“You won’t be able to save them all.”
“But I can save a few…even one is worth it.”
Zach’s eyes fell on their clasped hands. He stroked the inside of her wrist, that’s when he noticed she’d taken off her wedding ring. He bit his lip to keep from asking why. Maybe the timing she spoke of was her pending divorce. With the pressures of being Michael Wolfe’s wife behind her, she could concentrate on what made her happy. Though he didn’t see his brother standing in the way of anything she wanted.
The waiter stopped by and refilled their wineglasses. Karen ordered a couple of pasta dishes to go for the kids and pushed her plate aside.
“I don’t think we’re going to find out what we need to do for Nolan and Becky this weekend. But we’re going to have to consider where they’ll live.”
“They can’t stay in hotels forever,” Zach said.
“Exactly.”
“Nolan talked about finding a place here in St. George and commuting.”
“Sounds stressful.”
“Lots of people commute. And the cost of living here isn’t as high as California.” Which, if Zach had to guess, Karen would suggest they move to so she could help them.
“An hour commute in LA is standard operating procedure.”
Zach laughed. “We can look into affordable apartments here. I’d be happy to cosign and advance Nolan some money.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.” He turned his hand around hers and laced their fingers together. A small smile played on her pink lips and she squeezed his hand.
“I-I talked to Michael today.”
The mention of his brother’s name made him pause and look away. “Oh.”
“Zach?”
God he loved hearing his name come from her lips. He looked up to find her still smiling.
“I told him…about us. About our attraction.”
He waited for the boom.
“What did he say?”
Her smile was weak. “He asked me to fly you to Canada so he could kick your ass.”
She was still smiling and he couldn’t really tell if Mike’s words were a joke.
“He was shocked. I think. I had to tell him.”
Zach brought her fingers to his lips and kissed their tips. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“We’ve always been honest with each other.”
“How did he really take it?”
She glanced at the ceiling as if it held the answer. “Gracefully. But he thinks the world of you and we already knew about our divorce. So it isn’t as if there’s a wedge between him and me because of you.”
He kissed the place on her finger where his brother’s ring once stood. “You took off the ring.”
“It didn’t feel right wearing it.”
He sat there for several minutes just watching the color of her eyes and the sparkle from the dim lights reflect within them. He wanted to kiss her, hold her…make sure she was OK after what had to have been a difficult conversation.
The waiter dropped off their check. Zach quickly tossed a few bills on the table and led her out to his truck.
The parking lot was dark, and before he tucked her into the passenger seat, he took a moment and gathered her into his arms. She went willingly and tilted her head and lips toward his.
Her arms slid up and over his shoulders as he kissed her. She tasted like wine and smelled like passion fruit and flowers. Exotic flowers that made him think of vast beaches and warm sunshine. Her tongue sought his and he pressed her against the side of the truck. They were breathless when he pulled away. “I want to make love to you,” he whispered.
She shivered and clawed at his back. “I have my own room at the hotel.”
He chuckled against her temple. “Then why are we necking in a parking lot like kids?”
“Because it’s fun?”
Laughing, he pulled her away from the truck long enough to open the door for her. The trip back to the hotel steamed up as she slid across the bench seat of his truck and tucked next to him, her hand resting on his thigh and keeping his cock on high alert.
They said very little as she led the way to her room. She stopped at Becky’s door, knocked, and then handed them the food she’d ordered. The kids thanked both of them and shut the door.
Karen’s hand shook as she slid the key card through the slot.
As soon as she closed the door behind her, Zach set the deadbolt, pressed her back to the door, and kissed her with an urgency he’d never felt before.
He couldn’t touch all of her fast enough. Their lips were on fire. Her breath came in staccato pants that matched his. He’d dreamed of being with Karen from the moment they met. Now, she was reaching under his shirt and fanning her hands over his chest, touching him with the promise of more. When she lowered her hands to his butt and pulled him closer, he groaned, lifted her from her feet, and swung her around to the bed.
They fell onto it together, his leg pressed between hers. “I should slow down, but I don’t think I can,” he said between kissing her and playing with the buttons of her shirt.
“This is crazy,” she said as she tugged his shirt from his shoulders.
“Reckless.” He managed to pop a button free and worked on the next while Karen’s hand slid into the waistband of his jeans.
“Sinful.”
The creamy white of her breasts pushed from the maroon bra. He lowered his lips to her flesh, pressed his tongue against her for a taste.
“Oh, Zach. Yes.”
Finally, the last button was free, and he sent her shirt next to his on the floor. He filled his palms with her breasts, buried his head between them, and inhaled. He knew without a doubt her scent would stay with him forever.
Karen arched her back as he slid a hand behind her to find the clasp of her bra. His fingers slipped once, twice. “I used to be good at this,” he told her.
Her warm laughter worked its way up his spine, or maybe it was her fingernails that were walking up his back and down over his ass.
When her bra popped open, they both laughed.
