by B. J. Harvey
“I’d love to.” I hesitate before saying the next cringe-worthy request. “We need to watch ourselves around Zander though.”
His lips twitch but he nods. “Yeah, Zo. Until he leaves on his honeymoon, at least.” His hand grazes my hip and that damn Taylor fog has made my body hyper aware to everything the man does.
Then he’s gone.
A wave of tingles fans out from where he’s touched me, as if he has magic hands that leave a permanent imprint. I can feel where he’s been and imagine where I want him to go.
He stops at the door and turns his head, the cocky grin on his face telling me he knows exactly where my mind has gone and that is to my doorstep Saturday night, when he bested every notion I had of our first kiss being the best kiss of my life.
"Oh and Zoe?"
"Yeah?" My voice is hoarse and shaky, and a slow smirk replaces the grin.
“Bring a swimsuit and an overnight bag. You're going to need it."
∞∞∞
Noah
I’m an ass man.
I’ve never hidden that fact either. And the fact that I’m staring at the most beautiful ass I’ve ever had the pleasure to admire before has me equally turned on and frustrated as hell.
The problem is the person who the ass belongs to.
Maybe not so much of a problem, more so a seemingly insurmountable battle that is involved with claiming said body—and therefore, ass.
I know she wants me. She knows I want her. Both of which we fail miserably at hiding whenever we spend time together.
I know all her tells—the slow deep breaths she forces herself to take, the flash in her eyes as she looks at me when I walk up to her, and the adorable way she fusses with her hair, her face, her lips whenever we’re together.
But it’s like there’s this wall around her, and whatever relationship we might be working toward needs to break through that barrier if we are to have any chance. I understand the reasons why it’s there and with that, the multitude of cons stacking up against us.
That ass though, it’s calling to me. It’s begging my hands to slide down over it before cupping underneath its pert cheeks and lifting the owner of said derriere to straddle me where I stand. My cock starts to get hard—and it’s not always easy to hide that shit—so I’m forced to tear my eyes away from the body part of my dreams and will myself to calm the fuck down. I knew this barbecue idea would end up being bad for my health.
“What are you doing?” Daniel’s voice breaks through the haze. I shake my head to rid myself of the X-rated ideas that I have a shit show in hell of acting out until later and turn my attention to the guys I’m sitting with—the other halves of all but one of the women. Obviously the owner of the ass that I could bounce pennies off is unattached. I may be unscrupulous, but even I have rules.
“What are you on about, Winters?”
“I see where you’re looking and I know your game. I’m telling you right now, you’ve got to be careful.”
“Why, pray tell?”
His eyes drift to Zander before returning to mine. His actions say it all.
His brows furrow as he studies me. “Seems something has happened since our last chat . . .” He lifts his bottle of beer to his mouth and smirks around it. “She’s not a candidate for your little black book though, man.”
“I’ve never had a—” He quirks a brow at me and I know I’m fighting a losing battle. “Okay, I don’t have a black book anymore.”
He chuckles as he drops his bottle back onto the table. “There’s the truth. Seriously though, why her?”
“She might not be what I was looking for but maybe she's exactly what I need.”
His eyes widen and slowly a huge shit-eating grin that screams ‘I told you so’ makes its expected appearance. “Now the truth comes out. Can’t say I’m not glad it’s finally happening to you though.”
“Fucking hot ass though,” I groan.
“Who’s got a hot ass?” Zander pipes up as he joins the group. Daniel chokes on his beer and starts spluttering while I grin at Zander and shake my head. “There are a lot of equally attractive asses at this gathering. None of which I’m allowed to ogle.” Or admit to ogling because right now, I like my balls where they are and would enjoy keeping them there.
∞∞∞
Two hours later, we’ve all eaten and we’re sitting around near the pool with mild food comas.
