In spite of everything that had happened between them, he couldn't allow Zoe to interfere with Quinn's life—not this time.
Which meant this was the one last chance for him to sabotage her.
"You know, I don't know what to do," she said.
"Well." He thought quick. "All I have left is one more place, but it seems really out of reach now."
"Anything is good at this point." She shrugged. "What do you think?"
"I think there's a place in Nag's Head, about four hours from here, where Quinn and I went on a college trip once. She really loved it there, so it's not so out of the question that she might have made the trip."
"Well…" she hedged. "I guess we don't have any better options."
They didn't. And what was more, by the end of their trip to Nag's Head, he was going to see that she changed her tune and made up with her sister. By the end of this weekend, she was going to learn to take risks in love and in life.
Best of all, he knew exactly how he was going to do it.
The whole way to North Carolina, Zoe hardly knew what to say.
It had been a mistake, what had happened between them last night. But even now, thinking of the hot weight of his body pressed against her, she couldn’t bring herself to feel like it had been wrong.
Now, every time Ian tried to make small talk or said anything at all, she found herself jumping in surprise and letting out little murmurs of understanding before falling silent again.
About an hour into the trip, though, he turned to her and said, “What are you thinking?”
She knew she couldn’t lie anymore. She couldn’t spend another four hours surrounded by his energy and all the reminders of what they’d done the night before without coming out and saying it. “Last night was a mistake.” Though she rushed out the words, they were met with silence.
“Look,” she pressed on. “I hope you understand. It’s just that I don’t know what came over me.”
More silence stretched between them, punctuated by the lack of radio. She laced her fingers in her lap, waiting for him to say something—anything—but nothing came.
“I’m sure I disappointed you, but—”
“You’ve got to think an awful lot of yourself to think the idea of you never sleeping with me again is a disappointment.”
She blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“I’m just saying. Little conceited, don’t you think?”
“No actually. I thought I was being nice and—”
“And turning me down even though you don’t mean it?” he challenged.
“I most certainly do mean it.”
Another pause punctured the air, and she huffed out a sigh. “Well, aren’t you going to say anything?”
“Nope.” The word sounded with a little pop.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t have to. You already know you’re wrong.”
Fat drops of rain started plopping onto the windshield, and he flicked the wipers on before glancing at her.
“What do you mean?” she demanded.
“You already know exactly what I mean. I know you’re just trying to talk yourself out of something you want because that’s how you stay in your safe little bubble.”
“My bubble, is it?” She raised her eyebrows, and he nodded.
“Exactly. You’re scared of how much you want me, and now you’re going to try to lie to me in order to get away with hiding.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” she said then turned to face the view as a barrage of rain pelted the window.
He pulled over, and she turned to glare at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I think I can’t see the damn road,” he said. “We’re stopping here until the storm passes.”
“Oh. Right.” She took another deep breath then moved to turn on the radio, but he slapped her hand away.
Rain continued to stream against the windows, and she stared out of the foggy windshield at the streaks of green that was the outside.
“You’re not right about me, you know,” she said, though it sounded lame even to her own ears. “I trust plenty. I’ve had boyfriends.”
This time it was his turn to huff.
“Something to say?” she challenged.
“Not at all. Just surprised you’d call that collection of misfits boyfriends, that’s all.”
“Sounds an awful lot like jealousy to me.”
“Then you don’t know what jealousy sounds like,” he shot back. “All your boyfriends were safe choices that, thankfully, didn’t work out for one reason or another. If fate hadn’t intervened to save you, you would be trapped in some loveless marriage with a math teacher from Hamden by now.”
“You don’t know that.”
“But I do.” He nodded. “I remember Jimmy, you know. And Arthur, the scientist who went away on research. And Fred, the accountant.” He said the word like it was code for “drug dealer.”
“What’s wrong with dating teachers and accountants? Construction wasn’t so fancy a job last I checked.” There. Let him handle that one.
“You and I both know that doesn’t mater. I know you—way better than any of those guys ever did.”
“After three days?”
“Yes. Because you know what? I know what you want to do with me right now, know that you want to be with me again. That every time you look at me you can practically feel my skin on yours because I feel the same way when I look at you.”
She opened her mouth and closed it. She wanted to argue, but what he’d said—every bit of it was true.
“You have nothing to say because you know I’m right.” His eyes gleamed even in the dim light of the car. “Now give in.”
And maybe it was something in the tapping of the rain against the glass, or simple the heat of his stare, but she found herself moving closer to him and saying, “Yes.”
Nine
He stripped off his clothes quickly, never bothering to stop kissing her or touching her as he went. When he was finally naked, he pressed her down against the cold truck bed and rubbed his aching cock against her. Rain thundered all around them, and in the distance, he heard a crack of lightning, but he didn’t care. In this moment, it was all about Zoe.
Having Zoe. Keeping Zoe.
