Only For Now: Second Chances (8 page)

"Will..." she gasped. He pulled back to look into her eyes, to make sure. She rested her hands above her head and smiled her acquiescence and his hands began to roam her body again. Down to her legs where her dress was bunched up. His hand massaged its way up her thigh, causing her to moan, and just as she thought she was about to come apart then and there, he pulled away from her and sat up.

"Alexa, this isn’t right. I’m sorry."

CHAPTER EIGHT

Will ran his hands across his face and tried to clear his head. He felt crazed, like he was drowning and she was the air he couldn’t get enough of.

He looked down at her and almost took her then and there, the wanton woman lying before him practically begging him to touch her. But he forced himself to get his body under control.

She sat up, a look of anger crossing her face. “What do you mean,
wrong
? Felt pretty damn right to me.”

"That came out wrong.” He took her face in his hand and tried to turn her back to him, but she wouldn't budge. “It absolutely felt right. More right than I ever could have imagined.” He couldn’t believe he was saying these things to her, but what the hell? If he was going to do this, it was now or never.

She looked at him, confusion in her eyes.

"What I mean is that I’ve waited to damn long for this to rush it on an open, sandy beach. I want to take my time with you.”

"No, you're right. I'd prefer to be a little less wet and sandy too. But now that you've mentioned it..." She looked at him shyly, then dropped her eyes, making him marvel at her all over again. "I had been thinking, well, I thought it might be nice if… I don't know how to say this. Ugh." She took a deep breath and turned to face him on her knees, apparently gathering her courage. "I'd be okay if we wanted to see what this is." She gestured between the two of them, then continued in a rush, “I mean, only for now. Obviously.”

Her cheeks were blazing now, and if he weren’t so thrown of kilter, he would have thought her embarrassment was sweet. He was hearing what he wanted. His intentions from the start had been to convince her to give him a chance. And here she was offering it up.

But not the way he wanted.

Normally he'd jump on the chance of a beautiful woman offering a week of no strings attached sex. But the way she’d said it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Only for now. No way in hell. He’d never gotten over her walking away from their chance at something, if he was honest with himself. And being with her this week had made it crystal clear. He wanted her. But not for now; forever.

His slow response must have made her unsure because she suddenly wouldn't meet his eyes and started to pull away. He grabbed her hips and pulled her toward him firmly, making a point. Her eyes grew wide and she bit her lip, and the act made him rethink flipping her over and taking her right there. But no, she deserved better.

"It's more than obvious that I want you." He grinned. "And I can see you want me too. Let's not classify this as anything. Let's just roll with it. Can we do that?" She gave him a genuine smile then and nodded, her damp hair sprinkling him with seawater. "Perfect."

Will realized he'd said that word quite a few times already tonight. But it was fitting. She was perfect. And perfect for him.

He stood and helped her up from their spot on the sand. "Let's see what we can round up for dinner." He laced his fingers through hers and led her up the steps.

* * *

Alexa awoke to the sound of laughter floating in from the open French doors, and sat up suddenly. When had she fallen asleep? She turned and realized she must have fallen asleep against Will on the sofa. Everyone was about to walk through the doors at any second.

He leaned toward her and took her off guard by pressing a soft kiss to her lips before standing and taking their dirty dishes to the kitchen. They had eaten a delicious pasta dish that Will had prepared himself, then settled in to watch a movie while they waited on everyone to return. She must have been more tired than she'd realized after a long day in the sun.

The evening really had turned out to be more like a date. And Will had been on board with her plan. It was shaping up quite nicely. Alexa attempted to settle herself back into the cushions and appear nonchalant, but her heart was pounding in her chest at the memory of what had transpired between the two of them tonight. It was going to be as plain as day on her face and her sister would want all the details, but Alexa wasn’t ready to share them. She just wanted to enjoy the moment for a change without overanalyzing everything.

The laughter grew louder as the group poured into the house and Alexa realized they'd been drinking. Just as well. They'd pay less attention to her that way.

