Last Good Thing (The Fallout Series Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  I clung to him, my hands gripping his back because there wasn’t anything else I could do. Just hold on for the ride. It took all I had left inside me to match his movements with my own. The small sounds in his throat pushed me faster until those sounds became more satisfied and his movements slowed.

  Another long kiss, then two quicker ones, and Zac slowly pulled out of me then rolled over, his arm slipping around my shoulders. All we could do then was catch out breaths.

  As good as that had been, I was flooded with ideas of everything else I wanted to do with him. Things I probably never would have tried with anyone else. Because I trusted Zac with my body, with my heart, and I wanted more.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said, kissing the side of my head before leaving the room. The water turned on in the bathroom across the hall.

  While he was gone, I grabbed the T-shirt he’d been wearing and slipped it over my head just so I wouldn’t be completely naked. When he came back, he did a double-take of me in his shirt, then grabbed his boxer briefs, slipped them on, and dropped back beside me.

  “Hope you don’t mind,” I said, indicating that I was talking about the shirt.

  “Not in the least.” He pulled me to him, my head resting on his shoulder. I reached up and took his fingers in mine, then slid them back and forth. I loved the feeling of his skin against mine. “We should’ve done that in high school.”

  A loud laugh burst from my chest. I hadn’t expected him to say that or the laugh that had followed.

  “Wouldn’t have been the same for you,” I said. “I had a lot to learn back then.”

  “I would’ve taught you. I wish I’d been the one you learned with.”

  I pushed up, gave him another kiss and said, “I’m going to run to the bathroom. Be right back.”

  One thing my mother always insisted, much to my dismay, that a woman always needed to pee after sex. It might’ve made me uncomfortable, but it was at least useful information. Once I’d taken care of business, I went right back and slid in beside Zac again.

  The room had grown darker while we’d been occupied. We spoke quietly in the otherwise silent room, as if we were afraid someone might hear us. No one would, we knew that, even after he hopped up to crack both windows in the room because it had gotten stuffy with all our hard breathing.

  It wasn’t late, but we stayed right there snuggled into one another until we both fell asleep.

  Pretty sure I went first.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The alarm was set to blare at seven so Zac could get to work. That was his schedule. He needed to be in by eight to get the store open to the general public. Joe started earlier so the mechanics around town could get what they needed on their way into the shop.

  When my eyes popped open at six-thirty, I slid out of bed, trying not to wake him, and tiptoed my way to his kitchen. But first I needed a pit stop at the bathroom to pee and brush my teeth with a toothbrush I’d slipped into my purse before I’d left home just in case.

  I only hoped he had something I could make for breakfast. It was such a cliché to make him breakfast the morning after, but I still wanted to do it, even if being up so early was completely unlike me. I was a college student. We studied late and slept even later. Luckily for me, he had eggs and bread. Not a gourmet meal by any means, but I wouldn’t know how to make that happen anyway.

  I’d just dropped the eggs into the pan when a set of strong arms wrapped around me.

  Zac held me tightly and nuzzled into my neck, kissing softly. “Good morning,” he said into my ear.

  “Morning.” I smiled as I twisted to kiss him quickly. “You still had a little longer to sleep.”

  “When you live alone and hear someone in your house, no matter how hard they are trying to be quiet, you get up.”

  “Sorry.” I smiled even bigger. He must have had dog ears because I could barely hear myself.

  “Gives me extra time with you.”

  He pulled at my hips until I turned around so he his lips could devour mine so completely that I would’ve been happy if he never went to work again. Then he lifted me onto the counter between the stove and sink to continue the all-consuming takeover of my senses.

  “The eggs are going to burn,” I said, pulling back to look at him.

  One corner of his mouth tugged up as he leaned over to turn the burner off.

  “I can grab something on my way to work.” Zac moved back in to kiss me on the lips again, then trailed down my throat, only to be obstructed by the shirt I’d stolen the night before. “Well, this is in the way.” He yanked the T-shirt up over my head before I could respond. I had nothing on underneath.

  I was sitting on the counter in the kitchen his mom used to make dinner on, completely naked and wishing he was too.

  “I’m naked in your kitchen.”

  He leaned back, taking the scene in. The scene being me from head to toe. I let him look.

  “Yeah. I really like it.”

  He cupped my cheeks and this time there was nothing gentle in the way his mouth moved against mine. I gave as good as I got. He must’ve thought this through at least somewhat because once his fingers worked me into a frenzy, he slipped a condom on and pushed inside me.

  It was quick and dirty and everything I could’ve hoped for out of a quick morning sex.

  With Zac, I knew, if he and I were ever to be together, there would be times like last night where we’d move slow, make things last. It’d be sweet.

  Then there would be times like this. It’d be a coming together of two bodies to fill a need. It wasn’t an emotionless void of sex, but we weren’t making love, either.

  Every thrust into me was made with feeling in the way his hands caressed the curve of my breast and held my hips. The way his lips brushed mine, nipping and sucking. It was a complete spectrum of feelings that pushed me into oblivion with Zac right behind me.

