by Lexi Post
Chris strode into the living room and peered into the bedroom. “So your mom’s not as important as your boyfriend? What’s happened to you, Bea? You used to be a good girl.”
“I happened to her.” Zach’s voice behind her startled her. She made to turn around, but he held her in front of him. “And I’m going to take care of her. So you can go back to the station now.”
Chris spun at the sound of Zach’s voice. His hands tightened into fists and the muscles in his neck stood out in stark relief. “You. Ever since you came into her life, she’s had trouble.”
Bea opened her mouth to speak, but Zach’s pressure on her arm kept her silent.
Chris stalked into the kitchen. He lifted the glass of Bailey’s and snickered. “A lady’s drink. You need to drink to achieve satisfaction, Bea? I could satisfy you without the booze.” He tipped the glass upside down over the sink. “But you ignore me. Why, Bea? What’s wrong with me?”
Zach answered for her. “You mean besides the fact that you stalk her and sit parked outside her apartment at night when you’re on duty?”
Chris flushed.
Bea couldn’t believe it, but Chris didn’t deny it. His need for her had grown as she became more involved with Zach. Of course, Chris had always lived off competition in high school. She should have realized it before. He didn’t want her, he wanted to beat Zach and she happened to be the prize. “Chris, it has nothing to do with you. I simply refused to be involved with anyone here in town. I want to keep my professional life separate from my personal. This town is too small.” The partial truth came easily.
Chris wrinkled his brow. “So you’re saying if I lived in Concord, you might have dated me?”
She snuggled against Zach, finding his solid warmth behind her reassuring. “There’s no maybe about it. I would have definitely dated you.”
He stood a little straighter. It seemed as if he wanted to smile. “I could move?”
She shook her head. “I think it’s a little late. I’m very taken.”
“I can see that.” For the first time, Chris lifted his gaze to meet Zach’s. Then he seemed to come to a decision. “Well, I guess your mom can call Mathew or Tony. I doubt at this time of night Andy would be fit to drive. Sorry for the intrusion.”
Bea tried to follow Chris’ train of thought, but the man headed toward them as they stood in front of her doorway.
He offered his hand to Zach. “Take good care of her.”
Zach shook. “I plan to.”
Chris waited a second, staring hard at Zach. Then he brushed past them, closing the door behind him.
For some reason she wanted to laugh. She turned in Zach’s arms to find him grinning from ear to ear. He gazed into her eyes. “You were brilliant! How did you know all this was about him competing against me and not about you?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I didn’t at first. But when you mentioned the stalking, all the pieces fell into place. Do you think he’ll leave me alone now?”
He pulled her tight against him and growled. “He better.”
She wiggled her body, her instincts singing with the triumph of having won the better man. “If he doesn’t, we can always threaten to go to his chief. I don’t think using the patrol car to spy on a woman falls under ‘other duties as assigned’.”
Zach grasped her ass with both his hands and ground his cock against her mons. “Frankly, I don’t give a damn what his duties are. All I know is I have a hot, naked woman in black high-heeled boots in my arms and she needs to be satisfied.”
Bea opened her mouth to Zach’s kiss.
He groaned as his tongue thrust to explore hers.
She broke away, pulling out of his arms. “And I know how I want to be satisfied.” She turned her back on him and sauntered into the bedroom.
Resisting the urge to see if he followed, she untied the robe. She stopped by the bed and pulled the belt from the loops before turning around to face him.
He was right in front of her. His gaze roved over her cleavage and down to the bare juncture of her thighs. She used her finger under his chin to lift his face and held the belt aloft. “Fair’s fair.”
Chapter Seventeen
Zach’s look of surprise mixed with uncertainty gave Bea a sudden rush of victory. She had him right where she wanted him and she laughed at his hesitancy. “Are you nervous?”
His confidence returned with his grin. “Why? Should I be?”
She shook her head even as she wrapped the belt around both his wrists. “No.”
