by Rhian Cahill
Red opened her mouth and darted her hot tongue out to tangle with his. He swallowed the moan that tripped up her throat. Nibbled at her lips, her tongue, her lips. No matter how fast he went, how much he took, he couldn’t get enough.
“Want you naked,” he groaned.
“Yes. No.” She pulled her mouth from his. “Not here.”
Here? “What?”
“Not here.”
Zac had no idea how it happened, but one second she was in his arms half naked and pliant, the next she was across the room and tugging her top back on.
“Here?”
“My work.” Red wrapped her arms around her middle. “God. I think the front door is still open.”
She rushed from the room, the echo of her flip-flops slapping on the floor trailing behind her. He dragged in a breath and tried to rein in his libido enough to make his brain work. Now that the heat of the kiss had dulled, Zac realised his face hurt like hell.
“Dammit.” He was pretty sure his nose wasn’t broken, but it was bloody close. He lowered his face into his hands. “Fucking son of a bitch.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
He hadn’t heard Red come back, but she stood not two feet away, worry creasing her forehead.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me, Zac. Do you need to get your nose X-rayed?”
“No. But I could do with those pain pills.”
She eyed him doubtfully. Finally, she said, “I’ll grab the meds.”
Zac breathed deeply. Lust still pulled at him, but he understood why Red had backed away. It would have taken less than a minute for them to be naked and writhing around on the floor. He figured the chances of them getting caught in a compromising position were low, but he had to respect her and her place of business.
He’d just wait until they got back to her house.
“Here.” Red handed him two white pills and a glass of water.
He popped the tablets into his mouth and swallowed them dry. Taking a seat on one of the stools, he sipped at the cold water and watched her tidy up the kitchen. “So what do you want for dinner?”
Her head swiveled in his direction. “Dinner?”
“Yeah, that was the wager, remember?” He cocked his head. “Although I’m not sure which one of us actually won that bet.” Zac grinned.
Red smiled. “I did.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Zac let his gaze drop to her chest before slowly bringing it back to meet hers. “Kinda feels like we both won.”
Her cheeks flushed red and her eyes dilated. She licked her lips. “You should put an ice pack on that nose.”
A change of subject. Nice. “I will as soon as we get to your place. You’ve got frozen peas, yes?”
“My place?”
“I’m not really in the mood to go out to dinner, so it’s either your place or mine.”
“Oh.”
“Does that Thai place near you still deliver?”
“The Thai Bowl?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“I think so, but I’m not eating that. If you want Thai I can make us some.”
“But you won the bet. I have to supply dinner.” Although the thought of Red cooking for him did give Zac a very pleasant swirl of warmth in the centre of his chest. He refused to look at the feeling too closely.
“I don’t eat take-out, Zac. So it’s either I cook for both of us or I cook for me and you order in.”
“You don’t eat take-out at all?” He knew she was strict about her diet. Had been since she’d overcome anorexia, but he hadn’t had a clue she was this severe.
“Nope. I prefer to know what I’m putting in my body at all times.”
“All times?”
“Am I cooking or not.”
Zac shrugged. “I guess you’re cooking.” It didn’t matter to him either way as long as he got to spend more time with her.
“Right. Okay then.” Red turned back to the sink and finished washing the blender.
He wasn’t sure where they were going but he figured dinner together was a start, plus, it would give him more time to work out what he was doing. With any luck—not that he’d had much of that today—she wouldn’t be ordering him to go home afterwards.
Freddie kept sneaking glances at Zac. The minute they’d arrived at her place, she’d ordered him to sit and grabbed him a bag of frozen peas for his face. At some point in the last fifteen minutes, he’d fallen asleep on her couch and the bag had fallen to the floor. His nose was a little swollen and red but it didn’t look too bad.
She’d wanted him to go home to get changed out of his bloody shirt but he’d resisted, and she’d finally relented by making him promise to wash it at her place. Of course that meant he was now bare-chested. All those sleek muscles on full display…
She shivered and her hands tingled with the memories of running her fingers over his sculptured pecs and abs. Playing with his flat nipples, making them hard…
“Hey.” Zac stretched his arms over his head. “Dinner ready?”
“Ah, not yet.” Freddie eyed the ingredients she’d yet to chop up. She’d been so busy staring at Zac’s edible body that she hadn’t done more than pull the veggies from the fridge. “It’ll be about thirty minutes yet.”
“Do you want some help?” he asked as he sat up and turned her way.
Jesus. She couldn’t function with him halfway across the room. If he actually came and stood beside her… “No. I’ve got it.”
“Are you sure? I feel like a freeloader.”
“You’re injured.”
“I’m not exactly crippled,” he argued.
“No, but you should rest,” she said and then murmured, “and it’s my fault you’re hurt.”
“What?”
“Do you want the chili hot or mild?”
He cocked one eyebrow. “That’s not what you said.”
Freddie smiled. “Hot it is.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re not responsible.”
