her head. “I feel at a disadvantage,” he said, sliding his fingers over her stomach. “Because you got a chance to taste me this way, and I haven’t gotten to do the same.”
He bent down and slid his tongue over her stomach. She shivered, gripping his shoulders, knowing they were going too far, not sure if she wanted to stop.
He stood and reached behind her, unhooking her bra with one hand. “You’re better at that than I am,” she said, her voice shaking.
“Good. That’s kind of the idea. I’d hate to think you’d be better off doing this for yourself.” He cupped her breast and slid his thumb off her nipple, leaving a faint dusting of icing covering her there. He bent his head and circled the tightened bud with his tongue before drawing it into his mouth.
She forked her fingers through his hair, holding his head to her as he continued to lavish attention on her breast.
“Oh, no … I could not do this by myself,” she breathed.
He lifted his head and captured her lips, sweetness clinging to his tongue, his grip tight on her hips as he tugged her body against his. “You’re beautiful,” he said, abandoning her mouth to skim kisses down her neck, across her collarbone.
“You make me believe it.”
He raised his head, his expression serious. “You should never doubt it, not for a moment. You make me lose control.”
The words hung between them, an admission that held power. Because she knew Zack, and she knew what he prized. His control. Above everything. She knew why now, too. She even understood it. And he was saying that her beauty, her body, took it from him.
“Me?” she asked.
“You,” he repeated, his voice hard. “Everything about you.” He moved his palm over her breast and she shuddered. “Now that I’m allowing myself to look … I can’t stop myself. I can’t stop at just looking, I have to touch you, then I have to taste you. And it’s still not enough.”
Zack’s heart raged out of control. It was more than just arousal. His chest burned, the need going so much deeper than sex. It was pleasure and pain, heaven and hell. But he couldn’t turn away from any of it. He didn’t want to.
This wasn’t what was supposed to happen tonight. He’d missed Clara, Clara his friend. The companionship she provided, the safety. She was the one person he ever let his guard down with. The one person he laughed with. Relaxed with.
It wasn’t supposed to turn into this. But his desire for her was like a storm, devastating everything in its path. Devastating his control.
And he’d admitted it to her. Because what else could he do? She’d brought him to his knees.
“It’s a nice apartment,” he said, trying to lighten the moment, to bring himself back to earth. “I bet the bedrooms are really nice.”
She snorted a laugh and buried her face in his neck. “You’ve been in my bedroom.”
He sifted her hair through his fingers. “I’ve never slept in your bed.”
“Do you want to?” She posed the question as though she was asking if he wanted something purely innocent.
“After we get some other business taken care of.”
“I’m in complete agreement with that.”
He swung her up into his arms and she squeaked, looping her arms around his neck and laughing as he dashed to her bedroom.
Zack set Clara down when they got inside her room. A room he’d been in more times than he could count. But never like this. She kissed him, her mouth hungry, pulled his shirt off him in one swift motion. Trading piece of clothing for piece of clothing until they were both naked, limbs entwined, her full breasts pressed against his chest.
It was almost enough for a while, to simply lay on the bed with her, moving his hands over her bare curves, kissing her. Doing nothing more than kissing.
It was almost enough, but not quite.
He swore sharply. “I don’t have anything. I didn’t plan this.”
“It’s okay,” she said, wrapping her hand around his length, squeezing him. He groaned, her soft flesh against his almost making up for the fact that he couldn’t be inside her. Almost.
He put his hand between her thighs and drew his fingers over her clitoris, then repeated the motion.
She gasped and arched against him, tightening her hold on his arms, fingernails digging into his skin. “Oh, Zack,” she breathed, his name on her lips like balm to his soul.
Everything after that was lost in a frenzy of movement, sighs and graphic words that he’d never heard come from Clara’s mouth before. But it was only more exciting, because it was her. Because he knew that he was able to do that to her, to make her say things, feel things no other man ever had.
They reached the peak together, his body shaking down to his bones as he found his release.
He held her soft body against his afterward, a sort of strange contentedness spreading through him that he’d never felt before.
“You’re beautiful, you know?” he asked, pushing her hair to one side and kissing her neck.
She turned to look at him, rolling to her side, making the curve of her hip rounder, her waist smaller. And her breasts …
“You keep saying that.”
“So that you can’t doubt it.”
“I’m starting to believe you, actually,” she said, a smile curving her lips. She reached out and put her finger on his biceps, tracing a long line up to his shoulder. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“I’m flattered.” He leaned forward and kissed her nose, the contentedness morphing into something else. Something that felt light and … happy.
He wrapped his arms more tightly around her and rolled onto his back. She planted her palms on his chest, her body half on his.
“Hi,” she said, smiling.
“I just want you to know that you’re not second to anyone,” he said, cupping her cheek. “There’s no other woman on earth I would rather be with.”
Her brown eyes glistened. “You really are good for my ego.”
“I’m glad. Someone has to be.”
He wanted to say something. Something bigger than he should, than he could. He just wanted more. In that moment, with her body, so soft and bare and perfect, pressed against his, with her smiling at him like he could solve all of the world’s problems, he wanted to offer her the world. He wanted more than temporary, more than distant for the first time in his memory.
She rested her head on his chest, her fingertips moving lightly over his skin until her breathing deepened and her eyes fluttered closed.
It wasn’t until she was asleep that panic slammed into him. The