The dusky rose of her nipples puckered and asked for attention.
Karen stopped laughing when he filled his mouth with her. Her hips ground against his. “So good,” she whispered.
“Perfect.” He moved to her other breast, licked, and sucked his way over every inch of her. He hesitated only when she reached one hand to the bulge in his jeans. “Damn.”
“Please tell me you have condoms.”
He laughed at the stress in her voice. “Of course.”
She sighed and pushed him until he lay on his back, and she straddled his legs. Her blue eyes were heavy with desire as she leaned over him to kiss his chest, his neck. When she nibbled on his jaw, she told him, “I’ve wanted this sexy chin on my skin since the first time I saw you.”
He held her head when she slid her lips over his again. Wet kisses drove him past reason.
She sat up, her swollen breasts shoved in front of her, and reached for the button of her pants. Zach watched, fascinated as she released the button, and lowered the zipper. She spread her hand over her own stomach and let her fingers drift below the level of her panties that peeked at him through her jeans. His eyes snapped away from her little show to find her eyes on him, her lip caught between her teeth.
“Jesus.”
He rolled her over and tugged her pants from her hips, made quick work of his own until they were both bare. Zach slid his hands over her thighs and along the edges of her mound.
She squirmed and moaned with frustration. “Zach, please. We’ve waited long enough.”
The condom was out of his wallet, and in her hands seconds later. The feel of her fingers around him was something he could get used to.
The feel of her foot sliding along his leg, and the scent of her desire as she opened for him had him settling between her legs. Warm heat met him as he moved close and kissed her.
Her eyes flu
ttered open as he sat at her entrance. She was so damn tight as he sought to fill her. If not for the look of pure ecstasy on her face, he would have worried about splitting her in two. His control was ready to snap as she clenched around him.
“Damn, Karen.”
“Everything. Please, give me all of you.”
He pushed all the way in and saw stars. He had to close his eyes and push back the wave of release. He’d not been so ready to explode so quickly in his life.
“Zach?”
He opened his eyes, found her watching him.
“Make love to me.”
Her sweet request moved his hips, sliding alongside her, within her. Her slick body opened for him and he whispered her name as he made her his.
She matched his every stroke and clung onto him as if her body depended on his for survival.
The moment her breathing changed, he angled her hips closer, moved faster, and stared deep in her eyes as she shattered in his arms. He followed her over the edge and knew his life was forever changed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Up until Zach, sex came in two categories…memorable and forgettable. The forgettable exercise held very little space in her brain, and now that Zach dominated the memorable section, Karen was hard-pressed to remember any other man than the one in her arms. She wiggled a leg around one of his and settled into his side like a content kitten lying in the sunlight streaming through a window.
“Wow.”
He chuckled, and the noise rumbled in her ear followed by the faint sound of his heartbeat as it slowed to a safer pace.
“I should feel guilty about that,” Zach said as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Don’t you dare.” She couldn’t feel guilty about something that felt so right. “Too amazing to feel guilty.”
“You can say that again.”
She couldn’t help but wonder what thoughts were running through Zach’s head. Was he thinking about Michael? Was he sated and the itch was gone? The question about Michael she couldn’t ask for fear of opening questions she wouldn’t answer…but the other one…
“Karen?”
“Zach?” They both called each other’s name at the same time, and then laughed.
“You go.” Zach kissed the top of her head.
She couldn’t look in his eyes for fear he’d tell her what she wasn’t prepared to hear.
“Is this…you and I…a onetime thing?”
The hand he used to hold her against him moved to her face and he urged her to look at him. Even in the dark, she saw the concern in his eyes. “Is that what you want?”
She hated the vulnerability in her heart. Karen shook her head. “No,” she whispered.
Zach sighed and traced her cheek with his thumb. “I don’t know how this is going to work, but I want you…this.”
Her heart flipped in her chest. “It’s going to be messy and complicated.”
“My life has been too neat and easygoing for too long.” His eyes sparkled.
“And if the adventure fades?” Damn, where had this insecurity come from? She looked away and swallowed hard.
“Karen.” His voice was only a breath. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
A soft smile met her gaze.
“I have never felt more drawn to a woman in my life. We’ve not been easy and I predict things won’t sail in calm waters, but I’m willing to give this a go if you are.”
What more could she ask of him? He didn’t know their future any more than she did. At least she knew that her marriage was no more than a piece of paper. A soon to be ripped up license that would set her free.
“I want to see where this goes, too,” she told him.
He leaned down and kissed her briefly.
When he pulled away she said, “You were going to ask something.”
Now it was his turn to look uncertain as he opened up. “When are you getting divorced?”
She rested her hand on his chest and leaned her chin on her arm. “Michael is filing when he gets back to LA. The media always manages to get a hold of personal information like that and he wanted to be around to keep the press from hounding me.”
“Isn’t he working in Canada for a few months?”
