Last Good Thing (The Fallout Series Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  It was the first time we were skin to skin, the first time he’d touched me so intimately and I didn’t want it to end. He cupped, squeezed, then pinched the nipples just hard enough to make me moan. My body flooded with a hot desire that settled between my legs.

  Zac told me before that this wasn’t happening on my dad’s couch, but I had a bad day and knew he could make me feel better.

  He was the one to break our marathon kiss to push me back just a couple of inches. His eyes left my face almost reluctantly to slowly slide down my body to take in where his hands held me tightly. His first glimpse of my naked breasts.

  Just the thought of him looking sent my hormones into overdrive.

  There wasn’t a pause or a moment of hesitation before his mouth descended, taking one nub between his lips, sucking gently, followed by not-so-gently, then rolling his tongue against me. My head dropped back as a moan came out louder than I’d expected, and I ground into his erection harder than I already was. One of his hands slipped around my back, holding me tighter to him.

  He enjoyed the friction as much as I did.

  “Man, I would’ve left your house for this, too.” Porter’s voice came through the screen door, splashing cold water all over my desire.

  My eyes popped open widely and my spine straightened like a ruler. Zac sprung up rigidly against the couch. Some things got less rigid, damn it.

  Zac pulled my shirt back down slowly like he was sorry to have to do it.

  I was sorry to have him do it, but I couldn’t move until he did. No way was Porter getting even the smallest glimpse of my goodies. Zac leaned around me to look at his friend. It wasn’t a friendly look. It was one that said someone was getting his ass kicked later.

  “Did you need something?” he asked through a tight jaw.

  “Not as badly as you do,” Porter replied. I had to bite the corner of my mouth to keep from smiling because that was funny. Porter still couldn’t see my face, so I was good there, but Zac caught the move out of the corner of his eye, which made his face soften a notch and he ran a hand down the side of my face. “Look, I got Nicole to leave so the guys told me to come get you, but I can explain that you’re otherwise occupied. I can explain in detail. Might even draw a fucking picture of that sexy curve of Laney’s back.”

  Woops.

  Too far.

  Zac stood, his face tight with irritation, taking care to set me on my feet, kissed me quickly, then sprang out of the house after his friend. I could hear them verbally abusing each other through the open door, so I ran over to watch. Zac launched himself off my porch, taking Porter to the ground. By the sound of the grunt Porter gave, I’d say that Zac got him pretty good in the stomach. When they were back on their feet, Zac turned toward me, putting his hand up to wave goodbye, and smiled.

  “Night, Laney,” he called out. “And shut the door before you fall back asleep.”

  I raised my hand to wave back so he’d know I heard him then closed and locked my front door.

  I lay awake most of that night, which wasn’t unusual those days. What was different was that I stayed on the couch so I could hear the guys next door until I fell asleep. At some point, they settled down probably out of respect for the neighbors, though some of our neighbors were old enough that all they’d have to do is take their hearing aids out and they wouldn’t hear the apocalypse.

  I lay awake in frustration. Of the psychological and the sexual. I could only do something about one of them and I was going to.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The next morning, I had a plan. Once it was complete, I fell asleep somewhere around two-thirty. When I woke up around eleven, Zac had already left for work.

  I showered and dressed in a comfy pair of shorts and a tank top and it was already into the afternoon when I finished breakfast. By then, East Branch was wide awake everywhere. It was going to take forever to get everything done.

  I stopped by the pharmacy first. Zac was usually always prepared, especially after having Dylan, I was told, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Condoms were a must. Dylan was a cute little guy, but not something I wanted to try to replicate anytime soon.

  Then I stopped at the store for some pop. No alcohol allowed. If this was going to happen—and if I got my way it was—I didn’t want either of us to be influenced by anything. I wanted to remember every single touch, every single kiss, because I’d wanted this since I was fifteen years old.

