CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“I have been waiting all damn day to do this.”

She didn’t have time to open her mouth and speak. I slanted mine over hers in a needy kiss. It baffled me how every time I tasted her lips, it was better than before. This past week had been nothing but amazing; Zoe had come over for dinner every night, which had put my little Molly in seventh heaven.

It also gave me the opportunity to kiss her senseless every single night.

However, I was turning into a greedy bastard when it came to her and a few hours every day weren’t enough. During my lunch break three days ago, I’d asked her to meet me at the creek close to my place. No sooner had she arrived before I’d assaulted her with my mouth. I didn’t think she minded since she showed up again yesterday and today.

Sixty glorious minutes of nothing but Zoe was exactly what I needed to make it through the day.

Although almost everyone knew that there was something going on between us, we didn’t even hold hands in public. It wasn’t like we were being sneaky; we simply weren’t ready to let the rest of the world into our little bubble.

And I knew that Zoe needed to take things slow.

Right now, though, the only words running through my brain were hard and fast. Who could blame me when this gorgeous creature’s body was pressed up against me while her tongue dueled with mine?

Damn…

A week of nothing but hot kisses would drive any man to the brink of insanity, and it was getting harder and harder — pun intended — not to take things further. After that night at my place, I’d made a vow that I’d wait until she was the one who instigated anything sexual.

As difficult as that may have been.

That look in her eyes had been haunting my dreams since the first time I’d seen it. I had a suspicion what had put it there, but I was really hoping that I was wrong. The only person who could set me straight was Zoe, unfortunately, she wasn’t doing any talking.

Quite possibly because I devoured her whenever we were alone.

I couldn’t remember ever being this insatiable when it came to a woman, but then again, Zoe wasn’t just any woman.

She was the woman.

The one who’d shown me how to smile again. How to feel again.

Speaking of feeling… “Sunshine,” I said on a ragged breath, as soon as I managed to tear my mouth away from hers. “You know kissing you is my favorite pastime, but…uh…I think we need to slow down.” Leaning in so my lips were just beside her ear, I whispered, “If we don’t, I might end up taking you against this car.” I pressed a kiss to her skin and tiny little bumps popped up all over; I marveled in the fact that I had this effect on her.

I drew back, enabling me to look at her beautiful face; those big eyes glittering with joy and want. Shiny, plump lips wet from our kiss. Damn…just, damn. I couldn’t help myself; running a thumb along her cheeks, the confession rolled off my tongue. “You’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

Yeah, I knew how cheesy that sounded. It didn’t make it untrue, though.

Her cheeks turned rosy while mirth sparkled behind her hazel irises. “Seems to me like I won first place.” She parked a hand on her jutted-out hip. “What’s my prize?”

A slow smile spread across my face as I dipped my head to nuzzle her neck; whenever I kissed her there, the sexiest sounds came from her mouth. As it always did, the smell of apples teased my senses right as I pressed my lips to her skin. “What.” kiss “Do.” kiss “You.” kiss “Want.” kiss.

“You…” she admitted breathlessly, and damn if that wasn’t music to my ears.

I straightened far enough so I could lean my forehead against hers. “You have me, sunshine, for as long as you want.”

Zoe’s hand came up to caress my cheek. The cheerfulness that’d burned in her eyes a few moments ago had made way for a hell of a lot of doubt. Not for the first time, I had to bite my tongue, because I wanted to know why she thought she didn’t deserve happiness. Instead of voicing that question, I pressed a chaste kiss to her lips.

Sliding my hand down her arm, I took her hand as I started walking toward the water. “How would you feel about spending the weekend with me?” She aimed a quizzical expression my way, which prompted me to add, “That school trip Molly told you about, it’s this weekend.”

As much as this woman’s physical attributes got my heart pumping, the way she was with Molly sent it into overdrive. The two of them had become thick as thieves. I wasn’t the least bit bothered that my girl preferred Zoe over me in the evenings; you’d understand if you saw the sparkle I saw in my daughter’s eyes every time she merely looked at Zoe.

Hell, I was pretty sure I had the same goofy look on my face whenever I ogled her.

 

Zoe’s free hand curled around my arm as she rested her head against my shoulder. “I think an entire weekend with you sounds pretty fantastic.”

 

This damn day had gone to shit so fast it wasn’t even funny. When I returned to the station after my lunch date with Zoe, I’d walked into pandemonium. Somewhere during the morning, one of Stracey Donnelly’s cows had been shot and killed. She, of course, suspected that Joy Romero had something to do with it.

