What He Explores (What He Wants, Book Twenty-One)

by Hannah Ford

  “I guess it was strange. Maybe he knew them or something…”

  “They said they’d never met him,” Jamie interrupted, watching me now with suspicion in his eyes. “All three of your cousins said they had no idea who he was.”

  “But they did mention that this man went and talked to you after the fight,” Rex joined in. “What did he say to you?”

  I licked my lips. “I don’t recall that.”

  “He didn’t come over and talk to you, Caeli?” Jamie asked. He put his hands on his hips. “Could you give us a second?” he said to Rex.

  Rex made a face. “Jamie, this is an official statement. You really shouldn’t—“

  “Just give me a second,” Jamie said sharply. Even though he was shorter in stature than Rex, the other officer sighed and rolled his eyes, giving in.

  “Okay, but don’t take long. We need to finish up here.”

  “I know,” Jamie said, then gave me a look as if to say, ‘what an idiot’ as his partner walked off to give us a moment alone.

  Truth was, I’d have preferred it if Rex had stuck around.

  Jamie stepped closer to me, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “What the heck is going on with you, Powers?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, stepping back. His breath smelled like stale coffee and old cigarettes.

  “I mean, it looks like you’re hiding something. I don’t get it. Is this guy a boyfriend of yours or something?”

  “No, Jamie. I told you I never even met him before tonight. I just waited on his table briefly.”

  “And you never got a name or a license plate,” Jamie said, watching me closely now.

  “No. And they paid in cash, so there’s no credit card receipt,” I mentioned, happy to realize there would be no way for them to trace him.

  As weird as Jamie Grubbs was, he wasn’t stupid. Just creepy. And dirty.

  Why don’t you just tell them his name? Why would you protect someone you don’t even know and put yourself at risk?

  You’re lying to the police, Caeli.

  The thing was, I couldn’t bring myself to rat out the man who’d stepped in to defend my honor.

  You have no idea if that’s why he beat them up. A guy like that, he was probably just looking for a fight and he found an excuse to get into one.

  But even if that was true, he had stood up and taken on my three cousins, all of them bullies, and done something I’d wished would happen to them for years.

  I’d often prayed that someone would come along and shut their mouths for them.

  I wasn’t going to get him punished for it.

  So I kept my mouth shut and lied.

  Jamie was exasperated, and after he and Rex reconvened and talked over what to do, they decided that there was nothing else to get from me.

  Jamie handed me his business card, which I took, trying not to grimace.

  “You call me if this guy shows up again or you remember anything else that could help us catch him,” Jamie said. “I feel like a guy who could do this kind of damage to three other grown ass men must be pretty fucking dangerous.”

  “Yeah, I suppose so,” I said.

  “Damn fucking right. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him, not by a long shot, Caeli. And that worries me. It worries me a lot, especially when I think of him getting hold of you.” His eyes stared unblinkingly at me and I looked away.

  “I’ll be fine, I promise, Jamie.”

  “Well you call me if you need anything, you hear?” he said, then reached out and grasped my shoulder, squeezing once tightly.

  I resisted the urge to pull away and shrug him off, because the last thing I wanted to do was offend a cop.

  Even if he was skeevy as hell and making me uncomfortable.

  Finally, he dropped his hand to his side and told me I was free to go.

  I got in my car and started driving home.

  As I drove, I kept replaying the events of the night, starting with seeing Zack Wild for the first time at the table with his friends.

  Every time I remembered those green eyes of his looking into mine, I got the chills and my skin got goose bumps. I imagined that cocky grin, and the things he’d said to me.

  At the time, I’d just thought he was some jerky frat guy, but now I had to wonder.

  How many frat guys could fight like that, all by themselves, taking on three strange men in a darkened parking lot?

  It wasn’t normal at all. Far from it. He was very, very dangerous, a guy like that.

  So if he was so dangerous, why did I feel like I wanted to get home as quickly as possible and touch myself, lay on my bed with no covers, completely naked, and pretend he was with me…

  I pulled up short outside the house where I lived, my breath caught in my chest.

  “Holy shit.”

  His truck was sitting there. Right there.

  And Zack Wild was leaning against it, one hand in his jeans pocket, the other holding his cell, as if he’d been surfing the net or texting while he waited for me to arrive home.

  I pulled up behind his truck and parked, my heart hammering hard against my ribcage.

  You need to get the hell out of here, Caeli.

  Jamie was right. This guy is dangerous as hell, and it’s dark out and he could do anything to you right now.

  If he could do that much damage to your cousins—three big guys—imagine what he could do to you.

  But somehow, I was taking the key out of the ignition and putting it in my purse, then opening my car door and getting out as if this was all perfectly normal.

  I slammed the door shut and stood there, watching him from a few feet away. Neither of us spoke for a moment.

  “What are you doing here?” I said, finally.

  Zack gave a slight shrug of his powerful shoulders. “What do you think I’m doing here?”

  My nipples immediately stiffened and I felt the wetness between my legs. “You should really go,” I said, avoiding him as I walked towards my front door.

