Reckless

by Kimberly Kincaid

  Holy hell. He’d thought she’d been gorgeous last night, with her sexy moans and barely there lace panties. But standing here in her silly pajamas, smiling over at him through the honest, bright light of morning, Zoe Westin was the most stunning woman Alex had ever seen.

  “Hey. You’re up.” She lowered the washcloth to the vanity, her bare heel squeaking softly against the ceramic tile as she turned to look at him.

  If the current state of affairs in his shorts was any indication, her words could headline the understatement of the month club. “Mmm-hmm.”

  “I didn’t mean to go poking through your stuff,” Zoe said, biting her lip and dropping her gaze to the toothbrush still in her hand. “But I left my toiletry bag at home by accident. You had an extra toothbrush in the medicine cabinet, so . . .”

  Alex cut her off gently with a shake of his head. “It’s fine. That’s what the extra is for.”

  “You keep an extra toothbrush for all the women you seduce in your hallway?” Her retort arrived with a saucy tip of her lips, but Alex had already seen the sweet side tucked deep beneath her moxie.

  He’d already had one. Now he wanted the other.

  “Nope.” The tiles were cool against his feet as he took the handful of steps necessary to reach her. Plucking the toothbrush out of her hand, he turned toward the sink on the other end of the counter, placing it in the holder next to his before saying, “I bought it three days ago.”

  Her lashes fanned upward in a honey-colored arc. “You did?”

  “Sure.” Running his own toothbrush under a steady stream of water, he lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. They’d spent all of their nights together at Zoe’s apartment, but ending up here at some point had only been a matter of time. “I figured we’d stay here sooner or later.”

  “The house is beautiful.” Zoe gestured to the ivory-tiled space around them, and Alex completed a quick but thorough scrub-down of his teeth before answering.

  “I had the master bedroom and the bath in here completely redone a couple of years after I graduated from college. I wish I could take credit for how the job turned out, but I kind of just let the contractor do his thing.”

  Her expression softened, but she didn’t pull back from the subject. “Wanting to make the space your own makes sense.”

  Alex nodded, his words coming easily enough to surprise the hell out of him. “My parents left me the house, and even though it was a tough choice, I decided to stay rather than sell. After that, it seemed disrespectful not to really live in the place.”

  As if Zoe could sense that he didn’t want poor-baby sympathy, her lips curved into an honest smile. “So does really living involve nice, long soaks over there? Because I have to tell you, that bathtub looks like heaven.”

  “Ah, there’s another thing I let the contractor take charge of.” He followed her gaze to the oversized multi-jet tub on the wall to his right. “I’ve used it a few times after a really hard shift or a long day of rock climbing. But I’m not here enough to take full advantage on a regular basis.”

  “That’s a travesty,” she said, a soft puff of laughter crossing her lips. “And here I thought you were all about seizing the moment.”

  The earlier bolt of want in Alex’s blood charged back to life, running the length of his spine in a hard ripple before settling low and deep between his hips. He eliminated the space between him and Zoe in the span of time it took her to suck in an audible breath, pressing his palms to the granite vanity top to cage her tight against his body. Where last night had been fast, full of the thrill of the moment, right now he wanted to slow down, to explore every inch of the flip side of Zoe’s sexiness.

  To draw out that sweet, hidden part of her, only so he could rediscover it again and again.

  “So tell me.” Alex dropped his mouth to the sliver of space just above Zoe’s ear, close enough to feel the heat radiating off her in a thousand places although he touched her in none. “Do you want to seize this moment?”

  She pulled back just far enough to meet his eyes, the small of her back pressing flush against the vanity. “Yes.”

  “And do you trust me?” He tightened his grip on the counter behind her, keeping his hands anchored in place even though every instinct he had screamed at him to touch her.

  “Of course,” she said, the words wrapped in husky desire. Alex’s lips hovered over the sweet, pale expanse of her neck, his cock growing instantly hard at the rasp of her shaky breath and the brisk citrus scent of her hot, mostly bare skin. But when Zoe shifted forward to link her arms around his shoulders, he dodged back to capture her wrists, one in each hand.

