by BJ Harvey
“I’m in. I’m so in there was never a chance of me not being in.”
His small grin transforms into a blinding one, his arms jerking me hard into his body and squeezing me tight. He lets me go but drops his head so our eyes are level, his hands cupping my jaw. “We’re going to be okay, and even if we’re not—we’ll have each other. Swear to Christ, Dani,” he says, flexing his fingers. “Trust me to see you right and I promise you’ll never regret it.”
I nod, unable to say anything that would even come close to explaining how I feel right now.
“This was the risk I took when I kissed you back then. The risk I’ve been taking every single minute of every day since then while falling in love with you, and the very reason why I’ll risk everything with everyone to have you now.”
Mind—blown. Heart—bursting. Wonder button—throbbing.
So what else is a girl to do when she can’t verbalize the entirety of her feelings? I jump him. Lifting up on my toes, I wrap my arms around his neck and slam my mouth onto his.
His hands glide down my body, sending shots of heat to all the right places when he cups my ass and presses up. I wrap my legs around his hips, my hands hooked tight around his shoulders as he moves down the hallway, his lips locked with mine. He goes straight to the bathroom, kicking the door closed behind him with a jarring thud. My legs drop to the floor and I lose all control, kissing him like a desperate harlot.
“Fuck I missed this,” he mutters as his lips go to my neck, nipping the sensitive skin then soothing the sting with a swipe of his tongue.
My fingers dive down to the edge of his tank, tugging it up and off over his head in desperation before ripping my own top off to join his. He pulls away and looks at me. I mean really looks at me, his eyes trailing down my body, not hiding his appreciation.
“Naked. Now,” he says gruffly, pushing his shorts and underwear down to stand deliciously bare in front of me.
“I’m gonna get you wet . . .”
“Mission accomplished,” I rasp, now finding it difficult to breathe for an entirely different reason.
He smirks and looks down to said wet place before grinning back up at me. “I meant the shower, but I like your way of thinking.”
I don’t blush or shy away from him—instead, I pounce. Jumping him like I would a fire pole—although that’s actually not far from the truth, given he’s a fireman, and his ‘pole’ is rather vertical right now.
With the both of us naked, Zach walks me backwards into the shower, our hands roaming all over each other. Pushing me against the wall, he reaches behind his back to turn the water on, the glass shower wall fogging up as steam engulfs us.
He cups both my breasts in his hands, running his thumbs over my hard nipples. I watch through half-lidded eyes, my fingers wound tight in the wet strands of his hair, and instinctively press his head down, wanting his mouth to replace his hands. As always, Zach obliges willingly, his hot mouth covering one nipple while his finger continues torturing its counterpart.
With my fingers still tangled in his hair, I pull him up, crashing my mouth down on his and kissing him like my life—or libido—depends on it. My body feels as if it’s going to explode if it doesn’t get something, anything, fast.
Feeling him hard against my stomach, I glide my hands down to his shoulders and push him back a few inches, giving me enough room to kneel down toward the floor, dragging my hands down his hard chest as I go, then hitting pay dirt when I come face to face with his straining cock,
I wrap my fist around the shaft, doing a firm glide down then back up again, just how he likes it, before circling my tongue around the tip and kissing the crown, tilting my head to find him gazing down at me, the unadulterated heat in his eyes rocketing through me and sending me to orgasm factor nine just like that.
Snaking an arm around his hips, I grip one ass cheek and push his pelvis forward, taking him deeper in my mouth. His shallow thrusts turn into longer, harder ones when my hand drops from his cock down to between my legs, the ache becoming so unbearable I moan around his cock , his breath hitching as my lips vibrate against his skin.
Water falls all around us, but I don’t care; my sole focus is on Zach in my mouth, and his hands framing my head and holding me in place while he pushes and pulls in and out of my lips.
