by Lori Foster
She cried out, and her whole body jerked. He continued to touch her, circling and plucking and stroking. Her hips thrust toward him, her whole body straining. He could smell her, the fresh, pungent scent of aroused woman.
It had been so long, too damned long. He leaned forward, opened her further with his fingers, and drew her into his mouth, savoring her with a raw sound of hunger and satisfaction. The contact was so startling, so intense, she tried to lurch away, but he gripped her hips in his hands and held her pinned to the tree while he got his fill.
She gave up and with his support, her thighs fell open further, giving him better access, which he quickly accepted, licking and sucking at her hot sweet flesh. Her hands tangled hard in his hair, pulling him closer still.
Zack’s heart punched hard in his chest and his cock strained in his jeans. He couldn’t wait another second. He stood and turned her. “Hold onto the tree.”
Panting, rigid, she looked at him over her shoulder and said, “What..?”
Zack had his jeans opened and the condom out in a heartbeat. He rolled it on, moaning at the sensation of the rubber on his erection, his teeth gritted with the effort of holding back. He stepped up to her, slipped his fingers under her to open her for his entry, and took a soft love bite of her shoulder while he pressed in.
Wynn flattened her hands on the rough bark, bracing herself, groaning with him. He wanted to touch her everywhere, and did. He felt her breasts, rolled her nipples, stroked her belly and below, fingering her until she cried and relaxed and he could sink deep into her.
“Oh yeah,” he rumbled, finally where he’d wanted to be almost from the first second he saw her. He had to catch his breath and his control before he could start the rhythm they both needed. “Tilt your hips. Push back against me, Wynn. That’s it, sweetheart.”
He gripped her hips and helped her. When she caught the frenzied rhythm, he returned to pleasuring her, one hand on her breasts, one between her legs.
Sweat dampened his back though the night was cool. He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated on not coming, on not giving in to the raging need to let go. He wanted her with him, wanted to know that she’d climaxed, that he’d satisfied her. He pressed his face into her shoulder while his every muscle grew taut and rippled and suddenly she went still, holding her breath.
“Yes, Wynn,” he urged her, knowing he was a goner, that he’d last maybe two seconds more and that was it. Her head dropped forward between her stiffened arms and her breath came out in a long, low earthy moan that obliterated any last thread of his control. She didn’t scream, but at the end she said his name on a seductive, satisfied whisper of sound that licked along his spine.
He shuddered as he came, holding her tight and pounding into her, not the least bit worried about hurting her, not when she continued to roll her hips sinuously against him, continued to make soft sounds of completion and satisfaction.
A big woman was nice, better than nice.
He slumped into her, which made her slump into the tree. They both struggled for breath.
A few seconds later, she groaned and shifted the tiniest bit. “Zack?”
“Hmmm.” Their skin felt melded together, her back to his chest, her sweet backside to his groin, the front of his hairy thighs to the smooth backs of hers. He didn’t want to move, not ever.
“The tree isn’t all that comfortable,” she complained. “Do you think we can totter over there to the hammock?”
His legs were still jerking in small spasms. His heart hadn’t completely slowed its mad gallop yet. There was a low ringing still in his ears.
He felt stripped bare down to his soul. His lungs burned. “Yeah, sure. No problem.”
Determined not to crumble, he straightened slowly. He felt like an old man with arthritis, very unsure of his ability to stay on his feet. He removed the condom, dropped it into the grass with the mental reminder to dispose of it later, then tugged his jeans back up.
All that took more effort than he could spare and he nearly collapsed again. Wynn didn’t help, not when she turned and leaned into him. She was a woman, but she was no lightweight. He remembered lifting his petite wife after sex and holding her in his arms. Ha!
Zack eyed the hammock that wasn’t too far away considering they were against the tree supporting it at one end. He slung an arm around Wynn and fell into the canvas. She laughed as the hammock swung wildly, almost tossing them both, but when they stayed more in it than on the ground she snuggled around until she was mostly on top of him.
“Will the ropes hold both of us, do you think?”
