Zanaa grabbed his shoulders and dragged Scott up next to her on the bed then wrapped her arms around him. She could feel his smile against her cheek.
“I wanted to make sure you were taken care of first.”
When was the last time a man had been that concerned with her needs?
Scott climbed off the bed long enough to find his pants and removed a condom from his wallet. She was fascinated by the pleasure that washed over his face as he closed his eyes and rolled the condom over his rigid length.
She gazed up at him, drawn by the intensity. He caught her sneaking a peek at his erection and smiled. “You want this, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“I want to hear you say it, Zanaa.”
Zanaa felt her muscles clench with the anticipation of those thick, Zanaa felt her muscles clench with the anticipation of those thick, hard inches buried deep within her. “I want you.”
He raised his eyebrow and remained still, sitting beside her on the bed, his penis standing at proud attention. “How do you want me?”
She blurted out a reply. “I want you inside me. Please, Scott, make love to me.”
He stared down at her for a long agonizing moment, the heated desire in his gaze made her stomach quiver before he whispered, “Open your legs for me. Show me just how much you want me.”
She spread for him, slick and ready and held her arms open, inviting him to take his rightful place between her eager thighs. Scott moved over her and Zanaa looked up into his eyes, locked in his gaze as he raised her hips toward him. He entered her slowly, inch by rigid inch. So slowly, she decided he was trying to torture her. “Please, Scott,” she whimpered. “I need all of you.”
At first, he kept his strokes slow, pulling almost completely out before burying himself deep within her once again. Scott obviously was trying to draw out the pleasure. But he didn’t have any luck at delaying the inevitable. As he warned, Scott soon picked up speed, plunging into her, the slap of skin almost as loud as the moan escaping her mouth. He cried out her name, thrusting into her over and over with an overwhelming need she understood. Waves of pleasure consumed her body. The exact moment she came, his mouth came down over hers with a hunger that sent her spiraling out of control and crying out his name.
When Scott finally collapsed on top of her, Zanaa wrapped her arms around him and lay there wondering what would tomorrow bring?
By the time her heart rate returned to normal, Zanaa had convinced herself not to expect any more than their agreement and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Nine
Zanaa heard a loud beep. She groaned then rolled over and felt around on her nightstand until she found her cell phone. Still in a state of sleep, she opened one eyelid and read the message that scrolled across her screen.
Thank you for a wonderful night.
Wonderful night? It took a few seconds for realization to set in then Zanaa suddenly sat upright in the bed. She and Scott had made love.
He hadn’t seduced her and neither of them had been drunk. What happened last night was between two consenting adults that left her breathless. Even now her heart was beating so hard she thought her chest was going to split open. All the kissing, and caressing, the touching and the penetrating was more than any woman could have asked for. She was drained and completely satisfied. Scott left sometime early in the wee hours of the morning after he made love to her the third or the fourth time.
After awhile, she had lost count.
The phone vibrated in her hand, almost startling her. Realizing it was Leah, she punched talk. “Hello?”
“Good morning, sunshine,” she sang merrily. “You wanna meet for lunch?”
Zanaa was kind of hoping Scott was going to come back. She knew it was foolish. Their relationship was no more than an arrangement and the sooner she reminded herself of that the better. “I’m still in the bed,” she mumbled.
“The bed?” Leah barked. “It’s ten o’clock. Since when do you sleep that late?”
“Well…”
She didn’t miss the quick intake of air. “Oh my goodness! You had a man over, didn’t you?”
a man over, didn’t you?”
“Well…”
“Come on. You’ve got to tell me! Who was it?” Leah insisted.
There was only a slight hesitation before Zanaa breathed, “My neighbor.”
“The sexy one? You’re kidding? Right?”
Zanaa shifted on the bed. The soreness between her thighs was proof last night had not been a dream. “No, I’m afraid not.”
“Okay, girlfriend. You need to start from the beginning!”
While she gave Leah all the details, starting from him agreeing to be her fiancé, Zanaa climbed from beneath the satin sheets, retrieved a robe from her walk-in closet, then moved to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee
Leah squealed. “Ooh! My girl finally got her some.”
As she took a seat on a stool at her breakfast bar, last night came rushing back. Making love to Scott was everything she had read about in a romance novel. She had done things with him that she had never done with any other man before.
After they made love the first time, she had pushed all her inhibitions aside then rolled on top and rode him. Just thinking about lowering down over his swollen length caused the throbbing between her thighs to increase.
“Are you seriously taking him to meet Madea tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’m taking him. There is no way I’m showing up at my parents’ empty-handed. We’ve spent a lot of time talking and I’m confident Scott and I can pull it off.”
There was a brief moment of silence before Leah asked, “You really like him, don’t you?”
Zanaa put her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand.
“I’m not sure.”
“You’re lying!” Leah cried.
“No, I’m serious. I’m not sure how I feel about him just yet. I do like him but I guess I’m not ready yet to admit how much.”
“Okay, we need a girl’s afternoon. How about pedicures and gyros?”
gyros?”
Leave it to Leah to find an excuse for pampering. “That sounds like a plan.”
