Will sighs and slides pizza on the two plates, and hands me mine.

“Beer?” he asks.

“Fridge.”

He pulls out two beers, pops the tops and leads me to the living room. I sit on the couch and he folds himself onto the floor, leaning against the couch. I can feel the warmth of him against my leg.

“I know I sound really controlling about the alarm, Meg. But it’s really important to me because as our relationship progresses, people will try to get to you. Press, weird fans, people with morbid curiosity. And like I said before, I’m gone a lot, and I don’t live here with you, so I can’t be here all the time to protect you.” He pauses to eat and frowns as he thinks.

I’m just speechless. As our relationship progresses? I’m stuck like stupid on that one sentence.

“What relationship?” I ask, confused. “We’ve known each other for three minutes. We haven’t even had a whole date.”

Will’s jaw drops and he blinks rapidly, then clenches his jaw and glares at me.

“What, exactly, do you think I’m trying to pursue here, Megan? If I just wanted to fuck you and bail, I would have backed off as soon as you told me no at my sister’s party.” He shakes his head and pushes his pizza away.

“I just…” I begin, but he interrupts me, not hearing me.

“Yes, it’s early, but fuck Megan, all I do is think about you. You’ve gotten under my skin. I want to learn your body. I want to know what it feels like to sink inside of you.” He swallows hard and so do I as I squeeze my thighs together and feel myself go wet.

“But I also want to know what makes you laugh. What pisses you off. What you’re passionate about. I just want to learn everything about you. You’re in my head, and I haven’t felt this way in a long time. Jesus, I don’t give shout-outs to women during every game for fuck sake.”

He looks truly rattled and I soften, just a bit. Moving fast? A little. But he wants me safe, and I can appreciate that.

We have a relationship. Huh.

“I want to get to know you too,” I murmur and smile happily.

“So,” he continues and looks up at me with serious blue eyes. “Please be patient with me, and just set the damn alarm when you leave, and when you’re alone inside.”

“Okay,” I shrug like it’s no big, and continue eating my pizza.

“You’re not going to argue?”

“No, why would I? It’s just an alarm. But I don’t like being bossed around, so just talk to me about stuff, okay?”

Will smirks and sets both of our empty plates aside. He lifts himself onto the couch, his arms flexing all sexy-like and I just sit back and watch him move.

He’s just so… hot.

Suddenly, he’s pulling me in his arms, settles me against him, kisses the top of my head and grabs the remote to my television.

“What are you doing?” I ask with a laugh.

“Watching TV.”

“Why?”

“Because you won’t let me make love to you, so I have to distract myself somehow.”

Holy shit on a stick.

I gape up at him. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about the three date rule?”

“Are you turning this whole pizza and TV thing into a date?” I ask him, suddenly hopeful.

“You noticed.” He kisses my nose and smiles proudly at me.

“Then no, I haven’t changed my mind.” I settle against him and watch him flip through the channels. When he gets to the movie channels, and finds them blocked out, he frowns down at me.

“No movie channels?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“They charge an arm and a leg for them, and I wouldn’t watch them often anyway. I just go to one of the kiosk things for movies when I’m in the mood.”

“Hmm, okay.” His hand is moving rhythmically up and down my side, gently caressing me through my dress. My arm is around his lean waist, and I really, really want to feel his smooth skin, so I lift the hem of his soft shirt and slide my hand under it against his ripped abs. He sucks in a breath and his stomach tightens, but as he gets used to my touch, he exhales and kisses the top of my head.

I smile smugly as I feel him lift the hem of my dress and slide his hand under it, caressing my skin along my thigh.

God, that feels good.

I sigh and continue to touch him, enjoying his skin, the way his breath hitches when I hit a ticklish spot. I feel him wince when I touch one of his ribs and I frown up at him.

“Does that hurt?”

“A little,” his face is calm and he doesn’t explain further. I move my hand lightly over the rib again and he grimaces.

“A little, my ass.” I climb over him and pull his shirt up so I can see his ribs and sure enough, there is a deep purple bruise. “Sunday?” I ask.

“Yeah. No big deal.”

I glare up at him and then down at the bruise again. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m not in love with it myself, sweetheart,” he laughs and pulls me back to him.

“Does this happen a lot?”

“Meg, I have three hundred pound guys crashing into me. Of course I get bumped and bruised. I’ll live.”

I frown again and look down at his chest, not saying anything. I hate the thought of him getting hurt.

He tilts my head back with his fingers on my chin and smiles softly down at me. “I’m okay.”

I run my fingers down his smooth cheek. His eyes close as he leans into my touch, then he kisses my palm, and pins me with those blue eyes.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he whispers.

“It’s about time,” I whisper back. He grins and kisses my forehead, down to my nose, over to the dimple in my cheek, and then lays those lips on mine, resting them there, for just a second, and then he starts to move. Those amazing lips nibble mine, and finally his tongue licks my bottom lip and leisurely makes love to my own, dancing and twirling, gently exploring me.

This is so different from when he kissed me at the party. This is intimate and tender. I love both sides to him, and can’t wait to learn more about him.

I push my fingers up into his hair and moan contentedly as he continues the soft assault on my mouth.

He pulls back slightly, breathing hard, his eyes on fire. “I wouldn’t mind kissing your lips all fucking day.”

“I wouldn’t mind that either,” I murmur and grin at him.

“I hate your rule, you know.”

“I kind of hate it right now, too,” I admit and chuckle.