by Karen Booth
Zane was showing off with the car, taking turns a little too fast, changing lanes when he had a whisper-thin margin of error and generally acting as though he didn’t care about repercussions. Allison sat back in the seat and allowed him his macho moment while she studied his grip on the steering wheel and counted the seconds until they would be at his place and those glorious hands of his could be all over her naked body.
The trip probably clocked in at under twenty minutes, but all of that anticipation made it feel as though it had been a cross-country trek. She’d never been to Zane’s place before, which was in one of the newest and most exclusive neighborhoods in town. The street was lined with stately houses, but Allison found Zane’s to be the most beautiful. Tucked away on top of a hill, a long stone driveway leading to it, the sprawling home was an oasis in this bustling town. She couldn’t help but think about how it was so much like Zane—on its own, standing apart, quietly magnificent.
He opened one of three garage bays and pulled the car inside. Two other gleaming sports cars and a motorcycle were already parked there. Zane had done well for himself with his business. That much was clear. He turned off the ignition, and they were both noticeably rushing to get inside. He opened the door for her, shut off his security system via a keypad and took her hand, marching through the mostly dark house. They traveled through an unbelievable kitchen, nearly three times the size of Allison’s back in LA, then down a central hall toward the back of the house. Allison was busy trying to look at everything—she wanted to soak up every bit of Zane’s tastes. She wanted to scrutinize the artwork and try to speculate about what had drawn him to the pieces he’d chosen. She wanted to do the same with furniture and paint colors. She wanted to know him inside and out.
“A tour would be nice,” she said when they’d reached a set of tall double doors at the end of the hall.
Zane pushed them open and flipped a light switch. “I know. Let’s start here.”
Allison stepped into the most stunning, jaw-dropping bedroom she’d ever seen, which was saying a lot since Zane was adjusting the dimmer to a level fit for seduction. The space was like something out of a magazine, with a soaring cathedral ceiling, a spacious seating area to one side with a modern charcoal-gray sectional sofa and a TV, and at the very center of the room, a gorgeously appointed bed. She took her chance to run her hand over the crisp white duvet, the threads silky beneath her touch. This room was nothing short of sheer perfection.
Zane came up behind her, gripping her shoulders and pressing his long frame against her back. He kissed her neck softly, bringing her body to a gentle boil. “Do you approve?”
Allison’s eyes drifted shut, luxuriating in the action of his lips as he skimmed them over the delicate spot beneath her ear. “Which part? The room or your amazing mouth?”
He spun her around and wrapped her up in his arms, drawing her flat against his chest and kissing her deeply. His tongue wasn’t playing—he was determined, consumed by a drive she could not see, but could certainly feel. “You were all I could think about last night. And this morning. And all day at work.”
“Really?” she asked, grinning to herself in the dark.
“Yes, really.”
“What were you thinking?” She’d shared her fantasy with him...if he’d taken the time to think up one about her, she wanted to hear it. Every last word.
“About you and the sarong.” He dug his fingers into her hair, gently tugging at her nape to encourage her to drop her head to one side.
“I’m listening. What else?”
His mouth, hot and wet, skated down the length of her neck, settling in the slope where it met her shoulder. One hand went to the zipper on her dress, slowly drawing it down while the other grabbed her backside. “I’m not as good at this as you are.”
“Something tells me you could be great at this if you just applied yourself.” She untucked his shirt and threaded her hands underneath it, exploring the landscape of his muscled back. “Don’t think too much about it. Just tell me what happens with me and you and the sarong.” To encourage him, she placed one hand flat on his crotch and rubbed his erection through his dress pants.
A raspy groan escaped his throat. “I untie it. I take it off.”
She unhooked his belt, unbuttoned his trousers and unzipped them. Slipping her hand down the front of his boxer briefs, she caressed his solid length with her fingers. “Good. What else?”
“In my fantasy, you’re already naked. No bathing suit.” With a pop, he undid the clasp of her bra, then pulled the dress and the rest of the ensemble forward, leaving her chest bare to him. “I love your breasts. They’re so perfect. Silky and velvety. I love the way they fit in my hands. So I do this.” He lowered his head, cupped both breasts with his hands and swirled his tongue around her nipple. Teasing. Flicking. Then sucking.
Allison’s eyes fluttered shut as white flames of lust seemed to envelop her thighs. She was so hot for him already. Having him tell her what he liked about her body was only heightening the experience. “That feels so good, Zane. You have no idea.”
He dropped to his knees, pulling her dress down to the floor. She kicked her heels off, and he sat back on his haunches, gazing up at her like she was a goddess. “You didn’t have these panties on in my fantasy, but I like them. They’re sexy.” He hooked his finger under the waistband of her lacy black undies, traveling from one hip to the other, just gently grazing her most delicate area at the center. “But they need to go.” He tugged them past her hips, leaving her to step out of them. Then he stood back up. “In my fantasy, you’re so wet for me.”
