Chapter Twenty-three
Cormac
My headlights fanned across the guesthouse as I pulled up. It had gotten dark on our drive back, and out here on the ranch, the only lights came from the stars and my family’s houses in the near distance.
Putting the truck in park, I turned to Zara. “Thanks for coming with me today.”
“Thanks for bringing me. I had a really good time with you.”
I nodded. “I did too.”
She reached across the cab and brushed her fingers over my scruff. My heart vaulted into my throat. It wasn’t a thought, leaning into her touch. It just happened.
Her palm flattened on my cheek, and I closed my eyes, moving my face back and forth.
“You want to come in?” she asked. “We can hang out, watch a movie or something.”
“Hell yes,” was on the tip of my tongue, following her anywhere she went always my first instinct. Sitting too close on her couch. Breathing her in. Pretending this didn’t feel like walking barefoot across hot coals for a few hours.
But that kiss by the lake still burned against my mouth. It hadn’t been casual for me. It hadn’t been nostalgic. It had been the kind of kiss I was going to spend years trying not to think about.
I forced myself to open my eyes. “I probably shouldn’t.”
Her hand stilled on my face. “Oh. Well, that’s okay. It was a long day.”
“It’s not—” I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “I just…I have some things I need to do at home.”
A small crease formed between her brows. “You don’t need to explain. I get it.” She pressed the button on her seat belt, releasing herself. “I’ll see you at work. Good night, Maccie.”
“Good night, Zara.”
She climbed out of the truck and shut the door with a soft thud. I stayed where I was, hands gripping the steering wheel, watching her cross the yard. The porch light flicked on automatically, bathing her in a soft gold glow. She looked over her shoulder once and gave me a small wave.
I lifted my hand back.
She reached her door, dug her keys from her purse, and bent slightly to fit the right one in the lock, and all my muscles went taut.
My chest felt like it was being hollowed out with a dull spoon. What was I doing sitting here? Going home now or later wasn’t going to hurt any less, and sure as the sun would rise in the morning, I knew I’d regret driving away.
“Fuck it,” I gritted out.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I killed the engine and shoved the door open. Gravel crunched under my boots as I crossed the yard in long strides. The night air bit at my lungs, but it did nothing to cool the heat roaring through me.
Zara spun around, eyes wide, the door cracked open behind her.
“Cormac?”
I kept walking, colliding with her, pushing her back, my arm snagging her waist. She inhaled sharply, grasping my T-shirt in her fists. Our bodies melded, her head tipped back to see me.
Kicking the door shut, I spun her around and pressed her against it. She blinked up at me with surprise, but no fear or hesitation.
“Zara.”
That was all the conversation needed. She pushed up on her toes, and I leaned down, our mouths meeting somewhere in the middle. This time was different. Her lips parted on a groan. I slipped between them, and the sound she made went straight to my bloodstream.
Her fingers twisted the fabric of my shirt, dragging me closer even though I was right there.
I braced one hand beside her head against the door, the other sliding from her waist to her hip, hauling her flush against me.
And god, did she feel so damn good. All sleek, curvy lines, soft in all the right places, smooth strength in others.
I was a foot taller, but there was nothing awkward about our fit.
We found a way to make it work without any thought or negotiation.
Teeth scraped. Breath tangled. My name broke from her mouth in a whisper. I pulled back just enough to look at her. Her pupils were blown wide, lips swollen, chest rising fast.
“This what you want?” I asked. I had to. This mattered.
Instead of answering, she tugged my shirt up over my head and tossed it somewhere into the dark.
That was answer enough.
Her laugh was breathless and wild as I kissed her again. And when I shifted forward, we stumbled away from the door together, my shoe catching on the edge of a rug.
“Careful—”
We bumped into the side table. Something clattered to the floor and shattered.
“Shit.” I turned to see what I’d broken, but Zara caught my face with her hands then my lips with hers, making me forget anything else.
She let out a gasp when I lifted her, her legs wrapping around my waist. My hands slid under her thighs, gripping tight as I carried her forward.
We made it three steps before I hit the back of the couch with my knee. Another couple steps, and I bumped her coffee table then bounced off the corner of a wall. I barely felt any of it. Not with Zara’s mouth on mine, her in my arms, her hands roving my torso.
The house was dim, lit only by spillover from the porch light through the front windows and a thin strip of moonlight cutting down the hall. That was all we needed.
Her shirt came off somewhere between the hallway and her bedroom door. I wasn’t sure who’d removed it, but it didn’t matter. Her skin against mine was the most important part.
In her bedroom, I put her down on her feet, and she wasted no time kicking off her jeans and shoes.
Then she dropped to her knees to wrench off my boots and yank my jeans to the ground.
