by Linda Wisdom
She glanced at her calendar and estimated what time she would get home and be able to start cooking. “Six-thirty. Afterward, we can play strip Scrabble,” she said in a low voice.
“I think I’ll dig out my dictionary and get some studying in,” he said huskily.
“You do that.”
The minute Ginna hung up, she jotted down a few ideas for dinner. She sank onto the couch in the staff-only area and stretched out.
“You’re cooking for the man?” Nora shook her head in amazement. “This must be it.” She looked toward the ceiling. “Why can’t I take a trip and find a guy like that?”
“The last guy you met was arrested in the midst of your date,” Cheryl reminded her as she sat at the table, nibbling on her salad. “Was it two or three felonies he was wanted for?”
“Who counted? It was bad enough he’d stolen the car he’d picked me up in,” Nora groaned. “I swear I’m a magnet for losers. If I had any brains at all, I’d just give up on all men.”
“What about that guy you met at the farmers’ market last weekend?” Cheryl asked.
“He’s an artist who felt he was destined to be more famous than Picasso, Rembrandt and Van Gogh all wrapped up in one. He’s looking for an investor. Namely, a woman who will pay all his bills,” Nora told them. “Any idea of a romance was gone when I told him I was color blind.”
Ginna frowned. “I thought it was only men who could be color blind.”
Nora smirked. “Amazing that an artist didn’t realize that, isn’t it?”
“Blind Date Central is having another wedding,” Cheryl announced. “One of my clients found her true love on the bulletin board. She said she took one look at his picture and knew he was the one. I guess he felt the same way. They’re getting married next month.” She shot Nora a look filled with sympathy. “The groom is one of the men you had found there.”
Everyone held their breath. Ginna stood behind Nora holding up one finger, then two. The third barely lifted before the hairdresser exploded.
She stomped around the room like a blond hurricane. She cast curses on every man she’d known since grade school, damned the male sex in general and then went on to call herself a few choice names. It stopped as suddenly as it began. She dropped, exhausted, onto a chair.
“Which son of a bitch?” she asked quietly.
Cheryl winced. “She said his name was Bill.”
Nora spun around and stared at her. “Bill? You’re kidding. He works for an investment firm?”
“I think she said he did.”
Nora threw her head back and laughed. “Maybe she doesn’t know yet.”
“Know what?” Ginna asked.
Nora gasped as she continued laughing. “We’d only dated a couple times and I never took his card off the board. I realized afterward I should have. I went to take it off, but it was already gone. Maybe it won’t bother her as much.”
Ginna playfully pounded on her co-worker’s head. “What won’t bother her?” she demanded.
“The reason I stopped dating him was I found him in my bedroom trying on my underwear. When I threw him out, he asked if he could keep a couple pair. I burned them, instead.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste.
Cheryl started laughing. “We’re definitely talking a match made in heaven. She’s a lingerie buyer for Saks.”
Ginna shook her head. “And on that note, I’m going out before my client arrives.” She dropped her empty water bottle in the recycling container. As she left the room, she could hear her friends discuss the male sex in more unflattering terms than flattering.
“Oh, Zach, you have no idea how lucky you are that Lucie didn’t put you up on that board,” she murmured.
“A GIFT GUARANTEED to make any dog happy,” the butcher assured Zach, wrapping up a bone that Zach could swear came from a dinosaur.
Zach followed instructions and cooked the bone first.
Emma and Trey gave him mournful gazes when they heard he was going to Ginna’s for dinner. Especially since the bone he bought was for Ginna’s dog.
“You have been looking forward to this sleepover at Erin and Michael’s for the past two weeks,” he reminded them, naming friends who were also fraternal twins and celebrating their birthday with a sleepover. Zach shuddered at the thought of overseeing ten kids at a sleepover.
“But we like Ginna, too.” Emma pouted. She crossed her arms in front of her chest in a pose Zach was only too familiar with.
