by Dylann Crush
First step: find a place to stay. Based on the amount of signage he’d seen on his way to the clinic, this town had to have at least a two-star hotel chain. He crossed his fingers and hoped for a three-star room. It would be nice to treat Reagan to a halfway decent place after the questionable accommodations they’d shared the night before. By the time she returned to the car he’d put in an order of Chinese takeout and had a reservation for a king room right up the highway.
“How’s the beast?” he asked as she settled in the passenger seat.
“They’re taking her back to surgery and will text me to let me know how she’s doing. Poor dog. Do you think she belongs to someone?”
Zach reversed out of the parking spot and followed the GPS to the restaurant. “Looked like a stray.”
“That’s what the vet said. Where are we going?”
“Dinner, then a shower, then a bed. Maybe not in that exact order. We’ll be at the car place when they open at ten and get back on the road. Sound good?”
Reagan groaned. “No. It doesn’t sound good at all. But what other choice do we have? I’ve got to get there tomorrow. There’s so much to do.”
Zach reached for her hand and gave her what he hoped was a comforting squeeze. “You’ll be there. I’m going to make sure.”
She drew their clasped hands into her lap. “Thanks so much. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t run into you.”
The twinge surfaced again, a sharp pain this time. You’d probably pull off the secret wedding of the decade without the paparazzi finding out. He’d deal with that later. Right now, he had more pressing issues to think about, like sinking his teeth into some fried rice and then, hopefully, sinking himself into Reagan.
She chatted and joked while they picked up the food, right up until they checked into the hotel room and her eyes took in the king-sized bed.
He walked past her to set their takeout bags on the desk. “Will this work? Based on what you said before, I figured a king would be better than two doubles?” Doubt plunged into his gut like an anchor. What if he read her wrong? Was he pushing too hard, too fast?
He walked back to where she remained in the doorway. “I can get you your own room, if you want. It’s not a big deal.”
Finally, after too many long heartbeats to count, she rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “The room is perfect, Zach. Don’t change a thing.”
Relief surged through him, and he relaxed his jaw. “Well, I am going to change one thing—my clothes. I’d love to jump in the shower real quick. Do you want to go first?”
“That would be great. Any chance I can borrow another T-shirt?”
Zach unzipped his bag and pulled out a clean shirt.
She shook her head as she snagged the shirt from his hand. “We’ve got to work on your wardrobe.”
A few minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, her hair wrapped up in a towel. The T-shirt he’d given her barely grazed the top of her thighs. Although he’d rather forego dinner and get a taste of Reagan instead, there was plenty of time for that later.
He ducked into the bathroom to wash his hands and took a good look in the mirror. Dried blood from the dog smudged his T-shirt and he whipped it over his head. Within five minutes he’d showered and pulled on a clean pair of boxers. As he walked back out to fix a plate of food and finally get something into his rumbling stomach, Reagan paused, fork in mid-air.
“Is there a problem?”
She looked at her plate, shoved the fork in her mouth, chewed and swallowed. “No, no problem. What makes you think that?”
His lips quirked into a grin. “How’s the food?”
Reagan took a long sip from her bottle of water and wiped a napkin across her lips. “Good. Who knew good cashew chicken existed in Georgia?”
He fixed a plate then climbed onto the bed and sat down across from her. Her gaze darted to his naked chest then she focused her attention back on her plate. Zach enjoyed her discomfort a little more than he should have. She looked damn good in his shirt and would look even better out of it. But a battle raged within him. He’d never considered Reagan Campbell to be a one-night stand. There was so much at stake. Could he really go through with things tonight and still be able to leave her in Miami?
And what kind of expectations would she have? He’d toyed with the idea of settling down over the years, but he wasn’t a nine-to-five kind of guy. And he would never pass the daddy-approval test. Senator Campbell made that damn clear all those years ago. So what the hell was he doing?
They ate in silence, each lost to their thoughts. Hell, she probably regretted the “yes” from earlier, anyway. She was too uptight to throw caution to the wind. Reagan finished her meal and tossed her plate in the trash.
He emptied the two containers of food and cleaned up the dinner mess then plopped down on the bed. “Reagan, about earlier, when you said ‘yes’—”
“Oh, if you changed your mind, I totally understand.” Her face tinged pink.
Changed his mind? Like hell he’d changed his mind. “I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
“Hey, you never ate your fortune cookie.” Reagan picked up the cellophane wrapped fortune cookies and held them out to him in her palm.
“Oh, yeah? Well, let’s take a look.” He picked up the cookie closest to him. “You ever play the game where you add ‘in bed’ to the end of your fortune?”
“No, but I’m not surprised you’re suggesting it.”
“You first.”
She unwrapped the cookie and broke it in two. Her gaze flickered over the small piece of paper.
“Come on. What’s it say?”
“Read yours first,” she said.
“Fine.” He cracked his cookie open and read the fortune. “Your search for happiness will rekindle an old relationship…in bed.” Zach didn’t put much faith in the pre-packaged hokey fortunes, but this one seemed a little too on target. “Your turn. What’s yours say?”
