Shrugging, he said, “I like you.” He paused and tried to find the right words. “You matter.” He winced inwardly. He wasn’t going to win any poetry contest with such an inadequate statement.
Zoë didn’t seem to care about his lack of elegance because she closed the distance between them and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “That is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.”
He shoved his hands inside his pockets to keep from grabbing her and diving into her mouth. “Really? ’Cause it sounded pretty lame to me.”
“You’re too hard on yourself,” she reprimanded with a frown.
“Maybe. Can I see you again?”
Now she sighed with exaggerated exasperation. “Of course you can.”
“Are you free tonight?” He had always played it cool with women before. This time was different. He wanted her to see how much she mattered to him. Life was too uncertain to play games anymore.
Pursing her lips, she shook her head. “Sorry, I have plans tonight. My cousin Cassie is getting married and a bunch of my female relatives are getting together at Yiayia’s apartment to put together the boubounieres. The wedding favors,” she clarified.
“You mean Jordan almonds?”
“And tulle and ribbon. Girl stuff.”
He smiled at the image of Zoë surrounded by other women doing something so totally feminine. He’d love to be a fly on the wall for about two seconds; then, like most guys, he’d go crazy with boredom. “Sounds like fun,” he said because it was the right response.
“It will be.” She got a wistful look in her eye. “Even though my own marriage crashed and burned, I’m still a sucker for weddings and romance.” Before he could think of a suitable reply, she asked, “How about tomorrow night? With the diner closed on Monday, we can really cut loose and sleep in.”
He wasn’t sure how much looser they could cut given the previous night’s experience, but the idea had him flushing from top to bottom and his lungs seized. He coughed to start his breath up again. “Tomorrow’s good.”
“Great.” Checking her watch, she added, “I guess we should both get back to work. The lunch crowd will descend on us soon enough.” She blew him a kiss as she left the room.
Sean turned to the sink, bent over, switched on the cold water and sprayed the back of his neck.
* * * * *
Zoë refused a third glass of retsina when her aunt offered. She was having a hard enough time tying the ribbon around the tulle-wrapped almonds as it was. The move wasn’t lost on her younger cousin, Eleni.
“When did you become such a lightweight, Zoë?”
She bit her lip with concentration and didn’t bother to look up as she answered. “Sometime around forty. Everything starts to go to hell in a handbasket. Wait, it will happen to you too.”
Another younger cousin, Georgia, who was also Zoë’s godchild, giggled. “When I’m your age, I hope I’m half as together, Noona.”
“Me too,” Eleni chimed in. “I sure wouldn’t mind having a hottie like your boyfriend.” Her comment was directed toward Zoë and the other conversations ceased with the remark.
Glancing up, Zoë saw all eyes were on her now. Her female relatives had scented something juicy. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Eleni was like a dog with a bone. “That’s not what I hear.” She made eye contact with the other women. “She went out on a date last night with a guy who’s like my age.”
All gazes swung over to Zoë again. Sighing, she resigned herself to the discussion. “One date does not make a boyfriend.”
Aunt Sophia tossed the party favor she had just finished into the basket, thoughts of her daughter’s upcoming marriage apparently shoved aside. “What is this? Who is this boy?”
“He’s not a boy.” Zoë placed her own finished favor down and sat back. She was well and truly trapped into talking about Sean now. Eleni had nothing on her mother when it came to pumping information out of others. “He’s a man.” Her aunt stared her down with eyebrows raised. “Okay, to you and me, he’s a boy.” And what a boy too. Thoughts of him were never far away. All day she had worked hard to keep the memories of their night at bay. It was hopeless, and the flirting in the dishwashing room hadn’t helped. Her body itched and ached with need. She could feel her face flush as the other women watched her. Grabbing her glass, she held it out to her aunt. “May as well hit me again.”
“Where did you meet this boy?” her aunt Vroula asked.
Zoë sat back and took a gulp of her wine. “He’s a friend of a friend. I needed a temporary dishwasher and he needed a temporary job.” She shrugged. “We hit it off and I asked him out.”
