Securing Zoey

by Susan Stoker

  Bubba beamed. “So things went well.”

  “Of course they did. Zoey’s a doll. But there is one problem.”

  Bubba frowned, and he felt Zoey tense in his arms. “What?”

  “I’ve lived on my own for almost six years. I don’t need a babysitter. I do need a companion to keep me company during the day and to help get me to appointments and assist in keeping my house tidied. But you aren’t the man I thought you were if you’re seriously okay with Zoey living over here. Especially if that hot-as-heck kiss was any indication.”

  “Jess,” Zoey complained, speaking up for the first time. “We talked about this.”

  “I know we did. But I disagreed with you. Your arguments were silly and wrong.”

  “What arguments?” Bubba asked.

  “Nothing,” Zoey said, but Jess, being Jess, talked over her.

  “She said that you felt responsible for her, and the last thing she wanted was you helping her out of pity. I told her to open her eyes! That Mark Wright didn’t do anything he didn’t want to do, and if he spent a week with you in the woods and still wanted to bring you back here to Riverton and went out of his way to get me to hire you, then the last thing he felt for you was pity.”

  Zoey closed her eyes and whispered, “Kill me now.”

  But Jess wasn’t done. “Were you lying when you said you’d had a crush on the man since you met him when you were teenagers? If not, then I don’t get why you wouldn’t jump at the chance to live with him now. I might be in my eighties, but I’m not dead. Me and Frank were doing the nasty every chance we had before we got married. If I’d’a had a chance to live with him before he put a ring on my finger, I would’ve taken it. The sex was that good. You want to know what the key to a good marriage is?”

  “Seriously, just kill me now,” Zoey repeated.

  “Yeah, Jess, tell us what the key to a good marriage is.” Bubba had turned so Zoey was slightly in front of him. He had his arm around her, his palm resting on her stomach, holding her tightly against him. He knew she could feel his erection against the small of her back, but he didn’t care. Simply having her in his arms calmed him.

  “Cunnilingus,” Jess said with a completely straight face.

  Bubba choked out a laugh and Zoey groaned.

  “It is?” Bubba asked when he got control of himself.

  Jess smirked. “Laugh all you want, but I’m right. Frank was a pro at it, and whenever I got mad at him, all he had to do was go down on me and within moments, I’d forget what the hell we were fighting about.”

  “Jess!” Zoey complained.

  “Don’t blush, girl. I’m right, you know I am.” She turned her gaze to Bubba. “And you better not stand there and tell me you don’t like cunnilingus. Because if so, you can turn yourself around and get the hell out of my house.”

  Bubba did his best not to laugh because he knew poor Zoey was embarrassed as hell. Her face was bright pink and he felt her shift uneasily in front of him. “It’s one of my favorite things,” he told Jess honestly, “but I’d appreciate it if we could change the subject because it’s making Zoey uncomfortable. I already know how blunt you are, but maybe you can tone it down until Zoey gets to know you a little better?”

  If anything, the smile on Jess’s face got even bigger. “Standing up for your girl, I like it.”

  “Jess,” Bubba warned.

  “All right, all right. But to get back to my point. I don’t need her here at night. I don’t need a babysitter. You like her and she likes you and you’re right across the street. If I need something—which I won’t—I’ll just call you and you can come running over. Besides, if someone is out to get you both, wouldn’t it be better for you to have Zoey with you to make sure she’s safe? Two women, one being in her eighties, isn’t exactly ideal when it comes to security.”

  Dammit. Jess had a point. But Bubba still wasn’t going to make the decision for Zoey. Did he want her with him? Fuck yeah. But he’d never forced a woman to do anything, and he wasn’t going to start now.

  He stared Jess down. “And if I said she couldn’t live in my house? Would you really turn her out? Make her spend what little money she has on an apartment somewhere? Make her spend even more money on a car and gas? I know you, Jess, you wouldn’t do that.”

  “Mark, stop it. If she doesn’t want me here, I can find my own place to live,” Zoey said.