Allison thought she might melt into a puddle. She also knew she couldn’t take so little nakedness from him. Her fingers flew through the buttons of his shirt as he reached down between her legs, separating her delicate folds with his fingers.
“Yes. Exactly like this.” He rubbed her apex firmly in a circle, kissing her neck again, using his tongue to drive her wild. With every rotation of his hand, he was sending her toward her peak. Pushing her closer to the edge.
“I want you. There’s no hiding it.” It took every ounce of strength she had to push his pants to the floor, but she had to have him in her hand. She needed to even the score between them. She stroked firmly, from base to tip, and kissed his chest. “What comes next?”
“Then I make love to you in several gravity-defying positions.” He laughed against his lips. “I turned myself into quite the performer in this fantasy.”
She smiled, but she wanted to explore this idea. She wanted to know his steamiest thoughts and act on them. “Show me.”
“Really?” He ran his tongue along his lower lip, showing her his trepidation.
“Yes.” She nodded and looked him right in the eye, wanting him to know how serious she was.
“Okay, then.” He took her hand and led her over to the bedside table, where he opened a drawer and pulled out a box of condoms. He handed her the foil packet. “In my fantasy, you put it on for me.”
“Accuracy is very important in a fantasy.” She took her time, tearing it open, then carefully rolling it on, eliciting a groan of pleasure from Zane as she did it.
“Up against the wall.” She stepped to the side of the table, where there was an expanse of open space. She placed her back to the wall, and he reached down for one of her legs and hitched it over his hip.
Allison wrapped her calf around him and watched as he took his erection in his hand and positioned himself at her entrance. He drove about halfway inside, taking her breath away, then pulled her other leg up around him. Her body weight rested against the wall, but his hands cradled her backside. This angle was incredibly gratifying from the start—it let her sink deep down onto him, centering the pressure in the ideal spot. She rocked her hips forward and back, her entire body buzzing with pleasure. She was close. So close.
“Was it like this?” She dug her
fingers into his hair and kissed him, relishing the tension in his body right now—the flex of his biceps and forearms as he held her up and the tautness of his abs with every stroke.
“This is better,” he said. “You’re better in real life. The stuff that’s in my head doesn’t come close to the real you.” The kiss he laid on her then was one for the ages, intense and raw. Honest and sincere. It sent her body over the edge, the peak rattling her to her very core, shaking her physically and mentally. Zane followed right after, pressing her harder against the wall as he rode out the waves of pleasure.
For a moment, neither said a thing, breaths coming fast and heavy as they coiled themselves around each other tighter. A thought flashed in her head, and she dared to utter it. “The fantasy just isn’t enough anymore, Zane. I need this. So much more of this.”
* * *
Zane’s mind and body were reeling in the best possible way. It took every ounce of energy he had left to carry her over to the bed and set her down without dropping her. He was wonderfully spent.
He tossed aside the throw pillows littering the bed, then pulled back the duvet. Both a bit delirious, they found their way under the covers, immediately drawn to each other. Allison curled into his body and kissed his chest. He loved having her in his bed. As amazing as things had been on the island, this was different. The fantasy world had fallen away, but even framed by his everyday reality, being with Allison felt like a dream. Was he falling for her? The perpetual bachelor? His mom had certainly made a compelling case for his finally jettisoning those ways.
“You’re so amazing,” she muttered.
“You’re the amazing one.” The words came so fast. He didn’t even have to think about them. That was it—he really had fallen. He’d gone through life telling himself that he wouldn’t let it happen. He’d seen what it did to his parents when love fell apart. There was no way that risking that much pain could ever be worth it. But being here with Allison and knowing that his heart wanted nothing else made him realize that there was no way to build up an immunity to love. It had taken the right woman to show him that. The perfect woman. Allison. He caressed her naked back with his hand. “No argument?” He’d half expected her to dispute his claim that she was the amazing one. Instead, she was being incredibly still and quiet. He must have really sent her to the moon and back. She’d certainly done that for him.
“I’m thinking.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
He smiled in the dark. “Me, too.” So many thoughts were swirling around in his head, all of them surprisingly good. When had things ever been like that? No time in recent history, that was for sure.
“I need to tell you something.”
He’d been about to say the exact same thing, but she’d gotten to it first. “What is it?”
She drew in a breath so deep her entire body rose and fell in the cradle of his arm. “What I’m about to say... I just... I don’t want you to get upset. But I would understand if you did.” She rolled away from him and switched on the lamp on her side of the bed.
He squinted at the bright light. It got Zane’s attention, and not just because he was enjoying the view of her naked backside while she was turned away. He sat up in bed. “Okay.” Whatever she was about to say, he wanted to just get past it. He was tired of bad news and dire circumstances keeping him from happiness. Whatever it was, they would find a way around it. “Please. Just tell me. I can take it.”
She grabbed a corner of the comforter and covered herself up. “First off, the job I’m working on here in Falling Brook is going really well. They’ve put me on retainer for the next month, and if things go the way I think they will, it will become permanent. They would be a big enough client for me to move back to Falling Brook. To stay here in town.”
