by BJ Harvey
My mouth drops open in surprise. I’m completely speechless.
“Zach? You still there?” she asks when the silence stretches a little too long.
“Ah . . . yeah. You’re kind of awesome, do you know that?”
“I’ve never been called awesome before.”
“Oh, believe me. You’re all kinds of awesome and then some. I think when I see you tonight; I might enumerate all of the ways you are.”
“You’re coming?” she asks, and I groan.
“Not helping, Dan.”
“Sorry. I’m awkward and dorky.”
“You’re adorkable and it’s fucking awesome. Just not when I’m not close enough to kiss you and shut you up.”
“Adorkable is not a word.”
“It’s the perfect word to describe you, Little Grasshopper.”
“If you say so,” she mumbles.
“I say so, I mean so, and tonight, I’ll show you so.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe your adorkableness is contagious.”
“Like a geeky STD?” she says, and just the sheer ridiculousness of her question makes me bust a gut laughing.
“That sounds so wrong,” I reply, still chuckling.
“So I’m seeing you tonight?” she asks, the hope in her voice clear as day.
“Zander called and invited me along for drinks at the bar.”
“Um . . .”
“Dani?”
“I wasn’t going to go,” she whispers. “But I really want to now.”
Fuck that makes me feel good. Danika’s honesty is so refreshing. She’s completely upfront with everything, from her thoughts to her frustrations to her feelings for me, and now this.
She’s unlike any of the women I’ve been with before—and believe me—that’s a good thing.
“I know we won’t get time alone, but we can still see each other without having to miss out on catching up with everyone. I get tunnel vision when I’m at work—it’s pretty much a requirement—which is why I haven’t been in touch this week.”
“I figured you were busy.”
“I can’t really afford to be distracted when I’m on duty. Thinking about you when I’m fighting fires would be dangerous.”
“You’ve been thinking about me?” she asks.
“That kiss has been on constant replay in my mind since Sunday. I’m looking forward to taking my time tasting you as soon as I get you alone.”
“Zach . . .” She’s definitely breathy this time. Fan-fucking-tastic.
I glance at the clock and see it’s getting close to ten. “I better let you get back to work, and I should really get some sleep. Seems my Friday night is looking up now that I know I’ll see you.”
“I’m excited too,” she says. “Can I ask you something before you go?”
“You can ask me anything.”
“How am I supposed to act around you now?”
“Nothing’s changed, Dan.”
“Everything has changed, Zach.”
“We’re friends. To anybody else—everyone who’s going to be there tonight—we’re just friends. Nothing has changed between us in their eyes.”
“But I know different.”
“We know different, and hopefully soon, we can explore exactly how different it’s going to be.”
“I’m a crap liar,” she says glumly.
“Then it’s lucky you’re not lying to anyone.”
“You make this sound so easy,” she says.
I smile and make my way into my bedroom, pulling off my clothes then hopping beneath the covers. “Do you want to tell your family? Because although I might lose an appendage or two, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make you comfortable.”
“No!” she says emphatically. “I just . . . it’s going to be hard.”
“Nothing worth having is easy, Little Grasshopper.”
“Why do you call me that?” she asks curiously.
“Because you’re cute and little, yet wise and amazing.”
“You really think that?”
“I don’t lie, Dan. Not about things that matter.”
Her breath catches, and I know I’ve scored big with that. “I’ll let you go. I’ve got a project meeting with my boss in five minutes.”
“Yeah, I need to get to sleep. But seriously, don’t worry about tonight. Just act like you normally would and everything will be fine.”
“So act like a smitten fool who can’t string two words together when I’m around you?” she asks with a giggle.
“You seem to be handling me just fine right now.”
“You don’t know how I can handle you, Zach.”
I groan at the thought of her hands anywhere near me, and my plans for sleep get further delayed by my hardening cock. “On that note, I’ll try and get some sleep, but my current physical predicament is going to need some handling of its own first.”
