Page 67 of Last Fall

17

Zoe

Lust-Deaf

He didn’tneedto touch me anywhere. Just being close to him overloaded my senses. Short-circuited my nerve endings. I felt like a computer that had been zapped by too much electricity. Surely there was smoke coming out of my ears and sparks flying off myfingertips.

But he touched me anyway. Kissed my cheek.Hot.Ran his rough hands down my waist. Gripped my hips and pulled me againsthim.Zing.

I wanted this. Isowanted this. I wouldn’t have essentially commanded him to take me home if it wasn’t exactly what Iwanted.

But there was something he neededtoknow.

“Erik, I...I,” couldn’t think straight or form words. What was I tryingtosay?

“Yes?” He kissed my lips at the same time his fingers ran over the bare skin at my waist andboomI suddenly rememberedeverything.

“I haven’t done this in alongtime.”

“I know,” he mumbled somewhere between my collarbone and mybreasts.

“A really long time.” I kind of shouted that. It wasn’t the smoothest I’d ever been but things were getting critical fast. I wanted this, god how I wanted this, but I needed Erik to understandfirst.

He heard my warning and stopped. He stood up straight and tall in front of me, waiting. “I’mlistening.”

And now I felt really exposed so I looked away. “I haven’t been with anyone since I moved toTampa.”

“I had afeeling.”

I guess it was pretty obvious that if I wasn’t dating I probably wasn’t banging, either. “What I’m trying to say is, I haven’t been with anyone since...” I really didn’t want to say this out loud, but I had to, right? To clear the air andmoveon?

“Zoe, look at me?Please?”

I forced myself to look up into his dark eyes. The ones that were pleading with me to trust him. And I did. I trusted Erik in ways I’d never trusted anyonebefore.

But this wasdifferent.

“The last man you were with, he hurt you.” Erik didn’t mince anywords.

“Yes.”

“And so this,” he caressed my cheek, “isn’t just a kiss or a touch. It’s trust andpower.”

How did he understand all of this sowell? “Yes.”

“Zoe, you have all thepowerhere.”

It didn’t feel that way. “I want this. You.” My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears. My skin tingled from the heat of my ownblood.

He smiled. “I know.” Then he placed his hands on my hips and repositioned himself so that he was directly in front of me. “I have a small confession to make. I haven’t said anything because I didn’t want for you to take it thewrongway.”

Well that didn’t sound ominous or anything. “I’mlistening.”

And, honestly, freaking out alittle.

Erik was patient. So incredibly patient. He was also honest and pretty straightforward. So whatever he was going to say was going to cut straight tothebone.

“I’m a jealous man,” he practically whispered. The words came out rough and forced. Almost as emotional as his eyes that were currently turning my knees to jelly. “I don’t ever want another man in your head when I’m kissing you and right now, when I touch you,he’sstillthere.”