She wriggled luxuriously closer, stroking her hand slowly over his big chest. “Look at that,” she murmured. “Completely over the top.”
His eyebrows went up. “Meaning?”
“You. It’s ridiculous. All those muscles and dimples and bad boy ink and that incredible ass. Off the chain m-a-n. It’s almost unfair.”
“So long as you like it.” He seemed embarrassed to be so openly admired, and swiftly changed the subject. “Hey, are you hungry? Say yes, because I am.”
“Yes,” she said. “For real.”
His eyes lit up. “I have a box of chocolate truffles downstairs that I was going to get out for dessert, but then we got distracted. And really good cognac. Can I tempt you?”
“Hell yes. Lay it on me.”
Watching him search through his closet for a bathrobe for her was the perfect opportunity to admire his wide shoulders and taut, gorgeous ass, covered up all too soon by the loose black sweatpants he pulled on.
She practically swam in the cashmere robe he offered her, but it was wonderfully soft and warm. She followed him down the stairs with the robe trailing behind her on the steps like a train. On the verge of laughing, but not at anything in particular. Just from feeling so incredibly good.
He rummaged on the pantry shelf and turned around triumphantly displaying a black, gold-embossed box. “Handmade dark Belgian chocolates,” he said. “A gift from a grateful client. So’s the cognac. I’ll get a couple of glasses.”
She drifted into the living room and sat down on one of the big couches that were grouped around a low table on a beautiful Persian rug. The luxurious center of what was a very welcoming room, despite its enormous size.
Zade pulled a bottle from a long cabinet at the far end of the room and came toward her, loaded up with his bounty. She lunged for the chocolates as soon as he was in range. “Gimme that.” She broke the seal and set the lid aside, rapturously inhaling the intoxicating, darkly sweet aroma that was released. “Oh God, yes.”
He poured cognac into the two snifters and passed her one, sitting down next to her on the couch. “Have at.”
“I will. Chocolate truffles are my idea of earthly paradise.” She savored a mellow sip of the cognac as she pulled off the sheet of thin embossed foil to reveal the array of chocolates. “Oh, yes. Those look obscenely good.”
“All different flavors.” He picked up the lid and looked inside it. “Check out the handy diagram if you want to know what you’re getting into.”
“I don’t. Tonight’s all about taking chances.” She picked one out at random, and smiled at him. “Here goes.”
“Brave,” he murmured.
She took a bite and moaned under her breath. “Rum. Yes.”
He selected one, observed it from all sides, and put it in his mouth. “Orange,” he told her after a moment. “Nice.”
She sipped more cognac to keep from giggling as he slid his hand inside the place where the cashmere robe parted over her thighs.
“I was just thinking of all the places we could go on your first real free day,” he mused. “I have to show you a good time. Make it count.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. This is already more fun than I ever had with … than I ever had before.” She picked out another truffle and bit into it. “Whoa, this one burns. Mmm, chili chocolate. Hot and sweet. Like you.”
“Uh-huh.” He studied her over the rim of his cognac snifter. “More fun than you ever had with who?”
She popped the rest of the fiery truffle into her mouth to buy a little time, but couldn’t think of a plausible lie. Not one he’d buy, anyhow.
She let out a short sigh. “My fiancés,” she admitted. “Ex-fiancés.”
His eyes widened. “Fiancés, plural? Two? Or are there more?”
“Just two.”
“That’s more than enough.” He seemed taken aback by that revelation. She couldn’t really blame him.
“Both of them ended up with other women. It’s embarrassing. But if you really want to know … ”
He nodded. “I do. Keep going,” he said, taking another sip of cognac.
She dug her toes into the Persian rug. Thick and soft. “Where should I start?”
“The first fiancé.”
Simone took a deep breath and began. “That would be Jordan. I’ve known him forever, he’s smart and capable, and we were in the same field, more or less. We looked good together. Met everyone’s expectations. It’s nice when everyone smiles and applauds what you’re doing.”
