When they finally reached the guesthouse, there was Kyle, giggling madly, wading right through the water in the middle of the in-ground pool—it’d recently been filled and heated. He hadn’t reached the deeper water yet, but he was nearly there.
Luke and Kelly’s dog, Hawk, was swimming beside Kyle in the pool, as Emily continued to howl, with her nose pointed up into the air.
Without hesitation, Zach began removing his clothing, while Beth tried coaxing Kyle toward the shallower end of the pool.
But Kyle wouldn’t listen—he was beginning to take in deep gulps of water, when he finally seemed to realize that he might be in trouble. He began to panic, and his arms went flailing on top of the water.
Stripped down to his underwear, Zach jumped into the pool, first wading and then swimming as quickly as he could to reach Kyle.
Clearly relieved to see Zach coming to his rescue, Kyle jumped on top of him, and wound his arms around his neck.
When Zach’s head nearly plunged under, he coughed up some water—he seemed to be having a little bit of difficulty loosening Kyle’s grip. “That’s alright, buddy.” Zach muttered. “You’re hurting me a little here, kid—I really need to get some air.” Kyle still had his arms locked around Zach, but Zach somehow managed to walk with him into the shallower end of the pool, and over to the staircase.
Kyle must’ve finally decided it was safe to let Zach go, because he hurriedly climbed up the staircase on his own, to get out from the water.
When Beth rushed over to Kyle, Kelly ran toward the pathway leading back to the house. She called out over her shoulder, “I’ll go get you guys some extra towels and clothes.”
Luke had a frown on his face, as he continued to walk over toward them as fast as he could. “Is everyone alright?” He grimaced. “It’s times like this that I really regret the loss of my leg.”
Beth was looking Kyle over and shaking her head in exasperation—he was soaking wet, and still wearing all of his clothing. “What am I going to do with you?” She was nearly in tears, when she wrapped her arms around him. “Sometimes you can be such a dope!”
Kyle appeared visibly shaken, when he wrapped his arms around her. But then he quickly pulled away, as he began to remove his clothing.
Zach cleared his throat. “I left a few of my things, here in the guesthouse, when I moved out. I can take him inside and get him into some dry sweats and a T-shirt.”
And then Beth froze.
Her eyes had gone wide when she’d looked over at Zach. Her gaze traveled down from his face to his neck, and then moved over his torso.
Glancing down at himself, Zach was clearly horrified. Quickly reaching out for Kyle’s hand, he rushed him around the perimeter of the pool and pulled him inside of the guesthouse through the doorway.
Beth’s eyes were filled with tears by the time she glanced over at Luke—who was looking a little teary-eyed himself.
“I’ve never seen the scars either you know,” he said gruffly. “I never had a clue that they were so disfiguring.”
Beth sighed.
Luke hesitated, studying her.
“Don’t look at me that, Luke Bryant. It doesn’t make a difference to me, at all—you know?” Beth scraped away the tears from her eyes. “But I really wanna kill him for thinking that it would!”
Luke laughed softly. ‘Well, Beth—Zach has always been a magnet for the ladies.”
“Yeah, I can only imagine,” she said dryly.
“But I’ve never seen him care about anyone, as much as he seems to care about you. Kyle, too—he talks about him all the time. Zach was always a loner.”
Just then, Kelly appeared with the towels and a couple pairs of sweats and some T-shirts. She was wearing a worried frown on her face, when she stared over at her and Luke. Evidently noticing the look of determination upon Beth’s face, Kelly stepped right up to her and handed everything over.
Carrying the towels and clothes in her arms, Beth smiled grimly, as she marched around the edge of the pool, and entered the guesthouse through the doorway.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Zach was in the bedroom wrapping a towel around his waist, when he heard someone coming inside the guesthouse. Taking in a deep breath, he sat down on the edge of the bed when he heard Beth talking to Kyle. Kyle had pulled off his wet clothing as soon as he’d come inside the living room, and Zach had already handed over some clothes for him to wear.