The relief Zane felt was immense. It was like someone had been standing on his chest and they’d finally stepped off. “That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you.” In truth, he was happy for them. Long distance would have been terrible and certainly no way for them to truly move forward together. Now he had one less thing to worry about.
“Thanks. I’m really happy about it, too. I’ve worked really hard for this.”
Now that he’d had a minute for this news to sink in, his brain was starting to catch up. Falling Brook was a small town. Most businesspeople who lived here were CEOs or senior management for big corporations in the city, not local operations like Zane’s. But who could it be? “And this company is based right here in town?”
“Yes, but hold on a minute. Before I get to that, I need to tell you that I realized tonight that I can’t make the decision to stay here in Falling Brook until we have a discussion about us. And I don’t want to hit you with some big heavy talk right now, especially after we just had totally mind-blowing sex, but I can’t move back here and see you on the street or at the Java Hut and not be able to walk up to you and hug you. Kiss you and hold your hand. I’ve done that before and it nearly killed me.”
Now he was starting to see where she was coming from, and he was totally on board. In fact, he couldn’t ignore the happy feeling in his heart. She wanted him and he wanted her, for more than just sex. “So we need to come clean with Scott. I completely agree. We can either do it together or if you want, I can tell him on my own and then you guys can have your own talk. But no matter what, I think we need to make it clear that this isn’t us asking him for permission. In the end, we’re our own people. We make our own decisions. We have to do what’s right for us.”
She dropped her shoulders, seeming frustrated. “Yes. I completely agree. That is all true and that does need to happen. Right away. But first, there’s one more thing I have to tell you.”
An unsettling quiet filled the room. “Is this the thing that might upset me?”
“Yes.”
His heart hammered. “Please tell me. Say it and get it over with.”
“The client is Black Crescent.”
The blood drained from Zane’s face so fast that it made him sick. This couldn’t possibly be happening. No. Absolutely not. How could what was starting to work out perfectly take such a nightmarish turn? “You’re working for Black Crescent.” He sat up a little straighter in bed. “You, quite possibly the most decent and upstanding person I know, are working for the most evil and vile company imaginable. You’re working for the devil. Why would you do that?” With every word out of his mouth, his disgust grew. “Why would you even entertain the idea?”
“Zane, come on. Isn’t that all a little overdramatic?”
Zane had been trying to keep himself in check, but that word pissed him off. He’d had it lobbed at him before, and he disliked it greatly. He threw back the covers and scrambled out of bed, plucking his underwear from the floor and putting them back on. He was so full of anger right now it felt like it might bubble up out the top of his head. He had to move to keep his mind straight. And he couldn’t be naked in bed with Allison anymore. “Is that why you said all of that stuff to me on the island about letting it go? Is that why you were being so secretive about your work calls?” He ran his hand through his hair, pacing back and forth across his bedroom floor. “Does that Ryan guy work for BC? No wonder I had a bad feeling about him.”
“Ryan is a candidate to take Joshua Lowell’s place.”
Zane’s stomach turned. “So the guy you were talking to while we were on the island is going to be the new Josh Lowell? That’s just awesome.” He sincerely hoped the sarcasm was hitting home for her. He didn’t want to be a jerk again, but he needed her to understand how hurt he was right now.
“Maybe. He’s just interviewing right now. Actually, you should meet him. He’s a really nice guy. I think you would like him. I think you would like all of the people who are interviewing for the job.”
Zane made a point of looking at her as though she’d lost her mind. He didn’t want to ask
the question out loud, but he wasn’t afraid to suggest it by other means. This entire line of thinking was so off base.
“Honestly,” she continued. “I think you would really like Josh if you got to know him. In a lot of ways, he’s just as much a victim of his dad as you are. None of what happened was your fault, but it wasn’t his fault, either.”
And to think, Zane had been so sure that Allison understood him. Now he knew that he was wrong. So very wrong. “That’s okay. I think I’ll skip the part of this scenario where you whip up some dream of Josh Lowell and me becoming best friends. I realize that it’s your special talent to come up with fantasies.”
“That’s really mean. And completely uncalled for.”
“It’s the truth.”
Allison grumbled under her breath. “You know what, Zane? Screw you. That’s not what I was suggesting. All I’m saying is that I think you need to take a deep breath, try to take a step back and look at this from my perspective. You can’t undo what happened, okay? You need to let it go. I’m sorry, but you do. At some point, you’re going to have to get over this or you’re just going to be stuck forever.”
Zane disliked a lot of things, but he despised it when anyone told him to get over Black Crescent. His entire life had been ground into the dirt by the greed of the Lowell family. He and his parents had been treated like they were nothing, taken for their family fortune and cast aside, with absolutely zero repercussions for those who committed the crime. That injustice sat in the depths of his belly every day. He couldn’t “just get over it.” It was impossible. “I’m not talking about this anymore. You were there for the fallout. You know how badly I was hurt. You saw it firsthand. I not only shouldn’t have to explain it to you, I won’t.”
