“Maybe later,” she said. “After I’ve done some hamstring stretches.”
“I read it for the illustrations,” he said, moving a little faster.
“I’ll bet you did.”
Their breath came faster. Suddenly, he rolled to his back, guiding her hips so that she was riding him. Penetration was deep like that. Almost to the edge of pain, given his size, but damn did it feel good.
“That’s it. Let go, Jenna. Take what you want.” He moved his hands to her breasts, letting her set the pace she needed. She braced her hands on his chest and leaned forward just a little, just to get exactly the right angle.
She rode him harder then, her eyes closed, totally focused on her pleasure, chasing her climax. She could feel Zach’s eyes on her, watching her, and she liked it. She sat up, cupping and cradling her own breasts, tweaking her nipples hard.
“Fuck, Jenna. You are killing me.”
His hands were at her hips again, and he thrust up into her harder and harder. Faster. She swiveled her hips, too, and slid her hand down to work her clit.
Two strokes later, Zach was coming hard, his fingers digging into Jenna’s hips. Seeing how much pleasure he was experiencing, his face tense, his cock hard, deep inside her, that pushed Jenna right over the edge, too.
She screamed his name as she came, completely letting loose, completely free. Completely…Jenna.
She collapsed on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. With her ear pressed to his sweaty chest, she could hear his heart beating fast, and she stayed there until it slowed to a normal pace again, steady and even and strong.
Jenna dozed, though she wasn’t sure if it was for a few minutes or a few days. But she remembered Zach tucking her into bed and pulling up the covers. She heard him get up and go to the bathroom before sending a text, plugging in his phone, and rejoining her in bed. As she drifted off to sleep with his body wrapped around hers, all she could think about was that it was too bad this was just for one night.
But as it turned out, it wasn’t just the night, it was twice in the morning, too. So by the time Jenna was ready to crawl out of bed and start the day, it was lunchtime, and she felt both exhausted and exhilarated.
“I have to say,” she said, stepping out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, “you have potential.”
He had gotten out of bed and showered before her and was already dressed in the pair of khaki shorts that seemed to have become his resort uniform. He was lounging on the couch, shirtless, watching sports highlights on TV. Thoughts of crawling back into bed with him for a few more hours became very, very appealing.
“So you’ve said before. I need food,” he said, simply, seeming to read her thoughts. “No more sex until I consume enough calories to regain my stamina. You’re cut off.”
“So you’re turning me down?” Jenna sauntered over to the sofa, stopping between him and the television. She untucked the towel slowly and dropped it to the floor, her gaze trained on him the whole time.
The remote clattered to the floor as Zach pulled her to the couch, rolling on top of her in the blink of an eye.
She giggled. “I thought I was cut off?” she asked as he shoved his shorts down and settled between her thighs.
“You are,” he said and kissed her. “Totally. Any second now.”
Jenna let the sensation of his kiss and his body carry her away once again. Never had she been so insatiable in bed; never had she felt so confident, so sexy. Never had the way a man looked at her, with such raw need written in his features, made her feel so powerful. Zach did that to her. Or maybe they did that together.
When they finally made it out of the cabin, fully dressed, holding hands, seemingly unable to stop touching each other, Jenna’s empty stomach was rumbling, too. They never had gotten around to eating dinner last night, and Zach was right—they had expended a lot of calories over the last fourteen hours or so.
It was well after lunchtime, and there was some sort of group activity going on in the main dinning room.
“Is lunch still being served?” Zach asked the hostess at the door.
“Of course,” she said, grabbing two menus. “But if you’re going to eat in the main dinning room, you’ll have to participate in the bingo game just getting ready to start.” She handed them a bingo card printed on bright pink paper.
“Fine,” Zach said, taking the card.
They followed the hostess to a small table near the back of the room and settled in. The room was packed with couples, all giggling over the bingo cards.
Jenna picked up their card and blinked then felt her face flush.
“I was too hungry to argue about participating in a group activity,” Zach said, examining the menu. “I haven’t played bingo in years, not since Santa gave my brother a bingo game for Christmas and we were all forced to play. For hours. It was torture.”
“This ain’t your mama’s bingo,” Jenna said. “Unless she works in the adult film industry.”
Zach took the card from her. “On the beach,” he read. “In a boat. In the shower.” At that, he got a grin on his face and looked at Jenna. She knew exactly what he was remembering.
“I think these are sex locations,” she said. “But on a washing machine?”
Zach looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yeah, I could see that.”
There were some squares with silhouettes of people enjoying themselves in different positions, too.
“Hmmm. That one looks familiar,” Zach said, pointing to one.
“Five more minutes, lovers, and then we start. Get your bingo chips ready,” an overly animated woman said over a portable PA system from the front of the room. Some tables had been pushed aside to make room for a bingo board and two bingo ball cages.
Jenna rolled her eyes and set the card aside. “No thanks,” she said under her breath.
“Chicken,” he asked, a naughty glint in his eye.