“If not, I’ll buy you a new one.”
“You will not.” She leaned up and looked at his mouth, then touched him with a gentle fingertip. In the most sweetly feminine voice he’d ever heard from her, Wynn said, “I really liked what you did.”
Zack closed his eyes and grinned. She’d damn near yanked him bald with her enthusiasm, so he’d assumed as much.
He said, “I told you so.”
“It seemed sort of…kinky.”
Still grinning, he said, “It only seems kinky the first time. Trust me.”
“Did you like it?”
He opened one eye. She looked uncertain. “My only complaint is that once again you pushed me over the edge.”
“I didn’t!”
“I wanted to spend more time tasting you. More time hearing you make all those sweet little squeaking womanly noises.”
He was dead to the world, barely able to drum up a little teasing, and she had the energy to slug him in the shoulder. Luckily he was still numb so it didn’t hurt.
“I do not squeak!”
He smoothed his hand down her back, discovered her dress was still hiked up, and patted her bare bottom. It was a nice big bottom, filling his large hand. “You squeak and you moan and I like it.”
“You did your own share of moaning.”
“Men don’t moan,” he informed her, “they groan. There’s a definite difference.”
“Whatever you say.”
He smiled. “I like how you taste, too.”
She ducked her head and rubbed herself against him.
Because he was too comfortable, too replete, he admitted, “At least I should finally sleep tonight.”
“Are you saying you haven’t slept well lately?”
He used both hands to hold on to her backside and anchor her close. “No. I’ve been as restless as a horny teenager.”
That had her laughing, but she quickly sobered. “My parents are moving in tomorrow.”
Zack yawned. “Yeah, I remember.”
Turning shy on him, she curled her finger in and around his chest hair and said, “I was hoping we could maybe do this again.”
Her meaning sank in and Zack stilled. Ah hell, he couldn’t possibly be expected to get his fill of her in one lousy night! He’d been too primed and ended it too quickly. He hadn’t luxuriated in her, hadn’t explored her as he’d meant to, as he’d thought about doing.
A week, maybe two weeks, would take the edge off. But not one damn night.
“May I assume by your frown that you want to do this again?” Wynn asked.
Zack lifted his head enough to feast on her mouth in a long, slow, wet, eating kiss. When he released her, they were both panting again. “Yeah,” he said, “you can assume that.”
Wynn tucked her head into his shoulder. She had one leg bent across his abdomen, the other stretched out to the bottom of the hammock. Zack had one leg on the outside of hers, the other over the side with his foot firmly planted on the ground so he could keep them swaying.
He mulled over a few possibilities and then asked, “Are your parents the protective sort?”
She snorted. “No.”
He didn’t like how quickly she answered that. Parents should be protective, especially of a daughter living alone. But since he had his own plans, he didn’t say so. “I’ve got stuff planned tomorrow and Tuesday. But Wednesday I should get home from work around eight. By nin
e-thirty I can have Dani tucked away.” His mind conjured all sorts of erotic possibilities and he growled, “Is it possible you could come visit me, say to use the hot tub, and they wouldn’t check up on you?”
Though Wynn didn’t move, the rushing of her heartbeat gave away her excitement. “They wouldn’t think a thing of it. They’re used to me being pals with guys.”
That made Zack chuckle. Damn, she tickled him with her strange replies and stranger relationships. “It’ll be dark by then. I’ll watch for you.”
“Let’s make it ten o’clock. My parents will be in bed by then.”
Her position left her soft sex open and vulnerable to him. Zack trailed his fingertips over her bottom cheeks until he could feel the heat of her. He pressed. “Have you ever made love in a hot tub?”
“No.” She reared up to glower at him, and the heat in her eyes was a combination of suspicion and arousal. Because of where and how he touched her, her voice shook when she demanded, “Have you?”
Zack thought she might be jealous, and oddly enough, he liked that. “No.” He could see her face clearly now, the incredible hazel eyes, the long lashes and the very kissable mouth. “I’ve never made love against a tree before either. Or in a hammock.”
