When he had enough breath, Sean angled both their heads so he could plant a chaste kiss on her lips. “Would it be too weird if I said ‘thank you’?” he asked in a voice rough with emotion. It had been so long since he had been with any woman and even longer since he had made what he would consider love, not merely had sex.
She chuckled wearily. “Not if I can say it too.” She opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy look. “It’s been a while for me.”
“And me,” he admitted, although he wondered if she knew that already. Given how well she knew Grace, maybe his recent past had been revealed before he got hired. Then he dismissed the notion. If Zoë knew he’d had a mental breakdown, why would she trust him this way with her body so soon?
“Any chance we could give this another try in my bed and at something slower than warp speed?”
Leaning his forehead against hers, he replied, “Seriously? Do you think there’s any chance on God’s green Earth I would say no?”
The corners of her lips turned up. “I guess that was a pretty dumb question, but here’s another one—do you have enough energy to carry me to bed? I’m not sure my legs will work.”
His fatigue vanished with the question. Zoë’s bed and the opportunity to worship her body at his leisure? In answer, he raised them both to their feet, swept her once more into his arms and carried her away.
* * * * *
“Drop it! I said drop it, goddamn it!”
Zoë bolted upright and blinked sleep from her eyes. It took a few seconds to orient herself and remember that there was a man in her bed. She turned to see Sean’s head thrashing from side to side and his body jerking while he yelled and cursed. She flipped over onto her knees and gauged the best way to wake him from his nightmare.
“Sean? Sean?” she said in an increasingly louder tone and tried to shake his shoulder. She ducked when his arm lashed out in her direction. “Sean! It’s Zoë, wake up, you’re having a bad dream!”
He sat up straight and stared at her wild-eyed. His breathing was labored and a sheen of sweat covered his forehead. Coughing a few times, he ran a palm down his face. He blinked at her. “Zoë?” His brow creased in a frown. “Was I yelling in my sleep?”
Zoë gave him a sympathetic smile. “You were having a nightmare. It ah, seemed pretty intense.”
He dropped his gaze. He was silent while his fingers gripped the sheets. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” She reached over to place her hand on top of his and then her phone on the nightstand rang. “Damn,” she muttered and scooted up the bed to take the call. She knew who it was without even looking at the caller ID. “Hi, yiayia,” she answered in English. She wanted Sean to understand her. “Everything’s fine. It was just a bad dream. ’Night.”
When she hung up, Sean grimaced. “I woke up your grandmother. Shit, I’m sorry. I’ll get out of here as quietly as I can.”
“Wait, what?” She grabbed him by the arm before he could climb out of bed. “It’s not a big deal. She’ll go back to sleep and we should too.” She glanced at the clock. “We have three more hours before we have to get up for work. It was only a dream, Sean, with some yelling and thrashing about. But it’s over now.”
He jerked his head up. “Was I kicking and punching in my sleep?” he demanded.
“Not exactly. There was a little bit of flailing, I guess you could say.” She shrugged. “Fortunately I’m still pretty spry for my age.”
He looked stricken at her words. “Did I hurt you? Jesus God, Zoë, did I hurt you?”
“No, of course not.” She tried to frame his face with her hands but he turned away and flung his legs over the side of the bed.
“I must have scared you, huh?” His head hung down. The guilt was thick in his tone.
“No, of course not. I’m not surprised you have nightmares.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized she may have revealed too much of what she’d been told.
He looked at her over his shoulder. “Why, because you think every grunt coming back from war is a basket case?”
She stiffened with indignation. “No, of course not!” With a sigh of resignation, she confessed what she should have before their date. He had a right to know how much she knew. “Grace told me what happened last year and that you were hospitalized.”
Sean swore softly and turned his head away again. She reached over and touched his shoulder. He shrugged her off and stood up. The small gesture of rejection made her stomach tighten with worry. Damn it, had she just blown the best night in more years than she cared to count?
“I’m sorry. I should have told you from the beginning.”
