Breathless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #1)(18)

Still fuming, Harper clicked off a shot of the work in progress as Jeremy happily wrote it down in his journal. Even though her brother was with them, she pulled a stool away from the wall near the workbench, and asked, “Did your friend Evan get whatever message you were trying to send him?” Fortunately, Jeremy was too interested in what he was doing to pay attention.

Will looked up at her, his eyes far more guileless than they deserved to be. She and Will had seen each other only a handful of times, yet she already knew that look. His lips curved up slightly, and he had a knowing spark in his eye.

“What message was that?” Before she could answer, he handed Jeremy the sharp tool, which resembled a skinny screwdriver. “You try now.”

Jeremy bit his lip, concentrating hard as he took over the task. “Yeah, just like that, you’ve got it,” Will praised him. “All we’re doing right now is marking with a little hole. Then we’ll drill.”

She took another picture, determined not to let Will off the hook just because he was so sweet with her brother. “When you put your arm around me and started playing with my hair.”

Will didn’t look at all apologetic as he said, “He wasn’t the one I was trying to send a message to.”

His bold words—words that all but screamed how much he wanted her—shouldn’t have sent heat rushing through her. But they did. Crazy heat. Just the way all of his bold intentions had in her kitchen.

She could feel herself flushing as Will focused on the car again and said to her brother, “We’re going to move the spacer along now and make our marks all the way to the end.”

A short while later, Jeremy held the press tool high in the air like an athlete who’d just run a marathon, and said, “I’m done.”

Will inspected the work. “A perfect job. I couldn’t have done better myself.”

Jeremy did a happy dance and emotion blossomed in her heart. No matter how conflicted Will might make her feel, he was good for Jeremy.

Her brother suddenly said, “I gotta pee.”

“Down there.” Will hooked a thumb past a long row of shelves and cupboards, and Jeremy raced to the bathroom as if he’d suddenly realized he might not make it in time.

Literally the second the door closed behind him, Will was standing right in front of her, pulling her up, pushing the stool she sat on back against the wall, and framing her head with his hands. His he-man act shot a forbidden thrill right through her—the same forbidden thrill she felt with him every single time, whether it was smart of her or not.

Her mouth was suddenly dry as she looked up at him, her breath coming fast.

“You don’t like it when I touch you in front of anyone else?” He dipped his face into the crook of her neck, his breath warm on her skin. “You don’t like them thinking you’re mine?”

Oh God. She could barely process what he was saying when he was this close to her, not quite kissing her, but heating her up all over just the same. “I’m—” She worked to gather enough oxygen, and brain cells, to be able to tell him, “I’m not yours.”

He pulled back slowly, his hair brushing along her cheek. It was incredibly soft. And he smelled so good as he said, “Not yet,” his low voice humming along her nerve endings. “Soon.”

She knew what she should be doing. She should be pushing him away and making it clear to him—yet again—that their kiss by the aqueduct had been nothing more than a crazy whim. But when he slipped to the other side of her face and sensually nipped at her earlobe, she forgot where they were, she forgot Jeremy, she forgot about his friend seeing them together, she even forgot her name. As if they didn’t even belong to her, her hands reached up, nearly taking hold of his shirt.

The toilet flushed at the other end of the barn and she felt the rumble of Will’s low—and clearly frustrated—laugh against her throat. “Very soon we’ll both have what we want,” he promised her as he slowly pushed away from the wall, then turned around to focus once again on her brother and the car.

* * *

By the end of the afternoon, Will was so keyed up from wanting Harper, he was ready to blast past every last wall that she was still trying to hold up. But rushing her wasn’t part of his game plan. She had to be ready. More than ready—he wanted her desperate and wild, the way she’d been that night at the deserted fountain.

They’d left an hour ago, without his securing another date with Harper. In fact, for the rest of the afternoon, though she’d been involved in taking pictures of their progress—and she’d been perfectly polite—he could easily guess that she was stewing on everything that had happened between them. And everything he’d said.

Soon we’ll both have what we want.

Will wasn’t a man who waited for what he wanted. And he wanted her badly enough that he’d been sorely tempted to ask them to come back tomorrow. But he’d corralled every ounce of his self-control and had, instead, let her go with the promise that she and Jeremy would return the following Saturday. When they’d do the dance all over again.

Until Harper wanted him as badly as he wanted her—and no longer thought she needed to keep fighting the inevitable. Because if there was one thing Will knew for sure, it was that the sparks between him and Harper wouldn’t be nearly so hot if they weren’t supposed to come together.

His cell rang beside him on the arm of his chair, signaling that his favorite person in Chicago was calling. “So,” Susan said after his warm greeting, “I hear you have some new friends.”

He choked out a laugh. “Evan gossips like an old woman. It’s only been six hours since he met Harper and Jeremy.”

“You know he always checks in with us on Saturday.”

Evan tended to be driven by routine. Will, on the other hand, called Susan and Bob a couple of times a week without any set schedule.

“He’s still a gossip,” he said without rancor.

Susan was the closest thing Will had to a mother. He barely remembered his real mom. And it was Susan, along with Bob, who had helped Will become the man he was, instead of the man his father would have turned him into. Susan had been a waitress and Bob a baggage handler at the airport, even after he’d injured his back. They hadn’t had much money, but they’d taken in each and every one of the Mavericks. Loved them. And treated them like their own.

Will would do anything for them. And the other Mavericks felt exactly the same. Their bond was stronger than any blood tie could have been.

“How’s Bob doing?” Will asked before Susan could start peppering him with questions.

“You know him.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “He’s got to be out there helping the contractor put the new deck in. Can’t just sit and watch.”

The first thing the Mavericks had done when the money started rolling in was to get Bob the back surgery he’d badly needed. He’d still stubbornly continued to work long after Daniel or any one of the Mavericks could have supported both him and Susan. It had taken years to convince him that a less physically demanding desk job might not be as bad as he thought. Then finally, last year, he’d agreed to retire and start enjoying life. But he wasn’t yet sixty and no one was putting him out to pasture, as he loved to say. He worked on the house and the yard, and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.

“So are you going to tell me about her, honey?” Susan wasn’t going to let Will avoid the reason for her call.

“I met Harper through her brother. He was hit by a car when he was seven. He worked through the physical issues, but he acts younger than he is.”

“I’m so sorry.” She hated it when kids got hurt. So did Will.

“He’s a great kid. Enthusiastic. Positive. He loves cars so I bought another kit car, and he’s going to help me build it.”

“You sound happy. Helping him is going to be good for you, I can tell.”

Happy was as good a word as any to describe what he’d felt as he helped Jeremy mark the sheet metal. For the last few months, even longer than that, he’d been running on empty. But Harper and Jeremy seemed to be filling him up again.

“And his sister, Harper? Is she someone special?”

He didn’t even have to think about it. “Very.” He’d known from that first day in the hangar that Harper was special. And good. Too good for him.

“You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that, Will. I want my boys happy. And you deserve a good woman.”

Susan didn’t see him shake his head. She really did love all of her boys, so much that Will knew she let herself forget where—and who—he came from. Forget who he was.

If Harper knew what he’d been like as a kid, all the crimes he’d committed for his dad, the hellraiser he’d been even after the asshole went to prison and he’d moved in with the Spencers—would she ever trust him with her brother? Would she ever trust him with herself? She already doubted his motives with Jeremy. If she knew the guy Will was on the inside, all the lies he’d told, all the houses he’d broken into for his dad, all the cars he’d stolen, and then what had finally gone down with the Road Warriors…