Cuddling naked under a warm duvet was a sensation unlike anything else. But to have William stretched out sideways beside her, his head resting in her lap as he read a book… Well, to say Lily found her soul mate would be a serious understatement.

She’d stopped convincing herself a long time ago that this was anything but the beginning of a relationship with a man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Being an introvert with a sturdier wall around her than China, it was always hard to let people in. Even harder to be around them for longer periods of time without feeling utterly drained.

With William, however, that need for solitude never arose. She could recharge in his presence.

And that was precisely what they had been doing for the better part of the past two hours.

Him engrossed in the pages of James’s Gilded Cage, her falling in love with Even the Darkest Stars.

The apartment smelled of sex, coffee, and books, and she’d be damned if that wasn’t the atmosphere she had always dreamed of.

Contrary to the faint moment of panic she’d experienced early on at the prospect of seriously dating someone who was twenty years her senior, being with William filled her with security. Sure, there were differences between them, some even fueled by the age gap. But whenever they stumbled upon one, it was a venue to explore, not bicker over. In the end, both of them gained something. Even if it was as trivial as her introducing him to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and him showing her the complete brilliantness that was the original Star Trek series.

But most of all, she loved how she could carry endless conversations with him—or be completely silent, each of them doing their own thing while being together at the same time.

Smiling, she trailed her fingers through his thick hair and played with those silver strands she loved so much. “You do know you’re the handsomest man I’ve ever seen, right?”

A corner of his lips curled up. He stuck a skull-patterned bookmark between the pages and placed his book aside, then liberated hers from her grasp and repeated the process.

Lily’s breath quickened as their gazes locked for a second before William guided his lower, lingering on her lips, her neck…

He slid the duvet down to her stomach. “Are you coming on to me, pet?” he asked in that sultry voice of his he knew turned her on.

As if she weren’t already.

Lily grinned. “Always.”

The hunger in his eyes was surreal, and she was trembling as his breath drew a line between her breasts, lips travelling down her stomach. Lower. The duvet was gone before she could blink.

With a teasing caress, William spread her legs, then yanked her down and settled himself between them.

“Perfect,” he whispered, meeting her gaze for a long, intense moment before he trailed his tongue from her entrance to her clit.

“William…”

Another torturously long lick and then his face was buried in her pussy, his beard doing unspeakable things to her sensitive flesh.

He grazed her clit with his teeth, tongue drinking in her juices. But when his fingers dug into her hips, when he sucked and bit and ravaged her with fucking brilliant possession, she came so hard the room around her spun.

William groaned, lifting her ass higher, clearly determined not to let a dash of her orgasm escape his expert lips. Fuck. His face was all male satisfaction as he climbed on top, the dark and silver hairs of his beard bearing glistening traces of her climax.

Every nerve, every cell in her body ached to kiss him. He lowered himself atop her, his cock hard as it pressed between her thighs. But just as that faint distance grew nearly nonexistent, William’s phone screeched.

He swore, Lily right along with him.

Then she did it again when he scooted off the bed and covered that magnificent body of his with the plush royal blue bathrobe she’d purchased for him once it became clear he intended to spend a lot of time at her place.

Despite her current frustration, the thought brought a smile to her face.

But that little bubble of bliss broke as soon as William marched into the small living room and closed the door shut behind him with more force than was necessary.

Wonderful.

Lily burrowed the back of her head in her pillow and exhaled. He had said little on the matter, but she knew by now there was just one person who put him in a mood like that.

His ex.

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Charleston was nowhere in sight the next day. Or the day after that.

Even his texts had been infuriatingly brief, answering when she asked a direct question, but divulged little of what was actually going on in his life. So when he called and asked her if she wanted to see The Tempest that evening, of course the answer was yes.

Even if it had been a tad snippy.

Still, by the time 6 p.m. rolled by, Lily’s mood improved substantially. Sporting freshly polished Doc Martens and a long-sleeved black dress with a killer neckline that did wonders for her hourglass figure, she not only looked good, but felt good, too. While it was a little cold outside, she was glad at least the winds had subsided and kept her French twist firmly in place.

William did always say how much he liked her neck when she styled her hair that way.

Yes, she was that petty.

And proud of it, too.

If the man was so eager to keep her on the sidelines after everything they’d shared, it was only fair he had a nice, long look at was he was missing. That same reason was why she risked getting her butt a bit chilly, deciding on stockings and a garter belt instead of her usual tights. The suspenders pressed discreetly against her dress, and Lily knew there wasn’t a chance in hell William wouldn’t pick up on them.

Like she said. Petty.

But so worth it once she shed her coat at the theater and offered him a nice rear view on their way inside. His gaze practically burned holes into her back.

Unfortunately for her, that was where the fun ended.

The actors were outstanding and the performance itself was good—not the best she’d ever been to, but not low enough on the scale to be labeled as average, either. Maybe it was the fact that she had seen too many similar tricks pulled by the same director already. Or maybe it was the man sitting by her side, teetering on the edge between lust and gloom that made it impossible for her to be charmed by the play.

So much for her prized objectivity.

But truth was, Lily’s instincts were ringing a shitload of alarms the entire time. And with good reason.

Even before she managed to button up her coat in the teeming lobby—the coat which William, of course, being the gentleman he was, held out for her—he said the words she’d been dreading for days.

“We can’t see each other any more, Lily. Not for a while.”