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  They were together for a year when they moved in together and then another year before Brian proposed. Earlier, when I first met her, I could tell how happy they made each other. Brian's face was absolutely beaming as he introduced her to me. As happy as I am for my brother, I cannot help but feel a pang of envy at what they have. My own love life is sorely lacking. I dated through college and after. If I'm being honest with myself, I use all of the traveling for my job as a reason to not let anyone get too close. What's the point? I met the love of my life in middle school. Problem is, he hadn’t felt the same way.

  Christine spritzes my hair with hold spray, and I pull on some bronze, strappy, low-heeled sandals before tucking my clutch under my arm. I can hear conversation in the living room as we approach. My brother and Will are sitting on the sofa, my mother's fussing at my father in the next room. Brian and Will both stand as we enter the room.

  "Man, you both clean up good," Brian jokes, walking over to kiss Christine.

  "You're not so bad yourself," she replies, straightening his tie.

  And she is right. They do look good. When I moved away, they only used to wear jeans or cargos and t-shirts. It's kind of weird seeing my brother and Will in suits. Sure, they’ll be wearing tuxes at the wedding, but this is just dinner. My eyes find Will's. He stands quietly next to Brian, and Christine openly watches me.

  "So where are we headed?" I ask, mainly to fill the silence.

  "This great tapas place downtown. You’ll love it," Christine gushes.

  "Got everything you need?" Will asks me, his eyes laughing.

  I double check my purse and have to run back upstairs to grab my ID, which is in my other wallet. I avoid Will's eyes when I walk back down the stairs. It bugs me that he still knows me so well. Brian holds his arm out to Christine, and she sweetly takes it. Will starts to do the same for me, but I shake my head and hurry after Brian and Christine, leaving him to follow me. It's silly, I know, but I just don’t want to get too close to him. I'm only here for a week. There is no point putting myself into a situation where I'll only be hurt. We take Brian's Xterra, and Will and I sit in the back. I can feel his eyes on me. I try to ignore them, resting my elbow on the door handle and looking out the window.

  When we get to the restaurant, we are joined by Brian and Christine's other groomsmen and bridesmaids. They're all couples. Great. Seeing as how Will is the only single guy and I'm the only single girl, it is clear we will be paired up for the evening. I don’t know why this bothers me so much. It had been great to talk to him on the plane and to feel that rush when I saw him. It's just that once we got to my house and I saw how entwined he is in my family's lives, it annoyed me. He had broken my heart, yet my mother called him a second son and he was going to be the best man at my brother's wedding. How does that happen?

  Not that I've ever told anyone other than Sawyer what had really happened that night. Nope. Instead I ran and stayed away from my home and family while he stayed here. It's kind of hard to blame them for liking him, considering they didn't know what he did. Maybe what irks me the most is I caught myself starting to like him all over again. I've always been attracted to him, and these years apart have been kind to him. He isn’t the boy I had left behind. He's a man now, a very annoying and sexy all at the same time man.

  At the restaurant, I'm seated next to my brother and across from Will. I continue my campaign of disinterest and focus on the plate of spiced oil to dip bread into that is sitting in front of me. I’m hungry, and carbs are one of my favorite food groups. Besides, it would be rude to talk with food in my mouth. We order family style, where the plates are passed around the table and we can all try a bit of everything. Once the waiter leaves with the menus, another waiter offers us tastes of the house sangria. The way he gives the tastes is a bit unorthodox. He goes around the table holding this leather pouch with a metal spout at the opening. We open our mouths, and he squeezes a stream of sangria straight into them from the pouch, a highbrow beer funnel.

  It feels provocative, sitting there, my lips parted as Will watches me. I feel myself redden under his gaze. The sangria is delicious, though, so I order a glass and sip it. I jump when I feel Will's leg straighten out under the table and his calf brush against mine. My eyes flick to his. He's smirking. Clearly, he did that on purpose. Tapas are mainly a finger food. Will makes no attempt to hide he is watching me eat. I can’t help it, but I start watching him as well. He coats a piece of bread in oil, keeping his eyes on me as he lifts it to his mouth and then licks a stray drop of oil off the tip of his finger. Oh shit, that was hot. I break the eye contact, beating myself up for letting him draw me in.