Zach had hopped in and out of the shower—the water in the pool was heavily chlorinated and had a tendency to burn his supersensitive skin. He needed to apply antibiotic cream regularly over his skin to prevent infection, and Zach was ready to begin digging his hand into the jar when he heard Beth step up to the bedroom door.
He didn’t want to look at her face. How much longer would he have been able to hide this from her anyway? He’d always figured he’d stood a better chance with Beth, as long as she didn’t know about the scars.
And now he was feeling totally bleak about the future—he’d had this fantasy in his mind about him and her.
But much to his surprise, a throw pillow from the couch came flying through the air, and hit him square on his head. When Zach looked up, his mouth dropped open, when Beth began to fling another pillow through the air.
This one hit him in the face. “Hey!”
Damn, she looked angry—her lovely blue eyes were flashing fire. She had another pillow raised over her head in her hands, when Zach finally stood up to stop her.
“Beth, don’t,” Zach pleaded, wrapping his hands around her wrists, until she finally dropped the pillow.
She stared hard into his face, and looked down over his neck and his chest. And then she did something totally unexpected—she wrapped her arms around him—and clung to him tightly.
And then she began to cry. “What kind of woman do you think that I am—why would you think that it’d matter to me?” The question came out in-between gulping, heart-wrenching sobs.
“Oh, Beth,” he whispered hoarsely. “It’s just that you were so important to me, babe, I couldn’t stand the idea that it would,” Zach moaned, as he wrapped his arms around her snugly. He hadn’t held a woman in his arms for such a very long time. And this was Beth he thought, inhaling the light soothing fragrance of lavender that clung to her skin.
But this whole situation was a little mind-blowing for him to take in, and Kyle was still out in the other room. Zach slowly pulled back within her arms, as her sobs began to gradually subside. When she smiled at him through her tears, it nearly took his breath away. He’d been in love with this woman since the moment they’d met, and now, with her acceptance, he finally understood why. There were tears in his eyes too, when he kissed Beth, almost reverently, on her forehead.
* * * * *
Luke and Kelly had taken charge of Kyle and the dogs, and left Zach and Beth alone in the guesthouse. He and Beth had talked a little—but when she’d picked up the ointment and had begun to rub it into the skin over his shoulders, and even over the of bumps and furrows of, what’d once been, his abs and his chest—Zach’s voice had seized up in his throat. She was seeing every horrifying inch of him when he began to get dressed, and she wasn’t turning away from him in disgust.
When they were ready to depart, she gave him a watery smile when she reached for his hand. Once they reached the pathway, Zach dropped her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they continued to walk toward the house.
When they saw them arrive, Luke and Kelly were both smiling at them from the deck outside of their house. Kyle and his toys, along with Beth’s cooler and purse, were already packed up in the SUV.
Kyle was obviously exhausted, and dozing off in the back seat of the vehicle, when Zach attached his seat belt. And, smiling at Beth, Zach slid the back door of the van closed after Emily hopped in beside Kyle. Since Zach had moved in next door to Beth, Emily had attached herself to Kyle like an extra limb.
Once he finally left Luke and Kelly’s, Zach was still i
n a daze, following behind Beth in her SUV. He thought to himself as he was driving—was this really happening?
Apparently yes, because Beth waited for him to pull into the driveway first. They’d hardly said a word since they’d left the guesthouse, and they continued to remain silent, even as Zach reached into the backseat of the van, to unfasten Kyle’s seat belt, and assist him into the house. He, Emily and Kyle followed Beth up the staircase, and into Kyle’s room.
“Is there anything I can do?” Zach asked.
She smiled. “Nah. He’s pretty exhausted.”
Zach stood watching while Beth took Kyle into the bathroom, to brush his teeth, and get him ready for bed.
Soon, Kyle appeared in his pajamas, and hopped right into bed. When Emily jumped up into the bed beside him, he appeared to be instantly asleep. And Zach was startled.