“And you will see her, but you already told your friends you’d be at the birthday sleepover and you are going,” he said firmly. “They’re expecting the two of you to attend. Before now, it was all you two could talk about.”
Emma released a soulful sigh. “Okay, we’ll go, but we’d still rather go with you and Ginna.” With her brother in tow, she marched off to her room to get ready for the party.
Zach turned away so his children couldn’t see his grin.
“A performance worthy of an Academy Award,” he murmured.
He dropped them off at the party and drove on to Ginna’s house. She greeted him with a smile and a kiss on the lips.
“Oh, my.” She eyed the two packages he carried.
“One is yours,” he told her.
“Gee, what I’ve always wanted,” she quipped, holding up the meaty beef bone.
“That’s for Casper. The other one is yours.”
She handed him back the bone and called the dog. Casper came running and skidded to a stop. He eyed Zach with canine suspicion.
“Hey, boy, look what I have for you.” He held out the bone.
The German shepherd lifted his head, sniffing the air. He stepped forward and delicately took the bone from Zach. As he stepped back, he didn’t take his eyes off the man. His expression told Zach he was taking the bone, but he was still reserving his judgment about him.
“I told you all it took was giving him a bone.” Ginna beamed at two of her favorite males.
“Better that one than my leg,” he muttered.
Ginna gestured for him to follow her. As she headed for the kitchen, she peeked inside the pink cardboard box. Her squeal echoed off the walls.
“I gather you like what you see.” He grinned.
“When I said bring chocolate, I had no idea you’d go for something this sinful,” she cooed, setting the box on the counter. “Would you like something to drink? Wine, beer, soft drink?”
“Wine sounds good.” He sat at the table. “The kids weren’t too happy at not being invited tonight. All of a sudden a sleepover at what they consider the coolest house in town wasn’t all that exciting.”
“Why is it the coolest house in town?” she asked, pulling a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator and two glasses out of the cabinet.
“These friends are another set of fraternal twins. Their dad produces a couple of popular sitcoms and their mom is an actress.” He named names that had her widening her eyes with awe. “Despite their hectic schedules, they always get involved in the kids’ activities. At Halloween they had a costume party complete with a haunted house that scared four-year-olds without terrorizing them. They also have enough pets to qualify as a small zoo. Pretty much like your family’s house.”
“Ah.” She nodded her head in understanding as she poured the wine. “It does sound familiar. Except the bottled water they serve is probably European.”
“Flown in especially for the occasion,” he said glibly, accepting the glass.
She picked up the other glass and sat across from him. “Sounds as if they’ll have a ball.”
“They will.”
“But I’m flattered they wanted to come over.” Ginna smiled. She sipped her wine. “They’re wonderful.”
“They were well behaved on Sunday,” he corrected. “Cathy said she’d take them any day.”
“Believe me, she doesn’t say that lightly,” Ginna told him. “She and Dad love to spoil kids.”
Zach looked down as she crossed her legs. The colorful pink-purp
le-and-navy sarong-style skirt parted, revealing her bare legs. Her purple knit tank top completed the outfit.
“I made sweet-and-sour-chicken,” she told him. “It should be ready soon.”
“Just as long as I don’t have to use chopsticks. I really suck at chopsticks,” he confessed. “I usually end up with more food in my lap than in my mouth.”
She clucked her tongue. “Then you’re just not using them right.” She got up and rummaged through cabinets and drawers. She returned with plates and silverware, along with one set of chopsticks. She turned back around when the timer dinged.
“Anything I can do to help?” he asked.
Ginna shook her head. With quick efficient movements, she had the chicken, vegetables and rice in serving dishes and set on the table.
“I am so glad I didn’t have time to eat lunch.” He hungrily eyed the large array of food she’d laid out on the table. He watched her deftly handle her chopsticks, easily picking up morsels of food.
When Zach started in on his second helping, Ginna grabbed her chopsticks and moved around the table. She sat sideways on his lap, so she could face him and still reach the table.
“The last time we did this you were feeding me breakfast,” Zach murmured, circling her waist with his hands.