“Oh . . .” she says with interest and warmth in her voice.
“Embarrassed yet?” I tease.
“Not a chance. See you tonight . . . and Zach?”
“Yeah?”
“Think of me while you do it.” She ends the call, leaving me harder than before and totally speechless.
I walk into 42nd Street Bar feeling nervous as hell. I have butterflies—freaking butterflies—in my stomach just knowing I’ll be seeing Zach again, the first time since the spine-tingling kiss on my couch almost a week ago.
After our phone conversation this morning, I’m definitely a little less anxious than I would’ve been, but the thought of having to hide my thoughts, my feelings, my anything when it comes to Zach, has me worried that I’ll screw it all up somehow.
I’m not fool enough to think that Zach would be able to choose the unknown with me over his friendship with my brother. Hell, I don’t think I would be able to make that decision either.
If that means I have to walk away, then so be it.
“Squirt, over here!” my brother yells across the full bar, earning a few smirks and a lot of looks for him, and instant embarrassment for me. I narrow my eyes, but it has no effect; he just grins at me. Pointing to the bar, he nods and sits down next to Kate. Quickly scanning who’s with him, I let out a breath when I realize Zach isn’t here yet.
With nothing else for it, I push my way through the crowd until I’m at the bar waiting to be served.
Knowing that I’d be seeing him tonight, I knew I wanted my outfit to say everything for me. So I left work an hour early and made a mad dash to Nordstrom, where I abused my credit card and splashed out on a black leather pencil skirt, a blue, white, and black loose-fitting satin tank and a pair of blue strappy sandals that make my legs look amazing.
With my hair falling down in loose waves, a little more than my normal amount of makeup, and a spritz of my favorite Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb perfume, I’m confident that—if all else fails—I’ll give Zach food for thought at the very least.
Locking eyes with the hot male bartender—I may be all about Zach Cooper, but that doesn’t stop a girl from admiring the attractive members of the male species—I order a Long Island Iced Tea and wait for my drink.
Once I have the concoction of goodness in my hands, I make my way over to Zander and the rest of the gang, seeing Matt and Mia, Mia’s best friend, Nat, and Nat’s boyfriend, Jase, Noah and Zoe, Mac and Daniel, and lastly, Kate and Zander.
“Wow, that look is hot, Dani. Please tell me I can borrow that when I’m not the size of a house?” Mia asks.
“Seriously, hot,” Mac adds, while Kate just nods in agreement.
Saving me from a night of sore feet, Noah stands up and offers his chair to me before leaning in and giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, Dani.”
“Hey,” I reply, shooting him a smile before grinning at Zoe and looking back to Mia as I take my seat. “This is a newly acquired purchase, actually. Only hours old.”
“I need a high-flying job like yours,” Nat says. “Although, I’
m shit at all that techno-speak stuff. I’d probably end up getting fired for watching too much gay porn on RedTube.”
My mouth drops open. Mia and Matt laugh, and a chorus of “Whaaaaat?” comes from the rest of the group.
“You watch dudes?” Mac asks, sounding intrigued.
Nat leans forward and rests her elbows on the table. “It’s so fucking hot. I don’t know what it is but guy-on-guy is better than watching those fake female porn stars moan like alley cats in heat.”
“Is anyone else finding this conversation vaguely disturbing?” Matt mutters.
“You watch it too, Jase?” Noah asks with a smirk.
“Dude, it makes her wetter than a Slip ’n Slide dipped in lube,” Jase replies. “There’s no way in hell I’ll even complain about that when I’m the one she comes to for relief.”
“Kids of today,” Daniel muses, shaking his head in mock dismay.
“I’ve always wondered why guys having sex is so hot,” Kate says, and I giggle when Zander’s eyes grow wide and his head jerks to his wife. “What? It’s hot as hell. But not as hot as you giving me a lap dance,” she adds with a wink.
