“What do you want to do to me?” Her voice was husky, laden with lust. She barely got the question out before she felt a finger slide inside of her wet heat. Her eyes fell closed and she pushed against his finger, wanting more. Needing more.
“Zach.” Her voice was reedy, thin.
“I want to slide into you just like this. It’ll be so good, so much deeper.” He slid another finger inside her as he spoke, thrusting in and out slowly. She couldn’t withhold a low moan of protest when the fingers left her for a moment. She heard the drawer of the bedside table open, heard him unwrapping a condom. Laney braced herself, anticipation running through her, waiting for the feel of him inside of her. But nothing could have prepared her for just how good it would feel in this position. So simple. Reverse missionary. Holy hell. She swore he slid so much deeper, much further inside her like this.
“Zach,” she breathed. She never knew it could feel this amazing, that it could be this good.
“I know, Laney.” His voice was gravelly, low as his hot breath hit her ear. “I know.” She let out a small moan when his lips ran over her earlobe, sucking it into his mouth before gently running his teeth over it.
“Fuck, Laney. You liked that. I felt it.” He let out a husky groan and thrust deep before retreating in the rhythm they had adopted. “I felt you … your wetness …” His voice trailed off as his thrusts became more frenzied. His hands reached to link his fingers with hers and it was that connection which pushed Laney over the edge. She felt her inner muscles repeatedly clench and release over his hardness as her orgasm washed over her.
“Laney,” Zach moaned her name as he found his release inside of her. He pressed a kiss to that spot just beneath her ear, the spot that sent shivers down her spine.
And, deep down, a part of her swore she felt that kiss’ warmth make its way all the way to her heart.
* * *
Someone was nudging her from what was certainly a delicious dream. It had involved her and Zach doing some naughty things to one another. Dirty things. She smiled, remembering how he had laid back on the bed, dragging her up so that she could ride him. How much it had turned her on to watch as she slid over top him, moving up and down over him …
“I sure hope that smile is for me,” the deep, masculine voice startled her. Just barely opening her eyes, squinting at the man lying next to her, on his side, she closed her eyes on a sigh.
“It wasn’t a dream,” she mumbled.
“Definitely not a dream,” he replied softly, his calloused fingertips trailing from the top of her shoulder down along the bare skin of her back, goosebumps appearing in the wake.
“But, it’s time to get up, sunshine. We have to get ready.” Zach playfully swatted her on the ass.
Her eyes flew open. “Hey!”
The tender smile on his lips made her breath catch. “Time to get dressed and head on out.” He slid off the bed, unabashedly naked, heading out her bedroom door to walk down the hallway. “I hope you don’t mind that I threw my clothes in the washer. I washed the few things you had in the dirty laundry bin on top the washer, too.”
Laney shot up in the bed, sprinting naked down the hall to the laundry room where she saw Zach taking items out of the dryer.
“Wait! Please tell me you didn’t put my—”
“Bras in the dryer? Of course not,” he scoffed. “I’m not an idiot, Laney.”
“But …” She trailed off, stunned, as she stared at him. “How did you know?”
His eyes stayed on the task before him as he removed his khakis from the dryer, pulling them on before hanging the remaining clothing on the empty hangers from the rod beside the washer. His voice was muted when he answered, “I’ve actually dated women before, you know.”
“Oh. Right.”
Wow. That was a brilliant response
. Grabbing an old T-shirt from the dryer, she pulled it over her head, unable to ignore the little pinch in her chest. The idea of Zach dating another woman, let alone spending enough time with her to recognize their bras shouldn’t get placed in the dryer? It gave her a sharp enough pinch to cause her to absently rub the spot between her breasts.
“Heartburn?”
Her eyes darted to his, watching his eyes gesture to where she had been rubbing. She jerked her hand away.
“No, I’m fine.” Changing the subject, she asked, “Where do we have to go at,” she paused to peer at the clock on the wall behind them, “nine o’clock in the morning on a Sunday?”
“Church,” was his succinct reply. That reply mentally caused the sound effects of a needle scratching across a record.
