“Zoey, that’s not –” Kaleb tried again, his legs once again working, so he pushed to his full height. When she turned and stormed out of the room without speaking another word, Kaleb turned back to Carl, then back to the empty doorway where she stood only seconds before. “Damn it.”
“What the hell are you waiting for?” Carl groaned, looking defeated. “Go after her.”
For a second, Kaleb was torn. Did he run after Zoey, try to explain? Or did he stay and try to explain to her father? Both had to be done, but he knew which was more important.
Kaleb turned and walked out, going straight for the kitchen where he heard the screen door slam. By the time he caught up to her, Zoey was walking through the front door of her small guest house, another screen door slamming hard enough to rattle the windows.
Without knocking, Kaleb let himself in, his eyes adjusting to the dim light as he tried to find Zoey. He fully expected her to be waiting for him, ready to lay into him with all of the fury he’d seen radiating from her only moments before. “Zoey!”
She didn’t answer, so he wandered into the small kitchen, but when he didn’t see her, he headed for the bedroom. The house wasn’t unusually large, which meant there was only one other place she could have gone.
“Talk to me, Zoey.” Kaleb stated firmly when he found her standing in the middle of her bedroom, hands on her hips, head hanging low.
“About what?”
Really? Kaleb felt his own ire growing steadily. He hadn’t even had a chance to tell Carl the third option, which in his opinion was the best of the three. It consisted of Zoey buying out the remaining acreage, either from the bank, or from Kaleb. Either way, he wasn’t about to let the Stranford’s lose their home.
“Look honey,” Kaleb began, but Zoey looked up at him then, and he was pretty sure she was trying to shoot daggers from her eyes.
“Don’t call me that.”
What? Kaleb was dumbfounded for a moment.
“You haven’t called me; you haven’t come to see me... I should have known. I should’ve known you were out to get what you wanted...”
Kaleb cut her off immediately, closing the distance between them in three short steps, pulling her flush against him and lifting her chin forcefully until she had no choice but to look at him. “Don’t. Don’t fucking do it.”
He wasn’t sure where the anger was coming from, but he was not going to let her belittle what they had shared because when it came down to it, Kaleb didn’t give a fuck about the land, or anything else for that matter. Not at Zoey’s expense anyway.
Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him, and Kaleb realized how harsh he’d been with her.
“Why haven’t you called?” She asked, and when she pulled away, he let her go.
Why hadn’t he called? Kaleb wasn’t able to answer that question. At least not out loud. He hadn’t called for a myriad of reasons. The first being she scared the shit out of him. Both by what he wanted from her and by what he felt for her.
“I’ve been busy,” he lied
“Ah.” Turning away from him, Zoey wrapped her arms around herself as though she were cold. That or she was trying to hold herself together.
“Zoey, I’m sorry.” For so many things. Taking her like a crazed man being the first on the list.
“I’m sorry, too.” She said quietly.
That didn’t sound good at all. “For what?”
“For scaring you off.For ruining our friendship. For wanting too much from you.” She admitted but didn’t look at him.
Kaleb couldn’t go another second without touching her. He moved quickly to her side, pulling her into his arms and he was once again flooded by the emotions this one woman evoked in him. So many emotions, he didn’t know how to deal with them, and he couldn’t name each of them either.
“God, I’ve missed you.” Kaleb whispered in her ear, rubbing his hand down her back, soaking up the feel of her against his palms. Being close to her was exactly where he wanted to be, and touching her caused his frustration and anger to subside, replaced with a much stronger emotion. “So much.” It was the first truth he’d said to her since he got there.
And now that he had his hands on her, he would be hard pressed to stop.
Without thinking, he lifted her shirt, pulling it over her head, tossing it to the ground as he backed her against the wall. His emotions - all of them swirling into one - took over.
His brain was at least paying attention because he hesitated long enough to see whether she would push him away. When she didn’t, he pressed her firmly against the wall, grinding his erection into her lower belly, his mouth seeking hers and finding exactly what he’d been searching for.
Zoey wasn’t holding back, and the anger from moments before exploded into passion, the air thick with it as they went at one another with barely restrained fury. In the blink of an eye, they were both naked, and Kaleb was once again pressing her into the wall, but he wasn’t wasting time. Lifting her, he used the wall to his advantage as he let her slide down on him, one hand guiding his cock into the hot, fiery depths of her pussy while the other strained to hold her.
Once he was buried inside of her, he gripped her ass, holding her easily as he slammed into her, their eyes locked, everything they felt, portrayed in their gaze. No words were needed, not a single sound penetrated the air, with the exception of their harsh, choppy breaths and Zoey’s sexy moans.
Kaleb had never lost control like this. Never let emotion lead him, but the hunger was there and for the life of him, there wasn’t any other way to sate it than to be buried inside her luscious body.
“Kaleb,” Zoey moaned his name, her fingernails digging into his shoulders as she pushed against him, keeping her back flat against the wall while he tried to thrust harder, paying no mind to anything but fucking her.
“Come for me.” Kaleb breathed. “Fucking come for me.”