Zade grunted. “Wouldn’t know. Never experienced it. So what happened?”
“One thing led to another. We were on the verge of ordering engraved invitations.”
“To what?”
“Our fancy-pants engagement party, for starters. When you announce your eternal love and provide wedding registry info so you don’t get fondue sets.”
“Very romantic,” he commented.
“Yeah. Not. Anyway, one day we had this … I can’t even call it a fight because it was so polite. No raised voices. He wanted me to be more spontaneous sexually. I had no idea what that meant at the time. He said he could predict everything I would do or say in bed.”
“Please tell me that you surprised the hell out of him with your pepper spray.”
She laughed. “I wish. Anyhow, I figured that I owed it to him to make an effort, so I came back early from a business trip and went to his apartment one night. I had a key, you see. Put on my sexiest lingerie. A slinky dress.”
He whistled soundlessly. “I think I know where this is headed.”
“You bet. Straight off a cliff,” she said. “He was getting a blowjob when I walked into his bedroom. Just about to come, too, judging from the sound effects. I ruined that orgasm for him. And I’m not sorry. You should have seen his face.”
“Babe. That is cold.”
She made a face at him. “Jordan seemed to think that an extracurricular blowjob shouldn’t affect our relationship at all.”
“Asshole.”
“A five-star, world-class asshole. Seeing your fiancé’s dick in another woman’s mouth is what I would call a point of no return
“I hear you,” Zade said. “So, moving right along to … ”
“Noah. My second fiancé. He’s very different,” she said slowly. “I decided to choose someone using logic. To deliberately pick out the perfect man for me based on objective criteria. Someone I could respect. Someone extremely smart. That was high on my list.”
“Oh yeah?” Zade set down his cognac snifter, eyes sharpening. “How do I measure up on the smarts-o-meter?”
“I don’t have enough data on you yet,” she said demurely.
His eyes narrowed. “Are you fucking with me?”
“Ferociously.” She smirked at him.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Okay, back to Noah. He’s also … well, this actually wasn’t on my list, but just as a bonus, he also happens to be extremely good-looking.”
Zade rolled his eyes. “Is that so.”
“Not as hot as you, though,” she added.
“You’re fucking with me again. You’re not sure if I’m smart enough to make the cut, but I get points for being hot? I feel used. And hurt. No more oral sex for you.”
“Where were we?” she asked when her giggles subsided.
“I think you were about to discover the limits of logic.”
She raised her glass to him. “Good guess. Yes. It was a spectacular fail.”
He waited for a moment before he asked the question. “So what happened?”
“He saw this other woman and he couldn’t look away,” she said simply. “At a company birthday party for himself, the CEO. She was a hired belly dancer. Wriggling away. I was sitting right next to him and he forgot that I even existed.”
“Yeah? Sounds to me like you dodged a bullet.”
She shrugged. “It worked out. He married the wriggler, who turned out to be his true love, and headed off on
a blissful honeymoon to the ends of the earth, last I heard. I wish him the best. And I’m so grateful that we never …”
She stopped herself abruptly. Damn. Babbling again.
“What?” he asked.
She shrugged and popped in a chocolate. “Hazelnut. Mmm.”
“You never what?”
“You just don’t ever give up, do you? I’m just grateful that it ended when it did, that’s all. Before we moved in together or anything like that.”
“Say what you were going to say before you stopped yourself.”
She rolled her eyes. “We never did the deed. Okay? Happy now?”
“Never did what?” His jaw dropped. “Wait. You never had sex?”
She waited, eyebrows up while he stared at her, astonished.
“You were engaged for how long?” he demanded.
“Just a few weeks,” she said defensively. “We’d decided to wait. Some people do. It’s not that unusual. But I’m glad we did. At least I didn’t have to feel inadequate sexually on top of everything else. I got enough of that with Jordan.”
He looked utterly baffled. “I just don’t understand.”