“Does yours really say that?”
Zach nodded and held it out to her.
She shook her head and read her fortune. “The next few days are a lucky time for you. You can take a chance… in bed.”
“Ha. And does yours really say that?”
She angled the tiny piece of paper toward him. He climbed onto the bed to take a look. Reagan shifted away from him slightly.
“Hey, I’m not going to bite or anything.”
Her eyes widened, and he couldn’t help but smile at her reaction. Then she ducked her head and focused her attention on the bedspread.
“What if I want you to?” Barely more than a whisper, her voice took on a husky roughness that rubbed along already raw nerve endings.
He cupped her chin with his hand and lifted her face to meet her gaze. The emotion he saw there almost made him turn away. Hope, hesitation, and something else. Something that looked a lot like desire.
Reagan met his stare then looked away. “I’m not sure how this works, sorry, I’m—”
Zach put his finger to her lips, stopping her words. “There’s no agenda, cupcake. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
She nodded then lifted her heavy-lidded gaze to his. Her teeth captured her bottom lip, drawing his attention to her mouth. God, did she even know how sexy she was? The towel slid off her head and her hair hung in damp strands around her shoulders. He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. She shivered.
Where was the brash, opinionated backseat driver he’d been carting to Florida? She’d left this nervous, deer-in-the-headlights ingénue behind in her place. Much like their botched first intimate interaction, an awkward silence descended.
“Nobody’s going to interrupt us this time, I promise.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “I know. Doesn’t make me stop thinking about it, though.”
“Yeah, that was a crazy night.” He tried to remember what kind of moves he’d made on her all those years ago but coul
dn’t. Probably said something he thought was super smooth at the time.
“Do you remember what you said to me?” she asked.
“You mean after you started to hiccup?”
“Yes, after the hiccups.”
Zach shook his head.
“You asked me if I trusted you.”
Damn, that’s right. She’d been so nervous around him. He’d promised her the same thing back then—that they didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to. “I remember now.”
Her hands fisted in the hem of the T-shirt she had on. “I said yes, then, Zach, and I still trust you now.” She lifted the shirt over her head. The dim light played over her bare skin.
A puzzling combination of sensations slammed into him all at once. First, the twinge cut through him, causing him to draw in a sharp breath. At the same time the sight of her bare-chested and so obviously ready to give him access to the most sacred, private part of her ignited a heat deep within him that radiated out, sending a scorching wave of desire through him.
Reagan’s hands reached for the waistband of his boxers. He slid them down his legs and let them drop to the ground as he climbed onto the bed and knelt in front of her. Could he go through with this? Every part of him urged—hell yes.
Reagan wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She’d been here before. Not this hotel room, of course, but she’d been in this situation with Zach a million times in her head. Somehow the in-the-flesh version of him was so much better than she had imagined. Now that she had access to the raw material, it would be that much easier to keep the fantasy alive for the next time she wanted to conjure him up in her dreams.
Tanned, chiseled, broader than she remembered, his chest centered at her eye level. Making a conscious effort to avoid looking down, she let her gaze travel up his pecs, over the couple days’ growth on his neck and chin, and settle on his mouth.
Her fingers itched to run over Zach’s irresistible bod, to see if he truly felt as hard as he looked. Reagan rose to her knees, positioning herself within inches of him. He made a move like he was going to wrap his arms around her but stopped himself. She went to circle his neck, but her hands fluttered in the air, unwilling to make the first contact.
“Are we going to kneel here and look at each other all night?” Zach joked.
“Maybe this was a bad idea. I’m so out of practice, forget—”
Her words disappeared as his lips touched hers. They stayed that way for a long moment, their lips the only point of connection between them. Then Zach’s hands settled on her hips and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to hers, increasing the intensity of their kiss.
Their bodies slid to the mattress, settling in a tangled mess of arms and legs on the bed. His hands skimmed over her stomach, leaving a trail of goose bumps in their wake. She tangled her fingers in his hair and let her other hand dip between them, finally allowing herself to test the hard planes of his chest.
He was so much more than she’d fantasized about. In every way. When he’d first invaded her dreams, he’d been seventeen and they’d only made it to second base. A lot of detail had to be filled in by using her imagination. Seeing him in the flesh, her chest pressed against his, his legs twined with hers, was so much better than she pictured. His mouth moved from her lips, trailing kisses from her cheek to her ear. A cascade of shivers raced down her side, from her head to the tip of her toes.
“You cold?” Zach whispered in her ear, sparking another wave of tingles.
“No, I’m perfect.”
He levered himself up on his hands and let his gaze sweep over her entire body. “Yes, you are.”
She put a finger to his lips. “That’s not what I meant, silly.”
His teeth nibbled on the tip of her pointer finger then he sucked it inside his mouth, swirling his tongue over and around. Watching him devour her with his eyes and his mouth was one of the hottest things she’d ever seen. Until he dipped down and worked his mouth from her neck to her navel. Her hands fisted in the sheets and her chest rose and fell with each deep breath in an attempt to keep from bucking her hips off the bed.