Slowly, gently, she peeled away her clothes, too, pulling her sundress over her head to reveal a simple white bra that had already gone see-through in the rain. Her white panties had done the same, and he hooked his thumb beneath the elastic to slide them down with deft, sure determination.
When he saw her completely naked and laid out for him, his breath caught. If he was honest with himself, he'd imagined stripping her of her clothes, little by little, until he could see every curve of her body since the very start of their drive together. But here, with her hair damp and her pale skin dotted with water, she looked beyond perfect. Like a mermaid princess brought to live on land. And to have her here? In the back of his truck? It was even sexier than he could have imagined, so raw and intimate and… dirty.
His cock throbbed harder, and he reached between her legs to find her wet, waiting sex. She was so wet that her thighs were slick against his touch. He held his breath for a moment to keep himself from fucking her right then and there.
"Please tell me nobody can see us," she yelled over the torrential downpour, and he shook his head.
"Not a soul." His words were practically a groan as he pushed a finger inside her and toyed with her waiting heat. Even against a single finger, her channel was tight. He sucked on her throat hard enough to leave a mark, and she arched into him, hissing her pleasure as he sucked harder.
He'd imagined himself sinking between those silky thighs for so long. Nibbling her perfect skin. Sucking on her hard clit until she bucked and begged and moaned. And now was finally the time. The first time had only been a fuck, a way to release the tension that had been building between them for days.
But now…
She walked her
fingers over the plane of her stomach until she found the juncture of her thighs. With two fingers, she caressed her bud and arched into the touch. Like she had done when he touched her there.
In the dim light of the stormy afternoon, he could see the shine of her juices on her lower lips, and he licked his own lips, dying for a taste of her. When he couldn't control himself any longer, he lowered himself between her legs and lapped her core, pushing his tongue into her with all the ferocity of a wild animal. Just as quickly, though, she pushed him away.
"What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head, the damp curtain of her hair slapping her face. “I just… I just wanted to look at you.”
The sweet smile on her face was too much, and he grasped the back of her neck and pulled her to his lips, kissing her so deeply that his head swam.
When he pulled away, he said, "You want me to lick you, too."
"I do. My pussy tastes good on your tongue." She swept her tongue into his mouth again, twirling it around so that she could taste every angle of him. He bit her bottom lip, if only to keep himself from fucking her right then and there.
His ears were pounding, drowning out every noise but his own insistent heartbeat and the thundering of his blood. This was beyond want. This was pure, animalistic need.
Gently, he pushed her back and dove between her thighs, pushing her hand aside even despite her insistence. In the background, he heard another crack of loud, angry thunder, but he didn't care.
Her fingers weaved into his hair as he lapped her center, up and down, until he pulled back and massaged her thighs. His lips found a tiny mole on her inner thigh and he sucked the spot, hoping to create a mark to match the one on her neck. That mark was for the rest of the world, so they'd look at her and know that she was his. This one? This was all for her. So that whenever she looked at her pussy—when she was changing or naked or bathing—she could remember the feel of his lips. Of his tongue gliding along her slit. Of the way he plunged into her until she shook and moaned and still didn't stop. Because he never, ever wanted to stop touching her.
"I'm going to lose it," she rasped. Her fingers had a vice grip on his hair, but he didn't care. She could pull at him until he was bald. His tongue continued to fuck her insistently, and every quake of her thighs was a little confirmation of his prowess. A little reminder that Zoe was well and truly his.
When he was done, he pulled her close to him then dragged her back until she was flush with the back of the cab. Gently, he cupped her bottom and pulled her onto his lap so that her hot pussy was only inches from his cock. He sat cross-legged on the steel truck bed, and she circled him with her legs, stabilizing him in place before moving to kiss his throat and ear.
For a long moment, they said nothing. He just felt the wave of warmth that surged through him at every new, gentle kiss she gave him. He breathed deep, loving the scent of her—something sweet and clean that wasn’t tainted by the salt and earth of the rain. When she kissed the base of his neck, he took her face in his hands again, and as he pulled her in to feel her lips, he gripped her hip and guided her onto him.
It was slow at first, and she moaned as he slid deeper and deeper into her, her tight channel stretching to accommodate him. “God, this feels even better than I—” Her breath caught when he’d buried himself to the hilt, and he pulsed inside her, filling her with his thick length. She shuddered on top of him, bucking slightly before relaxing onto him again.
Still, he pulled her in for another kiss. Their bodies would find a rhythm with each other without either of them thinking about it—he knew it instinctively. And if he kissed her now and focused on the slow drag of his tongue over the slit of her mouth, then maybe he could keep himself from pulling her hips against him so hard that she bruised.
There would be times when he wanted and needed to have her that way—fast and furious—but right now wasn’t one of those times. He tweaked one of her nipples between his forefinger and thumb and then rubbed the pad of his palm against the underside of her breast, smiling as she rolled into him again, pushing herself still deeper onto his cock.
