He strips me out of the blanket and the remaining wet clothes, and does the same with his own, takes me by the hand, and leads me into the hot shower. The shower heads are still adjusted for me.

He takes his time washing me, lathering up my body and my hair, and then rinsing me thoroughly, before doing the same for himself.

“I love your body,” he murmurs with a smile as he leads me out of the shower and begins to dry me with a large, warm towel.

“Back at you, football star,” I remark and offer him a half smile. He blows my hair dry, and leads me to bed. “It’s a bit early for bed, isn’t it?” I ask dryly.

“I have to be at the training center at six,” he frowns and pulls the covers back on the bed, grabs the remote for the small TV mounted to the wall, and we climb into the soft bed, snuggle up together, and watch a bad action movie from the 90’s.

“Thank you,” I whisper without looking at him.

“For what?”

“You know.” I tighten my arms around his waist and drop a kiss on his chest. “Just thank you.”

He sighs and kisses the top of my head.

Chapter Twenty

It’s been two days since we fought in the rain. Since the best damn car sex of my life. Since Will practically begged me to give him the words he needs to hear and I couldn’t.

I wonder how long he’ll wait before he decides I’m not worth his time and he cuts out. I hope I can give him the words he wants before that happens.

I sit across from him in a little diner in North Seattle known for their twelve-egg omelets. Even Will can’t eat that much at once, but he’s decimating the six-egg version, which makes me slightly queasy just to watch.

The man can eat.

“You look beautiful today.” He smiles softly at me, and I grin back. I’m just in my usual; a loose t-shirt and jeans, hair down around my face.

“Thank you.” I let my eyes travel over his dark blonde hair, startling blue eyes, blue t-shirt and strong arms. “So do you.”

I take a bite of a waffle and sigh. “I love the food here.”

“I know, it’s awesome. You have to draw a picture for the wall.” He points at the artwork with his fork and I giggle as I look around. There are hundreds of drawings done in crayon covering the walls, some really good, some just plain funny.

“Why don’t you do a drawing?” I ask.

“I did. It’s up there somewhere.”

“Excuse me, aren’t you Will Montgomery?” Two young girls are standing at the end of our booth, grinning, twirling their hair. They’re young and cute and flirty and I can’t help but roll my eyes.

“I am,” he replies with a sigh and looks over to me, begging me with his eyes to not get mad. I just shrug and smile.

He can’t help that he’s a super-hot football star.

“Wow, can we get your autograph?”

“Yeah, and maybe your photo? We’re big fans,” the other one adds and they giggle.

“I’m sorry, I’m having lunch with my girlfriend. I’d really appreciate it if you’d just respect our privacy.”

They stop and frown down at him, but he holds their gaze firmly.

Holy shit! This is new.

They both look at me for the first time, then back at Will.

“We saw in the paper that you had a new girlfriend, but we thought they were lying because you never have girlfriends.”

Will smiles coldly, and I can hear his inner dialogue. You don’t know anything about me.

“I do have a girlfriend, and I’m enjoying her company. Have a good day.” He turns back to me, effectively cutting off anything they were about to say when the waitress comes over with a carafe of coffee.

“You heard the man. Either sit at a table and place an order or leave.” She scowls at the girls as they leave the diner. “Sorry about that. They slipped by me.”

“No worries.” Will smiles up at her as she refills our coffee.

“That surprised me.”

“Why?” he asks me and takes a sip of coffee.

“You usually like being the center of attention.” I shrug and push my mostly empty plate away.

“Not always,” he shakes his head. “As long as I’m your center of attention, I’m good.”

“Needy much?” I ask sarcastically and laugh when he pins me with a glare.

“I am not needy.”

“Okay.” I sit back and grin at him.

“I’m not.”

“I just agreed with you.”

“Uh huh.” He takes another sip of coffee and takes my hand in his, running his thumb across my knuckles. “What do you have going on today?”

“I have to work the swing shift tonight,” I reply and check my watch. “You?”

“I have to go to the training center to watch some film this afternoon.”

“Did you train this morning?” I ask.

“Yeah, early this morning.”

“I slept through it.” I smile over at him and he shakes his head, his eyes happy.

“So lazy.”

“How do you get up so early?”

“I’m used to it. Been doing it for years.” He shrugs and examines my hands. “You have tiny hands.”

“I’m a girl. They’re supposed to be small.”

He kisses my knuckles softly and then pulls something out of his back pocket. “I need to talk to you about this.”

“What?”

“I’ve been invited to a charity ball thing. It’s formal, and I usually don’t go, but I thought that you might like to go to this one.” He shifts uncomfortably, and looks almost nervous, piquing my interest.

“What’s the charity?”

“Seattle Children’s,” he replies, his eyes on mine.

A slow smile spreads across my face. He wants to take me to a formal ball in honor of what I’m passionate about. Because he knows what it means to me.

Because he loves me.

“Will, this would be amazing.”

He smiles and looks down at the silver embossed invitation and then passes it over to me.

“It’s next weekend?” I ask in a panic. Shit! I don’t have anything to wear!

And no money to buy anything.

“Yeah, is that a problem?” He’s watching me closely, so I gather myself and smile reassuringly.

“No.”

“Bad liar. What is it?” He asks and takes my hand again.

“Nothing, really.”

“What are you worried about?”