After spending three hours at a day spa, the two headed over to Anita’s Pizza for the best gyros in Wilmington. Zanaa loved the tender lamb meat inside the homemade pita bread.
“Have you figured out what you want from this man?” Leah asked, sitting on the bench across from her. Zanaa had been trying to avoid talking about Scott all afternoon but Leah refused to let the subject go.
What did she want? She wasn’t sure. At first it was all about him doing her a favor. Nothing romantic like walks on the beach, holding hands or curling up on the couch together while watching a movie. But now she wondered where their relationship was going even though as far as she knew, they had no relationship.
She stared across the booth at her fashionable friend who wore Michael Kors stiletto boots to add inches to her short, petite frame. Leah was a beautiful woman with a peanut butter brown complexion and dark exotic eyes.
“What do any of us really want from a man?” Zanaa said and reached for her glass of lemonade.
Leah gave her a firm look. “I meant beside the obvious.”
Zanaa bit into her gyro then shrugged. What was swirling around in her head, there was no way she was letting those thoughts emerge. A real relationship was not on the agenda. “I seriously don’t know what I want.”
“Oh yes, you do. You’re just not ready yet to admit it,” Leah added with a confident smile.
*
“Did you hear what I said?”
Scott glanced over at Darnell. “What did you say?”
A devilish grin curled his brother’s lips. “I said look at that one over there at the end of the bar. She’s got an ass on her.”
Scott followed the direction of his gaze to a beautiful Latina standing at the other end of the bar, grinning in their direction. She standing at the other e
nd of the bar, grinning in their direction. She definitely had one hell of a body. “She’s cute.”
Darnell rolled his eyes. “Cute? Cute? Man, are you serious? That chick is J Lo hot! And she’s staring at you.”
He took another sip of his beer then briefly glanced in her direction again before allowing his eyes to travel around the club. Not one female in there could hold a torch to Zanaa.
For the next few minutes, Scott was lost in remembering their lovemaking and the way her body responded to him. Even now he grew hot and aroused just thinking about her. What amazed him was her passion. Zanaa gave as good as she got. As soon as they finished round one, she lay beside him, arm draped comfortably across his chest, and within minutes, Scott found himself hard and buried deep inside her warm heat. It had been that way until the wee hours of the morning. Even then, it took everything Scott had to roll out her bed and go home. Henric needed to go out, but he also wanted to put a little distance between them, which is why he had called his brother and asked him if he wanted to go out. He had to find a way to get Zanaa off his mind. So far nothing seemed to work.
“Man, come on. This club is called Paradise for a reason!” Darnell said with a bark of laughter.
Scott turned up his lips. Only Darnell would think this place was truly paradise. He stared out at the crowded dance floor filled with gyrating hips and pulsating music and wonder how he ever thought this life was exciting. Darnell, on the other hand, had a reputation for living in the fast lane.
His eyes traveled to his brother who was tall with dark chocolate skin and wide shoulders like a professional football player. Darnell was a high-priced attorney who’d made several smart investments over the years, and now had a sizeable nest egg and the lifestyle to match it: fancy cars, a big house, yearly exotic vacations, even a sailboat, and enough women to fill every night on the calendar for the next several months. At one point, the two of them were considered by their friends as the heartbreakers, moving through towns leaving lines of broken hearts behind. Scott had been busy working on the new video program and behind. Scott had been busy working on the new video program and slowed down considerably over the year, while Darnell was having more fun now than ever before.
“How about going out with me and the Denison twins to a big New Year’s Eve bash in Philadelphia?”
“I’ll think about it,” Scott replied and brought the bottle to his lips again. The twins were heirs to their father’s multi-million dollar restaurant chain and a little too wild for his personal taste.
He knew Darnell was wondering why he wasn’t showing the usual enthusiasm he showed when discussing women. But the only woman Scott could think about spending time with was the last woman’s bed he’d shared. The same woman he couldn’t get out of his head.
Darnell’s amber eyes darkened with confusion. “Dude, you’re killing the evening! I bet every female in Wilmington is here tonight.
What in the world is going on with you?”
Scott studied the dance floor before he swung on the barstool and faced his brother. The two of them had always been able to talk to each about a lot of things, but this was one topic he was sure someone who didn’t believe in relationships would begin to understand.
“Did Sheyna happen to mention anything about me helping out my neighbor?”
He brought the glass of cognac to his lips and sipped before shaking his head. “Helping your neighbor with what?”
Rubbing his chin, Scott replied, “We’re pretending to be engaged.”
Darnell choked on his drink. “What?”
Laughing, Scott patted his brother across the back. When the coughing stop and Darnell resumed normal breathing, he told him about Zanaa needing his assistance. By the time he was finished explaining, Darnell was choking again, only this time it was from laughter.
“Let me get this straight…you’re engaged and going to spend the holidays doing the family thing!” he said with a loud robust laugh. “I think we both need another drink,” he replied and signaled the bartender to bring them another round. “Please tell me one thing…is she hot?”
“She’s better than hot.”
“She’s better than hot.”
