Zoey And The Nice Guy (Big Girl Panties #1) (27 page)

She heard the door click shut. Then she stripped out of her clothes, shed her underwear, and climbed into her bed. She piled the blankets on top of herself and fell steadily into sleep.
 

Her eyes popped open a second later. Only it wasn’t a second; it was three hours. And she smelled something. Something good.

She rose and dressed. She followed her nose down the hall and into the kitchen. Kellen and Maya were at the counter. He was cooking burgers on the griddle, and she was slicing carrots and celery into sticks.
 

“Hey, baby doll!” Tracy said. “Did you have a good nap?”

Zoey didn’t understand what was going on. She went to Kellen and tapped him on the shoulder. “What are you doing here?”

He set down his spatula, cupped her jaw, and leaned down. He pressed his cheek to hers and spoke softly in her ear. “I realized that I belong by your side.” He held her there for a moment. She gripped his shirt and pressed her legs together as excitement surged through her.
 

He slid back, his cheek brushing hers, and smiled down at her. She let go of his shirt, filled her hands with his hair, and pulled him into a rough, desperate kiss.
 

Tracy cheered in the background. The people in the room were the only things keeping her from doing him right there. When they both managed to pull away, she looked up into a face stripped of its cocky self-certainty. His expression was all naked fear and wonder. “I love you, Zoey,” he said.

She gasped and scrambled up his body for another kiss. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clawed at his shoulders. This time when he pulled back, he was laughing. “Now, or later?”

She could barely think or breathe or speak, but she realized the children were at the table glancing her direction. “Later,” she squeaked and stared into his eyes with desperate regret.

He laughed again and brought her into a hug. “Later, and for a long time.”

She nodded.

He moved away from her but held her hand as he picked up his spatula and flipped the burgers.
 

They sat around the table and ate. She forced the food down, but her stomach wasn’t remotely interested. She didn’t know how Kellen had managed to get Tracy and Mark to move downstairs, but whatever he had done had caused very little upheaval. Tracy was just as happy as if nothing had changed.
 

That night, Zoey helped Maya tuck the kids into bed. They liked to get a story from each of them. The next day they would start back to school. Zoey had already started back to work. Her schedule had been interrupted that day to go pay her debt to society.
 

Right after the kids went to bed, Maya disappeared into her room. Mark was drinking the last of Zoey’s beer, again, and Tracy was on the internet doing God only knew what. So Zoey grabbed Kellen by the waist of his jeans and dragged him back to her bedroom. He closed the door and said, “I wasn’t going to do this, Zoey.”

She started unbuttoning her blouse. “Well, you’re gonna now, right?”

“Don’t you think we should slow things down a little? Give us time to get to know each other?”

She whipped off her shirt and kicked off her shoes. “I am having sex in this bed. Right now. Are you with me or not?”

He grinned and peeled off his shirt. Zoey took a moment to sigh in appreciation. He stalked toward her, took her in his arms, and kissed her. When his lips moved to her neck, she said, “Kellen, before we go any further, I just wanted to tell you…I love you, too.”

He pulled back and studied her eyes.
 

“I love you,” she repeated.

He was breathing heavily, already. He nodded. “I love you, too, Zoey. And you just say those words as often as you want, okay?”

He kissed her again and reached behind her to unclasp her bra. It slid down her arms and to the floor. He filled his hands and moaned. He trailed long, languorous kisses down her neck and between her breasts. He was being so gentle. So loving. Tears stung her eyes and she felt her heart opening to him. Where was she to go with this overwhelming passion struggling to burst out of her?

“Rough, Kellen. I want it rough.”

He stood and the two of them unfastened their jeans and shoved them down. “I don’t want to be rough with you,” he said. “Not tonight.”

“I want it rough. I need it, Kellen.”

“Not tonight. I’ll kiss you and you’ll be mine and I’ll do whatever I want with you.”

His words lit her up. She leapt at him. He caught her and slammed her down onto the bed, falling on top of her. She wrapped her legs around him, urging him forward. Once his lips were on hers, she felt all her will dissipate. He was right. He could do whatever he wanted with her.