She nuzzled against my legs like a cat, making little sounds that came close to purring.
Lips and cheeks rubbed my thighs, her hands gripping the globes of my ass to keep me where she wanted me.
Pushing up higher, the thin cotton of my briefs was the only thing between my throbbing erection and her dragging lips.
My head fell back against the wall behind me, and the bite of pain convinced me this was real. It didn’t make sense. How was it possible Zara was touching me like this? Slipping her hands down the back of my briefs to draw me closer? Putting her mouth on me, humming with pleasure?
My head swam, and my cock was leaking like a faucet.
I didn’t know up from down, but I was certain I’d never been this turned on in my life.
She hadn’t even touched me without fabric between us, and I was so strung tight it was a miracle I was keeping myself upright.
God, if she kept going, rubbing against me like she couldn’t get enough, I was going to lose it.
If we were going to do this, it wasn’t going to go this way.
Reaching down, I caught her under her arms and drew her to her feet.
“Zara,” I rasped.
“Cormac,” she murmured, her lips wet and shiny in the dark.
Her eyes on mine, she unlatched her bra and tossed it aside. Then she took one step back, hooked her thumbs in the waistband of her underwear, and dragged them all the way off.
Slashes of moonlight made stripes on her perfect skin: a strip across her breasts, a line over her middle, another just below the apex of her thighs. She spun away from me, giving me more peeks. The bottom of her heart-shaped ass. A line of her smooth back. Moon against her inky black hair.
She crawled onto the bed and peered at me over her shoulder, her spine a perfect arch. “Come here, Cormac.”
I moved without thought, leaving my briefs on the ground in my wake. I crawled onto the mattress after her, my knees on either side of her legs. Falling onto my hands, I lowered my chest to her back. My lips met her shoulders, the side of her face, her cheekbone, her hair.
She arched her back even more, pushing her ass up to welcome my cock into its valley. Warm and snug, I pressed down, and she rocked against me. And holy hell, I was going to lose it.
She was…
This was…
I sat back on my knees and rolled her. She held out her arms, and I fell onto her again, our mouths finding each other in the dark. I cupped her breasts, traced her waist, her ribs, learned the shape of her curves with the palm of my hand.
It wasn’t enough.
Nothing felt like enough.
My mouth moved over her—her jaw, her throat, the hollow beneath it—kissing, tasting, breathing her in. She clung to me, nails dragging down my back, legs wrapping tight around my hips, pulling me closer, closer, like she couldn’t stand even an inch of space between us.
Every brush of skin sparked bright. My thoughts were gone—burned away by the heat of her under me. There was only the press of her body, the sound of her breaths breaking apart in the dark, the way she moved against me without hesitation.
She rolled her hips, and my vision nearly whited out. One wrong move, and I would be inside her. Her heat was a beacon, and it was all I could do to resist.
A rough sound tore from my throat. I buried my face against her neck, kissing hard, biting gently. She arched beneath me, hands sliding everywhere at once—over my shoulders, my chest, down my sides.
She mewled my name in a way I’d never heard. Needy and almost frantic.
It hit me like gasoline on a fire.
I caught her face between my hands and kissed her again until we were both panting and the only way through was forward.
Breaking away, I raised my head to look down at her. “Tell me you have a condom.”
It took a beat, then her eyes widened. “Oh god. Cormac…I don’t. Do you?”
I groaned, lowering my forehead to hers. “Christ, do I wish I did. I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
“Damn.” Her hands fell back on the mattress as she blinked up at me. “I’m not on birth control, but we could be careful. You could pull out?”
“No way.” I shook my head. “I’m not taking chances with you. I’d never do that.”
“I figured you’d say that.” She sighed, and her disappointment struck me in the gut. “I’m sorry. I wanted to do this with you.”
Wanting didn’t even come close to how I felt. It wasn’t going to happen tonight, but that didn’t mean I’d leave her like this, frustrated and unsatisfied. There was so much more we could do.
“You don’t apologize to me.” I kissed her chest and moved lower, sliding my lips along her ribs and hip, careful to miss her tattoo. “Nothing to be sorry for, Zara.”
Her fingers tangled in my hair. “Where are you going?”
I peered up at her. “You know where.”
One swipe of my tongue along her slick flesh, and I knew I would never taste anything better—sweeter.
Of course. Of course she tasted this way. This was my Zara, the girl who was made for me.
“Fuck, sweetheart, you taste so good,” I groaned, lapping at her.
“Cormac,” she breathed. “I need…I need…”
I pressed a kiss to her inner thigh. “Shhh…I’m going to give you what you need. Let me have it.”
Then I buried my face between her thighs, letting myself be ruined.