  “If you want to take this moment and really live, then let me show you how.”

  Swinging Zoe around, Alex lowered her hands to the vanity top, pressing her palms against the cool granite before covering her fingers with his own. The good half foot he had on her in height gave him the perfect vantage point to see over her shoulder. The contact of their hands was their only connection until Zoe’s eyes met his in the mirror, and fuck, this was going to take every last ounce of his already questionable restraint.

  He didn’t hesitate.

  “Leave your hands where they are,” Alex murmured, squeezing once for emphasis before letting go of her fingers. Although her palms didn’t budge, her gaze widened in confusion, and he leaned in to answer her unspoken question with a dark smile.

  “One sensation at a time. All of them are yours. Which means I do all the touching.”

  Zoe’s stare glinted in the mirror’s reflection, his pulse burning faster in his veins when she complied with a tiny nod. Alex lowered his attention to the column of her neck, sliding the edge of his tongue over her skin while keeping his distance from the rest of her body.

  “Alex.” The sigh that spilled out of her vibrated beneath his lips, but he refused to give in to the want screaming through him. With only the very slightest pressure, he strung a path of kisses from Zoe’s neck to her shoulder, following his movements with an equally featherlight glide of his fingertips. He hooked the edge of one finger under the strap of her tank top, her hips arching toward his as he lowered the ribbon of fabric just enough to run his teeth across the spot where her neck met the curve of her shoulder. But rather than giving Zoe the added contact she sought, he shifted back.

  “Uh-uh, Gorgeous. No touching unless I say so.” Alex buried his smile deep in her shoulder. Christ, the blush on her skin was enough to undo him right here on the damn tiles.

  “We’re supposed to be seizing.” Zoe’s tone toed the line between sensuality and sweetness, both daring him to take her hard and fast and right freaking now, but he didn’t give in.

  “If you want to really live in this moment,” he said, swirling his tongue against the pulse point in her neck before lifting his head to lock eyes with her in the mirror, “then feel each touch all by itself. Let me give you the experience. Bit”—he broke off to dust his fingers over the indent above her collarbone, skimming over her sternum and down the midline of her belly before falling away from the flare of her hip—“by bit.”

  Zoe’s answer came by way of a want-soaked sigh that was far from an argument. Alex returned his gaze to the reflection in front of him, her parted lips and shuttered, warm honey gaze testing his resolve while hitting every one of his fuck yes triggers. Zoe’s face flushed dark pink with desire, and his cock grew even harder as he raked his gaze lower over her body. Her shallow breaths lifted her chest in quick rhythm, her nipples beaded into tight points against the loose cotton covering them, and Alex pressed his mouth to the shell of her ear.

  “Close your eyes.”

  Her lashes fluttered before settling, sending a shot of heat to the base of his spine. Reaching beneath the arm Zoe still had extended toward the vanity, he spread his palm over the front of her tank top at the top of her chest, her heart answering the pressure with a wild thrum against his skin. He centered himself behind her, lowering his hand to the slope of her belly before moving
back up to the valley between the curve of her breasts. Zoe’s rapid breaths became heady moans, and each one pushed Alex to repeat the circuit with slow, soft strokes.

  “Are you with me, right here?” He let his fingers play in the spot right over her breastbone, dipping to the underside of one cotton-covered breast to tease her delicate skin through the fabric. Zoe’s shoulder blades squeezed together on another moan, her knuckles going white over the granite ledge in front of her hips as her nipples peaked into hard points, begging to be touched.

  “Yes. Oh, God. Yes.”

  The wicked thrill of her voice sent his hands over the hem of her top. “Where do you want me now?”

  Zoe’s eyes flashed open, her expression so sensual and wanting at the same time that it stole Alex’s breath.

  “Everywhere, Alex. I want you everywhere.”