“Gross!” Mia, Zoe, and I all say in unison, and the rest of the group laughs.
“What am I missing? Or don’t I want to know?” a familiar voice says from beside me, and I choke on my drink, coughing and spluttering like a newbie tasting her first wine spritzer.
“Shit, you okay?” Zach asks, rubbing his hand up and down my back like any other friend would do. I look up at him, my eyes watering and oh so attractive.
Ah . . . yeah. Thanks,” I reply shortly, not sure how the hell to play this or how I should act.
His eyes dance with amusement, and before I can do anything else to embarrass myself in front of everyone, he moves away and greets Zander and the rest of the group.
“We were just talking about how hot man-on-man sex is to watch. Care to share your opinion on the topic, Zachary?” Kate asks with a huge grin.
“Each to their own. Just because it doesn’t do anything for me doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for someone else. Ain’t that right, Matt?”
A collective laugh fills the air and Matt flips the bird as Zach leans against a wooden pillar right next to me. Fucking kill me now.
He looks good. No, scratch that—he looks more than good. He’s wearing the same pair of jeans from Mia’s place last weekend, this time a black fitted shirt that shows off his wide shoulders and bulging biceps. I never thought I’d find a man who looked like he lived at the gym so attractive, but given that this is Zach Cooper we’re talking about—my childhood and now adult fantasy man—I think I’d accept him in any way, shape or form.
Damaged goods? Sign me up. Dented box, I don’t care. Small cock, well . . .
I sneak a look at whatever goodness Zach’s packing in his jeans and smile to myself when I catch his hand reaching down and inconspicuously adjusting a hard on. But when he moves his hand away, I’m forced to bite my lip to stifle a groan at the sight of his large and well-on-its-way-to-being-hard fire pole that may be covered in denim but is definitely not being shy.
Mia and Zoe always told me it’s not the size of the boat but the motion in the ocean. Judging by the preview of Zach’s mode of transport, he can take me to the high seas any day. Besides, that advice came from two women who now get it done regularly with brothers known as ‘walking dildos.’ Ironic much?
“So, Zach, how are those firefighter groupies treating you?” Zoe asks, grabbing the attention of the group.
“I need another drink,” I say, standing up and teetering perilously on my sandals.
“Whoa there. Easy,” Zach says, wrapping his fingers around my arm.
“You sure you need another drink?” Mac asks with a giggle.
I narrow my eyes at her in jest. “I’ve had one drink in an hour. I may be young, but I’m definitely no lightweight.”
“Young people these days, I don’t know,” Daniel says, mocking me with a smirk showing two perfectly placed dimples. Damn, no wonder they call him Superman.
“I’ll come with you,” Zach says, his skin against mine burning me from the outside in. He looks around the table. “Anybody else need another one?”
We’re waved off, and everyone starts talking to each other as we walk toward the bar. When we get there, I step away from him, needing to clear the brain fog that seems to roll in whenever I’m in Zach’s orbit.
I slowly make my way to the front of the bar and wave down a bartender.
“What’ll it be, babe?” the hot bartender from before asks. “Same as last time?”
I nod, and he gives me a huge grin. He looks past me and does one of those weird male chin-lift maneuvers before moving away to prepare my drink.
“Dani,” Zach says roughly from behind me. “The way you look right now, the way you smell . . .” He moves even closer. “There’s no way you came straight from work.”
It’s thrilling knowing he’s behind me, watching me, admiring me. Shaking my head, I lift my gaze to the mirror lining the back of the bar and lock eyes with his blazing hot ones. I watch him watching me as he presses his body into mine—chest to back—and drops his mouth down to my ear, his warm breath on my skin sending a delicious shiver up my spine.
The risk of discovery is high yet the moment his hands move to my hips, I feel like I want to crawl out of my skin.
“You’ve made my night—and other parts of me—impossibly hard,” he says, his deep, husky voice thrilling me. As if to back up his claim, he grinds the evidence of just how difficult it is against me.