Vroula topped off her own glass. “You’re sleeping with an employee?”
Guilt stung. “I didn’t say I was sleeping with him.”
The other women merely stared her down once again. She sighed loud enough for everyone to hear. “Okay, we had wild, passionate monkey sex on my living room floor.” She winced. “Sorry, Yiayia.” The older woman sat in her rocking chair, listening and grinning. “Satisfied now?” she asked the room at large.
“No!” came the chorus of responses.
“We want details,” Cassie chimed in. When Zoë gave her a horrified look, the bride shook her head. “Not about the sex.” She paused and grinned at her relatives. “Well, yes, about the sex, but what about him? What’s he like?”
A bunch of adjectives popped into her mind—gorgeous, sexy, sweet, hung and powerful. Her clit throbbed with the memory of him pounding his hot cock into her aching pussy. She remembered too how he was ready for more not long after they fell into her bed. Her nipples hardened as she pictured his mouth descending to latch on and suck with such devotion she had almost come again. And she had come once more, her body bucking, her fingers clenched tight onto the sheets when his tongue laved her clit.
She gulped more wine in a pointless effort to still her arousal. “He’s a nice guy, Boston native, ex-army.”
There was a collective “ooh” over the last part. “A military man?” This from Eleni.
“Yes.”
“I bet he’s jacked,” observed Cassie.
“He’s in very good shape,” Zoë confirmed, and again tried hard not to picture his bulging muscles and tight ass. Tried and failed, of course.
Georgia put down her wine. “Does he have those abdominal muscles or tendons or whatever they are that make that ‘V’?” She ran her hands down either side of her pelvis to emphasize her point.
Zoë practically choked on her mouthful of wine as she pictured Sean’s hard cock jutting up between that very shape. “Yes,” she ground out between gritted teeth.
There was another collective “ooh” out of the crowd as the information was absorbed.
“Does Penny know about him?” This was from Cassie once more. She was as close to Zoë’s daughter as a sister.
Zoë’s stomach did a little flip when she thought of her kids. She hadn’t really considered how they might feel about her dating someone close to their age. “No, I haven’t told her or Nick and you’re not going to say anything either.” When the girl pouted at the dictate, she added, “She doesn’t need to hear about something that may very well go nowhere while she’s working on her dissertation.”
Vroula rolled her eyes. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days? In my day, it was called backpacking around Europe with your boyfriend.”
Zoë couldn’t argue the point. Penny and her boyfriend were both working on their doctorates in art history. What they intended to live on once they had the degree was anyone’s guess. “Regardless, she’s gone for the summer. She’ll meet Sean when she gets back, assuming we’re still dating.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her one way or the other. It did though. She was falling for the guy fast and hard.
“Sounds like you’re going strong,” Georgia observed. “Why borrow trouble?”
Then Yiayia spoke up. “He is wounded,” she said in Greek.
&
nbsp; Eleni said, “Oh, is he missing a leg or something?”
“What a question,” her mother Vroula admonished, but they all looked at Zoë in anticipation of the answer.
Yiayia answered for her. “Inside.” She tapped her heart with her hand. “He hurts inside.” Of course the older woman had heard the nightmare and she had survived the Nazi occupation of Greece as a young woman. She knew the horrors of war better than anyone else in the room.
Resigned to the discussion, Zoë confirmed, “He suffers from PTSD.”
“Shell-shocked,” Aunt Sophia said to Vroula when the other woman frowned with confusion. “That’s what we called it back in the day.” She leaned toward Zoë. “Is he dangerous? I mean, one hears stories.”
Zoë appreciated the concern. “No, he’s not dangerous. He’s never hurt anyone, he’s just dealing with anxiety. He’s getting treatment.” As she told the tale though, she realized he was still in a vulnerable state. Perhaps dating wasn’t the right thing for him at the moment. Then again, she recalled how she had helped him settle back down and go to sleep. The memory of his hard length filling her mouth and the taste of his salty arousal made her tingle with pleasure. A smile played across her lips.
