by J. M. Walker
The woman laughed. “Well, since we’re here. I guess I should introduce myself too.” She rose from her stool and came toward me, sitting on the one beside me. “Clara Blanco.” She stuck out her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you.” I returned the handshake, half-expecting to feel something. A jolt of excitement. A newfound energy. But there was nothing. Years ago, Clara would have been the type I had gone for.
Blonde. Blue eyed. Tanned.
Now, her type didn’t do it for me.
Luna .
My body stirred.
I bit back a smirk. She definitely did it for me.
“So how long have you known Ashton?”
“Since I was a kid. How did you meet him?”
“Uh…” Her cheeks reddened. “We met at The Dove Project. He had just finished up some work and one thing led to another.” She laughed. “I’m not usually that type but I was bored. Anyway, it was fun with him, but he ended up telling me about his single friend who needed a kick in the butt. I guess you’re that friend.”
“Yeah. I guess so.” I still wondered what his true intention was with Luna and why all of a sudden, he was acting this way when he never made a move before. “I am sorry for the misunderstanding.”
“Not your fault.” Clara gave me a small smile. “Whoever this woman is, she’s very lucky. Most guys these days would still have gone on the date with me.”
“A couple years ago and I probably would have but I’m not that guy anymore.” I shrugged.
“Good.” Clara finished off her first martini and brought the second one to her lips. “Thank you for the drink.”
I lifted my glass of water. “To a new friendship.”
She smiled, clinking her glass against mine. “Cheers.”
***
(Luna)
“So, he didn’t go on the date.”
“Nope.” I leaned against my dresser, letting out a slow breath of relief.
“You’re sure about that?”
I met Meadow’s gaze. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
She shrugged. “In my experience, guys lie.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I know there are rumors about Zach but they’re not true. He actually told me he hasn’t had sex in over a year.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?” She sat on the edge of my bed, leaning back on her elbows. “Huh. So I guess when you guys finally have sex, it’s going to be hot as hell.”
“Uh…” My cheeks burned. “I don’t think…”
She laughed. “Come on. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. It’s hot. So damn hot.” She fanned herself.
I grinned, shaking my head.
A soft knock sounded on the door. It slowly opened, revealing Piper and Gigi.
“Are we having a party?” Gigi asked, jumping on the bed beside her sister while Piper stood off to the side.
“Ha. Just talking to Luna about Zach and his deliciousness.” Meadow waggled her eyebrows.
“You’re so weird.” I laughed.
“So, what are you going to do about Zach?” Piper asked, joining the girls on the bed.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “He texted that he went to grab his parents some food on the way home from the city.”
“Has your dad left you alone?” Gigi curled her long legs beneath her Indian style.
“He has. For now, anyway.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m just glad Zach never went on that date.”
“Same.” Meadow sat forward. “I could see Ashton doing something like that but not Zach. Not when he loves you. It’s not how he’s wired.”
I coughed. “He does not love me.”
“Right,” the three of them said slowly.
“You guys are insane. He doesn’t love me.” I needed to do something though. I knew what we had was moving past just a friendship, but I needed him to see that as well.
“I think you should go see him. Maybe wear something sexy.” Meadow shrugged. “Get him to beg.”
I laughed. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not? I know he loves you. Hell, we all know it.” She lifted her hand, stopping me from speaking. “You can argue all you want but if what you say is true and that he hasn’t had sex in over a year, think about it, Luna. Why is that? The guy’s hot. He was a whore in high school and then all of a sudden, he stopped? Come on. It’s because of you.”
“Alright, if all of that is true, why hasn’t he made a move?” Although, she did have a good point.
“Maybe he’s scared,” Piper offered.
“Scared of what?” I asked.
“Relationships can be scary.” Gigi shrugged.
“Either way, we know something’s happened between you two. I saw you the other night. You were flushed and your hair was a mess,” Meadow pointed out. “You can’t stand there and tell us, your best friends, that nothing is starting between you two.”
My eyes flicked between them. All three pairs of eyes stared back at me, waiting.
“Fine.” I threw my hands up. “Yes, something has started but I don’t know what else to do. It’s my father.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “It has to be. I don’t know…” I hated not knowing what was going on. Zach felt he wasn’t good enough for me. But what gave him the right to decide that?
“Your dad is scary as fuck, Luna.” Meadow sat forward. “But he is hot.”
I grimaced. “Seriously?”
Meadow smirked. “I can’t help it. Older men turn me on.”
“Ew.” I pushed off the dresser. “Please don’t talk about my father that way.”
“What? He’s only thirty-something years older than me. But I bet he can still fuc—”
“Stop!” I cried, throwing a bottle of lotion at her.
She laughed, catching it in the air.
“You are a twisted individual.” As confused as I was about the whole thing, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay, now that we’ve come to understand just how messed up my sister is, what are you going to do about Zach?” Gigi asked, taking all the fun out of the conversation.
“You had to go there, didn’t you?” Piper nudged her. “Couldn’t we just let Meadow lust over Stone?”
“Blech.” I stuck out my tongue at them. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. Maybe I should just let him go because clearly he doesn’t want to be with me.”