“What?”
“How he kept his hands off you.”
She took several sips of cognac and felt her face heat. Not from the drink. “Well. Um. Many men have succeeded in controlling their lustful urges toward me. I start running off at the mouth and I end up scaring them away. I’m just too weird.”
“Me too. We fit. Really, really well.”
That stopped her breath for a moment. But hold on. He meant in the physical sense. No argument there. And anyway, why spoil this buzz? Flirting was fun. And post-coital flirting was really fun. She was enjoying herself. A lot.
Nothing wrong with that. She tossed back the last of her cognac, and he did the same.
She rose up onto her knees and swung her leg over his thighs, watching his eyes widen as she straddled him on the couch cushions.
“Uh … hi.” He grinned at her like a wolf. Big, bad, and hungry.
“Hi back.” She bent down to nip at his earlobe, hard enough to make him wince. Then kissed his neck as his big hands slid under the cashmere, pushing it open. His hands slid around her hips to her rear, cupping her bare bottom.
Pulling her tight against him, right on top of that hard, hot bulge.
She kissed him. He tasted like dark chocolate. Expensive liquor. Better than dessert. Infinitely better.
He was just delicious.
Chapter 11
Zade stared at Simone as she slept, winding a lock of her hair around his finger. Wild, tangled waves spread out across the pillow, glinting like pale metal in the dim light. Listening to her heart soothed him slightly. Steady and sweet.
They’d finally made it back up to the bedroom about an hour ago, after the totally decadent chocolate and cognac fueled sex on the couch downstairs. Simone had fallen into an exhausted doze, but he couldn’t even think of sleeping. Not even sentinel sleep.
He needed both brain hemispheres blazing to walk this tightrope.
Dawn wasn’t far off, and it gave him a sick ache of foreboding. The magic of this night would soon be over. She might feel differently about him when her eyes opened.He was braced for that. This might be their only night.
Her heart sped up and his ASP snapped into play, measuring, recording, processing everything. Rapid eye movement, quickened breathing, cortisol levels rising. She was having a nightmare.
He wondered if her nightmares were anything like his own. She moaned softly.
He put his hand on her shoulder, and her eyes opened.
A moment of startled disorientation, and she gave him a sweet, relieved smile that sent him blasting up into space.
She lifted her arms for a stretch, her tits poking flirtatiously out from the coverlet. “Good morning. Or is it morning yet?”
“It’s thinking about being morning,” he said. “It’s not quite convinced yet.”
She rolled up onto her elbow, looked at the window and then at the clock. “I guess I should be getting home.”
“Why?” Zade asked. “Why leave at all?”
Her eyes went wide and wary. “That question seems a little premature.”
“Not really. Have you got a cat to feed?”
Her lips twitched. “No, but—”
“Plants to water?”
“No. I don’t do plants.”
“Then why leave? Your stepdad’s thugs are still out there trolling for you.”
“Probably.”
“So stay where you are. Let them sweat. You’ve been working from home, right? Work from here, if you have to work at all.”
“But I can’t simply move in with you. We just met.”
“Call it a visit, if it makes you feel better. I’ll be a great host. Sex whenever. You like movies? I have an amazing home theater. Hungry? I have a big fridge stocked with excellent food. You can shop online, on me. Or we could take off on an adventure. Mountains, deserts, oceans. Anything you want. I’d love that. I would fucking love that.”
She looked down at her lap, plucking at the coverlet. “Well,” she said slowly, “I would love that, too. But there’s something I need to do today. And it can’t wait.”
“Let me give you a ride to whatever it is,” he suggested. “Stay out of sight. Once they nail you down, it’ll be twice as hard to shake them off again.”
“It’s a doctor’s appointment,” she said.
In the silence that followed her statement, he felt it. They sat there staring at each other, and he suddenly felt all of the cold, dead weight of fear she’d managed to hide so far.
“A doctor’s appointment,” he repeated slowly.
