Authors: Kate St. James
The affection in his voice wrapped ribbons of tenderness around her heart.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
“I think I suffer from motion sickness,” she blurted.
He laughed quietly against her cheek. “No duh.”
“I’ve never put two and two together before, but today reminded me of when my family went camping on Okanagan Lake one summer. Dad rented a speedboat to take us to this fancy lake resort where Mom wanted to have lunch. Boating on the calm water on the trip there didn’t bother me. But a storm hit on the way back, and the effect of those huge, rolling waves—I nearly lost my lunch. I managed to wait until we landed at the campground boat dock. Then, kablooey.”
Zach placed his glass on the concrete deck floor. “All over the boat dock? Poor baby.”
“It was humiliating.” She pasted on a smile. “If I suffer from motion sickness, how will I ever climb with you?”
“What does one thing have to do with the other?”
“Just thinking about looking down from halfway up a cliff scares me.”
He rubbed her arm. “Babe, I’m honored you want to try. When Climbing The Walls opens, I can teach you to climb there. It’ll feel safer in the gym than learning outdoors. But if you never feel ready to tackle the walls, I won’t force you to. Would you force me to learn to write legal briefs?”
“No.”
“Then why would I badger you to take up climbing when you’ve just said it scares you?”
So I can realize you’re a jerk and turf you before I get in too deep?
“There are a million experiences I’d love to share with you, babe. But only if and when you’re ready.” He moved her glass to the deck floor and kissed her forehead again.
Familiar longing stirred. “Zach.”
“Meorrrrww!”
Zach pulled away, and they laughed. Lump hulked beside the lounge, eyes yellow slits.
“I think I’m in his spot.” Tess smiled.
The cat jumped onto her lap. His rumbling purr vibrated against her pelvis.
“Cheeky boy,” she murmured.
“What can I say? The feline has taste.”
She closed her eyes. The warmth of the late-summer sun washed over her. Lump’s purring calmed her stomach while Zach rubbed her hand and caressed her temples. A deep sense of contentment filled her.
Zach
filled her—his energy, his strength, his generosity and caring.
Emotional intimacy was hers for this one precious moment. Soon, she’d pry open her eyes and fight this freefalling sensation with everything inside her.
Just not now.
Chapter Sixteen
Zach swung the sledgehammer at the old wall studs. On either side of him and several meters away, two renovation-crew workers toiled equally hard. Huge chunks of decimated drywall littered the concrete sub-floor. Once they maxed out the demolition with sledgehammers, they’d tackle the remnants of the interior wall with crowbars.
Grunting, Zach swung again. A huge section of skeleton wall wobbled.
“Let’s try it on three!” he shouted.
Matt and Mike lifted their sledgehammers.
“One, two, three!”
The men swung in unison and the skeleton wall swayed. It crashed to the sub-floor, spewing clouds of drywall dust that floated back down to cover them like fine white flour.
“Yeah! She’s finished!” Matt pumped a fist in the air.
Zach propped his sledgehammer against an exterior wall and wiped his face with the back of one hand. Perspiration soaked his T-shirt. “Great work, guys. At this rate, we’ll get to clean-up by tomorrow.” Then the designing and construction of the climbing walls would begin.
Mike grinned, his gaze shifting behind Zach. “Know any angels, boss?”
“Huh? Too much drywall dust in your eyes, Mike?”
The younger man laughed. “Nope. I swear an angel walked in.”
The clattering of the closing warehouse door echoed behind them. Zach whirled around. “Tess! Babe, what are you doing here?”
“Guess he knows the angel,” Matt joked.
And what an angel. As she headed toward them, her luminescent smile brightened the dusty warehouse. White denim shorts hugged her hips, and a sleeveless top the color of ripe apricots molded her breasts. She wore her long hair pulled into a ponytail, like the other day at the PNE.
Now, as then, pride surged through Zach that he was with her. She was like no other woman he’d ever known. Bold, beautiful, tender, vulnerable.
And his, for as long as she’d have him.
Nearing him, she lifted a brown paper bag and a large red thermos. “I brought lunch.” Her gaze darted to Matt and Mike. “I thought you’d be alone.” Her soft tone conveyed that she wished he had been.
“This is Matt and Mike from the renovation crew. I shanghaied them into helping me.”
