All In:Playing the Fool(39)

I went straight to Joe's kitchen and looked through the cabinets until I  found a tall glass, since he of course didn't have any vases.  Unwrapping the bouquet I finally noticed the little message envelope  with my handwritten name in cursive on the outside. I pulled the note  off the plastic stick and opened it to find the card inside. It said,  "Thinking of you until the last petal falls." The man was too sweet, and  I instantly felt bad. After all I'd done behind his back this week, I  didn't deserve him.

Carefully I sat the dozen wonderful smelling long stem roses down into  the glass half full of water. That's when I noticed the difference in  the center rose. The stem wasn't quite as green, and touching it, it  didn't feel smooth and wet like the others. I rubbed one of its petals  between my thumb and finger, realizing that it wasn't real. I blinked as  fast as I could, but that didn't stop my eyes from moistening, knowing  this one perfect white rose, tipped in red, would never lose its petals.  It was absolutely the sweetest gift any guy had ever given me. That  thought only made me feel even worse.

Will was here, asking to take me out on a real date, buying me flowers  with sweet messages, and I was acting like a selfish slut.

"Hey, are you okay?" Will asked from the kitchen doorway, startling me out of my thoughts.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, glancing up at him. There was  something … different about him, I finally noticed. He must be wearing  contacts instead of his usual sexy glasses, and I think I preferred the  bespectacled sex god.

"You're fine, I'm not in a hurry," he assured me.

"No, I mean, I'm sorry about this week. With Joe, and um, Chad."

"Lacy, you don't have to apologize. I know you aren't looking for a  monogamous relationship, and that's fine. I may have been … surprised, to  find out about you and Joe, but I don't care if you want him and Chad or  anyone else," Will said, closing the distance between us. "I'm just  trying to be the only one you need."

A shaky breath left my constricting lungs. "Don't give up on me."

He gave me a crooked single dimple smile. "I couldn't even if I wanted to."

I threw my arms around his neck, and let him hug me for a few minutes,  content just being in his arms. The man was too good to be true,  actually letting me have my cake and eat it too.

"You know how you said my eyes remind you of lime sherbet?" Will eventually asked against my ear, making me smile at the memory.

"Yeah."

"Well, you've ruined cherries for me," he said, making me laugh against his neck before pulling away.

"It's my lip gloss," I explained. "I've used the same kind ever since I  was like eleven. My mom bought it for me one day in a department store,  so it was my first 'grown up' makeup."

"I love the taste of it, almost as much as I love the taste of your  sweet cherry pie," Will teased, with a ticklish, biting nip to my ear.

"Stop that!" I giggled, squirming out of his hold as sensual heat  flooded me. "Are you trying to get me to put out before our real date?"

He scoffed in mock indignation. "I am a gentleman, and would never do  such a despicable thing. Now, get your gorgeous ass in my truck so I can  take you out to a nice dinner before we have a fucking foursome," he  said with a spank to my bottom, making me giggle.

"That's one place I think my virtue might be safe from you. I'll never,  ever have sex in a vehicle again," I told him as I led him out the door  and locked up Joe's house.

"Never, ever?" Will asked.

"Never. Ever. I'm still working off my community service."

"Yeah, I know. How many more hours do you have?" he asked, holding his passenger door open for me to climb inside his truck.

"Eighteen I think. You?"

"About the same. Want to schedule a few community service dates this week?"

"Hell yes. It's more fun doing time with you," I laughed before he shut the door.

After he settled into the driver seat and pulled away from the house,  the twenty questions started. No, really, we decided to play twenty  questions.

"Favorite color?" he asked.         

     



 

"Yellow."

"Yellow? That's  …  different."

"Yellow was my grandma's favorite color, and growing up that's one of the few things I actually remember about her."

"I'm sorry. How old were you when you lost her?" Will asked softly,  glancing quickly over to me before his eyes went back to the highway.

"Nine. Just two weeks before she died of a stroke she took me to get my  ears pierced for my birthday. Without asking my parents. God, they were  so freaking pissed at her, especially my dad."