“Bea?”
His breathing increased and her body’s excitement rose to meet his. She finished the knot and slyly gazed at him. “Yes?”
He grabbed hold of the edge of her robe and pulled her closer. He bent his head and nuzzled her ear. “Leave your boots on.”
Tingles of excitement rode her skin from neck to thigh as her pussy contracted. She stepped back. “Come on. I want you on your back.”
His shit-eating grin faltered and his Adam’s apple moved downward, but he still managed to control his voice. “Whatever you say, beautiful. My body is here for your pleasure.”
Her heart slowed and her body cooled at the reminder of the men she had used to survive. Though they hadn’t been permanently incapacitated, they’d probably been terribly ill.
Zach crowded her and raised his tied hands to stroke her cheek. “What is it?”
She attempted a smile. “Nothing. Just old thoughts. Hopefully, ones I need not concern myself with anymore.”
Zach lowered his lips to within an inch of hers. “Never again.”
As his mouth claimed hers, anticipation returned. His hands found her right breast and tweaked the nipple. A sharp need pulsed into her pussy, making her moist. Using her desire to fuel her control, she pulled away, but her body wasn’t happy with her decision.
Zach held out his hands. “Are you sure you don’t want to be the one tied?”
Power surged through her at his ploy. “I’m sure. I want you my way.”
He shrugged good-naturedly. “It doesn’t hurt to try.”
She tugged him to the bed. “Lie down on your back, please.”
Zach stretched out on the bed and obligingly lifted his arms above his head. Quickly, she tied the belt to the headboard, but not fast enough to avoid him licking her rib. Her body responded to his touch by sending a rush of heat to gather at the juncture of her thighs.
She stepped back and gazed at him. She could never tire of viewing his rippled stomach and granite-hard chest, but his massive thighs and the tall cock twitching between them beckoned her.
He spread his legs. “Want a closer look?”
What a tease. Two could play that game. She shrugged, but didn’t answer him. Instead she removed the robe from her shoulders and let it slide to the floor.
Zach’s entire body tensed. His cock pushed up into the air, calling her.
She placed one black leather-clad foot on the bed and leaned in. She gazed at the cock that would bring her pleasure, but she didn’t touch. Instead, she stroked her own thigh with one hand while stroking his thigh with the other, not caressing the places they both craved her to touch.
“Beautiful, if you keep that up, I’m going to come right now.”
She shook her head. “No, you won’t because I haven’t told you to yet.”
He raised a brow at her, but she ignored him and took her hands away.
The fact was, she would come soon too and she didn’t plan to be standing next to the bed at the time. She crawled onto the firm mattress and knelt between his legs, spreading her own, her thigh-high boots resting against his knees. She used one finger to stroke along her swollen folds, spreading her own moisture over herself before she touched his tip and slowly coated his cock head. She repeated the action again though her heart’s rhythm increased, causing her breaths to shorten.
Zach’s body looked harder than the granite ledges of Mount Washington. His neck muscles strained as he lifted hi
s head to watch her.
She stopped. “Here, let me move the other pillow for you.”
She leaned over him and maneuvered the second pillow beneath his head, but as she adjusted it, his mouth latched on to her breast.
She couldn’t move, the excitement racing from breast to pussy bringing her to the edge of an orgasm. Somewhere deep down, she found the strength to pull away.
Zach groaned as her nipple tugged out of his mouth.
She couldn’t waste any more time. She needed this man like she needed life. Readjusting herself, she straddled Zach’s hips and let her wet nether lips glide along the length of his hard cock, every inch teasing her. She couldn’t resist. Pulling up, she placed his cock at her entrance and slid down, impaling herself fully. Her sigh of completeness filled the air.
Zach lay still, his body as hard as the wood he carved, his eyes closed.
She didn’t move, just gazed at him and waited for him to look at her. When he did, the passion she read in his eyes almost toppled her. With deliberate movement, she took both his nipples between her fingers and rolled them.