  “Whoa, Laney, where’s the fire?” Porter grabbed my arm just as I was about to barrel right through him. I hadn’t been paying attention to where I was going obviously.

  “Shit. Sorry.” I glanced down at his armful of pop. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

  “Yeah, well my asshole of a manager sent me out for drinks because it’s so fucking hot,” he explained. I snorted. Zac was his manager. “I was thinking I could pay him back by drowning him at the pond later.”

  “No way.” I shook my head for emphasis. “Zac’s got plans later. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Anything I’d want to hear the details of later?”

  “Ew. Gross. I hope not,” I said. That trademark Porter grin appeared once again. I sighed. “Porter, you have a sick mind, so it probably isn’t anything like what you’re imagining right now, but could you maybe not say anything to Zac about any of this?”

  His smile grew and got less douchey. “You got it, Laney.”

  After one last run into what I hoped was still Zac’s favorite deli, I returned home and put a few loose curls in my hair. It’d gotten pretty long because I hadn’t gone for a haircut since Christmas break. Maybe I’d have to talk to Maddie about that since cutting hair was what she did now.

  Though I hadn’t seen her in a while so maybe she was avoiding me now.

  I didn’t do much in the way of dressing up because that wasn’t me and wasn’t something Zac would expect anyway. I put on a cute sleeveless button-down top, white to go with the pastel skirt with little flowers around the hem that I’d been wanting to wear. Fastening the strappy wedges in place, I glanced at the clock. I didn’t have long before Zac would get home.

  Now I waited.

  I’d gone back and forth trying to decide if I should already be on his front steps when he got home or waiting fifteen minutes. It’d be the longest fifteen minutes of my life, but he’d come home smelling of oil and metal from work and I’d be dressed all cute. He wouldn’t be able to touch me with those gross hands and I’d have to wait for him to shower anyway.

  Waiting at my own house was definitely better.

  But I tracked him.

  He pulled in the driveway, then went inside the house, and because the curtains were open, I watched him move from room to room. I felt like such a creeper, but how else would I know when to show up?

  Once I heard the shower turn off through my open window and his, I gave him another five minutes, grabbed the drinks and sandwiches out of the fridge, threw my condom-filled purse over my shoulder, and went on over.

  He must’ve still been getting dressed when I knocked because it took him a while to get to the door. His face lit up and he smiled widely when he saw me. We hadn’t made any plans, so there’d be no reason he’d expect to see me right then.

  Yes, he’d have to work in the morning, so I might not be able to stay over, but I couldn’t remember his Dylan schedule right then and didn’t want to chance waiting another week.

  “Hey.” He smiled, leaning a shoulder against the door jamb.

  “I was wondering if you still like the Dork Deli?” I smiled back because that wasn’t what the place was called, but it had earned its name when we were in middle school. It had just sort of stuck.

  “I do.” He pushed the door open so I could come inside.

  “I was thinking, and you can kick me out of you’ve had a better offer, but I thought we could watch a movie and have some subs.”

  “I don’t think a better offer exists.”

  H
e chose the movie while I got our dinner set up, which was really just the sandwiches and chips. He went to the kitchen for glasses. I already had the drinks and they were cold.

  We were all set.

  We watched this comedy that most women might have scoffed at, but I loved it. I didn’t care what we watched while we ate. When he went for the second movie, I slipped my sandals off and brought my knees up onto the couch. He came back, sliding his arm around me as the opening credits started.

  “No. No, no, no. I can’t believe you put this in. I hate this movie.” I wasn’t a big fan of scary movies in general, but for some reason this one, about a kid getting sucked into the TV, really rattled me.

  Even when we were kids, Porter and Zac had a thing for older scary movies. They were ridiculous, but the guys loved them.

  “I know.” He cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

  Asshole.

  “Zac! It’s old and you know I didn’t sleep for a week after we saw it in sixth grade.”

  “I know,” he said again, that shitty grin turning into a full smile.

  “But you put it in anyway?”