  I excuse myself and go to the ladies’ room. Washing my hands, I give myself a little you can do this type pep talk. When I walk out, I see him leaned up against the wall opposite the door.

  "Long line for the men's room?" I try to joke, moving past him.

  His hand circles my wrist, stopping me. I inhale, frozen in place. My back is to him. I don't try to pull away. I can't move. I just look down at his hand, staring at his damn freckle.

  "Sarah."

  "What are you playing at, Will?'

  "Playing?" He tugs my arm back so I'm facing him. "I promise you this is no game."

  "Alright, what do you want from me? Is that better?" I practically spit.

  "Everything." He's moved his hands up to hold my biceps. "I want everything from you."

  Everything. That one word still breaks my heart when I think back to that night.

  My head snaps back as though he's struck me. Don’t cry, just don’t cry. "I gave you everything once. Now I have nothing left for you."

  I pull myself from his grasp and hurry back to the table. When I sit, I glance up to the hallway where he still stands, his eyes haunted. Brian can sense I’m upset. He looks at me with worried eyes. I shake my head. I'm a big girl. There is no point dragging him into anything. It doesn’t stop him from shooting worried glances in my direction throughout the meal. Will comes back and sits not long after me. He tries to catch my eye more than once. I can’t tell why he seems so confused. He knows what he did.

  The plan after dinner is to go to a nearby nightclub. The whole idea makes me very nervous. I just have to get through the night without dancing with Will. Should be easy enough. If all else fails, I'll fake a twisted ankle. When we get to the nightclub, Christine orders shots. I am already feeling buzzed from my sangria and start to refuse until she gives me a pitiful look. I order a glass of water, hoping to keep a clear head. Not that it helps. Brian orders another round of shots next. Christine pulls me and the other girls out onto the dance floor. The DJ plays mainly songs I have heard on the radio. I relax and am having fun dancing and singing along with Christine and her friends.

  Some random guys try to approach our group a couple of times, but Christine waves them off, flashing her engagement ring. That only works for so long, and I feel some random guy's hands on my ass. I seriously will never understand the thought process that some of these guys have. Cute girl dancing. Instead of introducing myself and asking if she'd like to dance with me, surprise dry humping her from behind seems like a better move. I am doing my best to politely remove his hands when I see Will approach.

  "So sorry, bud. She’s with me," he says, coolly taking my hand and leading me to another part of the dance floor.

  "I was taking care of it," I huff, pulling my hand from his, annoyed that he doesn't think I can take care of myself.

  "I know," he shrugs. "I was just looking for an excuse to dance with you."

  "I'm not dancing with you." I turn and walk back to the table.

  I can tell he's following me. I pointedly try to ignore him and talk to Brian instead. Brian hesitates for a beat, and I wonder briefly whose side he's on. I give Brian a look and feel Will back away. My traitor body pouts, but this is the smart thing to do. I only have to get through six more days, and then I can pretend like I never even saw him. As soon as I think it, I know it’s
a lie. He’ll still haunt my dreams and make every other guy I've ever tried to date feel inadequate. The only difference is now Will's face in my dreams will be of him now, grown, a man. A very sexy man, unfortunately.

  Brian is looking at me in concern. Shit. "Sorry, just zoned out there for a sec. What did you say?"

  "Will you help Christine and I put together a video slide show tomorrow? She just found out the place where we're having the rehearsal dinner at can project on a wall during dessert, and I'm crap at that stuff."

  "Of course," I say, flagging down our server. When she comes over, I order another water, doing everything in my power to stay clear-headed.

  "You okay?" Brian asks.

  "I'm great," I lie.

  "You just seem so tense. I want this to be fun for everyone. You know, let your hair down. Have fun."

  "My hair is down," I argue.