He turned his body back in her direction. It was the first real chance for her to gaze at it fully naked. God, he was magnificent. Every muscle stood out in stark relief. But as much as she enjoyed the sight, the look on his face made her want to weep. He wore an expression of loss and hurt. It made her heart ache.
“You knew I have PTSD and tried to kill myself when you hired me, when you agreed to go out with me?” He shrugged. “Well, I threatened to kill myself. I’m not sure I would have ever done it.” He fisted his hands by his sides.
Sitting back on her heels, she tried to put the matter in the right light. “Grace is a good friend and not your doctor. She felt she both needed to tell me the truth and wasn’t bound by ethics to keep it a secret. She wanted me to know before I agreed to hire you.”
Sean gave a mirthless laugh. “I guess when I didn’t come in wielding a knife or sucking on my thumb, that clinched the job. And when I didn’t try to put my head in your oven, that meant I was safe to date?”
She pounded a fist on the bed. “Oh, that’s not fair to either of us! I hired you as a favor to Grace and I asked you out as a favor to myself.” Crossing her arms, she stared past him. “Frankly, I should have just jumped you in my office the way I wanted to and given the job to someone else. This issue might have come up sooner and we’d have dealt with it at a more rational hour.”
They were both quiet for a few seconds. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I shouldn’t be mad at you for knowing what I should have told you myself. I guess I didn’t expect to become involved with a woman so soon. I didn’t think it through.” He sighed heavily and shrugged. “I should have thought too about the possibility of having a nightmare before I accepted your offer to stay over. They’ve been less frequent lately, so…” His voice trailed off. “I have to go.”
“No.” She threw herself across the bed and clasped his thigh with both hands, holding him firm. “Please, Sean, stay here and cuddle with me. I bet we can still get some more sleep.” Her plea was just short of full-on begging, yet she didn’t care. She couldn’t stand the idea of his leaving in such a wretched state of mind. She liked the feel of his body next to hers too much, as well, to give it up so soon.
His gaze fixed on the floor, he shook his head. “I don’t think so. Whenever I have these nightmares, I’m too jazzed up to go back to sleep.”
“Would it help to tell me about it?”
He shook his head again. “No. Thanks, though.” He stared back at her, discomfort etched there for her to see. “I talk about it with my therapist. It’s better than it was. In the past, I’d turn to a bottle to drink myself back to sleep.” He gave her a crooked grin. “I don’t do that anymore, so it means I’m up for the day.”
She kept her hold on him and gnawed at her lower lip. An idea formed in her head, a naughty one. “You need to relax?” she asked in a coy voice.
“Ah, yeah.” His voice sounded uncertain. Apparently his thoughts weren’t going yet where hers were. She’d have to show him.
Wiggling closer, she let go of his leg and clasped his arm. She pulled him to her. “I think I know a way to settle you that your doctor might approve of.”
His resistance was minimal as she forced him back down onto the bed. She sat between his legs and wiggled her eyebrows. His gaze narrowed as he watched her slide her hands up his
thighs. Her fingertips brushed his ripped abdomen, stroking the ridges his muscles made. His breath hitched and his cock swelled. She slid her hands over the rising flesh. He jerked and hissed.
“Zoë,” he barked out a warning.
She glanced up at him while she squeezed his cock and balls in a tender massage. “What? Have you ever tried this before?”
“You mean jerking off? Sometimes, although nightmares don’t exactly turn me on.”
She shook her head. “No, I mean having someone ‘relax’ you.”
He laughed bitterly. “Shit, no. Any time I had a nightmare around a woman, she always ran off or ran me off, glad to be rid of me and my messy head.”
“Hmph. You were obviously dating the wrong women.” He was fully erect and a beckoning treat. Bending over, she slipped the rod into her mouth. She kept her eyes open to watch his reaction.
“No argument there,” he replied, right before his eyeballs rolled back into his head.
