by Anne Conley
She clearly liked a little sting with her pleasure if the gushing sounds his fingers made were anything to go by. Another smack across the other cheek. Another moaned curse from Lettie.
He could see the little pink rosebud above his fingers, and he knew that would be his too—someday. He could introduce her to so many dark pleasures with that place, but not tonight. Although a little play wouldn’t be out of the question.
Zane put his pinky finger in his mouth, wetting it, and circled her hole with it. She froze but didn’t move.
“Have you ever been touched here?”
“Uh, no. And you’re not fucking me there.” The indignation in her voice had him smiling.
“Nope. Not tonight, I’m not.” Slowly, he eased his pinky finger in to the first knuckle, and she hissed and cried out. “Just breathe, Lettie. This is all I’m going to do.” Christ, it was tight, hot, and slick. Her breathing evened out as he kept moving his fingers in and out of her pussy folds, the tight, pink lips gripping him, almost sucking him in.
Zane was so hard he could pound goddamn nails. He needed inside this woman. Now.
“How do you want to do this?” he asked, not caring which position she liked because he just knew they would all be awesome, but he wanted it to be good for her.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you have a favorite position?”
“Jesus. Why all the questions, Zane? Just fuck me. Please. At this point I don’t even care how you do it. You can fuck me with your nose for all I care.”
He smacked her ass once more for the back talk. Wondered if maybe some S&M play with her wouldn’t be amazing, he flipped her over and grabbed a pillow.
“Put this under your hips. I want to watch myself coming inside you.”
“Get a condom. I know you have a bowl full in your nightstand.” She smirked at him, and he realized she’d probably gone through every square inch of his life while he was at his parents’ house.
“Of course. Hang on. I got carried away.”
He reached over her and grabbed a condom from his bedside drawer while she was getting situated with the pillow. He would do this, but she would soon trust him enough to figure out some other method of contraception.
Fucking Christ. That was a heady thought, and he entertained it for a split second before realizing that was a conversation for later. Right now, he needed to be inside her.
Zane put the condom on and lined himself up, watching her face. Lettie was truly gorgeous, her dark hair framing her flushed face, tits bright-red with the flush, her skin coated in perspiration. He reached up and grabbed her breast, tweaking the nipple between his thumb and forefinger until it reddened and distended.
“Please …” she groaned at him, and he chuckled.
My little impatient woman.
And then he slammed home.
Zane froze and couldn’t move. She was too perfect. Her eyes had fallen closed, and part of him wanted to demand she look at him so he could see her eyes when she came. But the other part of him wanted her to just feel because that’s what he fully intended to do.
She clenched around him, and his cock twitched. He pulled out and reveled at the sheen of her essence on his skin before looking back up at her face.
Her breathing had intensified, and Zane no longer had any control over his outward expressions. He just knew he had a grimace on his face as he pushed back in. Zero fucks given. He was wholly focused on his dick inside her and hoping it felt good for her because there wasn’t a damn thing that could ruin this for him.
He slid in and out of her, watching her reactions as he staved off his own. He normally would last a little longer, especially since she’d just sucked him, but for fuck’s sake, she was unbelievable. The fact he was even here with her at all made him want to blow.
So he paid more attention to her face, her reactions instead of his own, bringing one hand to her clit to stroke it in time with his thrusts while the other held one leg back up at her chest. Lettie made these whimpering, groaning noises that were his complete undoing, and when he found her spot inside—hopefully it was, he just had her face to go on—he went with it.
Penises are highly sensitive, but not in the same way fingers are. He could tell the difference in texture of her inner walls with his fingers, but not his cock. So when he thought he’d hit that spot, she cried out a lovely-sounding “Oh!” as her eyes flew open.
“Rightthererightthererightthere …”
Zane increased everything—his finger on her clit and the stroke intensity of his cock—and watched tears stream down her face as she climaxed in the most beautiful display he’d ever witnessed. He held still inside her while she pulsed around him, clenching him, and then he was done. He spilled his seed inside as she milked him with her orgasm.
“Holy fuck,” he muttered before collapsing over her and tugging them both up to the pillows at the top of the bed. Wrapping his arms around her, Zane inhaled deeply of Lettie’s shampoo then quickly slipped into sleep, utterly satiated.
Chapter Ten
Lettie had been right. Sex with Zane had been everything she’ thought it would be and more. He’d acted like she was the most amazing thing he’d ever fucked, and for her it had been the best ever. Maybe they’d get to do it again sometime, but now she had to get out of here before the awkwardness began.
Slowly and gently, she lifted his arm off her waist and scooched out of the bed, lowering his arm back to the bed. She looked over at his face in repose, those long lashes resting on his cheeks, pouty-looking lips, stupid-chiseled cheekbones. Gah …
He was so pretty.
The scar his tattoo covered up on the front of his shoulder was clearly visible on his back, and she longed to trace it but was afraid she would wake him and things would get weird. So she looked at it instead.
