by Dani Wade
He ignored the myriad glances that swung his way. “She’ll be more comfortable at the B and B with her own stuff,” he said, offering a fairly reasonable excuse. “And I’m the only single person with no kids in this bunch.”
Marty gave him a nod, as if this were the given option. “I’ll get some instructions put together, but I imagine you know what warning signs to look for?”
He sure did. Zach’s military background had trained him for this and a whole lot more. Unfortunately, he’d had to put that knowledge into practice a time or two. Times he’d prefer to not just forget but to completely obliterate from his memory.
Marty went back to his patient and the others talked quietly together in that intimate way couples had. Zach watched as Bateman lumbered in across the small space. He knelt by Sadie’s chair, the movement oddly humble in a man his size.
Sadie smiled at the older man, then immediately winced. As they talked, Zach thought back to earlier, to Sadie’s comforting hand on Bateman’s arm, to her push to get him out of the direct path of the falling debris... All those things matched the Sadie he remembered from before she’d pulled her disappearing act.
The new Sadie had been more of a challenge, demanding, secretive almost—instead of just sweet. He didn’t want to be intrigued, yet he was.
What had brought on those changes? Obviously there was some of that sugary-sweet woman in there somewhere—so where had the new spice come from?
Zach suddenly realized Sadie was staring at him, her big moss-green eyes uncertain and almost fearful. The nurse must have told her about tonight’s sleeping arrangements. He didn’t care if it was the coward’s way out; he made a quick exit.
There was still work to do—and if it helped him avoid any questions, all the better.
But he couldn’t avoid Sadie a couple of hours later as he drove her slightly dopey self back to the B and B. He’d gotten her key before they’d left the mill.
When they went inside, there was no nosy landlady in the lobby to ask too many questions. Sadie leaned into him on the stairs. He told himself it would be rude to make her climb them on her own in her current shaky state. If only he could just ignore the softness of her body as it pressed against his—in such an achingly familiar fit. The light caramel scent of her hair stirred an all-too-base hunger. He felt the echo of anticipation from another time when he had been leading her to bed.
No matter how many times he told himself it couldn’t happen between them again, his urges were steadily drowning out the voice of reason.
“You don’t have to do this,” Sadie said in the same sexy drawl that featured in his memories of that one emotion-charged night five years ago.
“I take my job very seriously,” he said as he unlocked her room and led her inside.
“I see that,” she said, swaying slightly where she stood. Apparently Sadie couldn’t handle pain meds very well. “You’ve always gone above and beyond.”
Zach didn’t deny it. That was a part of his nature he couldn’t get rid of. Whether he was writing a grocery list, doing a job or taking care of his family, he was usually in whole hog.
A cute frown scrunched up Sadie’s usually open features. “But I can take care of myself,” she said. She shuffled toward the dresser. “After all, I’ve been doing it all my life.”
He refrained from pointing out that she would have been driving impaired if he had let her go home alone, and watched her pull out pajamas. She shuffled to what he assumed was the bathroom and shut herself inside.
Right, he’d conveniently forgotten about the stubborn streak.
Dropping the overnight bag he kept stowed in his SUV, Zach strolled over and sank onto the couch to wait, banging his knee against the little coffee table in the process. The laptop before him sprang to life.
Four pictures filled the screen, all of him. These weren’t the classic survey pictures he was used to seeing. Each one was artistically composed with strategic lighting and showed him absorbed in some task. Except for the one in the bottom right corner, in which he stared straight ahead with a sad look on his face.
The pictures had an indefinable quality portraying not just his emotion but the photographer’s as well. Almost a wistful, yearning feel.
Looking at them, it hit him—Sadie had missed him after all.
The bathroom door opened. Somehow, Zach knew Sadie would not want him to see these pictures. With a flick of his wrist, he closed the laptop.
He looked away so he could avoid seeing the sway of her breasts beneath the short, fitted nightie she wore. Unlike the oversize T-shirts his sister had preferred as a teenager, Sadie was all girl when it came to pajamas and underwear.
Nope. Don’t go there.
She plopped onto the bed then dropped back onto a mound of pillows. The minute her head made contact, she winced.
But her sleepy eyes met his defiantly. “See. I’m good.”
Yes, you are. He smothered a smile. “Sure you are.”
She ignored him, rolling onto her side. He could have been offended at her presenting her back, except he knew from experience that was the side she slept on.
He stood for a long time in the middle of the room, almost able to pinpoint to the second when she sank into sleep. His gaze traced the familiar S curve of her body he was desperate to curl around once more. He looked out the window at the darkening sky, then at the alarm screen on his phone that told him when he would need to wake her next.
And finally, the laptop.
He didn’t have to open it to know what was inside. Those pictures were imprinted on his brain. Mixed with the yearning he’d seen on her face when they’d stood in the alley this morning, he knew deep inside that Sadie still wanted him, too.
Then he stripped down to his boxer briefs and climbed into bed beside Sadie. At some point, his body made up his mind for him. He might be a selfish bastard, but if this was his chance to have one more taste of the only woman who had tempted his heart, he wasn’t going to turn it down.