She sucked in a breath.
“Neither of us could have predicted two guys would use my face as a punching bag today.”
Freddie sighed. “I might have had an idea West would. It’s not the first time he’s thrown a punch in my honour.”
“Can’t say I can blame him for that. He’s your brother.”
“So? I’m not fourteen and starving myself to death anymore.” God dammit. She hated that it always seemed to come back to her illness.
Zac stood. “No. But it killed him. Hell, it killed all of us to see you like that.”
“But I’m no longer that teenager.”
He came towards her slowly, as though he didn’t want to spook her, and she clenched her teeth to keep from yelling at him for treating her like fragile glass.
“You might not be that same girl, but none of us that saw you go through that can forget. We still see—”
Freddie held up her hand, palm out. “Don’t. To quote you. No more talking. You’re just going to piss me off.”
“Red.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Fine. Freddie.”
She shook her head. “I mean it, Zac. Conversation over or I’m going to throw your arse out regardless of your bruised face.”
He backed away a step. “Okay. No more talking.”
“Good.”
Turning back to the counter, Freddie took a deep breath and picked up the knife. She hated it when people looked at her like she was wounded. Like the slightest thing could set her off. Christ. It had been over ten years since she’d beaten the disease. Ten years of proving she was capable of functioning like anyone else.
God. She was a successful business owner. Had hundreds of patients who’d turned their lives around with her help. “How much more do I
have to prove?”
“You don’t need to prove anything.”
“Shit.” Freddie spun around, knife in hand and almost gutted Zac. “Don’t do that!”
He grabbed her wrist with one hand and removed the knife from her grip with the other. Leaning over, he placed it on the counter and then took both her hands in his. “You are one of the strongest women I know. It doesn’t mean I won’t worry about you. Warranted or not, it’s in our DNA to worry about the people we care about.”
Her shoulders slumped, her rigid muscles relaxing. “I get that. I’m just tired of being looked at like I’ll crack at the smallest thing. Shit. If that was going to happen, it would have been while I trudged my way through my double degree.”
Zac laughed. “I hear ya there. Law school just about killed me.”
Smiling she said, “Bullshit. You finished top of your class.”
He frowned. “Who told you that?”
“West.”
“How the hell does he know?”
“You didn’t tell him?”
“Hell, no. I didn’t even tell Coop.”
“Oh.” She shrugged. “I haven’t a clue how he found out then.”
Freddie thought the scowl on Zac’s face was adorable, and the urge to kiss it away stole through her. She resisted. Barely. Pulling her hands from his, she turned back to the counter and the food she needed to chop. “I need to get dinner on.”
She hoped Zac would take the hint and not push the subject any further. Being treated like a child always annoyed her. Made her want to behave like one and stomp her foot. Preferably on the foot of the person who was doing the annoying. Usually West.
Her brother could be such a shithead. She loved him, but his interference in her life—particularly her love life—had finally reached the limit of her patience. She’d put up with it until now because honestly, none of the guys he’d tried to intimidate were that important to her.
Zac was different. And she was only now beginning to understand how different.
Zac left Red alone and went back to the couch. They could both do with a little space. Something had shifted between them just now. He wasn’t sure what or how, only that some indefinable thing had changed.
Easing back against the cushion, he watched her through lowered lashes. He didn’t want her to think he was keeping an eye on her. He’d obviously hit a hot button. West was guilty of being overly protective where Red was concerned. Hell, Zac had been that way himself on more than one occasion. It was part of the reason he’d stayed away when he first realised his interest had turned to more than friendship.
He didn’t have his head screwed on straight when it came to Red anymore. She’d been in the best friend’s little sister category for so long that this new development in their relationship fucked with his mind and his heart. Zac didn’t want to hurt her, but then he didn’t want to leave her alone either.
Damned if he did. Damned if he didn’t.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out to see a text from Coop. He hadn’t replied to any of the messages or calls either his brother or best friend had sent him. Zac knew what they had to say and he didn’t want to hear it. There was enough recrimination going on in his own head, he didn’t need to hear it from either of them.
And besides. Red was right. She wasn’t that broken teenage girl anymore. She’d more than proven she’d moved past the illness that had stolen two years of her life.
He’d be a fool not to see the remarkable woman she’d become. If she were anyone else…any other woman, he wouldn’t be using such caution. Then again, it wasn’t just her connection to his best friend to consider. There was the friendship he and Red had. It was solid and vital and Zac wasn’t sure he was prepared to fuck with it.
Should have thought of that before you fucked her, idiot.
Bit late to develop a conscience, but there it was, messing with the already confused emotions surrounding Red. He couldn’t decide if it was because of their pre-existing connection or if what he felt for her was different to any other woman he’d been with.
Whatever it was that was happening between them, he had to sort it out quickly.
For both their sakes.
Chapter Six
Zac could smell her. Over the spicy scent of the meal Red had made was the tantalising fragrance of her skin—her arousal. It was subtle, but it was there, and it revved his own desire higher. Stirred and teased until he vibrated with need.
