by Ladew, Lisa
“I’ve got to say, this is the first time I’ve been jealous of a dog,” she heard a voice drawl. She looked up and saw Zane leaning against the entryway to the kitchen, grilling tongs in his hand. He was wearing jeans and a blue T-shirt that said I kiss better than I cook. Her eyes traveled appreciatively over his flat belly and broad shoulders even as she laughed at the slogan on his T-shirt.
Kara stood and brushed fur off her pants. “I thought you said you were a good cook.”
“I’m a great cook,” he growled, dropping the tongs on a counter behind him and taking two steps towards her, gathering her quickly in his arms and lowering his face to hers. "But I'm a better kisser," he said as his eyes locked on hers and she felt slightly dizzy with his closeness. She had no doubt. He kissed her firmly and she melted into him, not wanting to admit to herself that she had been counting the minutes until this happened again. He slid one hand up into her hair and the other hand down to snake around her waist and pulled her closer. His lips parted slightly and his tongue pressed into hers, exploring, probing. Kara felt the craziness of the last few days, plus two tons of fear and guilt fall away from her. This was where she was supposed to be. This was what should be happening. Her body relaxed as sensations slipped up and down her spine, causing goose bumps to break out all over her torso and her nipples to instantly harden. She felt them graze deliciously against his chest and she kissed him back, not able to get enough of him.
He kissed her until she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, and could barely stand. But then he pulled back, looking at her with bedroom eyes. “I know you wanted to talk to me. Do you mind if we do that first so we can get it out of the way? I don't want to feel nervous that you’re going to drop some big bomb on me while we're eating.”
Kara tried to catch her breath. “You’re going to kiss me like that and then just want to talk?”
“Well if our two choices are talking or eating, yeah I want to talk first if that’s cool with you. Unless there’s a secret third option?” he said mischievously. “If so, then I will take what’s behind door number three,” he said, twining his fingers in hers and leaning his face down to hers again.
Kara had time to think there’s always a third option with you, Zane, before his lips were upon hers again. Her entire body began to throb in time with her heartbeat. She shifted her legs and gasped at how sensitive she felt down there. She wondered suddenly how many bedrooms this place had and how close was the closest?
But then good sense pried a way into her brain for a moment and she pulled back slightly. “You’re right, Zane. We should talk first. Just in case you … Just in case one of us doesn’t want to … Isn’t interested in kissing after."
Zane smiled at her, and Kara smiled back. She couldn’t help it, she loved that smile. He pulled her over to the couch and sat down. “Okay, shoot.”
Kara took a deep breath and started talking. She began by telling him about the flowers she had gotten eight months ago and hadn’t thought much about. They'd said only, from an admirer. And then the too-expensive gift that she had gotten on her birthday that had included only a poem and no name. Then she told him about being shot by Dawn and spending time in the hospital. She left out the part about finding her sister. She would save that story for another day. She shared about the box of hair and the notes that came with it. Zane’s eyes widened as he realized how unorthodox this situation was. She told him about the man who had been seen in her driveway and the pictures with the poem on the back. When she shared that the man had been watching her at night by taking over her own phone Zane stood up and paced, anger written clearly on his face. Then she told him about the other four victims and what had happened to two of their boyfriends. Lastly, she shared most of what the profiler had said.
“I was supposed to warn you that you could be in danger.”
“Why didn’t you?” Zane asked, not angry or irritated, but just curious.
Kara’s cheeks burned. She was definitely ashamed of most of this. “Because that’s when I found out you were arrested before, and it kind of threw me for a loop.”
“Oh,” Zane said simply, his eyes on the ground.
“Zane, why didn’t you tell me you had been arrested?”
He met her eyes easily. “I didn’t think of it. It’s not something that I tell people on the first date or the second date or ever actually. I’m not proud of it but it’s not something that I ever thought I needed to tell people about.”
“But I’m a cop. You had to know it was going to come up somehow. I would’ve much rather heard it from you than from the sergeant investigating my stalker case, especially when she already had you down as a suspect.”
Zane dropped his eyes again. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
Kara felt his words wash over her soul and soothe any last prickly irritation there. She could tell he meant it. “So tell me about it,” she said softly.
Zane sighed and looked around at the walls of his comfortable living room. “It was in this house. I came home from work for lunch which is something I never do. I’m not even sure why I did it that day. I heard grunting noises that subconsciously, I knew must be sexual, but I didn't admit to myself what they were. They were male grunting noises, you know? And there shouldn’t have been any man in the house. I ran to the bedroom and there they were. Fucking.” Zane spit this last word out bitterly, and Kara could see the hurt in his face. “I don't remember having anything remotely like a thought go through my head, but I just knew in my bones that Kensi was being raped. My mind couldn’t comprehend that she would willingly be with another man. I ripped him off of her and threw him on the ground, then tried to kill him.” Zane's voice softened but Kara heard the deadly steel there. “I don't think a man who would rape a woman should ever live to rape another.” Kara saw another ripple of pain across his face. “But Kensi jumped between us. And then my whole life changed.”
Kara touched Zane’s cheek tenderly, and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry,” she whispered.
