What was he doing here? He was dressed in a white Princeton sweatshirt, black jeans, and black running shoes. As if he heard my thoughts, William spoke.
“I came here to see you, honey. And where do you think you’re going?” He smirked. I didn’t like his tone at all.
“For a walk,” I said warily, and walked around him. Hopefully, he would just leave and I wouldn’t have to deal with his weird moods.
“Oh, no, no, no, Heather sweetie.” He grabbed my arm. I turned around and he jerked me closer, so that we were barely centimeters apart. My eyes widened even further. His forest green eyes bore into my violet ones. They were sparkling mischievously.
He raised an eyebrow mockingly. “Is little Heather scared?”
“No, I’m not. And if anything, I think your buddy down there is little,” I replied, trying to get rid of his hand.
“How would you know? You never saw him, unless you would like to now.” He put a hand on my waist and brought me even closer, so my breasts were pressed against his hard chest. My whole body was tingling, much to my dismay.
“In your dreams, William,” I spat, and tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let me.
“Hmm, perhaps I do dream about you moaning and writhing under me as I—”
I slapped a hand over his mouth to stop him and forced myself to keep from blushing at the image. “Shut your mouth, William, we both know we don’t like each other and that will never happen.”
“Aw look, it’s innocent Heather. Do Mommy and Daddy know what a bitch you are? I wonder if that shelter of yours is actually safe, hmm? Maybe social services should take a look.”
My nostrils flared and I was shaking with anger. This man was going to be the reason I got put in jail if he kept this up.
“You will leave my family and the shelter alone, William, or else,” I growled.
“Oh, I am so scared,” he mocked.
I leaned closer to his face. “We’ll see about that.”
I stomped on his foot and he released my arm and waist immediately. I turned around, whipping my hair in his face, and walked off. But just to annoy him, I exaggerated the sway in my hips and turned my head back to look at William, who was rubbing his foot and staring at my hips. An evil smirk formed on my face, and he glared daggers. I wiggled my fingers in a goodbye and started power walking away from him.
***
As I made my way through the park, my head was clogged with all sorts of reasons as to why William was at my house. He was probably the most confusing person I had ever met in my life.
When I turned the corner, I saw a small group of children standing there with signs and cardboard boxes for money. My heart immediately dropped when I noticed no one paying attention to them. I walked up to them and handed out whatever spare change I had kept for emergencies. Then I turned to one of the older girls.
“There’s a children’s shelter about two blocks from here that you guys can go to,” I said, ruffling one of the little boy’s hair.
“Will there be food?” he asked, his eyes wide with hope.
I nodded. “Food, clothes, anything you guys need. Just tell them Heather sent you and they’ll let you in. I’ll come by later to check on you guys.”
There was a chorus of thank yous before they took their things and walked toward the crosswalk.
“Interesting. You are quite the opposite of your husband.”
I turned around and saw a middle-aged man standing there. He looked to be in his early forties and had a kind smile on his face.
“Pardon, sir?”
He chuckled. “Your husband is known for being quite ruthless when it comes to making deals with other companies. Yet you seem nothing like that. You have a soft heart.”
I blinked in surprise. “Uh, thank you, sir.”
He gave me another smile and handed me a card. “Here, take this. I would like to donate to your shelter, so please contact me as soon as possible. I’m sure you’ve heard of Richardson Incorporated.”
“Actually, I haven’t heard of it, sir,” I said sheepishly, slipping the card into my pocket.
“I’m sure your husband knows. Anyway, take my card. I’ll do as much as possible to help those little ones.”
I nodded, smiling. “Thank you, Mr…”
“Edward Richardson.” He shook my hand.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Richardson, I’m Heather.”
“Ah, William, how nice to see you!” Mr. Richardson suddenly said, looking behind me. I spun around, and sure enough, William was standing there with a broad smile on his face.
“Hello, sir. Nice to see you out on this beautiful day,” he said, walking toward us.
