His pace quickened, and she couldn’t hold back. She was on the tightrope, and then she wasn’t. She was falling. Her orgasm sailed through her, riding each current of air. The rhythm of their bodies coming together rushed through her, faster and faster, until she heard Sam calling out, a twisted tangle of her name repeated over and over. After what could have been ten years or one-tenth of a second, he stilled and rested his forehead against hers. Bodies sweat-slick and warm, they clung together as if their limbs knew time wasn’t on their side.
He pushed up onto an elbow and brushed a few stray hairs from her cheek. “That was incredible. You’re an incredible woman, Zoe. You’re smart, and you’re so damn beautiful. I never…”
“Noticed,” she supplied, smiling up at him.
He shook his head. “I always noticed. I just never let myself go there.”
“Because of Ben?”
He leaned in and kissed her. “What did I say about naked and family?”
A wry smile spread across her lips. “So, you’re saying you want to fuck me in my big brother’s room? Would you like it on his bed or maybe his desk? He’s spent a lot of hours at that desk over the years—the total nerd nugget—but that would be my choice.”
“Zoe Christine Stein, how do you do it?” he asked, gaze full of wonder.
She stared up at him. How many nights had she dreamed about him looking at her just like this? “Do what?”
“Make it all better. Make the darkness disappear.”
“It’s my Jedi Knight superpower,” she whispered.
“Did you just evoke Star Wars?” He smiled, and her heart stopped. She’d never seen this smile. This one was all for her.
She blinked back tears. “You’re a pretty lucky guy. How many girls bring up Star Wars over pillow talk?”
“I am a lucky guy, Z. Luckier than you’ll ever know.”
She wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and guided him in for a kiss, but before their lips met, her alarm chimed.
She released her grip. “Oh, Sam! I’m going to be in a world of shit!”
5
Sam sat back and witnessed the spectacle.
“B, eleven!” Zoe called then winked at him.
“Oh, no!” the gray-haired woman to his left exclaimed. “My glitter bingo dauber just ran out. Can I borrow yours, dear?”
Sam glanced down at his bingo card and marker. “My what?”
She pointed to the large stamper thing Zoe had given him. “Your dauber.”
“I didn’t know it was called a dauber.”
She narrowed her gaze, assessing him warily. “Of course, it’s a dauber! What else would it be?”
“You, the evil redheaded step-child,” Zoe called over the microphone. “Please stop upsetting the residents of the Senior Living Campus.”
He caught her gaze, threw her a cheeky grin, then handed his dauber to the woman.
The blackout curtains in Zoe’s room did a remarkable job of keeping out the sunlight. They also did an equally remarkable job of not letting them know they’d slept through most of the morning and fucked through a decent part of the afternoon. Zoe had volunteered at the hospital all summer, but—and he was sure this was her parents’ way of trying to keep her occupied with appropriate activities while they were in Arizona—they had also signed her up to call bingo at the Langley Park Senior Living Campus.
She turned the handle on the bingo ball spinner. He didn’t know the proper name of that contraption either. He was sure Grandma Glitter Dauber knew, but he didn’t care. He grinned like an idiot. He could still feel her, smell her, taste her. The sweet slide of her body welcoming his hard length was like nothing he’d ever known. And it was easy, so goddamned easy to be with her. She was sunshine after a thunderstorm. She was that first sip of lemonade on a swelteringly hot day. She was the tune you caught yourself whistling when everything was right with the world. She was a million tiny things that added up to everything. And for now, she was his.
“O sixty-nine!”
Sam whipped up his head. He’d been lost in thought until Zoe’s voice rang out over the speakers. He stared at her, but she wouldn’t look his way. She bit her lip, holding back what he knew had to be one hell of a belly laugh.
Oh, sixty-nine. His cock came to life as the image of her lips wrapped around his hard length while he sucked her sweet bud sent a jolt of carnal desire rocketing through his body. They’d have to get on that one as soon as she was done running this bingo bullshit.
“What, dear?” Grandma Glitter Dauber called. “O…what?”