The burn scar went around his back to his front, covering most of his shoulder, part of his back and, from what she had seen, some of his torso as well. Lettie felt a pang of something painful hit her insides as his job and the inherent danger of it raced to the forefront of her mind. Zane was a man who knew danger—raced into it to save people and willingly sacrificed himself for the safety of others—even if he joked about it by a tattoo with such sexual undertones.
Lettie came to a realization, one she should have seen before. Zane joked about uncomfortable things. That was most likely human nature among the humorous people of the world. Lettie didn’t understand much about human nature, but it seemed to make sense.
It took an extremely passionate man to do what he did for a living. Her mind wandered to last night. Zane worked hard and played hard. What did that make her?
A plaything?
No. She had to go. She couldn’t let her thoughts go down that road. Lettie had gone into this with eyes wide open. She would acknowledge she was worth more than a fuck, but she was also entitled to a good time.
That’s what this had been. A spectacular fucking time. Pun intended.
Lettie tiptoed around, looking for her clothing. Sometime in the night, she’d lost her shoes, but she found them next to the bed. Holding them by the straps and dangling them from her fingers, she managed to get out without waking Zane.
But Otis was another story. He heard her and started whimpering and wagging his tail against the cage.
“Shhhh … I’ll take you out if you be quiet.”
It was almost like the pup understood her as he sat on his haunches while she unlocked his crate and let him out. The only sound was the clicking of his claws on Zane’s floor, but it was really loud in the silent house, and Lettie held her breath while they went outside.
She called the only Uber in town and waited while Otis did his business and then started rolling in the grass on Zane’s lawn. Each minute that passed while she waited was another minute Zane could wak
e up and find her, and she wouldn’t exactly know what to say.
Thanks for last night? Maybe we can do it again sometime?
You were right. You fuck. And you fuck well. See you around?
Or worse. He would wake up and be relieved he didn’t have to talk to her at all. Maybe he was awake now and was watching her from the window to make sure she’d left?
Lettie sighed at her stupidity. This whole situation was a mess. She shouldn’t have even given in to him. Now she was at his mercy, waiting for his approval, and that sucked.
When the small Accord pulled up, Lettie put Otis back inside the house and made her way to the car. She was relieved at getting away without a scene with Zane and a bit mortified she was obvious in her walk of shame.
Later that morning, after going home to shower and change, Lettie was back at the shelter trying to get a volunteer squared away.
“We hose out the enclosure every night and every morning and if there’s an accident. Don’t hose the dogs though. I consider them all victims of circumstance, some abuse, and most hate the water. There are some who will try to play with the hose or the water, and that’s fine, but make sure this place is clean before you leave and when you get in. And it stays clean. People walk through this area looking for companions and we can’t have it disgusting. Got it?”
The college-aged girl nodded, and if this had been Gainesville, Lettie wouldn’t have expected her to last. Because Gainesville was a college town, people mostly volunteered because they couldn’t have pets in the dorms, but as soon as things got gross at the shelter, they’d quit. They’d initially volunteered to play with puppies and kittens. When the real work started—either at the shelter or at school—they’d walked away. Hopefully, this girl would stick around. There weren’t as many distractions here in Pamona Gulch.
Except Zane.
Lettie had spent the last three hours trying to forget her night, but it was impossible.
“Lettie! Phone!” Becca hollered from the front, and a resounding bay of barks and howls rose around Lettie as she rolled her eyes.
“And don’t ever yell at me like that across this place,” she warned the volunteer. “I’ve told Becca over and over not to do it because it disturbs the animals.” She looked at her watch and started marching toward the front office. “Do me a favor and check on the puppies in the back room? Make sure they’re clean. I just wormed them this morning when I got in and they may need to be cleaned up.”
The girl nodded, wide-eyed at all the instructions, but smiled. “Sure thing.”
“Be sure to use gloves. Gross stuff is in poop, duh. And gloves are cheap.” She smiled at the girl to take the sting out of her words and the horror off her face. “Can’t have you getting worms, can we?”
When Lettie got to the office, she gave Becca a dirty look. “Go help the new girl. I think she’s overwhelmed. The vet’s coming this afternoon to give parvo shots.” Grabbing the phone, she spoke absently, “This is Lettie.”
“Yes, I know. I would think we would have just had breakfast, but you were gone,” Zane growled at her, but his words and anger didn’t make sense.
“What?” She picked up a calendar on the desk and made sure she wasn’t forgetting something.
“I had plans for breakfast, but when Otis woke me up, you were gone.”
“I had work.”
“I could have gotten up earlier,” he countered.
She sighed. “Look, let’s not pretend that was anything other than what it was.”
“What was it, Lettie?” he challenged, his voice taking a threatening tone.