“Not a chance,” Jenna said. “I just don’t want to play.” She studied the menu intently, trying to ignore the sexy man across the table from her, who was at that very moment imagining doing her on a washing machine. How would that even be possible?
“It’s okay.” He set down the card and picked up the menu. “I get it.”
“What do you get?”
“That. You. Are. A. Chicken.”
“Is this some sort of dare?”
“Maybe.”
“I just don’t care to share my sexual history with a roomful of strangers,” she said. “But fine. If you want to play, I’ll play.” She didn’t even know the rules, but she was not going to let him win. “Prepare to lose.”
“We’re on the same team,” he pointed out.
“Still…”
They ordered sandwiches and drinks with an extra large order of fries to share, and then the activity leader got everyone’s attention and explained the rules.
“What you have in front of you is a typical bingo board with the letters B, I, N, G, and O along the top. But you’ll notice along the left side, there are numbers one through five. I’ll pull a number and a letter out of the two cages. You find the corresponding spot on the board, and if you have gotten lucky in that location or that position, you put a small chip on it. If you’ve accomplished the feat while here on your honeymoon, put a big chip on it. To win, you need ten chips of any size or five large ones.”
“Does it have to be with your current partner?” someone shouted out.
“No,” the leader replied. “It can be current or past relationships.”
“Awkward,” Jenna said. “But I suppose most of the couples here have known each other longer than you and I have. They probably already know each others’ secrets and have had a lot more, uh, opportunity for the larger chips.”
“We’ll have to rely on individual contributions, then,” he said. “I hope your college
years were…educational.”
“I’ll never tell,” she said, throwing him a saucy grin. But the truth was her college years had been pretty dull compared to what the makers of the bingo cards had come up with. Some of those positions looked anatomically improbable, if not impossible.
“Here we go,” the leader chirped. “Honor system, everybody!”
Zach moved his chair so that he was sitting next to Jenna instead of across from her and put an arm around the back of her chair, resting it on her shoulders.
He smelled good. Like shower gel and hot, sexy man.
“B-3,” the woman called out.
“Shower,” Zach said. “Off to an excellent start.” He placed a big chip on that square.
“We didn’t actually have sex in the shower,” Jenna pointed out.
“But we would have. If the showers had been bigger. Foreplay definitely happened in there.”
“True.”
“I-2,” the leader called.
It was one of the silhouettes. “There is not enough yoga in the universe to make me that limber,” Jenna said.
“I’d be willing to give it a shot,” Zach said. “I can stand on one foot for quite a while if properly motivated.”
“O-1.”
“At the office,” Jenna read. “Negative for me. You?”
“Nope.”
Jenna smiled, relieved to know that Zach wasn’t the chase-the-secretary-around-the-desk type. But she already knew that.
The game went on, and eventually a couple near the front yelled, “Bingo!”
Jenna and Zach’s card only had four chips total.
“That’s just sad,” Jenna said.
“I take it as a personal challenge,” Zach said, dumping the chips back onto the table. He folded the paper. “I’m keeping this for further review,” he said with a grin. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Well, that depends on you,” Jenna said. “What time do you need to get going?”
His smile faded for a moment, almost as if he’d forgotten his plan was to hop on his private jet and head back home this morning.
“I can wait a little longer. But you can tell me to get lost if you want to. No hard feelings.”
Jenna felt suddenly lighter. She had been dreading his departure, she realized. Dreaded being alone with her thoughts about the mess her life was and how to go forward. And Zach was being such a great friend. Well, friend with benefits now, she clarified. And she was willing to enjoy those benefits for a few more hours.
“Well, there are twenty-five bingo squares,” she said. “And I know how you like to check things off.”
His smile was large and full of straight, white teeth. “I’ll do my solemn best,” he said.
That perked up her sleepy, worn-out girl parts in a hurry.
“In that case, I have a great idea for an anti to the photos on the beach thing I had planned.”
“Great! What is it?”
“You know, I think I’m going to surprise you with this one.”
Chapter Thirteen
On the walk over to Jenna’s surprise anti, her phone rang.
Zach felt like ripping it out of her hands and throwing it into the nearest bit of ocean, since it had to be Elliot. But he forced himself to act normal as she answered.
“Hey, Chuck,” she said brightly, and he relaxed a little. He could hear a deep voice on the other end of the phone but not any words.
“I’ll check,” Jenna said. She pulled it away from her ear and covered the mouthpiece. “He wants to talk to you,” she whispered.
About the last thing Zach wanted to do was talk to a stranger on the phone, but he was happy it wasn’t Elliot.
“This is Zach Ruiz,” he said, just like he answered his phone at work.
“I know who you are,” a gravelly voice on the other end of the phone said. “I’ve been looking into you.”
“Okay.” He glanced at Jenna, who was looking mortified. “How can I help you?”
“I have your childhood and college years covered,” Chuck said. “I’m interviewing your college professors currently.”
“Wow. That’s thorough.”
