the same now, the dull ache between my legs making way for something entirely more pleasurable as my body came to life under the heat of his gaze.
“No, I’m not too sore.” I peeked up at him from under my lashes, for some reason shy about the admission.
He smiled lazily, lifting me onto the countertop. “Good. I’ll be gentle this time.”
And that’s exactly how he kissed me, slow and exploratory, with none of the frantic biting and sucking of the past two days. It was the type of kiss that made a girl go weak in the knees and for a second, I wondered if he’d sat me on the countertop for that very reason.
Such a thoughtful guy.
His kisses made their way down my neck as his hands took their time untying my bikini top, pulling it from my body as his mouth sucked and licked across the tops of my breasts. I dropped my head back, letting out a contented sigh as Will pulled my hips to the edge of the counter.
“Well, that explains why your car’s out front,” a voice said from over Will’s shoulder.
Fuck.
Shit. Shit Shit. Fuckity Shit.
Will spun around, covering me with his body as I scrambled to put my top back on.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
I chanced a look over his shoulder, making eye contact with our intruder, who had a grin the size of Texas on his face.
“Here for the fourth, why else baby brother?” His big arms stretched wide as if to say
obviously
.
“But no one’s supposed to be here until tomorrow.”
“Well, change of plans. We’re all here now.” He nodded in my direction. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
Will ignored his question and focused on the more concerning information. “What do you mean
all
here? Who else is here?”
The intruder shrugged. “Everyone. They’re just unloading the cars.”
Oh my God,
kill
me.
Checking to make sure my top was back where it should be, I slid off the counter, contemplating how easily I could find my way back to the main road to hitch a ride home. If I slipped out the back door now, I could potentially avoid this whole situation.
The intruder stepped forward, extending a hand to me. “Excuse my brother. He thinks his football skills preclude him from having any manners. I’m Mike.”
I let him take my hand in his and he winked—clearly easy charm was part of the Jensen genes.
“Hi, I’m Emma.” I tried to smile but I’m pretty sure it came out as a grimace.
“Will,” a female voice called just as a door slammed. “Mike, did you find Will?”
“He’s in the kitchen Mom, just…ahh,” Mike glanced between the two of us, a delighted smirk on his face. “Preparing a meal.”
I looked up at Will, then at the back door. It was now or never—my window of opportunity was rapidly disappearing. As if sensing my thoughts, Will wrapped an arm around me, bending to whisper in my ear. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea, I swear.”
“Will, we weren’t expec—” Will’s mother walked into the kitchen, stopping abruptly at the sight of me tucked under her son’s arm.
“Oh, hello.” She smiled politely, recovering quickly from her initial shock. Maybe this wasn’t the first time she’d been put in this situation.
“Hey Mom.” Will stepped forward to kiss her before turning to me. “This is Emma. Emma, this is my mom, Gretel.”
She placed her armful of bags on the counter and extended a hand to me. “Lovely to meet you, Emma.”
“You too Mrs. Jensen. Your home is lovely.”
Your home is lovely? Seriously
?
She smiled. “Please, call me Gretel.”
The door slammed again, this time with squeals of laughter and a dog’s bark.
“Uncle Wiiiiillllllllll!”
Will knelt down just in time for a little girl to come speeding round the corner and into his arms.
“Peanut!” He launched her into the air as the giant Dalmatian I could only assume was Jeff leapt onto his stomach, not wanting to miss out on any of the fun.
Peanut gasped when she saw me, her eyes going wide. “Who’s she?”
“This is Emma. Emma, this is my niece Hazel, or Peanut, whichever you prefer.”
“Hi Hazel.” I gave her a little wave while she continued to stare at me wide eyed.
“Are you Will’s girlfriend?”
Oh hell, no she didn’t.
No.
No.
No.
I felt all eyes on me, eagerly anticipating my answer while I looked at Will, silently pleading to be rescued.
“Emma’s my friend, Peanut. We work together.”
There you have it…Will’s work friend. Simple as that.
“Oh. She’s pretty.”
Will laughed. “She is, very.”
She looked back at me. “Have you just been swimming? You don’t have many clothes on.”
Will’s eyes bulged and I could only nod, blushing as I felt the full weight of everyone’s attention on me, the one standing practically nude in my bikini. At this point in time, I would have taken hitch hiking with an axe murderer over staying here any longer.
“Damn dog ruining my car!” We all jumped as another booming voice travelled from the front door. Bloody hell, would this ever end?
A few seconds later, three more bodies loaded with luggage traipsed through the door, followed by a heavily pregnant woman.
Their eyes all fell on me at once, silencing the random banter that had accompanied their walk into the kitchen.
“Will brought a friend,” Hazel said proudly, like she was responsible for the stranger in their kitchen. “This is Emma.”
Their faces twisted in confusion and I didn’t miss the way the woman’s eyes widened as she looked over to Will. He shifted awkwardly, putting Hazel down. “This is my dad Derek, my brother Steve, my sister Kate and her husband Ben.”
I gave a small wave in return to their wide-eyed nods and smiles of hello. “It’s nice to meet you…all.”
Mike barked out a laugh. “Bet this wasn’t how you envisioned your dinner going.”
“Oh!” Gretel gasped. “We’ve interrupted your dinner, boys,” she started pushing everyone out of the kitchen. “Help your father with the rest of the gear. You too, Ben.” She turned back to us. “We’ll leave you two to it. We were all wanting to try the new restaurant in town anyway.”
“What new restaurant? No one told me about a new restaurant.” Steve frowned at his mum.
“You know, the
new restaurant
.” Gretel gave him a pained smile.