I look around the table at my group of friends that you’d never imagine would get together. It’s as if we’ve bonded over something we know not to talk about, and thankfully we’ve long gotten past the awkwardness that everyone had anticipated but never really worried about. It could be because of my long-standing friendship with Dan, or the fact that first and foremost, Mac was a friend to the guys she had slept with. Whatever the reason, now that Daniel and Mac, and Sean and Sam are married, and Kate and Zander due to be married in a few weeks’ time, we’ve naturally gravitated toward each other. The fact that there is a group of eleven people sitting in my backyard, enjoying each other’s company while watching the late summer sunset, speaks volumes. Now we have Zoe, Matt and Sam’s hilarious friends Helen and Rico added to the mix, you could say that there’s never a dull moment.
“Hey bro, when do I inherit the black book?” Trust my brother to halt all conversation with one barely thought about question. I glare at him, shaking my head but failing to stop my wry smile. My idiot brother who has more cock than brains—something he makes glaringly obvious at every opportunity—never shies away from anything, including inappropriate questions at barbecues.
“Dude, I haven’t had a black book in years. But if you need help getting laid, I’m sure us guys can give you a few pointers.” This earns a few laughs around the table.
“Matt, do you really want Noah’s sloppy seconds?” Mac asks ironically.
“More like reassure the single ladies of Chicago that I’m the newer, improved Taylor.”
I choke on my drink as the table erupts in laughter. Bending over to try to recover both my breath and my composure, I freeze when a warm hand rubs up and down my spine ever so slowly. I turn my head to my right, watching her laugh with the group, acting as if she’s not making me hard by touching me, even if it is just a few feet away from her ever protective—and frequently armed—cop brother.
Her hand stills and I turn toward her just as Zander leans around Kate. “Zo, doesn’t that fall into the T.M.I. category? You know, never needing to know about your sibling’s sex life?” He smirks and I let go of the breath I was holding. I swear my life just flashed in front of my eyes. Brother. Gun. Enough said.
“Definitely don’t wanna know about yours. I invested in ear plugs before I moved in,” she retorts with a smile.
Surprisingly, Zoe doesn’t remove her hand. She just rests it there. I’m not complaining—it’s a move that tells me she’s letting me in. Victory courses through me, and I unapologetically start grinning like an idiot.
“Noah, you look like the cat that got the cream. What’s that look about?” Dan asks.
“What look?” I feign innocence. It’s the safest bet I’m guessing.
“You know what look,” Mac butts in.
“No, Mac, I don’t know what look, because you’re not a mirror and I can’t see my face. I may have many talents . . .” I waggle my eyebrows at her which just makes Daniel snort and the women around the table giggle, “ . . . but that is not one of them.”
“With the amount of time you spend in the mirror, that’s a fucking miracle,” Daniel muses, earning him a bottle cap to the head. “Ow, ya bastard.”
“Asshole.”
“Dickhead.”
“Boys! There are ladies present.” Sean leans back in his chair, his arm wrapped around Sam who has her hand resting on her barely-there baby bump.
Zander pipes up from the end of the table, “Have you heard the way these women talk? I think calling them ladies is taking it a step too far. Aye, Sam?”
“Officer
Roberts, I’m watching you. Don’t think I won’t make your life hell and ask the desk sergeant for a reassignment.”
“You wouldn’t!” he retorts, earning a calculating smirk from his blond-haired superior.
“Try me, Roberts. Just fucking try me.”
“Damn hormonal women,” he grumbles loudly, knowing full well that we can all hear him.
Kate puts her hand in Zander’s lap and looks toward Sam. “I apologize for my fiancé, Sam. It seems he forgot his manners somewhere between beer five and six.”
Note to self: Zander has had a few brews and would likely rip me a new asshole if he knew what I was planning to do to his sister.
Daniel nods in agreement. “He’s not wrong. When the girls go out drinking, they’ve been known to cause a disturbance.”
“Like that time you told me you could touch your elbows behind your back?” Zander asks, looking at Mac. I watch Zoe, shaking my head in confusion, which just makes her smile grow wider.
She leans in close to me. “What’s wrong Dr. Taylor?”