  He stood between my legs, his head on my bare shoulder. My fingers gently played with the edge of his hair until he pulled himself together enough to move. And by move, I mean kiss me some more. Kisses that could lead somewhere if we let them again but he needed to go to work.

  “OK.” I blew out a breath. “You should go take a shower before work.”

  “I usually shower after.” He didn’t want to move, and he didn’t even try to. That was pretty clear.

  “But now you smell like sex.”

  “I can live with that.”

  I laughed and smacked his stomach. “Yeah, I’m sure Porter would let it slide, right?”

  He sighed, knowing I was right, so off to the shower he went.

  While he cleaned up, I got dressed in the clothes I’d discarded on his bedroom floor the night before. After finger brushing my hair, I was slipping my shoes on when he came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

  Uh. No. Not a good idea.

  I knew this was the “honeymoon” portion of the relationship. That time when a couple can’t get enough of each other. I’d honestly never experienced it quite so intensely. But even after just being with him, I had the urge to yank that towel from his body and make him mine again.

  But then he’d never get to work, and he had a kid to support.

  Zac insisted on walking me home before he left. He held my hand like he didn’t want to let it go and if we’d moved any slower, we would have been moving backward. If I had things my way, we’d still be inside his house—naked. I will admit that I thought there might be a little bit of awkwardness after finally seeing each other naked for the first time, but all it did for me was make me want to see him again.

  And again.

  And again.

  “What are you doing this weekend?” I asked, halfway there.

  “It’s my weekend with Dylan. We should take him to the park.”

  We? I hadn’t spent much time with the kid but given how our relationship had just taken a big leap, it seemed I probably should. I wanted to be in Zac’s life in whatever way worke
d out and Dylan was Zac’s life. It made sense.

  “Oh, that’s right. How about next weekend?”

  “Next weekend is yours if you want it.”

  “I was thinking we could go for a short road trip. I could take you to see my campus.”

  He smiled. “That sounds good.”

  “Before you say that, I should tell you that Rhian will insist on seeing us.”

  “Then we shouldn’t mention it to Porter. He’ll want to go.” There was something there he wasn’t saying. Porter being his best friend, Zac would’ve known if something happened between Rhian and Porter. Though I thought she would’ve told me as well.

  “It’s so weird. I haven’t seen him show actual interest in anyone maybe ever,” I said to Zac. Really, I was just fishing for information. “Then again, maybe he’s changed in the last four years.”

  “He hasn’t. Today is his birthday and he wants to celebrate at the pond tonight.” Nice deflection on Zac’s part. He paused like he was waiting for me to say something, but I didn’t have anything to offer. Zac could come and go as he pleased. I didn’t have a monopoly on his time. “I should let him know if we’re going or not,” he said.

  “We? So we’re a package deal now?” I asked. We stopped on my porch so I could get the door unlocked.

  “As far as I’m concerned, we are.”

  I liked the sound of that a little too much.

  “OK, then,” I told him. “We’ll go then.”

  “I’ll let him know but I gotta go. I’m sorry.”

  I gave him an honest smile. “No need to be sorry. You have a job. Go.” Still he kissed me four times before finally heading over to his shower.

  I needed a shower.

  I took that first then laid down for a little nap. I hadn’t slept that much at Zac’s house and if I was going to be out late again, a little sleep wasn’t a bad idea. After that, I took time getting myself ready for the pond and did some laundry while watching TV. Got it all done before Zac came home.

  He picked me up right after work so we could celebrate our friend’s birthday at the pond. It was just like old times.

  Including the times during high school that Zac would have to shut Porter down when he’d started “playfully” harassing me. Porter would never try to be intentionally mean. I just didn’t usually find his jokes about me not dating hilarious. Although this time that kind of talk had to do with Zac and me.

  Nonetheless, Porter had gotten shut down when he got to the point that a menacing look from Zac no longer did the trick and a low level of violence had to be employed.

  Those two were like little boys when they were together.

  Brad, Jay, and Andy were already there when we arrived, and it was great hanging out with them. They were easy to get along with because they never expected much.

  The water was warm, even so late in the day, but the air stayed hot all the time now, so it was expected. I would’ve paid for someone to take a picture of Zac’s face when I pulled my cover-up off to get into the water. I’d purposely chosen a blue-and-white bikini similar to the one that he’d seemed to like so much in high school. His jaw went slack, and he just kept staring.

  It had the effect I’d intended.

  While he grabbed a drink and stopped to talk with the guys, I waded slowly into the water.

  I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed being there—home.

  Home. If home was what this place still was.

  Once we left East Branch, I’d felt like I didn’t really belong anywhere. I’d spent the first few months untethered, floating through my new life without Zac or Maddie. I’d only spent a year with my mom and the few friends I’d made at my new high school before I left for college.

  There were people I could talk to when I first got to college but had lived with someone different every year. Rhian was the only person who’d stuck, but even she still wasn’t home.

  Zac was home. East Branch was home. Could it be again? Did I even want it to be?

  I stood in the pond with the water coming to just under my breasts, contemplating my future because the one I’d been planning seemed even more feasible now that I’d come back and had my friends again.