“Yeah, but he’ll come home in a couple of weeks, file immediately, then fly back to Canada when things die down.” They’d talked about the scheduled day and choreographed it. “Without any contesting, it should be final in six months.”
“You’re sure that’s what you want?” he asked.
She leaned up on her elbows, stared down at him. “Zach?”
He looked at her now.
“If I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t be naked in your bed.”
Her own vulnerability stared back at her.
She kissed him, trying to tell him with her body that he had no reason to worry.
Later, after making love to him again, Karen drifted off to sleep nestled in his arms.
The sound of angry voices outside the hotel door jolted her awake, and the door to their room was kicked open.
“Police. Hands up.”
Zach covered Karen with the blanket and placed himself between her and the flashlight peering in on them. From beyond the door, he heard Becky screaming, Nolan cussing.
“What the hell?” he yelled.
“Hands up.”
The black barrel of a gun stared down at them, a uniformed police officer held it.
“Karen Jones?”
Karen held the covers to her chest with one hand while the other was half in the air. Zach kept his hands visible as he shielded Karen the best he could.
“Yes?”
“Zach Gardner?”
“Yes?”
The officer spoke behind him. “It’s them.”
Another officer pushed into the room and swept his arm in an arc with his pistol pointed at them.
“What’s this about?”
“You’re under arrest.”
Zach’s heart kicked in his chest. “For what?”
“Kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping?” Karen yelled. “What are you talking about?”
The second officer walked through the small room, appeared to conclude there wasn’t any threat, and holstered his gun.
“No! Leave him alone!” Becky’s frantic voice outside the door reached Zach’s ears.
“Becky?” Karen yelled from beside him. “Oh, God…her parents. Zach?”
The realization that those rough waters they’d talked about earlier were crashing all around them settled over him. “You have this all wrong!” he told the cops.
“Save it for the station.”
“Out of the bed,” one of the cops said.
The closest cop waved his gun between Karen and him. “Step out of the bed slowly,” he instructed Zach.
The fact they were both naked and clearly not a threat didn’t seem to dawn on the officer.
Zach didn’t move. “Can you give Karen her clothes?”
One of them picked up her shirt, held it in his fingertips. “You, out.”
With his hands in the air, Zach slid from the bed. “We’ll straighten this all out,” he told Karen.
Only Karen didn’t seem to be listening to him. Her attention was beyond the door of the hotel and on Becky’s receding voice as someone obviously led her away. The sheets had fallen along Karen’s waist, her breasts exposed to the men in the room.
The primal need to shelter her rose up in him.
“Give her the shirt!”
His words snapped the cop out of his thoughts, and Karen’s shirt sailed through the air. She swept it on. “How about my pants?”
“Step from the bed.”
Their guns were still drawn, which made Zach’s brain itch.
“We’re not armed. Jesus.”
“That’s not what we were told. Step from the bed Ms. Jones.”
“Dammit.”
“It’s OK, Zach.” Karen kicked the sheets away and stood before the police half-naked. H
er cheeks flushed. “Happy? Can I have my pants now?”
Nerves fired over every inch of Zach’s skin.
To the cops’ credit, they weren’t staring at Karen, and one was already reaching for her pants and patting them down. Once he was convinced there weren’t any hidden weapons in the clothing, he tossed the pants to Karen.
Only when she was clothed did Zach address his naked state. He pulled on a pair of jeans, stood by, watched as the officer twisted Karen around and slapped her wrists with metal cuffs. Never mind that they were doing the same thing to him. It was Karen and the look of horror on her face that would stay with him.
A third cop entered the room and started stripping the bed, dumping the overnight bags. “Where’s the gun?”
“What gun?” Zach asked. “We don’t have any weapons. You have this all wrong.”
“Don’t let Becky’s parents take her. She’s not safe with them.” Karen’s voice wavered.
The police exchanged glances.
The police officer closest to Zach grabbed his arm. “You have the right to remain silent…”
He didn’t hear anything the man said. His focus was on Karen.
Karen’s focus was on the door. “Her parents beat her. Please. Don’t let them leave with her.”
Becky screamed from outside.
Handcuffed, Karen started for the door. The officer closest to her grabbed her arm and swung her against the wall. The crack of Karen’s face against the hard surface had Zach pushing against the cop holding him.
“Karen? Fuck, leave her alone.”
“Get him out of here.”
Two cops grabbed each of Zach’s arms and shoved him out the door and into the night. He struggled against them, looking over his shoulder to witness them leading Karen out behind him. A small trickle of blood ran down her face from a cut above her eye.
Outside, police cars were parked everywhere. He saw Nolan in the back of a squad car.
Bystanders were surrounding the scene, flashes of light filled the night as someone took pictures.
His eyes saw stars as he tried to adjust to the flashing.
Karen continued to yell at the police to keep Becky safe, even as they were shoving her in the back of a waiting car.
Right as someone pushed Zach in to a separate car, his eyes fell on a lone, familiar figure in the crowd.
The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday Page 22