An Eye for an Eye: Zach and Katie's Story (Redwood Falls)

by Chance, Lynda

  Her eyes closed against the intense scrutiny of his. He watched the change take place in her body, panic slowly ebbing, as a bloom of pink highlighted her cheekbones. She was beautiful. And she was his. She might not be aware of it yet, but she was his.

  “I don’t want you to be scared of me,” his voice soothed. “I’m not going to take anything from you that you don’t want to give.” The words were dark, raspy.

  He watched her as she hung in still suspension over him. She was listening, but not moving. Absorbing his meaning, and probably wondering whether she could trust what he said. He needed her trust. Because he was going to explode if she didn’t move soon.

  He lowered his finger to the satiny softness of her nipple and felt her gasp. He abraded his finger back and forth as she delicately bit her lip and concentrated on his touch.

  He needed her to take him inside her body. God, he needed it now.

  She wasn’t making a move in that direction. She wasn’t propelling them forward. She seemed caught in an internal conflict of not knowing whether to stay and make love, or jump up and run from him.

  He slowly lowered both hands to her hips, careful not to make any sudden moves that would have her running. He felt the infinitesimal tensing of her body, and he began soothing her with small strokes of his hands. Up and down, over the hollow of her narrow waist, back down to the flare of her hips, he took swipes with his hands. He felt the difference come over her, knew when arousal outpaced her distress.

  “Katie, open your eyes,” he whispered.

  When she did, his gaze tangled with hers and his hands simultaneously tightened on her hips, lifting her away from him enough to lodge the broad head of his erection at her wet opening.

  She sucked in a breath and her eyes flared wide.

  His eyes studied hers as he kept her balanced at the precipice. “Say yes, sweetheart. I need to hear you say yes.”

  She sucked in her breath and licked her lips. She closed her eyes and then opened them again. Her green eyes were stormy as she whispered, “Yes.”

  He silently thanked whatever deity was in charge of his sanity and slowly began pushing against her. She made a small sound between a moan and a sob.

  “Shh, shh, it’s okay. Let me get it in.” He adjusted his hold on her and with a combination of gravity and gentle pushing, he seated himself in her all the way.

  He closed his eyes in relief and felt her trembling against him, trying to adjust to his intrusion.

  As the feeling of relief kept beating through his blood, it hit him that the reason he needed to be inside her wasn’t for the sex itself. It was for the connection he wanted with her. The connection she wanted too. He needed to be in her for the intimacy he was becoming addicted to.

  Katie’s eyes closed and she leaned down and put her lips to his forehead, her entire attention centered on the throbbing fullness impaling her. She hung on a precipice, waiting for pain or fear, but it never came. He’d gently but relentlessly pushed in, inch by slow inch, and now she was completely stretched and impaled. Her hands shook where she gripped his shoulders and her thighs trembled. He was completely inside of her now, his face buried against her skin, his breathing ragged against her ear.

  Zach felt the incredibly tight clasp of her silky body surround him and relief, hot and strong, bled through his system. Along with the relief was a burning, overwhelming sexual need for Katie. He had just enough snap left to know he was about to lose all control and ruthlessly pulled himself into check as he took sustaining oxygen into his lungs to calm the tight knot of ragged need. Slowly, as he focused on her anxiety instead of his lust, he reined in a modicum of much needed control.

  Her slender white hands were supported by his chest, and the feel of her clasping him, soft and wet around him, was causing a fever in his blood. He was hit by sharp feelings of possession, protection, and an arrow of tenderness unlike anything he’d ever felt for anyone else.

  All he wanted to do was take care of her and make her feel as safe as he could. “Baby, I’ll never hurt you.”

  Katie heard the raspy words at the same time as Zach lifted her by the hips and encouraged her to take a stroke on him. Butterflies hit her tummy from the twin sensations of his softly spoken promise and the lightning stroke of his shaft.