  I was in a peaceful place right there… alone… Until a set of strong arms wrapped around me from behind. I knew it was Zac because who else would it be? The guys wouldn’t touch me intimately even jokingly now that they knew Zac and I were together.

  “I feel like you picked this bikini out on purpose,” he said close to my ear, sending a shiver down my body.

  “Maybe I did.” I couldn’t stop a stupid smile from appearing. But I kept my back turned so he didn’t fully see it. “That a problem?”

  “Actually, it is.” He leaned in so that his lips brushed my ear, sending blood to every pleasurable area in my body. Being with Zac wasn’t something I’d get tired of quickly, if ever. “It’s like our last summer together,” he said. “I could barely keep my hands to myself then and now that I know what I was missing, it’s even harder.” He brushed against my backside showing me just how hard things had become for him.

  Zac loosened his grip around me, leaving one arm to hold me steady while the other ran softly down my stomach until his pinky finger slid just inside my bikini bottom under the water.

  “What are you—?” I tried to turn, but he held me firmly, which made turning impossible.

  “If you relax and lean back into me, it’ll just look like I’m holding my girl.”

  My brain blinked like in the cartoons when it tried to make sense of what he’d just said. It’d just look like he was holding me meant that he’d actually be doing something else. And I wanted every last thing he could do to me. So, I did exactly what he’d said and leaned back against his strong chest and hard dick. Yeah, I could feel just about every detail.

  Zac let his hand drift even farther into my bikini bottom until his fingers brushed against the sensitive area that made my legs automatically spread slightly more open. My head dropped back, hitting him with a muted thud that may have shaken my brain. He kept applying pressure, then used his other hand to pull my chin to the left so that his lips could claim mine.

  It was a little uncomfortable at first, but I couldn’t have made myself move if I’d wanted to.

  His tongue touched mine at the same time his fingers sunk right into me. A small squeak of surprise got swallowed by him as his thumb took over the work his fingers had been doing.

  Surprisingly, he moved so expertly that his movements were barely making any waves in the water.

  I had to force my eyes open to glance around quickly, still kissing him, just to make sure no one was too close… or watching. It was like we were alone in the pond, in our own little bubble without a care in the world.

  His magical fingers brought me to the edge, coaxed me over to where everything was right with the world, then slowly brought me back down. I kept my eyes squeezed shut, my lips bit together so hard that I thought I might draw blood until every last drop of pleasure left my body and Zac pulled his hand out of my bikini.

  “I could get used to that,” he said breathlessly before kissing my shoulder. I wanted to say that I could too, but those words—or heck, any words—were on vacation.

  “Zac, Laney, we’re going to sing to Porter,” Maddie called from the shore.

  Worry suddenly took over where ecstasy had been. If she was close enough to call out to us, then she could’ve known what we were doing and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  She might’ve been one of my best friends before, the kind of best friend I would’ve told about this very thing, but now she’d been with him, too. That could be weird.

  Ugh, what a mess.

  “She could only see my back,” he said before I’d had a chance to verbalize any of my worries.

  “Are you sure?” I asked as I turned to face him.

  Zac glanced down, his jaw clamped shut, but he blinked more than normal. “Would it be terrible? If someone knew
what we’d been doing?”

  “No. But knowing and seeing are two different things. I’ve never done any sex stuff in public before and don’t really love the idea of being caught.”

  “I guess that’s a first we get to share,” he said, taking my hand to lead me back to the group.

  “Ah, Laney, love the bikini,” Porter said with a snort when we got over to him. “I take it he told you about the one you used to wear.”

  I rolled my eyes. “He told me. I’m not saying I believe him.”

  “Oh, you should believe him. I’ve heard more about that damn thing than I ever wanted to.”

  Zac shrugged when I looked at him. He didn’t seem to care that Porter was outing him. He’d already done it himself anyway, I supposed.

  “Oh, God,” added Porter, “or that fucking blue dress you were going to wear out with Evan what’s-his-fuck. If I never heard about how you looked in that again I’d be a happy, happy man.”

  “Porter,” I said with a stomp of my foot. Those two were up to something. In cahoots. “He hated that dress.”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Zac added with a shrug when my eyebrows went down in confusion.

  “You said it was ugly,” I reminded him.

  “It was.” Zac smirked. The rat bastard.

  “You said that dress was like a hate crime.”

  Porter snorted beside Zac, which brought a little grin to Zac’s face.

  “It would have been,” he explained as if that cleared anything up. “If you’d worn it out with Evan, he wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands off you, then I would’ve had to kill him simply because he was male. Ergo, hate crime. Or we”—he swung his thumb from himself to Porter—“would’ve had to beat his ass strictly because he’s a guy.”

  “You’re both so… ” I sighed and shook my head. “You’re both so ridiculous, I almost can’t stand you.”

  Hours later, the party was winding down, and it was past the time swimming was allowed. Even if people didn’t always follow that rule, and the group had shrunk. It was still hot outside, so I’d just added my tank top over my bikini instead of getting fully dressed. Zac spread a blanket out for us to sit on. Eventually, I moved to rest my head on his lap and his hand gripped my hip.