No More Talking: Hearts Are Wild, Book 1 (5 page)

God. Twice today he’d taken a hit because of her. It was a wonder he hadn’t bolted out of here by now. Pushing off the counter, Freddie looked around for her bag. She kept a travel pack of Panadol in there, and it would be simpler to grab those than open the first-aid kit in the supply room.

Zac would need a drink to take them. She knew he’d be fine with water, but with the thought of all that bruised tissue that his body would need to repair, not to mention the blood he needed to replace in mind, Freddie figured she’d put together a supplement-fortified smoothie. He’d probably refuse it—most people did—but she’d force it on him even if she had to blackmail him into drinking it.

The ingredients she’d laid out for herself earlier would suit what she had in mind. She’d add some protein powder as well as beetroot to oxygenate the blood and turmeric to fight inflammation and promote healing. She was ready to load everything into the blender when he returned.

“Oh, no. I’m not having one of those vile things,” he protested, waving his hand at the counter in front of her.

“They’re not vile and, yes, you are. Your body has taken a beating today. Literally. And you need to boost your system to help it repair the damage.” Freddie dropped the banana, strawberries and spinach in the blender and snapped on the lid.

Zac frowned at her. “You can’t make me.”

She grinned. “Wanna bet?”

“Sure. What’s the wager?”

“Dinner.”

“Done.”

“Drink it and I’ll take my top off.”

“What?” His mouth hung open.

“You heard me.”

“Red,” he growled.

“What?”

“I’m finding it hard to keep my hands off you while you’ve got your clothes on. Take any of them off, and I won’t be able to control myself.”

“You’ll drink this?” She pointed at the blender she’d yet to turn on.

He blew out a breath and looked at the ceiling. “Jesus. I’m fucked.”

Freddie laughed. “Not yet you’re not, but you never know.”

Before he—or she—could say another word, she flipped the switch.

Chapter Five

Zac sucked in a breath and stared at the ceiling. How did she do this to him? With little more than a smile and a promise, she had him tied in knots and struggling to keep control. The throbbing in his skull was no longer a problem. It was the pounding heat in his groin that almost brought him to his knees now.

“Red.” He lowered his gaze to the woman who just might be the death of him.

She couldn’t hear him over the whine of the blender, but her smile slipped a little when he took a step towards her. He waited until she switched off the machine and then took another step closer.

“You’re playing with fire, you know that?” he asked as he shortened the distance between them once more.

Zac could see her hand trembling as she poured the thick pink liquid from the blender into a tall glass. “Here.” She held it out to him. “Drink.”

“And if I do, you’ll take your top off?” He arched an eyebrow. She couldn’t have been serious.

She nodded and caught the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth.

Fuck.
His body tightened. His pulse raced with anticipation. And his gaze zeroed in on her mouth. The lush curves drove him wild. The things she could do with it…

He reached for the glass and their fingers brushed as he took it from her hand. Electricity sparked between them. There was no denying they had chemistry. It crackled to life whenever they were near, and Zac’s grip on control grew thinner and thinner each time they were together.

Zac kept his eyes on hers as he brought the glass to his mouth. He couldn’t say who was more surprised. Him, because he liked it, or Red, because he downed the whole thing in one go.

Leaning past her, Zac put the empty cup on the counter, making sure to slide his forearm across her breasts as he did. She shuddered but didn’t step away. Her nipples beaded beneath her shirt, the buds poking against the fabric and making it clear she was turned on.

“Your turn.” His voice was ragged, the strain he felt at having to hold himself back all too evident to his ears.

Red licked her lips and reached for the hem of her top. When she slid the material up her torso, Zac stopped breathing. When the delicate lace of her bra came into view, his mouth watered. And when she whipped the T-shirt over her head and dropped it on the floor at their feet, a sharp bolt of lust burned through him.

“Fuck.” The word dragged through his throat like a razor blade.

He reached over and cupped her beasts in his palms. Felt her shiver and watched those tight little nipples grow harder.

“I need to touch you.”

“You are touching me,” she whispered on a shuddering breath.

“No.” Zac used his thumbs to flick the clasp nestled between her cleavage open.

“Zac—”

“I have to. I can’t help myself,” he growled.

“We shouldn’t.” Her breath was choppy, the little gasps giving away the fact they should. Oh they definitely should. “We need to talk.”

“Shh…no more talking.”

“But—”

Zac lowered his mouth to her and spoke against her lips. “No. More. Talking.”

He licked her lips. Pressed his tongue to the seam and urged her to open. A groan broke in his chest when she melted against him. His hands were trapped between them, her generous breasts crushed in his palms while he stroked her nipples with his thumbs.

