by Em Petrova
She searched his eyes. “What’s going on, Zayden?”
“My father did something before he died. The sheriff paid me a visit today.”
“Oh no.” She’d heard a rumor at the credit union about some stolen horses. Please don’t let it be true. He’s got enough to deal with.
“Yeah, it’s bad.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’ll figure something out.”
While he didn’t tell her a single thing about the trouble in his lap, she felt compelled to ease him. Reaching across the table, she placed her hand over the back of his. He looked up into her eyes, and that shock of electricity hit again, harder this time. The sensation pinged up her arm and throughout the rest of her body, to land between her legs.
“You keep looking at me that way and we aren’t waitin’ on this pizza.”
She tipped her head. “We could get it to go.”
He pressed his lips together and looked away.
He held back from her. Even if he wanted her as badly as she did him—and she thought he did—he wouldn’t make the first move. What stopped him?
When someone passed their table, Esme glanced up at her coworker Natalie. She was with a guy, and they were laughing. She spotted Esme and then took one look at Zayden and her jaw dropped.
Stopping before the table, she grinned in a way that had Esme cringing. If she lumped them together, it would have Zayden even more stiff and unbending to her attempts to get to know the man.
“So good to see you here,” Natalie said to her.
“Hi, Natalie.” She held out her hand toward Zayden, who sat like a statue. “This is Zayden Moon.”
“I know who you are. You went to school with my sister.”
He nodded but didn’t ask who her sister was.
“Oh, this is Sam. We’re meeting some friends to play pool. Want to join us?” She looked between them.
Zayden didn’t move a muscle—not even a flicker of that muscle in the corner of his jaw that captivated Esme so often.
“Uh, we’re waiting on our pizza, thanks. You guys have fun! I’ll see you tomorrow at work.”
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Ugh, don’t remind me about work. Jason was in a bigger funk than usual today, don’t you think? I kept thinking I was in trouble, the way he kept looking toward us tellers.”
Esme dropped her gaze to the tabletop. “Yeah, he was in a bad mood.” She knew it had everything to do with her, especially since his mood shifted after she told him she wasn’t ready to commit to anything yet concerning the job.
“See you tomorrow.” Natalie and her friend moved off, leaving them alone again.
The pizza arrived, and she couldn’t find her appetite anymore.
“What’s going on, Esme?”
Her gaze shot to Zayden’s. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he leaned across the table, big and hot as hell, “whenever someone brings up work or that boss of yours, you act weird.”
“How do you know I’m acting weird? We don’t know each other that well,” she defended.
He cocked a brow. “Don’t I know you?” He pitched his voice low. “I found a cold, wet and frightened woman half-frozen on a mountainside. I know how you feel when you’re shaking with fear. I know how you feel in my arms, bare and with the taste of my seed on your lips.”
She sucked in sharply.
His dark eyes pinned her gaze. “I know that you get tangled up with the wrong kind of men.”
“Including you?” she said weakly, trying to get to the bottom of his mood swings concerning her.
“Including me,” he growled out. “Especially me. But if there’s something you need to tell me about this Jason guy, you’d better spill it, sweetheart.”
She clenched her fingers together in her lap. “Why should I tell you when you won’t tell me a single thing about the sheriff’s visit and why it has you so upset?”
They shared an angry look, but sparks of something much more also flew between them, just like when they sat across her kitchen table. The air grew charged, and both of them remembered what had happened then.
Her breathing changed, and she dragged in an uneven breath. The waitress returned and asked if they wanted a box, and he waved a hand for her to go away. As usual with Zayden, the man was giving the middle finger to the world, even if the world had nothing to do with his anger.
He tossed a couple bills down on the table and stood.
“Let’s go.” His gritty tone had her clamping her thighs together again, but somehow she managed to stumble to her feet and reach for her belongings. On the way to the exit, Zayden reached back and grabbed her hand.
* * * * *
When the restaurant door swung shut behind them, he whirled Esme into his arms and backed her up against the side of the building. She tipped her face up to his, a come-screw-me look in her green eyes.
Hell, he shouldn’t.
Could he stop it?
She got to him, in all ways, and not just physically. She was digging into his mind with her questions, her demands…and he was letting her. Dammit, he had to step back.
But her rosebud lips were a torment, and not one he could resist. He was weak—everyone in Stokes knew he’d always been weak.
Did he give a damn?
The puffy coat she wore created a thick barrier he didn’t want between them. He needed to feel her curves pasted to his body while he drove his cock into her sweet, tight heat.
She hitched in a breath. “Zayden…”
“I can’t.” He pushed away and turned to go.
“You think you can walk away from me, but you can’t, and we both know it.” Anger infused her voice.
He stopped dead on the sidewalk. Without looking back, he said, “You’re don’t know what’s between us any more than I do.”
“Don’t I? You keep trying to resist me, but here you are with me again, and this time it’s not because I called for rescue. You keep coming to me because you want me, Zayden, and it isn’t only sex.”
He twisted to pierce her with his gaze. She was too fucking beautiful, and his heart cracked in two that he couldn’t have her.
