Zenith's Promise (The Zenith Series Book 7)

by Leanne Davis

  Gripping her dress, he yanked it unceremoniously over her head. “Now, shall we partake of some more delightful distractions?”

  She wiggled her body to get the dress free and stood naked before him. Her nipples pointed right up as if they were trying to get his attention. Like little compass points aiming due north. Without waiting, Ross slid his hands up her back and pushed her forward as he set his mouth on one of the titillating tips. It felt so sharp, pointed and soft. He groaned as he savored the taste of her, which remained in his mouth. Her nipples grew more rigid as Ross alternated from the first one to the next. Her hands gripped the outside of his arms as she went weak. “Oh, God, Ross… I can’t… I can’t handle much more of this…”

  She could. Ross had plenty of faith in his tough, little nymph.

  He didn’t stop despite her tugging, pulling and almost ripping his hair out as she pressed his face on her. Eventually, he released each wet, hard tip to come up and suck on her mouth. She stared at him for a split second before he set his mouth on hers and literally devoured her. There was no slowness, no easing, just pure consumption. Eating. Dominating. Needing each other. Wet lips and tongues tangled and danced and fucked each other. She groaned and let her hands destroy his hair. His hands tangled into her hair too. He was working her up again by starting with her head.

  He grinned evilly and wickedly to himself. She’d never forget that either. She would always remember this. He’d see to that. He pulled her hair around his fist and used it to gently tug her neck and hold her face where he wanted her. He leaned over her, using his leverage above her to dive as far as he could inside her mouth. Her tongue found his and he almost finished the performance inside his pants. It was all too much. Her body. Her sighs and moans. All the wonderful places he touched and stoked with his fingers and lips and tongue and mouth. He was on a sensory overload and feared he would freaking come like a virgin. He was so turned on.

  Clumsily, he got his pants undone and she kissed and licked his mouth while he did so. He blindly groped free of them and next came his shirt. Her hands explored his shoulders, going down his arms, and around his back. She caressed his pecs and moved down to his stomach. His body tightened and she grabbed his long, hard erection. Needing her, no, it was dying for her.

  He grabbed her and lifted her up, fully prepared to shove his hot, steel inside her when she gasped out. “Condoms?”

  Fuck. Talk about annoying things. “Upstairs.”

  With a frustrated look from him, Jody tilted her head back. Sighing, he hauled her against his body and let her slide onto her bare feet. With a low grumble, he grabbed her hands and pulled her with him up the stairs to the loft. He didn’t let her go, dragging her to the nightstand, and pulling out the box of latex prophylactics. “There.”

  She smiled. “No reason to pout about it. I’ll put it on you.”

  Using her small hand, she set it on the center of his chest and shoved him to the unmade bed. He flopped down and sat, his erection straining up toward her. She made an entirely sensual show of unwrapping the condom and slowly taking it between her finger and thumb before sliding it down his long shaft, touching him first and even cuddling his balls with both of her hands. He shut his eyes at the lovely sensations her small, efficient hands provided.

  He gripped her bare ass, kneading and playing with the round cheeks. She sighed. Then she wrapped her hands around his shoulders and set a knee on one side of him and then the other. Her wet, steaming bottom then rubbed his straining tip. She seated herself above him. Fully. Fast. She took him inside her and smiled with joy and glee when he fully entered her.

  “Hard,” she whispered into his ear. “Please, do it as hard as you can.”

  Music. That’s what her words were to Ross’s ears.

  He did it very hard. He surprised her when he took her waist in his hands and moved her up before smashing her down hard on him as he raised his hips. Her head jerked back and her laugh was spontaneous and uninhibited.

  She didn’t wait for him to move her. She jerked her hips and tilted them differently over him and from there, it was a battle for power. Sensual, exciting, and unexpected. They moved and twisted and bumped and ground. The sounds they made when they moved and writhed and shared moments of ecstasy went on and on. Closely interlocked, she was clutching him and he smashed inside her and held her still to do it over and over until she finally quit moving. Stretching out beneath him, her hands curled into fists and her entire body took him away as she seemed to unravel under him. He did it over again and she screeched and cried and prayed. It was glorious.

