by Davis, Jo
After they finished eating, Cori ordered Zack to the living room to relax, and put the leftover pizza in the fridge. Just as she started to join him, the phone on the counter rang. She glanced at the caller ID and barely stifled a moan of aggravation as she picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Hey, beautiful! It’s Tony.”
Cori bristled. “Beautiful” was Zack’s pet name for her, and she didn’t like the endearment oozing from Tony’s oh-so-elegant lips.
“Hi, Tony. What’s up?”
“Just making sure we’re still on for coffee after your class tomorrow. It’s only been three days and I’ve missed seeing you around,” he said smoothly, a hint of seduction in his voice.
Cori’s hand tightened on the phone. Damn, she’d totally forgotten. She certainly didn’t want to encourage him after their ill-advised kiss the other day, and was far from comfortable trying to extricate herself from this mess of her own making with Zack in the next room.
“Um, that’s really sweet of you to say. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to cancel for tomorrow.”
“Oh? How come?” His tone cooled.
None of your biz. “I’m dealing with some personal issues,” she said, putting some chill into her response. “This week is bad. In fact, I don’t know when I’ll have time for my usual coffee break.”
There. Any man with half a brain could interpret the clear message to back off.
“Dinner tomorrow night, then?”
Any man except, apparently, for Tony.
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid not. Listen, Tony . . .” She sighed, hating the icky task of giving any guy, even one as self-absorbed as Tony, the brush-off. But honesty was only fair to everyone. “I’m seeing someone. He’s really special, and I’m not going to risk messing up what we’ve got going for a hot fling. And you know as well as I do that’s all there would be between you and me.”
A heavy silence. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Cori. Perhaps I can change your mind about us.”
A statement, almost as though he were talking to himself, not a heartfelt question. Weird. It sort of gave her the creeps and she was more convinced than ever she’d done the right thing. “No, you can’t. Good luck finding your someone special, okay? Good-bye, Tony.”
She hung up, blowing a strand of hair from her eyes. “Thank God that’s done.”
“Wow, I’m glad I’m not Tony.”
Startled, she spun to see Zack leaning lazily against the kitchen entry with his good shoulder. “Eavesdropping is rude, fireboy.”
“But informative.” His lips curved in a smug grin. “I’m special, huh?”
“And nosy.”
“Nope, just cautious.” He stalked toward her, all lean-hipped grace in motion. “A man has to protect what’s his.”
Goose bumps broke out on her arms and she crossed them over her chest. Not a trace of exhaustion showed in his feral expression, and the way he moved . . . God, he was downright sexy. “Careful, your alpha is showing.”
Reaching her, he curled one finger under her chin and tipped her face to his. His mouth took hers, tongue sweeping inside. Bold, demanding. She uncrossed her arms, sliding her palms up his chest. She loved this confident side of him, taking charge, so much potent male.
He reached around her, cupping her rear in his hands. Spreading his legs, he pulled her close, nestling her intimately against the pole in his jeans. Igniting a blaze only he could douse.
“Complaints?” he breathed against her lips.
“Not one.”
“Let’s go upstairs.”
“Oh, honey. Maybe we should wait until you’re better—”
“Corrine Shannon,” he said quietly, looking deeply into her eyes, “I’ve been waiting my whole life. For you.”
Right then, she melted into a puddle at his feet. Sweet heaven, her man could give lessons in gallantry to every single one of his gender she’d ever known.
“Ditto,” she managed around the grapefruit stuck in her throat. Because there weren’t adequate words to express what she felt at the moment and even if there were, she wouldn’t have been able to voice them without bursting into tears.
He held out his hand in invitation and she took it, hyperaware of what this simple act of acceptance and trust meant to them. The contact sizzled from their linked fingers along her nerve endings, tightening her nipples and sending a jolt of desire through her body. She’d never wanted a man as much as she wanted Zack.
Beside her, he was throwing off heat like a furnace as they went upstairs. At the door to her room he tugged on her hand, giving her a half smile and bringing it to his lips to brush a light kiss behind her knuckles.
