With Me in Seattle Bundle One (81 page)

“Um, it’s nice to meet you, too, Luke.”

He flashes me his movie-star grin, the one that used to grace every magazine cover in the country, and then excuses himself when Caleb, another of Jules’ brothers, calls to him.

“Um, Nat?”

“Yeah?” she replies with a satisfied sigh.

“You’re married to Luke Williams.”

She chuckles and nods her head. “I am.”

“How the fuck did that happen?”

“Long story. I’ll fill you in over wine one night.”

“It’s a date.”

“There you are!” Jules exclaims and wraps her arms around us in a group hug. “Meg, I’m so glad you made it!”

“I wouldn’t miss it. Although, I was surprised to get the invite.”

“You’re my friend. I wanted you here.” Jules grins and searches the room until her eyes find her man’s.

“He’s very handsome, Jules. And completely gone over you,” I murmur and follow her gaze.

“Yeah, he is. It’s mutual.”

“I’m happy for you.” I sip more champagne.

“Thanks.” Her smile is wide and happy, and it’s true, I am so happy that she found her guy. They are great together.

“When do we eat?” Will asks from a table not far from us.

I’ve been doing my best to ignore Will Montgomery, aka Seattle quarterback, aka arrogant ass. I’ve managed to stay out of his way and avoid another introduction, but I’ve felt his eyes on me all night, which I don’t get. I’m surely not his type, and it’s no secret that I’m not interested.

“The buffet is ready to go, Miss Montgomery.” A pretty, curvy blonde walks up to Jules with a wide smile. “Dinner is ready when you are.”

“Perfect, thank you, Alecia. Be sure you and your assistant eat, too.”

“Oh, we will.” Alecia laughs and walks away, consulting her iPad.

“God, I love that woman.” Jules exhales and smooths her hands down her floaty red chiffon strapless dress.

“She’s amazing,” Nat agrees.

“Who is she?” I ask.

“Party planner,” Jules replies. “I found her when I hosted Nat’s baby shower a few months ago. She’s also doing the wedding. She’s a genius.”

“She’s my fucking hero,” Will grumbles and follows Alecia. “I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving!” Jules yells after him and laughs.

***

How I ended up at Will’s table is a mystery to me. In fact, I’m sitting with all of Jules’ impossibly handsome brothers, a sweet woman named Brynna, and Jules’ sister-in-law, Stacy, who is lovely and very pregnant.  Like, pop-any-day pregnant.

Everyone is laughing, joking with each other, and they all look incredible.

Why the hell didn’t I bring a date? Most likely because the last time I went on a date, a tsunami hit Japan.

Pathetic.

“So, Megan, what do you do?” Jules’ brother Matt asks me.

“I’m a charge nurse at Seattle Children’s Hospital.”

“What department?” he asks and cuts into his steak.

“I work with teens on the cancer-care floor.” I take a bite of roasted potato and a sip of champagne. I’m going to need more of this.

“How long have you done that?” Matt asks, and I notice Will scowl. What the hell is his problem?

“I’ve been a nurse for about six years, in this position for two.”

Matt fills my wine glass and offers me a kind smile, and I find myself returning it.

“You’re young to have such an important job,” Will comments kindly, but I roll my eyes and ignore him, earning another glare from him.

“So, if Stacy goes into labor, you can save the day,” Caleb suggests, and we all laugh.

“No, I’m not an OB nurse. But I can call an ambulance,” I respond.

Stacy rubs her belly and grins. “It’s okay, guys, we still have about a month to go.”

Isaac leans down and kisses his wife’s cheek and whispers something in her ear, making her grin.

These men are all seriously charming. Jules and her family’s gene pool is impressive.

Matt pours me another glass of wine, and I immediately sip it, pushing my plate aside. I’m too nervous to eat anyway.

In the middle of a conversation with Stacy, I realize I’m beginning to feel a bit lightheaded, so I excuse myself and head to the bathroom to press a cold cloth on my forehead and refresh my lip gloss.

“Meg, wait up.”

Shit.

I try to make it into the ladies’ room ahead of him, but Will just follows me in and locks the door.

“What the hell are you doing?” I ask him with an eyebrow raised.

