Page 9

Zach

I’m losing her.

One minute I’m baring my soul to her in my childhood home, and the next, I’m staring at a blank wall. It’s not that I expected Zoey to never bring up the interview. I’d just figured that since the dynamic between us had changed, refusing to give it would be a non-issue. I thought sharing myself with only her would be enough. Clearly, I was wrong. Either way, I am not about to lose the fucking love of my life over something like this.

The sound of the front door slamming jerks me back the present. Panic surges through me, and I rush after her, the cool air hitting my face as I step outside. I catch her just as she makes it to the car. For a frightening second, I expect her to climb behind the wheel and drive off, except she simply walks past it to the road. She takes a moment to look around before she starts down the road, heading in the opposite direction of town.

With a sigh, I rush after her, grabbing her wrist before she can get any further. “Zoey—”

“Let go of me,” she hisses, trying to shrug off my hand, but I have a firm grip on her. No way in hell am I letting her go. Not for any reason in the world. “Zach, I’m warning you—”

“You’re going the wrong way,” I point out.

“Yeah, well, what do you care where I go!” Her voice is sharp and cutting as she glares at me with those gorgeous chocolate brown eyes I fell for the first time I met her. She looks so fucking hot even when she’s so angry with me.

“Because I love you, Zoey,” I say, and watch as her eyes light up with surprise, as if it’s such an impossible thing for me to have feelings for her. I watch as a range of emotions crosses her face before she finally settles on anger once more.

“You are lying to me. Trying to jerk me around with empty words,” she says, her eyes blazing with fury. I can see the hurt behind her anger, and it tears at me. “I won’t let you do this to me. I’m getting the hell out of this little town, and you can’t stop me!”

I don’t point out again that she’s headed in the opposite direction or that we’re several miles away from the center of town. I decide instead eliminate the issue altogether. I scoop her up, my arms wrapping around her waist, lifting her into a fireman’s carry. She kicks and squirms, her protest muffled against my shoulder, but I don’t let go.

“Put me down!” she demands, her voice a mix of outrage and disbelief, but under it all, I catch a tremor of vulnerability in her tone. Fuck, I hurt her. With my accusation of using my name to prove herself. I knew it wasn’t true the moment I said it. While I don’t doubt that Zoey hoped interviewing me would garner attention for her blog, she’d never act as callous as I made it sound. I should have stayed calm and had a rational conversation with her, but I let my emotions and hatred of the media run away with me.

I carry her back inside, the door swinging shut behind us with a soft thud. I set her down gently, and she immediately turns to leave again, but I step in front of her before she can run. It’s not lost on me that our roles are almost the same as when we met, but in reverse. “Zoey, will you listen to me?”

“No,” she says defiantly, arms crossing over her chest and brow furrowed with anger.

“You’re angry.”

“Really? What gave it away?” she rages, trying to leave once more, and it becomes clear that there is no getting to her when she’s this mad. I wrap an arm around her waist and yank her against me, her breath whooshing out of her lips from the move. Her eyes flutter with something akin to desire, and it remains even when she tries to shrug it off.

“How about we get rid of all that anger first and then we can have a civil conversation?”

“I’m not having a civil anything with you,” she hisses, but her eyes drop to my lips, betraying her. “Let go of me, Zach.”

“That is not an option, kitten,” I tell her, leaning in, but she turns her face away. I grasp her chin and force her back in place, and I can feel her glare as I lean in to kiss her. She’s stubborn, keeping her lips tightly closed against mine, but I feel her body tremble. “Let me in, baby,” I rasp, kissing her cheek and brushing my lips over her ear, and when I come back to kiss her lips, she practically melts against me. She’s far from docile though. All the sweetness of our previous kisses is absent, and in its place is anger fueling the hunger burning inside of her. I release her chin to slide my hand to her nape, holding her head in place as I plunder her mouth with my tongue, and she kisses me back with just as much vigor.

It’s such a fucking turn-on, the sounds she makes as I lick into her mouth, sucking her tongue in my own mouth, and joining our souls through the kiss. My cock throbs behind my fly as I push her against the wall, kissing her like a man starved, and she’s no different, meeting my need with her own. I hiss when she scratches her nails down my chest, bruising and punishing me with her claws. Fuck, this side of her is as hot, maybe even hotter than anything else I’ve seen so far.

“You’re a fucking temptress, kitten. You have no idea what you do to me, do you?” I ask, breaking the kiss to trail my lips over her jaw, nipping at her earbud before soothing the sting with my tongue.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she grumbles, then whimpers when I slide my hand up her dress. “You’re a jerk!” Her eyes flutter to a close when I slide my fingers between her legs to feel for wetness. A growl slips out my throat when I find her wet and creamy, my fingers sliding through the valley of her folds easily with the slickness of her sex. She cries out when I push my middle finger into her wet hole, thrusting so hard it lifts her onto her toes. “Zach—”

“You must be so angry at me, kitten. Your pussy is practically dripping.”

“Shut up,” she whimpers, bracing her hands on my shoulders, tilting her hips, and pushing down to meet my firm thrusts.

I drink in her flushed expression, so entrancing the way she tries to fight her need. “You can get mad at me, Zoey, but you’re not leaving me. You’re mine.”

Her back arches with a cry when I bring my thumb to her clit and rub the swollen bud in firm circles. She sobs, arching into my touch and pleading for more. “Zach, please—”

“You want more, don’t you?” I tease, pushing my face against her ear and nipping at her lobe. “If you want my cock, then I need to know that you understand. No more running away.” My breath is heavy against her ear, and my cock aches with urgency. Fuck, I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want this girl. She drives me crazy with need; there is no going back. “Say the words, Zoey, and I’ll fill this pussy with my dick, rut you until everyone in Valor Springs hears you scream my name.”