“Yes, it’s nice to get out of the office and enjoy nature at its best,” Mr. Richardson replied, nodding his head in agreement.
William stood next to me and snuck an arm around my waist. “I see you met my wife.”
“Yes, a very generous young lady. Take good care of her, William. She’s got a kind soul.” Mr. Richardson smiled at me.
“I will, sir.” William smiled and tightened his hold on my waist.
Oh, Mr. Richardson, if only you knew what he was like.
I turned to look up at William, only to see he was already staring at me. There was this sort of soft look in his eyes. I gave him a weird look and then turned back to where Mr. Richardson was, but he was already walking away and waving. I waved and turned to William, who was still staring at me. Okay, this was starting to creep me out. Why was he staring at me?
“William, you can let go of me now,” I said, fidgeting in his grip. He immediately let me go and stepped away.
I frowned. “Why are you following me?”
His lips twitched into a small smirk. “I just thought it would be nice to see what my wonderful wife was doing and see if there was anything I could use against you.”
“Don’t you have work to do? You run a multimillion-dollar corporation, and instead of doing something useful, you’re following me around for some stupid revenge.”
“Please, I wouldn’t have to follow you around if you weren’t so annoying.”
“I’m annoying?” I asked incredulously before poking his chest angrily. “You know what, William? Bite me.”
While we were busy insulting each other, I hadn’t noticed how close we were until William took my words literally. Before I knew what was happening, he swooped down and bit my bottom lip, hard.
Holy. Crap.
I stared at him, wide-eyed, while he had the same surprised look on his face, as if he couldn’t believe he’d just done that.
My eyes darted to where my bottom lip was still held hostage and swallowed. He slowly released my lip, but didn’t move his face away from mine.
“I…you…” I stared at him, speechless.
His eyes studied my face intensely before he slowly leaned closer and crushed his lips onto mine roughly.
Was this actually happening? Why the hell was he kissing me? Did an acorn hit his head or something? Why was I enjoying this?
These questions were swirling around in my mind as he pressed his lips harder against mine.
The kiss sparked something in me, and I slowly began moving my lips against his.
Should I be doing this? Probably not, but I was past the point of being able to think clearly.
To my utter shock, William moaned softly in approval of my response and moved closer to me, wrapping his arms around my waist again. He tugged my bottom lip into his mouth, causing me to gasp. Using the opening to his advantage, he slowly slipped his tongue into my mouth and tangled it with mine. Damn it, he tasted like the peppermint mocha from Starbucks.
I immediately moaned at the sweet taste and bit his bottom lip. He grunted and yanked on my hips, trying to bring our bodies impossibly closer together. I placed my arms around his neck and tangled my fingers into his soft curls. He trailed one hand down my back while firmly gripping my waist with his other.
My body felt like it was on fire. The whole thing seemed so surreal, and I could feel myself getting lightheaded. It was actually really surprising that even though we hated each other’s guts, we could kiss so…passionately. I didn’t know how else to describe it other than it felt really, really good. It was like electricity was flowing between us as our lips tangled in their own little dance.
After a few minutes, I started to pull away to catch my breath, but William groaned and put a hand on my neck to hold me in place. Pushing his chest away slightly, I released my lips from his grip. We were both breathing heavily, and his eyes were dark as he stared at my lips hungrily. I stepped away when he leaned down to kiss me again.
“William, what are you doing?” I panted out in between breaths.
He took a step back. “I kissed you because I felt like it, but it wasn’t supposed to go on for that long. It…it won’t happen again.”
I felt my heart fall at his words and mentally chided myself for ever kissing him back.
“How many men have you kissed anyway?” he asked, running a thumb over his bottom lip.
I glared at my shoes. “I’ve kissed one person.”
“This was your first kiss?” William asked.
I looked up and almost laughed at the flabbergasted look on his face. I patted his cheek. “Well, at least I can kiss other guys without worrying about giving up my first kiss now.”
His face darkened and he muttered something that sounded like, “No fucking way,” before gripping the back of my head and pressing his lips to mine again.