She had taken it upon herself to get to the bottom of the situation by driving over to the Romeros’ farm. Once there she began to load Joy’s chickens into the back of her truck, which naturally angered Joy.

Not long after, Stracey was staring into the barrel of a shotgun.

One of the farmhands had seen that shit was about to get real, and he’d contacted the station. I had arrived just as Liam and a few other officers were heading out.

If you thought talking two old ladies down from a fight was easy, you were dead wrong. It had taken us over two hours to get Joy to put down the gun. Unfortunately, we also had no other choice than to haul the elderly women back to the station where the pair of them were supposed to spend the weekend.

Leaving two ladies old enough to be my grandma in cells for the entire weekend didn’t sit well with me. I’d made a quick call to Judge McPherson before I left the station, and he agreed that we could let them off with a warning—in the morning. If we were lucky, a night in the holding cells would mean the death of this stupid feud.

So, to say that I was beyond tired by the time I rolled into my driveway was an understatement. One look at the car already sitting there, and the entire days’ worth of stress dissolved like mist in front of the sun.

Zoe.

She was here, waiting for me after a long ass day at work. I’d given her my key this afternoon, hoping for exactly this. There was something about coming home to her that just felt…right.

With renewed energy, I jumped out of my truck, rushed up the stairs and through the door. Mouthwatering aromas filled my senses the instant I stepped over the threshold. I had no choice but to let my nose lead me to the origin of the smell.

I entered the kitchen and froze. Zoe was busy chopping vegetables, her hips swaying along with the music filtering through her cellphone speaker. I could’ve happily stood there and ogled her for the rest of the night if I didn’t have this need to touch her.

As silently as I could manage, I stalked toward her. As soon as she was within reaching distance, my arm snaked around her waist and I pulled her back to my chest. With a yelp, she dropped the knife to the cutting board. I felt bad for giving her such a fright, but as the feeling of her body pressed against mine registered, all I could feel was happy.

“You almost gave me a heart attack, Eli.”

Like I had done countless times in the past, I lowered my head so I could press my lips against her neck’s delicate skin. I grinned when a low humming sound came from the back of her throat. “Guess that means I’m forgiven?”

Zoe pushed away from me, then jabbed an elbow in my direction. “Only just.”

I moved in to plant a kiss on her cheek but ended up snatching a carrot stick from the chopping board instead. She tried to admonish me, but failed miserably when she couldn’t hide the smile on her face.

This. This was exactly what I’d been missing all these years. Don’t get me wrong; my life with Molly was amazing and I wouldn’t trade a second of it, but I’d sure have loved to give her what my parents gave us growing up.

I had no idea there’d been this incredible void in my life until Zoe had walked into it. The thought that I might have to let her go brought a desperate sense of panic to my heart.

I couldn’t.

I wouldn’t.

Right here with Molly and I was where she belonged, even if she didn’t know it yet.

After I poured a glass of wine for Zoe and grabbed a beer for myself, I helped her prepare the rest of our dinner. We filled each other in on our days while we took our time digging into the spicy rice and stir-fry.

By the time our dirty dishes were tucked into the dishwasher, I was beyond ready to pull her into my arms, but I was nervous too. It was the first time since Melissa that a woman would be spending the night.

This was all very new to me.

We stood in the middle of the kitchen, awkwardly staring at each other. On any other night, this would be the time I’d walk her to her car where I’d kiss the living daylights out of her before she drove away.

Not knowing what to say exactly, I simply blurted out the first words that came to mind, “I’m gonna take a quick shower to get rid of the day’s filth.” The words ‘why don’t you join me’ were on the tip of my tongue. Afraid that I might utter them, I turned and marched to the bathroom without looking back.

That had to be the quickest, coldest shower I’d taken in all my life. I dried off, stepped into a pair of shorts and almost swallowed my tongue the moment I entered the bedroom. Zoe had changed into a t-shirt-like sleep dress. The gray cotton barely covered her thighs leaving inches upon inches of creamy skin on display.

Skin that she was currently lathering up with lotion. Seated on the edge of the bed with her focus solely on her legs, she had yet to notice me. Which was a good thing, there was no hiding precisely how this visual was affecting me.

