But she refused to become a whiny, needy female. She’d survived the past four years without a man and she could do it again.
“It’s easy enough to live without something you never had. But once you’ve had it, you definitely miss it,” she mumbled.
“Talking to yourself again?” Cristal asked as she flopped down on the couch beside her.
“Nope. It wouldn’t do any good,” she replied.
“You’ve been hiding from me,” Cristal accused.
“Not hiding,” Zoie responded. “Just busy working.”
“Uh-huh. So why didn’t you tell me that you and Duncan broke up again?”
Zoie lifted her head to meet her friend’s gaze. “The gossip mill isn’t that good. Who’d you hear that from?”
“Your mom,” Cristal replied sympathetically.
“I’m not surprised. She’s thrilled.”
“You’d be surprised,” Cristal said. “She’s worried about you. Now that I’ve seen you I can see why. What happened?”
“I don’t even know how to explain it. Everything was wonderful.” Zoie exhaled heavily. “Until I realized I’m still in love with him, yet, I don’t trust him.”
“Oh-oh.”
“That sums it up perfectly.”
Being a wonderfully true friend, Cristal offered the perfect response. “He’s an idiot.”
“You will get no disagreement from me,” Zoie stated. “But he’s my idiot.”
“You’ll get no argument from me,” Cristal said. “So, what are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know. I asked him for some space.”
“How’s that going?”
“I miss him,” she retorted. “Does that count?”
Cristal stared off into space for several minutes before looking back over at her. “It’s probably safe to say that if you’re missing him, then he’s missing you.”
“I can’t tell. The few times he’s come to pick Karson up at the house, he’s been all business. I barely get a hello and goodbye before they’re off.” Zoie shook her head as stared at her friend. “Love’s not for the weak, is it?”
Cristal shook her head. “No. But it’s worth it, if you hang in there.”
“I don’t know, Cris.” Zoie leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “When Duncan and I first got involved I knew it was a risk. Then I fell in love. Unfortunately, with a man who couldn’t love me in return. So I let him go. Then he came back and hard as I tried not to, I fell under his spell again.”
A hard thing to admit. Her parents were very upset at Duncan. Her father had taken up loading and unloading the shotgun in the evening after they made it home from the store. But her mother took the cake. She’d actually resorted to trying to laying out advertisements for the local speed dating group in town. Then there were the whispers of the customers that came into the store. Paranoia made her feel as if everyone in Three Points was talking about her and Duncan.
And despite all of it, she didn’t care. All she knew was that her evenings wasn’t as much fun if she couldn’t share everything about her day with Duncan. Her afternoons dragged on endlessly because Duncan wasn’t there to pick her up with Karson in tow. Her evenings were sad because she wasn’t reading bedtime stories to Karson while Duncan made all of the funny sounds in accompaniment.
But the nights were the worst. Alone in the dark, she drowned in memories of that nights that she was able to sneak with Duncan. She craved every touch, every caress, every kiss. What it felt like to reach her hand out to find him right there. She recalled his heartbeat throughout the night, his arms closing around her and his body sliding deep into the recess of hers.
Cristal suddenly blurred and Zoie blinked rapidly to keep the threatening tears at bay. “He makes me furious, Cri,” Zoie whispered sadly. “We could have had it all, if hadn’t hurt me.”
Cristal leaned over and wrapped her arm around Zoie. “Who says you can’t? Now we both know I’m not Duncan’s biggest fan, but I even I can admit when I’m wrong. I’ve seen the change in him, Zoie. Perhaps if you weren’t so caught up in the past you could see it, too.”
Cristal patted her reassuringly on the back. “The way I see it, you have two choices. You can forgive Duncan and take a chance on future better than you could ever imagine. Or you can call it quits and spend the rest of your life wondering about what could have been.”
Chapter Eleven
Duncan did his best not to pace as he waited for Zoie to show up. When she’d called unexpectedly and asked to talk he’d been thrilled. After he’d dropped Karson off last weekend he’d been a nervous wreck. He’d seen the redness in her eyes, a sure sign that she’d been crying.
Instead of pulling her into his arms like he’d wanted to, he’d kissed his son goodbye, then forced himself to walk away. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how he’d done it the first time. But she was here, on his turf and he wasn’t going to let her go without a fight.
A soft knock drew him from his inner musings. He steadied himself as he walked over to the door and opened it.
“Thank you for letting me come over tonight," she murmured
“You know you’re welcome here anytime you want to stop by.”
“I think Ross would have something to say about that,” she replied with a wry grin.
He stepped back and allowed her to enter his brothers’ home. It was his temporary residence while he waited for his own to be built.
“He doesn’t mind. You know he’s always liked you.”
“I know, but lucky for you I like you more,” she teased.
He closed the door as he let her words sink in. “Do you?”
“Yes. I like Ross, but I love you,” she retorted and impulsively walked toward him. Reaching up, she pulled his head down close and kissed him.
Hard.
