by Tara Wyatt
Probably all things he should discuss with Alexa. Alone. Preferably naked and sweaty and sated after he’d made her come half a dozen times. Given that they were staying with Sean and Sierra, that scenario wasn’t likely to play out in the immediate future, but he liked the fantasy all the same.
His still-hard cock jerked against his zipper, and he shifted slightly in his seat. Alexa reached up to where his hand sat on her shoulder and twined her fingers with his, tracing her thumb over his knuckles. They’d figure it out together. That much he knew for sure.
“Enjoy the tour?” Jonathan Fairfax leveled his gaze at Zack, his expression stony.
Doing his best to play the part of chastised boyfriend, Zack swallowed thickly and glanced down at his lap before meeting Fairfax’s eyes, knowing he had to play this right. “You have an amazing house.”
Fairfax’s eyebrows inched up slightly, as though he was surprised by Zack’s answer. After a second he tipped his head. “Mmm. Well. You didn’t seem terribly interested in the architecture.” Zack didn’t have time to respond, because Fairfax leaned forward, his hands clasped on the table in front of him. “What do you want? Money?”
Alexa’s eyes widened, and her grip tightened on Zack’s hand. “Dad! I can’t believe you!”
“Or are you just in it for the sex?” Fairfax took a healthy swallow from his tumbler, and Zack realized he might be a little bit drunk.
Zack shook his head and shot Alexa a reassuring smile. “It’s okay.” He turned his attention back to Fairfax. “I’m in it because I think your daughter’s a fantastic person. She’s kind, and funny, and smart, and, yes, beautiful.”
Fairfax rolled his eyes, and Zack ground his teeth as a wave of protective anger crashed into him.
“Well, honey, I think your acting skills are still intact, as you seem to have this one fooled.” Fairfax turned to Zack, his eyes like ice. He was trying to scare Zack off, he knew. Knew and didn’t care, because he wasn’t going any-fucking-where. “Alexa is a weak-willed doormat. She’s needy and not very good at much of anything. Her beauty is the only tool in her kit, and believe me, she’s used it. Even if she was too stupid to see it as a tool in the first place.”
“Jonathan!” Alexa’s mother cried out, slapping her open palm against the table. “That’s enough!”
Fury snapped up Zack’s spine, his nostrils flaring, his jaw aching he was clenching it so hard. He imagined slamming his fist into Fairfax’s sneering, corrupt face, but knew there was too much at stake. He wouldn’t do anything to put Alexa’s safety in jeopardy.
Alexa stared at her lap, and when she blinked, a tear slipped free and fell onto her skirt, leaving a small dark splotch. He didn’t know if Fairfax was trying to bait him or was simply a nasty drunk, but it didn’t matter. They needed to leave, and not just because Zack was dangerously close to killing him.
Zack stood angrily, tossed his napkin on the table, and helped Alexa to her feet, tucking her against him. “Thank you for dinner.” Turning, he led Alexa back toward the front door as an argument exploded between Jonathan and Melanie Fairfax. Zack pulled Alexa out into the cool night air, shutting away the sounds of the argument behind them as the door snapped closed. Alexa pulled away from him and practically ran to the SUV. He scanned the courtyard as he moved, looking for anything suspicious while keeping an eye on her.
She leaned against the body of the vehicle, hugging herself, her shoulders shaking. Finally, she looked up, mascara streaking her pale cheeks. “At least we got the job done. And I feel ten percent less guilty. Timely reminder of what an asshole he is.” She gave him a weak smile, and he brushed her tears away with his thumbs, aching for her. He kissed her on the forehead and then on the temple before pressing his forehead against hers, cradling her face in his hands.
“None of what he said is true. Not a fucking word of it.”
Fresh tears escaped, and she blinked furiously. “You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. I absolutely do.” He kissed her, softly and gently, wanting desperately to comfort her. “And I’ll tell you every damn day that you’re kind and smart and beautiful, inside and out, until you believe it. Until you know it like I do.”
