Chapter Ten #2
He entered, and she realized he was in uniform.
It ratcheted her nerves tighter. He looked like that unobtainable dream she’d had for months.
He closed the door behind him, and all those muscles flexed and stretched as he set his gym bag on the floor…
those same muscles she’d gotten so up close and personal with just this afternoon.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“Okay.” She fiddled with the box in her hands. “Better.”
She folded the letter from her grandmother, the one in which she finally told her she was adopted. It had been written near the end when her grandmother had been very sick. Audrey had been right; Naomi had been afraid of losing her.
She slipped the letter into its envelope and set it back inside the box where she’d also discovered her adoption papers.
She couldn’t find it in her heart to be angry with her grandma.
She’d done the best she could, and that had been enough.
Nobody was the villain here. It had been a set of unfortunate decisions and circumstances that hadn’t unraveled until today.
“Roxie let me in,” Zac said. “I told her I’d forgotten my key.”
Maxie set the box on the bedside table. So, he was still keeping up the act. Or weren’t they acting anymore? Everything had gotten so jumbled.
“Is everything okay down at the station?” she asked. Whatever had called him away had kept him busy for a long time.
“Fine. We had a lost little boy, but it turned out the parents and grandparents hadn’t communicated over who was taking him home.
” He eyed the bed, but then walked over to sit on the chair in the corner.
He looked strong and authoritative in that uniform, but tired as he stretched his long legs out in front of him.
It made her melt inside. Had he been out in the heat all day?
“I hated leaving you like that,” he said quietly. He seemed lazy but contemplative. One elbow was braced on the cushioned arm while he rubbed his temple. He was watching her, his gaze languid, but she knew he could be out of that chair in an instant.
“It’s okay. I understood.” The events of the day had been overwhelming, but the storm was passing.
He glanced at the box on the bedside table. “Did you find what you’ve been looking for?”
“Some of it.” But she still had questions…about the adoption…about her parents, both birth and adoptive…about the two of them…
She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
She wasn’t sure how to behave with him, especially after what she’d done this afternoon.
She couldn’t believe how bold and aggressive she’d been, kissing him like that after telling everyone about her sisters, but hours had passed.
A lifetime, it seemed. Everything had shifted once again, but one thing held true.
The fingers of inhibition were reaching for her.
Here they were, alone in her bedroom, with a long night ahead.
What was he thinking? Was he just here to check on her? Was he still playing the part she’d asked?
Or was he expecting her to make a move? Because right now she couldn’t budge from her spot on the bed. “Are you hungry?”
His eyes sparked. “What do you think?”
She blushed. “I meant, did you eat?”
“I grabbed a sandwich from the vending machine at the station.”
“Zac,” she said with concern.
“Is that the white frilly thing you’re wearing?”
The one he’d found under her pillow last night? Trust him not to miss a detail.
She was under the covers all the way to her armpits, but her shoulders were exposed.
They were bare except for the thin silk straps that held the gown up.
She tugged one strap towards her neck. She hadn’t been sure what to wear…
If he’d been coming at all… If she’d dared…
But she’d put on the oversized T-shirt from the night before, and that had been a definite no-go.
She didn’t think she could wear that ever again without feeling his hands moving over her, the cotton rubbing against her nipples and sliding up high on her thighs. “Maybe.”
“Does that mean what I think it means?”
Her heart began fluttering like a bird inside her chest. “Maybe.”
There was a big pink elephant standing in the middle of the room. He hadn’t forgotten what had happened behind that talent competition stage, and she hadn’t either. She hugged her knees tighter. She didn’t know what had come over her there.
Yes, she did.
She wanted him. She’d wanted him for months, and right now she had an overwhelming need to feel close to someone.
“As big as that bed is, Beauty, I don’t think I can just sleep beside you tonight.”
The elephant grew, taking up more of the air in the room.
“I don’t mean to be a tease, Zac.” Her toes curled into the fitted sheet beneath her. “You’ve been such a good sport about everything.”
He didn’t move an inch, but his sprawl on the chair changed. It wasn’t so casual anymore. “You think I’m being a good sport?”
“Aren’t you?”
He ran a hand across his jaw. From as far away as she sat, she could see the muscle in his temple working. “Are you telling me I’m on the downstairs couch?”