He touched her tender lips, still swollen and wet from their lovemaking, then pushed his middle finger into her.
She panted. “Me, neither.”
With her practically straddling his abdomen, Zack kicked the hammock again, making it rock. She grabbed his shoulders for support. He looked at her naked breasts bobbing and swaying before him and immediately grew hard. “I just might prove successful at all three.”
Wynn made a low sound of agreement. “Based on what I’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”
“I have another condom in my pocket.”
“A man who comes prepared. Incredible.”
Zack started to laugh at that, but then she came down over him, her breasts pressing into his chest, and she kissed him and all he could think about was making love to her again. Wednesday seemed a long way off, so he’d have to make this last. And to do that, he’d have to slow her down.
“Wynn?”
“Hmm?” She continued to kiss his mouth, his chin, his jaw.
“Scoot up.”
She stilled, lifted her head to stare at him. “Why?”
“Because I want to kiss your breasts. And then your belly—you have an adorable belly by the way. And then maybe I’ll even nibble on this sweet rear end of yours.”
Her eyes almost crossed; she swallowed hard. “Are you going to…do what you did to me again?”
He nodded slowly. “Oh yeah. You can bet I am.”
Wynn froze, caught her breath, and with barely contained excitement, she attacked him. For Zack, it was the strangest sensation to laugh and lust at the same time. Strange, but also addictive.
It was well past midnight before he finally dragged his spent, satisfied body into his own house. And as he suspected, he no sooner collapsed onto the bed than he was sound asleep, with a very stupid smile on his face.
CHAPTER 9
“DARLING!”
Wynn jerked so hard at the sound of that loud, wailing voice, she lost her footing on the ladder. It shifted against the gutter, making her yelp and attempt to grab for the roof, but it was too late. Her hands snatched at nothingness.
As if in slow motion, the ladder pulled farther away from the house and Wynn found herself pedaling the air for several suspended seconds before she landed in the rough evergreen bushes with a hard thud. The wooden ladder crashed down on top of her.
“Ohmigod! Wynn! Wynn!”
A flash of red satin blurred in front of her eyes as her father knelt in front of her. The sunlight caught his diamond earring and nearly blinded her. “My baby! Are you okay?”
Her head was ringing and her side hurt like hell. She had a mouthful of leaves and something sharp poked at her hip. Her father began picking debris from her hair, tsking and fussing until her mother showed up and shoved him aside.
“Dear God, you nearly killed her, Artemus!”
Wearing faded cutoffs and a colorful tie-dye smock, Wynn’s mother leaned over her. “It’s a good thing we’re here, Wynonna. You look hurt.”
Wynn could only stare. A good thing? She wouldn’t be hurt if her father hadn’t startled her so. She hadn’t even heard their car arrive. Of course, her thoughts had been on Zack, on that mind-blowing episode the night before, not on her parents’ extended visit. She’d slept little last night, too busy going over and over all the wonderful things Zack had done to her and with her.
Her mother sat back on her heels. “Artemus, will you look at her? I think she hit her head.”
Artemus leaned down and waved his hand in front of her face. “Yoo-hoo, princess? Baby, can you hear us?”
Suddenly Artemus was shoved aside again, but not by her mother. Zack, wearing only jeans that weren’t properly fastened and a very rugged shadowing of beard stubble, crouched down in front of her. “Wynn?” Unlike her parents, his voice was gentle and concerned. He touched her cheek, which she realized had been scraped raw by a bush. “No, don’t move, sweetheart. Just hold still and let me make certain you’re okay.”
Sweetheart? She glanced at her parents and saw them both staring with speculation. Oh dear. Wynn blinked at Zack. “Um…what are you doing here?” It was very early still, not quite seven, and Zack should have been home getting ready for work.
“I was making my coffee when I saw you climb the damn ladder. Before I could get dressed and tell you how stupid you were being, you fell.”
Her mother asked, “You were making coffee naked?”
Without looking at her, Zack said, “No, in my underwear.”