She laid her hand on his cheek, her fingers rasping against his stubble. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Shh. Stop. C’mon, princess. Don’t do that.” He kissed her again, a gentle caress of his lips against hers.
“What are we doing, Zack?” she asked, and slipped her arms around his neck, holding him close.
“Starting something, I hope. I know it’s not simple. But I don’t want to waste more time. Not now that I know how you feel.”
She snuggled into him, rubbing her nose against his neck. “It’s anything but simple. But I want it too. I can’t…” She raised her head and met his eyes. “After tonight, I can’t go back.”
“I can’t go back either.” He kissed along her jaw, and she relaxed into him. “And I’ll take hard and complicated and messy, if it’s with you. But…” He tugged her earlobe with his teeth, and she pressed her hips into him.
Alexa has sensitive ears. He stored that bit of information. “If Sean finds out that this isn’t pretend, he’ll assign someone else to you. We’re not supposed to be involved with clients, and he’ll take me off the case. I don’t want that. I need to be here. I need to protect you.”
“I don’t want someone else,” she said, kissing lightly along his jaw. His cock jumped against his zipper, desperate for more. God, just the thought of her mouth on him was almost too much. “I want you.” Her lips trailed down his neck, and he had to focus on what he was trying to say.
“Then as far as everyone else is concerned, we’re still pretending.” He didn’t like it, but it was the way it had to be right now. He’d spent a year denying his feelings for Alexa. He couldn’t do it anymore.
“Okay.” She lifted her head, and her eyes were bright. “But what if Sean finds out? Aren’t you risking your job?”
“I’d risk a lot fucking more than my job to be with you, princess.” He dipped his head and kissed her neck, working his way back up to her ear.
“God, you make me feel so good.” She tipped her head back and sighed. “You have no idea how much time I’ve spent thinking about you.”
Satisfaction charged through him, lighting up his senses. “I doubt it’s half as much time as I’ve spent thinking about you.” He trailed his mouth over her skin, so warm, so soft. “Thinking about how beautiful you are. How good. How fucking adorable.”
“What else?” she asked. The tears and tension were gone, and the knot between his shoulders loosened.
“What it would feel like to kiss you. To hold you. To wake up next to you.” He pulled back and met her eyes. “To lose myself inside you.”
She trembled. “The other night, after my dream, after we almost kissed, I went to bed and imagined what it would feel like to fall asleep in your arms.”
An emotion too intense to name rocketed through him, almost tearing his heart right out. “Fuck, princess, I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing.” She pressed her hands against his chest, gently easing him away. “Let’s go home. I don’t want to be here anymore.”
* * *
What kind of fucked-up cat-and-mouse game were they playing?
Jonathan rubbed a hand over his mouth as he eased back in his desk chair, sitting alone in the darkened library, listening to Frank Sinatra. He swirled the scotch in his glass, watching the amber liquid slosh around. He’d had a bit too much tonight, and he set the glass on the blotter on his desk, staring at it as though it could somehow explain to him what the fuck was going on.
As calmly as possible, he went over what he knew. Alexa had begun distancing herself months ago, moving out when he hadn’t wanted her to. Then he’d found that damn earring here, in the library, after the dinner party, but there was no proof she’d overheard his conversation with Kramer. They’d searched her house and come up empty-handed, with no e
vidence she knew anything about the Golden Brotherhood. The break-in had spooked her, and she and her boyfriend, were staying with friends.
According to the tail Elijah had set on her, her daily routine was pretty much the same, with the addition of the boyfriend. She’d come when he’d asked her to, had brought the boyfriend when he’d asked her to, but something had been off tonight. And it bugged the ever-loving fuck out of him that he couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around what it was.
The boyfriend, maybe. Something about him wasn’t on the level, not at all. And he couldn’t shake the feeling he’d seen him somewhere before.
He didn’t know what Alexa knew, if she knew, or, if she did know, if that was the reason for how she’d been acting lately. He didn’t know who this boyfriend was. He still didn’t know where Crosby was.
