It didn’t occur to Audrey not to obey. She wanted whatever he offered.
She gasped as he aimed the hot spray between her legs, a direct hit upon her already-sensitive flesh. He knelt before her and captured her mouth for a long, deep kiss as he continued to caress her with pulsing water. Audrey couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t even kiss him back.
“Zach, I can’t-”
“Yes, you can.” He kissed behind her ear, then tugged her earlobe into his mouth.
“It’s too much.”
“No. Let it go, dollface.”
She couldn’t stand it anymore. She pushed at his chest, pushed at the hand holding the nozzle. Too much, too much, too—
He caught her scream of passion with his mouth as the climax lifted her off the seat. She was mid-orgasm as he picked her up and lowered her onto his massive erection. Her legs encircled his waist as her still-spasming vaginal walls clenched around him. He filled her and moaned his pleasure.
“Good Lord, you’re tight,” he groaned, pushing deeper into her. “So damn tight.”
Dimly, she realized he’d put on the condom. How and when, she had no clue. His focus on pleasing her took her so far over the edge, she was practically incoherent with passion.
He pressed her against the wall, the cool tiles doing nothing to chill her ardor. She squeezed her thighs against his waist, and dug her fingers into his shoulders. He clutched her bottom, and lifted her up and down along his shaft. His groan rumbled against her mouth as his hips bucked into her over and over, the hard tiles bruising the thin skin over her spine.
The veins in Zach’s neck strained as he pumped faster into her, his fingers digging into her flesh. Finally, he arched his neck and cried out his release into the pounding spray of hot water as he came inside her. She wrapped her arms around him, and held him as he buried his face in her shoulder.
After several long moments, he lifted her off his fading erection, and set her back on her feet. Audrey’s legs trembled. As if sensing she needed his support, he enveloped her in a bear hug, and let the warm spray beat upon their sated bodies.
“Why the hell did it take us so long to do this?” he muttered against her neck.
“I just got here yesterday.”
His warm breath tickled her ear as he chuckled. “I meant, if I’d known how much fun we’d have together, we would’ve done this years ago.”
The funny little flip in her chest collided with the guilt over this charade.
“You were afraid of falling in love with me, that’s why.” She kept her voice light, then forced a grin.
He pulled away to stare into her face. Thankfully, he returned the smile. He gave her a smacking kiss on the mouth, then reached down to peel off the condom. After washing himself off, he stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel, then slung it low on his waist. She tried not to lick her lips as water beaded on his bare chest, dripping between his pecs, toward his belly button and lower.
“That’s what’s so great about you, Ava. We can just have fun together with no chance of either of us getting the wrong idea.”
Ava. Big slap of reality. In his mind, he’d just had sex with Ava. Not Audrey. And he wanted nothing more from her than sex.
Well, of course he didn’t.
He reached into the stall, and trailed his hand down her arm. “Later, dollface.”
Audrey turned her face into the pounding spray, her fists clenched, needing the water to cleanse her disquiet. Her body might be sated, but her heart ached with misgivings. He was right about them having a good time together. He was right about how Ava wanted no strings, no commitments. He was right about how Ava would never be stupid enough to fall for him.
But he was wrong about one thing.
She wasn’t Ava.
*****
The next morning, Audrey stood beside Zach as he loaded his golf clubs into the back of his Jeep.
“You didn’t come down for breakfast,” he said, watching her face.
Her skin burned. She couldn’t tell him she’d laid awake half the night thinking about him. After the laundry room and the shower, she’d pretty much expected him to visit her bedroom after dinner. He’d hadn’t. She kept forgetting the rules of this game. No commitment. No expectations. Just fun.
She shrugged and forced an Ava grin. “You wore me out yesterday. I overslept.”
He studied her face a moment, and must have been satisfied by what he saw as he returned her smile. “You sure you don’t want to come with me now to the golf course?”
She made a face. “I can do without all the opening ceremonies and evil looks from your dad and Allan. Besides, I still need to figure out the next part of our game.”