“Church?” she repeated slowly. Surely, she had misunderstood him.
“Yep. They’re doing this thing, weather permitting, where they have service on the beach during the ten o’clock service time.” Zach’s eyes locked on her. “I thought we’d check it out. Maybe afterward we can get in some beach time and surf some, too.”
Those stormy-colored eyes were imploring her to say yes. And when this man laid those eyes on her, she felt the urge to agree to anything he asked. Which was beyond dangerous.
Laney dropped his gaze, feeling like she was floundering. “I, uh, haven’t really been good at the whole church thing in a while.”
She’d had no choice, being young, getting dragged to church with her mother. Her mother, a devout Catholic, had been disappointed when Laney decided in her adulthood to not attend church. She had never felt at home in her mother’s church and, sadly enough, never had the courage to try any others. She still prayed, especially when she was alone on her walks on the beach. Just no longer in an actual church. With others around.
Inwardly cringing, she braved a look at Zach, expecting disappointment. But when her eyes met his, all she found there was a gentle kindness and understanding.
“It’s okay, Laney.” His tone had become more solemn at the end. “I promise there’s no crazy chanting or snake handling,” he offered. “Just some people attending a nondenominational service to share their faith.”
Offering him a weak smile, she nodded. “Okay.”
His face lit up. “Yeah?”
She held up a finger. “But, that means I get first dibs on the best wave later.”
Zach flashed a proud smile. “I knew I’d make a surfer out of you.”
“Don’t get cocky, buddy.” She turned to head down the hallway to the bathroom to get ready. His response trailed after her.
“But you like it when I get ‘cocky’.”
Laney smiled to herself, not responding. Because he was right.
But that wasn’t what made the smile slip from her face. What made her expression sober was the realization that she liked a lot more about Zachariah Mayson than when he got ‘cocky’ with her.
A whole lot more.
* * *
Zach couldn’t believe he had convinced Laney to come to church with him. They’d brought two lightweight, fold-up chairs, carrying them over to where the service would be held. Setting up their chairs, a few people greeted him and he introduced Laney. They accepted the sheet with the lyrics to songs which would be played. Soon, the band members began getting situated, tuning their acoustic guitars and bringing out the bongos. One of the band members tuning his guitar looked up and caught his gaze, flashing a quick smile.
“Wait a minute,” he heard Laney mumble. “Is that … Lawson?”
He leaned toward her. “Yeah. He’s been taking guitar lessons from one of the other guys for a little while. Guess they asked him to fill in today.”
She drew back to stare at him. “He plays the guitar? How did I not know this?”
Zach shook his head. “He claims that he didn’t want anyone to know because, and I quote, ‘Then the chicks will be all over me and you guys will hate me. I don’t want to do that to our friendship’.”
She snorted. “That’s so Lawson.”
“Exactly.”
Music began playing, indicating the start of the service and everyone’s talking tapered off. As they stood to listen to the music and sing along, if they chose, he felt Laney’s hand slide into his. Looking over, she smiled up at him before turning her attention back to the front. He raised their joined hands, pressing a quick kiss to hers, then returned his focus on the beginning of the service, singing one of the opening songs.
When a familiar female voice joined his in singing along, their hands still intertwined, Zach was certain that he’d never been so happy, so content before in his life.
And it was all due to the beautiful brunette standing by his side.
C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-F
IVE
L
ANEY’S PHONE VIBRATED WHILE SHE
was eating lunch in her room, grading papers. Glancing over to where it sat beside her school-issued laptop, she saw that she had received a text from Zach. Curiously, she swiped at the screen and read it, her lips forming a smile.
Zach:
Did I ever tell you that I have a weakness for women who grade papers while eating leftover sushi in their classrooms?
Looking up, she didn’t see anyone through the small glass window in the classroom door.
Laney:
Are you creeping on me, Mayson?
Zach:
Just admiring the most beautiful woman in this school
.
At his words, her smile grew wide, and she felt those damn butterflies in her stomach.
Zach:
Did I ever tell you that I love your smile?