It hit me then that suggesting she spend the entire weekend here might not have been one of my brightest ideas. Not that I didn’t want her here…in my bed. I just didn’t know how the hell I was going to get through the night, let alone the weekend, without giving in to the need to explore her hot little body.

I was pretty sure I’d be different shades of blue come morning.

Quick, long strides took me to the bed where I propped myself against the headboard and immediately covered my groin with a pillow.

Zoe’s head snapped up. Glancing over her shoulder, her brows drew together while she inquired, “Ready for bed?”

Oh, I’m ready for something all right. With a hard swallow, I forced the words back. “Aren’t you?” There was no way she didn’t hear the strain in my voice. Clearing my throat, I added, “We could veg out in front of the TV if you’d like?”

Her gaze lowered to the pillow, then ever so slowly lifted to meet mine. Did she even know how freaking sexy she looked when she did that? I was so wired, I almost groaned when she bit into her lower lip and said, “Bed sounds good.”

Heavens help me.

My mind was all over the place and before I knew it, the lights were out and were both lying flat on our backs, our shoulders touching. I could tell she was nervous, too; I’d heard her suck in a few breaths.

Twisting onto my side, I decided it would be best if she knew some of what I was thinking. Elbow bent, I rested my face against my palm. I was grateful for the soft light, courtesy of the moon shining so brightly, spilling into the room. I needed to see the expression on her face when the words left my lips.

“I’m aching to kiss you right now.” My confession was gruff. “But I’m afraid that once I start, I won’t be able to stop.”

Zoe licked her lips as she reached out to hook her fingers around my neck. She tugged, I went willingly. “Then kiss me, Eli.”

That was all I needed to hear. No sooner had she breathed out the words before I claimed her mouth in a way I’d been craving all night. There was no slow seduction, no gentle teasing. My tongue plundered her mouth, taking, claiming, ravishing.

I damn near lost my mind when her hand pushed into my hair, her fingers digging into my scalp. I gripped the back of her knee and threw her leg over my hip, while slowly sliding my palm up against her smooth skin.

The higher I went, the faster my heart thumped. I was extremely aware that the last time I did this, she kinda freaked out on me. Pausing to gauge her reaction, I tried to break from the kiss, but Zoe wasn’t having any of it. Those fingers of hers only pressed in deeper.

Cautiously my hand continued its journey upward until one perfect cheek filled it. Damn…she just had to wear a thong, didn’t she? I couldn’t help myself. I simply had to squeeze, and the instant a low sexy moan filled the air, I did it again.

The position we were in wasn’t giving me the freedom I needed to touch her. In one quick move, I flipped us so she was pinned beneath me. Before I could start exploring though, Zoe rocked against me. Man, that felt good. So good that I abandoned her mouth to kiss a hot path along her jaw before begging in her ear, “Do it again, sunshine.”

She did.

Again and again, until we were both unabashedly grinding against each other. We were grown-ups. Surely, you’d think we’d have the common sense to stop and actually remove our clothes before going at each other like two horny teenagers.

Only I couldn’t stop, not when Zoe was making these needy little sounds, and definitely not when her heels were digging into my ass. Every whimper sounding from her throat had me moving faster and faster until she breathlessly uttered my name.

Burying my face in the crook of her neck, I mumbled against her clammy skin, “Damn, Zoe…” I had no idea what response I was expecting but it certainly wasn’t a fit of giggles. Slowly, I lifted my head, confusion pulling my brows together as I stared at the woman shaking with laughter beneath me.

“I’ve never done that,” she said the moment she finally regained some of her composure.

“What?”

“Had an orgasm with my clothes still on.” She started laughing on the last word and this time, I couldn’t stop myself from joining in.

Twisting, I flopped back against the mattress, Zoe immediately curled into my side, her head resting against my chest. While running my fingers through her long hair, I wracked my brain and eventually concluded, “Neither have I.”

The sound of laughter filled the room again. Wrapping my arm around her, I pulled her even closer. I was aware that we possibly needed to get up and clean off, I just couldn’t bring myself to let her go. Not even for a second.

As silenced seeped in again and my lids grew heavy, a slow, satisfied smile spread across my face. “Hey, Zoe.”

“Hmm?” She sounded as sleepy as I felt.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Snuggling deeper into me, she whispered, “So am I.”

As my eyes closed, I pressed my lips to the top of her head. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve this little slice of heaven I found myself in. I only knew I wasn’t about to let it slip through my fingers.