“On Labor Day?” she asked, ever the observant lawyer.
“He’s paying us double time and a half,” Mike said.
“Good deal.” She shook both men’s hands without flinching at the sweat and dust caking their skins. “My dad’s name is Mike.”
“Is he a nice guy?” Mike asked.
“Yes.” Ambiguity sketched her features. She’d mentioned her mother’s unhappiness before. Was her father experiencing difficulties, too?
“All we Mikes are nice guys.” Mike looked at Zach. “Gonna tell us her name?”
“Sorry, guys. This is Tess, my girlf—”
“His sex fiend,” she interrupted, and he nearly swallowed his tongue.
Mike gulped. “Your—?”
“Don’t even think about repeating it, Aitcheson.”
“Lucky dog,” Matt drawled.
“Take lunch, crew. Tess and I need to talk.”
The guys trundled to the farthest corner of the warehouse, where they’d stashed their lunches. Tess, offering an innocent smile, stepped around the drywall mess. She set the bag and thermos on an old order-processing counter. Her back to him, she retrieved a washcloth from the bag and wiped the counter, humming a tune that inspired images of Walt Disney movies and mermaids in Zach’s mind. Methodically, she doled out three wrapped sandwiches, a big bag of ripple chips, paper napkins and two plastic glasses.
He poked her arm. “My sex fiend? That’s a new one.”
“You don’t like it? What should I call you?”
He shrugged. “Sex fiend, boyfriend, lover—”
sweetheart
“—whatever works for you.” He’d long ago abandoned the illusion that he was in charge of this relationship. Like he’d move too fast and scare off the best thing that had ever happened to him?
The light dimmed in her eyes. An instant later, her expression cheered. “I choose sex fiend. It’s simple. No strings or implied complications.”
“Okay.” He preserved a light tone. “Why’d you bring me lunch, sex fiend?”
She kissed him. “To thank you for taking care of me Saturday.”
He caressed her hip. “My pleasure.” Despite her announcement at the fair that they’d make love at his apartment, they’d cuddled on his sundeck instead, the sun warming their skin and soothing her discomfort.
Zach loved sex with his Miss Strawberry Surprise, but not when she felt ill. Saturday afternoon, all he’d wanted was to care for and protect her.
“I have plans for you,” she murmured in a sexy tone. She glanced over to where Matt and Mike sat. “Or, I did have plans. Can you send the M&Ms home?”
Any time, anywhere
, was Zach’s usual lovemaking motto. However, Tess deserved eiderdown quilts and fragrant blossoms, not dust and sweat and concrete.
“Babe, I’d love to. But we have loads of work to do if I want to stay on schedule. I’ll come by your place later.” He patted his grimy T-shirt. “After I take a shower.”
“I have a better idea. Give me your key, and I’ll wait in your apartment. There’s a special reward if you hurry.”
“Wouldn’t you rather wait at your place?” They’d yet to make love there.
“No.” She drew a lazy circle on his T-shirt, and his skin hummed beneath the light pressure. “We haven’t finished exploring your apartment. When we do, we’ll move on to mine.”
“Exploring? That’s what we’re calling it now?”
“Well, we do explore each other’s bodies a lot.”
He nodded. That they were both working horrendous hours lately hadn’t lessened their hunger for one another. He’d never before met a woman who matched him sexually. However, with Tess, he sensed something besides lust prompted her brazen behavior.
He didn’t need her hot and horny all the time. He just needed
her
.
He wouldn’t impose a timetable on her, though. Weeks had elapsed to bring their relationship to this point. Hopefully, sooner or later, she’d welcome the sharing of their thoughts and dreams with the same fervor as she welcomed the sharing of their bodies.
The irony that for the first time in his life he wanted to share more than sex with a woman—and before she did—wasn’t lost on him.
Cupid had a strange sense of humor.
“How’s this?” he suggested. “We’ll meet at my place later today if you agree that I’ll come to your place next time.”
Her laughter reminded him of sleigh bells. And here it was only September.
“Deal.” She wriggled out of his arms and unwrapped the sandwiches. “Two for you, and one for me. I hope you like ham on rye.”
“Sounds delicious. Let’s eat outside. We’ll escape the dust and enjoy the sun.”
She glanced at the perfectly laid-out counter. “Now he tells me.”