With a gentle scrape of my teeth against the head of his dick and a loud growl from Zach, I’m no longer at eye level with his cock—Zach’s arms hoist me up and continue to lift me until I straddle his hips. One of his hands snakes down between us and seconds later, I’m impaled on his cock, a loud scream bouncing off the walls of the bathroom.
“You make me so. Fucking. Happy,” he grinds out, punctuating every work with a buck of his hips.
“Zach,” I moan, unable to say anything else. My nails bite into his back as I hold on for dear life. His mouth goes to my neck, his lips sucking the sensitive skin in a way I know will leave a mark.
“Wanna feel you fall apart, Little Grasshopper. Need you so much more than you know,” he says, slamming harder into me.
As if a switch is flicked, my climax slams into me like a wrecking ball whose sole purpose is to destroy and decimate.
His breathing becomes more desperate and I cry out at the same time as he plants himself deep inside me and groans loudly in my ear.
He stands there, holding me up. Our bodies are wet with sweat and water as the shower continues to pelt down between us.
I’m unable to control it. A giggle escapes my lips, morphing into out-and-out laughter when I lift my head and see the look of wrecked happiness on Zach’s face.
“I’ve just gotta say one thing,” I say, schooling my expression. He presses me into the wall, holding my body close to him.
His hand lifts up to my face. “What’s that?” he asks, his brows furrowed.
“Make-up sex is awesome. We should fight more often.”
Forty minutes and no hot water later, we’re in my bed, me on my back with my arm wrapped around Dani’s shoulders, her bare chest pressed half on the mattress, half on me.
“We need to talk, sweetheart . . .” I say gently, my hand drawing random shapes on her back. I expect her to tense, or worse pull away, but she doesn’t do either. Instead, she lifts her head and rests her chin on my pec.
“Yeah.”
“I take it by you being here, the crying lag, the shower, and now in my bed, you’re ready to face the fire?”
Her lips twitch, the corner of her mouth curling up slightly.
“What’s funny?”
“You say fire or anything flame, heat, burn-related and it makes me laugh.”
“You’re a goof.”
“I’m a geek; we do random shit like that all the time. Our brains are usually not our own. Mine always thinks in code or calculations. I’m like a human computer with boobs and a butt.”
Of its own volition, my hand drifts down to her ass and squeezes. “Definitely not complaining about that particular asset.”
“Typical male,” she mutters. I pin her with a stare, waiting for her to give me the words and tell me what I want to hear. She pulls her face closer to mine, pushing her breasts into me—giving my cock ideas of a second round—and runs her fingers through my wet hair. “I was scared.”
“Dani—” I say, but her finger pressing against my lips silences me.
“Let me finish . . .” she urges and I watch her, seeing how serious she is about it before replying with a silent nod.
“Abi and I went home to Mom’s this weekend.”
My eyes widen but I bite my lip when hers narrow, daring me to say something.
I don’t, so she continues. “As Mom does, she imparted her wisdom on me and made me see reason.”
“You weren’t seeing reason before?” I ask, genuinely interested.
“I wasn’t seeing what was right in front of me, which was a man who loves me more than his friendship with my brother and who since we started, has been willing to put everything
on the line for what we now both know we have.”
“Sweetheart . . .” I say, my voice rough because what she just said has proven what I knew already. The risk is—and always was—totally worth it.
“Funnily enough, talking things through with Abi made me see sense before Mom just backed it up. So I came up with the answer by myself; I just wasn’t able to see it until I was forced to confront it.”
“I didn’t want to—”
“Will you stop interrupting so I can convince my boyfriend that I’m all in?” she says with a laugh.
I snort. “Sorry, please continue.”
“It was never about doubting us. It was about still thinking that I was that two, eight, and fourteen-year-old sister that you yourself said Zander will always see me as. It was me not wanting him to see me as anything other than that.”
My eyes soften and I lift my hand to her cheek, loving the way she tilts her head into me. “He loves you. He’ll always love you.”
“I know. You just gave me the kick up the ass I needed to sort my head out.”