“What’s your plan?”
Her pasted-on grin faltered. “I have a few ideas up my sleeve.”
“You’re not wearing sleeves.” His warm gaze traveled across her bare arms. She crossed them in front of her chest, squeezing herself some deeper cleavage with the help of the falsies. Zach cocked his head and stared openly.
She slapped his arm. “Stop that.”
“After yesterday, can you blame me?” The desire in his eyes swept a burning blush upward from her toes. He opened the Jeep door, propping one foot on the running board. “Have I told you lately how much I appreciate this?”
“You can tell me again, if you like.”
He chuckled. “Seriously, you’re making them crazy. Serves them right.”
“For what, Zach? What’s this really about?”
He slid his sunglasses farther up his nose. “It’s just a practical joke, like I told you.”
She swallowed back a lump of disappointment, and twisted her shoe into the aggregate driveway. “So what happens when they learn we’re not really engaged?” And what happens when you learn I’m not Ava?
“They’ll probably be very relieved.” He cleared his throat. “So, you’ll meet us down at the golf course?”
She nodded.
His grin returned. “God. I can’t wait.” He climbed into the Jeep, then pulled the door shut behind him. He leaned his left arm on the open window ledge. “Give me a kiss for good luck, dollface.”
At least he hadn’t called her “Ava.” She braced her hands against the Jeep’s door and leaned toward him, touching her lips to his. She started to pull back, but he hooked his fingers around her neck and drew her closer, the warm metal of the vehicle seeping through her thin cotton blouse. This might have been a game to him, but to her it was becoming far too real. His tongue swept inside her mouth, and she opened to him. She shoved her fingers into his wavy hair, bringing his face closer and holding him there until they both needed to come up for air.
“Good luck,” she whispered, her voice throaty and soft-just like Ava’s.
He started the Jeep, then peered at her from behind the black lenses. “I’ll see you in a bit. Cheer loudly.”
“Bet on it,” she said.
Another day of pretending to be someone else. Another day of Zach enjoying his time with “Ava,” not her.
Yippee.
*****
Zach waited his turn to tee off at the first hole of the golf course in Sun Valley. His brother-in-law, Allan, had a Sergio Garcia waggle going that made Zach want to shout, “Just hit the damn ball, already!”
His family had sponsored this one-day Memorial weekend golf tournament for as long as Zach could remember. He enjoyed golf, and because it was for charity, he tried to make it every year, despite knowing his parents would probably have invited a woman or two to keep him company for the weekend. This year, Ava had saved him from that fate.
He glanced around. No Ava in sight. Yet. Just thinking about her sent his pulse speeding and his palms sweating.
Allan finally swung his club, shooting the ball straight down the fairway to land somewhere along the 250-yard mark. The sparse crowd clapped politely. Allan handed his club in the direction of his caddy, and smiled his practiced smile that told everyone, I’m good, and
you’re not. I’m rich, and you’re not. I’m invited to play at this tournament, and you’re not.
Zach still couldn’t see what Theresa saw in the man. Growing up, his older sister had been such a romantic. Zach couldn’t have been more shocked the first time he’d met Allan. His sister’s choice seemed about as wrong as an Easter egg hunt in Iraq.
Theresa used to talk about how she couldn’t wait to meet Mr. Right and fall madly in love. But somewhere along the way, her ideals had been replaced by those of their parents. The only thing Allan had going for him, as far as Zach could tell, was his uncanny ability to pick stocks. The man could be a Neanderthal in every other way, and it wouldn’t matter to the Banisters. Maybe if Ava were a financial whiz, his family would embrace her-What was he thinking? He didn’t give a crap if his family approved of his choice of partner. If anything, he preferred they disapprove. Besides, Ava was his temporary girlfriend.
Pushing away the unsettling thoughts, he bent and placed his ball on the tee. Straightening, he adjusted his grip and gazed out over the fairway, planning his shot. A balmy breeze rippled through the cottonwood. Zach’s gaze locked on a spot about 280 yards away. He shifted his footing, swung the club over his right shoulder, and-
“Go, Love Muffin, go!” Ava shrieked from the crowd.