  Seemed endless.

  And miraculous.

  Could she still move? She had to wonder. Ross collapsed on top of her, his big body completely smothering her, and he was not careful to spare her from it. His face was smashed into the pillow beside her and his breathing was sharp and fast. Like hers. Their slick bodies glistened with salty sweat and felt clammy together. The room smelled. She smelled too… of them.

  Wow. There were no words to describe the things Ross did to her and a foggy, sensual memory of unprecedented ecstasy that was totally amazing and glorious made her smile.

  But now he was on top of her and that was even better. It turned out to be better than any sex she even imagined having. They didn’t just fit well, they fought and struggled with each other, giving and taking like a competition. Everything two bodies could do together was what they took and gave to each other.

  Who knew sex could be so great with Ross?

  The most apathetic man she ever met knew all about her body and how to make her feel those delights? Oh, all those things. She was so sated her body felt like soft rubber.

  Placing her hands on the bare plane of his back, Jody felt odd to be taking the simple liberty. Never mind all the liberties he took with her. Directly. Without any preamble or buildup. Jody never had a man go after her like that. Take and take… and give so generously. To her. For her. About her. From Ross. The self-proclaimed asshole? How could that be? None of it fit. She rubbed him.

  Feeling him, she was loving how nice he felt.

  What now?

  Countless pickups from bars happened in her early twenties and she never stayed over night. She never took guys to her place either. The constant presence of security never allowed her to worry about her safety. But now? Good lord. Bar hookups were relegated to relics of her past. She felt too rusty. And her heart kept interfering now.

  She usually understood the difference between casual sex, which offered a wonderful release, and sex with baggage, which was when her feelings entered the equation. That only happened twice. Only twice did Jody experience what people refer to as a traditional boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. They lasted for a few months, and she ended them. The guys were both too clingy. Too needy. Not good enough for her. She had her reasons. Being resolute, she never looked back.

  Now? Here she was with a man she never expected to get along with. Lacking her usual defenses, she wasn’t sure how she felt about him now.

  But maybe she wouldn’t leave this time.

  She trailed her light fingertips over his back, going along his spine, rubbing the bump of his shoulder blades, from one side to the next, swooping down the deep indentation of his lower back to his spine and back up again. His body shuddered under her touch. She was pretty sure he liked it. In fact, he stilled as if he feared she’d stop if he moved. Or was she reading too much into her encounter with the too handsome, too insecure, blustering jerk whom she also found something new and different with? This was not at all usual.

  Now, what words to use? She needed the right ones. She had to strike the right tone. Which was… what? Casual and fun? Interesting and intriguing? Special? Mind-blowing? Physically, duh. She should go with that. But wasn’t it something more?

  No. Yes. Why the indecision? She wasn’t usually so wishy-washy. What to do next?

  “Ross?”

  “Jody?”

  She smiled and something warm
filled her. He copied her unsure, inquiring tone. It was cute and welcoming so she hoped he was amused and not annoyed or filled with regret. If he chose to say, get out, slut, I’m done with you, was that what she feared? Kind of. It would hurt. Even though such doubts rarely afflicted Jody.

  She had them now. Stoked by this man. But why? Puzzled, she rubbed him absently.

  “I can’t breathe very well.”

  He lifted himself off her and she released him from her arms. “Grow into a full-sized person and it won’t be so hard.”

  “You didn’t complain downstairs.”

  He choked on a laugh. “Do you mean that figuratively or literally?”

  She realized what he meant and slapped his back. “I meant downstairs from this loft.”

  “Right. No, I don’t mind. It’s like sleeping with an elf. We all have our fetishes.” He tickled her side and she almost forgave his crude words. Unsure of his reaction, and wondering if his crude words, casual attitude and soft tickle meant anything, she all but curled into him.