Zoey’s eyes widened briefly before her head went back into the wall, and she was screaming her release, her body clamping around his cock until he couldn’t breathe. Letting go, Kaleb stilled, his cock pulsing and exploding inside her while he watched her writhe in his arms.
He wasn’t sure what it was about her, and why since that first time he was overcome with the need to take her with crazed lust. Whatever it was, Kaleb knew he couldn’t control it. He just prayed Zoey could live with that.
Chapter Eleven
♀♂
The instant her feet were back on solid ground, Zoey felt the urge to flee.
“Where are you going?” Kaleb called from behind her, but Zoey didn’t stop. She needed a minute.
Once in the bathroom, she shut the door and locked it, before turning on the shower. What the hell had they just done? One minute her anger was bright and hot, and the next she was filled to overflowing with the sexiest man she’d ever known. It was amazing and shocking all at the same time.
Ignoring Kaleb’s insistent pounding on the door, Zoey stepped into the shower, letting the warmth wash the fog from her brain. What they had done was by far the most erotic thing she’d ever done and yet she knew that it wasn’t in the same hemisphere as Kaleb’s most aggressive sexual adventure. Just the way she felt his power flowing just under his skin had lit her up, made her so wild, she had thought of nothing else but having him buried inside of her. But when he insisted she come for him, Zoey’s world had exploded in brilliant fluorescent colors as her orgasm tore through her.
Turning her face into the spray, she let the water pelt over her as she fought to stop her entire body from trembling. It was the aftermath, and she was shaken to her very core in the most exquisite way imaginable. Worse than that, she wanted him again.
So why was she freaking out?
The shower door opened, startling a scream from her chest as she turned to face Kaleb stepping into the shower, looking none too happy with her.
“What the hell?” Kaleb spoke the same words that were on the tip of her tongue. She glanced at the bathroom
door only to see the doorknob was missing.
“Don’t shut me out, Zoey.” The words were laced with a warning, and a shiver ran down her spine. “Do you understand me?”
His aggravation was palpable, but Zoey sensed he wasn’t so much upset at her as he was with her reaction to him. What was she supposed to say? Please, Kaleb, take me harder next time because although you rocked my world, I still want more. Ummm... Probably wouldn’t go over well with him. Not right now anyway.
The water was pouring down over them, and as she stood facing off with the big, brooding man in her shower, she noticed he hadn’t so much as touched her since he walked into the small glass enclosure.
“Answer me, Zoey.” Kaleb demanded.
“Yes.” She huffed, turning back to face the wall. She understood him clear as day. Didn’t mean she was happy about it. She just needed a minute to get her head on straight and with him filling her shower, towering over her, there wasn’t a chance in hell she could wrap her mind around what was happening between them.
Zoey stood motionless when Kaleb wrapped his arms around her, pressing his warm chest against her back. His touch was like the warm and brilliant light of the sun, infusing her while chasing away all shadows of doubt that had plagued her the second her feet touched the floor.
“I’m sorry.” His gruff voice echoed in the small space. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why?” Now he was confusing her. She wasn’t by any means offended by the wild way they’d just come together, she was just a little surprised. Her past experience with sex had been missionary for the most part, definitely lacking fireworks the likes of which the two of them created when they were together. But it damn sure didn’t mean she wanted him to stop, she just wasn’t exactly sure how to handle it.
Kaleb’s hands trailed around to her breasts, cupping them as she intently watched the stark contrast of his sun bronzed hands against her pale skin. She was mesmerized, caught up in the sensation of his callused fingers teasing her pebbled nipples while his palms sensually scraped the tender underside of her breasts.
“You deserve more than that. I should’ve teased you, got you hot... wet... Before I rammed my cock inside of you.”
Her stomach flipped, his words setting off mini flames on the tips of her nerve endings. How did he do that? Was it intentional? Or was there something wrong with her that she liked the lewd words and the raspy sound of his voice?
He continued to pinch and pull one nipple while his other hand trailed down her stomach before sliding between her thighs. She opened her legs wider, giving him better access because she was on fire now, her body prepared to take anything he had to give her.
“I should have teased your clit with my tongue.”
God! Could his voice get any sexier? He mimicked the action with the tip of his finger, slowly pressing against her clit until she would’ve been sweating had it not been for the water.
Leaning back against him, Zoey lifted her leg, placing it on the low ledge in the shower, opening herself, all but begging for him to continue.
“Or buried my finger in your sweet pussy.”
Zoey moaned. His finger delved deep inside, not thrusting, but swirling over nerves she hadn’t known existed. “Please, Kaleb.”
“And I should’ve had you begging.” He kissed her neck, suckled the sensitive skin there as he continued to drive her mad with his finger. “Damn, Zoey. All the things I want to do to you.”
“Tell me.” She groaned. If he wasn’t going to fuck her again, he could at least give her that much.
“I want to watch you come apart. Touch you in ways you’ve never even dreamed of.”
His finger slipped from her pussy while his other continued to pinch her nipple – a sharp burst of erotic pain that had her whimpering.
Her body stopped responding when he moved his hand around behind her, sliding over her bottom, easing down between her cheeks to that forbidden place no one had ever dared to touch. She held her breath, fear and excitement waging a war in her stomach.