-and Zach shanked the ball. The dimpled orb flew off at a right angle. The spectators ducked as the ball whizzed over their heads and thwacked a tree. By some stroke of luck, it stayed in bounds.
The crowd hummed with amusement. From behind him, Zach’s father said, “What is she doing here?”
“I invited her, Dad, being that she’s part of the family now.”
Garrett’s lips thinned. “Don’t remind me.”
“Who knows, maybe next year, she’ll play with us.”
Garrett’s face drained of color, and he pushed Zach out of the way to take his shot. Zach turned his head to hide his grin.
As his father prepared to tee off, Zach waved at Ava. She looked fabulous and flamboyant as usual, in a flippy mini skirt and low-cut leather blouse that had her cleavage rising to new heights. If he didn’t have first-hand knowledge of the little gel-filled sacks in her bra, he would never guess she’d had the implants removed.
He’d always been a fan of big breasts, but with Ava, he preferred the smaller size that fit perfectly in his hands. The thought of her breasts took some of the sting out of shanking the ball. Normally, he took his golf game seriously, especially when charity money was involved, but today he couldn’t care less. So he’d lose a shot here. Big deal. He had more pleasurable things to ponder than a bad golf game. Like Ava’s breasts. And her delectable body. And the soft little sounds of pleasure she made when he was kissing her, whether on the mouth or…
He shifted his stance, holding his club in front of his crotch. He was like a horny teenager with her. Just thinking about her got him hard.
“Quiet, please,” the course marshal announced, and his voice seemed to be directed at Ava. She appeared nonplussed by the indirect censure. Zach wished he knew what was going through her head, and what she had in store for the rest of the game. Whatever it was, he couldn’t wait.
Because of his horrible first shot, he bogied the first hole. Not bad, considering his wayward thoughts. Instead of visualizing his next shot, he visualized Ava’s body. Her naked body. With her long, gorgeous legs wrapped around his waist as he plunged into her. He couldn’t stop fantasizing about her. He purposefully hadn’t gone to her room last night. Spending the night with a woman made it too real. Neither of them wanted that.
Ava joined the small group of spectators who followed Zach’s foursome along the course. When she stepped off the paved path onto the grass by the second tee, her spiked heel sank into the soft turf.
Her little shriek turned the heads of everyone present-primarily the men, who’d been eyeing her nearly as often as Zach had been.
As if in slow motion, she tumbled forward and crumpled to the ground. In what reminded Zach of a slapstick comedy movie, male spectators rushed to her side before he had taken a single step.
Giving her “rescuers” a grateful smile, Ava let them help her to her feet. “Oh, my goodness, that was clumsy of me. Thank you so much for your help,” she told the gawking men, batting her eyelashes. She patted her hands up and down her torso as if to make sure everything was where it should be.
Did she not realize her every move hypnotized those idiots milling around her? She met Zach’s gaze as he marched toward her, and she puckered her lips and blew him an air kiss. Yes. She knew exactly the effect she had on those men.
Zach reached her side as she brushed the grass from her skirt. He glared at the men, who seemed to have tunnel vision for her heaving cleavage, her legs, and her shapely rear. He wanted to punch each and every one of them. Usually, he didn’t care if other men showed interest in his female companions.
But this-this felt an awful lot like jealousy. Not good.
“Are you okay?” he snapped, hating the confusion jerking him in three directions at once.
She placed her manicured hand on his forearm. “I’m fine.” She lifted her foot and rotated it a few times. “Nothing broken.”
“Those are the most ridiculous shoes to wear on a golf course.”
She shot him a look of exasperation. “Stilettos are a girl’s best friend.”
“You could have broken an ankle.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
He gripped her upper arms, and turned her to face him. “I’m serious, Ava. You had all these guys rushing over to help you like a bunch of-of-” He couldn’t think of a word pathetic enough to describe them.