  The server is back with my drink. I sip it and turn to watch Christine and her friends dance, mentally mapping out the drive to the local animal shelter back home. It’s clear I’m going to end up a crazy spinster thanks to Will. I might as well start collecting cats to complete the picture.

  Chapter 8

  Past

  William Ethan Price has just told me I look fucking hot. I may never breathe normally again. After his unexpected declaration, he casually lifts himself from my raft and floats away like nothing just happened. In fact, for the rest of the day, he acts like he didn’t just drop the biggest bomb on me. From the lazy river, we go further into the park to the water slides. I may have forgotten how to breathe again when he grabs my hand and pulls me to a tandem slide. He sits in the tube first, and I hesitate before sitting in front of him, between his legs, my back to his chest. I cringe, wondering if he feels me shiver when his bare chest is on my back. Or if he hears my heart pounding when he wraps his arms around my waist.

  I gently lay my hands on his arms, raising them unexpectedly when he removes his arms from my waist. For a moment, I'm wondering what happened until I feel his hands on my shoulders as he pulls me towards him so that I'm lying against him before circling my waist with his arms again. My neck is still stiff, holding my head up. His mouth is at my ear telling me to relax. I close my eyes and lean my head on him, turning my face to look at his neck. I see his jaw flex as he grins. I have never in my life felt this much skin to skin contact with anyone.

  All at once, we're flying after the attendant uses his foot to propel our tube down the slide. Will's grip on me tightens as he leans forward, his cheek pressing against mine. We crash into the water a tangle of arms and legs. When I stand and turn my back to him, wiping water from my eyes, I hear him suck in a breath. Then he's behind me again, his body pressed to mine. I look back at him, and my mouth drops when I feel his hands on my ass. I'm about to ask him what he's doing when I feel him adjust my bikini bottom. I blush all over. I guess at some point during our slide, my suit shifted. He looks down at me, and I mouth thank you, his hands still on me. He leans forward, and for a moment, I wonder if he's going to kiss me.

  "Get you some, Price!"

  We look up. Kyle and Jessica are standing to the side of us.

  She glares at Will. "Never knew you had a thing for SPT, Will."

  I exhale and step away from him, feeling his fingertips tighten briefly before I'm out of their grasp. SPT. God, I hate that nickname. I may never forgive Mrs. Hall for having that book on her lesson plan, Sarah Plain and Tall. That was the book our class had been assigned to do those team projects on. I hate that book with every fiber of my being. The nickname came the day of our oral presentations and when our physical projects were unveiled. My and Will’s project was nothing amazing. We made a cereal box based on the book. It was the diorama of Mariah Osborne and Kelly Sotello that started the whole thing. They had taken my sixth grade class picture and made me the Sarah from the book. With my brown hair and brown eyes, I was plain.

  Mrs. Hall made them remove the picture, but the damage had already been done. I was SPT from that point on for the rest of middle school. In high school, the nickname seemed to fade away for the most part. Only the truly evil bitches still broke it out from time to time. Will knows how much it bothers me. Catching up to me, he drapes his arm around my shoulders as we make our way to our towels. Grabbing mine, he wraps it around me. He looks back at Jessica, who is still watching us as he tugs on my towel, pulling me towards him and gently kissing me on my forehead. I look up at him, trying to blink away threatening tears.

  "You are not plain. You are beautiful, Sarah, inside and out. She only says those things because she's a jealous cunt."

  I give him a wet smile, all the while wondering what Jessica could possibly be jealous of me for. We skip the rest of the slides in favor of the wave pool. We lay our towels out to dry and go in together. This wave pool is huge and has a sandy bottom. I wiggle my toes in the sand and laugh when Will pulls me deeper. Normally, when we come to the park I hang out in the shallower end while Will grabs a boogie board and plays in the big waves. Today, he makes no move to leave me. I bump his hip with mine and nod towards the boards in a silent question. He shrugs and pulls me deeper. The waves aren’t huge where we're standing but big enough that we have to jump as they pass to avoid being knocked down. We half-heartedly body surf a couple of them.

  When I look at him, I see him chewing on the corner of his mouth. "You okay?"

