The One: The Complete One Series Collection (8 page)

From past experience, I knew that it would take a special set of skills to make me come using only his tongue. I was pleased to find that William had that special set of skills. But William never settled for just enough. As my body jerked off the bed, he lifted his head and thrust two fingers inside me, quickly pulsing them in rhythm with my body’s own convulsion.

I thought that was the end. I expected a couple more pulses and I would be done, but William had other ideas. He lowered his head again and his tongue beat an external rhythm to match his fingers’ internal beat. The effect was a mind-blowing orgasm that made me cry out as I came.

William was quick to lift my body and slide me back on the bed as I collapsed from the power of my release. He lay over me and I could feel his firm erection pressing against my leg. I was completely spent, but William was ready for another round. I pointed a weary finger to the nightstand where he kept his supply of condoms.

“Are you sure?” he said, trying unsuccessfully to hide his hopefulness. I nodded and squeezed his penis gently as encouragement. He grunted and stretched for the supplies. It only took seconds for him to have a condom in place, ready to penetrate me. “I don’t have to,” he insisted, seeing that I was still drained.

“Please, do it.” I grabbed him, placing him at the entrance of my vagina. The rest was up to him. “I want you inside me,” I insisted.

That was enough for William. He thrust forward, and the nerves inside me sprang back to life. His pounding was rough and unforgiving, and I loved every second of it. I met each thrust eagerly, pleading him not to stop.

“Yes, William. Yes.” Each plea made him drive harder and we both cried out as he released inside of me.

William collapsed on top of me but I barely noticed since most of my body had gone numb. I waited until my breathing was under control before I said, “You’re right. I definitely owe you.”

He lifted his head and looked at me hopefully. “So you’ll come with me today?”

“I already came with you,” I joked. “You didn’t give me much choice.”

“Very funny,” he said, playfully poking me in the side before kissing me on the nose. “You know what I mean.”

“I do. And yes, I will go with you.” This time he kissed me on my lips and I could taste the sex on him. I was pretty sure we both smelled like sex, too. “I think I’m going to need to shower before we go. Again.”

“I was hoping you would say that,” he said, giving me one of his wicked smiles. Before I could react, William had scooped me up and was carrying me to the bathroom.

“I already said I would go with you,” I reminded him. “Isn’t this overkill?”

“This isn’t for today,” he said, placing me in the shower. “Consider this an advanced deposit that I will redeem at a future date.”

I gave William one of his own playful smiles. “I look forward to both the advanced deposit, and to paying you back.”

CHAPTER THREE

Once I spent about twenty minutes with William’s family, I was pretty sure he still owed me, even including his advanced shower deposit. They were some of the most miserable people I had ever met.

“Oh, William. You are looking so thin. Have you been eating properly?” His mother, Jean Connor, hadn’t stopped nagging William since we walked in the door. She turned to me. “Have you been making sure he eats three meals a day?”

We were gathered in the Connor family kitchen, staring at one another over coffee. William was seated to my right, while Jean and William’s father, Bill, were seated across from us. William’s younger sister, Toni, was seated at the head of the table and hadn’t looked up from her phone in ten minutes. William’s older brother, Bob, had yet to make an appearance with his wife and kids. Jean was staring at me with hatred and I could feel my eyes bugging out of my head. William’s hand shot over and he squeezed my leg.

“Mother, I’m eating plenty. Stop harassing Olivia.”

“Humph.” Jean grunted into her coffee. “What I don’t understand is why you would bring this young lady to our family Christmas but not bother to even mention her name on the phone. I take it this relationship has been going on for some time for it to be this serious?”

“Jean. Leave the boy alone. If you keep this up, he won’t even come to next year’s Christmas.” Bill Connor shot an angry look at his wife. “Olivia, tell us about yourself. What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a lawyer.” I felt William’s hand tighten on my leg again.

“A lawyer? Very good.” Bill gave William an appreciative look. “What type of law do you practice? Do you work at a firm in the city?”

My mouth opened and closed several times but no words came out. William sighed deeply and said, “She works at Gravity, father. On the legal team.”

Bill blinked and clenched his jaw. “Is that so?”

“William, honey. Should you really be dating an employee?” Jean shot me another hateful look. “I don’t picture this ending well.”

“Good to know that you are already picturing it ending,” William spat. His leg was shaking furiously and now it was my turn to give him a squeeze.

“I have to side with your mother on this one. You lack of good judgment could jeopardize your company.” Bill smiled stiffly at me. “No offense intended, dear.”

“Of course not. Why would that offend me?” I muttered.

