Reckless (11 page)

Chapter Ten

While Alex Donovan had been called a lot of things by a lot of people, patient had never once graced the list. So the fact that he waited to claim his win for nearly five hours while he and Zoe climbed the north wall a half dozen times, took breathers in between to discuss mechanics and practice a few techniques, and had a spirited conversation with both Jocelyn and Kyle about the most intense outdoor climbs they'd ever been on? Hell, that even took him by surprise. But now that they were back in Zoe's car, with her smile bright enough to power a nuclear reactor and the energy to match, the gloves were coming off.

“You look like you enjoyed yourself today,” he said, going for the understatement rather than the kill. He
did
have just under four whole weeks to gloat. Anyway, she looked so frigging cute over there, tapping her fingers to a tuneless beat over the steering wheel as she smiled intermittently to herself and followed the backlit path to his house on her phone's GPS. While half of Alex's purpose today had been to win the bet, the other half had been to prove that getting a little reckless wasn't such a heinous infraction. After all, if you weren't busy grabbing life by the hey-nannies, you were pretty much just wasting time.

And time had a way of disappearing with a whole lot of
someday
still left on the table.

“A little. Maybe.” Zoe folded her latest smile between her teeth, but even in the dusky evening shadows starting to darken the car, her expression had pure, uncut bliss scrawled all over it.

“You bought a six-month open climb membership before we even went up the wall a fourth time,” Alex said, bringing himself all the way back to the moment with a laugh. “I hate to break it to you, but your definition of
maybe
looks pretty tilted from over here.”

“Okay, okay!” She broke ranks with her careful ten-and-two-hand positioning on the steering wheel just long enough to nudge him with an elbow. “As much as it pains me to say you were right, I'm not above giving credit where it's due. Even though I have no idea how you pulled it off, I didn't hate rock climbing.”

He tamped down the urge to let his inner twelve-year-old break free for an elaborate fist-pump, oh-yeah celebration, opting instead to keep his smile tacked into place. “I didn't think you would. But for the record, I didn't pull anything off. You did.”

Zoe crossed the boundary to his neighborhood, squinting hard at the path Alex had known for over half his life. “How's that? You're the one who showed me what to do.”

“True,” he said, the adrenaline of the day combining with the carefree look on her face to send his blood on a faster circuit through his veins. “But you're the one who took the leap.”

“How did you know? That I wouldn't hate it, I mean. Or was that a risk, too?”

“I've got to admit, you threw me for a bit of a rope-a-dope when you said you were afraid of heights.” Truly, it had been Alex's only moment of doubt for the entire afternoon. Not that he'd been about to let a little thing like steeper odds stand in his path. Shit. Most of the time, that just gave the risk at hand more of a kick. “But I still had a feeling that if you gave climbing an honest shake, you'd get into it anyway.”

She pulled into the narrow stretch of asphalt serving as his driveway, shooting him what she'd probably intended to be a cool stare. Too bad for her, the smile still lifting the corners of her mouth destroyed her game face. “You're a little presumptuous, don't you think?”

“It's not presumptuous if I'm right,” he said, releasing his seat belt with a muted
click
. Okay, now he
was
kind of messing with her, but come on. With the holy trinity of a great climb, a winning bet, and the bold look taking up residence on Zoe's pretty face right now? He had enough feel-good endorphins kicking through him to bench press a Sherman tank.

Alex popped the handle on the passenger door of the Prius, retrieving his gear bag from the backseat and waiting for Zoe to slide out from the driver's side before continuing. “Look, I didn't take you rock climbing today to change who you are or how you think, Zoe. You might cover it up most of the time, but under all that by-the-book rule-following and carefully constructed caution, I think you've got a reckless streak. I only took you climbing to prove that letting it out once in a while won't hurt.”

Her bright peal of laughter threaded through the cool evening air, tagging Alex right in the chest. “Right. I'm sure the way I nearly called it quits before we even started climbing is a prime example of my wild side.”

“Maybe not. But the way you tackled the north wall once you put your mind to it sure was.”

“Listen, I'm not trying to renege on our bet,” she said, holding up one hand to punctuate the words as she followed him toward the garage. “But believe me, any recklessness you saw from me today was an anomaly.”

“And what about five years ago, at the FFD barbecue? Was that an anomaly, too?”

Ah, hell. Alex's unbreakable mood had ushered the question past his lips before he could cage it. But as dangerous as the topic might be, he wasn't about to deny wanting to know what had sparked the by-the-book attitude that hadn't been there five years ago.

Not to mention why she was hiding her boldness beneath it.

Zoe's cheeks pinkened, deep enough for the blush to be visible even in the waning daylight around them. “You remember that?”

Her tanned, muscular legs in the cutoff shorts she'd been wearing, the flush of a couple of beers mixed with the summer heat on her pretty, pixie face . . . Jesus, she had to be completely off her rocker if she thought he'd ever be able to forget.

“Of course I remember it,” he said, punching in the garage code and turning to face her as the door trundled up the track with a rhythmic
clack-clack-clack.
“You were wearing a white tank top and that pair of dangly earrings. They kept getting caught in your hair.”

“I hated those things.” She laughed, soft and self-deprecating. Still, her chin stayed up, and damn, she was the perfect mix of sweet and strong.