“Routine, in case you’re wondering. But necessary.”
“I don’t believe that,” he said.
She looked away from him, shaking her head. He just waited her out.
Finally, she tossed her hair back. “Goddamnit, Zade.” Her low voice was furious. “Not fair.”
“Nope,” he said. “Sure isn’t. But we’re making progress. So tell me.”
She blew out a shaky breath. “So we’re popping this lovely bubble right now? And I was having such a nice time.”
“Good to know. Now talk.”
She was quiet for almost a minute. “I told you about my mom last night,” she said finally. “How she died when I was young.”
“Yes, I remember. A neurological thing.”
“It’s called Frey-Moller. Extremely rare. For her, it started with headaches that got progressively worse, then ringing in her ears. Depression, mood swings, irrational behavior, personality changes, and dementia. Then she died.”
She avoided his eyes. He got it. Pity was a bitch. But he had to find out more.
“Are you starting to have her symptoms?” he asked.
“Some of them. Remember when we were in the bar? That’s happened to me before. Head pain, and this incredible noise. I can’t see, can’t hear. Sometimes I pass out.”
“So you got tested?”
“Yes. I’m going to talk to the doctor today. About my gene map. Dr. Fayette called me yesterday but he refused to tell me anything on the phone. He said he had to see me in person.” She twisted the top sheet into a ball.
He reached out and unwound her fingers, squeezing both her hands. “You’re scared. I can see it.”
He had to say something. He doubted that she had this disease, but there was no way he could clue her into her real problems. Which were just as terrifying.
He wondered about her gene map. It could be a springboard for telling her about her mods. Otherwise she was going to think he was batshit crazy.
“Anyhow,” she said. “That’s what today is about for me. Not an adventure or anything fun and fabulous like that.”
“I’m going with you to the appointment,” he said.
She shook her head. “Don’t. It wouldn’t help. But thanks anyway.”
“You don’t have to be
alone. You shouldn’t be, in fact.”
“I don’t want to get bad news in front of you. Or melt down like I did.”
“Didn’t I help you through it?” he asked.
“That’s not the point,” she said. “And you’re making this really hard.”
He scooted closer to her and stroked her back. “You have nothing to lose by letting me keep you company.”
“It’s not your call, Zade,” she said tightly.
He paused for a moment. “Is there someone else you’d rather go with? Then I’ll step back.”
She shook her head. “No again. I’m fine alone. Really.”
Zade didn’t give up. “If you’re sitting in a waiting room, the only place I want to be is next to you.”
His phone rang from where he’d left it on the dresser. His heart sank at the distinctive ringtone.
Asa Stone.
Suck-ass timing. Asa was the long-lost and just recently rediscovered brother of Noah and Hannah, his fellow Midlands rebels.
“Do you need to pick that up?” Simone asked. “I bet you do. Go ahead. Who is it?”
Somehow she’d guessed that he knew the ringtone. “Nobody.”
“Like hell. At this hour of the morning?”
He grinned at her. “If you really want to know, it’s a dark web data pirate. Hugely rich. With an underground lair and a global network of shadowy agents at his beck and call.”
Simone smiled faintly. “Quite a story.”
“You think I’m lying?”
She laughed. “Zade. Right now, I don’t care if you are. But you certainly do not have to try and impress me.” She rolled over with her back to him.
Message received. She had more serious shit to worry about.
He stretched out beside her in silence, thinking about Asa. He was a complicated guy who had to be managed very carefully. Dangerous to ignore.
The ringtone faded away.
Simone lay perfectly still. Instinct told him to wait a few moments before he tried curling up around her body again.
Asa had saved their asses when Mark Olund went after Noah’s new lover Caro Bishop. They never would’ve taken that psycho bastard down without Asa and his team—who’d also disposed of Mark’s corpse, and the dead supersoldiers that Mark had stolen from Obsidian.
My Next Breath Page 9