“You’re out of line. Both of you.” William’s body had gone rigid and a fire burned in his eyes.

“Maybe we should go,” I whispered to him. He looked like he was about to snap and I didn’t want him to say something he would regret later.

“I would if I were you,” Toni said, looking up for the first time. “This is as good as it’s going to get right here.”

“Close your mouth, Toni,” Jean commanded. Toni shrugged and went back to her phone but William wasn’t as accommodating.

“She’s not wrong,” he said. “Unless you plan to keep your thoughts about my relationship to yourself, we should leave.”

William pushed back his chair and neither parent made any attempt to stop him. He pulled my chair out as I stood and I followed him from the room. “Are you sure you want to leave, William.”

He whirled on me. “Were you listening in there?”

“Don’t yell at me,” I said, stepping back. The only other time I had seen him this angry was when he had threatened to kill my ex-boyfriend, Paul. “I’m on your side, William.”

He flinched when he saw the fear in my eyes. “Christ, Livy. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“It’s okay.” I let him take my hand, which was shaking.

William’s stepped closer. “Are you scared of me?”

“Not exactly.” I couldn’t really explain it, but ever since Paul had lost it on me, I found myself cowering anytime a man around me became angry. I explained it the best way I knew how. “It’s more like post traumatic stress.”

William’s face fell. “I’m so sorry, Livy. Come here. Please.”

I stepped into his arms and the shaking stopped for both of us. My fear vanished, and his anger faded. Just as we both began to relax, the front door flew open.

“Uncle Will!”

I pulled away in time to see two tiny bundles of energy fly down the hall and tackle William around the legs. He laughed and bent to scope them up in his arms. They both looked to be about three years old to me, but I wasn’t good at guessing kids’ ages.

“
Liv, this is my niece and nephew. Carter and Callie. They’re twins.” William nodded toward the door. “That’s my brother, Bob.”

“Will. Good to see you.” Bob stepped next to William and slapped him on the back.

It was easy to tell that they were brothers. Bob was about an inch shorter than William, and his dark hair was speckled with gray, but other than that they were nearly identical.

Bob looked me up and down. “Who’s this, Will?”

“Olivia Harris.”

Carter was beginning to squirm so William set him on the ground but Callie had a death grip around his neck and refused to let go.

“It’s nice to meet you, Bob.” I shook his hand.

“Bob is just about the only sane member of the family,” William explained. He turned to his brother. “Where’s Courtney?”

Bob’s cheek twitched. “She’s having one of her moods. She won’t be joining us today.”

“Lucky Courtney,” I muttered, not realizing I had said it out loud.

Both Bob and William laughed. Bob slapped William on the back again. “I like her already, Will. Good work.”

“She spent twenty minutes experiencing the annual Carter parent interrogation. She’s fully indoctrinated now.” William forced a smile.

Bob laughed again. “Well at least now Jean can stop questioning your sexuality.”

“I need to pee,” Courtney announced emphatically. William and Bob exchanged a look.

“I can take her,” I offered.

Bob seemed relieved. “You don’t have to do that,” he protested lamely.

“It’s not a problem.” I held out my arms and was surprised when Callie lunged into them. “You two can have some time to catch up.”

“Thanks, Livy,” William said.

Callie had some trouble getting the process started so I tried to distract her. “I hear you like alligators,” I said, remembering that William had bought her a souvenir in Florida.

“And crocodiles,” she said with a big smile. “Uncle Will buys me one whenever he goes on trips. I have hundreds of them.”

“That’s pretty cool.” I breathed a sigh of relief when Callie finally let go. I didn’t have a lot of experience getting kids to pee and the alligator thing was really all I knew about her.

When she was done, she took my hand and led us back to where the guys were still talking. I could hear them speaking in hushed voices.

“I’m telling you man, you need to tell her now. Waiting is only going to make it worse.”

“I’m not saying anything until I know for sure.” William’s voice was strained. “What if it’s a lie? You don’t know how she is.”

“What if it’s not a lie? This isn’t something that’s just going to go away.”

“I need more time to think it over.”

“In about eight months, you’ll be out of time. Don’t wait until the baby is here to tell her.” Bob glanced up from their conversation and saw me standing there with my mouth agape. “Shit.”

“Daddy cursed!” Callie sang out with a giggle.

I couldn’t feel my legs. The world started to spin around me as William turned around. One look in his eyes said I hadn’t misheard- William was going to be a father.

“Olivia.” My name was nothing but a rush of air as it slipped through William’s lips.

I marched past him, grabbing my coat on my way to the door. “Take me home.”