“My, my, you do bring out my domestic side,” she teased, half turning. She picked up a piece of chicken and held it to his lips. “See how easy it is?” she said softly, choosing a piece of vegetable.
“Sure, it’s easy when you’re doing it.” He opened his mouth for a snow pea next.
When she started to turn away, he stopped her and brought her mouth to his, instead.
“Even better,” he disclosed, sliding his tongue along her bottom lip.
“You still have more food,” she said.
“I think I’d rather have you.” He cradled her in his arms as he stood up. His memory served him well as he made his way to her bedroom.
He placed her on the bed. She raised herself on her knees to reach for his shirt. In no time she’d pulled it over his head and tossed it across the room. Her tank top quickly followed, along with his pants.
“Did I ever tell you that you are the sexiest woman I have ever met?” Zach asked, bending over her, his hands braced on either side of her.
Her eyes danced with laughter meant to warm him inside and out. “Not lately, so perhaps you should remind me.” Her laughter wrapped around him just as her arms wrapped around his shoulders.
“My pleasure.” He followed her down onto the bed.
“Oh, Zach,” she breathed in his ear. “If you do it right, it will be our pleasure.”
Zach found the tie that released Ginna’s skirt. His heart slammed against his rib cage when he saw the purple bikini panties.
“Damn. I think I just swallowed my tongue.”
“Not allowed.” She framed his face with her hands and pulled it down to her. “That’s my job,” she whispered, layering his skin with butterfly kisses. “You turn me into a wild woman, Zachary Stone. With you, I want to be the ultimate sex fantasy.”
“I wouldn’t worry. I think you’ve more than accomplished it.” He found the spot just behind her ear that he knew caused her to shiver with pleasure. Her skin was cool to the touch but quickly turned to warm silk.
Zach had never thought much of foreplay. He knew it was probably a guy thing. Women liked to cuddle. Most men didn’t.
With Ginna, he wanted to savor every inch of her as long as possible. He never wanted his time with her to end.
“So sweet,” he mumbled, pursing his mouth around a dark-rose nipple. She moaned his name as he suckled. “Mine.” He grasped her hips and brought her up against him. “Gorgeous.” He rubbed his hips against hers.
“You are a maniac!” She laughed.
“Hey, laughter is not a good idea when a man is on a totally serious mission.” He swooped up and covered her mouth with his. His tongue invaded her mouth, enticing her to play. She gracefully accepted his invitation.
“Consider it joyful laughter,” she said, tilting back her head. Her hands never stopped fluttering down his spine, tracing the ridges and indentations.
He looked down at her face. Her skin was flushed with desire, her eyes luminous with the joy she just confessed to. The expression on her face backed up her avowal and lifted him the way no drug or any amount of alcohol ever could.
“Good,” he said huskily, “because, lady, you make me so damn happy I don’t know how I contain it.”
Her smile grew wider. “Then don’t contain. Let it out. Share with me.”
Zach leaned down and reached for his pants. When he brought up a foil packet and started to open it, she stayed his motion.
There was the faintest tremor in her smile, an almost unnatural brightness to her eyes.
“I want to feel you,” she murmured. “It’s not as if we need to worry about anything.”
His gut tightened with a brief spasm. There was nothing he wanted to do more than give her what she wanted. Something he wasn’t able to give.
But he could give her himself. And he would.
He moved back over her, then rolled until she straddled him. He grasped her hips and guided her on top of him. She bent forward to kiss him deeply as her inner muscles tightened around him.
She moved slowly, teasing him with kisses and soft licks, her inner muscles drawing him in even deeper.
Zach gritted his teeth against the pleasurable pain Ginna inflicted on him. He felt the electric sensation zing from the middle of his body straight to his brain. He wasn’t sure he could take much more and said so.
“Oh, my darling, I think it’s only begun,” she whispered, biting down gently on his lower lip.
Zach seemed to shift into automatic drive. The need for completion was there, but Ginna alternately teased and tantalized him. He’d put her in charge and she took the role seriously.