He caught her hand and kissed it. “Not your fault.”
Kara’s breath caught suddenly in her throat. “Zane, if Kensi was cheating on you, Zaina might not be yours.”
Zane's eyes were still far away and his face still held pain. He looked like this was a memory he hated to relive. “I’ve considered that. But she looks so much like me.”
Kara nodded. She did.
“I’ll schedule a paternity test when I can. I’ll see what Kensi says tomorrow when I go to court.”
Kara sat up slightly. She had forgotten that Zane had court tomorrow to fight for his parental rights.
She dragged her thoughts back to what they had been talking about. “Did you have to go to court for the assault?”
Zane nodded. “The guy was going to drop the charges, but Kensi’s dad convinced him not to.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Remember when I told you that her family didn’t like me? Well I think her dad actually hates me. He must have liked that guy though.” His face brightened a little bit. “But the judge threw it out. He believed me. Even Kensi seemed to be on my side at that court date – this was after our civil case.”
Kara didn’t know what to say, her mind spinning with the inherent consequences of being a man. It made her glad she was a woman, even with all the not-so-great things that came with that.
Zane’s face brightened even more and she watched him shake off the memories. He leaned towards her and stole a kiss, then bodily lifted her and pulled her onto his lap.
He stopped kissing her long enough to ask, “Is that it? Is that all we had to talk about?”
Kara nodded, feeling the heat of his body under hers.
“Good,” he growled, brushing her black hair back from her face, his eyes smoky and full of desire. “I still want to kiss you. Do you still want to kiss me?”
“Yes,” Kara breathed, her world filling with nothing but the clean, heady scent of Zane.
He leaned in and stole a
nother kiss. A longer one this time.
Chapter 21
Zane kissed her like she hadn't been kissed since high school. Back when kissing was something to be enjoyed in its own right, and there was never a race to get each other’s clothes off with an ultimate destination of orgasm. He kissed her like he had all day to do nothing but sit on the couch and explore her body with his lips and tongue. He kept lifting her hair and dropping it lightly then running his fingers up and down her back and around her neck and ears. He’d felt the holster at the small of her back one time, then neatly avoided it with each subsequent pass.
Kara’s entire body throbbed in time with her heartbeat and felt like one big nerve ending. She wanted this delicious foreplay to go on forever, even while her body throbbed and cried out for release. She felt like ripping both of their clothes off and just getting it over with so she wasn’t so frantically mad with desire, but at the same time the desire was delicious. It had never been like this for her. She never remembered feeling like she just couldn’t get enough, like the man she was with was food and drink and oxygen. She wanted to touch him forever, just live on the couch with him.
“Work,” she whispered, her tongue colliding with his. “Don't you have to go back to work?”
“I told myself to take the day off,” he countered, his raspy voice very nearly driving her over the edge.
He lifted her hair and let it drop one final time, sending shivers up and down her spine. His hands slipped down to her waist and dipped under her shirt, lifting it slightly. The brush of his fingers against her bare skin forced a light moan out of her. God yes. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted him to touch her everywhere.
Her own hands roamed across his chest, feeling his muscles. She pulled his shirt slightly up and he took it the rest of the way off. In one movement he whipped it over his head and onto the floor, then his hands retreated right back to her waist.
Her fingers took on their own purpose, mapping every muscle on his chest, then skirting lower to his abdomen. His hands slid up under her shirt to her breasts, treading so lightly that tingles raced up and down her torso with each tiny movement. His thumbs grazed over her nipples and she moaned with the pure pleasure of it, every sensation shooting through her body to her lower belly.
He withdrew his hands from under her shirt and took them back to her hair. She almost bit him in frustration.
“My steaks,” he rasped between kisses.
“Your steaks?”
“I took them off the heat, but they are still warming on the grill. They are going to get tough.”
Even in Kara's compromised state, she couldn’t help but want to mess with Zane. She grazed one hand even lower and dipped it inside his pants, finding him hard and ready and standing at full attention. The combination of hard and soft she felt under her fingertips sent more pleasure to her brain.
Zane dropped his head to the back of the couch and moaned openly.
She stroked lightly with the very ends of her fingers, up, then down again, watching him squirm and tense beneath her.
“You better go get your steaks,” she said softly, dipping her other hand into his pants and stroking him from both sides.
“I’ll buy new steaks,” he said, his voice husky. “I’ll buy a steakhouse. I’ll buy you a personal chef. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Kara almost laughed. Damn right he would do whatever she wanted. But something in his voice caught in her brain. He meant it. She could tell he meant it. He was cocky and confident and played at being in charge outside of the bedroom, but he had such a soft and respectful side too. She could tell he was the kind to just worship any woman he was with.
Anxiety niggled at her, at how far they had come in such a short amount of time and how completely she had fallen for him. She felt a complete desire to please him, to be there for him, to do whatever he wanted. She told anxiety to take a hike. She was going to enjoy this, damn the consequences, if there were any.
Zane's head was still back, and his breathing was coming quicker. She didn’t want to tease him anymore. She just wanted to make him happy.