“No,” she blurted. She didn’t know what she was saying. She liked him so much. She wanted to get closer, but all that bravado and self-assurance had left her. There was no whoop whoop inside her. “I…I held the thought like you told me, but I—”
He was out of the chair before she could finish, and she scrambled up to her knees. She knelt on the bed with her hands stretched out to hold him off. “I can’t take the lead. I know you want me to, but I just can’t.”
He slowed down, watching her carefully. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Maxie. I’m not going to force you. I don’t expect payment for services rendered, but I thought that after the way you touched me at Park Art that things were moving in the same direction for us.”
Touched and kissed and rubbed up against.
Oh God. Her blush got hotter. That wasn’t the issue at all. She wanted him. Hadn’t he been able to tell? She let out a sound of frustration. “I’m no good at this.”
“No good?” He planted his hands on his hips. “Baby, I’ve been hard for most of the day.”
She dropped her gaze. “But that was this afternoon before Mrs. Shimwell told her story and then you had to leave.”
She considered the room. The sun had set long ago, but it was somehow starker with only her bed lamp lighting the room.
With the bed and the pillows, the moment of impulse wasn’t there like it had been this afternoon.
Kissing him then had seemed natural. Here, every move would be so deliberate, so daunting.
She wrapped her hands together. She looked at him forlornly, and once again a change came over him.
“Beauty.” His shoulders relaxed, and the hardness about him disappeared. He was just as big and male, but the vibes in the room changed. Became charged. He began unbuttoning his shirt as he closed the distance to the bed.
Maxie’s gaze was drawn to his chest. He stood in front of her, his uniform shirt hanging open as he slid his fingers into her hair and rubbed his thumb across her cheekbone. “Shy Maxie is back.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, even as her fingers ached. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He leaned close and whispered into her ear. “This side of you turns me on just as much.”
He kissed her, and she trembled. “So, I don’t have to—”
He chuckled. “I’ll take it from here, but if you feel so inspired…” He kissed her harder. Longer. His tongue swept deep, and he nipped at her lower lip. “Feel free to go with it.”
He covered her hand with his, and she was surprised to find that she’d reached for him. His chest was bare under her fingertips, warm and muscled. Her fingers flexed. He felt as good as he looked. Her pinky brushed over his nipple, and a grunt sounded in the back of his throat.
“Come here.” His voice was a rasp as his arms wrapped around her.
The pressure Maxie was feeling gave way to pleasure as he hauled her close. His hands fisted in her nightie, and it pulled high against the back of her thighs. She closed her eyes as she kissed him. His skin felt hot against hers wherever they touched, but she wanted more.
Their fronts sealed together as the kiss became hotter and sexier. Cool air brushed against her thighs as he lifted her nightie higher, but heat swamped her when his hands cupped her bottom. With a tug, he swiveled her hips towards him.
She sucked in a ragged breath. He was hard.
“Uh-uh,” he grunted as he kissed the line of her jaw. “No thinking.”
She clung to him when he swept her up into his arms. He walked away from the bed, and she clutched him in surprise. “What are you doing?”
“I’m hot and I’m sweaty.” He turned so she wouldn’t hit her head and crossed the threshold into the bathroom. Nuzzling her neck, he set her on her feet and turned on the shower.
Maxie’s entire body felt aflame. Oh damn.
He braced his hands against the wall on either side of her head. “Have I ever told you how much I like you wet?”
She squirmed as he leaned over her. He was so big, so male and so incredibly sexy. Half out of his uniform with his blond hair tousled…
“This would look incredible under the water.” He slipped a finger beneath the strap of her nightie and plucked it like a guitar string. The snap made her inhale sharply, but that just pressed her breast into his palm when he cupped her intimately. “All see-through and clingy.”
The bandeau bodice felt thin and insubstantial.
His heat surrounded her, yet the filmy material kept his touch from her.
Maxie bit her lip when her nipple beaded up, nudging at his palm.
Oh God, she didn’t think she could take that kind of teasing.
She began pushing at his uniform, trying to get it off.
“Not again. Please. No clothes this time.”
He rolled his shoulders to help her get rid of his uniform. “You’re right. This time we should get naked.”