by Eve Gaddy
After ordering red wine for himself and white for Laurel, Zack ordered a couple of small plates of stuffed mushrooms and cheese puffs. He’d done a little research before bringing Laurel there and those were two of the most frequently talked about appetizers.
A little while later, the waitress took their entrée orders and returned shortly afterward with their hors d’oeuvres. “I know cheese puffs sound boring but these are supposed to be phenomenal,” Zack said while splitting both the appetizers.
Laurel reached for a puff and bit into it. “Oh, my God, these are delicious. I wonder what kind of cheese they used?”
“No idea. I just know what I like to eat,” he said, grinning. “How are you liking the job?” They had talked about the job, naturally, but he wanted to be sure she was good with it. “Any problems? And yes, please be honest.”
“That won’t be hard,” she said with a smile. “I love it. Although it’s accounting, it’s still different from my job at Kelly Boots. It’s a nice change of pace.”
“Good. You’ll let me know if you need anything, won’t you?”
“I don’t know what I’d need that I don’t already have,” she said. “The accounting software you bought is the latest and it’s wonderful to work with.”
They talked until their entrées were served. Ahi tuna for him and sea bass for Laurel.
“This is really good,” Laurel said, “but it’s so rich I’m not sure how much I can eat.”
“Save room for dessert.”
“Oh, I will. I hope they have something chocolate.”
“What do you keep looking at?” he asked. Laurel had been glancing behind him and to his right for the past several minutes.
“There’s a woman at a table across the way who is staring a hole through us. She looks like she wants to skewer me. But then she looks at you and it’s a whole ’nuther story.” She motioned toward some people a few tables over. “Someone you know?”
He looked where she pointed and barely stopped himself from grimacing. Sabrina. She waved at him and he waved back. “Yes. Sabrina York. My ex-girlfriend. I’m not sure who that is she’s with.”
“Whoever he is, she isn’t paying much attention to him. Do you need to go talk to her? I don’t mind.”
“I’ll stop and say hi on the way out.” With any luck, Sabrina and her date would already be gone.
“I’m guessing it was your idea to end it.”
“It was but why did you think that?”
“The way she’s looking at you. She wants you back.”
Damn. He suspected Laurel was right, which made him feel bad. Sabrina was smart, beautiful and a nice person. But she wasn’t right for him. “We broke up months ago. She wanted to get married. In fact, we almost got engaged. But I realized that while I liked her and enjoyed being with her, I couldn’t see myself being married to her. So we broke up.”
“She’s beautiful,” Laurel commented.
“Yes, she is. But you’re more so.”
Laurel laughed. “That’s very sweet and flattering but completely untrue.”
“Do you ever look in the mirror?”
“All the time. To make sure my hair is brushed and that I won’t scare people at work.”
“You really don’t know how pretty you are?” he asked curiously.
“How am I supposed to answer that? If I say yes I sound conceited. If I say no it sounds like I’m fishing for more compliments.”
“Maybe you should just say thank you, Zack.”
“Thank you, Zack,” she repeated obediently.
He just shook his head.
“She’s still staring at us.”
“Just ignore her.”
“I’ll try,” she said doubtfully. “So you don’t want to get married. Does that mean you’re a player?”
He laughed. “I didn’t say I never wanted to get married. And no, I’m not a player.” He was a one woman at a time man. To him that wasn’t a player.
“Don’t look now but your ex and her date are headed this way.”
Shit. Zack stood, plastering a smile on his face that he hoped didn’t look too fake. “Hello, Sabrina.”
“Hello, Zack.” She gave him her hands and kissed his cheek. “How are you?”
“Good. How are you?” He offered a hand to the man standing next to her. “Zack Bannister.”
The other man shook hands. “Jim Morton.”
Zack introduced Sabrina and Laurel, who nodded politely at each other.
“We missed you at the party, Zack,” Sabrina said.
What party? “Sorry I had to miss it.”
They talked awkwardly for another minute or two and then Sabrina said, “We’ll let you get back to your dinner. Don’t be a stranger, Zack.”
“What?” he asked Laurel, who seemed to be stifling laughter.
“Your face. Oh, my God, I wish you could have seen your face when she said they missed you at the party. You looked completely lost.”
“That’s because I am. I don’t have a clue what she was talking about.”
“That was kind of obvious.”
He shrugged. “I guess I’m not very subtle.”
Laurel laughed. “You could say that. So tell me, why couldn’t you see yourself being married to her?”
He looked at her for a minute, trying to decide just how much to tell her.
“I’m sorry. Ignore me. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Why couldn’t I see myself being married to her? Well, Laurel,” he said and took her hand. “That’s because of you.” He kissed her hand and she stared at him in shock.
“Me? What did I have to do with it?”
“I couldn’t marry her because I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”
“You couldn’t—You what?” she asked after a long silence. She looked completely stunned.
Which shouldn’t surprise him. Until the last few months he’d been busy denying his feelings.
“I couldn’t marry Sabrina because every time I considered it, I thought about you. I knew if I married her I’d never have a chance with you. So I broke it off.”