  “I am no one’s fetish.”

  “You could be mine,” he said softly as he rolled onto his side. She stared at him because his tone was so unusual. It almost sounded sincere. Genuine. For real. But his words were double-edged even if she was sure he didn’t mean for them to be. She could be a fetish was what he meant. But she could be his was kind of what she wished he said and meant.

  Oh, no. Jody wasn’t into belonging to another person. Nope. It was so archaic. Silly. Possessing her was impossible. She was a living, breathing woman. She refused to be owned, even if someone just used those words metaphorically. His sounded… well, it made her stupid heart flip-flop.

  Stay dead, my stupid heart, she ordered herself. Reacting to Ross was fodder for heartbreak, which she planned to avoid.

  “Short people aren’t fetishes. Just like men who desire fat women. Women are humans. Living beings. Not things. Being fat is just part of them and being short is part of me. You can’t make it into a sexual thing.”

  “I could move you into any position I wanted to. And you can’t deny that.” He smiled. “You are quite politically correct at all times, aren’t you?”

  “I was raised to be strong and caring, and to speak up when things are wrong. People who throw out the term “politically correct” with so much disdain for it, really just object when society moves past some old way of saying things. The way things have always been. When duh, society always moves on. It has to or it dies. Things that were acceptable once eventually change and morph and that’s just the way of it. Sometimes, it’s as simple as just don’t be an asshole. That’s as deep as I find it.”

  He blinked and seemed groggy. “Your logic probably holds up, but I can’t think right now.” He shook his head. “Your energy, as always, is endless…”

  “Why?” She tilted her head.

  “Didn’t you feel the earth move just now? I’m still reeling from it.”

  “Oh.” She blinked in surprise as she looked up at him. She never expected so much honesty for him to admit this was something huge to him too. “Yes. It was. It is. Yes.”

  She looked at him. His face was buried in the pillow most likely to avoid her probing stare. “You mean because of our all-consuming orgasms. Not because of us.”

  “It was us who had them, so of course I meant us.”

  “You should be a lot more careful how you say things.”

  He shuffled around and her gaze wandered lower. In the heat of it all, she didn’t have a chance to look at him. Gorgeous. The dark hue to his skin made him tan and golden rather than pale white. A sprinkling of hair covered his chest, his groin and his legs. Toned muscles defined his shape and the dips of his skin. He was well-proportioned. Like a Greek statue.

  He let out a strangled laugh. “I don’t have to be careful with you. You know what I am. You won’t take my words the wrong way and you’re not going to fall in love with me. I can admit sex with you was incredible and now I can’t even think straight.”

  While all that was true, it crushed her to think she couldn’t feel anything for him because he already decided she couldn’t? She was stabbing herself in the foot, as she warned him so many times not to do, by even letting herself contemplate real feelings for this man. Beyond maybe friendship, they had hot, molten sex.

  “It was incredible. But you still need to watch the way you talk and remember to use condoms. You almost forgot downstairs. You can’t do that. You’ll end up getting trapped by a groupie and I can’t believe you would take a chance on such a stupid thing.”

  “I don’t usually. It was that… wow. But okay, so now you’re my advisor on men’s health?”

  “Just reminding you when and if you get to play for women, they will come after you. I’d watch it if I were you. Be careful.”

  “And how will that make you feel?”

  “Fine. Why wouldn’t it?”

  “See? No danger of ridiculous feelings. You’re not like any other woman. That’s what I was trying to say at the bar.”

  “Right.” Why did her tone sound hollow and the word feel so sharp in her heart? She did have a squishy, sentimental heart, after all. In fact, hers was a big, generous one. She was just clear and sure of the way she spoke and her sexuality, but she never divorced her heart from sex as if it were always and forever.

  But Ross did and he would from her. Duh. She knew that. How could she doubt it?