And right now, what he didn’t know could be very, very bad for the Brotherhood. And what was bad for the Brotherhood was dangerous for everyone else.
Including that damn bartender. Including Alexa.
Chapter 15
How did it go?” Sean strode toward the front door as Zack and Alexa stepped inside, and although what Alexa really wanted was to slip her hand into Zack’s, she didn’t.
“Good, I think,” she said, toeing off her sandals and letting her purse fall to the floor. “I was able to place all the devices and activate them. Morales texted me to let me know everything was working.”
“We almost got busted at one point by one of the staff,” said Zack, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms.
“Oh yeah? What’d you do?”
Zack tipped his head at her, and she was impressed with how casual he was able to look. “I kissed her. Made it look like we’d snuck off to make out.”
Sean nodded approvingly. “Good call. Glad it went to plan.”
“I guess now we just wait?” asked Alexa, tugging off her denim jacket and hanging it in the closet.
“Morales will see what they can pick up with the bugs you planted, and yeah, we wait.”
Sierra padded into the hallway, a bowl of popcorn in her hands. She passed it to Sean and wrapped Alexa in a hug. “You okay?” Sierra pulled back and rubbed Alexa’s arm, and Alexa felt her throat thicken a little at Sierra’s concern.
Swallowing, she managed a small smile and a nod. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
“You know where you to find me if you want to talk or if you need anything. Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
With a final nod, Sierra took the popcorn back from Sean, who followed her into the living room.
A shard of guilt dug into Alexa, right between her ribs. She’d brought her drama, her danger, to their doorstep and was completely encroaching on their space, not to mention lying to them.
Zack touched her lightly on the arm, and she felt that touch from her shoulder to the tips of her fingers, as though her entire body was sensitized to him. “I need to go fit in a workout, even though it’s getting late.”
“Oh.” She felt oddly disappointed, although it wasn’t as if they could curl up on the couch together and watch a movie or something.
“The fight’s the day after tomorrow. You’re gonna come, right?”
She nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it,” she said, although the idea of watching him in that cage had her stomach tying itself into knots.
“I’ll be back, but not until later. After I work out, I need to swing by my place, pick up a few more things.”
“I wish I could see where you live. What’s it like?”
He smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. He glanced down the hallway, but the Walking Dead theme song echoed softly from the living room. “It’s a studio apartment on Los Feliz. It’s small, but it’s nice.” He leaned closer, his nose brushing hers. “God, I’ve thought of you in my bed so many times.”
His words sent both lust and fear spiraling through her, because as much as she wanted that too, she knew she’d have to figure out a way to tell him about her past and what it meant. About how it affected her. She wasn’t ready, but she knew she owed him the truth.
“I’ve thought about you too,” she whispered, wanting to say something true. “Even when you were with Taylor.”
That shard of guilt dug itself in deeper, and he slipped his fingers under her chin, tilting her face up. His eyes narrowed slightly, and it was as though he knew, as though he understood how she felt.
“Don’t do that, princess. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
She nodded, although she wasn’t too sure about that.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep tight.” He cupped her face and gave her a quick kiss, one that was far too fleeting and only left her wanting so much more. And then he was gone, the door closing behind him, leaving Alexa to head upstairs.
She closed her bedroom door quietly behind her and stripped her dress off, dropping it in a puddle of fabric on the floor. In her bra and panties, she moved in front of the floor-length mirror mounted on the back of the door. She studied herself, trying to look past the familiarities and see herself as Zack might. But all she could see was how different she was from Taylor.
They were both blond, but where Taylor’s hair was long, thick, and the color of honey, Alexa’s was baby-fine, just past her chin, and a silvery blond that looked almost white in harsh lighting. Taylor’s eyes were a light sky blue, another similarity, but Alexa’s had silver in them, dimming the blue. Where Taylor was tall, Alexa was petite. Where Taylor was lithe and toned, Alexa was soft and curvy.