  “Caeli,” he said.

  Something about the way he said my name caused me to stop dead in my tracks and wait. “What do you want?” I replied.

  “I want to talk to you.”

  “Why?” I said, still not looking at him.

  But I could feel him walking closer now, and my body was responding despite myself. My mind was shouting at me to get far away but my body was begging me to get as close as humanly possible.

  “Because,” he said, and his voice was so close now, and I shivered.

  I finally turned and looked at him.

  He was wearing his leather jacket, but it couldn’t cover his muscular form, and I was aware more than before that he was sexy as anyone I’d ever met. Not just handsome and cocky and dangerous, but smoldering hot.

  I swallowed, trying to pretend this was all normal for me. “You know, I had to lie to the police because of you.”

  His mouth quirked up at the corner when I told him that. “Oh, yeah?” he said, tilting his head to the side. “You lied for me?”

  “Not for you, because of you.”

  He folded his arms. “I never asked you to, Caeli.”

  “Don’t say my name like that.”

  “Like what?” he asked.

  “Like we know each other. Like you know me.”

  He nodded, and pretended to become serious, but the smile was still there, hidden somewhat, although his eyes sparkled mischievously. “I do feel like I know you,” he said.

  “Well you don’t. And you should go before…”

  “Before what?” he asked, and now his eyes had grown darker, intense and hungry.

  I stepped backwards. “Before you get in trouble.”

  “I don’t get in trouble unless I want to,” he said, his voice deepening.

  “I should go.” I turned and walked up the short walkway to the steps to my apartment. I lived in a duplex and my apartment had its own entrance. One of the few perks of renting a place from my p
arents that I could hardly afford.

  I grabbed my keys from my purse and saw that my hand was shaking. I stuffed the key towards the lock but it skittered away from the keyhole and then slipped out of my hand, dropping to the ground.

  “Shit,” I said, wiping a few stray strands of hair from my face.

  “Let me get it,” he said.

  “I think I can manage to pick up a key,” I said. “Don’t you ever listen when someone tells you to back off?”

  He was standing in the walkway now, but he didn’t move. “I listen. And that’s the first time I believed you. Okay, then, Caeli Powers. Goodbye and I hope you have a nice life. It was very nice meeting you, however short it was.”

  He turned around and I realized that it was hurting my stomach to watch him leave.

  Why was I feeling like this?

  What the hell was wrong with my head?

  “Zack,” I said, my throat constricted. “Wait. Don’t go.”

  He stopped walking but didn’t really come back. “Which is it?”

  “What you did to my cousins…it was scary.”

  “They attacked me,” he said. “And I didn’t know they were related to you.”

  I thought about it and realized that what he said was true, actually. My cousins ran at him first and attacked him before he did what he did in response. That detail had faded after I’d seen him so easily dispatch of each one of them, beating them up like it was nothing.

  But he’d basically been defending himself, hadn’t he?

  “I’m sorry,” I sighed. “I probably should’ve thanked you for sticking up for me in the first place.”

  Zack started walking towards me, and I felt my pulse quickening. He looked so dark and dangerous, with his shaven head and the relaxed but athletic movement of his muscular body.

  I’d never been around a man like him before. He was something different, the kind of guy you dreamed of but then you also sort of hoped you never met him in real life.

  Because a man like that would turn your whole world upside down and you didn’t have a prayer of coming out of it all unscathed.

  “Let me get that for you,” he said, climbing the steps, kneeling down next to me, his shoulder brushing my thigh as he did so. He picked up my keys and then rose, looking at me.

  Now we were so close that I could see his eyes, even in the shadows.

  “Why did you come to my house?” I asked.

  “Because,” he said, “I felt like we never had a chance to really get to know each other.” And then he was turning towards the front door and inserting the key into the lock, turning it.

  As he inserted the key I felt my legs tremble and my lower belly tighten expectantly.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered.

  “Coming inside,” he said easily, pushing the door open and entering my house in front of me.

  “That’s incredibly rude,” I said, but my voice betrayed me. The truth was, every fiber of my body was firing, alive and excited from the closeness of Zack Wild, the intensity and charisma of him.

  I watched him as he walked up the flight of steps to my apartment.

  I turned and looked around as if I was afraid someone might be watching us. But who would be watching?

  Nobody. Nobody knows he’s here right now, and that means no one will know what happens between you tonight.

  I couldn’t believe that I was being this stupid and irresponsible. And yet here it was. I couldn’t quite stop myself, no matter how crazy this whole thing was.

  I followed him into the apartment and shut the door.

  ZACK

  When I got to the top of the stairs, I saw her little apartment. It was kind of nice, even though it was too small and needed some updating.

  If we’d lived there together, I’d have fixed it up for her. I’d have made sure to install new appliances, countertops, get better fixtures, re-do the tile.

  I’d have done it all happily.

  But then I shook my head, laughing a little at my flight of fancy.

