Chapter 21 ELLE
ELLE
All evening, Zodiac’s bedroom threatened me with a good time. I kept glancing at the open door. We finished the game, ordered Creole, and switched to watching an action movie. Our time together felt like a date. Through it all, I imagined what sober sex would feel like.
Eventually, the night got late, so I took my phone into Zodiac’s room and called Sutter before he went to bed.
We talked about the show he watched with his grandparents.
He sounded tired and maybe a little nervous.
Though I’d stayed overnight at the Sorority House before, I was far from home tonight.
After Sutter told me goodnight and hung up, I sat quietly and missed my boy. Finally, though, I remembered why I had come to Baton Rouge, so I got my ass back in the living room with Zodiac.
“Why are you so territorial?” I asked Zodiac while resting against the couch arm and poking him with my bare feet. “Is that a foster kid thing?”
“I don’t trust anyone more than I trust myself. I know I’ll never fuck up my place, but I can’t trust that you won’t fuck it up.”
“What reason would I have to mess up your place?”
“People are unpredictable.”
Nodding, I poked him again. “I go to people’s homes all the time, and I never fuck up anything. Even if I was usually a jackass, I have a vested interest in behaving with you.”
“Wait, this is you at your best?”
“Don’t be a dick. I haven’t done anything wrong since I got here. I even put the damn seat back up after I used the toilet.”
Zodiac smirked and snatched my foot resting against his thigh. “I choose to be volatile. I like pushing people’s buttons. I’m always the one in control. Today, you stole that shit from me.”
“That wasn’t my plan,” I said softly as if trying to soothe a cranky kid. “I only wanted to spend time with you without an audience.”
Squeezing my foot, Zodiac considered the situation. He was so different today. I realized the man I’d seen before was him with his armor fully erected around every vulnerable part of him. The cagey bastard in front of me was Zodiac with his walls down. He truly was a man who trusted no one.
“I want you to understand me,” I said as he held my foot with both hands. “Your demand to raise the baby alone is never going to happen. I understand that you believe you can’t trust anyone, but you’ll need to learn to rely on me. I promise I’ll protect and love your son.”
Zodiac scowled hard at me. “I’ll never marry you. That’s off the table, no matter how much you bat your pretty eyes.”
“Thank God,” I replied immediately. “There’s no way your crap would fit in the basement with Sutter, Wilbur, and me.”
Zodiac’s icy gaze thawed a little when I mentioned his son. “If anyone else showed up pregnant, I’d be pissed. I hate kids. I never wanted one. But this baby inside you is a good thing.”
I gently tugged my foot free of his grip and crawled over to straddle his lap. His hands went to my jaw, holding me still as he stared hard at my face. I felt him ripping away my armor to see what I hid inside.
“I know you’re special,” I murmured. “That’s why I like you, even though you’re not all that likable.”
Zodiac smirked. “I will never be cuddly.”
“Maybe not with me. However, I suspect you have a secret part of yourself that your son will see. My dad was an asshole for his whole life with everyone except Pax. Even hard men will save a little softness for their favorite people. I hope our son will be your favorite person.”
Zodiac clearly respected my dad. If Ford was able to let people close, why couldn’t this cold-hearted bastard embrace his own child?
Zodiac offered me a tender smile and murmured, “I’m going to fuck your brains out tonight.”
“Ugh, that sounds painful. I think I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“No more dancing around this thing,” he said and gently smacked both sides of my ass. “Let’s go to the bedroom and fuck.”
I climbed off his lap and tried to stretch out on the couch once he stood. Zodiac shook his head and leaned down to pick me up.
“No, I don’t trust you not to drop me,” I muttered and scrambled out of his reach. “I’m afraid for two over here.”
Zodiac cornered me in his living room. Wrestling wasn’t an option when I needed to keep my baby’s brain from getting knocked around. Would kicking this biker in the balls end his horny aggression?
Using his body to pin mine to the wall, Zodiac kissed me before I could injure his baby makers. His lips demanded everything. I would never let any other man kiss me this way. Zodiac left me swooning and stupid.
“That’s better,” he said and took my hand. “You grew up thinking the response to every fear should be to spit attitude. Sometimes, you just need to shut up and obey.”
“That might be the worst seduction pitch ever uttered in the history of humanity,” I said, and Zodiac grinned at me over his shoulder. “You’re very lucky to be an attractive biker with cash because I don’t imagine you’d get laid otherwise.”
Zodiac stopped in the middle of his room and gave my body the once-over.
“Can you be quiet?”
“No.”
“Fair enough.”
“You’ll need to hide these swords when Wilbur visits,” I said to irritate him. “My father kept his weapons locked up.”
“Kids get into everything.”
“Not if you lock up your shit right. Plus, you need to scare children, so they view weapons as terrifying. My dad did that with Clint and me. I hated guns when I was a kid because Ford told me awful stories about kids hurting themselves or others with them. Then, when I was properly scared, he introduced me to his favorite bat.”
“That’s a sexy story, but it’d be hotter if you were naked.”
“Um, you get naked first,” I said, stepping back. “And dance for me. Use your body to seduce me because your words ain’t doing the trick.”
“What’s this about?” Zodiac asked while popping the button on his jeans. “Is it a game? Or are you secretly frigid?”
“I’m nervous.”
“This isn’t your first time,” Zodiac said as his knuckles brushed across my nipples. “We had fun before. Let’s do it again now. Just don’t bite me.”
“I can’t promise anything.”
“Chill out,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist before dropping me gently onto his bed. “You’re acting weird.”
As Zodiac lowered himself over me, I pressed my hands against his wide shoulders and murmured, “Like a virgin. Touched for the very first time.”
Zodiac grinned. “Okay, go ahead and be weird, then. I’ll do what I’m going to do. Unless you say no for real, I plan to ignore whatever else you say.”
I closed my eyes tight and smiled. “I’m imagining the version of you that lives in my head. Oh, he’s very romantic. Listen to him whisper sweet nothings in my ear. With a man so tender, I can’t imagine ever going cannibal on his fine ass.”
Climbing off me, Zodiac sighed dramatically like a pissed teenage girl. He slid my pants off and admired my chicken print boxers. Sighing again, he no longer sounded irritated.
“You’re special,” Zodiac spat out as if admitting this fact pissed him off. He lifted my shirt before planting a wet kiss on my belly. “No other woman has made me crazy like you do.”
My fingers sank into his hair, and I moaned approvingly. This was the Zodiac in my head.
“You’re hotter than other women,” he said as he slid my shirt over my head. “You’re funnier than other women. Your club is full of hot women, but they’re all dogshit next to you.”
“Okay, we’re veering back toward dry pussy talk again,” I said, pushing away his hands.
Giving up on unhooking my bra, Zodiac simply tugged down the cups and smiled like he was witnessing God.
I felt an overwhelming urge to push him away and shut down this pre-sex dance. Zodiac was too rude, and I was too sober for this to work.
Except he clearly cared about me. I was special!
To make things work, I’d need to accept how Zodiac didn’t operate like other men.
He would never be sweet with me like Clint was with Ivy.
As much as I hoped Zodiac would mellow out like Ford had done with Shay, I wasn’t sure I had what it took to keep him happy like my mom had done with my dad.
Zodiac came with his pros and cons. Cradling his jaw and bringing his lips to mine, I decided to ignore reality. Kissing him felt right. That’s why I turned off my brain and let this sexy man make me feel great.