Zach’s hips lifted from the bed, pressing his cock deeper into her.
The feeling of fullness within her pussy had her pushing back, grinding forward and back against his hardened cock. She rested her hands on his chest, even as her hips continued to move. The building tightness where their two bodies connected fed on the friction as her clit rubbed along the skin of his cock. Without thought, she increased their rhythm, caught in the swirling pleasure of their mating.
Zach’s body strained against hers, pushing upward as if trying to bury himself inside her. The pressure built. He pulled in and out and she rode him back and forth like a bucking bronco. Her folds spread apart as he stabbed inside. Her clit ached with sensitivity as the rubbing stroked against it.
She gasped for air, unable to stop herself from the sheer pleasure building inside that forced her hips to move, pounding against him until he groaned her name. The spurt of warmth inside her pussy sent her into climax, her body shaking with ecstasy. She couldn’t catch a breath and didn’t want to as wave after wave of satisfying heat flowed from her inner core to her fingertips.
As Zach slowed, she brought more air into her lungs. She tried to calm her body and finally crumpled on top of him.
He turned his head and kissed her ear before putting his arms around her.
Huh? She lifted her head. The piece of wood latticework she had tied Zach to was gone.
They’d broken her headboard.
She rested her head back on his shoulder and giggled.
He wrestled his hands from the belt and stroked her hair. “What’s so funny?”
She lifted her head. “I was trying to decide which father I should ask to help me fix my bed and what the reaction might be if I told him how it broke.”
Zach raised his arms behind his head. “And why can’t I fix your headboard? I’m the one who broke it, though it was your fault. But more importantly, I’m pretty good with wood.”
Bea smirked at her foolishness. “Oh yeah, I forgot.”
He lifted a brow. “Are you going to want to bring this bed to Tamwick after we get married?”
Bea tensed, but relaxed again as her mind spun at all it would mean for them to be married. Not that she’d said “yes”. Suddenly, it hit her. Of course he’d think about such details. He’d been at this point in his life twice before. “Zach, what happened with Lisa?”
His face fell and he brought his arms down, but he laid one across her back. “Didn’t my mother tell you?”
Bea lowered her head and kissed his chest. She could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, but she needed to know. She glanced at him again. “All she would say is you were brokenhearted and that it was the second time she’d seen you like that. Actually, she warned me if I broke your heart she’d make me wish I were dead.”
Zach grunted. “My mom is still trying to protect me.”
She couldn’t help fiddling with his chest hair, but kept her eyes focused on him. “She said that’s when you bought the property in Tamwick.”
He sighed and looked beyond her, as if recalling it all over again. “Yeah. I had to leave.”
Bea waited.
Finally, his gaze returned to hers. “You really want to know?”
She nodded. “Please.”
He moved his hips and she caught the hint. Sliding to his side, she snuggled in and rested her head on his shoulder.
He settled his hand on her waist. “I thought Lisa was the one. She was smart, pretty and very outgoing. We were in love.”
He paused and Bea stroked his chest, but he caught her hand in his. “It was my birthday. She said she had a surprise for me, but I was behind on a contract so instead of taking the day off as we had planned, I went to a site. At the end of the day I was driving down the logging road with my men and came upon Lisa’s car. The guys wouldn’t let me near it, but I could see. She’d hit a moose. The animal’s body was still lodged through the front windshield of her Ford Taurus. She was dead.”
Bea squeezed his hand. “Oh, Zach, I’m so sorry.”
He stroked her palm. “She’d been coming up to surprise me. They found the doctor paperwork in her purse. She was pregnant.”
Bea’s heart pounded and a tear seeped from her eye onto his chest. There was nothing she could say to that.
He took a deep breath. “We were living together by then, the wedding plans started. She knew I would be thrilled.”