“I understand,” she sobs, and that is all I need as I pull my hand from her wet sex to spin her around. She’s panting as I work on my jeans, tugging down the zipper so hard I nearly rip it off. My pants are down to my knees and her dress bunched around her waste in record time.

“You belong to me, Zoey,” I grind out, fisting my hard cock and dragging it over the valley of her sex, gathering moisture onto my dick as I bend her over the kitchen counter. She cries out, arching her sexy little back at me, begging to be taken. “You’ll stay by my fucking side, or I will comb through the entire fucking state if you leave me.” I work the tip of my cock over her tight entrance before slamming forward and filling her with my hardness. I grunt at the way her hot channel wraps around me, convulsing involuntarily around my cock and nearly pushing me to the edge.

“Oh God, Zach,” she moans when I pull back my hips before slamming into her. I am an animal, one looking to stake his claim, and I don’t hold back as I pound my cock into her squelching sex. The sound of our lovemaking echoes through the empty house, and I imagine this will be the first of many moments between us in this house.

My wife. The next person she tells that to, it won’t be a lie.

Mine!

“You’re mine,” I growl, pounding into her snug sex, and she’s just as desperate, arching into my touch and begging for more. I slide my hand back between her legs and strum her clit as I ram into her from behind, bringing her fast to that sweet release.

“Close, Zach… Oh God,” she sobs a second before she climaxes, her lips parting in a scream that echoes through the house. Her pussy clenches hard around me before she releases a harsh cry as she comes on my cock. Her hips buck wildly as I thrust into her, slamming deep and hard through her orgasm until my own hits. I come with a roar, burying my face in her hair as I release my seed into her womb, rutting her in punishing thrusts that have her pussy spasming with another orgasm, clenching around me and milking every drop of my release.

“Goddamnit, Zoey!” I grunt, rolling my hips and fucking her through the aftershocks of the orgasm until my muscles turn to mush, then I go slack against her. Her breathing is just as labored as mine, and for long minutes, neither of us says a word. I brush my lips over the side of her head, leaving them there for a long time as I inhale her sweet feminine scent. Finally, I pull back, but don’t release her just yet.

“Are you ready to talk now?” I ask when my heart stops hammering in my chest. “Will you listen to what I have to say without trying to run?”

I expect her to make a snarky comment, but she simply nods. “Yeah.”

I find myself smiling at that. “I will give you the interview,” I say, and she turns around to look at me, surprise written in her eyes.

“What?”

“I’ll let you interview me for your story. You’re right; it’s what I promised. So, I’ll give you the interview.”

“B-but you just said you don’t want your private life shared with fans!”

“Baby, this is me saying you were right. Take the win, kitten.”

She firmly shakes her head. “It’s not about winning. I can’t write your story and publish it knowing you don’t want it shared.”

“There are parts of my private life that I don’t want out there,” I say truthfully. “I still think my life off the track is no one’s business, but there are things I am willing to share. I know I can trust you to do right by my story.”

Her eyes narrow on mine. “What changed?”

“I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you, kitten,” I say, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “I mean it when I say I love you, and if this is something you need, then I’ll do it. The last thing I want is for you to think I’m not a man of my word.”

The air rushes out of her in a heavy sigh, and she looks away for a moment. “You weren’t totally wrong though,” she whispers. “I did want to get the interview with you to prove myself and put my blog on the map. You’re one of the most popular NASCAR drivers in the history of the sport, and no one has managed to get a word out of you on your personal life. Heck, I had no idea you had a brother before coming to Valor Springs.” Zoey shuffles her feet, her eyes straying to the floor before she looks back up at me. “I do want to earn recognition and respect, but it’s not the only reason.”

“Then what’s the other reason?”

“Because I was—am in love with you,” she whispers, and I see the truth of it in her eyes. “I wanted to write about the man that got me into sports journalism. I think I fell in love with you the first time I watched you race, and from that moment, I couldn’t look away.” She chews on her bottom lip, and my eyes stay locked on hers as she bares her soul. “I couldn’t stop watching or falling for you. Somehow you became the center of my world before we even met, and I figured the only way I could really get to know you would be the same as it is for everyone else. Through your story.”

“But that’s not true anymore,” I say thickly, cupping her cheek and leaning in to brush my lips over hers. “You mean more to me than anyone else in my life, Zoey. The second you stole my rental car, you became everything.”

She lets out a soft laugh, dropping her head against my shoulder. “It’s okay that you want to keep your life private. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten mad about that. I’m going to respect your wishes and not push you for an interview anymore.”

I wrap my arms around her shoulders and hug her tight. “You can have both, kitten,” I say, kissing her temple. “You have the rest of our lives to learn about me, and I will help you get all the interviews you want. There are tons of drivers in NASCAR that will let you write about them if I asked.”

Zoey stills, pushing back to look at me with barely veiled surprise. “Zach Westwood, are you promising to be my inside guy in the racing world?”

“I am,” I confirm. “You’ll have all the interviews you want. Just give me a name, and I’ll get it set up for you.”

She gapes at me. “Y-you would do that for me?”

“I would do anything for you,” I say, dropping my lips back on hers. Heck, I was willing to expose my very private life to the world for her. There is little I wouldn’t do for the woman that has stolen my heart. For the one I plan on spending the rest of my life with. “I love you.”

“I love you,” she whispers against my lips, her words making my heart jump in ways no other woman ever has. No other woman ever will.

Today was my first time walking into my childhood home after being away for nearly a decade. I’d expected to be an emotional wreck, but now I couldn’t feel more at ease. I thought it would be a hallowing experience and dreaded doing it, but with Zoey, I feel at peace.

With her by my side, wherever we are, I’m home.