Chapter Thirteen
Church closed his fingers around Zee’s, and it felt like he’d grabbed an electric fence considering all the sensations tearing through his body.
As they rushed into the shadows where the light of the bonfire didn’t reach, darkness swallowed them. Zee drifted so close that their arms bumped.
Such an innocent touch, yet it conjured memories of her moving against him in the throes of passion, her soft curves cradling his hips as he sank inside her.
His cock lengthened with pulsing need, and he didn’t make it another step before he stopped and pinned her against the wall of the lodge.
She let out a gasp of surprise, and the restraint he’d been battling for since those sweet words—I love you—vanished.
Her body knew what to do. She planted a hand on the back of his head and towed him down. Their lips crushed together as wild passion flowed between them unchecked.
There was nothing gentle about it, and she didn’t seem to want anything different. She kissed him back with equal need, her teeth sinking lightly into his bottom lip when he attempted to break the kiss.
Any uncertainty he’d felt over the past few weeks faded as he plundered her.
Little noises burst out of her and she rubbed her breasts against his chest until he lifted a hand to cup one.
The full weight in his palm sent him spinning more out of control and in the back of his mind, he registered there was a very real possibility he might take Zee right here against the side of the lodge.
He tore away.
“Grant—”
He forced himself to lift his head and step back. She fisted his shirt and tugged him close again. When their mouths collided, the sound she made against his lips went straight through him.
His cock throbbed and his balls ached with the urge to fill her over and over again. For the first time ever, it struck him that she could be carrying his child right now.
He hadn’t thought to ask her about birth control, just figured Zee probably had that covered or she never would have suggested they go without a condom.
“Zee…” His voice was a rasp as he made himself take her by the hand and keep moving.
His chest tightened, the memory of their confessions at the fence hitting hard—and the realization that they could really start a family.
Neither of them were steady on their feet as they continued toward the barn. They bumped into each other, and he grabbed her arm to keep her upright. She issued a low giggle that didn’t stop while they struggled to coordinate a simple walk to the barn.
The side door leading to the loft—their loft—loomed ahead. They didn’t even make it inside.
He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as if she’d been waiting for this moment too.
He pressed her back against the rough wood, one hand working underneath her sweatshirt even as his mouth landed on her neck.
She gasped, tipping her head back to give him access to the soft spot below her ear that made her writhe.
“Ohh!”
“I want you so damn bad,” he gritted out against her tender flesh. He speckled kisses to her collarbone and back up to her delicate jaw.
She twisted her lips into his, and he was lost in the kiss again. In Zee.
Mine.
A growl built in his throat, and he didn’t bother to hold it back.
She raked her blunt nails over his shoulders and the way she whispered his name nearly undid him.
He rocked his hard cock into her pussy, cursing all the clothes between them even though the friction was sharp enough to make him grind his teeth.
He closed his fingers on her nipple and pinched. She cried out, lips parted as he teased the tight bud into a hard pebble.
“Not here,” he managed to say though he wanted to ignore the part of his brain that urged him to take her—here. Now.
He let her slip to her feet and somehow they managed to get through the door. Navigating the stairs was easy because he swept her into his arms and ran up them.
When they whipped open the door, he set her on her feet and went for his jacket. Tearing it off, he threw it on the floor.
She reached for her own. “You’re very fit.”
“Fit for making you scream all night.”
She flashed him a grin and tossed her coat on the floor. She flung off her sweatshirt and his shirt joined hers in the growing heap of clothes on the floor.
“It’s almost like you trained for this moment.”
He took one look at her beautiful breasts curving over the cups of her bra and hooked an arm around her, yanking her flush against him. He stared deep into her eyes and ground out, “I trained for you.”
Their lips slammed together in a desperate kiss. By the time they reached the bed, he was barely holding on and she was shaking.
They tumbled into bed, and he hovered over her, the kiss turning slow and intense.
“You’re mine,” he rumbled against her lips.
He didn’t say it in a possessive way, but he was showing her he wasn’t going anywhere.
She framed his face with her hands and searched his eyes. “I know,” she whispered.
His heart burst with the kind of joy he’d never felt before. Dropping his forehead to hers, he battled for air. “Then tell me. Is a baby possible?”
Her eyes flared just a fraction before emotion filled them. “You want a family?”
“With you I do.”
She made a soft sound, part laugh, part sob. “I want that too.” She hugged him tighter. “But right now, I want time with you. Just us.”
He took that as an answer to the questions stirring at the back of his mind and kissed her again, long and deep, letting their bodies—their souls—fuse in their forever.
* * * * *
Zee’s heart was exploding with too much love to hold inside. And when she told him that she wanted a family with him, his smile made all the trials and tribulations she’d been through fade in a beam of joy.
Her skin blazed with urgency—she wanted his mouth on her. His hands on her.
They stripped each other slowly, each of them marveling at the skin they bared. His chiseled body set her on fire, but he was determined to take his time with her. Each stroke of his lips and every swish of his fingertips over her breasts, her belly, her slick folds, felt designed to undo her.
As he positioned himself between her thighs, her insides clutched with need. He gripped his thick cock at the base and glided the tip through her folds, down to her entrance. He paused there, staring into her eyes.
“Feel that?”
Her voice came out uneven. “Yes.”
“That’s me. That’s us.”
Her thighs tightened around him, and in one smooth glide, he joined them.
“Grant!” She gripped his shoulders, his back, his tight ass, dragging him deep, deep, deeper.
He let out a low growl that rumbled through her entire system. “Christ, I love you, Zee.”
Tears blurred her vision, so his handsome face came in and out of focus. “I love you, Grant Upchurch. I never thought I’d love again, but I’m glad it’s you.”
There were no more words after that, only their bodies connected until she quivered on the cliff, her inner walls contracting around his hard length. He churned his hips, grinding lightly against her innermost point, and they shared a noise that sounded strangled.
With each thrust, she shot higher. He braced a hand on her hip and claimed her mouth in an endless kiss as she arched under him. The cry of release broke from her, and he growled in answer, feeding her name back to her on his tongue.
The first pulsation stole every thought from her mind, leaving her with only sensation and her lover’s arms. His hot release carried her through another hard contraction before she went boneless.
When he collapsed on top of her, she held him close, lips brushing over his heated skin. Then he rolled off and tucked her against him.
They fell into their comfortable silence, only this time it felt infused with sparkles and rainbows and all the magic that she never believed she’d have again.
After a while, she regained her breath and his heart beat steadier under her ear. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, in what she was beginning to think of as his spot.
“You know, the first time you kissed me on the forehead…I was kind of turned on.”
He shifted to look at her, a cocky grin spreading over his face. “Oh yeah? Tell me more.”
She laughed and lightly slapped his chest before letting her fingers arch into the muscle. “I wondered how a forehead kiss could be so sexy.”
“Mm. Let me show you how sexy it is.” He pressed a tender kiss between her brows, and she closed her eyes as emotions washed over them both.
She cupped his jaw and when she opened her eyes, their gazes locked.
After so long of being afraid and alone, she felt loved and safe.
But it didn’t erase everything. There was still the package and whatever answers it held about the break-ins. A shadow that had followed her from place to place.
It wasn’t over yet. Maybe she was waiting for a bigger shadow to fall over her, but for the first time she wasn’t waiting alone.
She had Church. And whatever came next…they would face it together.