10. Zoe
CHAPTER 10
Zoe
T he early morning light wakes me before my alarm, and as I stretch awake, I realize I’m completely and totally naked.
Last night comes crashing back down around me, my skin flushing at the memories of Owen’s lips on my skin, his hands on my body, the way he took care of me in ways no one ever has before.
I glance to my left, where he’s sleeping soundly. His shirt is off too, and from the look of the sheet just barely covering his hips, he never put his boxer-briefs back on. I swallow hard, desire flooding my veins.
His tatted skin is stretched tight over corded muscle, the intricate designs a mixture of abstract and obscure art that connects in a fluid piece that’s so fitting for him. It’s dangerous and intriguing and powerful.
I slide out of bed as gently as I can, not wanting to wake him before I tiptoe to my bathroom. I take care of my needs and then start the shower, knowing I need a good scalding to wake my mind up for the day.
Stepping under the hot water, I sigh, my muscles loosening under the stream. I wash my hair, my mind whirling with memories of last night.
How intense it’d been between us, how exciting. Even now, just thinking about it, I get a thrill straight down my spine.
That night on the roof a few months ago had been wild and fantastical, but last night? It felt…right.
Amazing and exhilarating and just plain right .
I’ve never felt as safe as I do with Owen, and I know that has a ton to do with the simple yet impactful relationship we’ve built over text in the months after the rooftop extravaganza.
And now…what?
My father hired him to protect me.
My heart attached to him months ago.
And the more time I spend with him, the more I like him.
But he’s said it before—he doesn’t do relationships because of the spontaneity of his contract work. He could be called off on an assignment for six months at a time, just like the one he’s on with me. I understand his reasoning for keeping things casual, a serious relationship would be hard to maintain under those circumstances.
Hard, but not impossible.
What am I thinking, though? One night with him and I want to make him my boyfriend ?
Yes…yes, that’s exactly what I want.
I want to lay claim to him.
I want to cling to the way he makes me feel…safe and desired and taken care of in every aspect I never knew I needed.
But it was one night…
Well, two nights, if I’m being technical, and then that moment at the gala…
My heart flutters as all the times we’ve been intimate races through my mind, but it’s also the in-between times— coffee dates, lunches, and silly conversations, feeding Gregory together, and all the texting—that also has my heart doing flips.
I make a mental note to text the group chat later. I need my girls’ wise council, and until then, I’m content to put all my analyzing on the back burner. I don’t have anything to feel guilty about, despite the fact that he’d been hired to protect me. We had a semi-relationship before the professional messiness came into the picture, and we were two consenting adults who’d been safe, and that’s all that mattered.
I blow out a breath, rinsing off and doing my best to switch off my mind?—
“Can I join you?” Owen’s voice sounds just outside the shower, making my heart do another flip.
I catch my startled breath, excited nerves tangling beneath my skin for all of two seconds before I crack open the glass door.
“Definitely,” I say, swallowing hard when I see him step into the shower, gloriously naked, his beautiful body on full display in the bright light.
Mine is too, and I resist the urge to cover myself. He’d seen and kissed plenty of me last night, no reason to get self-conscious now.
“Good morning,” I say when he steps close to me, his eyes trailing the length of my body.
“The best morning,” he says, his hands gliding over my hips to draw me closer. He brushes a light kiss over my lips, and I melt into the embrace. “You look amazing soaking wet, Kitten,” he says, smirking down at me as he gently spins us, letting the water stream over the back of his head and down his body.
I take my time eying him, watching the hot beads of water roll over his inked skin. “You do too.”
His strong hands glide over my body, smoothing around my back and up and down my spine. The touch is both comforting and electric and has all of my senses firing up.
“You should’ve woken me up,” he says, bending down to kiss me again. “I would’ve loved to see you all soaped up.”
A warm shiver races down my spine, and I tip my head to give him better access to my neck. He lightly grazes his teeth over the sensitive skin beneath my jaw, and heat pools in my core.
“I didn’t know what to do,” I admit, slightly breathless from his slow, dominant touches. “I’ve never been in this situation before.”
He draws back to look down at me, an easy smile there. “Never woken up naked next to your security detail before?” he teases.
I grin, then shrug. “Basically.”
“I’ve never woken up next to a client before,” he says, moving to kiss me again. “Or the kitten who seduced me on the rooftop of my own club before either.”
I laugh. “You seduced me.”
“No way,” he says, his hands roaming over my ass and squeezing it with just the right pressure. “Your voice, your eyes, that mouth…” He dips down, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. “Hooked me from the first second.”
A flush streaks through me, making the already steamy situation that much hotter. Fucking hell, how is this my morning? Being touched and teased by a strong, sexy-as-sin man like him?
“Can you bite me again?” I tease. “I think I might still be dreaming.”
Owen gently nips at my neck, the pleasure-laced pain grounding me in the very real present. “You’re the dream,” he says, shifting closer, and I gasp at the hard length of him pressed against me.
I move my hands over the plane of his chest and the ridges of his abdomen as he turns us so the water is hitting us both from the side. “I don’t know,” I say, still exploring him. “You’re the one who told me you’d steal my soul when I asked if you were a Carolina Reaper,” I continue, grinning up at him. “And I’m fairly certain that’s what you’ve done, because I feel like I can stay right here forever and not miss a thing. So, maybe I am dreaming.”
Owen’s smile is infectious, the molten look in his blue eyes enough to have me blushing again. “As long as you don’t think I’m a nightmare, I’m good with however you want to see me.”