“Go ahead and give me about five minutes to clean up,” he said. “I smell like paint and sweat.”
She craved his naked body next to hers so badly she didn’t really care, but she sensed the nervousness he’d hidden so well. A hint of vulnerability, as though he wanted everything to be perfect for their first time actually making love—his first to slide deep inside a woman.
“I’ll be waiting, hot stuff.”
He grinned, ducking his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
Good Lord, she could eat him with a spoon.
Fortunately, the hands Mother Nature blessed her with would do just fine.
Zack wasn’t sure how he kept his cool as he took the world’s shortest shower. He was Mr. Suave on the outside, fat nerd boy on the inside. Some things never really changed, but Cori saw only the man who desired her above all others, not the dumpy kid who couldn’t have scored a date with Ugly Betty. In his book, that rated number one on his list of impossible miracles.
Angling the showerhead down and turning his left side into the thin spray, he managed to wash without wetting the bandage. Mostly. Finished, he shut off the water and toweled dry, torn whether to take a painkiller for his burning shoulder or stay awake to please his lady. Frankly, he preferred not to be comatose for their big night.
He wrapped the towel around his hips as best as he could, considering the tent his erection made in the front. Next he fetched the box of condoms from the drawer in the nightstand—another of Clay’s deliveries at Zack’s request. He wished he had his Mustang so he could’ve gone to buy them himself. As it was, the good-natured ribbing he’d taken from B-shift’s FAO was worth making Cori happy.
Fortifying himself, he strode for Cori’s room, squelching his nerves with an effort. She wanted him, and they’d already been intimate. He was a grown man with no reason to fear having what he’d dreamed of for so long.
A woman who accepted him completely . . . and might just come to love him.
He stopped inside the doorway, mouth watering at the sight of Cori lounging naked on her bed against a mound of plump pillows. Long legs stretched out and parted slightly, honey brown hair falling around her face and full breasts, lips curved upward, she looked very sexy and feline. Waiting to devour the canary.
She crooked a finger, motioning him forward. “I see you brought the team uniform.”
“What? Oh, these.” He walked to the side of the bed and laid the box on the nightstand. “Presumptuous of me?”
“Smart and considerate,” she corrected. “Though we don’t need them if you’d prefer to go natural.”
“W-we don’t?” Jeez, little Zack took that news happily, jerking behind the confines of the towel.
“You’ve never been with anyone, and it’s been ages for me. My most recent tests were clean as always, and I’m on the pill. It’s your call.”
He grinned. “I feel like I’ve won the lottery.”
She sat up and scooted to the side of the bed, grabbing his towel at the waist. “Yeah? Then hang on and I’ll make you feel like the president, too. Whoops, bad analogy.”
With a yank, she divested him of the towel and tossed it away. His shaft bobbed near her lips, curved and eager. Leaning forward, she wrapped her fingers around the base and gave the flushed head an experimental lick, gaz
ing up at him, expectant.
“Tell me what you’d like for me to do, Zack.”
“Oh, God.” His balls drew up and pre-cum wept from the slit of his cock. He fumbled at voicing such wicked thoughts aloud.
“Come on, fireboy. Tell Cori what you need.” Another lick, just on the tip.
“Suck me,” he whispered. “Please.”
She shook her head. “Like you mean it.”
His heart was going to explode. “Suck me.” His low request, tempered with steel, crackled in the air between them as he buried one hand in her hair. Urged her forward. “Take my cock. Do it now.”
With a hum of satisfaction, she brought the tip between her lips, suckling. Nibbling and licking. She began to work him deeper, one agonizing inch at a time, squeezing the base of his shaft. The other hand stroked up his inner thigh, seeking. He spread his legs wider and she kneaded his heavy sac, the dual stimulation of his balls and cock driving him mad.
“Oh, yeah,” he groaned, thrusting his hips toward her. “Swallow me, baby.”