  A tiny moan escaped her throat as he continued the steady slide of her body on his, while seducing her with words. “Nobody’ll ever hurt you again.” He gently pumped her up and down. His words came out more forceful in time with his thrusts. “You can trust me. I need you to trust me, Katie.”

  Arousal flared through her and she lifted herself with a stabilizing hand on his chest as she took over the movements. It felt so good. This was so good. He was so good.

  She slid up and down, taking long strokes that milked her muscles against him. Her eyes opened and she found his intense brown gaze on her. She took another stroke and saw what she was doing to him reflected in his eyes. He liked this. He liked it a lot. It was a heady sensation, knowing how she could make him feel.

  Currents of pleasure slid through her and she wanted the closeness of his kiss. She leaned down, moved her hands to his head, pressed her torso against his and put her mouth to his. His breath hissed out, and their tongues entwined, swirling together in consuming need.

  Her body was on fire, but she didn’t have enough leverage to take long strokes in this position. Her body continued to move against his, but more slowly and with shortened strokes. His arms wrapped all the way around her, his tongue and mouth devouring her.

  He slid his hands to her thighs and began swirling them over her skin, as if trying to calm her. He caressed up her spine and back down again, and it soothed her as well as aroused her.

  Katie leaned into him, the fullness of him throbbing between her thighs, his hands gentle on her. She made a small adjustment on him, getting more comfortable, and taking a small, tiny stroke at the same time.

  His hands clenched tightly on her hips. “Oh, Christ, yeah. You still okay?” The words were hissed from his throat.

  Zach felt a small, affirmative nod as she moved on him again. His brain began to shut down again and his body took over. He moved her face to his, and captured her lips. His mouth opened on hers, and the kiss they shared was carnal, wet, their bodies intimately connected as he took from her mouth, giving her a hint of how it was going to be between them.

  He slid his hands to her breasts and he began to manipulate her nipples, rubbing them between his fingers and thumbs, and when he did, she was flooded with heat, liquid sensation that eased his way.

  She broke her mouth from his and moaned as a deep-seated pleasure engulfed her. God, it felt so good. She slid up on him, and tightened her grip on his shoulders before coming back down again. He was hard and thick and Katie felt the fullness all the way to her soul.

  Zach let her take control of their thrusts, but pulled her face back to his and demanded her mouth again. He pushed his tongue into the dark, wet, nirvana of her mouth and stroked her in time to the rhythm she set with her hips.

  He held her hips and pushed against her while she rode him. Up and down, while they kissed, their tongues entwining, nothing between them. Nothing between them.

  “Zach,” her voice was a vibration that ran through her body and into his. Her eyes opened and she saw him watching her. It didn’t stop her from sliding up, and then down again. It felt so good.

  “Yeah, baby, I’m here.” He gritted his teeth and tried to endure long enough for her to come.

  “I love you, thank you for this.”

  “Oh, sweetheart. I love you, too. It’s good, isn’t it?”

  “Mmm.” Katie’s mind shut down and she let the physical feelings take over. She’d never expected this first time to feel good, she’d only expected to endure.

  Zach held her so tightly, the sweat from their bodies mingling with the hot steamy air, her body sliding against his, over him, surrounding him as he filled her completely. He held her with a tight, rut
hless possession that in her sane mind might have alarmed her. But it didn’t. This was Zach, and she could always trust him to keep her safe. He’d always kept her safe.

  He pushed her to a sitting position, and his mouth landed on a nipple, his tongue roughly abrading it as his hand played with its twin. She let the pleasure take over her body; she was aroused almost to the tipping point and in the tiny part of her brain that was still functioning, gratified that she had overcome her fear.

  As he played with her breasts, her arousal grew to fever pitch. She lifted herself off him in long strokes, her internal muscles clamping on him during the exquisitely satisfying slide back down.

  She slid up and down as great waves of pleasure consumed her. It came to a crescendo, and her body clenched tightly as she came in a climax that sent her soaring in the stratosphere.