My eyes dart sideways to the far table where Zander, Kate, my two sisters, and their men are sitting, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I see no one looks in our direction.
Taking the opportunity while I have it, I push my ass back into his hips just as the bartender appears and puts my glass on the bar in front of me.
I lift the glass to my lips and take a sip, tilting my head away from Zach and sucking in a breath when he glides his nose down my neck and kisses the apex of my shoulder. “Hi.”
My body trembles against him and goose bumps cover my skin where his lips just were. “Hi.”
I feel bereft when he steps to the side and orders a beer from the bartender who’s still standing in front of us, but this time with a huge shit-eating grin on his face. “Won’t be long, Zach,” he says, and my body freezes. What am I doing? We’re in the same room as my family, the ones I do not want to know about Zach and I—at least not until I know if there’s anything to tell.
“You’re playing with fire,” I whisper, not daring to look at the man in question.
“We’re fine. There are at least twenty people and fifty feet between us and them. They can’t see a thing.”
I turn my body to face him and instantly get lost in his heated blue eyes.
“You look phenomenal,” he says, reaching up a hand and twirling a tendril of hair with his fingers before letting it go again.
My eyes drop to his lips and watch with avid fascination as they turn up. He groans as if he’s in pain, and my body instinctively sways towards him. “Stop making me want to kiss you.”
“Stop looking at my lips like that then,” he says in a low warning.
The bartender dropping Zach’s beer bottle onto the wooden bar breaks the moment, and thankfully Zach looks away from me, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet before paying for our drinks.
“Shall we rejoin the party?”
“Any chance of us sneaking out the back and no one missing us?” I ask honestly.
He chuckles and brushes his hand over my hip, then down to my leather-clad ass. “Fuck.”
“What?” I ask coyly.
“You’re not wearing panties . . .”
“They didn’t go with the outfit,” I say with a shrug, holding in a gleeful giggle at the growly tone in his voice.
He lowers his head again, muttering, “Not fucking helping, Dani.”
My head shoots up, my eyes growing wide. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t even—”
“That’s what makes it so hot. You have no fucking idea how irresistible you are or what it’s doing to me having you this close and not being able to touch you.”
“Oh . . .”
“Fucking adorable,” he murmurs, staring at my mouth for a moment too long again. “But Grasshopper, keep teasing me and I promise our plan to take this slow will turn very dirty, very fast.”
With nothing to lose and feeling more confident than ever around him, I decide to give him a taste of his own medicine and tease him some more in the hope that he’ll end up pleasing me.
“Wasn’t me who wanted slow, Zach,” I reply, walking in front of him to rejoin my family and their crazy friends.
Round one to me.
It is around midnight when Kate and Zander drop me home and Zander walks me up to my door. I haven’t had any more alone time with Zach and for the rest of the night I had to concentrate on not staring dreamily at him and stopping myself from jumping in his lap like an over-eager puppy, protective brother be damned.
“Glad you came tonight,” he says when we exit the elevator on my floor.
“Me too,” I reply with a smile. “You didn’t have to walk me to my door though. It is a secure building you know.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder as we walk, and I burrow into my brother’s side.
Ever since I can remember, Zander has looked out for me. He took on the ‘man of the house’ role at thirteen and has never fallen down on the job—as much as my sisters and I may have occasionally wished he did.
“You doing okay, Squirt? You seemed a little distracted tonight.”
Shit. It seems I fail at acting nonchalant when in close proximity to the man driving me crazy in the best possible way.
“I’m good. Just tired.” I pull away, grabbing my keys out of my purse and opening my apartment door. Stepping inside, I turn the lights on and drop my stuff on the side table, then turn back around toward Zander.
He furrows his brow. “You need to take it easy. Not work so much . . .”
“It’s not work when you love what you do, Zan. I’ll get some sleep this weekend and I’ll be fine. I promise.”