Fuck if she hasn’t lowered her voice just to screw with my head—or my dick. One can only hope!
“Elbows behind your back?” I ask perplexed.
“Oh!” She stands up and looks to Kate and Mac before announcing to the group, “it seems sweet and innocent Noah . . . sorry, my mouth struggled to utter those words together in the same sentence.” She shoots a cheeky smirk my way, which just makes my cock hard. Again. “It seems he needs a demonstration of how we can indeed touch our elbows behind our backs. Care to help me show him?”
I hear an irritated growl come from Zander—which helps to somewhat alleviate the state of affairs in my groin—and a laugh from Daniel, Sean, Rico and Matt, who obviously know what the hell the women are about to do.
Then my eyes widen in amazement and awe, switching between Mac, Kate, Helen, and finally Zoe as they pull back their shoulders and brazenly stick out their chests to display everything the good Lord blessed them with, and by God, were they blessed with great tits. Forget a nice ass—with the bouncing racks in front of me, I could easily become a breast man—well at least a Zoe’s breasts man.
“Eyes off my girls, Taylor,” Zander growls, which makes Zoe giggle, her eyes dancing with amusement as she wiggles from side to side. My head struggles to stay still, let alone drag my eyes away from the sexy display she’s putting on for me.
They stop taunting us all, and finally sit down, all of them still laughing. I catch Daniel pulling Mac into his lap and kissing her hard and fast, and from the giggles coming from Kate beside me, I have no doubt that Zander is also playfully staking his claim. My brother is sitting at the opposite end of the table smirking at me, and nodding as he watches Zoe closely.
For all my brother’s faults, we have always been close, and from the look on his face, I can tell he approves of her. Not that there’s anything to approve of right now but you can’t fault me for getting my hopes up.
“So, Noah, given up on the Bears yet?” Sean asks, and thankfully my attention is diverted—for the time being at least.
Chapter 14
“Talking Body”
Noah
Zoe and I are left with the cleanup. I told her she didn’t have to help me but I know she totally saw through my bullshit and knew that I wanted her to stay. I’d told her when I’d invited her that I wanted her to bring an overnight bag—I couldn’t have been any clearer with my intentions. I also noticed that when Zander and Kate went to leave, she walked them out to their car and was out there for a while before returning.
He didn’t come right back and shoot my balls off, so she must’ve told him she was staying.
I lift up a full trash bag with one arm, not missing Zoe staring at my arm as it tenses under the bag’s weight. I decide to take a chance with an idea I’ve been toying with ever since she turned up at my house. Fortunately, the hot weather is playing into my hands.
“Hey. Feel like a swim?”
She stops clearing the table and stands up straight. “It’s late . . .”
The fact that she’s questioning herself tells me this plan of mine is the best I’ve had in a long time. I need to show her she can trust me, trust this thing building between us. I thought that kiss last Saturday night—and the superhero level of restraint I showed in leaving—would be enough to prove to her that my intentions were not for a quick lay.
“It’s still hot and we’ve been on the go all afternoon. We deserve a break and I’m so fucking hot right now, I could do with a dip.”
“Okay. But I’m telling you now, you’ll be left with this mess if this is an attempt to get out of cleaning up.”
“I’ll do it in the morning, Zo.”
What she doesn’t know is that I’d clean up pretty much anything just for a chance.
Then I’m rendered speechless as she pulls off her tank top in front of me before bending over and slowly dragging her tight denim shorts that would give Daisy Duke a run for her money down her legs, revealing the tightest black bikini I have ever seen. Lightly tanned skin everywhere, except for the breathtaking watercolor tattoo of a phoenix that covers her right hip and upper thigh. I’d caught a hint of a tattoo on her back when we were running but a glimpse and seeing it in the flesh are two completely different things. Every part of my body is telling me to screw the rules and make my move anyway.
But that’s the old Noah. The one who was all about getting laid and to fuck with the consequences—to me or to her.
This feels different. It’s felt different since the moment I realized who she was and what I’d done. Once she gave me that chance to prove myself to her, to prove that I’m not the cocky asshole she assumed I was, it became more.