“Sweetheart . . .”
She brings her head closer, her eyes full of love as her lips brush mine. “As long as I have you, we’re bulletproof.”
“Body armor?” I murmur.
“Kevlar.”
“Such a geek.”
She smiles, her eyes now soft and gentle. “Always your geek.”
Unfortunately, the moment is broken by Dani’s phone ringing from the living room. “Wait there. I’ll go get it,” I say
“It can wait,” she says, her voice rough and way-the-fuck turned on.
I flip her on to her back and hover over her, pressing my body into hers. “It can definitely fucking wait.”
After round two, Dani opens one of my drawers, and pulls one of my T-shirts over her head, wearing only that as she disappears through my bedroom door to get her phone.
“Shit!” she half-screams, half-squeals before running down the hallway and diving on top of me.
“What?” I wheeze.
“Mia’s gone into labor. She’s at Northwestern Memorial. We’ve gotta go.”
“That’s awesome,” I say with a huge grin.
“Emma’s coming,” she whispers, bouncing on top of me in a way not conducive to getting me out of bed.
“You gotta stop jumping on me, Grasshopper, otherwise we won’t be leaving until I fuck you again.”
Her eyes widen and she mouths O, understanding dawning, making me chuckle.
“You laughing isn’t making me want to get out of bed either, mister.”
“Dammit, we’ll be quick,” I growl, flipping her onto her back and making short work of getting her naked, worked up, and squirming again.
Thirty minutes later, both of us cleaned—yes, again—and dressed, we’re on our way to the hospital.
“Should we talk about how we’re going to handle this?” I ask, doubt starting to creep in as to whether this is the best plan of attack. .
“What do you mean?” she asks, turning toward me.
I reach over and put my hand on her bouncing leg, stilling it. “Sweetheart, we’re going to the hospital where your sister is in labor. Which means that everyone will be there . . .”
“I know that, Zach,” she says in a ‘duh’ voice.
“Right. So you also know that Zander, Kate, Zoe, and Noah will be there too.”
“Yeah . . .”
Pulling my hand away begrudgingly, I turn into a parking space and come to a stop, switching off the engine and turning my body to face her. “Dani, we can’t just waltz on in there, hand in hand, and expect rainbows and unicorns,” I explain, hoping she’ll see my point.
It’s then that she leans forward and puts one hand on my upper thigh and the other on my shoulder. “Zachary David Cooper, everything is going to be fine.”
My head jerks back and I narrow my eyes at her, wondering when the hell she found the time to down a fifth of vodka and get so hammered she doesn’t care about the impending showdown with her brother, her sister—actually, both of them—her brothers-in-law . . . everyone else . . .
“We can’t—”
She covers my mouth with her fingers and smiles huge at me. Who is this woman and where is my girlfriend?
“Whatever happens, Zach, we have each other. Together we can make it through anything.” She moves her hand to the back of my neck and tugs me forward, kissing me hard, her mouth closed but her eyes open, boring into me.
Sitting back in her seat, she grins when all I can do is sit there and gape at her, my shock turning into a huge smile. “You’re amazing.”
“I know,” she says with a one-shouldered shrug.
I run my arm around her waist and lift her over to my lap, running my fingers through her hair and slanting her head in order to take her mouth, hard, deep, wet, and very long.
This time, when I pull back, her eyes are glazed over and she looks dazed. After a few moments, she pulls herself together and rests her forehead against mine, showing me the smallest of cracks in her bravado.
“We’ll be okay, right?”
“Anything, anywhere, anytime, Dani. I love you and you love me. This isn’t a fling or just sex; this is two adults who fell for each other and there wasn’t anything—or anyone—that could stop it from happening.”
She lifts her head back to look at me. “You really believe that, don’t you?” she whispers.
“With every single fiber of my being. I’m just glad you now believe it too.”
Her eyes go soft and her face gentles. “With every single fiber of my being,” she says back to me and fuck, it feels good to hear.