  Bubba ignored Zoey for the moment. He knew she’d say that, but he also knew his neighbor. Jess would no more make Zoey suffer than he would.

  Jess narrowed her eyes. “Touché, young man. You know I wouldn’t. Fine, if you don’t want her, she can live here.”

  “I never said I didn’t want her,” Bubba countered. “But it’s not cool to try to manipulate either one of us.”

  Jess grinned. “As if you’d let me manipulate you. So…she gonna move in with you or what?”

  “You done with Zoey for the day?” Bubba asked instead of answering her question.

  Jess’s smile didn’t dim. “Yes. Zoey put together a batch of soup in my Crock-Pot and it’s been simmering all day.” She looked at Zoey. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I already told you not to call me that. You do it again and I’m gonna thump ya. See you tomorrow. Have fun tonight, kids!”

  “You have everything you need from here?” Bubba asked Zoey.

  She nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t bring my purse or anything, thinking if I needed it, I could just run over and get it. My phone and the key to your place are in my pocket.”

  “Great. Have a good evening, Jess,” Bubba said as he steered Zoey out of the doorway and toward his house.

  “You too!” she called before she shut the door.

  Zoey didn’t say anything as they went back across the street to his house. The second the door was shut, Zoey said, “I’m not sure this is going to work out.”

  Bubba led her into his house, keeping a firm hold on her hand, and seated her on his couch. He pulled the coffee table closer and sat on it, caging Zoey’s legs between his own. He hadn’t let go of her hand and gently caressed the back as he leaned in closer.

  “Do you not like Jess?” he asked.

  She looked up at him in surprise. “Not like her? I love her, and I’ve only known her for a day. I want to be just like her when I’m her age. She’s funny, outspoken, and completely crazy. I respect that.”

  Bubba grinned. “So, what’s not going to work out?”

  “Mark, you heard her.”

  “Yup.”

  “You can’t…I’m not… Shit.”

  “Don’t be embarrassed by Jess. Yes, she’s outspoken, but she’s right. I didn’t invite you to come to California out of pity. And I certainly wouldn’t have hooked you up with my neighbor if I didn’t want to see you every day. Get to know you better. She’s just blowing smoke up our asses; you can totally live over there with her and she’d love every second of it. But the last thing I want is for you to feel coerced into doing anything.”

  Zoey stared at him, and he could see the indecision in her eyes.

  “She was right about something else too,” he said softly.

  “What?”

  “I want you,” he said bluntly. “I came home early today because I couldn’t wait any longer to see you. To check on you. To make sure all was right in your world. I’d like nothing more than to have you here in my house with me at night. If you want to slow things down, we can do that too. I’ll sleep in the guest bedroom and you can have my bed. We’ll eat dinners and breakfasts together, learn about each other, all our likes and dislikes. We’ll watch TV and read books next to each other and go as slow as you want. Most of the time, I feel comfortable around you, Zoey. And I want that to continue.”

  “Most of the time?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “What about the other times?”

  “Comfortable is not a word that comes to mind,” he told her seriously. “Anxi
ous, fidgety, aroused, excited, giddy, confused about what the hell you see in me, and turned way the hell on.”

  Zoey licked her lips, and Bubba couldn’t take his eyes from them. He noticed that she was breathing faster and she gripped his hand even harder. “I’ve never done that.”

  Bubba frowned in confusion. “What?”

  “Um…cunnilingus.”

  Hearing the very clinical word on her lips made Bubba want to laugh. But he didn’t, this was way too serious of a conversation for him to fuck up by laughing at her. “No? Because you don’t think you’ll like it, or because the men you’ve been with didn’t?”

  “Um…both?”

  “I wasn’t lying, sweetheart. There’s nothing I like better than going down on a woman. And before you ask, it’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve done it. It’s a very personal thing that requires a lot of trust. I haven’t trusted anyone like that in a very long time. But, since we’re being honest here, I’ve fantasized about sharing that with you.”