“Yes, sir. So, if you have something to hide, now is the time to come clean.”
Zach didn’t know whether to laugh or to be very, very afraid. “I have nothing to hide.”
Chuck grunted. “Everybody has something to hide. We’ll see about yours.”
Zach glanced over at Jenna. She was covering her mouth, trying to stifle her laugh.
“Here’s Jenna,” Zach said and handed the phone back to her.
She composed herself quickly. “Zach’s a good guy, Chuck. You don’t have to worry.”
Zach felt a little like he was a teenage kid who had just spoken to his date’s father. And he obviously hadn’t passed muster.
“I understand,” she said, not looking at Zach. “Yes, I still have it.” She nodded. “Talk to you soon.” She tucked her phone back into her purse. “Sorry. Chuck is…overprotective.”
“What do you still have?” he asked as they started walking again.
“I’m not actually sure what it is. Chuck said it’s like mace, but military grade.”
“Sheesh.”
“Yeah, I’ve been afraid to test it. I suspect it’s strong enough to take down a city block.”
“I hope I never get on the wrong side of that,” he said. “What are your other friends like?”
Her whole face lit up as she talked about her friends. “Aggie is a character. She’s a widow, is well into her eighties, and has absolutely no filter. She dresses how she likes, says what she likes, and drives her son, Tommy, absolutely nuts.”
“Sounds like a trip.”
“I love her. She’s the best. Like the grandma I never had. And Tommy is like the dad I always wanted. Patient, sensible, doles out lots of good advice and lots of bad dad jokes. He finalized a nasty divorce about a year ago and has been spending a lot more time at the assisted living center where Aggie, Chuck, and the twins live.”
“I can’t see Chuck living in an assisted living center.”
“He says he’s there on security detail.”
That actually made a lot of sense. “Special forces or something?”
“We don’t know. But he has some scary contacts and can find out anything about anyone.”
“So he suggested,” Zach said. “And the twins?”
“Clara and Helen. They’re fairly new to the center. They never married, but they sure do date a lot. Always lived together, so when Helen broke her hip last year and needed to move to a place with more care, Clara moved with her.”
“That’s kind of sweet.”
“It is. I can’t imagine liking one person’s company so much that I never wanted to be parted from them.”
“Not even Elliot?”
Jenna was silent a moment. “No,” she said finally. “Elliot and I are very different people. But I just thought…well, I thought there was enough in common that there might be a future there. Or maybe I just wanted there to be enough so badly that I overlooked a few important things.” She looked up at Zach and gave a sort of sad smile. “I was wrong, obviously.”
Zach wished he could banish the sadness from her beautiful eyes. Wished he could magically give her what she wanted. But all he could really do was be there for her while she worked through things.
“If you don’t mind,” he said, surprising himself, “I think I’ll just stay the rest of the week.”
Her face lit up. “Really? You don’t have to. I mean, I’m okay on my own.”
That was a lie. Maybe she could be alone, but it was clear she didn’t want to be.
“Absolutely. I’ll have Marcy send down some files so I can get any critical work done, but other than that, yeah.”
“Are you sure? This isn’t some kind of pity thing, is it?”
It was, a little. But the bigger part was that he liked Jenna. He liked spending time with her. And he definitely liked spending time with her in the love lodge. “There’s that bingo card to consider,” he said, stopping and pulling her up against him. “Can’t fill all those spaces in one afternoon.”
She giggled. “True.”
Zach was down for a little PDA, but just as he was looking for a convenient bench on which to canoodle, Jenna pointed to a storefront across the street.
“There it is,” Jenna said.
“Penny Greenfield Photography?” Zach said. “I thought this was supposed to be anti photo.”
“Anti romantic sunset beach photo,” Jenna corrected, tugging him by their joined hands across the street.
Zach didn’t really understand the distinction, but Jenna seemed excited, and since he loved to see her excited, he jogged across the street with her.
Once inside, Zach looked around the waiting area of the photographer’s studio, still not quite sure what they were doing there. It looked normal enough. Framed pictures of babies and families and high school seniors and even some sweatered pets stared back at him through glass. There was a small waiting area with a sofa and a couple of chairs in one corner and jumble of props, backdrops, and umbrella lights organized neatly against one wall. Nothing super out of the ordinary.
“This is going to be great,” Jenna said.
Really, anything with Jenna was turning out to be pretty great. He was beginning to see the appeal of all the cute mushy stuff that had originally been on her agenda. And hell, a private dinner on the beach with Jenna sounded pretty damn good. So did a massage. Maybe they could add in a few true couples’ activities, just for fun. Just because they were working through Jenna’s anti list didn’t mean they couldn’t indulge in a little anti-anti honeymoon stuff, right?
“It’d be great if you told me exactly what we’re doing here,” he said.
“It’s a surprise.” She went up on tiptoe to kiss him quickly on the mouth. Yeah, he’d never get tired of that. “Get on board with the program here.”
The Anti-Honeymoon Page 11