Bea wanted to take his pain away. She kissed his shoulder and let go of his hand so she could hold him. “I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t the first time I lost the woman I was going to marry. After high school, Danielle and I had planned to marry. That was the first time I changed plans to be with the woman I loved so I could work on a site. You’d think I would have learned from that. She went to the lake without me and drowned. If I had kept my commitments to them— After that I vowed to never spend more than three nights with any woman to avoid any strong feelings. I was bad luck and it was the only way I felt sure I could keep the women in my life alive. But then I met you and three nights wasn’t enough. I don’t think three million nights would be enough.”
Bea wrapped her arm around him and squeezed. What he must have thought when she’d gone into a coma. She shivered.
He patted her ass. “Hey, beautiful. What do you say we take a hot shower? I need to celebrate my ability to keep you.”
Bea sat up and smiled seductively. “Only if you promise to wash me.”
He pretended to think about it. “I guess I can do that. You’ll have to show me how, though. I’ve never washed a sexy woman before.”
Bea scrambled from the bed. “Really?”
He strutted toward the bathroom. “Yup. Always liked keeping my showers to myself, but in your case I’ll make an exception.”
Bea glowed. She’d be his first shower mate. She couldn’t say the same, but that didn’t matter anymore. Ruthlessly, she pushed her past aside and followed Zach. “Do you think you could help me with these boots?”
He turned to face her. “It would be my pleasure.”
She sat on the toilet seat cover and lifted her leg.
Zach placed her foot on his thigh, not far from his hardening cock. “You know what I imagined the first time I took your boots off?”
She shook her head, anxious to hear.
He removed the first boot and patted his thigh for her to lift the other one. “I imagined doing this.” Zach held on to her ankle while he used his other hand to slide two fingers into her pussy.
Bea gasped as white-hot desire shot through her and she tightened around his fingers. Her natural response was to pull her leather-clad leg back, but Zach held on.
His other hand, however, did not remain still. He turned his fingers inside her and curled them toward him. Bea’s heart raced as she leaned back against the tank, unable to breathe steadily. Then he did it. His f
ingers hit a magic spot inside her and cries of pleasure tore from her throat as she grabbed his arm. Her body shook with the unexpected explosive orgasm that rippled through her.
Zach removed his fingers and dropped to his knees before her. He thrust his tongue into her drenched pussy and licked. She continued to shake as she convulsed against his tongue and reached down to bury her hands in his hair.
As her breathing returned to normal, he finished licking her clean and knelt back. “What do you say to that shower?”
Dazed, she was thankful he didn’t wait for an answer. He bent over and turned on the water, giving her an enticing view of his ass with his balls hanging between his legs. She couldn’t resist. She cupped his sac, stroking it with her thumb.
He froze. His thigh muscles tensed.
She found the strength to lean forward and kiss his tight butt.
His head dropped as he stood at the side of the shower, water pouring into the tub.
Caressing his balls, she stood and curled over him. “I can’t get enough of you, Zach.”
He reached between his legs and separated her hand from his sac before he stood and took her into his arms, pressing pre-cum into her abdomen. “The feeling is mutual. I can’t wait to get you into my shower. There’s a lot of room in there and two showerheads.”
She pressed into him. “I like the sound of that. Mine is kind of old-fashioned, but it has a tub, which I like.”
He ran his hand under the flowing water. “I suggest we inspect your shower more thoroughly.” He scooped her into his arms and stepped in.
Bea squealed as the warm water hit her face before he let her legs drop. She sputtered. “Hey, your turn.” She angled the showerhead at him.
He laughed. “Hey, I’m new at this, remember?”
She smiled and moved the head back. “Okay. I’ll forgive you.”
He grasped her to him and maneuvered their bodies into the spray together.
The warm water flowed over her skin and made Zach’s chest hair flatten on his thickly defined chest. God, he was gorgeous. She picked up the soap and lathered his pectorals, encircling his nipples and moving farther down his body. As she arrived at his pubic area, she played with the dark hair, making the soap lather.