“Please.” Gigi snorted. “He does want to be with you but obviously something is stopping him. We all know he’s had a shitty past. That’s no secret.”
“I just wish he would tell me. Or maybe I’ll just go to his place and talk to him.”
“Talk.” Meadow waggled her eyebrows. “Right. That’s what I always do when I meet up with guys. They really love talking to me.”
“Stop being a slut and let’s focus on our friend’s love life.” Gigi placed her hands on her hips.
“Okay, Mom.” Meadow rolled her eyes. “My sister, the buzzkill.”
“Focus, ladies.” I started pacing. “What would you do?” I stopped when no one answered me. “Nothing? Really?”
“Well…” Meadow looked between all of us. “All of us would say something different, Luna.”
“She’s right.” Piper stretched out her legs in front of her. “I’m also in no position to voice an opinion seeing as my love life is non-existent.”
“Same,” Gigi murmured.
“What about Matt?” I asked her.
“Uh…” Gigi looked away. “We broke up.”
“Good,” Meadow and Piper said at the same time.
“Thank you for your sympathy.” Gigi threw a pillow at them.
“Whatever.” Meadow hugged the pillow against her chest. “Matt’s a dick anyway.”
“I’m sorry, Gigi. I really am.” I looked at Meadow. “What would you do then? If you were me?”
“I would go to him and fuck his brains out but that’s not you. You can’t do casual sex. It’s not in your blood. You need to tell him how you feel.”
“But I don’t know how I feel. That’s the problem.”
“No.” Meadow pointed at me. “You just don’t want to admit to your feelings. But either way. I would go to him and offer just casual sex then. Show him a good time. Let him know what he’s missing out on. Make him see that he needs you and only you. Make him crave that hot little body of yours. But again, that’s not you. That’s me. Or it was. Anyway.” She shook her head. “I’m not suggesting that. Don’t do that.”
“That confused me even more,” I mumbled. “I’m a virgin. You girls know that. I can’t just offer it up to him and be on my merry way.” I raked a hand through my hair. “That’s not how I am.”
“We would never suggest that. That’s what I would do. But I would never expect you to do the same.” Meadow slid off the bed and came toward me. “Listen to me.” She grabbed my hands. “You and Zach are the first of us to finally start something. To get somewhere. Whatever you have to do, whatever it takes, you will get there. Because you are meant to be.”
“When did you become such a romantic?” I asked, shocked at my friend’s words.
She shrugged. “Just go to him. Talk to him. And see what happens from there.”
“I agree with her,” Gigi said.
Piper nodded. “Same. Casual sex is dangerous anyway. Look at what happened with me and the twins. And besides, you deserve more than that.”
“And I don’t?” Meadow threw at her, raising a perfect eyebrow.
Piper rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant.” She looked back at me. “Talk to him.”
Talk. I could talk. Couldn’t I? Looked like it was time to find out.
***
Later that evening, I was standing at the back of Zach’s parents’ place like some damn creeper. I really couldn’t believe I was going to go through with this. It didn’t take much to slip out of my house and drive the few blocks here. I parked a few houses away, so I could go unnoticed. I just hoped that Zach was home and hadn’t gone back to the city after dropping the food off for his parents.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped out from the shadows and ran up the backyard, thankful they didn’t have one of those security lights. No, they had Brogan and Coby instead. Both of them were lethal and didn’t need a security light to tell them when they had an intruder.
Once I reached the sliding glass doors leading to Zach’s room, I paused. Peering into his bedroom, I saw that he wasn’t in there. My heart raced.
Please be home.
Pulling a key from my back pocket, I unlocked the door. Memories of Zach giving me the key years ago, invaded my mind.
“If you’re ever in trouble, you come here. Alright?” Zach held out his palm, a gold key laying on top of it.
“I’m fine,” I said softly.
“I don’t give a shit if you’re fine, Moonbeam. Take the damn key.”
I took that key and kept it on me at all times. No matter what happened or where Zach was, I knew I always had a safe place to go. Not that I had a bad childhood, but my father was overprotective. Sometimes I just needed to get away. But I never actually used the key until now.
Slowly opening the glass door, I waited with bated breath for Zach to appear out of thin air. When he didn’t, I shook my head and forced myself to get it together.
I still wasn’t sure what I was doing but I knew that I needed something. Anything. I needed to prove to him that this was right. That whatever connection we shared as kids, was turning into something more. Something that neither of us could deny no matter how much we tried to fight it.
Slipping into Zach’s room, I quietly shut the door behind me and locked it. Taking in his room, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding.
I had been in his room once but that was only because he needed me to grab his phone. I couldn’t even remember when that was, but I did remember feeling elated that I was in Zach Porter’s bedroom.
My eyes flicked to the large bed sitting against the far wall. It had two nightstands on either side of it. A tall dresser sat against the wall opposite me with a desk to my left. All of the furniture was dark. I imagined that was how his condo in the city was. Dark but inviting. Much like the owner himself.
Shaking my head, I dropped my bag onto the ground and took a step forward at the same time the door opened.
My eyes widened, my heart jumping to my throat.