Seven
Waking to the feel of strong arms and Zach’s scent wasn’t unusual for Sadie. He remained in her dreams no matter how many days they were apart. She let herself hover there between wakefulness and sleep, wishing the feel of him would never disappear.
Ever so slowly, the mist started to recede. “Zach,” she whispered, her mind still not comprehending. “Zach, is that you?”
“Yes,” he murmured. “I’m here.”
“Please don’t leave me.”
“I didn’t leave you. You left me.”
“But I never really wanted to.”
Only the sudden stiffening of the body beside hers awakened her enough to realize that he was real rather than a figment of her imagination. So warm and alive she could have wept in gratitude.
The confusion dissipated in a rush of fever as desire swept through her. She’d denied her need for too long.
His groan filled the air. The rough scratch of hair and smooth heat of skin graced her palms, telling her she had reached out to touch. To test whether the apparition of her dreams was indeed real.
And that’s when reality returned in an unwelcome rush.
She shouldn’t. She knew she shouldn’t, that deep down it made what she was doing that much more despicable. Her betrayal then, and her betrayal now.
Her fingers curled, digging into the warm flesh as if to keep him with her just a moment longer. His quick catch of breath signaled a change in the air, a breach of a barrier that shouldn’t be forgotten.
But it was too late.
Her mind cried out with joy as his body rolled against hers, sweeping over her to take control. He was the same Zach she remembered. His familiar scent and bulk enveloped her. Her need exploded deep inside. For this moment she would let go of the past, not worry about the future and
do the one thing Sadie never did: enjoy the present.
For the first time in five years, she felt his lips against hers. Not the barely there brush from the mill, but a full meeting of lips that conveyed passion and want. Sadie’s palms found the bare skin of his shoulders, tracing muscles bulked by years of true labor. For long moments his lips distracted her. It wasn’t the tentative touch of new lovers, but the eager reunion, the rediscovery of each other.
Just as her hands traced sinewy muscle over his ribs, he dipped down. The heat radiating from him blanketed her, left her aching for more. She wanted freedom—freedom from her clothes, from her fear, from the secrets that stood between them.
The tips of his hair, much longer than the last time they were together, brushed her cheeks. It tickled, lightening her mood a little. She smiled against his lips. Her hands automatically burrowed into the silky strands, and she savored the thickness, the new weight that signaled his complete return to civilian life.
Her hands in his hair ramped up something for him, because his movements took on a frantic edge. A powerful purpose that plunged her into heaven.
He stripped her of her nightgown, then panties. His thighs settled between hers as he assumed possession. Then he traced her ribs with his palms, reminding her of the first time his hands had explored her body.
Time coalesced in a surreal effect, mixing this moment with a night five years ago when Zach had introduced her to an ecstasy she’d only ever dreamed of before. Now, as then, he touched every part of her as if committing her body to memory. Fingers kneading her muscles. Nails stimulating her skin. Palms controlling her hips.
From somewhere deep inside her a whimper erupted. His hands tightened at the sound, keeping her from lifting against him. The inability to move only ramped up her need. Her core melted in liquefied heat.
Suddenly his warmth receded as he crouched between her thighs. It took a moment of disoriented disappointment to realize he hadn’t left her. Then he pressed his open mouth to her thigh. She tensed. Each sucking kiss brought him closer to the apex of her need, but never close enough. Her gasps filled the silence.
Just when she’d thought he would end her suffering, his mouth moved to her belly button, then out along her ribs. This time her breath caught, then she giggled at his touch. He growled, his approval obvious as he rediscovered every spot that made her laugh, sigh and moan.
Finally he stretched out over her once more. He buried his hands in her hair. The long strands wound around his fingers, and he took full advantage, tugging until her chin lifted. Sadie wanted to weep as control and guilt swept away from her. All she could do was enjoy.
His kiss against her neck was firm, demanding. This time there was no stopping her hips from lifting, her hands from clutching him to her. His mouth worked its magic while his other hand guided his hardness to her. The stretch right to the edge of fullness made her wince. It had been so long.
Too long.
But her nails dug into the cheeks of his ass, pulling him into her with devastating effect. Her entire body exploded into tingles as he moved within her. It was exactly as she remembered, and so much more.
His body demanded her response. She gave him her all. Hips clashing. Skin rubbing. Breath mingling. Until the night erupted into a million points of light and emotion.
Cementing her to him...forever.
* * *
Zach’s eyes opened when he heard the click of the bathroom door the next morning...then the unmistakable turn of the lock.
In the military he’d trained himself to be instantly alert upon awakening, but the habit wasn’t always beneficial in civilian life. For instance, at the moment, his clear mind began to play last night over and over and over again. Which wasn’t what he wanted.
The feelings and memories urged him to get his naked ass out of bed and into the shower with her. If only he hadn’t heard the telltale sound of the lock shutting him out.
