Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
ETHAN
I almost lost control the second I sank inside of Zoe.
In all the years I’d run wild, enjoying plenty of casual sex, I’d never, ever had sex without a condom.
If there was a religion dedicated to the rigors of protected sex, I worshipped at its altar.
If I didn’t want to be committed, I couldn’t expect anything more from anyone I was with.
So, at thirty, I was a bareback virgin. Bloody hell, I’d had no idea what I’d been missing.
I’d been hanging on to a thin thread of control ever since that fucking asshole, Mark whoever-the-hell-he-was, had been all smarmy and put his hand on her waist and fucking kissed her cheek.
She might not have picked up on it, but I knew exactly what he’d been doing.
I might not be an ass, but I knew one when I met one.
He was like a dog pissing on a tree, trying to mark his territory.
Zoe, for all of her brilliance and professional confidence, didn’t quite pick up on the depth of his bullshit.
Zoe’s core was hot, slick and wet. I gripped her hips and sank into her to the hilt—again and again and again.
Her channel started to throb around me—fucking hell it felt good—and those little breathy moans she made were raining down around us.
I felt when she was almost there and reached between us, stroking my thumb in a circle around her slippery wet and swollen clit.
She cried out, my name a broken shout, and the walls of her core pulsed around my cock.
I distantly heard her knock something over as she caught her balance with her hands on the desk.
My own release thundered through me with such force it was a damn good thing I had her to hold onto.
I was certain it was the longest and hardest orgasm I’d ever had.
When I’d spent myself in her, the haze in my mind cleared enough that I noticed my fingers were digging into her luscious hips.
I eased my grip and curled my arms around her, pulling her close against me.
I didn’t quite know what to do with the emotion roaring through me, so I held her tight and breathed in the scent of her.
After a few minutes, with nothing but the sound of our breath in the quiet room, Zoe lifted her head from where she’d tucked it against my shoulder.
I opened my eyes, and my heart gave a decisive thump.
Her hazel gaze met mine. For a flash, I felt uncertain, but then I saw a similar uncertainty reflected in her gaze and the tension inside of me eased.
I smoothed her hair back, idly counting the freckles dusting her nose.
She squeaked when the door handle to the outer door rattled. I couldn’t help but grin. Her eyes whipped from me to the door and back again.
“Can they hear us?” she hissed.
“Maybe,” I whispered back, unable to resist winding her up a bit.
As if the universe was trying to help me out, the doorknob rattled again and whoever was out there knocked a few times.
“Oh my God!” Zoe said as she started to shimmy away from me.
Considering that I’d recently discovered that being bare inside of her was truly the most spectacular feeling in the world, I wasn’t having that. I slid my hands down her sides and held her in place.
“Don’t think so, luv. The door’s bolted, so no one’s coming in. Ease up, okay?”
Her eyes flicked to mine, and the furrow between her brows smoothed slightly. “What if they can see us through the glass?”
I glanced over my shoulder. The reception area had a single door with frosted glass panes framing the door on either side. I looked back to her and shrugged, just as we heard the sound of footsteps moving away from the door.
“Much as I’d love to get you worked up over that, all anyone can see through that is blurry shapes.”
She bit the inside of her cheek and sighed. I could feel the tension leaving her body now that the unknown visitor had walked away. “You make me do crazy things,” she muttered.
My chest was tight, and my heart set to thudding against my ribs. She had no fucking clue the crazy effect she had on me, but I elected not to elaborate on that right now. I managed a breath and looked down at her. “Oh, don’t go blaming this all on me, luv. You were just as impatient as me.”
Her cheeks flushed cherry red, and she bit her lip. My cock, still buried inside of her, twitched again.
“I wasn’t blaming it on you. It’s just I can’t believe where we are,” she murmured.
The office phone rang, and she jumped a little. She glanced back to me. “Are you going to let me move anytime soon?”
Much as I didn’t want her to move and had a firm grip on her hips, logically I knew we couldn’t stay here all night. With a grin, I eased out of her. I helped her get her clothes back in place and tucked myself back into my briefs and jeans.
I didn’t know what to do with the feeling coursing through me. The idea of walking out of here without being with Zoe for the rest of the night made me feel restless and uncomfortable. I might not quite know what to do with how I felt, but the only refuge from my confusion was Zoe herself.
I waited while she returned to her office and powered off her computer and put away some files.
I couldn’t help but savor the sight of her long legs as she strode from her desk to the filing cabinet in the corner.
Fuck me. This woman had me by the balls, and I hadn’t the slightest clue what to do about it.
The asshole who she’d been meeting with earlier filtered back into my thoughts when she brushed her hair off her shoulders.
I’d never, ever in my life been jealous of another guy.
I’d taken one look at him and the way he treated Zoe and wanted to pummel his face and then fuck the hell out of her.
I supposed I should count myself lucky I hadn’t taken it upon myself to punch his cocky face.
I could only imagine the headlines that would’ve gone with that.
This train of thought looped me back to what had prompted me to come see her this evening. I was supposed to talk to her about the whole representation thing. I knew it would bother her, and I didn’t want to worry her. Yet, I’d promised Coach.
She locked the filing cabinet and then tugged her jacket on, glancing to me expectantly when she reached me where I was leaning inside the door. “You didn’t have to wait for me,” she said softly.
“I’m walking you home.”
We hadn’t openly discussed what I’d determined would happen.
I’d walk her home and spend the night because I was coming to learn sleeping with Zoe was far, far better than sleeping alone.
That’s what I told myself. It was true, so I could avoid the undercurrent of emotion rushing inside.
The intimacy I felt with Zoe was starting to feel like the air I needed to breathe.
It made me want to shy away, but I needed it.
Needed her. More than I’d ever needed anything in my life.
“Oh. Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want you to think…”
I reached for her hand, reeled her to me, and kissed her. I forced myself to keep it brief. Not an easy task, given that her lips were sublime. “I want to walk you home.”
At that moment, her stomach growled. She clapped her hand over it. “Gah!”
“How about we order takeout? Don’t try to tell me you’re not hungry.”
She grinned. “I won’t. Are you sure you don’t have other plans? I can certainly feed myself.”
Bloody hell. Why did she have to be so damned independent? She kept making me say aloud the things that made me uncomfortable inside.
“I don’t have any other plans, and I’m starving,” I countered.
All of it was true. I might’ve eaten right before I came here, but losing my mind with jealousy and then fucking her on the desk made me starving all over again.
Oblivious to my internal machinations, she finally nodded and snagged her purse off a table by the door. “Okay, what do you want to eat?”
I slipped my hand around hers and walked beside her as she flicked the office lights off. Once we were in the hallway and she’d locked the door, she started rattling off suggestions for food. I’d never been a picky eater and truly would eat anything, so I randomly said yes to something.
When we stepped outside into a chilly rain, I hailed a cab and tugged her into it.
Hours later, I lay in her bed with her silky skin warm against mine and listened to the sound of her breathing in sleep.
She was usually tense, the only exceptions were when she was caught up in the madness between us or asleep, so I savored the feel of her lush body relaxed against me.
I fell asleep feeling all was right with the world with the one small exception being I had no idea what do to about the fact this thing with Zoe was anything but casual.