While he kissed her long and deep, he took first one of her hands, then the other, and guided them up to the headboard. She gripped, understanding that he meant for her to hold on. Time slowed. His lips left hers and made their way down her body. Her heart thundered in her chest, but she stayed relaxed, sucking in deep breaths and letting her body just feel.
 

When he went down between her legs, she held her breath. As his tongue stroked her, her body arched off the bed and she sobbed in pleasure. He plied her relentlessly with his mouth until she came hard.

As the waves of pleasure subsided, she felt more awake and alive than she had in weeks. As though he was slowly, systematically purging her of all the toxic emotions she’d been harboring. He rolled her onto her stomach and stretched out on top of her. He pulled her hair back and over her shoulder. Then he kissed her cheek and neck and behind her ear. His hand moved down her side, grazing the sides of her breasts.

She felt his hard length between her legs. He slid into her smoothly, filling her. He laced his fingers with hers and pressed her hands into the bed. His kisses across her upper back and shoulders managed to ignite her passion while blanketing her in a sense of peace. He thrust in and out of her languorously as though he had all the time in the world.

He moved his legs to the outside of hers, so that she was entirely wrapped in him, bracketed in this world and transported to her own, private realm of pleasure. His thrusts became more insistent, and his groans more desperate. When he slipped his hand beneath her and began massaging her, she broke with loud, low sobs.
 

He continued, harder and faster. He shifted, wrapping his arms around her hips and lifting them, bringing his knees up to support his weight. “Oh, God,” he gasped.
 

She clutched at the sheets, struggling for something stable to cling to. Her world was shattered, and when he came with a sharp cry, she knew his was, too. She felt his forehead against her back, the tension in his muscles slowly draining.
 

He eased out of her and rolled her to her back. He put his mouth on hers, again, and kissed her until the world made sense.
 

Kellen awoke with the dawn. With his eyes still closed, he smiled and stretched. Zoey stretched next to him, the length of her body alongside his. She moved her head to his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. “You are amazing,” he croaked, his throat dry and parched.

“How did you get my bed back without upsetting anyone?”

“Used my charm.”

She let out a little snort. “Whatever you did, thank you. Now maybe you can talk her into going away altogether.”

“Zoey, I will physically carry them both out of this house if you ask me to. I’ll also cook them breakfast and babysit them if that’s what you want. She’s your mom, and I understand how important she is to you.”

She sat up on her elbow and looked down on him, her hair spilling around her face. “She doesn’t love me.”

He stared at her and wondered if she was asking him a question.

“My mom doesn’t love me.” She looked like she was about to choke on the words. “But you do, and you show it by coming into my home and standing by my side, helping me hold up my self-inflicted responsibilities.”

He still wasn’t sure if she wanted him to respond. He reached up and played with her hair.

“I’ve always wanted, for as long as I can remember, a mother like Claire Huxtable. Someone I could depend on as a child and respect as an adult. Tracy has been none of that to me. So fuck her. Right?”

He leaned up and kissed her. “She’s your mom. It’s okay to love her. Just don’t lose track of yourself.”

She patted him on the cheek. Her expression turned resigned. “All right. Get dressed. Project get-my-mom-the-fuck-out-of-my-house is on.” She swung out of bed and Kellen watched her dress.

She either didn’t notice him watching or didn’t care. She was on a mission. He clambered out of bed and into his clothes, following her around the house. She headed straight for the basement stairs. He followed about halfway down and then crouched to watch. Mark was sleeping on a blanket on the floor and Tracy had fallen into the middle of the bed.

“Hey, Mom!” Zoey said, louder than was strictly necessary. She shook her mom by the shoulder.

Tracy rolled to her back and squinted up at her. “What the hell?”

“Hey, I gotta go to work, so I need your help.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have a job so I can earn money to feed the people who stay at my house. I need you to get up because somebody has to take Maya’s kids to school.”

“What? I ain’t takin’ no little kids to school.”

“Mom, with school starting back and Maya still injured, me with work, and Kellen, well, he’s just plain undependable—so we all have to pitch in. Come on, I’ve got coffee made.”
 

Kellen grinned at the undependable remark and watched as Zoey pulled Tracy to a sitting position and then waited until she was pulling on her jeans. He went upstairs. Zoey came up a moment later. She grabbed him round the waist and tip-toed up for a kiss.
 