  As soon as she did, Zach grabbed her by the hips and started jerking her body up and down on his shaft. Katie’s mind was slowly clearing from the mush that clouded her brain from her orgasm.

  He was coming inside of her, groaning with the force of his release, and holding her down on top of him as he pushed all the way up until he was touching her womb.

  Katie wrapped her arms around his head and held him to her as his fingers continued to bite into the flesh of her hips. Her mind was still fuzzy from her climax, the air around them scented with smells of sex. A raw, earthy quality engulfed the atmosphere. She felt his breathing slow, and his arms wrapped around her completely, squeezing her in a blatant display of possession.

  Her thoughts splintered in different directions as he pulled her face up, and demanded her attention. When her eyes opened and focused on him, he was staring steadily back at her. “You’re mine.” The words were deep and slow and held absolute demand. He was claiming her completely, letting her know exactly what he wanted.

  She smiled in absolute agreement. “Okay.”

  A look of satisfaction crossed the harsh planes of his face. “So that was good, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” she agreed with a whisper of a smile, in a long, drawn out syllable.

  “So I don’t want to put any pressure on you or anything, but do you think it’ll be something you want to keep doing with me?”

  Her whisper of a smile turned into a fully fledged grin. “Yeah.”

  “So, then, will you marry me?”

  Pleasure, hot and fierce exploded within Katie. “Okay,” she answered simply, trying to be at least a little cool and not start screaming in joy at the top of her lungs.

  Zach’s arms tightened around her. “Thank God for that.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  ****

  Some time toward dawn, Zach woke up as Katie slid on top of him and softly began kissing his neck. He was completely hard within seconds and she lifted herself over him and began to bear down slowly. Her torso came down over his and she put her lips on his and his world had never felt more perfect. His brain was still fuzzy from sleep and all he registered was the heaven of her mouth on his and the need to pump into her more deeply. His brain closed down completely and he forgot the need to be careful. He flipped her onto her back easily, never releasing her mouth from his. He took three ramming strokes, and the need for oxygen forced him to break his mouth from hers. With an arrow of panic sliding down his spine, he realized what he’d just done. He opened his eyes, and saw that hers were closed, her fear seemingly gone as soft little mewling noises came from her throat.

  He closed his eyes in pure relief.

  He took a moment to adjust his position on her, lifting her legs and wrapping them around his waist, and then he fell back on her with starving need. He pulled her tightly into his embrace, and she was with him all the way. Urgency took over their motions. He wrapped his hands around her face, kissing her with a need that stoked the fire higher between them.

  Katie pushed against the heaven of Zach’s strokes, her legs holding him, her body milking him until the tingles began in small waves and then took over her body in great vibrations moving from her breasts and radiating to the juncture of her thighs. She trembled against him, held on a precipice and then diving off, falling in a wave of ecstasy so intense she screamed against him, her mouth pulling away from his as she floated in euphoria.

  Zach felt it when she came, and he immediately followed her over, wrapping his hands under her butt and pounding into her, his lungs screaming for air, his eyes closing as his seed erupted into her, filling her. Spasms jerked his body, and he fell against her in a pleasure more intense than any he had ever felt before.

  They clung together, heart rates coming down, breathing evening out. He gently disengaged from her, and rolled to his back, bringing her with him. His arms were wrapped around her, and he began playing with the silk of her hair that fascinated him so much.

  “Do you remember what you asked me last night?” Her voice was soft, and Zach’s eyes snapped open in a moment of alarm. She couldn’t take back her answer. She’d agreed to marry him and by damned, she would.

  “Yes,” he answered, not sure where she was going with this.

  “So you still want to do it then?” she asked.

  “Get married?” he qualified.

  “Yeah.”

  “Yes, Katie. We’re still getting married.”

  “So how many kids do you want?” As she asked the question, Zach could hear the smile in her voice.

  Kids. Babies. He felt a sliver of remembered pain and then kissed the top of Katie’s hair and let it slide away. “Two or three. How about you?”

