Chapter Seventeen
A combination of nerves and anticipation partied in Zach’s belly as he drove Tilly home after skating on the lake.
A party he wasn’t used to hosting and wasn’t too happy about.
In the past when he’d been with women, he hadn’t felt this way.
Of course, there’d been sexual attraction, but what he was feeling for Tilly was more.
More intense. More of things he wasn’t used to feeling.
Ever since the fire that had thrust him into the limelight, he’d curtailed his affairs with women, preferring to read in his evenings.
Since he’d met Tilly, though, he hadn’t had his gaze focused on his Kindle reading the latest bestseller.
He’d been busy with her and the concert, and he found that when he was by himself, he spent most of his time thinking about her.
Thinking of ways to make her smile and laugh.
Wishing that he was with her and not at his home.
Zach had it bad for her. He liked to think she felt the same toward him, which was why he was nervous about taking this next step. He wanted it. Wanted her badly. Her responses to his kisses suggested she wanted to take the next step with him as well.
“Do you want to come in?” she asked, a slight tremor in her voice.
“I would like that.”
As they got out of the car, Zach scanned the area, looking for the reflection of a camera lens of a hiding paparazzi.
It was a habit he still hadn’t been able to shake, even though he’d been in Marietta for a while now.
Like always, there was no glint of glass, and he followed closely behind Tilly, making sure she didn’t slip on the sidewalk.
The air was frigid and the clouds looked heavy.
Snow was in the forecast, but they didn’t predict it would be substantial.
It would be fun and different to have a white Christmas.
A little snow falling while Mary and Joseph walked from place to place seeking shelter would add to the specialness of the story—even though snow hadn’t been falling, according to the story of the birth of Christ.
Warm air greeted them when they walked into Tilly’s house, and they both shed their scarves, beanies, gloves, and jackets on the hooks and bench that were just inside her front door. The scent of cinnamon hung in the air.
“Have you been baking, or do you have cinnamon sticks hanging everywhere?” he asked.
Tilly chuckled. “Both. I baked some apple and cinnamon muffins earlier, and Chrissy came over with a floral arrangement that had been used at an event the farm supplied the flowers for. I believe it’s got some cinnamon sticks in it.”
“Any chance I can sample one?”
“A cinnamon stick? I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Zach tugged her close and wrapped his arms around her, resting his forehead against hers. “No, silly, I meant a muffin. I’m sure they’re going to taste as delicious as they smell.”
Tilly inched her hands up the front of his shirt, and desire slammed into him, pushing all thoughts of eating a muffin from his mind. “Trust me, they are.”
“I think I know something else that will taste delicious.”
“Really? What’s that?”
Zach hadn’t missed the way she’d shuffled closer to him so that their chests were pressed tightly together. He also hadn’t misread the signals. Tilly wanted him as much as he wanted her. “You.”
Immediately her mouth opened beneath his, and Zach was lost. Lost in the moment of having Tilly all to himself with no one around. Lost to the moment of knowing that what he wanted was mutual. Lost in the moment that the trajectory of their relationship was changing, and he was there for it.
Tonight at the skating rink, they’d had an open and honest conversation about Tilly’s past. He hadn’t judged her when she’d shown her vulnerabilities as she’d shared what she’d been through when she’d tried to follow her dream.
He’d encouraged her to try again. Without a doubt, if the roles were reversed, she would do the same for him.
Encourage him to take a risk because the reward would be worthwhile.
And this was his risk—asking Tilly if she wanted to take the next step with him.
He pulled away, their breaths sawing in and out, but they still kept ahold of each other. “I like you, a lot. I want you, Tulip Bloom.”
Was it ridiculous saying her full name, particularly since she preferred Tilly? But her given name slipped off his tongue, and she’d told him she liked it when he called her that. It was their thing.
It was his thing with her.
“I like you too, a lot. I want you too, Zachary Langley.” Her impish smile had his heart turning over in his chest. He wanted to tell her how she made him feel. How she gave him hope when he didn’t think he’d ever have any.
He wanted to scoop her up and run to her bedroom, but just because she said she wanted him didn’t mean she wanted him right now. Not like he wanted her.
She pulled away from him and he let her go. He wasn’t going to keep her close if she needed to take this slowly. When she took his hand and headed down the hallway, he got the answer he’d been hoping to get.
They reached her bedroom, but before they entered, he tugged on her hand.
Everything she’d done suggested she wanted him as much as he wanted her, but he needed to hear the words.
Because if they took this chance to be together for the first time, there was no going back. “Yes?” he asked, not saying anymore.
“Most definitely, yes,” Tilly responded.
Zach groaned and hauled her close again, his lips crashing down on hers. They pulled at each other’s clothes, desperation in every movement, then broke apart so they could remove their sweaters. Tilly didn’t stop there though, stripping everything off and standing before him, gloriously naked.
His breath caught at the beauty before him, and all the urgency that had consumed him only seconds ago disappeared. He wanted to take his time with the vision in front of him. He wanted to learn all the places that made her sigh. Made her squirm. Made her cry out with delight.
Most of all he wanted to show her how special she was to him. “You are stunning,” he whispered, reaching out to brush the back of his knuckles between her breasts, her nipples hardening at the light caress.
Keeping his gaze on her, he removed the rest of his clothes.
If she was going to put herself in such a vulnerable position in front of him, he was going to do the same for her.
Show her that they were equal partners. That there was no power imbalance between them.
She could take from him what she wanted, and he would give her everything. He knew she would do the same for him.
He startled at her touch on his stomach. Her fingers ran over his abs, and his cock twitched, eager for its turn.