He watched as his cock disappeared between her lips, sliding in until he hit the back of her throat. Her soft, hot little tongue laved his skin and she began to move, sucking with delicious pressure. Liquid fire spread outward from his groin through his belly, to his limbs.
Fingers tangled in her hair, he guided her motions, fucking her gorgeous mouth. He loved this element of control, he realized, dominating her, making her his. In return, her enjoyment was obvious. She consumed him with relish, driving him to the edge.
His balls tightened, the fluttering low in his belly signaling a swift climax if they didn’t slow down. “Stop, baby. I don’t want to come yet.” She released him, looking very pleased with herself, so damned beautiful his heart ached. He gestured to the middle of the bed. “Get comfortable and let me taste you.”
Cori wiggled into place and smiled, letting her thighs fall open. Her slit, pink and wet, the tiny pearl nub peeking from sandy curls, beckoned to him. He crawled between her legs and lowered his head, flicking her clit with his tongue. Her quiet whimper bolstered his confidence another notch and he took the tender flesh between his lips, sucking gently.
“Ohh, Zack! God, yes . . .”
She arched her hips and he gave her what she asked for, eating her clit, licking in rhythmic precision until she bucked, pulling at his hair.
“I need you inside me,” she gasped. “Make love to me.”
Music for his battered soul. He inched up her body, careful to lever the brunt of his weight off her. Using one hand, he nestled the head of his cock between the lips of her moist opening, then braced his arms on either side of her head, taking his weight on his elbows. He framed her face with shaking hands, overwhelmed by the emotions surging through him. Words couldn’t express how much this union meant to him, but he hoped his actions spoke clearly enough.
Her hands skimmed down his back and onward to cup his buttocks. She urged him inside and he sank by slow degrees, moaning in bliss as her heat enveloped his length.
“Cori,” he breathed. Every muscle quivered as he slid in to the hilt. Home at last, buried deep in her. “Oh—oh, God, I never knew. . . . Never . . .”
She clutched at him, writhing. “You feel so good. Don’t stop.”
Bending his head over hers, he began to thrust. Flames licked at his cock, setting his entire body ablaze. “Baby, I’m not going to last long.”
“I don’t care! Just fuck me, please!”
Jesus. That did it. Drove him right over the edge of a rocky precipice. He pumped her with total abandon, making up in enthusiasm what he lacked in technique. His body quickened, control shattered, balls tightening as he lunged once, twice more.
Balls deep, he stiffened with a hoarse shout. His release exploded, a kaleidoscope of colors bursting in his brain as he filled her, on and on. Indescribable ecstasy. Being locked inside her was a lot like dying, but with a much happier conclusion.
Cori’s orgasm joined his and she held him close, legs wrapped around his waist. Her sheath spasmed around his cock, wringing the last of his cum until he was draped over her like a blanket, spent and trembling like a race-horse at the finish line.
“We fit perfectly,” she said, kissing his cheek.
Raising his head, he looked into her lovely face and brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. “Yes, we do.”
“Zack?”
“Hmm?”
“This isn’t some fling for me. I . . . care for you.”
He wondered if a man could feel so full he burst. “It’s the same for me. I think we’ve got something here worth giving a chance.”
She hugged him close and he wanted to say more, but held back. It was too soon. Would he know love if it smacked him in the head? He’d never loved anyone in his entire life, except his “brothers” at Station Five. Not the same.
He slipped out of her and rolled to the side, gathering her into his arms and pillowing her head on his good shoulder. “I could stay like this forever. I wish the whole world would just take a long hike off a short pier.”
“Me, too.” Turning in his arms, she propped her chin on his chest and touched his bandage gently. “Are you hurting?”
“Some.” She gave him a droll stare of clear disbelief. “Okay, it burns like the devil. Gimme more of those Dr. Feelgood moves you’ve got going and I’ll be well in nothing flat.”
Cori giggled. “I’ve graduated from Nurse Ratched to Dr. Feelgood. I must be doing something right.”
“Baby, if you did it any better, you’d short-circuit my heart and have to perform CPR on me.”
“Anything for my favorite patient.”