  “That sounds good,” she answered.

  “So, you feel all okay to start on that project, then? I mean, everything okay with you? I mean, with us?”

  Katie rolled over and put her hands on his chest and looked him steadily in the eye. “Hm-mm. It’s all good.”

  Zach smiled and reached down and kissed her on the lips. “Go back to sleep, baby.”

  And she did.

  Epilogue

  Zach stared down into eyes so green they almost took his breath away. The eyelashes around them were dark brown and long, so long and thick they enhanced the brilliance of the bright green orbs that stared back at him. The little mouth that wrapped around the nipple was full and pink as his daughter continued to suckle the milk from the bottle. She stared into his eyes as if he were the only thing that existed in her universe, and her tiny fist wrapped around his pinky clenched in time with the motion of her mouth.

  His heart clenched as well.

  The room was quiet, almost too quiet, and as he held his baby daughter, Zach glanced across the room to check on his three-year-old son who’d been playing with blocks. To Zach’s amusement, Joshua was sound asleep on the carpeted floor, the morning of hard play obviously having worn him out.

  A deeply profound feeling of peace settled in the area of Zach’s heart as he looked between the two children who’d completed his world. He’d never thought he could love anyone as much as he loved their mother, and granted, this love was different, but it was just as strong and all-consuming. His life was perfect, and he thanked God for that.

  As the peace of the room soothed him, he glanced at the ornamental clock on the wall and it registered that Katie should have been home by now. He was only seconds away from getting worried, but then the front door opened and she let herself into the apartment.

  His eyes met hers from across the room and his glance raked over her, and he quickly assured himself that she was all right before lifting his gaze to hers again. “Hey,” he whispered.

  She glanced around the room and took in the sight of the three of them before smiling back. “Hey.” She dropped her purse on the sofa and moved closer to him.

  Leaning down, she dropped a lingering kiss on his mouth that had Zach’s guts clenching in reaction. She’d been gone for too many hours, and as this was the first time the doctor had allowed her to drive since giving birth, Zach had been more worried than usual. “Everything go okay?”

/>   She nodded her head as her fingers touched the soft curls adorning their daughter’s hair. The baby had already fallen asleep and Zach pulled the nipple from her mouth and set the bottle aside. “The new center is amazing, Zach. Thank you so much for building it.”

  “Well, as you said, one wasn’t enough for a city of this size. Too many women were having to wait for services.”

  “I was wondering … “

  Zach’s eyes narrowed when Katie’s words stopped. “What?”

  “We still haven’t found anyone to manage this one. And you know how close this subject is to my heart. I was thinking that I could be that person.”

  Zach understood now why Katie’s tone seemed hesitant. She’d stayed home after Joshua had been born, and it had pleased him immensely for her to be in the house all the time. But giving up teaching hadn’t been easy for Katie, and Zach knew she had a nourishing soul that needed an additional outlet besides the children. “It’s your center, Katie. I built it because you wanted it built. If you want to run it, that’s fine with me. But full-time might be a bit much for you when the kids are still so small, don’t you think?”

  “Definitely. I don’t want to leave them that many hours out of the day. I was thinking maybe twenty hours a week or so, just until I have someone competent and patient enough to handle everything, and then I can come and go as needed.” As she said the words, the baby gurgled and Katie bent and picked her up and held her to her shoulder, kissing the tiny cheek that was so close to her mouth. She swayed back and forth, rocking the child as a blissful look crossed her features.

  Zach’s heart constricted again as a surge of love pumped heavily through his veins. “That sounds good; whatever makes you happy, baby.”

  “You make me happy,” she said as she smiled into his eyes.

  Zach let out a quiet laugh. “That’s good to know, because you’re stuck with me.”

  Katie rolled her eyes and gave him a teasing glance. “Don’t forget, we’re going home tomorrow.”

  “How do you think I could forget that?” Zach asked and watched Katie as she shrugged.