He lay still beneath her, other than the occasional muttered appreciation of her efforts. His body, however, remained tense, so she ratcheted up her ministrations. Her tongue laved the underneath of his cock as her fingers gently squeezed his balls. She worked his cock at the base with her other hand and sucked hard with her lips wrapped tightly around the bulbous head.
When his breath turned to pants and moans passed his lips, she picked up speed. His body was no longer still, jerking up to meet her lips as they slid down his cock. Fingers fisted in her hair and helped set a rhythm. She took him in as deep as she could and swallowed. With an almost anguished groan, he bucked hard into her mouth. Cum splashed the roof and coated the tongue that trapped the salty liquid and kept it from sliding down her throat. She squeezed with fingers and lips, urging the climax out of him. His thighs clamped her body and trapped her against him until the last of the spasms subsided.
When Sean’s body went limp, Zoë released him and sat up. His eyes were still closed, but a faint smile touched his lips. She got up to go to the bathroom to spit out his cum and brush her teeth. She made quick work of it, hoping he wouldn’t be offended that she didn’t swallow. Back in the bedroom, she found she needn’t have worried. Her plan had worked.
Sean was fast asleep.
Chapter Four
Sean dropped the trash from the morning’s breakfast crowd into the dumpster and took a moment to stretch. He should have been tired and sore, given he’d slept little and in a strange bed. But that bed had been Zoë’s and damn if her method to chase away his night terrors wasn’t the best one yet. Who needed booze or meds when a sexy and sweet woman went down on you? Better yet, he had woken with her soft body pressed against his. A quickie in the shower had topped it all off. A man could come to love getting up before the sun if every day started as this one had.
Of course he’d made her drop him off at his apartment so that he could change for work. He hadn’t wanted people to see them come in together either. He didn’t want her bothered by any gossip. She’d said it didn’t bother her if others at work knew they were dating. Nevertheless, it bothered him because she mattered. Their date had become a sleepover and he wanted more, lots more, as in maybe relationship more. He knew she was still a little squeamish about their age difference and the imbalance of power that came from his working for her. The last kind of pressure they needed was disapproval or razzing by the cooks or waitstaff.
On the other hand, working for her meant he got to look at her all day long, and that was a definite bonus. Turning to go back in, he heard raised voices coming from the back of the building. He changed course and walked toward the sound. Diego was being pushed up against the wall by a bigger man with slick dark hair and light-brown skin. The guy had a fistful of the dishwasher’s shirt. A torrent of words in what Sean assumed was Portuguese spewed out of the interloper’s mouth.
“Hey!” Sean shouted, picking up his pace.
Both Diego and his attacker turned to look at him. Diego’s eyes showed both embarrassment and relief. The bigger man snarled in a heavy accent, “Fuck off.”
“I don’t think so.” Sean stopped a few feet from them and braced his legs. He let the other guy see not only that he was in for a fight, but that Sean knew how to handle himself and was not afraid to mix it up. “Let him go.” He kept his voice low and menacing.
There was a staring contest for a few seconds before the other man backed down. With a dismissive shove, he released his grip on Diego and threw up his hands as if disgusted. “His ass isn’t worth fighting over.” He spat as he brushed past Sean.
Sean watched to make sure the shithead had really left before he turned back to Diego. The younger man still leaned against the wall, his eyes closed. “Are you okay?”
Diego pushed away from the wall and gave Sean one of his boyish smiles. “I’m good, thanks.”
Because it seemed that was as much as he was going to get out of his coworker about the incident, Sean did some quick math and asked the obvious question. “Is he the ‘accident’ that broke your arm?”
Sean wasn’t sure Diego would answer him. After a few seconds ticked by, the kid nodded. Tears leaked out of his eyes and he brushed at them with his uninjured arm. “He used to be so nice. I don’t know what happened. He started picking on every little thing I did and when I argued back, he would shove me, then slap me, then this.” He lifted up the broken arm.
“Did you file a complaint with the police?”