  Nodding, he answered, “I figured it was the best way to get you to not watch the movie.”

  He didn’t give me the chance to figure out what he meant. He just went for it.

  His lips hit mine. It took me a second to respond, but boy, did I respond, kissing him just as desperately as he kissed me. His tongue slid against mine, then backtracked, allowing me to explore him as my hands slipped up under his shirt to trace over the hard planes that I’d only seen a handful of times since I’d been back.

  “Whoa.” He pulled back breathlessly. “Door’s open, shades are open. Despite what you may have heard, I’m not about to give Mrs. Greenblatt across the street a show.”

  Keeping my gaze on him and steady, I leaned in close and whispered, “Then shut them.”

  A flash of surprise was quickly replaced by a smoldering need. It was only going on eight, but he jumped up, shut and locked the front door, then came back, grabbed my hand, and pulled me to my feet.

  Leading me to his room, a room I hadn’t seen in four years, but one I’d been as familiar with as my own once. It was the same but more grown up. Zac hadn’t been one for posters or anything whose sole purpose was to take up space.

  But it was cleaner.

  Much more man than boy.

  “You didn’t take your parents’ room?” I asked as he shut the door.

  He shook his head. “Dylan has toys and shit. He needed the space more.”

  Then his mouth was on mine, nipping, licking and tasting so completely, the air left my lungs and had me panting for more. He guided me back slowly until my legs hit his bed and I fell onto the plush mattress. Before he could join me, I climbed up to the top so that my head rested on his pillows.

  They smelled like him. Every one of my senses was overwhelmed with him.

  Zac. The boy next door. The boy who had been in my dreams ever since I’d known to dream them.

  He fell in beside me, cupping my face and kissing me softly at first, then with passion, back to barely-there feather touches. He was good at this, barely touching me until I was begging for more, pulling him closer. Then giving me what I wanted, bringing me to the brink of losing control, before backing off to start all over again. And all that with just grazes of his fingers and his lips on mine.

  But he didn’t move any further. As if content to lay there and kiss me all night. I wouldn’t have complained any other day, but today, I wanted more.

  Taking initiative, I pushed him back just enough to give me the room I needed to pull his shirt off, exposing all the hard muscles and soft skin I wanted to make mine. He wasn’t cut like a guy who spent all his spare time in the gym, but every single inch of him was hard and strong.

  Somewhere in the back of my brain, I admitted that him looking like this was the reason that every guy I’d been interested in had reminded me of Zac in some way, but none of them had measured up.

  How could they have?

  I’d expected a little tit-for-tat. I’d taken his shirt off, so in my mind, he should’ve been working the buttons on mine, yet he didn’t. Actually, last night on my couch, his hands had gotten farther than he was right then. Pulling back, reluctantly taking my lips from his, I searched his face.

  I knew what mine looked like.

  Flushed pink, my chest rising and falling quickly.

  But his… I could see the desire everywhere, even if it wasn’t pressing against my leg. His eyelids drooped. This was the look of a man completely turned on. Yet his hands didn’t move.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked quietly.

  Instead of answering, he lifted off me until he was sitting up with an arm wrapped around one bent leg.

  “Zac. Is something wrong?” I asked. Still nothing. Then I started to freak out on the inside. I knew I hadn’t misjudged this thing between us. No, we hadn’t had any big “where do we stand” type of conversation, but we hadn’t needed to. Biting my lips together, I took a deep breath, then started to slide off the bed. “OK, then.”

  “Wait.” His hand shot out, wrapping around my wrist so I wouldn’t leave.

  “Then talk to me. What’s going on? I assumed you want this as much as I do.” I swallowed hard. “If I was wrong, tell me. I’m a big girl.”

  “Laney, I do. Trust me… I do.” The sincerity in his voice couldn’t be faked. Not even by a master liar, which he was not. Knowing him as long as I had, I’d know if he was just trying to make me feel better. He wasn’t. He wanted this.

