Burning Resolution

by T. M. Cromer

  Her raised brows and wide-eyed stare told him the lame excuse wouldn’t work.

  “All I want is to spend time with you without any outside influences. To eat a great meal in a romantic setting and hold you in my arms while we dance afterwards would make me ecstatic. If this is all you are going to allow us, can we have this one last night?

  She closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. “Yes.”

  “Thank you,” he said huskily.

  Zack gathered her close and cradled her face in his hands. He took the time to memorize her every feature. Her tear-bright chocolate eyes with their thick, dark lashes; arched brows no longer lifted in challenge; her straight, if slightly long nose; her high cheekbones; her perfectly pouty pink lips begging to be kissed. And kiss them he did. Slow and soft, before deep and seeking. What he sought, he didn’t know. Maybe he wanted to brand her. Seer into her mind how much he truly desired and loved her.

  Fighting his raging hard-on, he pulled back and ran a thumb over her now swollen mouth. Her lipstick would need to be repaired, and she wouldn’t thank him for the mess he made of it, but damn, it made her so much hotter.

  “I love you, Erica.” He said this without any agenda. Only because the words needed to be uttered. She had to know how much he cared.

  The moisture in her eyes built again, spilling over to trail down her cheek. She pursed her lips as if to speak. No words could form over her convulsive swallowing. He knew that from past experience. He’d been there when strong emotion hit. She loved him, too. There was no doubt in his mind.

  “It’s okay, babe. Go fix your make-up and we’ll head out.” He offered up a soft smile and a light pat on her ass.

  She obeyed without delay.

  Zack pulled out all the stops for dinner. Erica couldn’t recall a time when she’d been so spoiled. The meal was incredible and like nothing she’d experienced. From the appetizer to the dessert, she consumed each bite with relish and a moan, much to her date’s amusement.

  “Okay, so I have to admit, this was your best idea to date,” Erica said as she placed her arm through his to stroll along the river walkway. “I love this area of downtown.”

  Even though they needed to bundle up against the cool night air, magic seemed to swirl around them this evening. The other couples wandering hand-in-hand lent to the romantic atmosphere. Erica tugged Zack to a stop to allow her to gaze at the stars. Ah, the mysteries they held. Was it written there, that they would get their happy ending? Or were the planets aligned in Christie’s favor? Life and relationships shouldn’t be so hard.

  “You seem serious suddenly. What’s going on, babe?”

  The rich tone of Zack’s voice startled her out of her musings. “It’s nothing.”

  “Should I be a guy and act like I’m taking your comment at face value, all the while secretly trying to avoid the landmine waiting for me?” he asked dryly.

  She glanced over to see him resting an elbow on the railing. Unable to help herself, she laughed. “Could you be any more perfect?”

  “Most definitely. But I’m really glad you think I am.”

  Stretching, she placed a peck on his lips. As she shifted to back away, he grabbed her around the waist and held her to him. Erica reveled in the moment. With her ear pressed against his heart, she couldn’t be more content.

  “I do love you. I couldn’t say it earlier. But I didn’t want another second to go by without you knowing,” she said.

  “I do know. It’s in everything you do, Erica. The way…” He trailed off only to fling them to the ground with a “holy shit!”

  Stunned stupid, she lay there unable to catch her breath or register what the loud popping noise was.

  “Are you all right? Erica! Tell me you’re all right!” Zack became frantic as she stayed silent, unable to form a coherent thought. “Babe!”

  In place of words, she cupped his jaw and nodded.

  “Jesus! That was close. Stay here,” he ordered, pulling her to a sitting position. “Call 911.”

  She snagged his sleeve in her grip and refused to let go. “Don’t you dare do what I think you’re planning on doing.”

  “She’s getting away,” he cried urgently. “It’s our chance to get her.”

  “Did she, or didn’t she, just take a shot at me?”

  “She did.”

  “So your plan is to run after a psycho who has a gun?”