  He looks down at me and gives me a lopsided grin. "I'm great."

  He then sweeps my legs out from under me and tosses me into the next wave. He's clutching his stomach as I come up sputtering. I wrinkle my nose at him and charge him, knocking him over best I can. It all seems to be going well until he pulls me down with him. At least this time we both come up sputtering. I make a half-hearted attempt to avoid him when he comes after me. This time, he pulls me to his chest, my hands on his shoulders. I give him a strange look, my eyes widening when I see him close his eyes and hold his breath before he pulls us under. I try to kick away, but he only locks his arms around me tighter. Just when I think he'll never let me go, I realize he's turned on. His arms release me, and we both surface, panting. His face is red. Does he know I felt it?

  Neither of us say anything. We just tread water, looking forward for a couple minutes. He's chewing the corner of his lip again. He then takes my hand and starts towards shallow water. When we get out of the water and to our towels, he stretches out face down. I follow suit, loving the way the sun feels on my back. Our faces are turned towards each other. He grins at me before I close my eyes. We are joined by some of our classmates. I fume, watching a couple girls exaggeratingly adjust their bikini tops in front of all the boys. I gasp when cool water drips onto my back and look up to see JJ standing over me.

  "What the hell, JJ? You’re dripping on me."

  Will's head pops up, and he glares at JJ. "Seriously, dude. Back off."

  "Chill out, Will. Hey, Sarah. Do you want to come in with me?"

  I'm about to say I'm cool when Will cuts me off. "She's good."

  I'm fuming and move to stand. "I'd love to."

  Will grumbles and gets up to come with us. I can feel his stare hot on my back as I walk with JJ to the water. I've barely put one toe in when I'm suddenly airborne and hanging over Will's shoulder, his hands hot on the back of my thighs. JJ looks pissed, and I mouth sorry as Will carries me further in.

  "I can walk, you know," I grumble.

  He lowers me slowly so I slide down his body. His eyes are dark, and he's chewing on the corner of his bottom lip.

  "What the hell was that, Will?"

  He shrugs, his hands still on my waist. I put my hands on his chest to push him away. He only holds on tighter.

  Exhaling, he closes his eyes and leans down to rest his forehead on mine. "Why did you have to wear that today?"

  "You suck, Will." His eyes pop open. "My suit is way more covered than most of the girls in our class, and I don’t see you giving them any grief."

  "I just don’t lik
e the way other guys are looking at you."

  My arms relax, but I don’t remove my hands. "Why?"

  He turns his head, his breath tickling my ear. "Maybe I want you all for myself."

  I'm incapable of speech. My mouth drops open. He lifts his head and studies my expression. I see the corner of his mouth pull up as he slowly lowers his lips to mine. He barely dusts his lips across mine before pressing more firmly.

  I jerk back. "Will, what are you doing?"

  "I'm trying to kiss you."

  I smack his arm.

  "Remember when I told you I like someone else?"

  I nod, still reeling from the fact that he just kissed me.

  "I was talking about you."

  "Me?"

  He rolls his eyes and pulls me back into his arms.

  I push him away. "But why?"

  He puts his hands on my shoulders and drops his head down in front of mine. "I've liked you for a long time but just figured you weren’t interested in dating anyone. Until you agreed to go out with Kyle."

  I shake my head. No way he likes me. "Be serious."

  His doesn’t say anything, just drops his lips to mine again. This kiss feels serious. I brace my hands on his arms, pressing myself against him. He keeps one arm coiled around my waist and moves the other one up to the back of my neck, pressing my face closer to his. I moan, and his tongue moves into my mouth. My eyes close as the rest of the world fades away. He kisses his way across my cheek to my ear, where he whispers that he has wanted to do that for so long. His mouth moves down to my neck, and it suddenly dawns on me that half of our class is probably watching his performance.

  "Will, stop."

  "What?" He's nibbling on my earlobe.

  "People are watching." I try and step back.

  His arm tightens around me again. "Fuck them."

  I laugh. "Will."