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She started to snort, then realized he wasn’t laughing.In fact, his face, his eyes, his whole body was tense with poised expectation as he waited for her answer.
“God, you really mean that, don’t you?”she gasped.
“I haven’t fucked you in ten days.Trust me when I say, I’d jump in a fucking volcano right now for another taste of your pussy.Then I’d walk back for a chance to bury my cock in your tight heat.”He crooned his need in a voice so husky with lust, she could barely hear him over the dark rumble in her own ears.
“That sounds like… fiery work.”
He smiled that tight, I-wanna-fuck-you-so-bad smile.“You don’t know the half of it, baby.”
His cock swelled beneath her ass as he shifted.
“I think I can feel… some of it.”
He laughed.“More jokes, Peaches?Maybe I should tell Philip to keep driving.I could be buried deep inside you come morning.”
The reminder had her glancing out the window for the first time since she’d gotten into the car.She didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that they were approaching her neighborhood.
Surprise rocked through her as the car glided to a stop in front of her favorite Italian take out.
“How did you know?”she asked as Philip got out and headed into the restaurant.
He shrugged.“You mentioned it when we were together.I haven’t forgotten a single thing of our time together, baby.I just did some research and hit the jackpot.”
She had a feeling it was more than luck on his part.For the first time since he’d crashed back into her life, Bethany allowed herself to touch him.
His face, stubbled and sexy as hell, felt warm beneath her fingers.Her hand drifted down his cheek, and he turned to kiss her fingertips.
“I’m scared that this won’t work out.That to keep doing this is asking to be hurt even more.”
“Are you willing to let me go?”
Quaking inside and out, she shook her head.“Not willingly.But?—”
He placed a finger across her lips.“No buts.I’m not going to let you go either.Which means the only way forward is to fight through this.”
Philip returned to the car and placed the takeout on the front seat.
Zach kept her firmly settled in his lap as the car rolled smoothly back into traffic.When they reached her apartment, he opened the door and helped her out.The window slid down and Zach reached for her food.In silence, he passed it to her and gazed down at her.
Expecting him to push his way up to her apartment the way he’d done on Saturday night, she was acutely disappointed when he just said, “See you tomorrow.”
The stark emotions coursing through her made her snap.“I don’t need a ride home every night, Zach.”
His smile was enigmatic enough to cause tingles down her spine.She’d learned the hard way that when he smiled like that, it meant something was up.
“I didn’t say anything about rides home, Bethany.”
Before she could ask what he meant, he was back in the car and the door was shutting.
Long after his car had disappeared from view, she stood on the sidewalk, staring into the empty space.
10
As he waited for the elevator rushing up from the ground floor to arrive, Zach counted the LED lights of the floor numbers and tried to stem the unease swirling inside him.
The next hour would determine whether what he’d planned would succeed or backfire horribly.
The past few days had been an exercise in panic-management.He’d never known anything like it.Indecision had never consumed him so completely, not even with Farrah.