Zander's Firecracker

by Ember Flint

  Alexa flushes an even deeper pink when my finger touches the peachy-soft skin of her cheek.

  “There’s a spot on the lens,” I mumble, my eyes fixed on hers as I clean her glasses against my polo, just over my heart. “It was driving me, insane.”

  She gives me such a brilliant smile and then giggles. “Your freak is showing, Mr. Bossy-Pants.”

  I feel something ignite inside of me, something beyond lust, passion or whatever I was feeling before, something sweet.

  I push her clean glasses back on the ridge of her nose and before I know what I’m doing, I’m smiling down at her as big as I can. I’m not used to smiling, it hurts my face a little, but it doesn’t feel wrong or awkward or forced, it feels perfect.

  I pull her in the circle of my arms, when I feel her legs give out from her.

  Alexa gasps and one of her hands reaches up to touch my face, I can feel it shaking, her fingertips sifting through my beard. “Oh, fuck… I knew it.”

  I frown, my thumb caressing her lower lip. “What?”

  “That you were gonna kill me if you smiled,” she says, and I can no longer resist her.

  I bring her up into my body while lowering my face to hers and I don’t stop until our lips are fused together.

  I feel her tongue timidly touch mine and I growl into her mouth, my hands possessively molding over her curvaceous hips, my cock jerking and jumping between us as I desperately try to bring us closer.

  I didn’t know a kiss could feel like this.

  Everything else just falls away and there’s only Alexa in my arms, the world starting and stopping with her. I’m holding her tight, like I don’t know how to let go of her anymore and fireworks are going off under my skin.

  Chapter 4

  ALEXA

  July 1st

  I find myself staring off into space again and I shake my head trying to dispel the memory of Zander’s kisses.

  I see his grey eyes in my mind, they’re full of something I’m not ready to face, a desire so deep it scares me, especially because I know I can easily match it with my own for him.

  I sigh, bringing my eyes back on the screen of my laptop.

  Focus, I need to focus.

  All the twenty-four members of my crew of pyro techs have their marching orders, but I want to go over everything one more time, the party is only in three days and I need this display to be absolute perfection.

  Not because my reputation is at stake here, not for my firm, not for my brothers, not for that ten mils payout waiting for us, not anymore at least.

  This is all for him. I need this to be perfect for him, for what this means to him and to his loved ones.

  I shake my head and then drop my face into my hands.

  I think I’m in love with that obsessive, overbearing big bastard.

  After we kissed in the conference room, I chickened out and ran away like the little inexperienced ninny that I am.

  In my defense, that kiss didn’t simply rock my world, it shattered it, it crumbled it and then rebuilt it around my soul from scratch in a completely different way and I don’t know anything anymore.

  The only thing I know is that the things I feel for Zander are driving me insane.

  It’s clear whatever craziness I’ve caught he has it too.

  He’s being trying to get me alone for the last two days, but I’ve been giving him the run-around, making sure there’s always someone else in the room.

  Not that I don’t want for what happened to keep on happening, but because I need to understand this, to understand myself, first.

  I’ve never felt this way before.

  I mean, I’ve liked guys from afar, but this?

  What I’m feeling right now is so intense it terrifies me a little.

  My feelings are all over the map right now.

  If he were standing in front of me this very second, there’s no telling what I could do.

  I’m pretty sure I’d kiss him until we both couldn’t breathe if confronted with those smoldering eyes of his.

  Then again, he could open his mouth and be his judgmental, controlling self and I would end up climbing him to punch him in the throat instead.

  It’s better if I steer clear of him as much as possible at least for a little longer.

  My heart squeezes painfully at my thought, not exactly keen on being kept away from him.

  This is utterly insane.

  How can I be this attracted to him?

  We’re so different.

  He’s so…

  I see those damn bedroom eyes in my head.

  Hot.

  I see him caressing my face and cleaning my glasses over his shirt.

  Sweet.

  My heart goes ‘aww’ every time I think about that simple gesture.

  I shake my head and I see him again.

  Perching my glasses on my nose so carefully.

  I feel another ‘aww’ coming.

  No, come on! Don’t you dare go soft, girl. Just don’t.

  And let’s not even start to talk about how damn cute he is with his nieces and his nephews!

  I could not think of anything else for hours this morning.

  I couldn’t help myself.

  My mind wandered, the thoughts coming unbidden.

  He would make such an amazing daddy, he’s so attentive and playful with the little ones, so protective.

  Stupid, adorable jerk… damn him!

  Every time I think of him doing something sweet, my freaking ovaries explode in pink glitter all over the place.

  I so need to get a grip, pronto.

  I can’t shake the way he makes me feel.

  I sigh.

  I hear his gravelly voice in my head.

  Mine.

  He’s so freaking mine.

  But we never agree on anything and he’s so damn haughty all the time!

  Ugh.

  This is useless.

  I can’t work.

  I can’t make up my mind.

  And I keep giving him the slip, acting like the immature ‘kid’ he first believe me to be.