“You’re wrong,” he grated out.
“Come back over here, look me in the eyes and tell me I’m wrong. That you don’t feel something for me besides lust. You can’t stay away from me, but you’ve never had something like this before and you’re afraid.” She raised her chin a notch.
Goddammit, that expression of sheer conviction riled him. Who was she to say she knew what he was thinking, feeling? She didn’t know jack about him.
Then why was he getting angrier as each word she spoke hit home?
The wind picked up her curls, causing them to riot around her face. With a quick flick of her fingers, she shoved them away. “You want to know about Jason?”
He waited.
Something in her eyes broke a little. “He propositioned me.”
What the fuck? For a heartbeat, he stood on the rim of a volcano about to erupt.
Then fury hit him and it was too late to jump out of the way of the lava—he was the lava.
He strode back to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Why do you keep finding this kind of trouble with guys?”
“I didn’t have anything to do with it. Not this time. I told you I was learning, making better decisions when it comes to men, and I have.”
He didn’t want to let her go, even as the urge to go find that asshole boss of hers and smash his teeth through his face blazed through him.
“There, I said it—you know what’s been eating at me tonight. Now it’s your turn.” Those green eyes on his face shouldn’t feel like the softest touch, but dammit, they did.
He glared down at her. All he wanted was a taste of her lips. “I’m not telling you about the sheriff.”
“Then don’t tell me. I want to hear you say that I’m wrong about us, that you don’t feel something for me. Tell me, Zayden.”
He tore his gaze away, and she bobbed
her head to the side to capture it again. “Say it,” she whispered, but her words were almost snatched by the wind. A storm was coming—he could smell the sharp tang of snow. And all he wanted was to be holed up with her somewhere quiet and alone, just the pair of them without a stitch of clothes between them.
He made a sound in his chest and released her.
She caught up with him at his truck and got in without even looking his way.
Since he’d picked her up, he had to drive her home. He’d be strong. He wouldn’t let her get under his skin. Wouldn’t put his hands on her.
Is that even possible?
* * * * *
He parked his truck in front of her house. At his side, Esme sat stiffly, scooted all the way against the door. Far from him.
She reached for the handle to jump out, and who could blame her for wanting to escape?
Catching her by the elbow, he swung her in the seat to look at him. When their gazes connected, he issued a sigh that sounded more like a growl.
“I’m an asshole.” His statement dropped into the silence between them.
“Yes, you are.”
“I deserve that. Hell, Esme…don’t go like this.” Oddly, she had become his one and only friend in the world. Maybe she understood more about him than he thought. She heard rumors, but she didn’t toss it all in his face and call him a loser Moon like everyone else.
She shifted her stare from him and refused to look up again. Under his fingers, her arm tensed.
“I’m going inside,” she said quietly.
He managed to unpeel his fingers from her and nodded.
She climbed out and slammed the door. He watched her take two steps up to the sidewalk. She didn’t glance back at him.
He struck the steering wheel with the heel of his hand. “Dammit!”
In a blink, he was out of the truck and striding fast to close the distance between them. When she heard the thud of his boots on the sidewalk, she turned to look, and her jaw dropped.
“You deserve more than me, but I can’t stay away from you…because there’s more between us.” He searched her eyes a split second before crushing his mouth over hers. A sound of wanting burst from her, and he pulled her against him. The wind tore at them, but neither of them seemed to notice as their lips collided with a need driven by animal attraction and fueled by anger.
She angled her head, and he plunged his tongue into her sweet, hot mouth.
“I fucking want you, sweetheart.”
“I know you do.” Her sassy response caught him off guard, and a laugh broke from his chest.
She twisted free of his hold and fumbled in her handbag for her house keys. When she pulled them out, he noted a slight tremor to her hand, and his heart ached to make it right with her.
He watched her put the key into the lock and twist it. She stepped out of the swirling snow and looked up at him.
“Can I come in?” A rough rasp filled his voice.
She stepped aside, and he entered, closing the door behind them. Silence fogged the space between them, and she gulped for air as he moved toward her.
Watching him, she dropped her bag to the floor. Her keys clattered.
He stared into her eyes. “I don’t apologize often, but I’m sorry in advance for not being the man you think I am.”
She unzipped her puffy coat and let it slide off her shoulders to the floor with the rest of her things. Circling his neck with her arms, she tipped her face up to his.
“You’re the only one who doesn’t believe in yourself.” She brushed her lips across his with extreme gentleness he’d never known before. “I believe in you…”
“You’re the only one. But it’s enough.” He yanked her flush against him, his hand under her curls, cradling her head in his palm.
Her lips bowed upward, and her smile sealed his fate. He brought her onto her toes and kissed her. Sweet torment blossomed in his core, but it was more than simple lust this time. Hell, if he was honest with himself, it hadn’t just been lust those other times either. She’d burrowed into his heart that night on the mountain. She’d been in the arms of a complete stranger and hadn’t questioned his past or motives at the time—all she’d done was allow him to keep her safe. Somehow, that was all he’d ever needed.
Breaking from the kiss, he stared down at her. “You trust me, don’t you?”
