It Was Always You

by Aliyah Burke

  “Are you fucking kidding me? In his truck? Oh Lord, girl.”

  “Shut up,” she hissed. Her breaths came fast and shallow.

  “How the hell did you keep your cool?”

  “Haven’t the foggiest.” Her pulse thundered and she was light headed.

  “His truck? Good God and here I thought I was the freak.” Cora wedged her arm around her, helping support her. “Come on, let’s get you a bit farther away so you’re not here where he comes out.”

  With Cora’s assistance they made it to her friend’s car. Cora sat on the back of her black cherry Nissan 370Z and continued her laughing spiel.

  “Some days I don’t like you,” Zoë managed to push free.

  “And others you love me.” Cora sounded unperturbed. And unrepentant.

  “Harrumph.”

  “Can you imagine what your brothers will do when they find out? Oh my God, I so want to be a fly on that wall.”

  She pinned Cora with a pointed glare. “They will never learn of that…my…that indiscretion.”

  Cora’s blue eyes widened as she coughed. “Indiscretion? That’s what you’re calling it? An indiscretion? You left your thong in his truck. Thong. Truck. And let’s not forget where I came to pick you up. That’s not an indiscretion.”

  “Why don’t you scream it a little louder? Not sure if the dead heard you.” She pushed to her feet and dusted off her hands with a reproachful stare.

  Once again, Cora had no remorse on her features. Bitch.

  “Are you ashamed?”

  She forced a smile at the people who walked by them. Stepping so she stood beside Cora she punched her in the shoulder. “Yes!”

  Cora hopped down, rubbing her arm. “Why? And goddamn it that hurt.”

  “Good, damn you, it was supposed to. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because he’s hot as fuck and from the way you have been shuffling along all that’s not an exaggeration on his bed skills.”

  She flushed at the recollection. The man did have some serious skills. “It’s more than that, Cora.”

  Cora stopped her with a touch and turned her so they were face to face. Her expression lost all the teasing and grew thoughtful. “Why? Better yet, why does it have to be?”

  “Because I can’t stop thinking about him and what it was like.”

  She shook her head. “I’m failing to see the problem here.” Cora scrunched up her nose. “Really? This is an issue?”

  Zoë tossed her hands up. “Yes, really.”

  “Seems to me he created an itch. So what? Scratch it.”

  “You don’t get it.”

  “Get in. Help me to. Explain.”

  Sliding into the coupe, Zoë closed her eyes. Is there a way to explain this without sounding like an insane loon?

  “The Kendricks have been close with my family forever.”

  The engine turned over and Zoë placed her feet on the dash.

  “That’s not news, babe. Everyone in town knows that. But given that’s the case, they should be happy you’re together.”

  She slipped forward with the car’s sudden acceleration. “We’re not together,” she groaned readjusting her seat. “I’m just fantasizing about him with every breath I’ve taken.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “That’s it? All you’ve got?”

  “I hear whining. One of the Kendrick boys—who I’ve had a crush on forever—rocked my world. Oh, woe is me.” She poured on the sarcasm.

  “Not helpful, Cora.”

  “I’d give my left nut to have the opportunity to fuck Cade.”

  Zoë slanted her gaze askew. “You don’t have a left nut.”

  “Fine. I’ll give yours.”

  “Stupid,” she teased. “I know you’re hot for Cade but it’s not the same.”

  “You’re making the issue. Go with it. See what happens.”

  She closed her eyes. “Take me away somewhere we can go fast.”

  “Of course, my lovely.” Cora got them going faster and Zoë allowed the hum of the car to lull her into a catatonic state. She needed the break, well aware she’d be seeing Zane tonight.

  ***

  “Grab a drink, Zoë. I’ll be done here in a minute.”

  She closed the large oak door behind her. The faint scent of honeyed beeswax with a light hint of lemony mint filled her nose. The dark floors gleamed in the low light. She’d always loved this house.