Zoe looked their way and met his eye. Christ Almighty! That smile. Those sparkling eyes and sexy as fuck curves. What if he asked her to come to New Zealand? What if he said screw it to his study abroad scholarship and followed her to Iowa? In the blink of an eye, he saw a life waking up next to her, kissing her, touching her, listening to her laugh, debating with her, making love to her, watching her sleep, feeling the joy she brought out in anyone lucky enough to wander into her orbit.
“Well, what’s the number?” Grandma Glitter Dauber demanded.
Zoe’s gaze slid from him to the woman. “It’s sixty-nine, Mrs. Hughes. As in, wine me, dine me.”
His mouth dropped open. He wasn’t sure what was better. The fact that Zoe held it together, or the fact that nobody seemed to notice her insanely lewd comment.
Grandma Glitter Dauber poked him in the arm. “Is it time for dinner? Is that what the youngster is trying to tell us?”
“I think dinner comes after bingo, ma’am,” Sam answered, unable to look away from Zoe’s radiant, triumphant expression.
“O sixty-nine! Bingo!” called a voice from the back of the room.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sam whispered under his breath, shaking his head.
Grandma Glitter Dauber smiled up at him. “I didn’t know we were having steak? It’s my favorite!”
His eyes went wide. “I’m not sure what’s for dinner tonight, ma’am.”
“You just said it was steak!”
“Everything all right, Mrs. Hughes?” Zoe asked, joining them at the table.
The woman knocked him with the end of her cane. “This young man is trying to trick me!”
He jumped up. Sweet Jesus! Grandma was not playing around.
Zoe wrapped her hand around his forearm. “Let me take care of this red-haired rabble-rouser.”
The woman nodded sagely as Zoe pulled him out of the ballroom and down an empty hallway. She pressed her back against the wall and stared up at him, smiling like the naughtiest of angels.
He gripped her hips and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He couldn’t stop gazing into those sparkling eyes. “You are fucking magnificent,” he growled then met her lips with a scorching kiss.
“Think anybody caught my wine me, dine me, sixty-nine me reference?” she gasped between hot, wet kisses.
He tightened his grip on her ass. “Nope, but I really hope they get to have dinner now. And if the universe is kind, Grandma Glitter Dauber is going to get a steak.”
Zoe pulled back. Cheeks flushed. Lips cherry red from his kisses. She’d never looked more beautiful. Then she frowned. “Have you been sniffing the bingo daubers?”
This perfect girl.
“Promise me you’ll never change, Z,” he breathed then kissed the frown from her lips.
Less than twenty-four hours ago, he’d hauled her butt out of one of the worst dive bars in Kansas City. They’d made love—the best sex of his life. And now he was kissing her inside a retirement community. He grinned against her lips. What the hell was going to happen tomorrow? With Zoe, the possibilities were endless. She hummed a sweet sigh, and his sixty-nine fantasy flashed through his mind. Now that would be a great way to begin the next twenty-four hours.
He worked his fingers inside her panties. She’d put on a little skirt and fitted polo. And while he liked her edgy look, the schoolgirl sweetheart ensemble had made him
hard on the spot. Fuck! Anything she wore seemed to do that to him. But this preppy number with her pink-tipped hair was too much. How she was able to pull off sexy and adorable, he didn’t know. But she owned her style in spades, and that was the greatest turn on yet.
A sharp clicking sound caught his attention, and he pulled back. “I think somebody’s coming.”
Zoe nodded, and he set her down.
“You can set up in the ballroom, Michael,” a woman’s tight, snippy voice called out. “And please, be sure to keep your equipment away from the piano. I’ll be playing there while the residents enjoy their dinner.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Lancaster.”
“Oh, crap!” Zoe whispered. “Michael told me about this.”
“What?”
“They’ve asked him to play music here a few times a week.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Techno? At a retirement community?”
She reached up and smacked the side of his head. “No! Old people stuff like Lionel Ritchie, Bing Crosby, and Journey.”
How had he lived this long without her by his side?
“Excuse me?” came the woman’s voice.