Beth laughed softly. “It’s the medication. He sleeps like a log. I’m pretty grateful for it now—even though I never really wanted to put him on medication when it was suggested. He used to have some pretty bad behavior issues, though. He’s an awfully big kid—and he was kind of hard for me to handle by myself.”
Zach nodded his agreement. “I haven’t had any issues with him at all—he’s been really great.”
Beth nodded. “Hopefully, it won’t change. Right now, it’s the newness of everything. But I haven’t had a whole lot of trouble with him these last few years—now that the puberty issues are out of the way.”
Beth closed the door softly behind them when they left Kyle’s room. They made their way down the hallway to, what was must’ve been, the master bedroom.
She smiled suddenly. “Well…”
Zach smiled back. “Well…?”
Seconds later, he was taking her into his arms, and it was the most natural, most right thing that’d he’d ever done. He kissed her once, and then he kissed her again, and then he deepened the kiss until the heat of it melted away the last rational thought still left in his head.
He began inching his way into the bedroom—but Beth was making him dizzy, with the way she was kissing him back.
Finally peeking out from the corner of his eye, he could see the huge four-poster bed across the room. For a moment, he broke away from their kiss. “You sure it’s big enough?”
Beth laughed, staring over at the bed. “What can I say? I got a deal at an auction. Besides—this is a huge room—it needed a big bed.”
Zach growled, “Especially with everything that’ve I’ve got in mind—to do with you in it.” And then he gave her a wicked smile.
Beth’s eyes went wide. But then she grinned and led him over to the bed.
When Zach reached over and began tugging at her T-shirt, she lifted her arms, so that he could pull it off over her head. He laid his hands over her shoulders, as his tongue ran down the silky soft skin of her cheek, to the underside of her neck, until it reached the deep soft hollow of her throat. Gently, he pulled the straps of the lacy bra that she wore down over her shoulders while he continued to nuzzle her neck. After unfastening the bra, he let it slip and puddle to the ground.
He gazed over her body with tenderness. “You’re so lovely, Beth—I thought so the minute I saw you,” he said softly. In fact, he found her body even more beautiful than he’d imagined, studying her soft curves.
She grinned back at him wryly. “When I met you—the first thing that I thought was—man, that guy’s so sexy.”
Zach began to laugh.
Beth grimaced. “And way too young for me to be feeling—the way that I was feeling—about you.”
“There you go again, worrying about something that doesn’t even matter.” he said softly. “You know that we had an instant connection.” He shoved her gently on top of the bed.
“Take off your shirt, Zach,” she said softly.
Hesitating for a moment, he pulled his shirt off over his head, and settled down beside her in the bed.
The tips of her fingers ran over his chest and his scars. “I was getting such mixed signals from you,” she said in an unsteady voice. And then she did something he wasn’t prepared for—she ran her lips over his face and down from his shoulder to his chest, and began tending each and every one of his wounds.
He kind of wanted to cry. The moment was so emotional that it hurt, Zach thought, closing his eyes.
But then she began to unfasten his jeans, and he stood up from the bed and stripped them off himself. “Later,” he whispered softly. “Now, it’s my turn.” Reaching down, he slowly unzipped her jeans, and helped her slip them off.
Beth’s breasts were full and firm, and her body was—well…unbelievable was the only word he could think of to describe it. She looked so lovely with that white-blonde hair of hers spread out on the pillow. And those beautiful blue eyes of hers? Somehow, he couldn’t manage to get over the fact that the heated desire that was burning within them was for him.
He bent over her. His tongue ran down over her cheek again, to the underside of her neck. And then he moved his mouth down further to the nipple of her breast, before moving over to the other. He felt the pounding of her heart, as her fingers slid into his hair. Eventually, when his mouth moved down further still, Beth began to moan as her hands clung to his shoulders.
Her body peaked and broke into tight convulsions, and Zach came into her with a deep hard thrust that carried him immediately over the edge. Buried inside of her, deep and deeper still, he felt fulfilment—even as he hungered for more.