  Warm light spilled in the hall off to her right and she knew that’s where Nate worked. She went to the left and entered the kitchen. Having been here so many times before it was like being in her own place. Reaching up for a glass, she paused as the sensation of being watched flowed over her.

  She lowered her heels to the floor before pivoting slow toward the fridge. Across the expansive kitchen stood Zane.

  Ah, hell.

  He had no shirt on and his jeans rode low on lean hips. Her core temperature shot through the roof. She had to bite the inside of her cheek. Life wasn’t fair. No one person should have such unmitigated control over another.

  Thick, corded arms flexed as he crossed them over his wide chest. Her gaze lowered over the scarred skin to the opened top button of his jeans. Some temptation. It dropped farther, lingering over the definite ridge behind the zipper.

  He shifted, bringing her gaze to his waiting one. The arrogance presented had her hackles up. She turned to the fridge and filled her glass from the water dispenser.

  “Hello, Zoë.”

  “Zane.” She drank some of the refreshing liquid before pressing the button for some crushed ice, adding it to her glass.

  “Why’d you leave? I was worried.”

  Not wanting to face him but refusing to give into that retreat, she crunched on some ice and turned to meet his heated stare.

  “No reason to be,” she remarked offhandedly.

  “I beg to differ.” He pressed closer without even appearing to move.

  More ice. Like an ice bath. Maybe then she would cool down. Maybe.

  “Do you mind moving?”

  “Not at all. You want me to move fast?” Closer still. “Or slow? Your choice, tell me when or where. I’ll move however you want as long as it’s your pussy choking my cock and milking all my seed from me. Your nails raking down my back, leaving your mark on my skin.”

  So many unbidden images of their naked bodies, limbs intermingled, screamed before her mind’s eye. Moisture gathered between her legs.

  “Don’t you have anything better to do?” The moment the question was out, she recognized it was a mistake.

  The gleam in his eyes solidified her understanding. There was a lot to blame her distraction on. His scent. The desire to touch skin clinging to taut muscles. And so many more.

  He didn’t say a word just took her mouth. His tongue surged deep, sliding over hers in a possessive and claiming way.

  She sagged into him with a whimper of longing. Her clit pulsed, desperate for his touch. He palmed her right breast, plumping it. Her nipples were diamond-hard and she shuddered as he grazed over it.

  As sudden as he’d started, he ended it, placing distance between them. In the time it took her to snap out of the desire haze from him, she saw Nate striding in.

  Zane rested against a counter, eating crackers out of the box. Cool as a cucumber. Bastard. She needed a dip in the Arctic.

  She drank more water, desperate to alleviate her parched throat. Then she filled it again, ignoring the way Zane stared at her.

  “Ready, Nate?”

  “Let me grab a beer. We’ll sit at the table.”

  She walked to it and took a seat at the large rectangular focal point of the room. Her trailing fingertips skimmed over the smooth top.

  “The answer is yes,” Zane uttered by her ear.

  She slanted her gaze at him with a frown. “I didn’t ask a question.”

  “Sure you did. The way you’re caressing the table says you wonder if it will hold up as I fuck you on it.” His strong fingers cu
pped the nape of her neck. “It will.” He walked on and sat at the head of the table, rocking back in the chair as Nate entered.

  She had no recourse to him. Nor the images his words evoked.

  Chapter Five

  Zane lounged in the chair, front feet off the ground, and crunched on Triscuits straight from the box. Nate and Zoë sat across from one another discussing Cade’s birthday party.

  She ignored him yet he understood she was all too aware of him.

  “Are you sure about this?” Nate drummed his fingers on the table as he read over some papers before him.

  “Sure am. Mom is determined to cook some things. Dad’s already said he would make sure all the old people leave at a decent time.”

  “You hanging around, Zoë?” Zane posed the question.

  When she glanced at him he sucked his thumb into his mouth. He winked at her with the flare of her nostrils. Her gaze ripped away and he allowed himself to fall forward, the thump of the legs invasive in the hushed conversation.