He took a step back from Zoe and met the gaze of a mousy woman with a pinched expression.
“Sorry, Mrs. Lancaster,” Zoe said, and he instantly remembered. Mrs. Lancaster was one of Langley Park’s music teachers. Her husband taught Em how to play the violin.
Mrs. Lancaster narrowed her gaze. “Did you just help with bingo?”
Zoe nodded. “I did.”
“Shouldn’t you be helping with the cleanup?”
Zoe glanced up at him. “I better go.”
Mrs. Lancaster followed Zoe back into the ballroom as Michael came up, wheeling his DJ equipment on a dolly.
“Hey, Sam!” his cousin said with a grin. “Are you hanging with Zoe?”
He shifted his weight. “Yeah, Ben asked if I would keep an eye on her while they were out of town. Which, by the way, you did a shit job of last night. What were you thinking?”
A blush bloomed on Michael’s cheeks. “That place was a little scary.”
“A little?” he countered.
“Okay, a lot. But we’re good, right? The owner told me you took Zoe home. Did you crash at her place?”
Fuck!
His muscles tightened. “Yeah, she’d had way too much to drink. I wanted to make sure she’d be okay.”
Michael nodded. “Speaking of way too much to drink. Do you think you could hook me up with some beer for the Sadie’s Hollow party? It’s the last one before everyone leaves for college.”
Sam relaxed. “Which cheerleader are you trying to impress?”
Michael’s blush darkened. “Oh, fuck off.”
“I’ll help you out, but you have to promise no driving.”
“I can do that. We’re camping there all night. Nobody wants to risk a DUI before going off to school.”
He nodded. “I’ll drop some off at the hollow.”
“Thanks, Sam.”
“Just don’t be stupid.”
“Who, me?” Michael asked with a wry grin.
“Hey,” Zoe said, punching Michael in the biceps. “Sorry that took so long. Mrs. Lancaster made me help her put sunflowers on all the tables. How cliché, right? I mean I know we’re in Kansas and all that. But come on! We do actually have other flowers.” She punched his cousin again. “How did the rest of your set go?”
Michael rubbed his arm. “Good! Everyone seemed to love my music.”
“Sorry that I couldn’t stay. The Incredible Ginger Hulk decided my time was up. Plus, he was offering onion rings and ice cream sundaes, and you know I can’t say no to ice cream.”
“Michael MacCarron!” Mrs. Lancaster called from the ballroom door. “If you’re done dillydallying, you can come and set up.”
“I’ll be right in, Mrs. Lancaster,” he answered then turned to Zoe. “Let me know if you need any rides to the hospital this week. I wasn’t sure if you got your car back from the shop.”
“Oh, I’ll be riding Sam all week,” she answered.
A perplexed look crossed Michael’s face.
A pink blush crept up Zoe’s neck. “I mean, my brother has put Sam in charge of babysitting me this week. If I need a ride, Sam’s stuck with that job.”
“Got it!” Michael nodded. “I better head in before Mrs. Lancaster blows a gasket.” He leaned the dolly back. “Oh, I almost forgot. Somebody was looking for you, Sam.”
His gut twisted. Could it be Kara? She’d gone through his drawers, his wallet, his journal. What didn’t she know about him? He put on his best neutral expression. “Yeah, who?”
“Some guy. He was at your house.”
“How do you know that? Were you there?”
Michael shrugged. “I stopped by to see if Gabe wanted to shoot some baskets, but he’s always working at the bakery. I should have known he wouldn’t be home. But a car pulled up just as I was leaving your house. The guy said he knew you from school.”
Sam released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Between high school and college, he’d made a shit-ton of friends. Most likely, it was somebody stopping by before they left for the fall term. “Did he give his name?”
“No, he just said he wanted to see if you were around. He took off pretty fast.”
“Michael MacCarron!”
Zoe glanced down the hall. “You better go, Michael. Mrs. Uptight Cootie Catcher clearly does not like to be ignored.”
Michael shook his head and angled the dolly toward the ballroom. “I’ll see you guys later.”