“You don’t like me very much, do you?” He leans his tall, six-foot-four frame against the door and crosses his arms over his chest. He took his suit jacket off long ago, leaving him in a pink—
pink
—dress shirt that looks surprisingly hot on him, with no tie and black slacks. The sleeves are rolled up, showing off muscular forearms. His dark blond hair is overlong and messy, and his blue eyes run up and down my body before landing on mine.

“I don’t know you well enough to like or dislike you.”

“I call bullshit,” he says calmly.

“It doesn’t matter.” I shrug and turn to the sink to wash my hands and apply my lip gloss, while Will’s eyes never leave me.

“What?” I ask and turn around.

“Why don’t you just tell me what I did to piss you off so I can go ahead and hit on you?”

I burst out laughing, making him scowl, which makes me laugh even harder.

“You really are an arrogant asshole, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not.” He’s dead serious, not finding this situation funny at all.

“Yeah, you are. I don’t want you to hit on me.”

He shrugs as if what I want is of no consequence. “I’m not an asshole, Meg. What did I do to offend you so much?”

I stop laughing and clear my throat, and take a moment to just really look at him. He looks sincere. But I will never get the disappointment in my patients’ eyes out of my head.

“It doesn’t matter,” I repeat.

Will pushes himself off the door and crosses to me, pinning me against the bathroom counter, his hands resting on the granite on either side of me at my hips. He doesn’t touch me, but leans in so his nose is just about twelve inches from mine.

“It does matter,” he murmurs.

“Why?” My heartbeat has just gone into overdrive and, oh God, he smells so good. I’m blaming my fuzzy head on the overabundance of wine I’ve consumed with very little food.

“I need you to tell me what I did to piss you off so I can apologize.” He leans back, just a few inches, and his eyes travel down my body leisurely. I can feel the heat from his gaze, and I feel my skin warm. His eyes travel back up to my face, and he pins me with his hot, blue gaze. “You look amazing in this little dress with your heels and your auburn hair all curly and messy around your sweet face.”

“Um…” What was the question?

“Tell me,” he insists.

“Tell you what?” I whisper.

He grins and whispers back, “What I did to piss you off, Meg.”

“I’ve repeatedly sent messages to your PR people for the past two years asking for you and your team to come up and see my kids. Every request has been shot down, saying that you’re not interested.”

He frowns and slightly shakes his head. “I’ve never received anything from PR about going to Children’s.”

“Right,” I respond sarcastically and try to pull back so I can’t smell his musky scent. It’s doing things to me.

I want to lick his neck.

“I’m not lying. They field a lot of requests for me. It was never passed on to me.”

Oh.

Well, crap.

“Why didn’t you just have Jules talk to me about it? Or get my number from her?”

“Right.” I snort. “First, she’s my friend, and I’m not going to use her for stuff like that, and second, why would I call you? I don’t know you.”

Will smiles softly and raises a hand to my face and tips my chin up with his forefinger, making me look him in the eye. He’s so tall, he towers over me, but he’s leaning down. His bright blue eyes watch me lick my lips, and when I bite my lower lip, he inhales sharply and pins my dark eyes with his gaze.

His hand lightly cups my jaw, and he raises his other hand to lightly brush my hair back off my shoulder, and I am just lost in his eyes. I can’t move. I should push him away. I don’t do this. I don’t let strange men touch me in public restrooms while their entire family sits outside chatting and laughing and eating.

But I can’t look away.

He lowers his face to mine, brushes my lips ever so gently, smiles down at me in that cocky way that he’s known for, and sinks into me, burying his hands in my hair, holding my face so he can move his mouth against mine.

Holy shit, he’s good at this kissing stuff. His lips are soft yet firm, and that somehow makes perfect sense to me. They move with precision and purpose, across my lips and back again. I moan and wrap my arms around his waist, lean into him, and Will groans against me, and suddenly this kiss has turned into not just want, but need. His tongue invades my mouth, twirling and dancing with my own. I reach up, wrap my arms around his neck and twist my fingers into his gloriously soft hair and practically climb up him, trying to get closer.

Finally, he cups my ass in his large hands and lifts me. My legs wrap around his waist, and before I know it, my back is braced against the door. Will is leaning on me, keeping me firmly in place, and is still kissing the shit out of me.

Holy fuck, this man can kiss.