“Hmmm, that makes it almost tempting. A fake engagement? I hope that means you get all the advantages of a real engagement?” Darnell stared over at him with a curious look, waiting for some confirmation but Scott had never been one to kiss and tell. However, his silence said it all.
“Wow!” he replied followed by a long whistle. “No wonder you’re sitting here looking like a lap dog.” Darnell started laughing again.
Scott blew out a long breath. He should have known his younger brother wouldn’t understand anything beyond sexual attraction. Not that he was one to talk because he had yet to understand what was really going on between the two of them. Unfortunately, he had better figure it out soon.
Otherwise, he was going to be in trouble.
Chapter Ten
“Get off at the next exit,” Zanaa instructed as anticipation stirred her veins. Two weeks ago, southern Virginia had been hit with a small snowstorm. Remnants of the white substance could still be seen on the grass and more of the fluffy white stuff was just starting to fall to the ground. She loved snow, especially during the Christmas holiday.
When Scott pulled into Clarendon, passing colonial-style homes, she looked at the town she had known all of her life and felt like she was seeing it for the first time. Christmas trees were in all the windows, wreaths on the doors, and downtown was streamed with Christmas lights, candy canes and plastic snowmen. After dark, Town Square would resemble a Christmas wonderland.
“This is a nice town,” Scott said, breaking the silence. “I see why you come back every holiday. Everyone seems to have the Christmas spirit here.”
“Yes, we do,” she said proudly. She shifted on the seat, adjusting her seatbelt and caught his profile then took a few moments and drank in the sight of him, admiring his strong nose, his thick eyelashes. The man was more gorgeous with every passing day.
As they reached the outskirts of town, Zanaa leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes. Thoughts of her and Scott making love filled her head. Even when Scott knocked at her door this morning to pick her up, she looked at him, remembering the passion between them.
She had spent the better part of the drive to Virginia wondering what he was thinking. Did he have regrets? Or better yet, did she? Zanaa was torn with conflicting emotions. Part of her wished they never made love because as far as she was concerned, it had complicated things between them, yet at the same time, Scott had made her feel more alive than she had in years and she was grateful for that. What she couldn’t than she had in years and she was grateful for that. What she couldn’t understand was why did it feel so right to be with him?
“How much farther?” Scott asked, breaking into her thoughts.
Zanaa opened her eyes in time to see Scott was traveling down a long windy road. “Keep going. The house is right over that hill.”
He drove around the bend and when a sprawling house came into view, she heard him gasp. “That’s where your parents live?”
“I’m afraid so,” she teased.
Scott whistled under his breath. Zanaa was so used to her home it didn’t even dawn on her how grand the house appeared to someone else.
Seven thousand square feet. Twenty acres. Ten bathrooms. As a child she enjoyed playing hide-n-seek with her father. The house had so many fabulous hiding places.
The sun was starting to set over the dark-red roof. Rustic stones covered the entire house. Dark-burgundy shutters flanked the multitude of windows. Usually the sight of the place Zanaa would always call home gave her a warm feeling inside, but today she couldn’t shake the uneasiness of the days ahead.
Zanaa instructed him to pull into the circle driveway where there were already several other cars parked. Both of her sisters were there. Scott parked behind Barbara’s beige Mercedes and turned off the engine. She
blew out a big breath and suddenly started having second thoughts again.
“Hey. What’s running through your mind?” Scott asked, breaking the silence.
She met his piercing gaze and could feel the electricity snap between them. “The moment of truth is here.”
“What we’re doing is a long ways from the truth,” he teased then reached over and squeezed her hand. The heat between them burned even hotter when they touched. “You’ll be fine. Just remember I’m here to lean on if you need me,” he insisted in a deep masculine voice.
She looked into his eyes and saw the confidence dancing in their depths. She wanted so badly to believe with Scott beside her everything would be just fine.
“Come on. Let’s go,” he replied with a wink.
Zanaa nodded, her pulse racing as she watched Scott walked Zanaa nodded, her pulse racing as she watched Scott walked around his SUV. When he opened the passenger door, he lifted her down off the seat but instead of releasing her, he pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips against hers. Seconds later, his tongue parted her lips, sliding into her mouth. She returned the kiss, her tongue stroking his slow and deliberate. The kiss was supposed to boost her confidence. Instead it left her shaken and more confused than before. The sooner the holiday weekend was over, the better for sanity’s sake. Scott finally released her then linked her arm through his and moved up to the front door.
A mahogany gentleman with graying hair, wearing a navy suit came to the door and greeted them. At the sight of his kind, gentle face, a smile curled her lips. “Hello, Robinson. How have you been?”
“Fine. Just fine. Good to see you again, Ms. Zanaa.”
“Robinson, this is Scott. Scott, Robinson’s been with our family for years.”
“Almost thirty years to be exactly,” he said with his chest stuck out proudly.
Scott shook his aging hand. “It’s a pleasure meeting you.”
“You, too, and congratulation on your engagement.”
Zanaa glanced at Scott with a grin. Even the staff had heard about her engagement.
In Her Neighbor's Bed (The Beaumont Series) Page 9