  “Dammit, Erica! She’s get—”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she snapped. “I get it. Well, let her. Tomorrow we all move to Florida.”

  He plunked down next to her and pulled out his cell. The dispatch informed him officers were already on their way from a previous call.

  Erica felt his rage. Sitting this close it was impossible not to. His inability to look at her, the staring off into the darkness in the direction Christie had fled, and the beating of his fist on his thigh, all led to his heightened emotions.

  Part of her brain screamed at her to remain silent, but the not so smart section decided to question him. “How… how did she know we were here?”

  He whipped his head around to glare down at her. “What?”

  “I watched you on the way here. You took every precaution. The multiple turns, running the yellow lights, pulling off on a different exit. Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I would have said you had spy training.”

  A dark frown appeared. “That’s a damn good question. Only her parents knew we were going out to dinner. I never told them where.”

  “Had you ever brought her here?”

  “No. The restaurant opened before Christmas. The reservation list is a month out.” He rubbed his jaw, thoughtful.

  “A guess on her part then.”

  “I don’t see how. The open table fell into my lap. Bucky made it some time ago. He called me last night and said his date fell through,” he told her. “He asked if I wanted to take you out as a surprise. He suggested it might help you forget about all that’s been happening lately.”

  Erica’s mind raced. “Zack, I want you to think back carefully. Did Bucky and Christie ever know each other? Were they friends?”

  His hand gripped hers, nearly crushing her fingers. “What are you saying?”

  “There have been quite a few coincidences going on. Humor me.”

  “Yes. I think they may have been friends. I seemed to recall her saying something to that effect once.”

  “How did he take her ‘death’?”

  “Hard,” he answered, voice grim. “He literally broke down sobbing at the service. Ah, Christ! How the hell have I missed this?”

  “So you see it, too? It’s not just my writer mind seeing a plot where none exists?”

  “That he happened to be working every time she’s attacked? That in a town where the response time should be mere minutes, it’s taken officers ten or more to arrive after a call? That he seems pretty damn jolly after he shows up? And he does show up, doesn’t he? Every time.”

  “She has to have someone assisting her. I can’t see how she could be pulling this off by herself,” she said. Her teeth worried her lip as she thought back. “You said something about the night my house burned down. Christie slashed your tires before heading to my house. I don’t think she had enough time.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said the hooded person struck you as male and that he ‘ran’ away. Not that he jumped in a car and drove.”

  “Right, but I also spent time having a police report filed.”

  “But where was Bucky then? Why hadn’t he shown up to that particular incident?”

  “What are you accusing me of, Erica?” Bucky’s voice came out of the darkness, giving her a fright.

  Zack jumped up and gave him a rough shove. “You’re the only one who knew where we’d be tonight, Bucky. Why don’t you start talking? Where are the other uniforms? How did you know we would be in this exact spot? For that matter, why are you even here?”

  “I heard the call on the scanner. I happen
ed to be in town shopping because I had the night off. Jesus, Zack,” Bucky exclaimed and rubbed his chest. “You know me better than that.”

  “Do I?” he growled more than asked the question.

  “We’ve been friends since school. I would never do anything to harm you or Erica. Never!”

  “Then why did you break down at Christie’s funeral the way you did?”

  “I was thinking of Jacob. What the poor kid must be going through without a mom. And that the only mother he did know of had to die so horribly,” he defended. “My mom died when I was a kid, remember?”

  Unless Bucky had majored in acting, he was telling the truth. Erica couldn’t see an ounce of deception on his face. She should know. Having dealt with liars and cheats as boyfriends for years, she was adept at the signs.

  “He’s telling the truth, Zack.”

  “Fuck!”

  Together, her and Bucky waited quietly by as Zack paced off his residual anger. The police came running up, once again late to the party. Erica listened as Zack explained seeing a hooded female pointing a gun in their direction. Of how he threw her to the ground, anticipating she’d been the target. A police report was filed, and they were encouraged to return to the safety of their home.

