“Ack!” She yelps in surprise and I can’t help but laugh.

“It’s just me.”

“You scared the shit out of me!” She turns off the water, whips back the shower curtain and at the sight of her soft, wet body my mouth goes dry.

Fucking hell, she’s beautiful.

She’s all soft, white skin, rosy pink nipples, soft curves. That hair of hers is some weird mixture of red and brown and blonde, and her hazel eyes undo me.

Of course, right now they’re shooting daggers into me.

“I’m sorry, but you left your front door unlocked and you didn’t set the alarm like I asked you to.”

She shrugs and reaches for a big bath towel and wraps it around herself, covering her body from my view. I want to rip it off her and take her right here against the bathroom wall, but I don’t think I’d be welcome at the moment.

“It’s not any of your business if I set the alarm, Will.” She stalks past me into the master bedroom and starts looking through her dresser for clothes.

“Of course it is. I need to know that you’re safe.”

“I’m safe.”

“You’re safer when you turn on the alarm.”

She just shrugs again, as if it’s no big deal, and pulls on a tank top and yoga pants. Jesus, even in yoga pants her ass makes me hard.

“Look, you made it quite clear tonight that the only thing you give a rats ass about is football. So stop it with the crazy I-want-you-safe-bullshit and leave. I don’t want you here.”

My stomach flips and my heart makes a beeline straight for my throat.

“Meg,” I reach out for her but she pulls back out of my reach, and panic sets in. “Meg, let me explain.”

“No need.” She shakes her head and moves past me and down the stairs to the kitchen. “I think I get it. You said what you needed to say to get through the three dates so I’d fuck you, and I was stupid enough to believe you. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“No.” I grip her shoulders in my hands and turn her toward me and make her look up at me. God, she’s such a tiny little thing. “No, Megan. I told you before, I’ve never fucked you. Every time I’ve been inside you has been the best damn moment of my life.”

“You announced on television that I’m nobody.” Her hazel eyes are hurt and sad, and I feel like such a fucking asshole. “Will, I won’t be your dirty little secret. I’m not someone you get to hang out with, take around your family, sleep with, but you deny my existence to the press. If you’re ashamed of me, you shouldn’t be with me. I’m pretty ashamed of you right now.”

I swallow hard and clench my eyes closed, and then stare down at her. How did she become my whole world in such a short amount of time? My God, I’d do anything for her.

Even lose her.

“Megan, someone threatened you tonight.” Her eyes widen, and I see I’ve got her attention. “I found a note in my locker from a stalker fan. She said that she’d seen us together, and if I didn’t stop seeing you, she’d hurt you. Then the next thing I know that asshat is pushing a mic in my face asking me about you. I couldn’t tell the truth and risk your safety.”

She frowns in confusion, and her eyes are still hurt, and it’s killing me.

“Babe, I’m so sorry that you got hurt. I don’t ever want to hurt you. But I panicked, and I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You embarrassed me, Will. I know I’m not anyone special. I know that you shouldn’t be interested in someone like me. We are from two totally different worlds. Maybe it’s just best if we take a step back and stop seeing each other now before you completely break my heart later.”

“Stop putting yourself down like that! I’m more than interested in you. For the love of Jesus, I can’t stop touching you. I’m not going to break your heart, Megan.” Goddamn it! She’s breaking my heart right now!

“Oh yeah, you will.” She shakes her head slightly and backs out of my grasp. “It’s inevitable. People don’t stick, Will. Everyone leaves eventually, and I think that I’d rather you left now rather than later, because I don’t think I could survive it later.” The last part is whispered, and I take a step toward her to hold her and reassure her that I’ll do everything in my power to never hurt her again, but she evades me.

“Please,” she whispers. “Just go.”

Well, I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand here and beg. I take a moment to look at her. Really look at her. God, she’s so strong and sweet and gorgeous and she is mine.

“I’ll go, Meg, if that’s what you want.” I take her face in my hands and kiss her forehead, breathing in her sweet smell, her wet hair against my nose. “You are not a dirty secret,” I murmur into her ear. “You are everything.”

Before I make an ass of myself and beg her to forgive me, I walk out of her house, gently close the door behind me, and climb in the car to drive home. Fuck.

Chapter Twelve

You are everything.

It just plays over and over in my head all day. You are everything.

I picked up the swing-shift at work today. I needed to occupy my mind and I wanted to check in on Nick. He’s worse. Much worse. His family has chosen to honor his wishes of no extreme life-saving measures, so we just keep him as comfortable as we can and pray that his body is strong enough to fight the infection. Unfortunately, because of the amount of chemo in his system, he’s not strong enough to fight much.

I’ve spent the majority of my evening watching his vitals like a hawk and standing vigil. I don’t want him left alone for long. He’s so fragile, anything could happen so quickly, we need to be with him pretty much every second.

“Meg, there’s a call for you.” Jill pokes her head into Nick’s room and offers me a sad smile. Nick’s turn for the worse is affecting us all. “I’ll relieve you for a bit.”

We all invest ourselves into these kids, whether we want to or not. They’re all so great, how could we not?

I quietly leave the room and cross to the nurses’ station.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Meg, this is Lyle with security. I have a delivery for you.”

I frown. “Okay, bring it up.”

“I can’t, I’m the only one in the office right now. Do you mind coming down?”

“Sure, I’ll be right there.”