Her eyes fell on his left arm, and a jagged three-inch scar there jarred something in her memory. She pushed it aside, remembering that she had seen it before, on the day she found him inside his neighbor's house.
Quickly, only because she wanted to, she unbuttoned his pants and unzipped his zipper. Zane’s head came up and he stared right in her eyes, his gaze strong and questioning. She nodded and stared back evenly, eyes locked on his. She lifted herself up and pulled at his jeans. He lifted his hips and pushed them down quickly, still asking her that question with his eyes. She nodded again and hooked a finger under the waistband of his blue boxers, so he stripped them off also. They joined his pants and shirt and shoes on the floor. Kara heard something behind her, and looked back startled. It was only one of the dogs, settling on the floor in the kitchen. She felt strange suddenly that they were watching, but they weren't watching really. They both had their head on their paws and Lucy was sleeping.
She looked back at Zane, naked on the couch, watching her with serious eyes, then broke his gaze and looked down. There he was. She had never seen such a strong and beautiful cock. It suited him, jutting out from his body as if to call attention to itself.
Everything about him was perfect in her eyes. She pushed his legs onto the couch, making him lie back on it, then climbed onto his legs, all self-consciousness gone.
Kara bent forward and licked her lips, her own desires forgotten for a moment. She felt Zane watching her and smiled, hoping he would enjoy the show. She bent forward and wrapped her lips and one hand around him, wanting with her entire being to please him, wanting to hear him moan and see pleasure on his face. He sucked in a breath, then let out a self-satisfied sigh and she thought she had never heard such a beautiful sound.
Kara had never been big on this particular love-making aspect, seeing it more as a birthday present kind of thing, something to be done only once a year or when specifically requested, and only if she really wanted to. So she didn’t understand her desire to do it here, now, but she didn’t try to figure it out. She just went with it. Zane made small gasps and moans of approval and she ate them up like candy. She wanted to make him come, and come hard. She twirled her hand and swirled her tongue, paying attention to what he seemed to like the most. Her pleasure built with his and she felt her own sex throbbing with heat and sensation. She wasn’t worried about her though. They had all day.
His breathing came faster and he started to pull slightly on her hair. "I’m going to come,” he warned her and Kara smiled inwardly at his thoughtfulness. She took him deeper into her mouth, determined to make it something he would remember and think about long after she had gone back home.
His eyes rolled down and his head snapped back, and she felt the first streams of his satisfaction escaping into the back of her throat. She shifted her weight on his legs, and the contact with his knee made something in her own center snap deliciously. A completely unexpected and perfectly powerful orgasm ripped through her and she cried out around her mouthful in astonishment. He moaned, covering the slight noise she made, and thrust his hips upwards as she bit back another cry and tried to keep ahold of him. He fell back onto the couch, panting, recovering, and she swooned against him, awash in her own recovery, too flushed to feel embarrassed … yet.
Kara gently extricated herself from Zane and pushed back so Zane couldn’t see her face, her eyes wide and staring down.
Zane grasped her upper arms and pulled her up to him for a soft kiss. “That was amazing,” he told her, looking deep in her eyes. “Now it’s your turn,” he said, trying to turn her and lay her on the couch.
Kara jumped up quickly, feeling her cheeks heat madly. She had just given him a blow job, but damned if she was going to tell him she came in her pants as she did it! Maybe after they knew each other better. Like when they had grandkids.
“Steaks!” she shouted, her arms
flailing towards the backyard.
“Steaks?” he asked doubtfully.
“Steaks, yes. Your steaks. I’m good. Really good. You should tend to your steaks. I don't want you to have to buy a steakhouse.”
“Ooookayyyy,” Zane said, drawing the syllables out in confusion. He bent to the floor and started to gather his clothes, then stood up, holding his pants in front of him. “Are you sure …” he started and Kara cut him off.
She took a deep breath and tried to act normal. She stepped forward and kissed him lightly. “I’m positive. That was all about you. We can do me later.” He smiled at that and nodded knowingly. “Bathroom?” she asked.
Zane pointed her down the hall and she disappeared quickly, hoping she had left on a high note.
Chapter 22
When Kara had calmed herself down and drank some water from the tap, she found her way outside. Zane was standing, back to her, in front of a grill, tongs clicking. He was alternately whistling and singing some low chorus to himself and swaying his hips to his own music. Kara had to laugh. Zane was generally a pretty upbeat guy, but now he looked even happier than usual. She noticed that his yard wasn’t fenced and she immediately wondered what he did with the dogs while he was at work.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she yanked it out quickly. Everything was a little too sensitive down there. It was a text message from Ivy.
Call me right away. Emergency.
Zane breezed past her, carrying a plate full of steaks. “I’m going to get the potato salad together, you make yourself comfortable.”
Kara nodded distractedly and punched in Ivy’s number, sinking into a lawn chair next to the grill.
Ivy picked up, whispering. “Oh God, Kara. Something bad just happened. I’m in the bathroom. Joe is telling Sgt. Gale about it right now, but I thought you should know too.”
“What Ivy, what is going on?” Kara asked, dread tightening a fist around her heart.