Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
For all my talk about seizing moments, it felt like parts of this evening were getting away from me.
Like the kiss. Frenzied and heated, once our lips touched, logic no longer applied. With Zoie seated astride me, my baser instincts took over. She’d started it as a cheeky kiss, but I was the one who went naut-to-sixty in three seconds flat. Never before had a proper snog tilted the entire world on its axis, and it’d been a relief to give into temptation after obsessing about the ideas for days, even as worries arose.
I’d never been the type to string a woman along and had always appreciated fellow straight shooters. Being mugged off in my last relationship made it harder for me to believe in people and trust them, but I was trying very hard not to make that Zoie’s problem.
Still, when she tipped her head and asked if I’d like to come in, my feet strode in her direction.
Moments before, I’d watched her heart-shaped arse bob as she used Nova’s blanket to clean up the interior the best she could while I kept him next to me. It might’ve played a factor in my decision.
Not that it was a hard one to make. I didn’t have a washing machine and wasn’t sure if leaving the soap to set overnight on my clothes would damage them. As far as arguments went, it held up about as well as a faulty line of code that put a spanner in the works. The idea of giving Nova a bath while Zoie and I got a bit wet and wild ourselves, though? Talk about an offer I couldn’t—and didn’t want to—refuse.
The keys jingled as she scratched at her arm. “Is it getting itchy, or am I freaking myself out?”
“It’s slightly irritating, but I didn’t get as much on me as the two of you.”
Nova also kept pausing to scratch at his face with his hind leg, his metallic tag rattling with the movements. He bit at the dried soap on his ear and, if anything, I was obligated to pitch in and help the puppy who’d rolled down the window mid-wash.
The fact that his mum was mad fit was neither here nor there.
Zoie entered her house the same way she burst out of it, expelling her belongings in an explosion. I’d chalk it up to being in a hurry, but the piles around the room suggested it was the norm.
She paused in the hallway, prying apart two folding doors that creaked and complained to open the lid of the washing machine inside. She kicked off her flip-flops and stepped out of her skirt, leaving my mouth completely dry, then gestured for me to remove my clothes.
“No fair,” I said, motioning to her matching white bikini top and bottoms. “You have on a swimsuit.”
“It’s a glorified bra and panties, and we both know it. Besides,” Zoie said, gliding her fingers along the hem of my T-shirt. “I informed you of our beach itinerary and told you there’d be a lot of going with the flow. If you didn’t prepare, that’s on you.”
“Of course,” I replied, heavy on the sarcasm. “How silly of me to not be prepared for bird shit and being sprayed down whilst inside your car.”
“Exactly,” she said, flashing me a smile. “Besides, I already showed you mine. Least you can do is show me yours.”
I lifted my arms, happy to comply if she were going to do the undressing.
She peeled the shirt up and off my head, lopped it inside the washing machine, and dropped her gaze to my trousers. “I think your shirt and face were all that got hit with the soap. If you want to keep your pants on, I suggest rolling up the legs like you did at the beach, because there’s no way to bathe Nova without ending up soaked yourself.”
Locking my eyes to hers, I unbuttoned my pants, slid down the zipper, and shoved them off my hips. Her mouth dropped open, her eyelashes fluttered, and it was all I could do not to take her then and there.
All the woman had to do was wiggle her fingers, gesturing for me to hand over my clothes, and I was hers.
Nova whimpered, impatient to get to wherever we were going, but he’d likely change his mind once he saw it was the bath.
He dug in his heels, so Zoie flipped around and took hold of him under his front legs.
“Get the tail end,” she instructed, and I guess that meant me. “Once he’s inside”— grunt — “he’ll tolerate it okay. It’s maneuvering him on a wet slippery surface that’s tricky.”
Nova gave me the biggest side-eye as I looped my arms around his middle, a visual warning he didn’t like where this was going. He went rigid when Zoie heaved, becoming an immovable statue of a boxer, all awkward limbs that refused to bend and move.