  You’re not going to ever get that far and you know it. This is one and done, just like the others. If she’s lucky, she might—might—get a spot on the roster. A phone call every so often when you need just that kind of ass, just that shape of mouth, just that curve of the hip.

  She’s one of many and don’t you forget it, Wild.

  Aye-aye, sir.

  “Nice place you got here,” I finally remarked, as I heard her hesitant footsteps behind me.

  I walked over to the bookshelf and glanced at some of the framed photos resting on a shelf at eye level.

  “How do I know you’re not a psycho who’s going to rape and murder me?” she asked from behind me.

  I picked up one photo of Caeli on the beach, a photo that showed her laughing as she held a beer. Nearby, a few guys were standing, one with his hand on her shoulder.

  Immediately, I felt my stomach burn with jealousy.

  Is that a boyfriend? Did he fuck her?

  I felt like if he was standing in front of me right then I could literally have ripped his head off.

  “When was this taken?” I said, turning and showing her the picture.

  She folded her arms and walked only a couple of steps closer. “That was a year ago. Me and some friends spent a week at the Cape.”

  “Friends? These guys were friends of yours?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “I don’t know yet,” I replied, my nostrils flaring as I stared again at the guy whose hand was touching her bare shoulder in the picture. Quickly, I scanned the other photos to see any recurrences of his face, and I didn’t see any.

  “You’re pretty weird,” Caeli said. “First you wait for me outside my restaurant, then you beat up my cousins, and then you turn up at my apartment. Now you’re inside commenting on my old pictures and interrogating me about my friends.”

  I turned around and looked at her.

  She was wearing her work outfit, nothing but cheap waitress garb, but I could see her curves, and I knew somehow that she was just raring to go—that when I started her she would be like a thoroughbred, fast out the gate and with energy to spare down the stretch.

  My dick was suddenly rock fucking hard as I looked at her standing there, with that judgmental, pouty expression on her face—and I could already imagine how those plump lips would look stretching around my cock.

  “So what if I’m weird?” I said, meeting her gaze evenly.

  “I don’t know,” she said, licking her lips and glancing away from me.

  I started walking toward her, feeling the energy between us building and enjoying the sense of tension that flooded my every cell.

  Right now this was all that mattered.

  The past was nothing but ancient history. The screams and explosions, the sound and stink of gunfire and sweat and the pit in my stomach from seeing my best friends blown apart in front of me—it was all gone. Wiped away by just being in the presence of this girl who had that “fuck you” attitude and yet she so clearly wanted to get her rocks off with me.

  “What don’t you know, Caeli?”

  “I don’t know if I like you very much, Zack.”

  “I like the way you say my name, Caeli.” I smirked, as I got even closer, and now we were near enough to touch.

  “I definitely don’t like the way you say my name,” she replied.

  “Then I won’t say it,” I told her. “I’ll call you something else instead.”

  “Oh?” she asked, her voice challenging me, her eyes begging me. “What will you call me, then?”

  “I’ll call you my little slut,” I replied.

  The look of shock on her face was priceless. “What did you just say to me?”

  “You heard me,” I replied, grinning. Meanwhile, despite her professed indignation, her nipples were poking through her shirt as clear as day and I could see the desperation in her eyes.

  “You need to leave,” she said. “Right now.”

 
“But if I leave then you’ll never know what it feels like to have me make you scream when you come harder than you’ve ever come in your life.”

  The color rose into her cheeks as her face flushed. “I should slap you in the face for the way you’re talking to me. It’s so disrespectful—“

  “But you like it,” I said, reaching out and grabbing her by the waist. The feel was electric and she easily fell into my grasp like she’d always belonged there.

  Her hips banged into mine, as I pushed my body against hers. I felt myself swell as a feeling came over me that was beyond description.

  I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to slide inside someone as badly as this in all my life.

  I stared into her dilated pupils as I felt her body, the softness of it, the heat radiating from her, and that fuck me, possess me, destroy me look in her big round eyes.

  “I don’t like it,” she said.

  “Tell me you don’t like it again and I’ll leave, no questions asked.” I stared at her, waiting, already knowing the truth.

  “You can’t just walk into my apartment and do whatever you want.”

  “Correction. I’m doing what you want.” I leaned in, inhaling her scent, smelling the pure milky softness of her, the creamy skin that I wanted to devour. “And you know it, but you’re trying to pretend otherwise.” I reached out and caressed her cheek, feeling the softness now, as my palm slid back until I could grab hold of her hair.

  She looked up at me, her mouth open, those full lips parted. “I won’t pretend if you won’t,” she said.

  “As long as we understand each other,” I told her, and then my lips were pressing into her lips, and she was everything I’d imagined and more.

  The curves of her body were luscious and soft against my hardness. I pushed into her, my rock hard cock pressing through my jeans and trying to force its way out—like a prisoner trying to get loose.

  Fuck.

  She was already making me want to come. I’d never been this ready to go before.

  Her lips were so pliant, so ready and willing, accepting of me, accepting of my tongue as I slid into her warmth, tasting her sweet breath for the first time.

  Shit. This is something else.