“Do you want more?” Red asked.
He wanted more. More of her. “No. I’m good.”
“Are you sure? There’s plenty left.”
“Honestly, I’m full. It was surprisingly filling considering there’s no meat in it.”
Red laughed, the sound tripping over his skin and lighting fires in its wake. Without thought, Zac leaned over and pressed his mouth to hers. He kept it simple. Just lips on lips—no tongues. He wanted to savour. To fall slowly into the pleasure of kissing her.
But Red was having none of that. She thrust her tongue into his mouth and dared him to join in. Her boldness didn’t end there. He praised their decision to eat on the couch when he found himself with a lapful of Red. She’d thrown one leg over his and pressed her chest to his. Zac wove his fingers into her hair and held her still so he could devour her mouth properly.
She whimpered when he sucked on her tongue. Rocked her hips against him and ground her pussy on his throbbing cock. Clothes separated them. Layers and layers of frustrating fabric they had to get rid of.
“Bedroom,” he panted. “Don’t want to do you here.”
Red didn’t protest when he stood with her in his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and let him carry her from the room. He knew his way around her house. He’d helped paint it when she’d first moved in. But he hadn’t been in her bedroom. Not with furniture.
Certainly not with a king-size bed sitting front and centre.
Her room wasn’t girly. The comforter was a deep blue, the bedhead, chest of drawers and bedsides were white. There were pictures on the walls of people and scenery, and Zac knew they were all photos Red had taken. He wanted to take the time to admire each one, but he couldn’t resist the woman in his arms any longer.
He dropped her on the bed. “Strip,” he ordered as he went to work on his jeans.
She scrambled backwards, kicking off her flip-flops and wiggling out of her shorts as she went. Her top came next. By the time Zac got his shoes off and pants down, she was spread out naked. He groaned. The woman was meant to be fucked. Putting one knee on the bed, he leaned over and wrapped his hand around her ankle.
“Don’t move other than spreading those legs so I can get between them.”
Zac crawled up, using his shoulders to open those sexy legs farther. He braced himself on his elbow, his face inches from her wet cunt. The musk of her arousal surrounded him, tempting him to taste. Flattening his tongue, he took what was on offer.
In one long sweep, he lapped at her. From bottom to top, he laved her once. “God, you taste amazing.”
“Zac.” She squirmed under him and he placed his palms on her thighs to hold her still.
“Can’t get enough of you,” he murmured against her slick folds before licking her up one side and down the other.
He couldn’t get enough. Couldn’t stop gorging on her tender flesh while she writhed and moaned. Zac had always liked going down on a woman. Liked their flavour and texture against his tongue—his lips. But Red was different. He loved eating her out. The sexy noises she made. The way her cunt clenched around the tip of his tongue when he shoved it inside her.
She was addictive.
His cock throbbed, but he ignored the ache. He wanted her to come on his face. Wanted to taste the richer flavour her orgasm produced.
Using his thumbs to par
t her folds, Zac put his mouth over her clit and sucked. She bucked beneath him and pain shot through his face when her pubic bone connected with his nose. He grunted but didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. He needed that moment when she lost it. Needed it more than his own comfort or breath.
With his lips locked around that swollen bud of nerves, he worked his hand under his chin and drove two fingers into her quivering channel. Her cunt muscles gripped him. Slammed down around him with punishing force as the first spasm seized her. She clenched and unclenched. Each contraction sucked at his fingers while he sucked at her clit.
She thrashed and cried out. Zac soaked it all up until the last ripple of her climax ebbed away. He raised his head and looked up Red’s trembling torso. Her breasts rose and fell with her ragged breath and a fine sheen of sweat coated her skin, giving her a silky shine. Zac couldn’t resist the lure of all that flesh.
He moved up her body slowly. Licking and nipping, he took his time, making sure he didn’t miss one sensitive inch of her with his mouth.
“Zac.” Her voice was whispery soft. “Please.”
Unable to deny her or himself anymore he quickened his pace until his mouth hovered over hers. “What? Tell me what you want.”
“You.” She slipped her hand around his waist and pulled his body down on hers. “I want you inside me.”
Zac settle his hips between hers, nestled his cock in the slick heat of her cunt. “I want me inside you too.” He drove his hips forward and thrust his entire length into her. “Forever. God. I want to stay buried inside you forever.”
Forever.
The word echoed through her mind, but Freddie didn’t have time to ponder what Zac meant. Or whether it was a heat-of-the-moment statement. He was already driving into her. Pushing her higher and higher with each body-slamming thrust of his cock. It wasn’t enough.
She gripped his arse and tried to drag him closer. “Harder.”
“God,” he groaned into her ear. “You kill me.”
“More.” Freddie couldn’t explain the sudden need—the desperation—slicing into her. “C’mon, Zac, fuck me like you mean it.”
“I am fucking you,” he panted against her neck.