  She barely spared him a peek. He slid the box of crackers at her.

  “Thanks,” she said still without a look. She struck her hand in and withdrew a few, setting them on a sheet of paper. Nate grabbed the box and helped himself. Zane headed back to the kitchen.

  He grabbed her a beer and popped the top. He also grabbed one for himself.

  “Here.” He set it beside her after he reentered the room. Taking the opportunity, he drew out the chair next to her and sat. “Why are we planning such a thing for him?”

  “Because it’s a nice thing to do,” she retorted.

  Her fire grabbed at his gut and made him feel again. Hell, she did.

  “And mine?” He reached to her pile of crackers and helped himself.

  “Your birthday’s in May. Months away. Why are you worrying about your day?”

  “So you remember my birthday,” he said under his breath.

  Nate answered his phone when it rang.

  “Whatever you’re playing at won’t work.”

  “I’m not playing.” He paused. “Yet.”

  She stiffened. Nate rose and paced to the other side of the room. “What?”

  “I will be when your legs are draped around my shoulders. I’m going to be playing all night long until you can’t come on my tongue, fingers, or cock anymore.”

  The way her breath hitched had him smirking. No matter what she tried to pretend, she had no way to hide her physical attraction to him. Nate returned but paused before actually sitting.

  “Meet me at the barn after you’re done here.”

  “No way. Leaving my car here when I’m supposed to be gone. That’s not happening.”

  Okay, so she had a point. “Where we were last night.”

  “No. It was a mistake. One I have no intention of repeating.” She walked off and met with Nate, leaving her beer untouched.

  After a muttered curse, he shoved away from the table and departed the room through the other entryway.

  When she approached her vehicle later, he slid from the darkness.

  “Did you really think I would let it go?”

  She grumbled under her breath but didn’t jump, alerting him to the fact she’d not been startled. So she was expecting me. He grinned. Staring over the roof of her car followed by Nate’s truck, he could see the house. But for all intents and purposes, they were hidden from view.

  “I didn’t think on it at all.” She reached for the door handle and he pressed his hand against it, anchoring the metal closed.

  “Turn around,” he ordered, rubbing his cheek along her hair. “Face me, Zoë.”

  She listened. Slowly she faced him, keys in the door, and stared up at him. Night had begun to overtake the final glow of day. Her large eyes watched him. He could lose himself in her gaze without any problems. This woman could take away all his problems with nothing more than a simple look; to have her love would be more humbling than anything else on the face of the earth.

  “I don’t need you to call when you want a fuck. I told you it was a—”

  He kissed her. Captured those full, luscious lips of hers with a growl, which wouldn’t be contained. She created something in him, something dangerous, intense, pure. Almost a desperation.

  Her response was volcanic. She pressed into him as her tongue tangled with his.

  This was far more than just a fuck; he had to make her see. He wound his hands in her hair, positioning her head to the angle he craved. He couldn’t get enough. More, his body demanded. He captured her breast with his free hand. She moaned, punching more steel into his cock.

  Bucking his hips, he thrust his dick against her. She curved her leg around his and ground close. He sought her skin, growing impatient when it took him a moment and rumbling his pleasure when it singed his hand. Her flat belly, taut with muscles, moved beneath his palm. He pushed beneath the waistband, seeking her pussy. The smooth lips parted beneath his fingers. He sank into her, eating her responding cries.

  So snug. So wet. Such heat. He wanted his cock in her, gripping him. Moving his fingers, she clenched tight around them.

  Releasing her hair, he went for the button on her pants. Her smaller hand captured his wrist. He readjusted so he could see her eyes. They overflowed with passion and yet, something else lingered there as well.

  “I’m not doing this.”

  He froze. Here he was seconds away from taking her, against the side of her vehicle like she didn’t deserve any better and she said no.

  “Zoë.” Was that his voice? All garbled and gruff?

  He gripped the top of her car with both hands, all the while keeping her trapped between him and the metal door.

