I watched him go, long legs swinging easily, comfortably from narrow hips. His jeans hung, just so… his ass perfectly hard, his shoulders broad and heavily muscled. A deep, delicious hollow lined his spine and disappeared under his waistband. I imagined him, wet from the shower and hard… thinking of me…

It took all the focus I could manage to give the last instructions, to sign the last of the paperwork. Finally, the workers headed back to the dock and I headed straight for the cottage. I had barely over an hour to get ready.

A bundle of packages was waiting on the doorstep, all tied up, with a pink satin bow. I caught the inside of my cheek in my teeth and drew in a sucking breath. Okay… I get it…, I thought, gathering the packages in my arms and picking up a glossy, pink paper bag. My stomach was turning with butterflies as I spread everything out over my bed. As much as I wanted to take my time and savor, I didn’t have much time. I needed a shower, too… but I had to find out what Will had bought for me…

I tore into the packages like a little kid at Christmastime, starting with the largest and working my way down. The first held a dress that left me stunned. It was a pale silver color with flecks of gold, with an off the shoulder neckline and the skirt blossomed out from the tiny waist and reached just above the ankle. Tea length.

There was a pair of pink slingbacks, with heels high enough I’d reach Will’s shoulder… And there was a matching pink bag… I looked at the label and felt a wave of dizziness. These alone must have cost as much as the antique silk carpet…

I sat down, suddenly overwhelmed, and opened the last two boxes. One contained a pale pink bra and panty set, made of lace, with a French label I couldn’t pronounce. I picked up the panties… heavy for their delicate appearance, and I ran my fingers over the fabric. It was like touching a hundred loose pearls. Inside the white silk lining, there were tiny beads that rolled when I touched them, creating a friction… an anticipation of how it would feel to slip them on…

I got up and stripped off my damp clothes, turning on the shower to let the cold water run warm. One more package waited… but the size of it made me pause. I turned it over in my hand, testing its weight, feeling something shift inside and reluctantly put it back down. I glanced at the ticking clock, left it sitting on the countertop and headed for the bathroom.

Ten minutes to six…

I twirled in my high heels, letting the full skirt billow out around my legs. I was dressed and ready, with my hair twisted up on the back of my head and just the perfect touch of makeup. It was amazing how much the dress reminded me of the one I’d worn the first time Will and I had been together…

But now when I looked in the mirror, I saw a woman looking back, not the girl I’d been then. And Will was anything but out of reach now… My prince was taking me out and he’d bought me a ball gown, for God’s sake… I stared at the little box on the table, sat down, and the mystery of the pearls was solved as they rolled softly against my tender clit. I shifted, ever so lightly and felt the sensation heighten a hundred fold… Wear everything, he’d said. I shifted again, and realized that this date would be like no other. Two hours, maybe more… taking the boat and then having dinner. It was already the most exquisite torture… and he wasn’t even here yet…

I hadn’t had time to think. And I didn’t have time now… But as much as I was looking forward to tonight, my nerves were ticking away, just under the surface. I’d been expecting a delivery from the pharmacy, too, and all day I’d kept an eye out for a paper bag with my name on it. It either hadn’t made it to the dock with all the crates, or it had gotten lost in the confusion…

“Pick it up another tonight,” I told myself out loud, pushing a loose curl over my ear. “It’s easy enough to tell him I need to pick up some medicine for Violet…”

But my heart was pounding and my stomach was turning nervous flips. Even if I got the test and managed to take it, even if it was negative and I knew I wasn’t pregnant…

I still knew full well how this evening was going to end. With Will’s cock buried inside me, his seed filling me. Even if I hadn’t already been caught, I was playing with fire and I knew it. No matter how remote the chance, I had gotten pregnant once…. There was always a chance it could happen again. And deep down the idea excited me as much as it terrified me. How would he feel, if he knew I was carrying his child…? I thought. Would he be as sweet and caring as he’d been toward his niece? Was he the kind of man who would welcome fatherhood… or would he run from anything that bound him to one woman…?

He’d seemed right at home at the Underground. And the night at the prom… There was little doubt in my mind he had spent the years before me, and the years after me, doing all those things with any number of other women. It was part of who he was, the way he liked his sex… Just because he liked it with me, didn’t mean he wanted any kind of permanent ties… any kind of future together…

I rolled the last little box in my hands, worrying it with my fingers. I tore off the foil paper that covered it and felt the soft touch of black velvet.

Fuck the nerves, I thought sternly. For the first time in forever, everything is good. Violet’s happy… I’m happy. One more night isn’t going to change anything…

I held my breath and opened the box. A pair of gold bracelets lay nestled in the dark velvet folds. Each one was heavily chased and studded with a row of brilliant diamonds.

“One for each wrist,” Will said from behind me. I hadn’t even hear him open the door. He stepped inside and took the box from my shaking hands. “I told you to wear everything, Angel,” he said, picking up a bracelet and clasping it around my wrist. I stood, speechless, and he smiled easily and lifted my other arm. “One for each,” he said, sin glistening in his dark eyes. “And for later on…”

He took my hand and twirled me around so he could look at me. And I knew I was completely under his spell. He looked like he’d been born to wear a tux. His hair was trailing casually into his eyes and the crisp, white collar was open at the throat. The black fabric made him look even broader and taller, hugging him in places that already had my imagination working overtime. Whatever he intended for tonight would happen… It was inevitable…

He picked up the pink satin that had tied the packages together and slipped it around my waist. He turned me with his hands so he could tie a looping bow in the back. He kissed the tender flesh at the back of my neck, and I could feel the trailing ends of the ribbon on the back of my ankles…