“Wait. Olivia.” William grabbed for my arm but I jerked it away. He reached for me again and this time I actually shoved him away.

“Home.” I nearly yelled the word and Callie’s eyes widened.

William looked to Bob for support but he shook his head. “Take her home, Will. I’ll cover for you here.”

“Liv, you have to talk to me at some point,” William said, as he started the car. “Just let me explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain.” It was cold in the car but I was burning up. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Don’t talk like that.” William pulled onto the highway.

“Why not? It’s true. It’s not like we are in a relationship or anything. We’re just fucking.” I squeezed my hands into tight fists.

“Jesus, Olivia. You don’t really believe that, do you?” William slammed on the breaks when the car in front of us stopped abruptly. It gave him the opportunity to look at me. “I just introduced you to my parents.”

“You sure did.” I flashed my eyes in his direction. “You introduced me to them, but didn’t bother to tell me you knocked up some other woman. So clearly this is a very serious relationship. Fuck off, William.”

“I know. I should’ve told you. I know I should have. But I didn’t even know if it was true.” William tapped his hands on the steering wheel.

“You sound like a total pig right now. You know that, right?” I tugged angrily at the ends of my hair. “Who is she?”

William looked away. “Holly. My ex-girlfriend.”

“How long were you together?”

“Six months.” William was fidgeting in his seat. The car in front of us started moving and William pressed on the gas.

“When did you break up?” This was the answer I was dreading.

William cleared his throat and said, “Three weeks ago.”

A laugh escaped me. “Three weeks ago? So right before we met?”

“Yes. But we were fighting a lot for a month prior.” William rushed forward. “She called me last week and said that’s she thought she was pregnant. But Holly is a drama queen, and she lies to get what she wants.”

“And she wants you?”

William didn’t answer. We were quickly closing in on the city and nothing had been resolved. “It doesn’t matter what Holly wants, Livy. I want you. Nothing has changed.”

“You’re going to be a father, William. She’s going to be the mother of your child. That changes everything.”

William moved into the right lane and started to take the exit. “No, William. I asked you to take me home.”

“That’s where I’m going,” he said.

“No, not to your home. I want to go to my home.”

This time when William looked at me, his eyes were full of unguarded hurt. I was certain that mine were as well. Neither of us said another word except when I had to give him directions to my place. When he pulled up out front, I hurried to open the door.

“Can I call you?” he said quickly.

“Please don’t.” I slammed the door shut. As I was unlocking the door to my condo building, I glanced over my shoulder. William was still there. He hadn’t left me. With a very great effort, I turned my back on him and went inside.

There are a lot of reasons you shouldn’t date your boss, but most of those reasons only matter once the fling is over. The number one reason being, you can’t escape them. I should’ve known that Tara’s New Year’s Eve party wouldn’t be a good idea, but I went anyway. At first, everything was fine. I was still reeling from the news about William being a baby daddy, but I was determined not to sit around feeling sorry for myself. We had only been together a few days and I wasn’t going to waste any time pretending it had been anything more than that.

“That guy over there hasn’t stopped staring at you,” Tara friend, Lori, yelled in my ear.

“Who is he?” I could barely make out the top of his head over the crowd.

“No idea. I can’t really see him, but he’s been looking over here all night.” Lori refilled my champagne glass. “It’s almost midnight and I think he wants to be your New Year’s kiss.”

I had drunk just enough champagne to think that would be a good idea, so I began pushing my way through the crowd. Just as I made it to the other side of the room, everyone began the countdown at 30 seconds. At 25 seconds, my eyes found the guy Lori had pointed out.

“Shit,” I said, looking directly into William Connor’s stunning eyes.

The crowd was still chanting, and William’s eyes drew me forward. I was still mad and I wanted to yell at him, but something stronger was guiding me. I missed him.

“William,” I said.

He grabbed me by the arm and yanked me through the crowd. We were down to ten seconds. He opened the first door we came across and pulled me inside. Tara’s bedroom was empty and with the door closed behind us, we could still hear the countdown. William leaned over me and I pushed up on my tiptoes. Our lips met just as the crowd reached the number one and I rang in the New Year with William’s tongue in my mouth. This was not how things were supposed to go.

“Stop.” I pushed him away. “What am I doing?”

“Olivia, please. Don’t go.” William tried to hold on to me but I squirmed away. I stepped back into the crowded hallway and shoved my way to the front door. I dug through a stack of coats until I found mine and then I ran outside. The ground was covered in a mix of snow and ice so I had to slow down or risk falling.