He rode her and filled her, watching as he pushed her step by step closer to the edge. Without breaking their rhythm, he shifted his hips.
And then they fell, hearts thundering, senses surging.
Their ragged breathing filled the air, and a small smile curved the corner of Beth’s mouth. Zach kissed her softly and tucked her against him—thinking that he’d be perfectly happy lying still like this with Beth for the rest of his life. Although the words remained unspoken, Zach knew that Beth was thinking exactly what he was—mere words would never come close to describing what they’d found together.
* * * * *
Dawn’s light was filtering through the room, when Zach turned to her and propped his head up on the palm his hand. He cleared his throat. “I don’t have anything to worry about, with this ex-boyfriend of yours—do I?”
Beth’s mouth dropped open.
And then it finally closed. “This sure is a small town.” She shook her head dazedly. “Yes, I invited him here when I was still dating him last fall. But when I realized that I actually didn’t want him moving here with me, I never bothered to clarify it—because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.” She hesitated. “If I ever, in a million years, would’ve known he’d actually show up here and expect our relationship to resume, I would’ve definitely made a point of letting him down easily before I left Bloomington.” Beth grimaced. “But he didn’t really want to resume our relationship.”
Zach lifted his brow.
She gave him a wry smile. “He lost his house! He got behind on his payments once he was laid off. He worked with me at the car plant, you know—that’s how we met. We got a great compensation package, too. He must’ve been even more in debt than I realized, when we were dating.”
When Zach began to laugh, she sat up and grabbed her pillow.
“Alright, put down the weapon. I’ll quit laughing. But let me guess—when you said no—he wanted to move into your house in Bloomington?”
Beth started. “How’d you guess?”
Zach grimaced. “Well—there’s this girl I was dating…” He laughed when Beth picked up the pillow again. “But we really don’t need to get into that.”
Beth stuck out her tongue at him. “The good news is—my house has finally sold.”
“Cool. So, what’re we gonna do with that boyfriend of yours?”
This time, she did whack him over the head with the pillow. But then she grinned. “He’s moving in with his mother.”
Zach gave her a slow smile tha
t transformed him completely.
Beth blinked. She realized it was the first she’d ever really seen him smile like that—boyish and carefree.
And it made him look ten years younger.
That’s when her own insecurities began kicking in again.
Zach must’ve sensed her change in mood, because he was taking her reaction personally. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “You’re not…? He’s not?”
“Oh, no—nothing happened between us, when he was here.” She hesitated, practically in tears. “Nothing that I ever had with Jim, would even come close to what I have with you, Zach!” She hesitated. “it’s just that, well…I’m still older than you.”
Zach blinked. “Is that all you’re worried about?” And then he started giving her that slow sexy smile again. “I’m not really sure how to say this, so I’m just going to come right out with it. Don’t you know—that I’ve been in love with you from the moment we met?”
“Then you’re not allowed to smile at anyone else like that,” she said crossly. “You look like a teenager when you do it!”
Zach barked out a laugh. “You ought to see what l look like without a beard.”
Beth grimaced.
Zach sighed exaggeratedly. “I can’t believe I fell for a cougar.”
Beth snorted and began to laugh unwillingly.
He snickered. “Don’t worry, babe—we’ll get through it.” Zach’s gaze became heated, as he pulled her into his arms and patted her on the back. But then, he hesitated, whispering into her ear. “What about you, Beth? Have you got anything you want to tell me?”
“Of course I love you, Zach,” she answered softly.
EPILOGUE
It was the end of June, and Zach and Beth strolled slowly along the beach at Dragonfly Pointe, trailing behind Kyle and Emily. Kyle had taken off his shoes and was running in and out of the shallow water on the edge of beach, while Emily watched over him—occasionally bellowing out a long, haunting howl.
Zach shook his head good-naturedly, and began to laugh. “I sure wish that I could break Em out of that habit.”
Two Hearts Unspoken (Two Hearts Wounded Warrior Book 2) Page 8