“You could never be a nightmare,” I say, reaching down between us to slide my wet fingers over his hard length.
He jolts into my hand at the touch. “Some people think I am,” he argues. “My line of work, it’s not exactly a walk in the park.”
I think about that, his nightclub and the drama that likely brings on a weekly basis, and then his private contract work, which takes him to scary places I would’ve never thought about if not for being thrust into that type of world.
“That’s not fair,” I say, stroking him again. He groans, his hand snaking between us to tease me between my thighs. “You’re so much more than your jobs, Owen,” I say, gasping as he glides those fingers through my wetness. “And I keep telling you, I’m not scared of you.”
Something shudders in his eyes at that statement, cracking open a piece of him I’ve never seen before. He slants his mouth over mine in a passionate, dominate kiss that I arch into. I stroke him longer, harder, relishing the low growl that rumbles from his chest at my touch?—
Breaking our kiss, he spins me around, bringing my spine flush with his muscled chest. One hand is at my throat, the touch light yet claiming as he tips my head back so I can look up at him behind me. His other hand slides around my hip, returning to his delicious teasing.
The water spills over us from the side, the hot drops gliding down my sensitive skin. I rock back against him, relishing the feel of him hard behind me.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispers into my ear, lightly biting the lobe while he slides two fingers inside my heat.
I gasp at the sweet heat that radiates from his touch, from the way he’s working in me into tight white-hot knots.
“Look at you all wet and ready for me,” he says, sliding his hand from my throat down and over my breasts, pinching my nipple until it’s rosy and peaked for him before doing it to the other.
The sensation has me tightening, clenching around his fingers as I unabashedly rock against his hand, chasing that release I know he’s more than capable of delivering.
“You want me too,” I say, breathless, shifting my ass against that hard length of his.
He groans at the sensation, so I do it again, rising up to let him slide between my thighs as much as I can.
“God, you feel good,” I say, reaching up and gripping his neck from behind. I roll my hips, rocking back against him as he continues to pump me with his fingers.
“You want my cock, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I sigh the answer, shifting against him again to show him just how much.
“Fuck,” he groans, gently pulling his fingers from me. “Condom.”
“I’m on the pill,” I say. “And we’ve already discussed our health records. I’m good if you’re good.”
“Are you sure?” he asks, going still behind me.
I look up at him through hooded eyes, rocking back against him with more leverage now that his hand isn’t in the way. The move has the thick head of his cock grazing through my heat, making me tremble. “I’m sure. I want you. Now.”
“Fuck me,” he says, dipping down to kiss me as he lines up his cock, sinking in an inch.
I pull out of the kiss, gasping as he sinks in further, stretching me in the best damn way.
“Owen,” I sigh his name as he bottoms out, filling me so much deeper from this angle.
Steam wafts around us, the hot water rolling down our joined bodies, making my head spin with all the different sensations.
“Fucking hell, Kitten,” he groans as he pulls all the way out and thrusts inside me again. “You feel so damn good.”
I grip his neck from behind, my other hand falling to his forearm that he wraps around my hips to hold onto me as he fucks me from behind. His other hand returns to my neck as he pumps into me with long, torturous strokes that wind me up tighter than a drum.
Every time he thrusts in to the hilt, I gasp, my senses flaring with need as he pushes me closer and closer to that sweet edge.
I need more, crave more.
I push back against him with each thrust, finding a rhythm easily between us as we lose ourselves to the crashing of our bodies.
The hand on my hip dips between my thighs, his fingers rolling and pressing against my pulsing clit as he pumps into me.
I shiver, my release on the cusp beneath my skin, making me clench around his cock that much harder.
“Fuck, Zoe,” he says, his breath ragged. “Love the way you feel. Like you were fucking made for me. So slick, so hot.”
My hand falls over his between my thighs, urging him to touch me harder.
“Goddamn,” he says at the move, doing as I urge.
I gasp, my heart fluttering as everything in me tightens and narrows to the places we connect—his hand, his cock, my spine flush with his muscled chest. It’s all too much and not enough.
Sparks ignite beneath my skin, spiraling in a wave of pleasure that coils inside me.
“Owen,” I gasp, pushing back against him harder. “Yes. God, I’m coming.”
“Fuck me,” he growls, upping his pace right along with the pressure on my aching clit, sending me flying right over the edge.
I gasp as I come, my release tearing through me in a sharp snap of pleasure that floods my body, tingling over my skin as he draws it out, squeezing every ounce of pleasure out of me until I feel my thighs tremble from the exertion of it. I feel him harden inside me as he growls, his release spilling inside me with several hot, hard strokes.
We catch our breath, the water now lukewarm on our skin before Owen gently moves me, cleaning us up with a touch that is so damn gentle it makes my heart expand in my chest.
I shut the water off after he’s done, grabbing an extra towel and handing it to him.
It’s hard to get dressed for work when all my body wants is to fall back into bed—with Owen in it—but I have patients that are counting on me, so I get ready.
“I’ll drive,” he says after he gets dressed, looking way too good in his usual pair of pants and a black T-shirt. He bends down to kiss the spot on my neck he bit, luckily not hard enough to mark me like he had my breast. I still have a red mark there from last night and couldn’t help but flush when I saw it in the mirror this morning. “And we can grab coffee on the way.”
I spin around, wrapping my arms around him. “You really are a dream,” I say.
He smiles down at me, hefting me up to his level. “If that’s the case, let’s never wake up.”
I kiss him, soft and easy, just because I can. “Deal.”