Laney:
You love more than my smile. I recall you saying something about loving my mouth, too.
Zach:
Things could get pretty awkward if you get me hard while I’m at work. As it is, you’ve got me so turned on, just thinking about your hot mouth on me
.
Laney:
I liked having my mouth on you in the shower this morning. Totally worth running five minutes behind
.
The memory of how they had spent a few extra minutes in Zach’s shower that morning made her wish the day were already over so they could hurry up and go home. Zach had coerced—okay, so he hadn’t actually had to coerce her, but more like just asked—her to bring her stuff over on Wednesday and stay the night at his place. He’d grilled some salmon, tossed a salad, and they had eaten outside on his small deck while watching the sunset. It had been pretty much … perfect.
Zach:
You’re a bad girl
.
Laney’s smile turned mischievous and, just when she was about to type a response, another text came through.
Zach:
That smile makes me a little nervous
.
Her head jerked up to see him standing on the other side of her door before he opened it, stepping inside. Watching her, he slowly came closer, one hand clearly hiding something behind his back.
She gestured to him, a suspicious look on her face. “What are you hiding?”
He produced a bag of those infamous organic cheese puffs he’d gotten her addicted to. “I thought I’d share with you.” He slid into the seat across from her at her teaching table. Opening the bag, he offered them up. Taking one, she popped it into her mouth. After she swallowed, she raised an eyebrow. “So you love my smile, huh?”
“It’s one of the things I love about you,” came his quick response.
She blinked in surprise at the complete lack of hesitation in his response, felt her lips slightly part in shock.
“So, I’ve got an idea of what we can do with our next lessons …”
She didn’t hear the words past that sentence. She kept hearing his statement on a loop in her mind. “It’s one of the things I love about you.” He had said it so resolutely.
The scary part wasn’t just hearing him say that. It was the fact that he’d used that dreaded ‘L’ word and it hadn’t brought on the urge to vomit profusely. Instead, it had felt almost … nice.
And that, in itself, was enough to make her scared shitless.
* * *
He knew he was pushing his luck. Hell, he always ended up pushing his luck with Laney. But ever since that Saturday night—and the following Sunday morning at church—he felt like they were finally on track, like he was actually getting somewhere with her. Making progress with the woman who’d avoided relationships, avoided love like the plague. He’d somehow convinced her yesterday to come over for dinner and stay the night. The comfortable way they’d worked beside one another in his kitchen to prepare dinner, getting plates and silverware, plating the food and bringing it out onto the deck felt so right. Perfect. But, he knew why. Because it was with Laney.
It had been less than a week since that night at her place. He knew things had changed then, could tell it in the way she’d reacted to him, in her touch that had become so tender, and especially in the way she hadn’t kicked him out the next morning at the first sign of dawn. He had been so relieved to talk about the misunderstanding that had put everything into motion years ago. The way she had agreed to go to church with him, even going so far as to initiate the hand holding, had given him hope. They had spent the remainder of the day on the beach, surfing for a while and then, once the waves died down, they had sat in their beach chairs, talking and just enjoying each other’s company.
He couldn’t think back on a better Sunday morning. He could easily imagine the rest of his Sundays being just like that, maybe tossing in brunch after church or even doing yoga with her. Hell, as long as it included Laney, he didn’t really care.
But, in moments like this one, where his mouth spoke the words from his heart, he realized that he was still ahead of where Laney was in the progression of things. He’d noticed her falter at his statement, but there was no way in hell he’d take it back. So, instead, he directed the conversation to something safe: work.
“I’m thinking that, since we’re discussing elections, we should have them work on a campaign project. Say they think the cafeteria should offer healthier options, then they need to come up with a campaign slogan and a few paragraphs about why this should change and how they propose changing it.” He waited for her to chime in with the normal feedback she usually gave him but she appeared dazed.
After a few beats of silence, he prompted her. “Laney?”
She blinked. “Yes? What? Oh, yeah. That sounds great. The kids will be able to really get into that.” She recovered, nodding to affirm her response.