“There you go,” Zoie said to Nova as we lifted him into the tub. “See, it’s not so bad. It’s also worth mentioning that had you not unrolled the window in the first place, we wouldn’t all be here right now.”
I curled my hands around Zoie’s shoulders, aiming my words at her pup. “Yes, and you have my sincere appreciation.”
Zoie cast me a smile over her shoulder, then bent to turn on the water, giving me another eyeful of her luscious bum. I couldn’t help myself—I smacked it, savoring the surprised squeak. “Get in already.”
Her throat worked a swallow, and once she’d climbed into the bath with Nova, I wanted to charge inside like a bull. Instead, I took measured steps, purposely rubbing my erection up against her so she could feel what she did to me as I was sliding by.
Water pelted me in the face and chest as she yanked up the knob on the faucet, switching the flow from spout to showerhead. Abandoning my trousers had been the right choice. Beyond wet, my boxers hung heavy on my bobbing arousal and clung to my thighs, as plastered to me as Zoie’s white top was to her.
While I might’ve deserved the dousing, I could give as good as I got. I gripped her by the hips, spinning her around in my arms and backing her into the steady stream.
I devoured her squeal, robbing her tongue of it and her oxygen as I plundered and conquered. My palm hit the tile with a wet thwack , bracing my frame as I covered her body with mine. “Something about me, I like to be in control.”
Droplets clung to Zoie’s lashes, strands of her hair dripping a steady stream down the valley of cleavage. “Then take it,” she dared, peaked breasts heaving with rapid breaths.
My first instinct was to drop to my knees and feast on the heaven between her thighs, but Nova decided we were playing a game and pawed at our bare legs, ecstatic to join in.
“Uh-oh, did we forget the star of the show?” To me, Zoie whispered, “Hold that thought.” She tugged the showerhead and hose free of its stand, thrusting the handle into my hands before she hit her knees.
How was I supposed to hold any thoughts while beholding such a sight?
She’d dared me to take control and then immediately took it away from me. I was about to spontaneously combust, and I didn’t even believe in that.
Zoie poured pet shampoo over Nova and went to work rubbing and scratching him down, cleaning up the puppy while my thoughts turned very, very dirty.
“Graham?”
Oops. I’d lowered the nozzle without noticing, letting the lukewarm water run down my leg. Her grin said she’d caught me, and I guess that made us even.
But I didn’t want to be even. I wanted to be ahead of Zoie. Behind her. Inside her.
I cleared my throat and sprayed off the suds, all three of us getting wet when Nova shook out his coat. This time when the puppy went to jump out of the tub, Zoie gave him the go-ahead. She stretched to grab a towel off a nearby shelf and bent to dry the dog, giving me another prime view—God bless swimsuit fabric for molding so perfectly to its wearer while drenched.
Off the dog ran, happy to be free, and Zoie straightened and shook out her hands.
Zing went the metallic rings as she pulled the shower curtain closed, and then it was just the two of us in a steamy shower all to ourselves. Time slowed and stretched out, ticking by like sticky syrup, and I took advantage of the extra beats to look my fill.
Not that I believed that was possible.
Zoie pressed her hand against my cheek the same way she’d done earlier in the car. Any second, this situation would get away from me, and before it did, I needed to say something I didn’t want to say.
I covered her hand with mine, holding it there an extra second while I expelled a breath. “Before we go any further, I need to finish what I was about to say before that bloody amazing kiss in the car.”
“Or we could just finish what we started in the car?” The hopeful note in her voice slayed me.
I lowered my forehead to hers. “Believe me, I want to. You know I’m only here in California temporarily, yeah?”
“You mentioned as much.”
“So, starting something now…” I exhaled and forced out the rest. “I can’t do serious, can’t make promises. It’s destined to end, and that often gets messy.”
“In case you haven’t noticed”—Zoie tip-toed her fingers up the center of my chest and my heart skipped faster—“messy is sort of my wheelhouse.”
I couldn’t help snorting a laugh at that, and had I moved closer, or had she? I coasted my fingertips across her shoulders, snagging the string holding up the top of her suit.