Until they both could no longer hold back. Her breathing quickened at the same time his did.
Zach felt the world revolve, then shoot them out into myriad bright colors.
And then he knew nothing but the woman who loved him so thoroughly.
“ARE YOU SURE you’re not a succubus?” Zach asked Ginna once he regained his senses. She lay curled up in his arms, her cheek resting against his chest.
“You’re still alive, aren’t you?” She straightened up. “Are you hungry?”
His eyes gleamed with pure devilment. “I’d say you pretty much took care of that appetite.”
She rolled her eyes. She hopped off the bed and snatched up his polo shirt, pulling it over her head.
Zach lay back, since there wasn’t much he could do. To say the woman wore him out was not understating his condition.
He could hear faint sounds coming from the kitchen, could hear the French doors open and close as she let her dog outside.
In a few moments she returned carrying a glass of wine and a large plate with a good-size portion of the dessert he’d brought. She plopped down on the bed, sitting cross-legged beside him.
She forked off a piece of the multilayer chocolate cake and brought it to her lips. She closed her eyes and uttered a moan that Zach swore he’d heard only a few moments before. He started grinning.
“This is so good!” Ginna forked off another piece and fed him. “You are so lucky I’m sharing this with you. What do they call this cake?”
Zach’s chuckle should have been a warning before he replied, “Chocolate climax.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ginna deemed the afternoon perfect for a backyard barbecue. Zach presided over the grill while the twins played with Casper.
Emma’s squeals ripped through the air as she ran around the yard with Casper chasing her. She hopped a few steps away and tossed the ball she held into the air. Casper leaped up and caught it in his mouth.
Emma squealed again and ran over to the dog, wrapping her arms around his neck. Casper stood quietly, stoically accepting her atten
tion. Trey joined them, also petting and hugging Casper.
“It’s a shame they don’t like the dog,” Ginna said dryly. She tapped Zach’s arm with the beer bottle she held. He turned from his post at the barbecue and accepted the bottle with a kiss on her forehead as a thank-you. She arched an eyebrow. “That’s it? I risk my life making that long trip from the house to here under the hot sun to bring you your beer and I get some teeny kiss? The toll’s gone up, handsome.”
He grinned. “If I did what I wanted to, the kids would be screaming bloody murder and be talking about it to their therapist for the rest of their lives.”
“As long as you don’t take Trey to a chick flick too soon, you’ll be fine,” she said, brushing off his teasing. “How’s the chicken doing? Everything else is ready.”
He inspected the grilling meat. “It shouldn’t be too much longer.” His eyes lingered on her face.
“What?” She laughed, a shade of nervousness infecting it. “I have bugs in my hair?” She started to reach up to check her hair, but he grabbed her hand and brought the palm to his mouth.
“Have I told you how beautiful you are?” he murmured against her skin.
“Not so far today,” she said, smiling up at him. “But please feel free to say it as often as you’d like.”
He placed a gentle kiss in the heart of her palm.
“For later,” he promised, folding her fingers over the kiss.
“You are so bad.” Her eyes danced with laughter.
“That’s not what you said a couple nights ago,” he reminded her.
“Heat of passion and all that.” Ginna waved it off.
“Chicken’s ready,” he announced, picking up the platter she’d brought out for him.
Ginna turned toward the yard. “Kids, time to wash up for dinner!” she called out.
“Is Casper gonna eat with us, too?” Emma asked, running toward her with Trey in tow.
“He can, can’t he?” Trey put in his own appeal.
“He can’t sit at the table until his manners get better,” Ginna explained, leading the twins into the kitchen.
She set a small stool in front of the kitchen sink so they could clamber up and wash their hands. Once their hands were clean, she gave Emma the paper plates and Trey the flatware to carry outside. She followed them, carrying a bowl of potato salad in one hand and a bowl of potato chips in the other. After setting them down, she returned to the kitchen for the rest of their meal.