  “Then what? Zac, you need to start talking.”

  “I… ” He took a deep breath, then blew it out slowly. “I’m nervous as hell, Laney.”

  That didn’t make sense. He had more experience than most people I knew.

  “Nervous?” I asked. “Pretty sure you’ve done this before, Zac.”

  “Not with you.” He still wasn’t making any sense. “OK.” He sighed while sliding over so he could face me. “So, I’ve thought about you so many times and from what you’ve said, you’ve thought about me.” I nodded. “What if I screw this up? We can’t go back, and I don’t want to lose you.”

  Not at all what I’d been expecting, but fuck that did something to my heart.

  “You’re adorable,” I said softly.

  That was honestly the cutest thing ever. When he’d said he didn’t want to screw this up, I knew he didn’t mean the sex. That would be phenomenal. He’d meant us, our relationship. He didn’t want to go back to how it had been for four years.

  I didn’t, either.

  Chapter Twenty

  Instead of trying to talk him into having sex with me, I knew that action was the way to go. I didn’t want to talk him into being with me, I wanted him to want to be with me. Or not be able to stand not being with me. He just needed a little reassurance.

  Keeping my eyes firmly planted on his, I slowly undid the top button on my shirt. Then the next and the next until I could pull it wide open and off my shoulders, then I dropped it on the floor next to the bed.

  Then I moved off the bed, undid my skirt, and let it fall to the floor until I could step out of it.

  I crawled slowly back onto the bed next to him in just a white bra and panties, lay back on his pillow like I was getting comfortable, and closed my eyes.

  “I’ll just wait here until you decide what you want to do.”

  I barely finished the sentence before he climbed over and was kissing me again, sucking my tongue into his mouth and this time, letting his hands roam.

  First to the familiar area he’d previewed the night before. He reached around to undo the clasp on my bra. I arched my back, giving him the extra room. Once it was undone, he slid the straps down my arms and pulled it away completely. Any hesitation he had before was gone when he lowered his head to take a nipple in his mouth. My fingers curled into his hair when the shock of his warm breath caressed my skin.

  His lips
traced down my stomach to my panties. There was only a moment before he slowly slid those down my legs. I didn’t know how much longer I was going to be able to wait.

  I wanted him.

  I wanted him inside me so badly that I almost came undone when he kissed the inside of my thigh, scraping his teeth against my skin. Then again when his tongue ran gently over my most sensitive area. He and I groaned at exactly the same time. I couldn’t take it. I needed him. I wanted to be as close to him as I could possibly be. We could cover everything else next time. Or the time after that. I didn’t care.

  I reached down, ran my hand over the line of his jaw, then lifted him from me. I didn’t say anything. Didn’t need to. He saw my face and that was enough.

  Slipping down off the bed, he watched me while undoing his pants and letting them fall to his feet. I should have felt self-conscious about the way he was seeing every single intimate part of me, but all that did was turn me on more. I wanted him to look, wanted him to like what he saw. If his body was doing the talking, he loved every single bit of me.

  “Oh, crap.” I shot up. “Condoms. In my purse.” Which was in the living room.

  “I got it covered, Laney.” He turned to pull one out of the top drawer of his dresser while I sunk back down onto the mattress.

  I watched him the way he had me as he lowered his boxer briefs. His erection bounced out as he pulled those down his legs as well and then he rolled the condom on. Zac kissed his way back up my body until he could settle between my legs. His gaze locked with mine as he sunk down inside me. I tried to keep my own eyes open, but the sensation of him stretching me was far too good. I just couldn’t.

  My eyes rolled back in my head involuntarily and I sighed.

  Zac’s lips and hands touched everywhere they could as his hips ground into mine, pushing me closer to both him and that wonderful moment when the world disappeared as I found a momentary euphoria. The room was filled with the low sound of kisses against my skin as he pushed harder through my orgasm, his breath coming quicker, hot and moist against my neck, where he’d buried his head.