Eleni laughed. “Looks like he’s getting a healthy dose of Zoë. Is that medically approved?”
Zoë laughed with the other women, but still, in the back of her mind, she wondered. Was she doing the right thing?
Chapter Five
Sean found his parents sitting in front of the television, which was their typical after-dinner activity. They both looked up when he came in. He could have used the steps in the garage to go up to his apartment without seeing them, but he knew they liked having him check in. Even though living at home was a big help with his finances, he needed his space. With what he made at the diner, he’d soon have enough to rent his own apartment without worrying about depleting his savings too much. He looked forward to not having to see the expressions of worry and relief that marred his parents’ faces whenever he returned. He hated how he had done that to them and still resented a bit that it had taken them, especially his father, a while to accept he needed help. He told himself he had to let it go. He heard his doctor’s voice in his head telling him that those kinds of thoughts and feelings were counterproductive. He waved at them with one foot inside the kitchen and one still in the mud room.
“Hey, I’m home. I’m just going to grab a shower and make it an early night.” He turned to make good his escape. His mother’s voice brought him up short.
“Do you want me to warm up some dinner for you?”
He stopped with his hand on the doorjamb and smiled at her. “No, thanks, Mom. I grabbed something at work.”
She nodded in understanding and went back to watching her show. His father, however, got up and came over to him.
“Everything okay?” the older man asked in a voice too quiet to reach his wife’s ears.
“Everything’s fine, Dad.” He stayed where he was though. He could see by the way his father stood with his fists jammed into his front pockets that he had more to say.
“I only ask because your mother was worried when you didn’t come home last night.”
Sean groaned inwardly. He definitely needed to get his own place. “Sorry. I should have called. It was a last-minute thing.” Knowing his father wanted to know more but wouldn’t dare ask, he volunteered the embarrassing truth. Sex had never been a comfortable topic between him and his dad. “I had a date and it went better than I expected.” He shrugged and looked down at the floor. “I spent the night at her place.”
His father huffed out a long breath and leaned in. “It wasn’t one of them bar bunnies, was it?”
Sean wanted to laugh. Zoë was so far from the kind of women he had whored around with the previous year, it was hard to believe he had once lived his life that way. “No, Dad, she’s not. Truthfully, she’s a little older than I am and very sensible.” He didn’t bother to tell the other man she was his boss. The revelation would only lead to a lecture, and he was too tired and too happy with dating Zoë to hear it. He also ignored the obvious conflict a person of his father’s generation might see in being sensible and still sleeping with a guy on the first date.
Fortunately, his father chose not to pursue the matter. “All right, then. Next time call. Your mother was worried.”
His mother, sure, not his father. He could see the concern in the man’s eyes. He had seen it plenty during the hospital stay. His old man had never been good at admitting his feelings. No matter how much help Sean got in dealing with his own, there was always going to be a space between them.
“Sure, Dad.” He started for the door, stopped and turned. “I may as well tell you now I probably won’t be home tomorrow night. I’ve got another date.”
His father scratched his head and muttered. “Well, you’re a grown man.”
Sean watched him rejoin his mother, pat her hand and focus once more on the television. His parents had a good marriage. Watching them sit in companionable silence, he knew it was the kind of relationship he hoped to have one day himself. Images of his night with Zoë popped into his mind as they had all day. His body responded to the memories in its usual horn-dog fashion. Blood rushed into his cock and his nerve endings went on high alert. He took the steps to his apartment two at a time to avoid any chance either of his parents would decide to speak with him again and notice how aroused he had become.
Once inside his apartment, he went straight to the bathroom. A shower had been on his agenda already. Now he knew he needed more than to wash the grime off of his body. He felt foolish jerking off in the shower as if he were a teenager again, but the alternative was to leave evidence behind his mother might find. No matter how often he told her she didn’t need to, he knew she came in and cleaned his place. The choice of doing nothing was also off the table. Between the PTSD and the meds given to treat it, his sex drive had been practically nonexistent for months. His sexy boss had kicked it back into gear and he wasn’t inclined to dissuade it.
