his arms and hugged her, as a friend now. She felt safe again, protected. And just being with him made her problems seem trivial. “But promise me one thing?”
“What?”
“Don’t try to find what you need with another man. Makes me crazy.”
Makes me crazy. Oh, wow. There was no mistaking what he meant. Not from the genuine pain she found in his eyes, or the intensity in his voice. “You mean like Dylan or Adam? I told you, they’re not—”
He shushed her with a kiss, right smack on the lips. Her body instantly reacted, and goose bumps rose on her arms.
“You make me crazy, too,” he rasped and began rolling the hem of her T-shirt up. With his coaxing, she raised her arms as he brought the wet garment over her head and her breasts jiggled back into place. Zane’s hot gaze touched her there and lingered, then traveled over the rest her body clad in a skimpy New Jess bikini. He made a loud noise from sucking oxygen into his lungs. “From now on, sweet Jess, I want to be the man you go to when you need something.”
“You mean, like my rebound guy?”
“Call it whatever you want, honey.”
Jess didn’t have to think twice. Zane just abolished all deprecating thoughts she’d had about herself and totally wiped out any pain she’d felt about Steven. Even her pride was restored somewhat. The Steven ship had sailed, and she wasn’t going to waste another second thinking of him. Not when she had Zane offering her the moon.
He was a real man.
If she had any doubts before about her feelings for him, they were banished the second she’d thought he was drowning. She’d rushed in to save him, praying that God wouldn’t take him from her. And she wasn’t going to feel bad about it or apologize to anyone. Forbidden or not, she wanted him.
“I promise.”
He hooked his fingers with hers. “Your room or mine?”
“Neither,” she said. Her confidence soaring and her heart melting, she let go of every inhibition she’d ever had. “I think we need a hot, steamy shower to warm up, don’t you?”
“As long as I get to peel this bikini off you, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
The peeling was blissful torture. Jessica lay her head against cool slate, her arms behind her. Steam rose up as the customized shower streams poured down, warming her bones. It was like being tucked inside a large waterfall, cascading water all around her. Zane came to her naked, his sculpted, bronzed beach body equal to that of an ancient god. There was enough room for twelve people in the master shower, but she knew Zane would make good use of the space for the two of them.
“You’re beautiful, Jess.”
His mouth covered hers as both of his hands came under her bikini top. Weighing her full breasts, he groaned deep in his throat, and his appreciation of her body flowed to her ears. She roped her arms around his neck and continued to kiss him even as he unhooked the back of the bathing suit, releasing her breasts. Warm spray moistened them and he worked magic on her, gliding his hands over her bare, wet skin and arousing her in tortuous increments. His thumb caressed her already pebbled nipples until she muted a cry.
He was amazingly gentle, but brutal in his determination to make it good for her. As he removed the bottom half of her bikini, his hands shaking with need, she’d never felt more desirable and powerful.
Drizzling kisses along her throat, his hands came to the small of her back, and she bowed her body for him. He took one jutted breast in his mouth and suckled her, his tongue swirling and flicking. She screamed then, but the pleasured sounds were drowned out by the thunderous showerheads. He gave the other breast equal treatment, and it was almost too much.
“Are you warm yet?” he asked, nuzzling her throat.
“Just getting there.”
“Let me help you with that.”
He picked up a bar of soap and lathered her from head to toe, bathing her in a soft and subtle flowery scent that reminded her of a spring afternoon. He didn’t miss one inch of her, paying special attention to the crux of her womanhood, stroking, washing, cupping her, making her moan. “Oh, oh, oh.”
Jess thought every woman should experience a shower this way, just once.
She smiled, gritted her teeth and savored the pleasure he brought her.
His hands moved to her backside and slid over the rounded halves of her derriere, molding her form, spreading his fingers wide as if savoring the feel of her. His manhood pressed her belly, rock-hard and pulsing. She shuddered, unable to hold back another second. Her body released gently, in beautifully timid waves that nudged her forever toward him. His mouth covered hers, and she enjoyed the sweetly erotic taste of his passion.
Wow.
She’d never had an orgasm like that before.
She clung to him and let the full force of her feelings consume her.
“Did you like that, sweetheart?”
“So much.”
She sensed his smile, and it made her heart nearly burst.
She moved down on him, letting her mouth and breasts caress the middle of his chest, his belly, and then she touched his full-fledged erection.
“Oh, man,” he uttered. “Jess.”
He fisted a handful of her hair and helped move her along the length of him. Water pounded her back, the showerhead pulsing now. It was deliciously sexy, and when she was through, she rose to meet him. The hungry look on his face, teeth gritted, eyes gleaming like a wolf about to devour his prey, would have been almost frightening if it wasn’t Zane.
He lifted her, and on instinct she wrapped her legs around his waist. He held her tight and murmured, “Hang on.”
She clung to him, and his manhood nudged into her, filling her with gentle force. He was patient and oh, so ready. She moved on him, letting him know she was okay with whatever he wanted to do. The beat, beat, beat of the raining drops set the pace of his thrusts. He arched and drove deeper.
“Oh.” She sighed. “So good.”
He kissed her throat, her breasts, and continued to thrust into her, hard, harder.
It was pure heaven. She’d never made love like this before. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her body soared. Spasms of tight, sweet pain released, and she cried out softly “Oh, Zane.”
His eyes were on her, burning hot. He waited for her to come down off the clouds, and then he began to thrust into her again. He set a fast rhythm, and she gave back equally. She wanted to make it good for him, too.
Guttural groans rose up his throat, and she knew he was close. He impaled her one last, amazing time, his reach touching the very core of her womanhood. And waves of his orgasm struck her, one after