Zach came into the room, holding his phone to his ear. “Yes, that’s right.” He shut the door behind him and leaned against it. “I know but I met him for dinner. That wasn’t what he agreed on.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. I’ll contact my lawyer.” Zach laughed. “No. I’m not bothering my father with this. He already helped me enough today. Yeah, I grabbed him and my mom food tonight.” He glanced up then, his gaze landing on me. “He has better things to do anyway than deal with a rich pompous…” He laughed again, the deep sound sliding over every inch of me. “Alright, I’ll talk to you later. Thank you for everything. Oh, and I won’t be available the rest of the night.” He hung up the phone and placed it on his end table. “I assume you’re here for a reason.”
“You assume correctly.” I walked over to his desk, pulled out the chair, and sat. “How was your date?” I didn’t know why that question came out. I knew he hadn’t gone on the date, but I still asked anyway.
Zach slowly turned toward me and began rolling the sleeves of his white dress shirt up his thick forearms. “There was no date. You know that. I did see her though.”
My heart jumped. “Y-You did?”
“I did. She wasn’t told that I cancelled the date. I still have to talk to Ashton about that but that’s what happened. I bought her a drink for her trouble.” His dark eyes locked with mine. “Before you jump to conclusions, I was being polite.”
“I would never jump to conclusions.” I couldn’t imagine going on a date and not being told that it had been cancelled in the first place. I hoped the woman kicked Ashton’s ass.
“Good.” Zach took a step toward me. “What are you doing here, Luna?”
“I wanted to talk but now…” I stared up at him as he neared. “I’m not so sure what I’m doing.”
“Are you sure you didn’t come here to try and finish what we started a couple days ago?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, staring up at him as he closed the distance between us.
“No?” Zach stopped in front of me, placing his hands on the arms of the chair and leaning down toward me. “I think you do. So, tell me, Luna. What is it that you want exactly?”
“To talk,” I repeated, unsure as to why I couldn’t just tell him that I wanted to finish what we started. But a part of me wanted to see how this would play out. Call me a masochist but I rather enjoyed driving Zach crazy.
“Luna,” he growled, inching closer.
“What?” I reached out to touch him. My fingers grazed along his jawline, down his thick neck and to his shoulder. “Can’t we just talk? We are friends and all, Zachary,” I purred, knowing he liked it when I used his full name.
His nostrils flared. “What do you want to talk about?” he bit out through clenched teeth.
“Hmm…” Getting a moment of bravery, I brushed my fingers down his chest to his waist. “Tell me why you haven’t had sex in over a year.”
“Luna.”
“Tell me. Were you waiting?” I needed to know. I wasn’t sure why. But I needed to know that there was something between us.
“Yes.” He grabbed my hand, giving my palm a gentle bite. “I was waiting for that special woman.”
“Really?” My heart skipped a beat. “Have you found her yet?”
“I have.” He kissed my fingertips.
“Is she pretty?” I breathed.
“She’s beautiful.” His dark eyes became even blacker. “She has dark hair, curves that could make a grown man weep. Freckles. She’s perfect.”
My heart started racing. “You think I’m beautiful?”
He smirked. “Who says I was talking about you?”
A laugh escaped me. “Well, I know this guy.”
“You know lots of guys,” Zach said, which came out more as a growl.
“Jealous, baby?” I asked, kissing his chin.
“Nah.” He fisted my hair, tugging my head back.
I gasped.
“You see.” He leaned forward, licking up the length of my throat. “I know you don’t want anyone else but me and I don’t want anyone else but you.”
“Prove it,” I demanded, pulling his shirt from the waist of his black pants. “Prove to me that you want me.” I reached my hands beneath his shirt. His abs jumped when I came into contact with his hot skin.
Zach’s body shook like he was trying to rein in on that control he craved. His mouth brushed along the line of my jaw. “It’s been a long time, baby.”
“I know.” I could hear vulnerability in his voice. He was nervous. My chest tightened. But I took a deep breath because if I had to initiate this, I would. “Zach.”
His tongue licked along my ear, sending a hot shiver racing down my spine.
I started unbuttoning his shirt. “What did you tell her when she realized who you were?”
“That I was trying to start something with someone else and that was why I didn’t agree to the date in the first place.”
“Good.”
He chuckled. The sound was dark and delicious as it vibrated through me from where his mouth touched my throat.
When I reached the top button of his shirt, I pulled it free and pushed the fabric off his shoulders.
“You came here to talk.” He shrugged out of the shirt and let it drop to the floor, keeping his mouth at my ear. “What are we doing?”
“I-I…”
“Are we about to have sex, Luna?” he purred. “Are we about to take that next step? Go from friends to lovers?”
I whimpered at the way he growled lovers .
“It’ll be your first time and it’s been over a year for me. I don’t know how gentle I can be. Are you ready for that?”
“Yes.”
He held my head, staring me straight in the eyes. “Are you sure? Because if I do what I want to do, it’ll be pure.” He fisted my hair. “Hard.” Tugged my head back. “Fucking.” As soon as the last word left his mouth, he crushed his lips to mine.