Duncan did his best not to grab her. To drag her close to him and hold her so tightly against him that she would never be able to walk away again. It had been miserable, staying away from her for three weeks. But it had been necessary.
He had thought it would be one of best ways for her to figure out if she wanted to be with him. But it had been a dumb idea. Nothing was resolved. Yes, she was kissing him. But why?
Zoie finally release him and stared up at him. He gazed down into the amber depths and felt his soul merge with hers.
The corners of her mouth curved upward as she reached up and cupped his cheek.
“I love you,” she whispered, speaking directly to his heart. “Enough to forgive and try to move forward.”
A cautious smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “And to trust me?”
She nodded. “I already do. I just didn’t realize it. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have let you in Karson’s life without putting up more of a fight.” She smiled. “You’re a good man, Duncan. I don’t want to change you. I don’t want to suffocate you. All I want is for you to love me and Karson.”
His chest constricted. Pride and love surged within him as he reached for her. “No problem, sweetheart,” he said, through a suddenly parched throat. “Now, there’s something I need to say to you. I want you to hear me all the way out before you respond.”
Staring deeply into her eyes, he spoke softly. “When I first met you, I didn't want to love you, Zoie. But now I don't want to live without loving you.” He stroked his fingertips down the column of her cheek. “I meant it when I said I came back to build a future with you. I won’t rush you, but at some point I expect for you me marry me and let me love you forever.”
Tears filled her eyes. He held his breath, waiting. When she nodded, he pulled her into his arms and lowered his head to claim a kiss meant to fill her soul.
Several heartbeats later, he lifted his head. “Make love with me,” he boldly asked, his deep voice hoarse, his beautiful eyes pleading.
His hands went to the snap on her jeans, waiting for her to give assent. When she remained quiet, his heart began to race.
“S
ay something, sweetheart.”
* * *
Zoie was so full of emotion she couldn’t speak. The man she cared for stood before her as a man asking her to allow him into her arms.
And damned if she would say no. She opened her arms, inviting him to come to her.
With her silent acquiescence, a change immediately came over him. He swept her up into his arms.
Instinctively, she stiffened. “Duncan, put me down. I’m too heavy.”
Instead of doing as she asked, his hold on her tightened and he carried her down the hall to the bedroom that must have been his. He made his way over to the bed and placed her gently onto it.
“I’m going to say this one last time and then we’ll never speak of it again. I love every inch of you just the way it is, but if you want to lose weight, I’ll support you. If you don’t, I’ll support you. What I won’t put up with is you downing yourself about it. Do we have a deal?”
Tears welled up in her eyes at his heartfelt words. “Yes,” she whispered.
“Good. Now where were we?”
Before she could draw her next breath he reached for her again. She clutched at him in returned and they grabbed at one another, buttons popping, shoes kicked off and clothes flying everywhere in their haste to bare their bodies, wanting nothing between them but hot skin.
He paused for protection, then with a feral growl of need and arousal he pushed between her legs, shoving them high, forcing them wide apart and planted her feet on the bed. Then the hot knob of his shaft press against the entry of her sex, waiting for approval before entering. Her gaze flew to his, measuring his heavy regard.
“Take me inside of you, baby.”
She’d expected him to forge ahead. So his hesitancy surprised her.
She held his gaze as she reached one hand down and lightly toyed with his twin, silky-skinned spheres, teasing them, rolling them around her hand in delight.
“Oh God, baby,” he laughingly groaned. “This is going to be hard enough without you playing with my balls.”
“You know I’ve always been fond of them,” she teased.
With one final caress, she allowed his heavy sac to gently fall back against his thighs. She circled the base of his penis and wrapped her hand around its thick circumference. Her sex tightened in response and her heart ached at how much she anticipated felling all of his delicious dick imbedded deep inside her.
“Yes, sweetheart. Just like that,” he said as she guided his rock hard shaft inside of her body, her cream soaking him even as he pressed further inside. They both groaned in delight when she instantly latched on and gripped him. She bit her lip to keep from crying out in pleasure.
He gripped her hips and forced her body to still in order to take all of him in. It left her unable to hold back her cry as he fed her the rest of his shaft, the felling so wonderful, so hard…
“Oh God, Duncan…oh God, oh God…” she chanted over and over, her voice unsteady.
He stopped, a crease of worry knotting his brow. “Are you okay? Am I hurting you, baby?”
She squirmed around his massive shaft. Yes, there was some discomfort, but there was no way she was going to allow him to stop.
“It’s good, Duncan. I promise.”
He didn’t wait for her to change her mind. He drove his shaft home, so far inside of her she felt the tip brush against her womb.
“Wrap your legs around me,” he directed.
She clasped her legs around his narrow waist and grabbed onto his forearms, digging into his flesh as he stretched her wide, and began to move.
And oh God, when the man moved…he moved.
He held on to her hips and leaned down on top of her, pinning her beneath his powerful body and he fucked her hard.