  “I’d like to know what’s so fucking safe about a home. Please, feel free to explain it to me,” he snapped. He nodded his head in her direction. “Erica’s was burned to the ground, and even with the routine patrols, that psycho has been sitting outside my house stalking us.

  “We live in a damned one-horse town, where nothing happens, and you people can’t find one lone woman carving up cars, slashing tires, stabbing residents and setting houses ablaze. For fuck’s sake, do your damn job already!”

  “Sir, have you been drinking tonight?”

  “What?”

  “Oh, shit,” Erica heard Bucky mutter before he stepped forward to stop World War III from happening.

  Either Zack had been shocked by the question, or an aneurism had burst in his brain from fury. It scared her that he appeared frozen to the spot. She sidled up to him and clasped his hand. “Let’s go, Zack. Bucky can finish up here.”

  Worry had her trying to tug him toward the area of the parking lot. She’d never seen his eyes so cold. His face looked as if it had been chiseled from granite, so hard was his expression.

  “Baby, please,” she whispered, stroking his arm. “Let’s just go.”

  His head inched in her direction, similar to an automated robot. Jerky in its motion. Zack looked almost surprised to see her next to him. His brows drew together as he cast a glance down to where she now plucked at his coat sleeve. With a twist of his arm, he dislodged her.

  “Bucky, please come by the house tomorrow if you have time,” Erica said. “We need to talk.”

  “Will do. You’d better hurry.”

  She whirled back around to find Zack had stalked off. He paused about twenty feet away to turn, throw up his hands, and yell his frustration to the heavens. People who had been lingering to watch the scene unfold stood transfixed.

  Erica also found herself rooted to the spot. Right then, Zack appeared as more than a mere mortal. The earthly elements were building around them; wind whipped his coat around him, rain started a light drizzle, and the stars were no longer visible, having been obscured by the storm clouds.

  Yet, there he was. Black hair and dark clothing barely discernible against the night sky that was his backdrop. Brilliant blue eyes reflecting the lightning as it flared. Fists clenched and raised up, as if in challenge. He made her breathless in his beauty.

  Without warning, he was striding in her direction, sweeping her off her feet and hugging her to him. She could scarce inhale because his arms were like steel bands around her rib cage. She didn’t care. All she wanted right at that precise point in time was to taste the rain on his lips. A big fuck you to their audience. A sixth sense told Erica she would be watching. Perhaps Zack sensed it, too. Maybe it was why he so blatantly ravaged her mouth there on the sidewalk.

  He didn’t seem to care he was hard as a rock against her lower abdomen. One hand came down to grip her thigh and pull it up around his waist, causing contact between his groin and hers. If he wanted to throw her down and have sex then and there, Erica would have been powerless to stop. The want swept her along, blocking out consequence and reason.

  Nature opened up on them. Rain poured down and thunder boomed. It brought them back to themselves long enough to realize this was neither the time nor place for what they needed. Still, they stood, gazes locked, heated. A slow, wicked half-smile curled his mouth. A matching one touched hers. As one, they turned and ran toward the hotel on the other side of the park at the far end of the riverwalk.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Erica had no recollection as to how they checked in and made it to their room. It didn’t matter. What did matter was Zack tearing at her clothing, as she tore at his. Coat, shoes, tie, pants, socks, and then he was as naked as she was. His chest heaving as his eyes made their slow descent of her form. Her breath caught when he licked his lips as his gaze fell to the junction between her thighs.

  Another grin, this more sensuous and devilish than the last, lit his face. “Guess what I had delivered to this room earlier?”

  How did he know they were coming here? Had he planned it? Duh, he must have. She shook her head, unable to imagine anything but him inside her.

  “Lemon filled donuts. Two dozen of them.”

  She might have come in her excitement and at the suggestion in his tone, she couldn’t be positive. But she was sure she had momentary insanity take hold. A throaty growl came out, and she launched herself in his general vicinity. He’d anticipated her move and caught her mid-launch. His forward motion tumbled them down onto the bed. They bounced once. Hard.