"Lex," her future brother-in-law said, coming around behind her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "We missed you tonight." He smelled like beer.

Alexa wrinkled her nose, but still turned to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm sure you still managed to have a nice time. And we got a lot accomplished." Did they ever.

Will ambled back into the room and gave her a sly wink. She couldn't suppress the grin that spread over her face.

Cara, who never missed a thing, eyeballed her. "How did the pictures turn out?" she asked innocently.

"I think we'll have some nice ones. We wanted to wait for you before we looked at them," Will stated.

What? He wanted to let them see them before she'd even had a chance? She knew he'd been snapping pictures after they were done with the official shoot, and the thought that some of the wild emotions she’d been feeling for him could very well be written all over her face made her stomach lurch.

"Let's see them," Cara said.

"How about we wait until tomorrow," Alexa suggested weakly. "I know you must be tired. I sure am." She yawned for emphasis.

"Go on to bed, sis. I'm sure we can form an opinion without you."

Like hell. She had to see their reactions, for better or worse. "I guess I can wait," she muttered, shooting Will the evil eye.

Cara clapped. "It's settled then. What a great way to finish off the evening."

Alexa made her way into the kitchen while Will attached his camera to his computer to transfer the images. She needed a drink. She found some Chardonnay in the refrigerator and filled a glass well over the normal serving and began to sip. She was all nerves again. The idea of a fling with Will was one thing. It becoming an obvious reality to the entire wedding party was quite another.

Will must have sensed her nerves because he gave her a reassuring look as he nudged the chair next to him out with his foot then patted the cushion. "Why doesn't the star of the show have a front row seat?"

She sat down reluctantly and he leaned in. "It's fine. You're worrying over nothing. Trust me." She didn't seem to have a choice.

Cara and Jace gathered in close, as did Jocelyn and the other bridesmaids. The men obviously weren't interested as it appeared they had booted up the video game system.

There was a collective intake of breath as the first shot appeared, then the women were all murmuring to each other in approval. She wasn't vain, but Alexa had to admit that the photos were indeed amazing. Will's ability to capture a moment and Alexa's ease in front of the camera made for an amazing combination.

"God, Lex, you look gorgeous," Cara said. "Why did you ever stop modeling?"

Alexa shrugged uncomfortably at the attention. "I just never felt comfortable on display."

Jace clapped Will on the back. "Well, Will seems to have put you at ease." Far from it, if he only knew. She saw the smirk on his face and knew he was thinking along the same lines. "What did I tell you, Cara? I think you can rest assured that Will is the right man for the job."

Cara agreed, as did the other bridesmaids. Except for Jocelyn, who let out a huff and left the room. Alexa couldn't tear her eyes away as Will continued to flip through the shots. He had managed to catch her excitement and passion for photography as he had taken the shots of her describing what angles and poses she thought would make good wedding pictures.

"Actually, I don't think they would have turned out as well without Alexa's input," Will said. "She's the one who had most of the ideas. I just snapped the shutter."

"I wouldn't go that far," Alexa laughed. "There's a whole lot more to it than snapping the shutter."

"Lex knows her stuff," Cara chimed in. "She took some photography in college but never really pursued it." She noticed Will watching her again like he had when he'd put down the camera outside earlier, and took another gulp of wine.

Alexa knew he was reaching the end of the practice wedding session when he stopped and leaned back in the chair. "So you're happy then?" The question was directed at Cara, who naturally, was the only one whose opinion really counted.

"I'm happy." Her big smile proved it. "Thank you so much for doing this. I feel really good about Friday now."

"What did I tell you?" Jace said, leading her toward the stairs.

When they'd disappeared and the other women had gone about their own business, Will arched a brow. "Wanna see the rest?"

Alexa bit her lip and looked around. When she was satisfied that no one was paying them any attention she nodded and sat forward, scooting closer to Will to get a better view. He clicked a few buttons and then there she was, wading in the water. She drew in a breath.