Chapter Eight
Laurel couldn’t have said what they talked about after Zack’s revelation. She assumed she must have made some sort of sense since Zack acted like nothing was wrong.
“Do you want to go get a nightcap somewhere?” Zack asked her after they left the restaurant.
“No, I’ve had enough to drink.”
“There’s a late movie on at the theater. I can’t remember the name of it, though.”
“Let’s just go to my apartment. I’m not in much of a movie mood.” Laurel wasn’t sure what kind of mood she was in. She was curious about what Zack had told her. Curious why he hadn’t said a thing to her until she’d thrown herself at him.
But she couldn’t deny he was interested in her. Or that she’d really enjoyed kissing him. If she were honest, she had to admit that thinking about that night last weekend turned her on a little. Okay, maybe a lot.
Well, here was the perfect opportunity to see where things went.
You know where they’re going, dummy. To the bedroom. Sex. S-E-X. Are you ready for that?
Zack parked his car in one of the few open spaces at her apartment complex. He had a nice truck and she didn’t live in the best of neighborhoods since her complex was on the edge of the Barrels. She hoped he didn’t come back to find his hubcaps gone, or worse, the entire truck.
Laurel got out her keys and unlocked her door. It was stuck. Damn landlord still hadn’t fixed it. She rattled and pushed and twisted the knob, then started to put her shoulder to the door.
“Let me,” Zack said and she moved out of the way.
It only took him a minute to get the door open. She walked inside and realized he was still standing in the doorway. “Aren’t you coming in?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes.”
He smiled and came in, closing the door behind him.
She took the bull by the horn
s, so to speak. “Zack? If you decided you couldn’t marry Sabrina, and it was because of me, and you broke up with her months ago…”
“That’s right,” he said.
“Then what took you so long to tell me you were interested?”
“I think we should sit down.”
She sat on the couch and he took a seat beside her.
“I’ve had a thing for you for years.”
“Oh, bull. You never acted like it.”
“I had reasons. You were about fifteen the first time I realized how pretty you were. But you were my best friend’s little sister, and that made you off-limits. When I graduated, you were sixteen and even prettier. But I was going to college and you were still my best friend’s little sister.”
Skeptical, she said, “You never acted like you liked me. In fact, as I remember it, you pretty much ignored me and dated lots of girls.”
“Because I couldn’t date you.”
“Why not? I’m only a couple of years younger than you.”
“Closer to three. At the time three years was a lot. Besides, Travis would have killed me if I hit on you back then. Hell, you saw what he did when he thought we slept together.”
“Good point.” Travis and Harlan, but particularly Travis, had always been overprotective of her. That was one reason they didn’t know the truth about her marriage and she hoped they never would. “I’m having a hard time buying that you ever thought of me once you went off to college.”
“I did. Not constantly, of course, but sure, I thought about you. By the time I finished law school, you’d gotten married. Which put you completely off-limits. After law school I practiced law in Fort Worth and later moved to Dallas. When I came back to Whiskey River after inheriting the airport, you were still married, with one child and another on the way.”
“I’ve been divorced for two years,” she reminded him.
“And for a good portion of that time I was involved with someone.”
“Sabrina.”
“Yes.”
“That still leaves the several months since you two broke up.”
“You’d have made a really good lawyer, you know that?”
She laughed. “Sorry. I guess I’ve been grilling you, huh?”
“Yes. Very effectively too.”
Oh, to hell with it. He’s interested. You’re interested. Get on with it.
Laurel moved closer to him, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. For a moment he seemed surprised and then he gathered her close and kissed her back.
“I’m sorry,” she said, against his lips.
“You’re forgiven,” he said, and deepened the kiss.
Laurel gave in, drowning in sensation, lips and tongues meeting, testing each other. She tightened her arms and jammed her fingers through his hair at his nape. His hands were on her back and pressing her close, but he hadn’t moved to touch her breasts or push her down on the couch. She realized if she wanted him to go further she would have to initiate it.
She took his hand and placed it on her breast. He took the hint and caressed one breast and then the other. But she wanted to feel his touch on her bare skin. So she pulled back and lifted up her sweater. He helped her take it off and fling it aside. He cupped her breasts, tweaking her nipples through her black demi-bra. She reached behind her and unhooked her bra, then slipped it down her arms and off.
His eyes darkened, a deep, vibrant green. A groan escaped him before he bent his head down and captured her nipple. He licked it, sucked it, swirled his tongue around it.
“Zack.”
He raised his head. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No. I want…more.”
With one hand he plumped up her breast, then circled his tongue around her other nipple and sucked on it. She lay back on the couch, urging him to lie on top of her, but he held back.
“I’m going to reach the point of no return before long.”
“Me too. Is that a problem?”
He leaned down and kissed her mouth. “It could be. I don’t have any protection with me.”
Neither did she. After all, she’d barely dated since her divorce, much less needed condoms. “Crap.”
“I’m guessing that means you don’t either.”