  Two days since we last kissed, two sleepless nights, and I still don’t know what the hell is going on inside me, let alone with him.

  Is this what love feels like?

  I see Zander in my mind’s eye again and I feel his kisses still fresh on my lips.

  He managed to corner me for a minute or two last night, out in the hall off the main dining room in the family wing, where everyone else was gathered

  –Hector was kind enough to invite me to spend time with them, he could have no idea how much consternation would cause me.

  Zander said he needed to talk with me about us.

  And what did I do?

  I told him there was no ‘us’ to talk about and then proceeded to kiss his lips off, until his brother interrupted us, asking us to get decent before his kids got there, they were all eager to play with their uncle.

  That’s when I became aware of what exactly we were doing and what could have happened if we had been left alone in that hall for a little longer, because that, was no simple kiss on the lips we were sharing: we were slipping into each other, getting lost into it.

  I not only was the one initiating things, I couldn’t find it in myself to stop.

  I wanted to get lost in Zander and never find my way back.

  I’ve been completely confused since we met, but everything was crystal clear in the two occasions I was in his arms.

  Then there were no doubts, no fears, no meaningful differences between us, there was just the fire between us and a deep sense of belonging.

  I wasn’t so scattered anymore, he… pulled me together with a simple touch of his lips.

  That close to him I was okay: I knew what I wanted, what I needed, my heart was in the pilot seat and I felt so alive, so sure of everything.

  But how can you feel so sure about something
when it’s so new and you have zero terms of comparison to guide you into understanding what’s going on?

  How can I need him so much?

  If we just met?

  I smell him before I see him, his scent of sandalwood surrounding me. My heart starts to race.

  “Alexa, can we talk, please?”

  I stand up, my chair screeching backward. “Not now, I—”

  “We’ll just talk, baby,” he assures me, and I almost want to laugh: he thinks I don’t trust him, when it’s myself I have no faith in.

  ‘Baby’ I don’t think someone has ever called me that before.

  It makes me feel like I want to melt into his arms and never let go.

  I look away.

  “I don’t think I can, Zander. I’m so confused, I don’t- ha! Hey!”

  Suddenly, I’m over his shoulder, one of his arms thrown over my ass as he carries me out of the conference room where my team and I have been working.

  “Put me down, you caveman! What do you think you’re doing!”

  I feel him shrug as he strides through the hall.

  “Baby, I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. This is happening so damn fast. It’s… I’ve never felt this way before, but we need to be alone and talk about this.”

  “You’re crazy!” I mumble.

  “Maybe, and you’re not helping me by running away every time I come near you. I haven’t slept a wink in two days thinking about you…”

  My heart almost stops at his words.

  “How can you say things like this to me? You can barely stand me unless we’re sucking faces! Do you think that’s a good base for a relationship? Do you think I’ll let you fuck me? Stomp over my heart and leave me behind!”

  I feel him swat my ass and I gasp indignantly.

  “Did you just spank me?”

  I can’t even!

  “Don’t say shit like that, baby. That’s not what this is about.”

  I blink and try to turn around to see his face.

  I can’t believe I’m having this conversation upside-down and looking at his ass —not that the view isn’t stunning, but still…

  “Zander?”

  “Yes, baby?”

  “Do you really mean it?”

  He sighs. “Yes, I do. But I’d much rather have this conversation face to face, if you don’t mind.”

  He puts me down in front of an elevator and punches in a code, one of his arms winds over my hips as he keeps me flush to his side, like he’s afraid I’m going to start running for real.

  The elevator’s doors swoosh open and he takes my hand and practically drags me inside.

  “Where are we going?” I ask.

  “My bedroom,” he states.

  I scoff, crossing my arms over my chest and taking a step away from him.

  He follows me until my back is against the gilded wood panel of the lift and then cages me in with his big body.

  “Don’t worry, you’re safe with me, Alexa,” he says earnestly, and then he reaches down to fix my crooked glasses on my nose before giving me a little kiss on the tip of it.

  I feel myself blush as my body immediately starts to respond to his proximity.

  Whatever this is, whatever he wants from me, one thing I can attest to, is that we do have off-the-charts chemistry —I should know! I spent my entire life studying it.

  The elevator stops and opens directly into a sprawling, modern-looking, tastefully decorated suite.

  Zander picks me up again, like I weight nothing and then plants me on a large, sectional sofa before he takes a seat on it as well.

  I look at him head-on, trying to quash my wish to drape myself all over him as best as I can.

  “You okay?” he asks, and I nod once slowly, my eyes falling into his, my control already starting to crack.

  “Y-yes.”

  His eyes drop on my lips and I bite them.

  He groans. “Don’t do that…”

  I laugh. “Don’t do what?”

  “You’re giving me kiss-me eyes.”

  I flush all over and slap his arm. “I am not!”

  “Yes, you are, baby, and it’s so damn distracting.”

  “Excuse you!” I start to stand up.