“Right then, little lady. Off my lap and let’s go meet your niece.”
“I love you, Zach Cooper.”
“And I love you, Danika Roberts.”
Getting out of the car, I’m walking around the hood when I see something out of the corner of my eye, and turn my head in time to catch Zander’s fist hitting me square in the jaw.
“Tell me to my face, asshole,” he yells.
“Zander!” Dani cries, slamming the car door. I turn back to face my best friend to see his eyes blazing and Kate standing frozen behind him. I stand my ground but don’t say a word.
“You son of a bitch.” He swings again and this time he hits my cheek, the force reverberating through my head as I’m thrown sideways to the sound of Dani’s scream and Kate calling for help after grabbing for Zander’s arm and getting shrugged off.
I right myself, holding my arm up to block his punch but not even contemplating fighting him back. I knew it would amount to this. I brought it the moment I kissed Dani’s lips the first night.
“Zan, stop!” Noah shouts, running toward us, grabbing Zander’s raised arm and holding him back from landing yet another blow. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Zach’s with Dani,” he growls, struggling against Noah’s hold.
“Fucking calm down, Zander. Punching him won’t help and neither will fighting me.”
“Probably not, but it’ll make me feel a fuck of a lot better,” Zander spits out, his eyes shooting daggers at me.
“It won’t when you’re hauled off by the cops, man. Just take a walk and calm the fuck down.”
“Fuck it. I’ll take a night in a cell just to teach my best friend a lesson in fucking respect.” He moves quickly, spinning out of Noah’s grasp and socking me in the gut.
“Hope it was worth it, asshole, because now you’re fucking dead to me,” he says in my ear before letting me go and storming off.
Bent over with my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath, I see Kate send a sympathetic look to Dani before rushing off after her husband.
“Thanksgiving should be interesting,” Noah mutters, and I look up at him with a glare.
“Not helping, man.”
“Neither was not growing a pair and just ’fessing up to it. He would’ve been mad, but he would’ve gotten over it. Now look what’s happened
,” Noah continues, getting straight to the point.
“It just happened! We didn’t plan it.” She stops then narrows her eyes at her brother-in-law. “How do you know anyway?” Dani burrows into my side and wraps an arm around my waist, the fingers of her other hand coming up to my face to gingerly touch my cheek.
“Dani, if you think the rest of us haven’t clued in to whatever has been going on between you two, you’re wrong.”
“But—” she says before Noah cuts her off, turning to address me.
“We should probably get you to the ER to check the damage, and at least close up that cut. Cade’s on, so he’ll be able to sort you out while I try to instigate damage control,” he says.
“I need to talk to him,” Dani says to the two of us.
“Nope, you need to get upstairs to Mia. Matt’s taking a battering, and Zoe says she’s not up to it. So until your mom gets here, you’re up.”
“When’s Mom due to arrive?”
“Matt called her just before he texted everyone else, so at least an hour and a half—maybe two—away.”
“Shit,” she spits out before fitting her body to my front and gliding her hands up my neck tilting my head down. My hands go to her hips and I hold her to me, hoping she’s reassured by my touch and doesn’t start doubting us again.
I needn’t have worried.
“You go get checked out and then come upstairs to the maternity ward’s waiting room and text me when you’re there. I’ll—”
“Sweetheart, I can’t stay.” She opens her mouth but I continue before she can argue. “I’ll go get Cade to check me over, but I think it’s best if I go home. Give your family some space.”
“No, Zach. We’re in this together.”
“Do not,” I say, my voice dropping low, “doubt me and us. You and me are fine—fucking perfect—but I don’t want to ruin anything for Mia and Matt and the rest of the family. So I’ll go home and wait for the good news, and you can either come over when you’re done here or call me and I’ll come and pick you up.”
She tilts her head but this time it’s not to tempt me—it’s to study me, her eyes narrowing on mine. “You’re running away,” she says.