A wave of heat washed over Wynn. Her parents began staring even harder.
Wynn cleared her throat. “My father startled me.”
“Well!” Artemus took immediate exception to that accusation. “If your hair wasn’t in your eyes, maybe you would have seen me coming and you wouldn’t have been startled!”
Zack turned to him to say something, and went mute. Her father was in top form today. He wore a red silk shirt, open at the collar to show a profuse amount of curly chest hair. He had two rings on his fingers, a gold chain around his neck and the big diamond earring he almost never removed. His pressed dark-blue designer jeans were so tight they fit like his skin, and his low boots were polished to a shine. His golden brown hair, so unlike Wynn’s, was parted in the middle and hung nearly to his shoulders.
At Zack’s scrutiny, he tossed his head and huffed.
Zack snapped his mouth shut and turned back to Wynn without uttering a word. “Where are you hurt?”
“Nowhere. I’m okay.” But when she started to sit up, she winced and Zack caught her shoulders.
“No, let me check you.”
“Daddy?”
Dani stood there, still in her nightgown and holding a fuzzy yellow blanket. Wynn smiled at her. “I’m okay munchkin.”
“You’re in the bushes.”
“Luckily they broke my fall.”
Dani smiled. “I saw you on the roof. I wanna get on the roof, too.”
Zack turned so quickly everyone jumped. “Dani, if I catch you even thinking such a thing you’ll be grounded in your room for a month!”
“Wynn did it.”
Zack ground his teeth together. When he turned to Wynn, his expression was no longer so concerned. Now he looked furious. “Wynn will tell you what a dumb stunt that was, won’t you, Wynn?”
Everyone stared at her. Her parents looked particularly interested in seeing her response, and she knew it was because they expected her to chew Zack up and spit him out in little bits. Never, ever, did she let anyone speak to her as he did.
But there was Dani, watching and waiting, and the thought of the child trying to get on a roof made her skin crawl. “I should have waited until there was someone to hold the ladder steady for me, Dani.
Sometimes I do things without really thinking about them. It’s a bad habit.”
Her mother gasped and her father pretended to stagger. After a long second, Zack gave her a thankful nod.
Relieved, Wynn said, “Mom, Dad, this is my neighbor Zack Grange and his daughter Dani. Zack is a paramedic.”
“Well, that explains everything,” her father said with facetious humor.
Wynn winced again as Zack pressed his fingertips over her side. She said quickly, “Zack, my mother Chastity and my father Artemus.”
Dani said, “I like Wynn lots.”
“We’re rather fond of her, too,” Artemus said, and he patted Dani’s head, then frowned at her hair.
Zack paid no attention to the introductions. “Let me get your shirt up and see what you’ve done.”
Chastity laughed.
“No, Zack, really I’m fine, I just… Zack stop it…”
Chastity said, “Oh be still, Wynonna. Let the man have a look.”
Zack looked.
A long bloody scratch ran up and over her ribs almost to her breast. Zack looked furious. “This needs to be cleaned.”
“I’ll take care of it as soon as you let-me-out-of-the-bushes!”
He began checking her arms, her legs. Wynn, peeved at being the center of attention, scrambled out of his reach, gaining more scratches in the bargain. Using the side of the house for support, she stood.
Her efforts ended in a gasp and she almost dropped again. Zack caught her under the arms. “What is it? Your leg?”
“No.” She squeezed her eyes shut and whimpered. Damn damn damn. There was no help for it. Drooping, she said, “It’s my toe.”
“Your toe?” her father repeated.
“My baby toe.” She was balanced on her left leg, so Zack rightfully assumed she’d injured her right toe.
“I’m going to lift you,” he told her. “Tell me if I hurt you.”
“Zack!” The whole situation was going from bad to worse. “You can’t lift me.”
“She weighs more than I do,” her father said.
Wynn gasped. “I do not!” She tried to slap him, but he ducked aside.
In the next instant she found herself securely held against Zack’s bare chest. His arms didn’t shake and his legs were steady. He didn’t appear the least bit strained.