Her Favorite Rival (26 page)

She didn’t want him to be lonely. She knew only too well what that felt like.

She hit Send. His reverse lights were on. He was about to leave. Then his brake lights came on. The driver’s door opened and Zach exited the car. He scanned the parking lot until he found her hatchback. She could feel the heat of his gaze across the feet that separated them. Smiling, feeling sexy and dizzy and more than a little scared, she sent him a second text.

This time it was her address.

She didn’t wait to see if he followed her onto the freeway. She knew he would.

* * *

Z
ACH
WATCHED
AS
Audrey’s car disappeared around the corner of the parking lot. He glanced down at the two messages still displayed on his phone screen.

Yes.

Unit 6, 17 White Crescent, Ringwood.

If he was a fist-pump kind of guy, now would be the time for one, but he wasn’t so he settled for grinning like a madman as he got back into his car. He entered Audrey’s address into his GPS and made his way out onto the country-dark streets of Cape Schanck. It took him an hour and a half to drive to Ringwood, and he used some of the time to call the hospital and check on his mother.

He spoke to the nurses first, learning she was scheduled for surgery first thing tomorrow to remove the dead tissue around the site of the abscess. His mother was disoriented and defensive when he was put through to her, a sure sign she was experiencing the hell of withdrawal. No doubt the hospital would do what it could to alleviate her symptoms, but they weren’t in the business of keeping junkies happy.

He offered what comfort he could, given her state, then spent the drive focusing on Audrey, on what he would do with and to her when he reached her place.

He deserved some happiness. And even if he didn’t, he was going to make a grab for it, anyway.

Her apartment was in a small block of six on a leafy, well-kept street. He parked out front and made his way to the security entrance. She answered the moment he hit the buzzer.

“It’s on the second floor,” she said, her voice sounding slightly breathless through the speaker.

She had the door open when he arrived, light spilling into the corridor. She smiled almost shyly. “It’s small but perfectly formed,” she said, leading him into an airy living room.

If he had to guess, he’d say the complex had been built in the fifties. The ceilings were high and unembellished, the windows large. He could see a small kitchen through a doorway to his left. Another doorway led off to the right toward her bedroom, he guessed. Both her couch and armchair were midcentury spare, and a couple of vintage travel posters in bright colors graced the walls.

“Do you want something to drink?” she asked.

He didn’t say a word. She gave a nervous laugh.

“Okay, stupid question. Would you like a shower, then? I know I’ve been dreaming of one since the eleventh hole.”

He reached out and hooked a hand behind her neck, drawing her close. He kissed the nervous smile off her lips, inhaling the scent of her skin.

“That sounds good,” he said when he broke the kiss. He didn’t want to let her go, but a shower was a necessity. Plus it meant they’d both be naked in a small space, which could only be a good thing.

“It’s through here...”

He followed her into her bedroom, glancing at the queen-size bed with its fluffy white duvet. The bathroom had been renovated in the past ten years, all clean, modern lines, and he watched as Audrey collected two towels from a storage tower to the left of the vanity.

“Here,” she said, passing him one.

He set it on the vanity and pulled her close, letting his hands slide down her back as he reacquainted himself with her mouth. He shaped her hips with his hands, then cupped her backside and pressed her against him so she could feel what she did to him.

She made an approving sound, and the next thing he knew she was palming him through the cotton of his chinos, stroking along the length of him. They tortured each other for a few more minutes, pushing polo shirts out of the way and tasting each other’s salty skin before finally stripping each other naked.

He pushed her hair out of the way as she leaned in to turn on the shower, tonguing the nape of her neck and smiling as she shivered in response. Any minute now, he was going to be inside her again and she was going to be making those soft, desperate noises that had been haunting his dreams.

She drew him into the shower and they kissed beneath the streaming water, slicking their hands with soap and dividing their time between washing each other down and revisiting their favorite body parts. When he was so hard it hurt and she was breathless with need, he leaned out of the shower to collect a condom from his pants pocket and sheathed himself.

She closed her eyes as he lifted her, pressing her against the tiled wall as he pushed inside her.

“That feels so good,” she breathed, her hands gripping his shoulders tightly.

“No kidding.”

She laughed and he kissed her, swallowing her happiness as he started stroking inside her. The water and the tight heat of her body and the feel of her breasts flattened against his chest pushed him hard, but he held off until she gave a small, strangled cry and he felt her pulse around him. Only then did he allow himself to come, his face pressed into the sweet, soft skin of her neck.

She stumbled against him as he released her and he caught her arm. “Sorry.” She blinked dazedly.

He loved that he could make her look that way. Loved how swollen her mouth was, how pink her nipples.

He turned off the shower, then dried her with slow, leisurely passes of the towel. She smiled as he bent to attend to the soft skin behind her knees, one hand resting on his shoulder as he lifted her foot.

“You’re establishing a dangerous precedent here,” she said, her voice low and lazy and tired.

“Am I?”

He had others he wanted to establish, too, and once he’d dried her feet he pressed a kiss to her belly and dipped his tongue into her navel.

“Zach,” she moaned as he urged her to widen her stance and started kissing her inner thighs.

He teased her with his mouth and tongue until her legs were trembling with the effort of remaining upright, then he carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed and really drove her crazy.

He licked and teased and tasted until she trembled, her hips lifting involuntarily. Then he slid a finger inside her and searched for that one elusive spot....

She gasped when he found it, her back arching, her hands clutching at his head as she came and came and came. He rode out her pleasure, then soothed her down to earth with gentle kisses and caresses.

“If you get sick of the corporate world, that’s a career for you,” she said when he lifted his head.

He grinned. He loved how bold she was sometimes. How shameless.

“I’d hate to ruin the purity of my art by putting a dollar value on it.” He kissed his way up her body.