“You sound jealous,” she purred.
Dammit! “Don’t be ridiculous. I need to get back to the game.” He spun around and returned to his foursome.
She made kissy sounds behind him, but he didn’t look back, because if he did he knew he’d see her luscious lips pursed in his direction. Then he’d picture those luscious lips pursed around something else—
No way. If he thought his game was distracted now…
The breeze picked up by the time Zach’s group reached the second green. A gust of wind hissed through the trees, and clouds rolled through the bright blue sky. Great. His game sucked enough today.
As he waited his turn to putt, the tinkling strains of striptease music reached his ears.
Oh, God.
“She brought her blasted cell phone?” Allan asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Zach bit back a grin, and tried to look as irritated as the rest of the group. “I’ll talk to her,” he offered, and strode across the green.
“Oh, absolutely, Alfie,” she said into the phone as he approached, apparently clueless to all the dagger-filled stares directed at her. She wriggled her fingers at him and mouthed, “Just a sec,” with those candy-apple red lips.
Zach’s father stepped between them. “That is quite enough, young lady,” he said, grabbing the phone from her fingers. A few of the nearby spectators clapped politely, as if they’d just witnessed an admirable golf shot.
Ava slapped her hands on her hips. “That was my plastic surgeon you just hung up on, buster!”
“I don’t care if it was the President of the United States,” Garrett said. “There are certain rules of etiquette a person must follow when on a golf course, and you, Miss Divine, have managed to break every single one of them with sixteen holes to go.”
“Rules?” she asked, and Zach could have sworn she batted her eyelashes.
Garrett’s grip tightened on his club, as if he wished to whack her with it. “A dress code, for one.”
She fingered her low-cut blouse. “I’m wearing a collar.”
Zach hid his burst of laughter behind a cough, and tried to look annoyed for his father’s benefit.
“You are trying my patience,” Garrett muttered.
Ava peered up at his father with her big green eyes. “Whoops. My bad,” she muttered in a throaty, s
exy voice. “I promise to behave myself from here on out.” Her eyelids fluttered some more.
Garrett’s face turned beet red, and he stumbled back a step. Zach couldn’t contain his laughter this time. His dad glared at him.
Turning back to Ava, Garrett said, “I don’t think you know how to behave yourself.” He snapped his fingers over her head. “Marshal!” The course marshal scurried over. “Please escort Miss Divine back to the clubhouse, where she can await our return.” He marched away as if that were that.
“Oooh, I just love a man in control,” Ava cooed after him as the marshal took her arm. She met Zach’s gaze. “That’s why I love you, Zachy-poo.” She blew him a kiss, then finger waved “bye-bye” to the group.
Zach was probably the only one sorry to see her go.
Chapter Seven
Audrey glanced around the lavish Banister garden, making sure she was alone before slipping off her high heels to walk barefoot in the soft, green grass. The yard smelled and looked recently mowed.
“Ah, heaven,” she murmured, raising her face to the late-afternoon sunshine. Birds chirped from surrounding trees and bees hummed in the nearby rose bushes.
After being relegated to the clubhouse at the golf course, she’d soon grown bored, and asked the Banister driver to give her a ride back to the house. Thinking of the spectacle she’d made of herself at the tournament, she grinned. She supposed she should be concerned she was having such fun being naughty, but darn it all, she’d spent a lifetime being a good girl. She deserved a few days of kicking up her heels, especially when forced to wear these horrid, uncomfortable stilettos.
A girl could do worse than having to laze away a sunny summer afternoon at a Sun Valley mansion, she mused, entering a beautiful weathered gazebo.
When she’d first met Zach, she’d figured him as pretentious as these surroundings…just like the rest of his family. But he fit in with the Banister clan about as well as she did. He was down-to-earth, and had a terrific sense of humor. Never mind what he could do to her body. Her breath quickened just thinking about all the places and ways he’d touched her.
Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom Page 129