How had he managed to capture every emotion she'd been feeling in that one shot? She looked excited, free, alive.

That's how he made her feel. Alive. Every fiber of her being was aware of the vibrancy of life when he was around. Barely daring to look at him, she slowly turned her eyes to find him staring at her again. This is what he'd seen earlier, a side of her she kept to herself. And his response had astounded her.

Alexa was fairly certain that he knew what she was thinking by the look in his eyes, but she couldn't form the words to explain how out of the ordinary it was for her to open up this way to someone. And she wasn't sure she should either. If he knew the extent of how she really felt about him, he'd run screaming in the other direction.

So she didn't say anything, waiting.

Suddenly he got a wicked gleam in his eye, and shut down his computer, standing up in the process. He reached for her hand and pulled her up, placing a finger to his lips, then pulled her toward the stairs.

She glanced around hurriedly, but no one was paying them any attention, so she followed him to her door where he pressed her back against it and placed an arm on either side of her head, bracing himself.

"Looking at those pictures had me ready for round two," he whispered, his hot breath in her ear making her skin tingle.

In response, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward her, and he crushed his mouth down on top of hers. This. This is what she wanted. She moaned softly under the assault of his lips, an ache building deep in her belly.

The sudden sound of footsteps on the stairs brought her back to reality only a moment later. A good thing too, or she would soon have forgotten herself.

Will pulled away reluctantly and ran the back of his fingers across her lips. "Sweet dreams, love." It wasn't said as a sweet goodnight comfort, but more of a dare. He winked at her, then was gone, disappearing into his room across the hall.

Male voice accompanied the footsteps and Alexa hurried into her room and shut the door behind her, leaning against it and breathing heavily. What was she getting herself into? Nothing good could come of this. But instead of being afraid by it, the thought made a thrill rush through her, and she smiled, touching her lips that were swollen from Will's kisses. She was about to find out what it was like to be up to no good.

CHAPTER NINE

So it continued for the next two days. Stolen kisses and secret moments, each one building a desire in Alexa that couldn't be tamed, no matter how much she knew she needed to be careful. This was Will after all. It was going to be really hard to say goodbye at the end of the week if she didn’t watch herself.

She replayed his words in her head.
I want to take my time with you...

What did that mean, and when was he going to get on with it already? She was on edge, needing release from this pent up desire, and Will was only antagonizing her with his sexy looks cast her way when no one else noticed. Last night, she'd had half a mind to drag him out to the beach in the middle of the night after they'd all gone to bed, but just as she'd been ready to throw the bed covers off and make her escape, she'd stopped herself. If he wanted her, she wanted him to come to her. She'd thrown herself at him once before, and she wasn't going to repeat that performance.

Sighing deeply, Alexa closed her laptop and leaned back on the lounge chair, closing her eyes. She was also on edge about her story. It was already late afternoon and she hadn't heard back from her editor. He was supposed to let her know by today if her story made the cut.

She tried to use relaxation techniques, but they didn't work.
Looks like your three days of carefree fun have come to an end
, she thought wryly. So much for letting loose on vacation. Her sexual frustration combined with her worries about work made for an uptight and short-tempered woman.

"They'll let you know, one way or another." Will's voice broke into her thoughts and she turned to find him pulling up a chair next to her.

"That's what I'm afraid of," she muttered.

He laughed. "The trick is, to start thinking about your next story, next adventure, next whatever. If you're so busy worrying about this moment, then you can't think clearly for what's ahead. Say you do get the green light, then what? Keep the juices flowing, and you'll have something to present to them next. And the benefit for now is that you won't be thinking about a yes or no. At least momentarily."

"Is that what you do?" She really did want to know.

"Sort of. I really stopped worrying about my stories ages ago and just did what I liked. That's why I like my blog. I can write what I want, about whatever or whomever I want, and I don't have to think about the possible rejection."