“With my life. You know that.”
A lump formed in his throat. “With your heart?”
Tears leaped into her eyes. “What are you asking of me, Zayden?”
Hell, he didn’t know himself. Or maybe he did.
“That you take me for who I am.”
She smoothed her fingers over his jaw, rasping his five o’clock shadow. “You idiot. I already do.”
Her calling him an idiot brought another harsh laugh from him, but he gulped it back as he claimed her mouth again. He lifted her and turned for her bedroom.
When he set her on her feet, she pulled his head down and pressed a kiss to his neck. Then another. He groaned as she brushed her lips to his ear and nibbled the lobe. Burning up for her, he ran his hands down her torso, grazing the sides of her breasts as he did. The soft moan echoing from her lips had him as hard as stone.
With a grin, she plucked the hat from his head. She popped his shirt buttons one by one ‘til she could ease her hands over his chest. At his belt, he stopped her.
Their gazes locked, and short pants made her breasts rise and fall.
He tried to tug the hem of her top free of her jeans, but it was stuck. She moaned out, and he looked at her in confusion.
“I’m wearing a bodysuit.”
“What the hell’s a bodysuit?”
“Like a swimsuit. It keeps me from tucking my shirt in and it looks neater.” She unbuttoned her jeans, revealing how the black stretchy cotton ran all the way down.
With a swift jerk, he got her jeans down her hips, and she stepped out of them, wearing the sexiest garment he’d ever seen, though she remained mostly covered.
He slid an arm behind her, drawing her to his chest again. Their mouths hovered a fraction apart. When he dipped his hand to her ass, he didn’t feel any panty-lines.
“You’re not wearing panties.” His cock throbbed.
Her breath washed over his lips. “Another benefit of the bodysuit.”
Holding her stare, he tugged on the cloth and when she moaned, he realized why. The fabric between her legs applied pressure to her pussy.
Yanking it harder, he watched her eyelids droop over her smoldering gaze as pleasure gripped her. Somehow, teasing her this way had him aching more than if she were nude.
Each slight tug had her rising on her tiptoes and rocking. The sight of the black cloth working between her pussy lips made him burn.
He picked her up and tossed her on the bed. She released a startled gasp that became a cry as he thumbed aside the fabric and found her soaked folds. When he dipped the point of his tongue to her slick heat, she bucked upward. The need to hear her scream his name drove every flick of his tongue.
As he yanked the cloth upward again, it gave way in the crotch. Esme giggled. “It has snaps.”
“Easy access.” He painted her juices over her seam, up to her clit before enveloping the hard nubbin with his mouth.
She was still coming when he flipped her over, yanked her ass up with an arm under her middle, and drove into her.
Sinking deep, he fell still. She squeezed her eyes shut on the blissful sensation of his hard length stretching her. She hung over his arm, breathing hard.
“Zayden?”
He twitched his hips, raising another moan from her as the head of his cock struck her deeper.
“Hold still. I need a minute.” His gruff tone reflected the fact that he struggled not to blow. In response, her pussy squeezed around him.
“Hell.” He latched onto her neck and sucked a moment as he churned his hips. She pushed backward. The dam broke loose.
He withdrew slowly,
and she cried out. He slammed in again, and she gulped on a moan. Each blinding thrust stole his mind, and he rode the ledge of a cliff so deep, he didn’t know if he’d ever find the bottom.
She wrapped her arm across his that banded her middle and linked their fingers. He placed his lips to her ear.
“You’re so tight, sweetheart. I can’t stop fucking you.”
“Don’t!”
“Feel my cock stretching your walls? You’re getting so slippery for me. God, you’re soaked, aren’t you?”
The dirty talk made her cry out louder.
“Tell me how good it feels. God…” He growled against her ear.
A ripple of excitement claimed him, and then she clamped down on his thick cock, unearthly noises of ecstasy escaping them both.
Chapter Eleven
Zayden pulled out abruptly, turned her onto her back and kissed her as he drove into her again. The clench and release of her inner walls sucked at him. She was a wild woman in his arms, kissing and rocking with each thrust.
He hooked her ankle over his shoulder, getting a deeper angle, and then it was all over. His roar shook him, and he was helpless against the tumble of feelings accompanying the massive release.
She didn’t care that he was a no-good Moon—she gave herself up to him unconditionally. And damn if he hadn’t just let the last thread of his heart go from his clutches. It fluttered away, out of grasp, and he looked down into Esme’s eyes. What he felt was reflected there.
This wasn’t only hot sex with a beautiful woman. She’d captured his heart.
He had no idea how to move forward, though. He didn’t do relationships.
Her light touch on his jaw drew a final shudder from him, and he collapsed. They rolled so she was pressed to his side, and he tucked her head under his chin, pinning down her wild curls.
For a moment, he couldn’t recall if he’d worn a condom. In the heat of passion, he might have forgotten. But a quick glance down told him he hadn’t totally lost his head, and there wouldn’t be any little baby Moons being born anytime soon.
She turned her lips into his chest. The caress did more to unseat him from the foundation of everything he knew about the world and himself.