When he leveled himself away from her, she experienced a moment of panic, thinking he was going to stop. Instead, he lifted her leg and dug into her again, knifing in and out with hot easy glides, moving her body the way he wanted, positioning her to achieve mutual satisfaction. On and on he thrust inside of her, hammering into her; nothing was heard but their heavy breathing and the wet sound of bodies slapping, harsh groans and sighs of pleasure.
When he ran one hand down her trembling thighs and captured her clit between his thumb and forefinger, pinching the turgid tip, she blew out a harsh strangled breath. Her head tossed back and forth on the pillow. She slid closer to him and gasped when he rotated his hips, corkscrewing his dick inside of her, and jammed into her body.
She began to move. She had to. If she didn’t, she would have lost her mind.
“No…don’t move yet…you feel so good on my dick. If you move, this will be over with, before we both want it to be,” he pleaded huskily.
“Please, Duncan, I need to move, I can’t take it—”
“You can,” he said and covered her mouth with his, shoving his tongue deep into the recesses of her mouth, effectively shutting her up.
His strokes were slow, deliberate and forced her to take all of him, not sacrificing one scorching inch as he fucked her.
“You feel so good wrapped around me like this, so wet and good,” he murmured, releasing my mouth. “Do you like the way I feel?”
“Yes!” she panted. “Yes, Duncan, it feels so good.”
She cried out harshly when he reached a hand between them and spread the lips of her vagina wide, around his straining dick, and spread her own lubricant up and over her clit.
The hot strokes of his rod, the sweet massage of his hand, sent her over the edge in minutes, and she cried out as he continued to plunge into her body, loving her in a way she hadn’t experienced in years.
Her orgasm triggered his and within minutes he joined her in the release. He shouted hoarsely and thrust into her one last time. She could feel the hot stream of his seed fill the latex, before he collapsed on top of her.
A short time later he moved away and got rid of the protection before pulling her into his arms again. She lost track of how long they lay there.
“Thank you, Zoie,” he whispered.
“For what?”
“Giving me another chance to get it right. I promise you won’t regret it.”
A grin appeared on her face at his heartfelt words. Six weeks ago, she wouldn’t have believed the words he utter. Now she had no doubt that he not only meant them, but that he’d live up to them.
Chapter Twelve
About the Author
Stephanie Morris enjoys creating a story that combines a sensual energy with a captivating storyline. Sometimes her heroines have an edgier persona to them and sometimes they are of a softer essence. But all the time, her heroines are like real women, just trying to make a living and keep on going no matter what challenges life brings them. She believes in romance and happy-ever-afters. In Stephanie’s opinion, there is nothing like curling up with a good book that you can’t put down, and she is addicted to writing them.
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Stranded with the Wolf
Marie Mason
About the Story
Who wouldn’t want to be… stranded with a wolf?
When the snow started to fall in Chicago, everyone in Sara Allen’s office building quickly hurried home. Everyone except Sara and her boss, Jarod McCall. Why? Because her boss was CEO of McCall Holdings and a dominant alpha who made his own rules.
Even if it meant being stranded until the city shoveled its way out from under a record snowfall. As the hours past, Sara became more than upset with Jarod. He’d stranded her in a building with little food, a heating system that powered down on the weekends… and with him! How could she keep her feelings to herself when he kept touching her… kissing her… loving her?
Jarod was a big man with big appetites, and he wanted his curvy assistant to satisfy them.
Sara might think he was an inconsiderate jackass, but he knew exactly what he was doing… stranding her with the wolf.
Chapter One
CRAP ON A cracker.
Sara cursed as she took her mug of hot chocolate from the microwave. Someone had left the television in the employee lounge tuned to The Weather Channel. Was it a requirement that the women they hired had to be blonde-headed and drop-dead gorgeous? Because that was the only type she ever saw giving the forecast. Today’s weather girl was pointing to the map of the United Stated projected behind her on the green screen. The Midwest was almost completely covered in white, indicating snow and more snow.
A blizzard was headed directly towards downtown Chicago.
Shit.
This was not the time to soften her cursing she realized.
Oh, don’t get her wrong, originally being from the southeast, Sara usually got as excited as a fifth grader when it came to snow, but not this year. One, she wasn’t a fifth grader so she never got a snow day anymore and two, this was the second such storm to hit the city in less than two weeks. It seemed as if they had barely dug out of the last one and Mother Nature was about to drop even more on their heads.
Trying to get to and from work in the knee deep—sometimes waist deep—white stuff took away some of the sparkle and magic she usually felt when it snowed.
As she watched the forecast, another woman walked into the lounge and Sara called out a greeting, “Good morning, Brenda.”
The other woman answered with a smile. Sara loved working for McCall Holdings. The people were friendly, she made an excellent salary as an executive assistant, and her office was equipped with the latest, state-of-the-art technology—some of which she thought had too many bells and whistles, but that was just her opinion.
Covet the Curves: a Romance Collections Anthology Page 48