  Forcing himself into slowness that shook his hands, he lifted her tank top over her head, guiding her hands back to the counter as the garment fell to the floor. He stepped in behind her, bringing his chest as close to her back as possible without making a connection before brushing his lips over her neck. Zoe gasped at the contact, her body tightening even further as he kissed his way down the ridge of her spine. Every response to his touch, no matter how subtle, made Alex crave the next one all the more, and he kissed a path over her neck, her shoulders, her back, until he’d shown every inch of the skin in front of him the attention of his fingers and tongue. But between the overt sexiness of the rest of her mostly bare body and the sheer desire on her face as she stood there trusting him to pleasure her, Alex couldn’t wait any longer. Keeping one hand steady around Zoe’s rib cage, he linked his other arm beneath hers, sweeping the pad of his thumb slowly over her nipple.

  “Ohhhhh.” Her breath kicked out on a sharp cry, his cock jerking hard as she arched all the way into his touch.

  “See? Just feel my hands on you. Right here.” Alex circled again with his thumb. From over her shoulder, he sent his stare back to their entwined reflection, watching her nipple tighten and flush dark pink under his touch. “I’m with you, baby.” He rolled the tip of her nipple between his thumb and the callused edge of his forefinger, picking up speed and pressure. “Right here. I’ve got you.”

  Zoe nodded, the strands of sun-kissed hair that had come loose from their twist tickling over Alex’s skin, and even that slight suggestion of her closeness pushed him harder. The curve of her spine bowed upward with each pass of his fingers, her breath sawing out in ragged sighs. Alex watched in the mirror as Zoe arched against the friction, her eyes shut tight and her expression lost in sensation as he worked her nipple in faster strokes.

  “Please. You’re driving me crazy,” she moaned, pressing up on the balls of her feet to fit her breast into more of his touch. The shift brought her head back against his shoulder, and while he wanted to give her a slideshow of sensations one at a time, he wasn’t about to deny her, either.

  “Then go crazy.”

  Alex lowered his hand from her nipple to the swell of her hip. Her shorts were little more than a blue and white scrap, with a deceptively sweet ruffle at the bottom hem, and he dragged a finger along the line where her leg tapered into the lush curve of her ass.

  “These are so fucking hot.” He let his finger follow the flutter of fabric back and forth, sliding beneath the cotton to find soft, bare skin. “No panties?” Jesus, now they were both going crazy.

  “They seemed . . .” Zoe stopped, her breath hitching as he added another finger to skim her inner thigh. “Kind of pointless. Oh God, don’t stop.”

  Alex slipped his hand between her thighs to cup her sex, and damn, her heat was an addiction. Wicked satisfaction speared all the way through him at the eager way she opened to his touch, but still, he kept his movements whisper soft. Trailing two fingers over her fabric-covered center, he wrapped his other arm around the front of her hips with firm intention. He anchored Zoe’s body in place, pressing against the indent at the seam of her body one more time before pushing aside the damp fabric to finally touch her skin on skin.

  “Right here,” he grated, channeling every last shred of his willpower into not saying screw the experience and sinking his cock all the way inside her right goddamn now. She met his touch with a tilt of her hips, the fabric of her shorts riding up just enough to give him a sultry glimpse of her sex beneath, and Alex stroked her again just to hear her moan.

  “There. Don’t stop touching me there.”

  The words quivered past Zoe’s lips, her eyes squeezing shut even tighter as she rocked against his fingers. Sliding his free hand past the waistband riding her hips, he pushed lower, over the rise where her hip bones came together to land at the apex of her smooth, bare sex. Zoe widened her stance, leaning forward against the vanity in invitation, and fuck if he was refusing her, no matter how hard his impulse screamed.

  His cock could wait. Right now, he was going to give this woman the most earth-ripping orgasm of her life.

  Alex dipped a finger into Zoe’s core from behind, drawing a sharp cry from her chest. Her slick inner muscles clenched around him, begging for movement.

  But he didn’t give it.

  “I’m still with you,” he whispered, hot and dark in her ear. Without moving the finger buried inside her, he parted her folds with his opposite hand, bracing his palm over the lowest part of her belly while he tested and teased. Alex circled the swell of her clit, letting another finger join the first one inside her. Holding her still and steady, he cupped his palm against her sex, crooking his fingers as he withdrew in a sinful slide. Her sighs turned to moans in an instant, each one daring him to pleasure her more, and he didn’t wait. His thrusts grew harder, blooming into a faster-paced rhythm as he sank his opposite fingers deeper against the swollen bud at the top of her sex. Alex stroked and pressed and caressed, until finally, Zoe started to tremble from the inside out.