Red opened her mouth and darted her hot tongue out to tangle with his. He swallowed the moan that tripped up her throat. Nibbled at her lips, her tongue, her lips. No matter how fast he went, how much he took, he couldn’t get enough.

“Want you naked,” he groaned.

“Yes. No.” She pulled her mouth from his. “Not here.”

Here?
“What?”

“Not here.”

Zac had no idea how it happened, but one second she was in his arms half naked and pliant, the next she was across the room and tugging her top back on.

“Here?”

“My work.” Red wrapped her arms around her middle. “God. I think the front door is still open.”

She rushed from the room, the echo of her flip-flops slapping on the floor trailing behind her. He dragged in a breath and tried to rein in his libido enough to make his brain work. Now that the heat of the kiss had dulled, Zac realised his face hurt like hell.

“Dammit.” He was pretty sure his nose wasn’t broken, but it was bloody close. He lowered his face into his hands. “Fucking son of a bitch.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

He hadn’t heard Red come back, but she stood not two feet away, worry creasing her forehead.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, Zac. Do you need to get your nose X-rayed?”

“No. But I could do with those pain pills.”

She eyed him doubtfully. Finally, she said, “I’ll grab the meds.”

Zac breathed deeply. Lust still pulled at him, but he understood why Red had backed away. It would have taken less than a minute for them to be naked and writhing around on the floor. He figured the chances of them getting caught in a compromising position were low, but he had to respect her and her place of business.

He’d just wait until they got back to her house.

“Here.” Red handed him two white pills and a glass of water.

He popped the tablets into his mouth and swallowed them dry. Taking a seat on one of the stools, he sipped at the cold water and watched her tidy up the kitchen. “So what do you want for dinner?”

Her head swiveled in his direction. “Dinner?”

“Yeah, that was the wager, remember?” He cocked his head. “Although I’m not sure which one of us actually won that bet.” Zac grinned.

Red smiled. “I did.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Zac let his gaze drop to her chest before slowly bringing it back to meet hers. “Kinda feels like we both won.”

Her cheeks flushed red and her eyes dilated. She licked her lips. “You should put an ice pack on that nose.”

A change of subject. Nice. “I will as soon as we get to your place. You’ve got frozen peas, yes?”

“My place?”

“I’m not really in the mood to go out to dinner, so it’s either your place or mine.”

“Oh.”

“Does that Thai place near you still deliver?”

“The Thai Bowl?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“I think so, but I’m not eating that. If you want Thai I can make us some.”

“But you won the bet. I have to supply dinner.” Although the thought of Red cooking for him did give Zac a very pleasant swirl of warmth in the centre of his chest. He refused to look at the feeling too closely.

“I don’t eat take-out, Zac. So it’s either I cook for both of us or I cook for me and you order in.”

“You don’t eat take-out at all?” He knew she was strict about her diet. Had been since she’d overcome anorexia, but he hadn’t had a clue she was this severe.

“Nope. I prefer to know what I’m putting in my body at all times.”

“All times?”

“Am I cooking or not.”

Zac shrugged. “I guess you’re cooking.” It didn’t matter to him either way as long as he got to spend more time with her.

“Right. Okay then.” Red turned back to the sink and finished washing the blender.

He wasn’t sure where they were going but he figured dinner together was a start, plus, it would give him more time to work out what he was doing. With any luck—not that he’d had much of that today—she wouldn’t be ordering him to go home afterwards.

Freddie kept sneaking glances at Zac. The minute they’d arrived at her place, she’d ordered him to sit and grabbed him a bag of frozen peas for his face. At some point in the last fifteen minutes, he’d fallen asleep on her couch and the bag had fallen to the floor. His nose was a little swollen and red but it didn’t look too bad.

She’d wanted him to go home to get changed out of his bloody shirt but he’d resisted, and she’d finally relented by making him promise to wash it at her place. Of course that meant he was now bare-chested. All those sleek muscles on full display…

She shivered and her hands tingled with the memories of running her fingers over his sculptured pecs and abs. Playing with his flat nipples, making them hard…

“Hey.” Zac stretched his arms over his head. “Dinner ready?”

“Ah, not yet.” Freddie eyed the ingredients she’d yet to chop up. She’d been so busy staring at Zac’s edible body that she hadn’t done more than pull the veggies from the fridge. “It’ll be about thirty minutes yet.”

“Do you want some help?” he asked as he sat up and turned her way.

Jesus. She couldn’t function with him halfway across the room. If he actually came and stood beside her… “No. I’ve got it.”

“Are you sure? I feel like a freeloader.”

“You’re injured.”

“I’m not exactly crippled,” he argued.