  “Stay away from me, Zane. Please.”

  Her saying “please” grabbed him and halted his immediate protest. He took shuddering breaths, her unique scent—the scent of pine on the crisp wind—filled him.

  “Why?” He had to know.

  That one word didn’t want to leave his throat. Asking a woman why she no longer wanted to be with him, hadn’t ever occurred to him before. But hearing that from Zoë…completely different.

  Her laugh was sharp and harsh. “Why?” She fixed her clothes and he longed to remove them from her. “The only reason you made lov—fucked me the first time was because of how I was dressed. But that’s not me. I work in a shop, don’t mind grease under my nails or on my skin, and I don’t want to spend my time struggling to grab your attention away from the next woman who comes along in a short skirt. I’m not that kind of person. I’m not wired that way.”

  It may have begun as a fuck but changed before the night was over. “This…whatever it is between us, is too damn powerful for us to ignore.”

  “I disagree.”

  “Your trembling body says otherwise.” Despite the tension radiating through him at the prospect of losing her, he kept his tone calm. He longed to grip her tight, yet he continued with his hands on the roof of her vehicle.

  “It’s weak. I’m not.”

  “I know you want me to agree and leave you alone. Your brothers don’t scare me. My brothers don’t—”

  “Stop. Please. Let me go.” She pushed on him and he was so stunned by the pain her voice carried, he stumbled back. That was the opening she needed. She drove away, leaving him there trying to make sense about whatever just happened.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Zane?”

  “Leave it alone, Nate.” He continued watching the disappearing taillights until they vanished completely from view.

  “Zoë?”

  He fisted his hands. “It has nothing to do with you. I owe you no explanations.” He wasn’t going to let anyone come between them.

  Nate stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Zane cut his gaze to the eldest Kendrick.

  “Why her? You know we’re hard men, Zane. She was like our sister.”

  “Not mine. She was a pain who trailed her brothers and us. I haven’t seen her in eighteen years. You and Cade continued to and st
ill do continue to see her as a little sister. I see her as a woman. My woman. She is in no way a child.”

  “What do you think she will do for you? This is insane, you touch her and what? You—”

  “For the first time since I left the fucking Middle East the demons I carry with me are silenced. Nothing else has come close to accomplishing that. I will go through hell to keep her. Fuck, I’m there without her.”

  Nate remained silent for a while then grunted. “And her brothers?”

  “You really think they’ll have a problem with it?”

  “We all have been chasing men away from her since high school. They’re going to come after you like a fucking rabid dog.”

  He mimicked his sibling only to rock back on his heels. “Where do you stand?”

  “Behind you, always.”

  “She wants me to stay away from her.” Damn, even voicing it hurt. “Do you know if she’s interested in someone?”

  “Going to rough him up?”

  “Only if he touches her,” he said without joking.

  “She doesn’t, not that I know of. I love her like a sister, Zane. Make sure you treat her like you’d want a man treating one of our own if we had any. If she really doesn’t want you around, you need to respect that. You were raised better than pushing yourself on a woman.”

  Zane didn’t respond as Nate wandered off. He spit on the ground before trailing his brother into the house. Nate was right. He had been. However, it seemed he had no common sense when it came to Zoë.

  *

  Zane was ready to spit nails. Zoë had pulled off one hell of a vanishing act. Others saw her but for over four weeks he didn’t see a single hair on that woman’s head other than in extremely brief passing. He was sick of looking to get her alone. Also tired of jacking off to the memory of her against him.

  No more. After dark had settled over Springwood, he set out to track her down.

  ***

  Tink. Tink. Tink.

  Zoë came awake, lying in silence as her brain moved from dream world with her and Zane to work out what and where the sound was and came from.

  Tink. Tink. Tink.

  She glanced at the window. He wouldn’t. Even as she thought it, she admitted he most certainly would. Rolling from bed, she made her way to the window and parted the sheer curtain where she found herself staring out at Zane.