Page 114 of Once Smitten, Twice Shy

Tears spill down my face as he strums softly, then stills his hands over the strings, staring up at me.

“William Orsino,” I call over the balcony, my voice thick, my heart bursting with love. “Get up here this instant.”

Will grins. “Yes, ma’am.”

I rush inside, through his bedroom, its deep green walls like a forest, dark and magical, glowing with candles, past his big bed with its cloud-white sheets and comforter that I’m going to throw him down onto, very, very soon, if I have my way.

Clutching the railing, I race down the stairs as fast as I can, but he’s already there, running toward me, wrapping his arm around me, lifting me up.

I clasp his face in my hands, and I kiss him, long and sweet, my heart flying. “I love you,” I whisper. “I love you so much.”

He stops with me at the top of the stairs, my legs wrapped around his waist, his hands splayed across my back, and holds my eyes. “I love you, Juliet. With all my heart. I’m sorry I ever doubted that was possible.” He shakes his head, starting to walk me slowly toward the bed. “You saw and believed it when I couldn’t, what was true all along, from the moment I met you.”

I wrap my arms around his neck, searching his eyes. “And what was that?”

He kisses me tenderly, reverently. “That not only could my heart be loved and love you…it wasmadeto love you.”

Tears fill my eyes. “Will.”

“Juliet.”

“You love me,” I whisper.

He nods. “Endlessly.”

I kiss him, my hands in his hair, drawing him so close, as close as I can get him. “Take me to bed.”

Silently, he walks me to the bed’s edge and lowers me to the ground. Our eyes hold each other as we peel away each other’s clothes, slow, savoring—nothing rushed this time.

“I’ve been tested,” he says faintly as I kiss his throat, the hard, round curve of his pectoral muscle. “Negative for everything.”

I nod as I kiss my way over to his heart. “Me, too.”

“I’ve got condoms, though—shit.” He drops his head to the crook of my neck as I stroke him in my hand, enjoying every inch of him, velvet hot and hard.

“I’m on the pill,” I tell him. “So I don’t need them, if you don’t.”

“Uh-uh,” he says dazedly as I stroke him. His hands wander over my breasts, cupping them as they fill his hands, plucking at my nipples.

I try to draw him back with me onto the bed, but he pins me against him, his hands wandering low along my back, curving over my ass. “Will,” I whine. “Hurry.”

I moan faintly as he kisses the corner of my mouth and throw my arms around his neck again, rubbing myself shamelessly against him, because now I can, as much as I want, after so much waiting. I’ve got a lot of time to make up for.

“Hurry?” he whispers into our kiss. “Why, you got somewhere else you need to be soon?”

“I just might. I’m a very busy lady,” I tell him faintly as he kisses his way down my neck.

“Well, damn. Think you’ve got some time for little old me first?”

I smile, my eyes falling shut. I reach for his length between us and give him a nice, firm stroke. “I think I could squeeze you in.”

“Jules,” he groans, clearly exasperated by my juvenile innuendo.

A snort sneaks out of me. “Come on, that was good. And I’m also going to assume it’s pretty accurate, given what I’ve got in my hand—”

“Juliet,” he sighs. Still, his voice is warm with affection, his touch tender and sensual. “I’m trying to be romantic, here.”

“Oh, well, in that case,” I whisper against his jaw, breathing him in, the heat of his skin, the whisper of herby soap, which was clearly designed with the express purpose of making me a horny mess. “Romance away.”

---