“I want to fuck you here, Zoey.”
His finger caressed her anus, not breaching it, just teasing. Who would’ve known it would feel that good?
“Kaleb,” she didn’t want to respond to his touch, especially one so carnal, but she suddenly wanted more.
“You like that, don’t you, baby?” He nipped her ear lobe and Zoey heard his tortured groan as he continued to tease her.
“I want to bury my cock in your ass. Fuck.”
Heaven help her, she wanted it to. She wanted Kaleb in ways she shouldn’t. She had imagined him doing wicked things to her, but never like that. There’d even been a time when she dreamed about him and Gage...
“Kaleb!” Zoey screamed his name when he thrust two fingers in her pussy, not giving her time to accept what was happening before her body exploded in a rush of heat and flames.
“Bend over.” Kaleb instructed, and her brain fought to process his words.
The water was beginning to cool, but it was a welcome relief to the heat swamping her senses. She leaned forward, putting her hands on the tiled wall, bending at the waist. When he pushed her feet apart, she braced for the invasion, and he didn’t disappoint. Oh, God, he was going to torture her until her body came apart at the seams.
“Fuck me!” She bit out as she tried to push against him, wanting to take him deeper into her body. It couldn’t have been ten minutes before when his cock had been filling her, but her body didn’t seem to realize that. She was desperate, aching for the feel of him.
With his chest pressed against her back, Kaleb slid forward, filling her to overflowing before gently moving his hips until she thought he would pull out entirely. One forceful thrust and he was inside of her again.
“Fuck me, damn you!” She was tired of this game, needed more and if he wasn’t going to give it to her willingly, Zoey was prepared to take what she wanted.
Thrusting her hips back, she took him inside of her again, and Kaleb groaned, standing again as he gripped her hips.
“Fuck me, Zoey. That’s it, baby. Fuck me just like that.”
He was standing still as she rocked forward and back, unable to move much in the small shower with the wall so close, but she was doing everything she could to increase the friction, another orgasm just out of reach.
He must have heard her frustrated breath because he began pumping into her, holding her hips still as his movements became harder, faster until he was once again slamming into her, the only sounds were those of their wet bodies slapping against one another, the water as it continued to rain down on them, and the various grunts and groans as they both were lost to it.
Searching, reaching, taking...
White dots filled her vision, and she slammed her eyes closed as her orgasm tore free, radiating from her core before shattering.
It was all she could do just to keep standing.
♂♀
After the shower, Kaleb dried them both, then pulled Zoey into her room and right into her bed with him. Now, he was lying on his back, her small body curled up next to his, her head in the crook of his shoulder. It was the peace he had been searching for over the last few days.
Ever since that one night and morning, Kaleb had been torn about what the hell they were supposed to do now. Did they turn back to their friendship and pretend none of this had ever happened? Or worse, were they going to let whatever this was slip away? Truthfully, he hadn’t known the answer until now.
“Zoey,” Kaleb whispered her name, wondering whether she had fallen asleep. Although it was still daylight, because technically August was still the middle of summer in Texas and the days were still long.
“Hmmm?” The vibration of her voice rippled over his chest as he pulled her closer.
“About what you heard earlier...” Kaleb needed to make sure Zoey understood exactly what was going on with her father’s land, and he wasn’t so sure she did, but before he could say another word, the sleepy, cuddli
ng woman disappeared from his grasp, darting up out of bed.
Kaleb had no choice but to get up, find his jeans and pull them on as he watched her walk out of the room, wearing nothing but the t-shirt he had discarded earlier. Damn that was sexy as hell.
“Zoey, damn it!” He called out as he followed her to the kitchen, zipping his jeans and buttoning them as he went.
“You listen to me, Kaleb Walker,” Zoey stated adamantly turning on him as she stood in her kitchen.
He nodded, waiting to hear what she had to say.
“First of all, I’m all for this friends with benefits thing,” Zoey stated, lifting and lowering her hands, “but there are some rules to this little game.”
Little game?
“And what would those be?” He asked, humoring her.
“Rule number one. You can’t ignore me.”
“Ignore you?” Kaleb stood up straighter. “It works both ways, sweetheart.”
“Fine.We can’t ignore each other.” Zoey bit out, turning to the refrigerator and pulling out a pitcher of tea. “And two, I expect us to be friends like we were before we started this.”
Now Kaleb was all for the not ignoring one another part, but he wasn’t so sure the friendship thing was going to work for him anymore. Not after what they had just done. From his eyes, the friendship thing consisted of them hanging out, talking, and then going their separate ways, usually with him having some woman on his arm for the night. That wasn’t going to happen ever again. Not while this was going on. Instead of arguing with her, he just nodded his agreement.
“And three, you cannot use me to get to my father.”
“Now wait just a fucking minute.” Kaleb demanded, seriously getting pissed. “I have never used you, Zoey. You walked into this with your eyes wide open. I didn’t try to hide the fact that we were looking to buy your father’s land before this started, and since that is still my intention, I’m not hiding it now.”
“No? So why are you talking to my dad about buying all of the land, including his house.”
Kaleb Page 10