One little tug, that’s all it would take.
My cock swelled, straining against the wet fabric, as ready to burst as I was.
“Hey,” she whispered, winding her arms around my middle. “I get it. We have fun while it lasts. No pressure, no attachments. I’m a ram, you’re a bull…”
Odd, I’d just thought similar.
“We’ll inevitably butt heads, but I can’t remember the last time I’ve had so much fun with someone. Wouldn’t it be worse to miss out on what limited time we could spend together?”
That called to my pervading sense of logic, although I’d never been someone who charged forward without careful consideration. Once I made up my mind, however, I rarely changed it.
I pivoted, caging her in and pressing her up against the tile wall. “You’re making a lot of good points.” I lowered my lips to the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent. My fingers found the knot I’d toyed with before. “And if I’m being honest, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since that night I caught you dancing in your underwear.”
I nipped at her skin, basking in her whimper and the spreading of goosebumps.
At long last I yanked the strings, watching in awe as they came undone. I flung the bikini aside, vaguely registering the splat of wet fabric.
“Yes, that was all part of my evil plan.” Zoie shifted her hands to my pecs, pausing to squeeze them, and I flexed because I was a team player. She swayed closer, blowing warm breath across my damp, pebbled skin, and my eyes nearly rolled to the back of my head. “Lure you in with my dance moves.”
“Yeah, it was based solely on that,” I gritted through my teeth, that control I liked to remain hold of flailing at the slip and slide of her skin. “Not the lacy scraps of fabric, or how fucking adorable you were when you were wearing your dog like a dress.”
I filled my hands with both cheeks of her arse, groaning at the silky soft curves and how perfectly she notched against me. “Or maybe it was when you teased me for calling it the post and gave me the heads up that on this side of the pond, it’s called mail.”
“You were paying attention.” Her hand drifted to the center of my abdomen. Lower.
“I’m rubbish at remembering names, but whenever you were around, I certainly paid attention.” I darted out my tongue, sucking at the skin where her pulse fluttered faster and faster. “And when I stopped by the pub and saw you with Ethan, I don’t think I’ve ever been that jealous in my life. I was ready to bend you over and fuck you right then and there. Just claim you in front of everyone and be done with it.”
Zoie whimpered, and I groaned as my dick went from hard to rock hard.
I pushed her flatter to the wall as water continued to rain down, palming a breast as I ground against her. “You would’ve liked that, wouldn’t you?”
What clothes we had left needed to go.
I looped my fingers in the sides of her bikini bottoms and slid them down, pausing to address her pussy. “You’re a bad girl.” I gave her a long, languid lick, lust inundating my system at her moan and quivering legs. “I knew it from the instant I laid eyes on you.”
Zoie braced a hand on the shower wall and peered down her luscious body at me. “Says the man with the dirty, filthy mouth. You go around acting like a gentleman, only to unleash the beast when a girl least expects it.”
Since I was getting accused of being beastly anyway, I figured I might as well give into my primitive urges. I teased the lips of her sex with my fingers, exposing more of her to me and lapping up her honeyed sweetness with my tongue. “I can taste how much you like it.”
I reached up and tweaked her puckered nipple, spurred on by the way her body bucked against the tile. “Do you want to hear what I’ve dreamed of doing to you ever since your cheeky dance show?”
Zoie raked her fingers through my hair, sending zips of electricity from my scalp to my balls. “I’d prefer you show me.”
Her wish was my command, and I sucked her clit into my mouth. Her cry of pleasure echoed around us, the shower acoustics extra tawdry.
There were few places I didn’t feel the need to be in the driver’s seat, and unfortunately for the woman squirming beneath my mouth, sex wasn’t one of them. “First, I get you nice and needy for me.” I clamped hold of both her thighs so I could do the feasting I mentioned. “Just. Like. This.”
Both of us groaned as I plunged a couple fingers inside her.
She was as wet as the spray overhead, swollen and ready, and in addition to her name, I knew for certain I’d never forget Zoie and our All-American-Day for as long as I lived.