She sat up, reached for her sweater and pulled it on without the bra. “I haven’t been with anyone since my divorce. And—” She hesitated, decided to come clean. “I’ve only ever been with him.”
He smiled. “That makes me a very lucky man.” Then he frowned. “Or I would be, if we had a condom.”
“We could…go to your place. Couldn’t we?”
He stood and held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her up and yanked her close before kissing her, hard. “Definitely.”
*
Thankfully, it didn’t take long to get to Zack’s apartment. He was having a hard time concentrating on driving when the object of his many fantasies sat beside him wearing a tight-fitting sweater with no bra. He kept his eyes glued to the road, especially when they passed under a streetlight or halted at a traffic light.
Laurel was talking but he didn’t pay attention until she said, “Zack, is there a reason you won’t look at me?”
“Driving.”
“Yes, I know. But you’ve been careful not to even glance my way. Is something wrong?”
He pulled up to his parking space, parked the car and finally looked at her. The lighting around the parking area was muted but it was enough for him to see the outline of her nipples beneath the lightweight sweater. He reached for her, pulling her as close as he could with the console between them. He kissed her, slipped his hand beneath her sweater to fondle her nipples, felt her swift intake of breath and thought about pushing up her sweater and sucking on those sweet nipples. Instead, he let her go. “That’s why.”
“Umm…oh.”
They got out of the car and he grabbed her hand to pull her along with him. Once inside his apartment he backed her up against the door and kissed her like he’d been wanting to since they left her apartment. He drew back and looked into her eyes, now a dark blue, bright with passion.
“I want you. So much.”
Her lips, swollen from his kisses, curved up in a sexy smile. “I want you too.”
By the time they reached his bedroom he’d remembered that it had been a long time since Laurel had had sex, and that he was only her second lover. Which meant he needed to go slow and make doubly sure that she was with him all the way.
Apparently Laurel had other plans. On the way to the bedroom she started unbuttoning his shirt and once there, she pushed it off his shoulders. Then she put her hands flat on his chest and said, “Mmm.”
Zack laughed and grabbed her hands, which had slid to his waist, and begun unbuckling his belt. “We don’t have to rush. We have all night.”
“I know,” she said, and stepped back and stripped off her shirt. Then she unbuttoned and unzipped her skirt, pushed it down over her hips and stepped out of it along with her shoes. Leaving her wearing a tiny pair of baby-blue panties and nothing else. Her body was curvy in all the right places, her breasts full, her nipples a dusky rose, her hips curved and womanly. “Your turn,” she said.
Not needing to be told twice, Zack undid his pants and pushed everything down his legs and stepped out of them. He pulled her into his arms and they fell on the bed together, first one on top and then the other. Eventually he wound up on top. First with hands, then with his mouth, he played with her breasts. He ran one hand down her body, over the soft skin of her belly to the silky feel of her panties. Her hips rose when he traced his fingers over her, slipped his hand beneath the elastic and slid a finger inside her.
Laurel sucked in her breath, then raised her hips again, urging him to explore. At the same time she reached between them and wrapped her hand around his cock, sliding it up and down slowly. He almost came right then.
“Slow down,” he said huskily, removing her hand and placing it on his chest.
&n
bsp; “Why?”
Instead of answering with words, he kissed his way down her body, pressing a kiss to her center, still covered in silk. He strung kisses all along her panty lines, until she writhed and whimpered, a sexy sound of supplication. With his teeth, he pulled down the swatch of silk, eventually hooking the fabric in his fingers to pull them down and all the way off.
He kissed his way up her legs until he reached the apex of her thighs, slid a finger inside her and used his mouth to bring her to a screaming, bucking climax.
Quickly, he rolled aside and opened the bedside table drawer, grabbed a handful of condoms and tossed them on the tabletop. He kept one in his hand, ripped it open and rolled it down over his cock.
Laurel was watching him, smiling, her blue eyes slumberous and sultry, her blonde hair messy and grazing her shoulders. When he finished, she pushed him onto his back and climbed on top. “Do you mind?” she asked him. “It seems only fair.”
“You being on top? No, why would—” He broke off, groaning when she took him inside her. He was only partially in, but she rocked and took him deeper and deeper still until he was seated to the hilt inside her.
She leaned down and kissed him and then proceeded to ride him slowly at first and then faster and faster until he couldn’t hold back. He came with a deep groan as he felt her tighten and convulse around him and then collapse onto his chest.
Chapter Nine
After Zack and Laurel cleaned up, they went back to bed, content to simply hold each other for a while. Laurel lay on Zack’s chest with his arm around her, stroking her arm lightly. She raised her head to look at him. He was looking at her, his mouth curved up in a smile.
“That was fun,” she said.
Zack laughed. “Yes, it was.” He kissed her mouth. “Very, very fun.”
She lay back down, snuggling against him. “I was a little worried I’d forgotten how.”
“Trust me on this, Laurel. You haven’t forgotten anything.”
“Well, I don’t know. It’s been a long, long time.”
“If you’re worried I’m perfectly happy to give it another go.”
“Are you? That’s awfully sweet of you.”