So instead he covered his naked ass with a clean pair of jeans and headed downstairs for some coffee. At least he didn’t run into the proprietress first thing—which was good for her. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with Gladys before getting in a good shot of caffeine. The breakfast room was empty, though there were pans of fresh rolls and biscuits on the sideboard, and the dark smell of his favorite breakfast brew permeated the room.
The hot black coffee distracted him from what he would say to Sadie when she appeared, what he would do from this point onward.
Her agreement with the Blackstones meant he couldn’t ignore her, couldn’t get away. She hadn’t been the clingy type—now or in the past. But he could honestly say this wasn’t a situation he was used to being in with women.
His relationships since he’d been home from the air force had been few and far between. They weren’t really relationships, per se. Life had been too full of obligations and change to indulge in something that required that level of commitment—and he’d never felt the urge for more than a good time.
Except with Sadie.
A flicker of movement in his peripheral vision had him looking to the doorway. Sadie straightened her gray sweater, smoothing it down over jeans-clad hips in the barest flicker of nerves. Then she continued into the room and joined him at his table. Her smile was artificial, but it highlighted the bow curve of her upper lip—the same lip that had felt so soft and hungry beneath his own the night before.
“Are you hungry?” Sadie asked quietly, tentatively testing the waters. “Gladys’s husband makes some incredible cinnamon rolls.”
“I’m definitely not a man to turn down good food. My mama will testify to that,” he said.
She waved him back as he started to rise, so he watched as she filled two plates with rolls and some fruit. Then she lifted a large metal lid and the smell of meat filled the air. She added a couple of slices of bacon to his plate. She’d remembered. He was an avid bacon lover.
Had she learned that so well in the week they’d danced around each other before giving in to their passion?
She laid the plate before him in silence, then fixed her own cup of coffee, doctored with sugar and a liberal dose of cream. This was a natural rhythm that he’d noticed from her before. Just like at the mill, where efficiency in a large-scale task seemed routine for her, so he’d also found her to take charge of these little, everyday domestic tasks, too. Not in an overbearing way, but with a calm efficiency that matched her approach to life in general—at least, as far as Zach could tell.
And probably a way to make herself more comfortable around here.
After she was seated, she drew a long sip from the blue-glazed pottery mug. He munched on bacon, but theirs wasn’t a comfortable silence. He sensed Sadie wanted to say something, and wondered idly if he was facing the Dear John conversation he hadn’t been subjected to the last time. Odd how the thought bothered him.
He would have preferred not to care one way or another.
“I didn’t plan on that, you know,” she said, her usual quiet, even tone belying the anxiety with which she stared at her food.
“I know.” He noticed the slight puffiness along her upper cheekbone and the fresh bandage on her cheek.
She took another sip, her gaze still trained on her plate.
The least he could give her was honesty. “Neither did I. That wasn’t why I brought you home.”
Suddenly her gaze snapped up, and he found himself entranced by her brilliant green eyes. How could such a clear color hide so many secrets from him?
They both started as something heavy landed on the table. Zach had been so lost in their stilted conversation that he hadn’t noticed the approach of Gladys. He glanced up, sure his expression portrayed just how much he appreciated her intrusion.
“Why, Sadie, you didn’t mention you would have a visitor for...breakfast.”
The overly long
pause told Zach that Gladys was fishing. She must not have noticed him making his way downstairs earlier—surprising for a woman who seemed to know everything.
“Sorry, Gladys,” Sadie said.
“Well, how lucky for me that it’s Zachary Gatlin.”
Zachary couldn’t imagine a time when Gladys had ever been that happy to see him, except when she hoped to get a juicy bit of gossip. He looked up with an arched brow. This might be more interesting than he’d thought. “And why would that be?” Zach didn’t believe in beating around the bush.
“Why, I get to be the first to congratulate you.”
“On what, exactly?” There hadn’t been a lot happening worthy of celebration lately.
“On being officially cleared for the cotton poisoning, of course.”
She tapped the newspaper she’d dropped on the table with a well-manicured finger. The top headline read, Founding Family Son Charged in Mill Bombing. Zach was still trying to put the pieces together when Sadie picked up the top section of the paper. Zach didn’t need to read it. He already knew who was to blame. Which was a perk of being part of the inner Blackstone circle.
Sadie seemed to be devouring the text. Zach watched her for a moment, then glanced up at Gladys as she continued to stand next to the table.
“Isn’t it great, Zach?” she asked with a gleam in her eye that said she couldn’t wait to be on the phone the minute she had something to pass along. If he didn’t give her something, she’d just make up something interesting. Of course, the fact that Zach was here, and had probably come down from Sadie’s room, would be the first thing she’d offer.
“Yes, Gladys. It’s very nice.”
Even though I shouldn’t need the validation of being proven innocent. His sister, his mother, Jacob and his new employers all believed in him, even when the evidence had been totally damning. Those were the people that mattered.
So he kept it simple.
As Gladys headed back to the kitchen with a disappointed look on her face, Zach turned to find Sadie’s eyes on his. “Why blow her off like that?”