Zach returned the sandwiches to the bag. “Did you buy these from Sandie’s Deli?”
“No.” She reached for the thermos. “I made them.”
Tight bands of emotion constricted his chest. To any other guy, that she’d conducted the simple domestic ritual might not feel momentous. However, to Zach, something endearingly intimate enriched the thought of Tess preparing this light meal and bringing it to his place of business, like she might do on working weekends if they were married.
She smiled. “Let’s eat, sex fiend, or you’ll never get your reward.”
Four hours later, Zach entered his apartment. Tess sat on his couch with her nose buried in her laptop. Beside her, Lump snoozed on his sleeping mat.
“Hi, honey, I’m home!” Zach called.
She glanced up. “If you expect me to fetch your newspaper and slippers, you’d better think again.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave the dog stuff to Lump.”
Her gaze shifted to the cat. “Good luck.” She shut down the laptop and put it on the coffee table. She rose and moved toward him, hips swaying in her white shorts. She sent him the familiar temptress’s smile that always led to his undoing.
During the drive home, he’d promised himself he wouldn’t jump her. That they’d have dinner and talk first. But when Tess Sheridan wanted a man’s touch and nothing else, the sensual vibes emanating from her would make a eunuch gnash his teeth for his unfortunate circumstances.
Dropping his keys onto the bench, Zach kicked off his work shoes and opened his arms. “Come here.”
Seconds later, the woman of his heart snuggled in his arms. Her breasts crushed against his clean T-shirt.
“Where did you shower?” she asked.
“At my racquetball club. I didn’t want to come home to you sweaty and grimy.”
“I wouldn’t have minded.”
He glided his hands up and down her spine as they kissed.
“Which room would you like to explore this time?” His need for her tightened his throat as well as his lower body.
Her eyes gleamed. “The bathroom.”
“Which one?” His apartment boasted two.
“The big one, off your bedroom.”
“We’ve already made love there.” In the soaker tub Friday night. And on towels cushioning the tile floor.
“Not how we will this time.”
The sexual promise in her voice intrigued him. “Lead on.”
Taking his hand, she tugged him through his bedroom into the large master bathroom. After removing her sandals, she hoisted herself onto the countertop between the wall and sinks. The row of lights topping the mirrored medicine cabinet brightened his reflection as he stepped between her open thighs. She wrapped her legs around his hips and hugged him close.
He pressed his mouth to hers, cupping one breast and grazing the nipple with his thumb.
Ah, Tess. Ah, babe.
He rubbed again.
Moaning, she leaned back and pulled off her top. A smile danced on her lips as she unclasped her bra. He slipped the straps off her shoulders, freeing her breasts.
As their gazes met, he loosened the fabric-covered elastic cinching her ponytail. While he carefully released her hair, she kept him captured snug between her thighs.
Urgency building, he coaxed her legs off his hips and unzipped her shorts. She planted her hands behind herself, hips lifting. He stripped off her shorts and panties then rid himself of his T-shirt while she unbuckled his belt.
Stepping back, he shed his jeans.
Returning to his position between her legs, he slipped one hand between the cool skin of her inner thighs and caressed her moist slit.
Mewling sounds escaped her mouth. She curved her hands around his neck, bringing his head down to hers and kissing him deeply while his fingers probed her. Her palm brushed his jaw, raising the bristles of his five o’clock shadow.
“Would you like me to shave?” he whispered.
She murmured, “Let me do it.”
Again, as at the warehouse, emotion banded his chest. The thought of the woman he loved shaving his face while they were naked swirled an aching sensation deep inside him.
The woman he loved.
He smiled.
Yes, he loved her. He loved Tess Sheridan. Her humor and intelligence, her focus and determination.
The knowledge that he’d fallen so hard and fast didn’t intimidate him. He hadn’t been looking for love, he certainly hadn’t expected to find it, but here it was, anyway, as if it had been waiting for him all along.
Waiting for him to find her. The only woman for him.
Tess.
She gazed at him. “Why are you smiling?”
He couldn’t tell her yet. If the last few days were any indication, sharing her feelings scared her. Whenever their conversation grew too personal, she distracted him with a lustful kiss, which eventually led to more lovemaking. Always hot and electrifying.
And impossible to turn down.