“How very noble of you.”

She collected a condom from the bedside table, then pushed him until he straddled her hips. Her gaze avid, she took him in her hands, stroking him firmly, knowingly. He watched through half-slitted eyes as she tore open the condom and eased it onto him, inch by inch.

He was harder than titanium by the time she’d finished, pushed to the limits of his control. Pulling her hands away, he lowered his head and drew one of her already-hard nipples into his mouth. He bit her gently but firmly, just enough to let her know he knew she’d been torturing him on purpose. She responded by lifting her hips and widening her legs as she guided him to her entrance.

One flex of his hips and he was inside her, part of her, sheathed in slick heat. She started to move at the same time he did, their bodies working as one.

“I love how wet you are. How good you feel,” he whispered in her ear, because he knew she liked it.

She made a sound in the back of her throat, her fingers clenching as she gripped his ass.

“I love how tight you are, how it feels to be inside you,” he told her, upping the tempo.

She started to pant, her breath warm against his neck. He slid a hand between their bodies to where she was wet and swollen.

“Is that what you want?” he asked, sliding his thumb over her.

She gasped, losing her rhythm as she lifted her hips, silently begging for more.

“Is that what you need?” he asked, pushing himself deep inside as he stroked her.

“Yes. Please. Please, Zach...”

She came then, pulsing around him, her body as taut as a bowstring as pleasure took her. The sight of her tightly shut eyes and bared teeth pushed him into his own climax and he held her close as he nudged even deeper inside her.

They were both limp, their breathing heavy as they lay side by side on the bed. After a while, he felt her hand on his forearm. She slid her hand down until it found his, her fingers weaving with his.

“Let’s not wait two weeks again, huh?” she said.

He laughed quietly, feeling tired and empty and utterly at peace. “Deal.”

He had enough sense to take care of the condom before he drifted into sleep. The last conscious thought he had was both simple and profound:
she said yes
.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

S
HE
WOKE
TO
the unfamiliar sensation of another person in her bed. Her eyes popped open, then she smiled as she remembered.

Zach.

The shower.

After the shower.

After, after the shower.

She stretched out a hand and laid it on his warm, hard body and simply lay there for a moment, listening to his breathing and feeling his chest rise and fall beneath her hand.

He was in her bed, in her apartment. This was real. They’d decided to do this. To try to build on sexual chemistry and lots in common and see where they might end up.

She gazed at the dimly lit ceiling, doing a quick internal audit, and decided giving him her address, saying yes to him, to this, was one of her better decisions.

She rolled closer to him, pressing her lips against his shoulder, inhaling the scent of him—the lingering remains of yesterday’s aftershave, warm skin and the faintest tang of clean sweat. It was so delicious she wanted to lick him, to somehow absorb the essence of him into her own body. She settled for pressing a row of kisses along his shoulder until she came to his collarbone.

She lifted her head to consider his profile, only to be drawn to the glowing neon numerals on her clock.

Three in the morning. They both had work tomorrow—today. She needed to send him home.

“Zach,” she said softly, not wanting to startle him. “It’s three o’clock.”

He didn’t stir, and she kissed his shoulder and tried again. “Zach.”

When he still didn’t respond, she turned on the bedside light. He didn’t so much as flinch.

She frowned, noting for the first time the weary lines around his mouth and eyes. He hadn’t offered an explanation for his lateness this morning, but he’d clearly had a rough night last night.

She turned the light off. She didn’t have the heart to force him awake and out into the cold morning when he clearly needed to sleep. She pulled the covers high up over his shoulders and closed her eyes.

The room was lighter the next time she woke, but since her alarm hadn’t yet sounded she figured it must be before six. She checked and saw that it was five.

Zach was still out of it, his breathing slow and regular. She hated to wake him, but he really did need to go now or he’d be late for work.

Still, there was waking someone, then there was
waking someone.

Feeling more than a little saucy, she slipped beneath the covers. Zach’s body was warm and firm, and she ran her hands over his belly and thighs before homing in on her true goal. He was already semihard—morning glory was a wonderful thing—and she settled herself comfortably before stroking him once, twice with her hand, then taking him into her mouth.

She felt the surge of blood as his body responded to her ministrations, and she allowed herself a small, private, wicked smile before she applied herself to her self-appointed task.

Last night he’d made her climb the walls, and it seemed only fair to return the favor.

It didn’t take long before he stirred to life, his legs moving restlessly against the sheets. A warm hand landed on her shoulder. She pictured him blinking to wakefulness, pulled out of sleep by pleasure.

“Audrey,” he murmured, the hand on her shoulder trying to pull her back up the bed.

She took him deeper into her mouth and teased him with her tongue until his grip relaxed and he gave himself up to her.

She stroked him with her hand and used her lips and tongue. His body grew tense beneath her, his hips jerking as he neared his peak. The hand on her shoulder tightened...and then released as he let himself go.

She waited until he finished before pushing back the covers and sitting up with a Cheshire cat smile.

“Good morning.”

“Now who’s setting a dangerous precedent?” His face was flushed, his eyes heavy-lidded with sated desire.

“You’re not objecting, are you?” Because she knew it would drive him wild, she licked her lips.

“Last thing on my mind.”

He pulled her up the bed again and this time she went, laying her body over his, pressing a kiss to his bristly jaw.

“I didn’t want to wake you, but it’s five and you’ll need to go home to grab some clothes.”

“I will.”

He didn’t seem in any hurry, though, smoothing his hands over her back and pressing kisses to her cheekbone, the bridge of her nose, her jaw.

It was seductive and sexy, and she was warm and alive to the possibilities inherent in having a hot man beneath her—but she was also aware of the time, ticking inexorably on.

She was about to draw his attention to that fact when he broke their kiss and sighed. “Okay. I should start moving.”