  He gently pulls me back down by the arm. “No, no, no! Just— don’t jump to conclusions, okay? I’m— I don’t mean I don’t wanna kiss you, babe. I’m dying to kiss you. I have thought of nothing else since I first tasted those sassy lips of yours, but every time we kiss, things get super intense and you pull away and then you run, and we don’t talk and end up stuck in square one again. So no kissing until I tell you everything I have to say.”

  God, he is so bossy!

  I hate it!

  I sigh to myself, who am I kidding: I love it, damn it!

  Years and years of telling myself I’d never fall for someone domineering, full of attitude and hyper-protective like my brothers and here I am under Zander Markos’ spell.

  “Alright, Mr. Bossy-Pants, let it rip.”

  He chuckles, shaking his head. “You, my little firecracker, say the most romantic things.”

  I shrug. “Wanna try and best me?”

  Zander gives me one of his little sexy side smirks.

  There’s something in his eyes, a mischievous glint.

  “Wanna bet?” he asks. “According to my brother, that’s the one way you can settle things with your woman.”

  I gulp. “Your… your woman?” I ask, stunned.

  He laughs. “I’m winning already!”

  I roll my eyes at him. “I can’t believe I’m actually saying this to you of all people, but Zander do be serious.”

  He sighs. “I am being serious, Alexa. I thought I had so many things to tell you, that it would take a while to explain, but really, there’s only one thing I need to tell you and the rest can wait.”

  “One thing? What thing?”

  “I’m in love with you.”

  My eyes widen. “What? You can’t mean—”

  “I do. I do mean it. I’m in love with you, Alexa.”

  “How… how can you be so sure this fast?”

  He tilts his head to the side and studies me in that intense way of his. “I see it in your eyes.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Look into mine and you will know.”

  I look down at my hands and shake my head.

  “This is crazy.”

  “I’m not saying it isn’t. Look at me, Alexa.”

  “No, I— you can’t really expect me to believe this. Do you? You double check everything in your life, you’ve proven time and time again since we started emailing each other how much of a control-freak you are and now when it comes to something this important, suddenly you don’t need time? You know everything already? You simply go with your guts?”

  He gives me a single, curt nod. “Yes.”

  “Yes? That’s all you’re gonna say?”

  “I love you, Alexa.”

  My heart just stops.

  “Oh, God…”

  “You know it’s true.”

  “Zander, we met three days ago and when we aren’t kissing, we’re fighting. How can you be so sure?”

  “I don’t know, baby. I just am. I mean, you’re right: I am all of those things you said. I have to think over the most mundane things until I’m dead sure they’re just right, but with you… I don’t even feel like I have to ask myself. I just… want you and it feels so right. You are mine.”

  His words, his feelings echo my thoughts so perfectly I can hardly believe it.

  “You really mean this? Don’t you?”

  He nods. “I do. I’ve been torturing myself for the last two days because you wouldn’t talk to me, but not even once I doubted my feelings.”

  “You just took it all in your stride?”

  Zander laughs. “Hell no! I was shocked at first, but after we kissed, everything just turned
so clear. I… I think I loved you, before I even met you, even if all we had done was email back and forth. There was something about you, the thought of you just wouldn’t leave me, like I knew what you were gonna be to me only I didn’t understand back then, and… when we did meet in that conference room, I just knew.”

  “Knew what?” I ask, my voice small.

  “That you are meant to be mine. The spark I was missing, that’s what you are to me. You were mine on sight.”

  Oh, God, he says the strangest, sweetest things to me and how come they actually make sense?

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “It’s easy: tell me I’m wrong.”

  “What?”

  “If you really think there’s nothing here, then tell me you don’t understand what I’m talking about. Tell me I’m wrong, baby.”

  “I… I… I can’t.”

  “Of course, you can’t. I am to you what you are to me. It’s this simple.”

  “You were ready to fire me, before you even met me, Zander!”

  He cups my face in his large, warm hands and strokes my cheeks with his thumbs. “I guess I owe my big brother forever now.”

  I laugh.

  “So you’re not gonna fire me, then? You sure?”

  He shrugs. “Jury’s still out on that, baby. I still could do it.”

  I gasp, laughing. “I don’t believe this!”

  He chuckles. “Well, what do you expect me to do? You don’t follow orders very easily and I do need the people working for me to do as I say. Nevertheless, either I fire you or I keep you on, your pretty little ass is still mine forever, don’t you fret about it.”

  “You are incredible!” I swat at his arm, giggling.

  “You too!”

  “That wasn’t a compliment!”

  “Mine was!”

  We both laugh.

  I shake my head. “I swear to God, if you were someone else I’d be clocking you but good by now.”

  “But I’m not, baby, so you’ll just have to deal.”

  He grins down at me.

  A full-on smile that turns me momentarily stupid.

  I trace his smiling lips with a trembling finger.

  “You shouldn’t do this to me, you know. This smile of yours could have me agreeing to anything, it isn’t fair.”

  “That’s good to know, baby. Aren’t you gonna tell me?”