  Realizing her mistake, she had to steel her feelings toward this man. It was her choice to have cracks in her heart, not his. He’s not at all the guy she would have chosen for herself. Sure, maybe just for sex, but not to get her feelings hurt over his not wanting her to feel anything for him. Not even acknowledging that she could have them. But then, no. No. Not with Ross.

  “So we’re not going to get weird and awkward now? I thought you might get all cold and mean and confused.”

  “No. We understand each other. And that is fantastic. The best. So, it’s the opposite of being mad. That’s what I do when the woman doesn’t get me. Starting with the feelings and the emotional asks and demands of me that I know I can’t do. I know you won’t do that, so we can just be…”

  “Like two dudes getting each other. Fist-bump me there, dude.” Sarcastically, she held up her fist.

  He suddenly grabbed her and tucked her under him. “I will bump you, dude, but not with my fucking fist.” He grinned boyishly. She laughed and wanted to slap him. He was so cute when he got like this. Smiling down at her with a menacing gleam in his eyes. She didn’t expect so much playfulness or humor. It took the awkward out of anything. She feared he would get angry and tell her to get out next, which was not unheard of after casual sex. But no, he was nice, even joking. She felt welcome here.

  But the thought she might be drowning in unexpected disappointment made her squelch that idea. Now.

  “Damn it. Condom. What is wrong with you?” She yelled at him. He paused over her, still grinning, before he leaned back and let her go.

  “I’m getting it. Just having some fun with you.”

  “Well, an unplanned pregnancy does not sound like fun to me.”

  “Don’t you use birth control?”

  “I do. But I also always use condoms. Only condoms stop STD’s. Seriously. Quit being such an idiot about them. Use them. Always.”

  He adjusted one and put it on himself. “Okay, now can I fist-bump you?”

  She shouldn’t have laughed and her body shouldn’t have freaking tightened in her gut with desire for him after such a lame come-on. No work. No foreplay. Just kind of a gross pun and her body was like, all right dude, do me!

  “Fine. Yes.”

  His smile disappeared. “I don’t do fine. Maybe we should start over here, I do spectacular.”

  She sighed and turned her head to the side, lifting her hips and sliding them alongside him. She wanted him and baited him. “No. I want you. Now. It annoys me. But there it is…”

  He stared down at her. �
�So, you want me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Just making sure. No apologies or take backs or having sex just to appease me. You gotta want me.”

  “I do.” Her heart lifted and her breath shook as he dipped back into her. This time, he was gentle, slow, and easy when he slid inside her. His arms shifted and he pressed her completely against his chest. She was being cradled under him as his gaze stayed on hers and he pulled out of her so slowly and gently, it was like a long, sensual hug. His gaze pinned her, overwhelming her while staring into the turbulent depths of his eyes. For what he didn’t say, there was pain in his gaze. Sadness. Loneliness. What else? So much. Jody hated when she felt the need to cuddle him close and soothe his pain away. It was in a nurturing way, not just sexually. No. She didn’t want to be that. Not with this man.

  He’d fold her into his life and then shuck her aside like a pile of dirty sheets. She had no illusions.

  He held her as he dropped his mouth on hers in a gentle, soft kiss and their bodies shook and moved together again and, after only barely leaving her, he re-entered her. The movement of their bodies in unison created an entirely unique and different cooperation that built up, slowly and surely, until he was gripping her tightly as she came in his arms and he smothered her soft, breathy cries with his mouth.

  It was indescribable. Almost like making love. They were loving each other.

  No. God, she had to stop associating her emotions with his super hot and totally different sex. That’s all it was. That’s all it could be. That’s all it would ever be.

  When they both descended from the high of their mutual climax, he released her and she finally rolled away. She went to clean up in his bathroom and bolted.

  “All right. I have to go now. Got a family thing tomorrow. We’ll do this again soon,” she muttered as she moved towards the stairs, clutching the towel she took from the bathroom to cover her nudity. All her clothes were downstairs.

  He sat up blinking. “You’re going now?”