Diego looked horrified. “Shit, no.”
“Why not?” Sean sighed. “Are you an illegal?”
Now Diego looked affronted. “I am perfectly legal. I’m a naturalized citizen.”
“Sorry.”
The other man looked away. “Ernesto is illegal. If I call the cops on him, he may be deported.”
“Good. After what he did to you, he deserves it.”
Diego took a step forward. “No! I can’t do that to him. I love him, or I used to love him.”
“Love him? Man, he broke your arm. He’s an abusive piece of shit.”
“I know. I know. I just can’t.” He stared at Sean with pleading eyes. “Please don’t say anything to Zoë. I don’t want her to worry.”
Sean blew out a breath. “I don’t like it, but okay.” He stabbed a finger at the other man. “You’re not going to see this guy again, right?”
“Absolutely not. I’m done with him.”
“Good. And if he bothers you anymore, you let me know, okay?”
Diego smiled. “Sure. Thanks, dude. You’re a good friend.”
“Right. Let’s get back to work before the boss notices we’re gone.”
Diego fell into step beside Sean as they returned to the side door. “So, how was your date last night with Zoë?”
Sean’s step faltered. “How did you know I went out with her?”
The dishwasher shrugged. “Everyone knows. There are no secrets in the diner. I ask again, how was it?”
Sean eyed the excitement in the other man’s face. “None of your damn business.”
“You’re no fun.”
Sean opened the door and ushered his friend inside. “That’s not what she said,” he muttered under his breath.
Even in the lull between breakfast and lunch, the place hopped with people prepping for the next rush of diners. It was easy to spot Zoë among the bustle of waitstaff and cooks. Something about the woman made her stand out in a crowd, at least for him. The sight of her compact body and pretty face framed by unkempt hair put his body on high alert. Blood raced through his veins while his heart pounded. He was half-hard for her in seconds. When she caught sight of him and winked as she hurried into the dining room, his breath caught. Man, he wanted to scoop her up, carry her into her office and get busy on her desk.
He grabbed a cold bottle of water and headed for the dishwashing room instead. Running the coolness of the container across his heated forehead, he reminded himself there was a time and place. If he played his cards right, he might talk her into catchin
g some dinner that night or the next, and maybe more. Desire for her body was only part of it though. It still amazed him that rather than being scared off by his nightmare, she had embraced the problem and found an excellent solution. She had seen him at his worst. Okay, not his very worst. He hadn’t cried, and a blessing it was too. But every other woman had been either scared by his violent dreams or turned-off simply by his obvious vulnerability in having them in the first place.
Zoë hadn’t been afraid or disgusted and merciful God, she hadn’t tried to coddle him and make it all better either. She had still seen him as a desirable man. The moment when her warm mouth had slid over his cock was a memory he would take to his grave. Even now it had the power to make him throb and ache and forget his own name. He closed his eyes and leaned against the sink. The hard metal pressed painfully against his hard-on. It did nothing to ease his arousal and neither did the sharp pinch on his ass. He jerked more in surprise than any real discomfort and popped open his eyes to see Zoë leaning against the sink by his side.
She grinned at him. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist. Penny for your thoughts.”
He grimaced. “I don’t dare describe them here. I’m distracted enough as it is.”
Her gaze dropped. “Really? No one could tell.”
“Thank God for aprons. Trust me. My jeans feel two sizes too small right now.”
“Flatterer. Too bad I can’t check for myself.” Even as she said it, she slid her hand along the edge of the sink toward his overheated body.
Sean stepped back and laughed. “Don’t you dare!” he chided in a low voice.
She laughed too and took a step closer. “What, you think the rest of the staff would be scandalized to see us lip-locked?”
He held up his hands to discourage her advance. “Maybe. I’d be scandalized to be caught feeling up the boss, I can tell you.” He sobered his face and lowered his voice. “I don’t want people gossiping about you in your own place of business.”
Her expression softened. “You’re so sweet to worry about me.”
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