It took Steve a while to catch on. “Oh, yeah right, the
new restaurant
.” He smirked to himself before yelling over his shoulder. “Nice to meet you, Emma.”
Gretel turned around, sighing. “I’m so sorry about the intrusion. I wish you had told me you were already here, Will.”
Will grunted out a laugh. “Yeah, you and me both.”
She picked up her bags and paused as she made for the hallway. “I hope you’re planning to stay for lunch tomorrow, Emma. We have plenty of food.”
I smiled, thinking of nothing worse than having all those shocked eyes on me again, but my manners kicked in before a plausible excuse came to mind. “I’d love to, thank you.”
When the noise of departing feet had disappeared, I turned to Will. “I’d like to go home now please.”
“What! Why? You just said you’d stay.”
I covered my face with my hands trying to stabilize my breathing. “That was the most mortifying five minutes of my life, Will. There’s absolutely no way I’m sleeping here tonight.”
He pulled at my hands gently, bending to look me in the eyes. “Look…I’ll admit, I would have preferred for things not to have gone down like that, but they were just surprised. Trust me, they’ll be thrilled to have you here.”
I shrugged myself out of his grip. “Are you kidding? Did you see the way they all looked at me? As if they want some hussy you’ve hooked up with interrupting their family vacation.”
“Whoa, first of all, you couldn’t be further from a hussy if you tried, so don’t call yourself one. Ever. And second, you’re not interrupting…you’re here as my guest.
I
invited you, remember?”
When I didn’t say anything he bent his head further, catching my eye. “Remember?”
I nodded, my words coming out as no more than a whisper. “I know, I just…I just feel so cheap. Your family doesn’t strike me as stupid. I think they’ll figure out we’re not just friends from work when we share a bed tonight. I’m pretty sure they already have.”
“So I’ll tell them we’re dating.”
I blinked, looking up at him in confusion. “But we’re not dating.” I swallowed. “I thought we were just friends with benefits.”
Will shrugged, “So? They don’t need to know that.”
Wow, that hurt more than I cared to acknowledge.
“So…will you stay?” His hands rubbed up and down my shoulders as I considered my options, but in truth there really weren’t many.
“Okay, I’ll stay. But I’m not getting round in anything less than a full body suit for the rest of the weekend.” I poked him in the ribs. “And that includes the bedroom buddy.”
Will’s grin turned to a frown. “Well that’s just silly, they’ve already seen you half naked.”
“Too soon, Quarterback. Too soon.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I stood at the bottom of the stairs, willing myself to just walk into the kitchen. Just three measly steps.
One.
Two.
Three.
Done.
God just do it, Emma. When did you become such a pussy? You packed up your whole life and moved to the other side of the world, and now you can’t even walk from a hallway to a kitchen?
These pep-talks had been uselessly thrashing around in my head for the last five minutes as I stood listening to the sounds of laughter and conversation on the other side of the wall. Why in hell didn’t Will wake me? It would have been so much easier to face everyone with him there to divert their attention.
It was the sound of Will’s voice that finally kicked me into gear, his easy-going laugh leaving a surprising warmth in my tummy, making me want to get closer to the sound. Smoothing a hand over my dress one last time I took a deep breath, stepping out into the zoo that was the Jensen family.
“Morning.” I gave an awkward wave as all seven and a half of them turned to look at me.
A chorus of
hellos
and
mornings
rang throughout the kitchen and living room as Hazel ran towards me, wrapping her arms around my legs.
“Happy Fourth of July!!”
“Oh!” I laughed. “Happy Fourth of July to you too!” I knelt down to be eye level with her, prompting her to throw her arms around my neck.
“Do you want to come swimming with me now?”
“Hazel darling, leave Emma alone. She’s probably desperate for coffee.”
I met Gretel’s eyes, my face lighting up at the magic word. “Coffee would be wonderful, actually.”
Will stood, his eyes latching onto mine as he sauntered over. “She likes it with one sugar, and strong.” His words were like an afterthought, as if he recited my coffee order on a regular basis.
I stood up as he approached, loving the way his eyes shone when he looked at me. Seemingly not bothered by his family still watching me like I was a science experiment, he leaned down, wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed me full on the lips. Smiling against my mouth he said, “You look particularly lovely this morning.”
I think I swooned, right there in front of his whole family.
He threaded his fingers through mine, tugging me towards the breakfast bar. “Come get something to eat.”
I followed him over, fully aware of the curious looks being exchanged by various family members, while Will seemed completely oblivious.
“Thank you.” I smiled at Gretel as she slid a hot mug of coffee across the bench to me while Will started heaping eggs and bacon and all sorts of wonderful things onto my plate.
“You know, not everyone’s trying to bulk up for the season.” I grinned as he looked down at the mountain of food accumulating there.
“Good point.” He planted a kiss on my nose. “I’ll finish whatever you can’t.”
And with that, he went straight back to the conversation he was having with his dad like my being there was no inconvenience at all. And when he draped an arm over my shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world, I realized this might not be too bad a day after all.
#
“Mom, that was seriously delicious. I just wish this damn baby would leave more room for eating.” Kate leaned back in her chair, rubbing her stomach as she surveyed the remainders of the lunch spread.
“I’m not sure any more food is what you need, sis.” Steve nodded in the direction of her bulging belly.
“What’s wrong with you boy? Don’t you know you don’t say that to a pregnant woman? Fool.” Derek gave his son a whack on the back of the head.
“What, don’t tell me I’ve hurt her delicate, flower-petal feelings?” He rolled his eyes at Kate.
“Brother dearest, I’m about to push a baby the size of a watermelon out of my vagina, so trust me, there’s nothing delicate about me what-so-ever.”