“Kiss me. I want to feel your lips,” he ground out. And with his thumb still gliding back and forth over her sensitized nipple, she bent down and met his lips, only breaking away occasionally to let out little gasps. His other hand stroked the length of her abdomen until he reached her other breast and took it in hand as well, working her tender skin until her gasps turned into gentle whimpers. She drove onto him over and over again, meeting every pinch of her stiff cherry tips with an insistent plunge. Her pussy quaked against his shaft so hard that he nearly lost himself in her heat. But still, he kept kissing her.
As much as he wanted those kisses to be soft and meaningful, he couldn't contain himself for long. Not with the way she moved against him.
And once again, he knew it was all for him. When she spoke, it was as if she'd read his mind. "This is what I was thinking about when you watched me before. Me on top of you, giving you every little bit of pleasure you could ever want." She pulled away, almost until he was completely removed from her, then with maddening prowess, she squeezed his head with her tight pussy, bobbing herself up and down on his sensitive tip.
"Jesus, Zoe, I—"
She hushed him then without warning, pulled him in so completely that he nearly came right then and there. Zoe grabbed edge of the frame behind her, and once she'd completely braced herself, she pushed in and out of him with all her might, putting her body on full display as she fucked him. Even in the darkness of the night, he could see every inch of her body as she placed her feet on either side of him. The smoothness of her legs. The cute brown mole on her inner thigh and…
And his cock moving in and out of her as she fucked him harder and harder still. He braced her hips, trying his best to control himself, but everywhere he looked only made it that much harder not to come. The way she moved made her breasts bounce up and down like she'd put them on display just for him. And her face as she moved was even more heart-shattering. That pouty mouth of hers was a perfect o as she clenched harder, her cheeks getting darker by the second as the pace quickened and she—
Fuck.
The world swam in front of his eyes as the walls of her pussy shook so hard against him that he couldn't control himself anymore. He joined her in her orgasm, watching the racking swell of pleasure consume her. Listening as she finally shrieked his name so loud he was sure the car windows might break. He gripped her breasts, her hips, anything he could get a purchase on, and the need surged through him, burrowing deep in his core before shooting through his muscles and centering again on his pulsing, needy cock.
He fucked her so hard that he would have been amazed if she could move afterward, but based on the desperate gleam in her eye, neither of them cared what happened next. All that mattered was right now. The come shot through him hard and fast as a wave of euphoria rushed through all of his muscles. When he finally lay back, Zoe didn't move from him. Instead, she remained on his lap, his cock still twitching and spent inside her as she collapsed onto his chest. He listened in the silence as her panting became even, normal breaths, and when he was sure she'd come back down, he caressed her long mane of blond hair.
Ten
Once she pulled up to the bed and breakfast in Nag's Head, Zoe knew instantly why her sister might be drawn to the place.
Carriage houses with window boxes filled with fresh wildflowers dotted the property, and each had a little cobblestone path that led to the main house.
"I called ahead. We should be in cabin four," Ian said. "I'm just going to duck in and grab a key, but you can go ahead if you want."
She made her way down the path to the little baby blue building and took a deep breath.
Logically, she knew Quinn wasn't here. Just looking at the place, Zoe knew Quinn wouldn't be able to afford it. But the idea of finding her seemed less and less like the main priority. After everything that had happened in the car…
; Well, spending time with Ian didn't sound like such a bad prospect. Especially not in a romantic place like this.
Taking another deep breath, she thought back to the feel of his weight on her body, the cool splash of rain on her skin, and the cold feel of the metal truck bed. The memory alone made her shiver with longing, and she was torn between stripping off her clothes as soon as she walked through the door and showering off the summer rain.
Maybe we could just shower together… Two birds and all.
A branch snapped behind her, and she turned to find Ian approaching with the key in hand.
"Perfect place, huh?" he asked.
She nodded. "Absolutely breathtaking."
She followed him inside quickly, smirking openly at the heart-shaped bed.
Ian shrugged. "It was the only cabin available," he said.
"Right." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure."
"I'm gonna take a shower." His eyes darkened. "But I'm afraid I'll be lonely."
"Oh no." She gave him a mocking frown and took another step toward him. "Well, would you like some company, then?"
He gave her another wicked grin, and she laughed.
"Go start the water. This place is probably pretty old so the heater might take a minute," she said, and he nodded before disappearing into the bathroom.
Quickly, she peeled away her damp clothes and then lugged her suitcase onto the bed. She wasn't sure she'd need any of this—she didn't plan on dressing for a solid 24 hours—but just in case, she pulled her white satin robe from the contents.
"Almost ready," Ian called, and Zoe smirked to herself.
Ian was with her. She and Ian were a pair.
God only knew what Quinn would think of that, especially after all Zoe's years of disapproval. No doubt she'd have a hearty little "I told you so" ready for her, but Zoe couldn't bring herself to care much about that either.
Ian made her feel like nobody had ever made her feel before, like she was special and important and unique. As if, so long as he was around, someone would always be there supporting her, helping her.
Ride: Hearts Wild Series Page 7