Where Taylor was pretty much a sex goddess, Alexa was…unsure. Experienced, but in all the wrong ways. It wasn’t that she didn’t like sex. It was more that she didn’t know how to enjoy it. She’d spent so much time just enduring and detaching that she wasn’t sure how to proceed with Zack.
What if he found her lacking?
She closed her eyes, took a breath, and then opened them, looking again. She turned her head, examining the planes and angles of her face. The button nose and rounded cheeks. The soft, feminine slope of her shoulders. Reaching up, she skimmed her hands over her breasts, the pale pink of her nipples barely visible through her white bra. She teased her knuckles over her nipples, and they beaded beneath the lace. Cupping her breasts, she let herself feel the weight of them, imagining what Zack’s hands would feel like on them.
She let out a soft sigh as she imagined his hands on her and slid her hands lower, over her stomach, her hips, wondering when she’d get to feel his skin on hers. Surprised at just how much she wanted that. She wanted him with an unprecedented intensity. Before tonight she’d yearned for him. Pined. Lusted from afar. But now that she knew what was between them, she wanted. With each breath, each heartbeat, she wanted.
She traced her fingers over the lace of her purple thong, pulling at it slightly. The fabric slid against her, and she moaned softly.
She was wet, the crotch of her panties slightly darker, soaked through with her arousal. She moved the fabric over herself again, her hips moving of their own accord at the rasp of pleasure caused by that small brush.
From Zack. Because of Zack. For Zack.
She walked toward the bed, yanking off her bra and panties as she went. Slipping under the covers, she spread her legs and rested her hand on her aching pussy.
Pussy. Such a dirty word, one she didn’t really use, but right now, in this moment, it felt right.
She traced her fingers over her soft bare skin, teasing her lips apart. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this wet. She slipped a finger inside herself and slicked her wetness over her clit, gasping at the bolt of pleasure flaring up her spine at that one touch. Her eyelids were heavy, and they fell closed as she moved her fingers in a slow circle over her clit, aching warmth pooling deep inside her.
Spreading her legs open wider, she let herself sink into a fantasy, pushing everything else away. No Golden Brotherhood. No Taylor. No string of men she’d never wanted to sleep with. Just her and Zack, and the things she wante
d to do with him, and to him. The things she wanted him to do to her. The things she imagined she’d like, given the chance.
Words fell away, images flickering like a dirty montage as she rubbed her clit, firmer and faster now. Dropping to her knees in front of him and taking his cock into her mouth, his hands in her hair, her name falling from his lips. Zack’s mouth on her breasts, his hand between her legs, touching her just like this.
She changed her rhythm as sweat gathered along her hairline, switching from circles to firm diagonal strokes across her clit, and she could feel that twisting deep inside her as the pressure built. She’d never come with a man, only like this, and she wanted to know what it would feel like to come with Zack inside her.
The image of Zack climbing on top of her and sliding inside her tight, aching pussy almost pushed her over the edge, and she stroked faster. God, she was desperate for it, not just for release, but for him. Her clit swelled, and she wanted…more. It felt good, but it wasn’t nearly enough. She let out the breath she’d been holding as she imagined being spread out before Zack, her legs wide, her pussy dripping, her knees pressed to her shoulders as he filled her, over and over again. Stretching her and soothing the clenching ache deep inside her. His hands big and slightly rough on her hips as he stroked harder and deeper, getting caught up in the pleasure spreading between them like a wildfire.
So much that it almost hurt, she wanted to make him feel good. Wanted to please him. Wanted to be good for him.
She slid a finger along each side of her clit, pulling slightly as she rubbed, and she could smell how turned on she was. Sweat gathered behind her knees, under her breasts, in the crooks of her elbows, and she let her mind wander to beautifully dirty places. Zack fucking her from behind, his hand between her legs. At the idea of him pulling free and coming on her ass, marking her in such a primal way, she came, her hips bucking up off the bed, her legs shaking. Hot, heavy throbs beat through her body, her clit pulsing against her fingers, swollen and overly sensitive.