Stripping off his clothes, he stepped into the shower and set the water stream to hot and pulsing. He turned his back to the spray and groaned. The jets of water bombarded his aching back in a wet massage. For long minutes he stood with his eyes closed, his legs braced and his fingers loosely wrapped around his cock. He was in no hurry and wanted to build the pleasure slowly. Visions of Zoë played in his mind. He didn’t need to conjure her up in some crazy fantasy either. Merely remembering how she had looked at work, bopping around, checking on everything, her shapely ass disappearing around a corner, was enough to stiffen his cock and make it pulse to the beat of the water.
He tightened his grip on the hard flesh and teased it more earnestly. His other hand cupped his balls and rolled them between thumb and forefinger. His chest rose and fell with a quickened pace as he imagined Zoë naked and sharing the hot shower with him. Her eyes caressed his body with a sultry gaze. Her tongue licked her lips. Those perfectly plump breasts with their large, taut nipples beckoned him. He reached out to pull her to him, to press her slick skin against his. Her belly rubbed his cock while he played with her ass.
He stifled a groan as the tension mounted within him. His lungs struggled to drag in air. He bucked his hips forward while his fingers picked up speed. In his mind he rubbed his cock between himself and a frenzied Zoë. Her fingers gripped his waist to urge him on. It wasn’t enough for him to clench the cheeks of her ass. He wanted more, something he had never dared have with any woman. His hand slipped down into the cleft and found the forbidden hole. It was so easy to slide first one finger and then the other into a tightness he could only imagine. Zoë didn’t mind. She urged him on. “Faster, harder, deeper,” she whispered. “Take me where I’ve never gone before.”
He fumbled with the soap, desperate to slick up his cock. Spinning Zoe around to face away from him, he clasped her bottom cheeks in both hands and spread them open. He slid his rod between them and pressed
against the rosebud. Impossibly tight heat sucked him inside, gripped him, milked him as his hips jerked at a frantic pace. Staccato moans, his and hers, echoed around the tile as the tension within him mounted. He dug his fingers into her plump flesh and drove his cock in balls-deep.
The climax erupted out of his fevered body. He had to bite his lip to keep from yelling. The force of it nearly caused him to fall. Releasing his balls, his hand shot out to brace against the wall. With his other hand, he worked his cock until he had wrung it dry. When the spasms subsided, he put both hands on the wall while he caught his breath. Holy mother of God, after only one date, this woman had the power to bring him nearly to his knees with only a fantasy. The pathetic thing was he wanted her still, again. It was going to be a long night.
* * * * *
Zoë squealed in surprise when Sean entered the kitchen and grabbed her from behind. The sound morphed into a long moan as he cupped her breasts and planted kisses on her neck. Her body melted into his and she cocked her head to one side to give him better access to her succulent flesh. She smelled and tasted faintly of cinnamon, butter and honey, having spent the last few hours of the day standing at the metal work station making pastries for the coming week. He laved his tongue up her slender neck and nibbled at her earlobe.
“We’re all locked up, boss,” he whispered in her ear. “Time for our date.” He caressed her nipples with his fingertips. They were alone in the diner, he’d made sure of it. Part of his brain warned him to step back and wait for a more appropriate venue. But he wasn’t thinking with that organ at the moment. The entire day had been torture, waiting for the moment he could put his hands on the star of his fantasies.
She sighed heavily and went limp in his arms. “I thought this day would never end. I don’t know why I ever thought I could date you and work with you at the same time. It drives me crazy seeing you and not being able to touch.”
Because her words matched his own feelings so perfectly, his arousal revved up to high gear. His cock hardened and throbbed, trapped between their bodies. He hadn’t intended to do more than fondle and kiss her in a bit of teasing foreplay. A feral growl erupted from deep within him and he spun her around. Her eyes flashed in surprise, but only for a second. Her lids lowered to half mast, her lips parted as if in invitation. He decided to assume as much, cupping the back of her head to bring their lips together.
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