She marched to the wardrobe and pulled her cases from the bottom.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to move out, so you don’t need to make any more accommodations for me. I’ll find a hotel room, for now. Take a break. Perhaps sleep a little.”
“The lawyer said it was best to stay here.”
Willow levelled him with a glare. “In England, Luke. Not in your apartment.”
Before she could place the case on the bed, Luke stood and gripped her wrist. “Stop, Will. You’re scaring the shit out of me right now. Please. Calm down.”
“Did you know that nobody in the history of the world ever calmed down by being told to calm down? Did I mention I’m trying to grow a child and live in the same space as you while managing the changes in my body? Like how my boobs feel like watermelons, and I am suddenly starved every freaking day, and how I’m horny as hell but I’m stuck here with you. I need to go.”
Luke let go of her wrist and cupped his hands on either side of her face before kissing her. Not gently, either. Ravenously. Hungrily. His tongue met hers in a collision, an explosion of feelings erupting inside. The constant low-grade hum of desire erupted down his spine. Angry kissing he could do.
She slid her hand into his hair, gripping his hair tightly, while her other hand snaked around his waist, beneath his T-shirt. Fuck, her hands felt good on him.
He lifted her as if she weighed nothing, slamming her back to the wall, his dick lining up against her clit in heaven-sent precision. Just one roll of his hips had them both groaning. A second pushed him closer to the glorious edge he suddenly wanted to fall over with her.
“Will,” Luke gasped, his lips tracing a passionate trail down her neck.
She tilted her head, allowing him greater access as she tilted her hips, encouraging him to continue. He gripped her butt, holding her in place.
This had bad idea written all over it. Emotions. Contracts. Anger.
But he couldn’t care.
Not with the very essence of her all over him. The taste of her kisses against his lips. The feel of her tongue on his skin. Her fingers tugging on his hair.
“Please, Luke,” she begged.
“You need this?” His voice was rough with need, but he rubbed his dick against her.
“Yes,” she cried. And he could feel the urgency of her pending release in the way she moved against him. “Just like that, just . . . oh, God.”
For a moment, he realised that she was using him. Using him to escape whatever was going on. But he still couldn’t stop. Not until he’d given her what she needed.
He slid his hand beneath her skirt, to her panties that were wet, and nudged his finger beneath the lace.
Willow’s head flopped back against the wall as he first circled her clit, then slid between her lips. Memories of how good it had been to slide his dick into her, the way she’d opened her legs wide for him to settle between her thighs flashed before his eyes.
He wanted more.
He wanted her orgasm more than he wanted his next breath. “I know what you need. And you know what I want. Come for me, flower.”
The orgasm flooded through Willow like an opened dam. A deluge that drenched her and him. Everything about her responded to him, ready for everything else he wanted to give her. He felt every aftershock as it rippled through her and she sucked in air.
As she came down, he held on to her, holding her close as he slipped his finger from inside her. Luke pressed his head to the wall above her shoulder, his breathing as ragged as her own. He needed a release too.
“Take me to bed, Luke,” she whispered.
He wanted to, but to take anything more than he already had from her while she was this confused and angry didn’t seem fair. What he’d given her was about her. What she’d needed. An escape for a few minutes. A release of pent-up pressure. Perhaps now they could talk, and she could think more clearly. He pressed a chaste kiss to her neck. “I can’t.”
Willow stared at him. “Why not?”
Luke lowered her to the ground, held on to her as she found her feet. “It would be the easiest thing for me to throw you down in bed and fuck you right now. So don’t confuse what I’m doing with how I’m feeling.”
“That seems to be a recurring problem for you.”
Wasn’t it, though? “It’s not the right thing. You were mad, frustrated, and I didn’t know what to do. Then, you said you were horny, and I remembered what that night was like, and the next thing I knew, I just wanted to make it better for you. But this. You and me. This doesn’t make it better for us. For Cletus.”
“It seems like a perfect solution to us. We’re both stuck here. And I think I’ve explained my own . . . feelings enough for one night. And you must have needs too, unless . . . you . . . oh, God. Wait. Have you been sleeping around while we’ve—”
“Willow. For fuck’s sake. No. Apart from that one night when you first got here when I thought about it. I told you all about it, how I stopped before I did something stupid.”
She shoved his hands away and straightened her T-shirt. “Good to know that this is all so completely forgettable for you.”
“Forgettable? It’s not forgettable at all. I think about you twenty-four-seven.” Now wasn’t the time to tell her about the dreams he’d had about her. “You know what Alex said? He said I was rebelling because I never liked being told what to do. And he’s fucking right. Because I feel like I’ve done everything I was supposed to for most of my life. For a minute, I felt as though I might be able to escape the changes this all requires. You think I didn’t look at you and remember? What it was like to kiss you like that? What it felt like to get you off? What it felt like to be deep inside you? How good it was? I’d be there again in a heartbeat if I thought for a minute you could see it for what it is. Sex. But you won’t. You’ll wrap emotions and feelings and futures together, and a quick fuck to blow off some steam will lead to a picket fence and a dog. I’ve been a parent once. I was shit at it.”
Simultaneously, Willow stepped into his space just as he reached for her and pulled her to him. Her arms around his waist gave him a comfort he wasn’t aware he needed.
“You weren’t shit at it, Luke. No one is prepared to parent a teen at nineteen. And Izabel is wonderful. You weren’t shit. You loved her enough to put everything else on hold for her. If only my own father cared a quarter of how much you did.”
The anger in the room dissipated as quickly as it had flashed to life. Luke let the soft silence blanket them both. “I’m meant to be making you feel better, not here for you to comfort me.” He stroked his hand up and down her back as they swayed softly.
“My dad is going to attempt to take control of my life, Luke. What am I going to do?”
The hurt in her voice tugged at something deep inside him. A need to make it right. “You’re going to stay here. With me. We’ll do what your lawyer says. We’ll work on that social media platform of yours to show just how happy and healthy you are.”
Willow looked up at him, her eyes full of worry. “There’s a lot of we in there. I’m nervous you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.”
Luke brushed the back of his fingers along her cheek. “About what I said. About emotions and futures and sex. Lines are moving, Will. It’s scaring me, not going to lie. But they’re moving. And friends, lovers, co-parents . . . whatever we are, I’m on your side. Okay?”