What the fuck?
William, seeing his woman about to touch the wimp's hand, didn't hesitate at all.
Cassidy jumped in surprise when William suddenly slapped Blaine's injured-looking hand out of her reach with a karate chop.
"Oh my God!"
Her stunned gaze flew up to Blaine, who now looked as if he was struggling not to cry, and then to William...who looked anything but mild-mannered or nerdy.
If anything, he looked the kind of man that Darren had always wanted but didn't have the balls to be.
The strong and powerful alpha type...
A soft, shaken cry escaped her, and the sound had William's gaze snapping to her—-
Fuck.
The way Cassidy was staring at him made William realize he had given himself away.
Fuck.
Cassidy broke into a run, and William - seeing Blaine about to go after her - only looked at the other man. "Don't even fucking think about it."CASSIDY HAD KNOWN THAT William would eventually catch up with her. She had been ready for that, and she had even started rehearsing a speech in her mind. But when it finally happened—-
"AAAAH!"
What she didn't expect at all was William suddenly turning caveman as he swept her off her feet...before slinging her over one broad shoulder like she was no different from a sack of potatoes.
"Let me go!" Did he not see everyone staring at them? Had he forgotten he was Stanhope Medical Center's hospital director? She waited furiously for his reply, but when William didn't even pause in his stride—-
"Let me go, let me go, let me go—-"
Cassidy started shrieking and thrashing, but instead of shaming him into releasing her, the plan completely backfired since all it earned her was a firm, loud slap on her ass, and Cassidy saw red.
"Are you insane?"
"Clinically? No. But crazy about you? Absolutely."
Aaaargh!
Cassidy clenched her jaw as hard as she could.
Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it!
She was furious with him. Furious! So she must not at all costs—-
"Just let yourself smile, love."
Oh dear God, he knew!
"I won't see it anyway."
"Shut up!"
"You know you want to."
"All I want," she hissed, "is for you to let me go, you liar—-"
"Uncle Charles warned me about your past," William cut in calmly. "We both decided it was best I pretend to be something I'm not—-"
"Like I said, liar!"
"So that you'd keep working for the company, and at the same time I'd have the chance to show you I would never be an asshole like your ex—-"
"You won't be able to help it!"
"I will be able to help it," he countered, "because I love you."
Cassidy started gritting her teeth.
I don't believe him! I don't! I—-
She suddenly found herself being lowered to her feet...right next to her car, and when her gaze flew up to his—-
Mmph!
William pushed her against the side of her car just as he cupped her face and took her mouth in a deep, hot kiss that all at once had her hot, wet, and trembling with desire, her arms instinctively going around his neck—-
Oh...no...no...oh...oh...oh...
Even as she found herself surrendering to the demanding strokes of William's tongue inside of her mouth, Cassidy still felt painfully and frightfully torn.
It was as if she was being tugged into two opposite directions, with one part of her desperate to push him away while another was just as desperate to hold on to him.
One was terrified of how much she loved him while the other was equally terrified of throwing away what was the best thing to ever happen to her life.
And when she felt his kiss gradually gentle, and his mouth slowly ease off hers—-
No, please don't, one part of her wanted to cry out...while the other part just wanted to cry.
"Look at me, love. Please."
His tone, soft and gentle like always, was impossible to resist, and she slowly opened her eyes to meet William's blue gaze.
"I'm sorry I lied to you," he said quietly. "I'm sorry I pretended to be something I'm not. But I can't say I'm sorry that I did those things. It was the only way for me to get close to you, and it was also because of those things that I was able to really know you...and fall in love with you."
I'm not going to cry.
"And I do love you, Cassidy."
I'm not. I'm not.
"You're the first girl I've lost my heart to," William said simply, "And I know you'll be the only one."
Oh, fuck, I'm going to cry, no, wait, I can't, not here where everyone can see me—-
"Cassidy—-"
"I'm sorry," she heard herself say, "but I have to go."
And before William could say something else that would have her bawling her eyes out, Cassidy quickly got inside her car, switched the engine on, and stepped on the gas.WilliamHe watched Cassidy's car race out of the parking lot in numb silence, unable to believe that she was going to leave him just like that—-