  Possibly tomorrow she would be in traction, but tonight she couldn’t care less. His mouth fastened on her breast. Sucking and nipping the tender flesh there. He teased and tantalized. Inching his way down her body. Making her beg for release as he toyed with her clit, as he used his tongue and teeth. There was a recklessness to their lovemaking this night. He had her crying out with her orgasm in nothing flat.

  Erica had no time to recover before she felt the gel of the lemon filling hit her pebbled nipple. Oh dear God! He was going to kill her. But damn if she wouldn’t die happy.

  His raspy tongue traced the line of goo he’d squirted on her chest. His dark head was bent over her and the sight was the most erotic she’d ever witnessed. What wasn’t to love about it? Her two most favorite things in the world, donuts and sex with Zack, coming together in one picture. If she’d only had a camera, she would memorialize the image forever.

  “You’re thinking. I can feel it,” he murmured. An amused sparkle lit his eyes when he lifted up to survey his design work.

  “I had the thought now I understand why people make sex tapes,” she teased, running a finger across her breast and scooping up some cream to smear on his pec.

  He laughed and laid on her fully, creating a squishy mess between them. “You want to make a sex tape? Hell, yes! I’m in.”

  “Perv.”

  “You know it.”

  She reached down and wrapped her sticky hand around his girth. “Ya know, it’s occurred to me, I haven’t had a chance to sample the dessert. Maybe, I—”

  He placed a finger to her mouth, effectively silencing her. “You’ll definitely get your chance. We have all night. I’m pretty sure the donuts will keep.” Leaning in, he traced the throbbing vein in her neck. “But right now, I want to fuck you until you scream.”

  Her whimper caused his chuckle. Yeah, he could talk dirty to her all night. It only added a facet to their play.

  “I don’t want to use a condom tonight, babe. I want to feel you as I enter you, again and again,” he said.

  Scooting down, he knelt between her thighs, hooking her knees over his shoulders. He gripped her ass as he tasted her core, and then clutched her hip
s to keep her in place when she would have squirmed free. Her panted breaths urged him on. His name chanted in an endless loop with “oh God” and “yes” spoke of her imminent release. She peaked, only to be brought back to another thirty seconds later. Damn the man had mad skills.

  “Let’s hit the shower.” He hauled her to her feet. And when she tried to stand on shaky legs, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bathroom. “I feel this is very reminiscent of the first night we reconnected. You, unable to stand after your workout. Me, seeing you naked in the bathroom and wanting to bend you over the rim of the tub.”

  She smiled up at him. A siren’s smile. “Me, dreaming of all the ways I would maim you if I had to do one more spin on that damn bike.”

  Their laughter echoed off the tiled room.

  Zack adjusted the water to just north of warm and crowded the two of them into the stall. Erica was sure he was a sorcerer when he lathered her hair and followed it up with a thorough soaping of her body. All her nerve endings were alive and responding to his every caress. He faced her away from him, urging her to brace her hands on the shower wall.

  With great care he spread her folds and plunged into her, sinking to the hilt. The shuddering sigh next to her ear caused a similar reaction for Erica. Zack eased out and thrust back in one powerful swoop. Experiencing the fullness of him without the latex covering was exquisite.

  For the fourth time that night, the pleasure built to a crescendo. He rung cry after cry from her, and then had her coming a fifth time as he ran his fingers down her stomach to find her mound and lightly pinch her nub. The bucking in the final throws of her passion sent him careening over the edge. He slammed into her again and again, deepening each movement, and shouting out her name.

  The water ran cool and became their warning to get out before the icy blast doused them. Wrapped in a fluffy robe, with a towel as a turban on her wet hair, Erica snagged a donut on the way back to bed.

  “Those need to last the night,” he cautioned with a smirk.

  “Pfft. Yeah, well so does my energy level. For that matter yours does, too, since you seem to be doing all the work. You’d better have two.”