They waved goodbye, and Zoe turned to him. “Now what?”
Sam glanced at his watch. It was almost six, and he was starving. “Pizza?”
“At the park?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye.
He cupped her cheek. “Where else?”
Langley Park didn’t have much in the way of restaurants. A coffee shop, an ice cream parlor, and a pizza joint made up the entirety of the town’s dining options. When they were younger, he and Ben would walk the kids up to the town center to get a slice and a soda. They’d take their pizza over to the playground next to the botanic gardens and eat on the benches or as Zoe used to do—hanging from the monkey bars. He glanced over at her. They’d brought the blanket he kept in his truck and spread it out on the grass. The pizza box sat between them as she sank back and stared up at the grand burr oaks.
“Didn’t we used to climb this one?”
He stared at the tree. “I think you climbed them all.”
He moved the box out of the way and joined her, gazing through the branches. The big Kansas sky was streaked with the last threads of sunlight. The children had all left, and the play equipment sat still apart from a lone swing, swaying in the breeze.
Zoe rolled onto her side and pushed up onto her elbow. She traced perfect little figure eights on his abdomen. Her gentle touch ignited not so gentle thoughts. He looked up at her. He could always tell when the wheels inside her head were turning.
“Sam?”
“Yeah, Z?”
A sweet, mischievous smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. “Do you want to do something a little crazy?”
“Bonnie and Clyde crazy?” he teased.
She bit her lip. “No, Zoe and Sam crazy.”
Lust shot through him. The Zoe kind of crazy could make him hard in a millisecond. He twisted a lock of her hair. “What’s that look like?”
In the dim glow of the last breath of sunlight, her mischievous grin morphed into a naughty smirk. She traced a line up his abdomen to his chin and rubbed her fingertips along his auburn scruff. “I was thinking, breaking and entering and public nudity.”
He chuckled. “Care to elaborate?”
“It’s dark. The town center is a ghost town after sunset. We could sneak into the gardens and go for a swim in Lake Boley. Unless you’re chicken.”
Now he was grinning like an idiot. “Is this a challenge?”
> She leaned in, lips hovering above his. “Always. The last one to Lake Boley is a rotten egg!”
She sprang to her feet, grabbed the pizza box, and chucked it into a garbage bin as she ran for the spot in the fence they used to sneak in through as kids. He gathered up the blanket and, within a few seconds, he was only a few strides behind her. He could have overtaken her, but then he wouldn’t have gotten to watch her perfect ass as she high-tailed to the lake. He followed her through the gap in the fencing then stopped. Zoe’s petite form outlined in moonlight took his breath away. As she got closer to the water’s edge, she kicked off her sandals and peeled off her shirt. Last to go was the skirt. She turned and waved him over.
“Are you going to make me do this all on my own?” she asked in nothing but her bra and panties—another G-string. God help him.
He dropped the blanket, reached behind, and pulled off his T-shirt.
She gestured to his cargo shorts. “Those, too.”
“You’re pretty demanding,” he answered, throwing his shorts next to the shirt and then removing his shoes.
She took his hand. “Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
In the space of a breath, they were running toward the lake in their underwear. The cool squeeze of mud under his toes and the splash of water barely registered as he stared at Zoe, smiling and laughing. She waded into the water to where it dropped off and started making large circles with her arms to stay afloat. The movements rippled the once placid surface, and he swam up next to her. He, being over a foot taller, could still touch the bottom.
She bobbed up and down, treading water. “Let’s go under in three.”
He nodded. Under her spell, he couldn’t deny her anything—even if his life depended upon it.
“One…two…three!”
He inhaled, held his breath, and followed her beneath the surface. Quiet and peaceful, his mind went back to their days at the community center’s pool. They’d all hold their breaths, eyes wide, watching each other through the crystal-clear water. In the lake, it was different. But he knew she was there even before she pressed her lips to his. In the inky darkness, she was all that existed. His hands went to her hips, and he pulled her in close. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and they remained submerged, weightless and fused together.
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 110