Tracy stumbled up the stairs. “It’s too early. I don’t like to get up before eight.”

“Well, no one likes to get up before eight, but that’s life,” Zoey said. “I’m gonna go wake up the kids.”

Kellen didn’t know what she told them when she went into their room, but Sophie and Matthew came running out screaming, “Yay! School’s back in session!”
 

Sophie charged into Tracy, hugging her hips and causing some coffee to slosh out of Tracy’s cup onto her hand. “Shit, be careful, kid,” she said.
 

“Are you gonna take us to school, Aunt Tracy?” Sophie shrieked.

Tracy winced. “I’m not your aunt, sweetie.”

Matthew ran up to Tracy. “Can you fix us some breakfast? Mom says we need to have eggs before school, not cereal.”

“I don’t cook. Kellen?” Tracy batted her eyelashes at him.

He sipped his coffee. “I wish I could,” he said, “but I don’t feel like it.” He sat behind the bar. Tracy’s smile vanished.
 

“Zoey!” she shouted.

Maya came in, then. “She’s in the bathroom.” Maya folded one arm over her ribs. “Ow, my side hurts so badly. Can you go ask Mark to give me back my pain meds?”

Tracy gaped at her.
 

Maya leaned on the counter and squeezed her eyes shut, even managing to pop out a couple of tears. Kellen moved to the edge of the seat, prepared to help her if it turned out she wasn’t faking.
 

“Please, hurry,” Maya pleaded, sobbing a little.

Tracy ran downstairs. Maya blew out a breath and sat at the bar next to Kellen.

“He took your pain meds?” Kellen asked.

Maya nodded. “They were on top of the medicine cabinet, where the kids couldn’t get them. I only use them if I’ve overdone it and am just really hurting. They disappeared, and I didn’t feel like picking a fight.”

“Son-of-a-bitch.” Kellen fisted his hands, angry that anyone could be that selfish.

Tracy reappeared and handed Maya the bottle. “There’s a few pills left,” she said. “I didn’t know he took them.”

“Sure,” Maya said curtly. She left and went back to her room.
 

Matthew and Sophie, after a whispered agreement, started jumping up and down shouting, “Eggs and toast! Eggs and toast! Eggs and toast!”

“Jesus Christ, okay, okay!” Tracy shouted back. She started bumbling around the kitchen, scrambling eggs and toasting bread. The kids grabbed forks, sat at the table, and started pounding the bottoms of the forks on the table.
 

After Tracy served them breakfast, they started shouting, “Milk! Milk! Milk!”

“God, be quiet already!” She ran back to the kitchen for milk.
 

Zoey came in, dressed in her work clothes, which was a pencil skirt, blouse, and jacket, her hair pulled into a low, loose bun—looking thoroughly hot. Kellen felt the blood leave his brain. “Oh, good,” Zoey said. She pinned some earrings in while moving toward the kitchen. She grabbed a plate and some of the scrambled eggs Tracy had made. “Thanks, Mom,” she said.

Tracy glared at her.
 

Zoey fixed a second plate and handed it to Kellen. “Eat up,” she said. “You need to replenish your strength.” She patted his face and moved to the table with the kids. Once they’d eaten, Matthew and Sophie went to brush their teeth and hair and gather their book bags. Tracy was still in her pajamas and robe.

“Mom, never mind about the kids. I’ll take them to school, since you’re not dressed yet, but I need you and Mark to go grocery shopping. And, if Mark’s gonna keep drinking my beer, tell him to pitch in, okay? Here’s the grocery money.” Zoey laid a stack of bills on the counter. “Oh, and if you could have a snack ready for the kids at three-thirty? Peanut butter and jelly will do, unless you want to get more creative.”

“Sure,” Tracy said dryly, clearly having no intention of fixing food for anyone else that day.

Zoey hustled Sophie and Matthew out the door and then gestured for Kellen to follow. He did and after she got Sophie buckled into her booster seat, she turned to him. In a low voice she said, “Maya’s got a doctor appointment this morning at ten. Can you take her?”

“Yeah, I’m free. Are you sure you want me to leave Tracy and Mark alone in your house?”