Chapter 16 #2
“Great. So I’m just going to die like this?” She waved her arms helplessly overhead.
There were worse ways to go, but I didn’t feel like she was open to that kind of philosophy in the moment.
“Scissors.”
“What?” she asked.
“Scissors. I’ll cut you out.”
“Yes! You’re a genius! I have some…somewhere. Let me think. Gah, I can’t think. My oxygen is being cut off.”
“Focus, Zoey. Think about the scissors.” Sweat broke out on my brow.
“Shit. They’re in a box. Probably with my missing box cutter. I’ve been punching boxes open. Do you have any downstairs?” Her breath was coming faster and faster. “Gage?”
Those emerald eyes locked on my face with fear and need.
“Fuck it,” I muttered. I gripped the fabric just under her neck with both hands and yanked.
The bra ripped in two, and we sprang apart.
“Oh, thank God!” Zoey bent over, hands on her knees, and sucked in an unhindered breath.
I dropped like a stone onto her couch and covered my face with my hands. My hands that now smelled like her. I bit my tongue until I tasted blood so I wouldn’t be tempted to reach for my cock.
“So what did you want?” she asked.
“What?” I dropped my hands to see her standing straight, hands on hips, still not wearing a fucking shirt, her breasts heaving hypnotically.
There was only one thing I wanted right now, and that was to pull her into my lap and make her ride me while I sucked those perfect pink nipples until we both came.
“You knocked on my door. I assume you wanted something besides this delightfully humiliating field trip to second base.”
It felt like a lifetime ago since a much younger, more innocent me had climbed those stairs. I scrubbed my hands over my face. “I don’t fucking know. Something about shoes. I was going to yell at you.”
“You were going to yell at me about shoes? Oh, do you mean the ones I left with Declan?”
“Yeah. My office is not a place you sell things in.”
“A store?”
“Yes. That. And my employee is not somebody who sells shit. Now for the love of God, will you please cover up so I can work on getting some blood back to my head?”
Zoey pulled a purple crochet throw off the chair and wrapped it around her like a cloak. “I knew my boobs were good, but I didn’t know they were this good. It’s like discovering a superpower in middle age.”
“You’re doing this just to torture me, aren’t you?” I demanded.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Gage. The entire world revolves around you. Everything I do is to get you to notice me.”
“This whole getting-stuck-in-a-bra thing can’t be a thing that happens in real life,” I insisted.
“Next time you and your brothers are drinking, I want you to play ‘take off the sweaty sports bra’ and see what happens,” she said, flopping down next to me.
“Too close,” I growled.
“Sorry.” She didn’t sound the least bit apologetic as she scooted farther away from me.
“Thank you for saving my life. And I’m sorry for asking Declan to babysit my shoes.
I was on a Zoom call with Hazel’s publisher’s marketing department that was supposed to go longer than it did, and I didn’t want to miss the shoe guy. It’s a birthday present for his wife.”
“Why are you selling your wardrobe?”
“So my evil new landlord won’t kick me out when I can’t make rent.”
“Zoey,” I said.
“What?” she said defiantly.
“If money’s tight, I can give you a break—”
“Absolutely not. I’m not taking a charity discount. I’m fine. I just have to be a little frugal until Hazel’s next advance installment kicks in. I’m not frivolous with money, by the way. I had savings. It’s just been a long time since I’ve had a regular paycheck.”
“How much do you have to sell?”
She shrugged. “I’m starting with the ‘cute but really uncomfortable’ things. So far, it’s going well, and you won’t have any money-related reasons to evict me.”
“If you need—”
She cut me off again. “I don’t need anything from you.”
I looked pointedly at her shredded bra on the floor.
“Besides undergarment removal,” she corrected.
I looked at my watch and grimaced. “Fine. Then can I ask a favor from you?”
“Sure.”
“Can I use your shower?”
“Of course,” she said, picking up a discarded tank top from the floor and pulling it over her head. But not before giving me another look at her spectacular tits. “You earned it.”
“Thanks,” I rasped. I stood abruptly and made my way into the bathroom, kicking the door shut behind me. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” I muttered to myself as I wrestled my belt open. I shoved my jeans down my thighs, and my cock sprang free, leaking precome like it was a fucking fountain.
I stripped like it was an Olympic sport and I was going for gold, then turned on the spray.
It was ice cold when I stepped under it a second later.
I braced one hand on the tile and fisted my cock with the other.
I gave a testing stroke and bit back a groan.
This was not okay. I shouldn’t be doing this.
Jacking off in Zoey’s shower, thinking about how warm and full her tits had been in my hands while she was just on the other side of the wall.
I was pathetic. I was undisciplined. I was disrespectful.
I was…going to come.
My release had my balls tightening. Electricity charged up my shaft. The pleasure I needed was one violent stroke away.
There was a knock at the door. “Hey, Gage? Do you want a shower beer?” Zoey asked, her voice husky.
“Fuck.” I came on a low, barely muffled growl.
I left the bathroom with damp hair and a slightly more controlled libido.
I wanted to feel guilty, but I was having trouble seeing past the absolute biological necessity of what I’d done.
I wouldn’t have been able to walk downstairs, let alone perform any lawyer duties had I not taken care of the problem.
Zoey met me in the living room and wordlessly handed me a beer.
I took it and drank half of it down.
She rolled back on her heels. “Sooooo,” she said awkwardly.
“Yeah.” Her destroyed sports bra was still lying in a clump on the floor.
“Maybe we shouldn’t tell anyone about this…situation. They might read something into it if they found out I encouraged you to fondle my breasts.”
I choked on the sip I’d been about to swallow. “Damn it, Zoey.”
She grinned up at me. “I’m just messing with you. Thank you for saving my life.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And feeling me up. It’s been a while since the girls have gotten any action.”
“Zoey,” I barked.
“You make it too easy, Gage. Most guys would be high-fiving their friends by now. But you…” She trailed her fingers down my chest. “You’re a good guy.”
She said it like it was an insult. And I’d had enough of feeling completely out of control. I captured her hand with my own and had her pinned against the wall in a split second. She looked up at me with delight.
“Sweetheart, just because I’m the good guy when my clothes are on doesn’t mean I go to bed that way.”
“If you want sex, say the word,” she said. “I’m willing to risk your heartbreak to find out how good you are in bed.”
I let my hand coast over her ribs until it fit under one full breast. “I want more than sex. A lot more.”
She looked smug and relaxed, but her heart hammered against my palm, and her nipples formed perky points against the snug fabric of her shirt.
“That’s a shame,” she said finally.
With effort, I drew my hand back from her. “You are a goddamn disaster.”
Apparently there was one woman in the world who could turn me on to the point of desperation. And she wasn’t the one I was going to marry.