"Yeah, I bet. He's a bit of a control freak, huh?"

"Oh yeah. He tried to make me take them out, but I cried and had a  tantrum so he finally caved and let me keep them," I told him, reaching  up to spin the diamond stud. "I've worn them ever since, and never take  them out. Although, I did lose one that first night we were together."

"Oh shit! I'm sorry, Lacy. Were you able to find a replacement?" Will asked.

"No, Dylan and Jules gave it back to me the day I went to the apartment looking for it."

"Really? Damn, I'm glad they found it."

"Me too. That's how I found out you'd lied. Seeing the picture of your sister over the bed was sort of the giveaway," I laughed.

"I'm sorry. Honestly, I never thought I'd see you again after that  night. Not because I didn't want to. I just figured you'd regret  sleeping with me since you were only trying to get over your ex."

"I slept with you because you were sexy, sweet, and seemed  …  safe. And  you gave me hope that maybe all men weren't cheating assholes."

Will laughed. "I fully expected you to dump that fruity drink on me and  tell me to get lost, after using that corny pickup line."

"It wasn't a corny pickup line. I loved it, and liked that you had a great sense of humor to even try using it."

"I still have that picture, you know," he said with a smile. Pulling his  phone carefully out of his front pocket while driving, he flashed me  the screen. It was the picture of me in the blue dress set as his  screensaver. "A customer saw my phone while I was on a call the other  day and asked me which supermodel it was. He didn't believe me when I  told him it was the woman I was seeing."

"Ha!" I laughed. "Maybe those 'supermodel' looks will land me a job with  a network someday," I said sarcastically. "But you've gotten us off  track. What's your favorite color?" I asked.

"Blue."

"Favorite band?"

Will gnawed on his bottom lip while he thought about it. "Maybe Foo  Fighters? I don't know, I like about everything but country music. How  about you?"

"I'm the same and listen to a little bit of everything, but I guess my  favorite is Matchbox Twenty. So what's your favorite movie?"

"That is a tough one. Probably a tossup between Fight Club and Office Space."

"I love Edward Norton!" I exclaimed.

"More so than Brad Pitt?" he laughed.

"Hell yes. Keeping the Faith is one of my all-time favorite movies with him, Ben Stiller and Jenna Elman."

"Ugh," Will muttered, shaking his head. "I think my sister made me watch  something like that. A crazy love triangle with a blonde chick? That's a  bad joke waiting to happen. Wasn't it about one guy who's a priest, and  the other is a rabbi, so neither can hook up with her?"

"That's the one!"

"Now I'm certain I don't want to watch any movies with you," he laughed,  making me punch his shoulder. "But you and Jules would probably get  along great."

"I like Jules. She has a big heart, and it's amazing to see all the good  her and Dylan have accomplished with Safe Haven. One of the prosecutors  told Joe that juvenile crime has gone down significantly in the city  since it opened."

"Wow, I had no idea, but that's great. I can't wait to read your story," he said. "I bet it's going to go viral."

"I hope so. Otherwise my dad wasted a lot of money on a degree I can't use," I laughed.

After a delicious dinner we continued our twenty question game back to Joe's house while driving down the dark road.

When we pulled up I knew from the black and yellow Camaro in the driveway that Chad and Joe were back.

I made sure I was first through the bedroom door, and sure enough, I  found Chad on his knees in front of where Joe was standing with his  pants down.

"Fuck...too damn close," Joe groaned between gasps.

I pulled the door shut to let them finish. "So, do you want anything to eat or drink?" I turned around and asked Will.

"Ah, no thanks. Are they … ?" he asked.

"Let's grab a few beers," I said, pulling him by the hand into the  kitchen. After we wasted a little time drinking the first round I led  the way back to the master bedroom. This time when I went through the  door Joe was flopped out on his bed naked, with his hands casually  behind his head, and Chad was sitting at on the edge of the mattress  naked with a hard cock in his hands.