  “You have?”

  “Yeah, Zo. Maybe it’s because of our experience out in the woods, but I trust you with my life. I can’t think of anything sexier than eating you out, hearing you call my name as you orgasm in my mouth.”

  She blushed a deep pink, and Bubba had a feeling he’d gone too far. But she’d brought it up. He tried to control his raging libido and bring their conversation back around to the original point. “I want you in my house, Zoey. I won’t manipulate you in any way. Tell me what you want, and I’ll move heaven and earth to give it to you. Do you want to stay with Jess? Rent an apartment? Stay here?”

  She looked him in the eye and softly said, “Here. If you’re being honest and really don’t mind me in your space, I’d feel more comfortable here.”

  “Why?” Bubba needed to know it was more than just because he could keep her safe.

  “Because I have had a crush on you since I was in the tenth grade. Because you’re generous and giving to a fault. Because when you kissed me, I couldn’t think of anything other than you. And even though it might be a mistake and you’ll find out I’m really just a small-town girl at heart and living here in Riverton scares the crap out of me, I still want to take that chance.”

  “You took on the Alaskan wilderness with me, sweetheart. The big bad city’s got nothin’ on you.”

  She smiled at him.

  “And I’m kicking myself even more for not going back to Alaska to visit my family, because if I did, I might’ve connected with you even sooner, and we would’ve had more time together.”

  “God, that’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me,” she whispered.

  “It’s true,” Bubba told her. Then he slowly leaned forward, lifted his chin, and waited for her to meet him halfway.

  Something inside him settled as she immediately brought her lips to his. They exchanged a slow, sweet kiss, touching nowhere but their lips.

  “So you’ll live here with me?” he asked when he pulled back.

  “Yes.”

  “Sleep in my bed?”

  “Yes.”

  “With me?”

  She blushed but said, “Yes.”

  “Good,” he said in satisfaction. “I want to take things slow. The last thing I want is to take advantage of you or your feelings. Don’t take that the wrong way. I want you, Zoey. Want to make you mine in every way a man can make a woman his, but I want you to make me yours too. And we don’t have to rush into anything. It’s been just over a week since we reconnected. Today was hard on me. Being away from you after all we’ve been through was tougher than I thought it would be.”

  “I’m glad it’s not just me feeling that way,” Zoey admitted. “I felt a little lost all day.”

  “Me too. That’s why I’m proposing taking things one day at a time. We’ll get to know each other little by little. I know you can make a fire and how you operate under extreme pressure, but I don’t know what you like on your pizza and what your favorite movie is.”

  “Anything but anchovies or pineapple, and there’s no way I could pick just one,” she said with a smile.

  Bubba wanted to stand up and throw Zoey over his shoulder like some sort of caveman, but he’d just told her he wanted to take things slow. That wouldn’t exactly be slow. “What do you want for dinner?”

  “Not fish or squirrel,” she said immediately.

  Laughing out loud, Bubba stood, taking her with him as he did. “Deal. How about spaghetti? It’s not gourmet, but I’m thinking a huge bowl of carbohydrates sounds delicious right about now.”

  “Absolutely,” she agreed.

  Hours later, after dinner, and after he and Zoey had watched two Die Hard movies, Bubba was lying in bed, holding Zoey in his arms as she slept. He had a hard-on that wouldn’t go down and his balls actually hurt from being denied release, but he’d never been more comfortable in his life.

  He’d also never thought he could be as turned on by an inexperienced woman as he was by Zoey. Thinking back to Jess’s advice, he could only mentally shake his head…and agree with her. He couldn’t wait to get his hands and mouth on Zoey. But for whatever reason, holding her like this was almost as satisfying as any sexual encounter he’d ever had. He didn’t know why, other than just because it was Zoey.

  They’d shared something deep and profound, and he’d seen a part of her that he didn’t think she showed to very many people. Her core strength. Her determination.