“You are the one who is stunning,” she murmured. “So strong. So brave.” She traced the scar on his hand from one of the times he’d been burned by a hot coal as he’d dug furiously to beat a fire back.
Zach couldn’t wait any longer. He needed to have her.
He closed the distance and lifted her, placing her on the bed, her legs hanging over the edge.
“We’re about to get started, Tulip.” He traced the inside of her thigh with his finger.
Her arousal was a heady scent, even better than the cinnamon he’d smelled when he first walked in.
“Go right ahead.”
Without prolonging it any more than he already had, he replaced his finger with his mouth and licked her slick folds.
Her moan was music to his ears. He gently sucked and nipped at her until her cries intensified, her hips jolted upward, and her muscles tightened as her release hit her.
He continued his caresses until the intensity of her climax passed and she’d relaxed once more.
He got up and grabbed his pants, reaching for his wallet and pulling out a condom.
He quickly donned the protection. Tilly was still sprawled out on the bed, her blonde hair spread out like a golden fan.
Her eyes were shut, and for a moment he thought she’d fallen asleep, but then her lips curled into a smile.
“I can feel you watching,” she murmured.
“My view is spectacular. Why wouldn’t I be admiring it?” Since when had he been prone to purple prose when he was with a woman? Never. Tilly brought it out in him.
An eye cracked open. “I think you’re too far away.”
How much more encouragement did he need?
None.
He moved her so that she lay in the middle of the bed. He’d had one taste and he wanted more.
He lay over her and found her lips. Her arms came around his shoulders, and he kept most of his weight on his forearms so that he didn’t squash her.
Their lower bodies were aligned and his cock rested on her thigh.
All it would take would be a little shift of position and he’d be able to possess her.
Not yet.
He kissed his way down her neck, paying extra attention when he found a sensitive spot just below her left ear.
Her soft sighs and the way her body twisted thrilled him.
As he closed his mouth over one of her breasts, she dug her fingers into his shoulders.
He was more than happy to pleasure her this way.
Would she orgasm if he just sucked and licked at her breasts?
He’d find out, but not tonight. He didn’t want to uncover all of Tilly’s secrets.
He wanted to spend a lifetime discovering them.
When he’d come to Marietta, he never thought he’d find his future. But he had, and he was going to do everything in his power to convince Tilly that a future together was better than a future apart.
*
Pleasure thrummed through her like the beat of a drum.
Her body was on fire. She wanted more. Wanted more than his tongue and hands.
She wanted to feel him fill her. Wanted to hold him as they moved together as one.
Wanted to hold him when they both came down from the highs of a shared orgasm—something she knew was going to happen between them.
She wanted to push him onto his back so that she could explore his body. Tilly knew that if she gave him the slightest indication she wanted that, he would grant her wish. Zach was making her body sing. Making her feel things she hadn’t felt before, and she didn’t want it to end.
A fiery trail of sensations followed his lips as he made his way from her breasts down her body. She’d already experienced one amazing orgasm from his mouth and tongue and, while she wouldn’t mind another one, she really wanted him inside of her.
She moved beneath him, lifting her hips in a silent message, a message he wasn’t getting as he nipped and sucked her inner thigh. “Zach.” His name came out as a tortured moan.
“What?”
“I need you.”
“Where?”
Tilly looked down and found him staring up at her from between her hips, a sexy smile teasing his mouth. She imprinted the image in her mind. He looked happy. Carefree. Any trace of stress from his day was all gone.
She’d given him that. Given him peace, and she wanted to keep giving it to him. Wanted him to know that she was a safe haven for him. That when he needed her, she would be there to listen to him. To hold him. To cry with him if necessary. She would be his rock, like she knew he would be hers.
The temptation to point to her heart to show him where she needed him was strong, but she held back. Later . . . she could tell him later. “I want you inside me. Now.”
His eyes flared, and a rush of power surged through her veins. They were equals, she knew that, but knowing that he liked it when she told him what she wanted thrilled her.
Without saying anything, but maintaining eye contact, Zach moved until she could feel his hard length resting against her entrance. “There’s no place I’d rather be,” he said as he slid home. Their combined moans filled the air.
God, he felt so good.
Her body accommodated him as if they’d been made for each other.
Thoughts disappeared from her mind as he began to move. His thrusts were slow and torturous, but pleasurable at the same time. She raised her hips, encouraging him to go deeper.
Nothing mattered in her life but this moment. This joining and commitment that they were making with each other.
Tingles started in her fingers and spread throughout her body, all arrowing down to the place where she and Zach were connected. His pace increased, and with it so did the sensations threatening to drown her. She wanted to drown in it. Drown in Zach.
Her orgasm crept up on her, and when it hit, it took her breath away. Her cry of release strangled her, her body tensing and then relaxing in a rush. Zach’s movements became erratic, and then he pushed in deep one last time before tensing in her arms and calling out her name.
Never before had she felt so close to a man as she did with Zach right at this moment. He gave her strength, and she liked to think she gave it to him as well.
Tomorrow would come soon enough, and with it the stress of the Christmas event.
She hadn’t told Zach yet, but communication with Rainey Webster had trickled to nothing.
The up-and-coming star wasn’t responding to Tilly’s messages.
She didn’t want to think she was being ghosted and Rainey was just busy, but the longer the silence went on, the more concerned she was getting.
“I don’t like that you’re frowning. What’s wrong?” Zach’s fingers moved softly up and down her arm, igniting her desire again.
She rolled over so that she was lying on top of him. He closed his arms around her and she snuggled into him, feeling his body respond to her closeness. “Nothing’s wrong. In fact, everything is wonderful.”