“Sex,” she lowered her voice. “Fucking.” She looked out the wide picture window overlooking the pasture to the side of the building. “We both know that’s what you do. Now that I’m out of your system, we can move on.” A gray pallor eased in from behind the building, but the source was out of her sight. She took the phone and started walking out the front door to go around the building and see if she could see from there.
As soon as she was outside, she could smell it, but she still walked around to see if she could get a visual. Meanwhile, Zane was talking her ear off, madder than a hornet.
“Look, I thought I had made it perfectly clear you are different. I don’t know what the fuck happened last night with you, but I felt something. I don’t want to move on, I want to see what happens with us.”
“I have to go. There’s a fire.” She hung up and stood, slack-jawed, staring at the brush fire behind the shelter.
And it was coming this way.
“Shit.” Lettie turned and ran inside the building. She had to save these animals.
Chapter Eleven
Zane was at the fire station when Lettie hung up on him, and he squashed the panic that rose at her words. Surely, it was a small fire or something or else she would have given him more details because fire was his fucking job.
At that exact moment, the alarm went off, the clanging bells and flashing lights signaling everyone to get ready. The men around him automatically went into a silent flurry of motion, waiting for the dispatcher to give instructions.
Zane joined them, running to his locker to suit up. When the instructions came, it was worse than he thought. A brush fire in the woods behind the shelter.
As dry as this summer had been, this was a nightmare they’d all been hoping wouldn’t happen. But they were prepared for it at any rate.
What he wasn’t prepared for was the panic he felt—the pounding of his heart, the sudden shortness of breath—knowing the shelter was out in the middle of nowhere, a purposeful decision on the part of the city planners who knew how noisy and smelly the cohabitation of hundreds of animals could be. And Lettie would undoubtedly be endangering herself trying to save them all.
Dammit.
When the truck was loaded with men, they were off, sirens blaring with the pumper truck following. He called Lettie, knowing he wouldn’t be able to hear her.
“Lettie, get the hell out of there. The grass is going to burn fast, and the building will be on fire before you realize it.” He couldn’t hear her response but could tell she was arguing with him. “Just fucking do it!”
He hung up and desperately tried to get his head in the game. Pulling up to the shelter, they could see clouds of smoke and flames behind the building. The flames were about fifty yards off, but the smoke was already engulfing the building.
The chief got out and started barking orders, his white hat making him stand out from the crowd of uniforms. He read Zane right and assigned him and Joey to clear the building while the rest got back into the truck and traversed the terrain to get closer to the fire. There was a pond about two acres away where the pumper truck was going to try to get water to hit some interior flames.
This one was going to be bad. They’d already called in some surrounding volunteer units for backup.
And Lettie was right in the middle of it.
He grabbed his oxygen and ran inside hoping Joey was on his tail. They found Lettie and two other women in the shelter working to crate up the animals.
“Lettie, y’all have to get out of here!” Zane shouted.
“I can’t! I have to get these guys out.”
A young woman came running out of the room with a giant picture window in the side of it so people could look in at the various cats. She was struggling under the weight of a giant cage full of cats of various sizes hissing and growling their displeasure.
Joey looked at Zane, who replied, “Fine. Help them as much as you can.” Turning to where he could see Lettie trying to herd a snarling shepherd mix on a leash, he said, “We’ve got five minutes tops. Where are they going?” He reached for the leash, cooed at the beautiful dog who was terrified out of his mind and reacting badly, and managed to get it out of Lettie’s grip.
“My t
ruck for now. I called animal control to bring over theirs. But this guy needs out so I can get the rest.” She was wholly focused on her task, and Zane got the dog out and tied to the back of her truck before going back in to help with the rest.
Jesus.
He’d saved animals from fires before, but this was insanity. There were probably a hundred cats and dogs and other animals inside this place. He was on his way back in the building when Lettie came back out with a giant cage with a …
“What the fuck is that?”
“It’s Samson. He needs to go inside my truck. Away from the dogs.” She passed him the cage before running back inside. The giant lizard was freaking out—whipping its massive tail back and forth—and Zane had never seen one move so fast. He put it in the passenger seat of Lettie’s truck and raced back inside.
“You have to get the fuck out of here. This is my job!”
“It’s my job!” The fire in her eyes was undeniable. The other woman had left, but there was still another inside with them.
Turning to the woman, Zane barked, “Will you at least go so I only have her to worry about?”
The woman nodded and took the three dogs she had on leashes out with her.
“I’m out of leashes. The rest need to be caged up.” Lettie efficiently pointed to a wall of cages filled with dogs. “Get those and double them up. I’ll get the puppies. Animal control should be here soon and we’ll divvy them all up then.” She was so intent on her task she wasn’t even looking at him. It was beautiful to see. Her compassion with these animals melted his anger at her leaving this morning and staying right now.
The fire outside was raging, and the smoke inside was getting thick, almost out of control. He passed her an oxygen tank. He could tell arguing with her wouldn’t do any good. He could get the police to arrest her, but that would be … Well, that would probably ruin any chances of a future relationship with her.