He laughed. “Kill me to cure me. Sounds kinky.”
“A fetish a day keeps the doctor away.”
“Oh, God,” he groaned, rolling his eyes as she snickered.
Cori snuggled into his side again and he sighed in contentment, unwilling to allow the threats coming at them from all sides to spoil this moment.
Tomorrow, he’d begin figuring out how to fight for what was his—and win.
Zack wiped the sweat off his brow, checking out his repair job on the porch slats. He’d been in the shop all morning cutting new ones to match the old, and by the afternoon they were as good as new. Christ, he’d missed the texture of the boards in his hands, the shrill buzz of his saw, and though fixing the unwanted destruction wasn’t the way he’d wanted to sharpen his skills, he was proud of his work. Cori, on the other hand, would probably fuss at him for overexerting himself—right before she kissed his hurts and made them vanish.
That bright prospect inspired an off-key rendition of Mötley Crüe’s “Dr. Feelgood,” a wheezy tribute at best to Cori’s divine talents, as he gathered his tools. Halfway into the second chorus, his impromptu concert was interrupted by the whine of approaching engines. Glancing up from his place on the porch, he saw Six-Pack’s massive black Ford F-250 making its way up the winding driveway.
And behind the truck, Zack’s silver Mustang. His perfectly unblemished classic wet dream, not a dent in sight.
“What . . . ?”
Tools forgotten, Zack bounded off the porch and waited, shifting from one foot to the other as the vehicles circled and came to a stop in front of the house. Six-Pack and Kat got out of the truck, the lieutenant’s expression partially concealed by a pair of dark wraparound shades.
“Hey, man,” Six-Pack called. “What in the hell are you doing up and about? Shouldn’t you be resting?”
“Nah, I got a good night’s sleep. It’s just a flesh wound anyway.” Closing the distance between them with quick strides, he waved a hand at the Mustang as Eve opened the driver’s door and got out. “I can’t believe it! Did you guys do this? How—when—”
The lieutenant laughed and clamped Zack’s good shoulder. “You didn’t even notice the key to your car was missing off your ring, did you? Ernest Tuttle does a fine job with paint and bodywork, doesn’t he? Kat and I took it to his shop the day af
ter the bridge accident, and Ernest put a rush on the job.”
“But I was supposed to get two estimates for my insurance,” he said in confusion. “Did you already deal with them?”
“Didn’t have to. Ernest repaired it for free.”
Zack gaped at him. “Why?”
“Remember when his and Donnie Wayne’s elderly mother had the heart attack last year and I revived her? They said if there was ever anything they could do for us . . .” Six-Pack shrugged. “Ernest was only too happy to help out when he heard what happened to you.”
“I—I don’t know what to say, except thank you,” he said quietly. “I’m a rich SOB to have friends like you guys.”
Kat sniffed and Eve cleared her throat, glancing away. Six-Pack’s voice was gruff. “Don’t start that shit, my friend. I’m gonna be drowning in estrogen all the way home, you feel me? Oh, by the way—here.”
Six-Pack reached into the pocket of his jacket and produced a small item. “I went by the impound lot yesterday and found these in Cori’s Explorer. Had them fixed at the eye place inside Wal-Mart.”
Zack took his wire-rimmed glasses from the lieutenant, shaking his head. “Thanks, man. You did too much, you know that?”
“Figured you hadn’t been able to deal with the details yet, so it was the least I could do. I cleaned out the Explorer and brought a sack of Cori’s personal stuff—what didn’t get washed into the river, anyway. A few CDs, the garage-door opener that was clipped to her sun visor, and some waterlogged papers from the glove compartment. Wasn’t much left.”
“She’ll appreciate this, Six-Pack. So do I.” Zack caught the subtle thinning of Eve’s lips, her hostile body language at the mention of Cori’s name. His best friend’s obvious dislike of the woman he’d fallen for bothered him a great deal.
“Good. You can show your gratitude by getting your ass back to work. It’s not the same around the station without you. Got any idea when you’ll be released to come back?”