  Turning his head and kissing her temple, Bubba was rewarded with her mumbling something under her breath and snuggling into him even tighter.

  Someone would pay for daring to try to kill her. He hoped Tex was able to find Eva Dawkins and get to the bottom of the plot sooner rather than later. But in the meantime, he’d keep Zoey safe. She was where she belonged. Right there next to him.

  Eva Dawkins wasn’t happy. She was running scared and pissed off that she hadn’t gotten her money. Her kids were still with her psycho ex, and she had no idea what to do next. She’d hightailed it out of Seattle because staying in one place wasn’t a good plan, and had been hitchhiking her way back up into Alaska. It wasn’t smart to go back to the place where she’d been hired, but what other choice did she have? Her kids were there. And if she wanted to get them back, she had to face her ex. With or without the money he was demanding.

  For the first time in days, the burner phone she’d been using to communicate with the woman who’d hired her rang, and Eva quickly clicked on the green button to answer it.

  “Where’s my money?” she asked in lieu of a greeting.

  “There’s no money,” the woman said tersely.

  “What? That’s bullshit!”

  “No, it’s not. You didn’t hold up your end of the bargain.”

  “The hell I didn’t,” Eva told her. “I did exactly what you told me to. I dropped them off in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

  “Yeah, well, it wasn’t good enough. They were rescued, and the reading of the will went down as the law required.”

  Eva felt a pang of relief flow through her. She hadn’t killed anyone. But she’d still certainly done something that was so fucked up, no jury would let it go. That, along with her record for transporting drugs, would get her thrown in jail without anyone thinking twice about it.

  Shit. She was fucked.

  She made a last-ditch effort to get the woman to wire the money she’d promised. “That’s not my fault. I did what you wanted. You owe me.”

  The woman sighed. “You’re right, you did. But here’s the thing…there is no money. I gave what I promised you to the guys who were supposed to sabotage your plane—so all three of you would die when your plane crashed after takeoff.”

  Eva gasped. “What?” she whispered.

  “That’s right. If you’d have thought about it for two seconds, you would’ve realized that having Mark and Zoey declared missing made no sense. No money would be released until they were proven dead, and how could we do that if they disappear
ed into the Alaskan wilderness forever? No, I needed everyone to know they were dead, and not by some suspicious mugging or something. That fucking plane was supposed to go down in a ball of flames.”

  “I can’t believe you,” Eva said, stunned beyond belief. She was lucky to be alive.

  “Believe it,” the other woman sneered. “The only reason you’re alive is because those assholes must’ve double-crossed me.”

  “Like you did to me!” Eva protested.

  “Yeah, well…sorry.”

  She didn’t sound sorry at all.

  “You bitch!” Eva said. “You owe me, and I want my money.”

  “I don’t owe you shit!” the woman told her. “I’m calling to let you know any association between us is done. If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I’ll have you arrested so fast your head will spin. Who do you think the cops will believe, you or me? I’ll tell you who, bitch. Me.”

  “But what about my kids?” Eva wailed in despair.

  “They aren’t my problem. Maybe you shouldn’t have spread your legs for the first asshole who came sniffing around. You got yourself into that situation, you can figure a way out of it.”

  “I had! I did what you wanted,” Eva said desperately.

  “You’re nothing but pure trash,” the woman on the other end of the line said heartlessly. “Your kids never stood a chance. And they’re going to be nothing but trash too. Use this as a chance to wipe your slate clean. Move to Maine or something and start over. It’s probably the best thing you could do for those fucking kids.”

  After that soul-crushing retort, the line went dead.

  Eva stared down at the phone in her hand and did what any other mother would do.

  She cried.

  Then she reached way down deep inside and vowed to do whatever it took to get her children back.

  They weren’t trash. They were beautiful and innocent, and Eva would do whatever it took to make sure they stayed that way.

  The woman thought she could cheat her out of the money she owed her fair and square? Eva would ruin her. She didn’t know how she’d do it, but she would. One way or another.