“No, but you should rest,” she said and then murmured, “and it’s my fault you’re hurt.”

“What?”

“Do you want the chili hot or mild?”

He cocked one eyebrow. “That’s not what you said.”

Freddie smiled. “Hot it is.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re not responsible.”

She sucked in a breath.

“Neither of us could have predicted two guys would use my face as a punching bag today.”

Freddie sighed. “I might have had an idea West would. It’s not the first time he’s thrown a punch in my honour.”

“Can’t say I can blame him for that. He’s your brother.”

“So? I’m not fourteen and starving myself to death anymore.” God dammit. She hated that it always seemed to come back to her illness.

Zac stood. “No. But it killed him. Hell, it killed all of us to see you like that.”

“But I’m no longer that teenager.”

He came towards her slowly, as though he didn’t want to spook her, and she clenched her teeth to keep from yelling at him for treating her like fragile glass.

“You might not be that same girl, but none of us that saw you go through that can forget. We still see—”

Freddie held up her hand, palm out. “Don’t. To quote you. No more talking. You’re just going to piss me off.”

“Red.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Fine. Freddie.”

She shook her head. “I mean it, Zac. Conversation over or I’m going to throw your arse out regardless of your bruised face.”

He backed away a step. “Okay. No more talking.”

“Good.”

Turning back to the counter, Freddie took a deep breath and picked up the knife. She hated it when people looked at her like she was wounded. Like the slightest thing could set her off. Christ. It had been over ten years since she’d beaten the disease. Ten years of proving she was capable of functioning like anyone else.

God. She was a successful business owner. Had hundreds of patients who’d turned their lives around with her help. “How much more do I have to prove?”

“You don’t need to prove anything.”

“Shit.” Freddie spun around, knife in hand and almost gutted Zac. “Don’t do that!”

He grabbed her wrist with one hand and removed the knife from her grip with the other. Leaning over, he placed it on the counter and then took both her hands in his. “You are one of the strongest women I know. It doesn’t mean I won’t worry about you. Warranted or not, it’s in our DNA to worry about the people we care about.”

Her shoulders slumped, her rigid muscles relaxing. “I get that. I’m just tired of being looked at like I’ll crack at the smallest thing. Shit. If that was going to happen, it would have been while I trudged my way through my double degree.”

Zac laughed. “I hear ya there. Law school just about killed me.”

Smiling she said, “Bullshit. You finished top of your class.”

He frowned. “Who told you that?”

“West.”

“How the hell does he know?”

“You didn’t tell him?”

“Hell, no. I didn’t even tell Coop.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “I haven’t a clue how he found out then.”

Freddie thought the scowl on Zac’s face was adorable, and the urge to kiss it away stole through her. She resisted. Barely. Pulling her hands from his, she turned back to the counter and the food she needed to chop. “I need to get dinner on.”

She hoped Zac would take the hint and not push the subject any further. Being treated like a child always annoyed her. Made her want to behave like one and stomp her foot. Preferably on the foot of the person who was doing the annoying. Usually West.

Her brother could be such a shithead. She loved him, but his interference in her life—particularly her love life—had finally reached the limit of her patience. She’d put up with it until now because honestly, none of the guys he’d tried to intimidate were that important to her.

Zac was different. And she was only now beginning to understand how different.

Zac left Red alone and went back to the couch. They could both do with a little space. Something had shifted between them just now. He wasn’t sure what or how, only that some indefinable thing had changed.

Easing back against the cushion, he watched her through lowered lashes. He didn’t want her to think he was keeping an eye on her. He’d obviously hit a hot button. West was guilty of being overly protective where Red was concerned. Hell, Zac had been that way himself on more than one occasion. It was part of the reason he’d stayed away when he first realised his interest had turned to more than friendship.

He didn’t have his head screwed on straight when it came to Red anymore. She’d been in the best friend’s little sister category for so long that this new development in their relationship fucked with his mind and his heart. Zac didn’t want to hurt her, but then he didn’t want to leave her alone either.

Damned if he did. Damned if he didn’t.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out to see a text from Coop. He hadn’t replied to any of the messages or calls either his brother or best friend had sent him. Zac knew what they had to say and he didn’t want to hear it. There was enough recrimination going on in his own head, he didn’t need to hear it from either of them.

And besides. Red was right. She wasn’t that broken teenage girl anymore. She’d more than proven she’d moved past the illness that had stolen two years of her life.

He’d be a fool not to see the remarkable woman she’d become. If she were anyone else…any other woman, he wouldn’t be using such caution. Then again, it wasn’t just her connection to his best friend to consider. There was the friendship he and Red had. It was solid and vital and Zac wasn’t sure he was prepared to fuck with it.