“God, you’re sweet,” he murmurs and nibbles and kisses his way across my jawline to my ear and down my neck. “We could have a lot of fun together, baby.”

Baby? And just as if I’ve been doused with a bucket of cold water, I come to my senses. I’m about to get it on in a public restroom—ew!—with Will Montgomery.

No!

“Stop,” I demand, my voice firm.

Chapter Two

“You don’t want me to stop.”

He pushes his pelvis against my center, and I bite my lip to stop the moan that wants to come from my throat.

“I said stop, Will.”

He pulls back and looks me in the eye, panting, his eyes narrowed. He shakes his head as if he’s clearing it and gently lowers me to the floor. My knees almost buckle beneath me, and he steadies me, his hands on my shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“I’m not doing this with you. Ever.”

He steps back, runs those fantastic hands through his hair, takes a deep breath and clenches his eyes shut. “Okay.” He swallows hard. “I’m sorry. I thought you were interested.”

“Let’s get something straight right now. I’m not some stupid sports groupie who’s dying to get into your pants, and I’m not your
baby.”
God, I hate being called that.

“I apologize again, for the misunderstanding regarding my PR people, and for this.” His voice is steady now, his breathing under control, and he shoves his hands into his pockets.

Wow, he’s handsome.

I lick my lips, still tasting him.

“If you’ll step aside, I’ll leave you alone.”

I suddenly hate this polite coldness I’m getting from him. I wish he’d take me in his arms again and kiss me, and I hate
myself
just a little for it.

Maybe he’s not as bad as I thought, but he’s not for me.

I quickly move out of his way, and he unlocks the restroom door. Before he opens it, he looks back at me and offers me a half grin, winks, and leaves me alone.

My eyes find my own in the mirror. They’re a bit glassy from too much wine and lust. My hair is just a bit messy, but I styled it that way to begin with, so no biggie. Aside from my lip gloss having been kissed off, I look the same as I did when I walked in here.

So why does it feel like everything is about to change?

***

“Okay, what are we drinking to this time?” I ask and look around the table at my friends and their men. All of the parents left the party a few hours ago, and all that’s left are Jules and Nate, Natalie and Luke, Stacy and Isaac, Brynna, Matt, Caleb and Will. All of the other guests have gone home, leaving the eleven of us to drink shots and laugh and catch up.

I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.

If I drink this next shot, I just might forget the escapade in the bathroom with Will.

Maybe.

Probably not.

Speaking of Will, he keeps watching me, sipping a beer, quiet. But I ignore him and lift another shot of tequila in the air. So far, we’ve toasted babies, rock ’n’ roll, tattoos, shopping, and shopping again.

“Here’s to orgasms, and the three I’m going to have tonight!” Natalie exclaims, earning fits of giggles from the rest of us girls while the boys—except for Luke—grumble about TMI.

“To orgasms!” we all concur and slam the shot.

I stopped using the training wheels of lime and salt three shots ago.

I glance back over at Will, who’s now in a deep conversation with his brother Caleb, and despite my clearly drunk state, my thighs clench just at the sight of him. Geez. He’s all broad shoulders and muscles and blue eyes, and his shaggy dark blond hair is all messy from his fingers, and mine, and I want to give it a good tug.

I should have done him in the bathroom.

Stop it! That’s just drunk and horny Meg talking.

“So, Meg,” Jules slurs as she leans toward me and plops her arm around my shoulders. “Why are you still single, my beautiful friend?”

“Because my job is my relationship, my equally as beautiful friend.”

“That sucks.”

“It’s fine.” I wave her off and take a sip of my fifth margarita. Damn, I really should have eaten more at dinner.

“Does your job give you orgasms?” Natalie asks as she crawls into Luke’s lap.

“No.” I giggle.

“Then it’s not fine,” she responds smugly.

No, it’s not fine, but it is what it is. I need to change this subject.

“You should sing something.” Jules claps her hands and bounces in her seat.

“You are all starting to kill this really great buzz I’ve got going on.”

“Sing!” Jules demands.

“I can barely talk. No singing. I haven’t sung in a long time anyway.”

“Okay, then let’s dance.” Jules stands and then wobbles. Nate pulls her into his lap, laughing down at her.

“I think it’s time I take you up to the room, baby.”