Zach kissed her stomach, running his tongue around her belly button and moving his hands underneath her, cupping her ass.
Her hips moved on their own; she couldn’t stop them if she tried. But she didn’t want to stop. She wanted more—more of Zach, more of this, more of everything. Her teeth captured her bottom lip to keep from crying out as Zach’s kisses moved lower, over the sensitive flesh of her pelvis, down to her inner thigh.
His shoulders nudged her legs farther apart. He lifted his head to meet her gaze. “Still okay, cupcake?”
She managed a nod which he must have taken for a yes. Because he gave her a megawatt I’m-about-to-blow-your-world-apart smile then lowered his head and introduced his tongue to the one spot where she’d been silently begging him to go. And that became the hottest thing she’d ever seen. Until she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore because she came undone under Zach’s talented tongue. Better than anything she could have imagined or fantasized about, the feel of his mouth, his breath, took her to the edge, and carried her over. She tried to suppress her moans, but Zach chose that moment to add his fingers to the effort and his name escaped through her lips.
“Zach…I’m…oh…”
She free-fell into her orgasm, letting it ricochet through her body. Zach didn’t let up until she begged. Her flesh, teased beyond the point of release, had become super sensitive and the feel of his scruff on her inner thighs tickled.
Her hands tangled in his hair and she tugged, separating his mouth from her skin. He let her legs fall and she tried to reach his shoulders, to pull him up to her.
He rose to his hands and knees, crawling up her body, one kiss at a time. Her hands raced over his shoulders, his ribcage, his waist, and finally grabbed onto his rock-hard ass. Face-to-face, he licked his lips and she lifted herself up to meet his mouth with hers. She’d never tasted herself on a man’s mouth before. With Zach, it seemed natural and the thought of where his lips had just been had her ready for another round. She tried to nudge him to the side but he didn’t budge.
“Roll over,” she finally said.
His mouth quirked up in a half-smile. “What do you have in mind?”
“Turnabout’s fair play.”
“Who said anything about playing fair?” he asked.
She took his ear lobe between her teeth. “I said roll over.”
In a single fluid motion, he wrapped his arms around her back and flipped them so she sprawled out on top of him.
“That’s better.” Reagan kissed his jaw, running her tongue down his neck and focusing on the point between his collarbones, the little divot she’d spent so much time admiring from afar.
His hands lightly traced up and down her back, over her butt and up her hips. When she rose up to her knees to continue trailing kisses down his chest and navel he cupped her breasts and she paused, enjoying the feel of his hands on her chest. Her nipples hardened as the pads of his thumbs rubbed over them.
“You’re gorgeous, Reagan.”
“You’re horny, Zach.”
“Damn straight. But you’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
She shook her head, finding that hard to believe. “You need to get out more.”
He propped himself up on his elbows. “Hey, I get out plenty. I mean it.”
Bet he says that to all the women he has in his bed. Reagan didn’t want to ruin the moment by letting herself think about how many women he might have seduced with compliments like that, so she focused on sliding down his body and taking her first look at what exactly Zach had to offer. From what she’d felt nudging into her leg earlier, she knew she was in for a treat. But how much of a treat still shocked her when she saw a piece of metal piercing through Zach’s very aroused hard-on.
“What is that?” Reagan asked.
Zach crossed his arms be
hind his head and shrugged. “I was in Thailand, had a little too much to drink and let a buddy talk me into a little embellishment. Does it bother you?”
Reagan wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Does it hurt?”
“Um, no. It’s actually, uh, well, quite the opposite. I can take it out if you want.”
She reached a finger out to touch the metal ball at the tip. God, she’d never so much as even dated a guy with his ear pierced or a tattoo. But that didn’t mean it didn’t send a little thrill through her, seeing such an intimate part of Zach’s anatomy sporting a bit of metal.
“Reagan?” Zach asked.
She gathered her hair in one hand and held it back behind her shoulders, then dipped down and let out a long breath next to Zach’s piercing. He hissed in a breath. His eyes closed halfway, lending him a dark, sexy, edgy look that made her want to drive him crazy with her touch. Keeping her eyes on him, she let her tongue reach out and caress his tip.
While he watched, she lowered her mouth over him and eased him in, the metal clicking against her teeth as it passed. Zach’s hips made a slight thrust, sending him deeper into her throat. She wrapped her hands around the base of his hard-on and stroked while she eased him past her lips, in and out, over and over again. His eyes closed completely, and he moved to the rhythm she set for them, fisting his hands in the sheets.
“I’m close, if you want to move…” His words trailed off, and she stayed with him as he strained, reaching his release.
She loved the fact that she could make him feel so good after what he’d done for her. He was wrong, he was the beautiful one, not her. Swallowing, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and let her gaze drift over him, committing the moment to memory. A slight sheen of sweat covered his skin. He didn’t even have any tan lines. Either God had gifted him the bronzed skin tone or he spent a fair amount of time naked in the sun. If Reagan had to guess, she’d bet on the latter.