Then I’m snapped back into reality by a loud splash of water as she dives into the pool and swims away from my still frozen form.
I strip off my T-shirt and just wearing a pair of board shorts I dive in after her, popping up out of the water to find her standing near the waterfall.
The waterfall came with the house. It’s rather ostentatious and opulent, considering the area and my non-Playboy mansion house, but at least it doesn’t have a secret grotto or anything.
It’s set amongst what looks like a stack of rocks about three feet tall, which steeps out so that part of the waterfall is overhanging the pool, a thin sheet of water flowing constantly, creating a surprisingly surreal and relaxing sanctuary in my own backyard.
I find Zoe slinking beneath the waterfall and into the small space beneath the rocks. I dive under and make my way over to her, coming up for air right in front of her. Dragging my hands up from her ankles, I slide my fingers over her knees, around her hips—taking note of the hot-as-fuck tattoo there—and stopping on her upper arms. Her eyes are wide but heated, her breathing is fast making that perfect rack of hers rise and fall in quick succession.
I pull her hard up against me, bringing my fingers up to cup her jaw, my eyes boring into hers, searching for any sign that this is moving too fast, too soon.
Any fear of that is shortly obliterated as she closes the distance between us and slams her mouth against mine, plunging her tongue inside and driving me crazy with short licks against my own. Taking control of the kiss, my hands angle her face to the side so I can deepen the contact. I keep tasting and exploring, grinding my hips against hers and feel triumph surge through me when she replies with a resounding moan, a sound so unmistakable that all I can think about is sinking inside of her just to hear it again and again.
Her hands are everywhere—my shoulders, my back, my ass, roaming wild and uninhibited. It’s as if she wants to touch me everywhere and as much as possible, which makes me even harder than my current aching state of three seconds ago. It’s been a slow burn all day, full of spikes of heat and frequent hardons, but now my cock is angry. It’s willing, and it’s making its intentions known to both of us in a big way.
Her hands sweep around my hips, skirting the waistband of my shorts before he
r palm strokes me over the top of the wet material. The water laps around us, the constant splashing of the waterfall dulling out any noise around us. It’s just us. There’s nobody to interrupt us, no brothers to punch me, no ex fuck-buddies to throw tantrums, and no distractions. It’s just the two of us.
As this permeates through my brain, her hand dips beneath the elastic, her warm skin against my wet hard cock, forcing my head to drop back and a guttural groan to escape my throat. “Fuck that’s good. You feel so damn good, Zoe.”
“I need more. I need you naked,” she moans as my hands grip her ass, her cheeks filling my palms perfectly, just as I’d imagined. I rake my teeth against her bottom lip, pushing my chest against hers and licking my way along her jaw, burying my face against the soft skin of her neck, loving the way her body reacts to mine.
I want to touch her everywhere, and feel her nipples harden against my hand, in my mouth. To see and feel just how wet she is for me. I need to have her in my house, in my bed. The first time I have her can’t be in my pool. The pool is for quick and nasty, definitely not meaningful.
And whatever happens between the two of us tonight, it’s going to be intense, it will definitely be hot, but it will mean something. I know that much.
“Let’s go inside,” I mutter in between kisses, the strokes of her hand against my cock growing more and more urgent, and my self-control waning in the face of imminent pleasure. Forcing myself to take a step back, I kiss her softly one more time and grab her hand, gently pulling it out of my shorts and moving it to rest against my chest.
“Sweetheart, I told you I want you in my bed, and I meant it. We can utilize the pool later, but the first time I sink my cock inside of you I want to be in my bed.”
Her eyes rise from her hand on my chest back to my face before a slow, fucking amazing smile forms on her flushed—and somewhat dazed—face. “Okay.”
We both swim out of the waterfall and over to the wide sweeping steps leading out of the pool. I hold my hand out to her and we walk out of the pool together. I lead her toward the ottoman where I have spare towels hidden away.