  “I’ve got you, Gorgeous,” Alex said with one last punishing thrust inside her. “Take the moment. Come for me.”

  She climaxed in a hard wave, clutching the counter in front of her and screaming out his name. He watched her in the mirror, increasing the contact of their bodies as he slowed the motions of his hands. Shifting the arm he’d wrapped around the front of her body, Alex curled his hand over the thin waistband of Zoe’s shorts, lowering first hers, then his before turning her around to face him.

  “Are you still here?” he asked, dropping a kiss over each of her eyes as they fluttered open. But rather than utter a sweet murmur to match the blush on her face or the loose, golden curls that had fallen to frame her shoulders, Zoe shocked the hell out of him by throwing her head back to laugh.

  “Oh, I’m here all right.” Her tenderness made way for a saucy smile, and his pulse ratcheted higher as she dropped a hand to the slice of space between them. She slid her nimble fingers up the length of his thigh, with just enough friction to make his balls draw up tight against his body. Knowing the demand from his dick was going to become time sensitive in about T-minus zero seconds, Alex palmed Zoe’s shoulders, turning toward his bedroom.

  She didn’t budge. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m taking you to bed.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  His confusion had to have shown on his face, because Zoe continued before he could speak.

  “Make no mistake,” she said, her hand gliding over the flat of his abs, destination: lower. “I want you.” Her fingertips brushed the head of his cock, and Alex’s groan was involuntary as she kept talking, kept stroking. “But if we’re going to really seize this moment, we’re going to do it together.”

  Zoe reached the base of his shaft, but instead of sliding her touch back upward, she dropped her fingers to tease the sensitive skin beneath.

  His breath slapped to a stop in his lungs. “We are?” he choked out, doing his best to find his resolve. Yeah, he wanted her with desire that bordered on insanity right now, and yeah again, he had every intention of s
taying very, very naked with her until that desire was satisfied. But no matter how badly he wanted her, no matter how sexy their foreplay had been in other places, the least Zoe deserved was to end up in a bed.

  Alex darted a glance toward the door, renewing his efforts to get her to the comfort of his sheets and pillows, but she wrapped her fingers around his cock for a slow, delicious pump that damn near laid waste to his restraint.

  “We are. Which means I want you to fuck me. Right. Here.”

  In a blur of motion and white hot want, Alex’s hands shot around her hips to pull her off the floor. Their mouths crashed together in a tangle of urgent lust, and he pushed his way inside her mouth with a greedy sweep of his tongue. She tasted like peppermint and sin, her arms hot around his shoulders as he carried her to the small, sturdy niche where the two sections of countertop intersected.

  “Wait,” he demanded, putting Zoe down just shy of the L-shaped space. Backtracking to the soft fall of pima cotton hanging on the wall by the shower, he returned with the towel to drape it over the cold granite. He guided Zoe back, scooping her up to the counter while parting her knees with the frame of his body.

  “Alex.” She slid her silky inner thighs over his hips, bracketing them and beckoning him closer. Alex sent up a silent prayer of thanks that he kept his stash of condoms in the bathroom drawer, and he slid one out as Zoe reached down low to stroke him with growing speed. Between his hands and her ministrations, he was sheathed in seconds, and he moved in to cut the space between them to barely more than a breath.

  “You want this moment.” He angled himself against her body, sliding his cock over her folds, and it took all he had not to press into the wet, waiting heat between her legs.

  Zoe’s head dropped back, but the rest of her arched forward in reply. “Yes. I want this moment.”

  “Then take it, Zoe. It’s yours.”

  Alex plunged into her sex with one long, hard thrust, his pulse going haywire while time slowed way the hell down. Sensations hurled themselves at him—the rasp of Zoe’s voice, calling his name, the heat and squeeze of her body where they were so provocatively joined—and he exhaled hard as he gathered his bearings. He pulled back, only to rock home again, and Christ, even if he filled her all day, he’d still want to do it again as soon as the sun set.