The After of Us (Judge Me Not #4)(39)

Grasping my hips and shoving me down onto his face, he licks and laps until I come, over and over.

Before I have a chance to recover, I am tossed onto my back. “Mmm, Will,” I purr.

I like this aggressive, commanding version of him, especially when he rises to his knees and nudges my legs wide, wide, wider. When I am fully exposed to him, I let my body go lax. I want to convey to Will that I am his to do with whatever he chooses. My body belongs to him in this moment—to take pleasure from, to toy with, whatever he desires.

His eyes scan up my body, and I know he’s contemplating what to do with me next. Good.

What he ultimately chooses to do is grab hold of his thick shaft, his large hand cresting over the crown. “Do you want this?” he asks.

“Yes,” I whisper.

“Louder,” he says as he presses the head of his cock to my wet folds.

“Yes,” I say louder.

He pulls back, but only for a sec. Just long enough to slide a condom down his length. And then he’s right back on me, at my entrance, pressing, pressing, my legs pushed back even farther.

“I don’t think I heard you, Emma,” he says.

“Yes, Will, yes!” His cock pierces me then, and I take him… I just take all of him inside my body.

Our movements are fierce at first—primal, even—but then Will slows things down. He lowers my raised legs and settles his body between my thighs. Slowly and methodically, with a measured in and out rhythm, Will Gartner f*cks me.

Wrapping his hands in my hair and burying his face in the crook of my neck, he pushes in as far as he can go. “Emma.” He circles his hips. “I need you so much.”

I catch my breath. Will has never shown this level of vulnerability before today. I swallow the lump that forms in my throat and hold onto him more tightly. God, I need him, too. But that’s not what comes out of my mouth. It’s some garbled declaration of devotion, one that may or may not contain the word “love.”

He lifts his head, so he can see my face, though he remains deep inside of me. “What did you say?” he asks.

There’s no hiding, no running away. Not only is Will buried deep in my body, he’s lodged securely in my heart.

I may as well tell him, I decide.

“I love you,” I say.

I don’t know what I expect—maybe him pulling out, dressing, and running off?

That doesn’t happen. Thank God.

What Will does is still my hips so I can feel him filling me so completely. He then leans down till our foreheads touch.

And then, just as he starts to move, he says, “I love you, too.”



After a second round of sex, this one accompanied by more whispered words of love, Will and I wrap up in each other’s arms and talk late into the night. I bring him up to speed on all the über-excitement down at the school. And though Will snoozes through most of my little-kid daycare stories, he perks up and listens to each and every tale that pertains to Lily.

When I’m done, we switch over to his work life, and he tells me of another freelance job coming his way.

“That’s great.” I cup the side of his face and plant a kiss on his scruffy jaw.

“Thanks, babe,” he says when I lean back. “I still wish more was happening on the freelance front.”

Will loves making magic with his art. When he’s drawing, the passion he feels is so evident. It’s especially adorable when he draws with Lily. She tries so hard to replicate her father’s style, but she’s too young to get it down exactly. Still, like what we witnessed at the school, her technique is solid. She’s pretty darn good at drawing cartoon-style animals, that’s for sure.

Thinking of cartoons reminds me of Will’s comic book and his graphic novel plans, leading me to inquire, “Can I ask you something, Will?”

He shimmies closer to me. “Sure.”

“How are things going with that graphic novel plan?”

He makes a face. “Uh, I’d say it’s not going at all, since I’ve done nothing with it.”

“Will.”

“Emma.”

I prop up on an elbow. “What are you waiting for? I thought you wanted to turn your comic book into a graphic novel and have the thing published?”

“Eh.” He shrugs, making the sheet edge down to expose his hard, flat abs. “I haven’t had the time to do anything with it, not with working for Chase and taking care of Lily. Although…”

“Yeah?”

“I printed out a list of agents who’d rep me for something like that.”

Excitedly, I say, “That’s awesome. You should submit your work, like, to all of them, and see what happens.”

“I guess so, Emma.” Will makes a sweeping motion to all the boxes we didn’t get around to unpacking. “The list is somewhere in one of those cartons. I’ll get to it, eventually.”

Hmmm, I wonder.

I can tell from Will’s resigned affect that his dream has taken a backseat to everything else in his life. But it needn’t be that way. Like with any man, Will simply needs a good woman to get the ball rolling.

And I am that woman.

If I plan to keep my intentions from Will, however, I conclude it’s probably best to end the conversation for now.

Yawning, I murmur, “Wow, I’m exhausted. We should probably get some sleep, yeah?”