“Then why'd you wear them?”

“I wanted to look grown up.” Another laugh puffed past her lips, just as enticing as the first. “Fat lot of good it did me.”

“You looked pretty grown up when you asked me to kiss you,” Alex said, all truth, and although her blush gained intensity, Zoe answered the same way.

“I'd had a few. And by a few, I mean like six. But it doesn't really matter. Just because I was tipsy and voiced my ridiculous crush on you doesn't make me reckless, although I'm sure you got a great laugh out of the whole thing later.”

His head jacked up, matching his pulse. “You think I was laughing at you?”

“I don't know.” Zoe paused, lifting one fleece-wrapped shoulder before following him all the way into the tidy, shadow-covered space of the garage. “The captain's socially awkward and moderately sloshed daughter who you look at like a kid sister asks you to kiss her, and well . . . yeah. To be honest, once I sobered up, I thought there was no way you
weren't
laughing.”

She couldn't be serious. He'd spent the rest of that day alternating between mentally reciting baseball stats to get rid of his hard-on and kicking himself for his sudden and ill-timed attack of scruples.

Alex unshouldered his backpack, lowering it to the narrow wooden workbench nailed along the back wall of the garage. “You're out of your damn mind.”

“The concept of a brain to mouth filter is lost on you, isn't it?”

“I don't see much point in trying to pretty things up. Life's too short for bullshit.”

Zoe's lips opened just slightly, bold fire combining with unmistakable want in her eyes, and in that instant, the thread snapped.

Pushing off from the workbench to cover the space between them in only a few steps, Alex angled closer, capturing a tendril of hair that had fallen loose from one of her low-slung braids. Without hesitation, he let his fingers glide all the way to the end of the silky length, bringing them to a stop right over her collarbone. “In fact, life's too short for lots of things.”

“Like what?” Zoe asked, her voice no more than a husky whisper. She reached up to wrap her fingers around his hand, and that one small gesture was all the encouragement Alex needed.

“Like this.”

The space between them was gone in a breath, his mouth covering hers at the same moment she pressed forward to meet him. The kiss was the polar opposite of the way she'd claimed to be, fierce and fast and daring, and Alex gave in to the rush with a groan. Thrusting his fingers through Zoe's hair, he parted her lips with his tongue, cupping the back of her neck and swinging her toward the workbench as he searched and tasted and took. But rather than following his lead or melting into the intensity of the kiss, she met him measure for measure. Zoe's hands scooped up to tangle in his hair, the tug of her grip as she held him close and kissed him hard sending ripples of pleasure-pain on a straight shot to his cock.

This wasn't impulse. It was insanity.

And Zoe felt so unbelievably hot, with her tongue sweeping over his bottom lip and her teeth following suit with just enough pressure to excite without stinging, that Alex didn't care.

Even though a voice somewhere deep in the basest part of him growled its displeasure, he broke from Zoe's mouth to place a string of kisses across her jaw, nudging her chin up with a rasp of stubble on sweet skin. Not only did Zoe oblige, but her grasp on him tightened. A heavy, want-soaked sigh sifted up from her chest and he lowered his mouth over the soft column of her neck.

Christ. How could this woman taste like sin
and
innocence? And more importantly, why was it driving him so fucking mad?

Using his hips against hers to guide the way, he walked Zoe backward to the closed doors of the storage cabinet, not stopping until her back found the cool, flat surface. Alex bracketed the space above her shoulders with both palms, but he left just enough daylight between them that Zoe could choose to either close it or move away.

She didn't move away.

Alex dropped his mouth to hers, coaxing the soft bow of her lips apart. “Open for me, Zoe. Let me taste more of you.”

She obliged, sending a spiral of hot, urgent want to the base of his spine. Pressing in closer, he slid his tongue against hers, stroking and searching and lingering in the places that made her sigh in the back of her throat.

“I thought you don't mix business with pleasure,” Zoe said, her thick murmur sliding over him like silk and sandpaper and sin as she caught the sensitive spot in the center of his top lip between her teeth, and God
damn,
this woman could turn kissing into a metaphysical event.

He was going to do so much more than kiss her.

“I don't.” Alex moved his hands to the front of her hoodie, the zipper hissing softly as he lowered it until the two halves of fleece gave way. “This is going to be all pleasure. Starting with yours.”

They didn't so much kiss as crash together, the friction of Zoe's lips and tongue making his cock jump. Without breaking contact with his mouth, she maneuvered her hoodie off her shoulders, shucking it awkwardly to the bench beside them before gliding her fingers under the thin material of his shirt. Christ, he'd thought he was on fire for her, but her hands were warm and cunning on his skin, boldly stroking up his chest, matching him move for move.

Not to be outdone, he hooked his fingers beneath the hem of her tank top to lift the material with one swift tug. Following suit with the bottom edge of her sports bra, Alex freed Zoe's breasts from the cotton, keeping her anchored to the cool metal surface behind them as he skimmed both thumbs over her straining nipples.

“I want to taste you here, too.”

She let out a moan of approval, arching high and greedy against his touch. But something dark and wicked flooded through him, slowing his ministrations.

“Do you want that?” Alex circled again, grinning his satisfaction at how Zoe's nipples peaked even further beneath his fingers. “Do you want my mouth on you right here?”

“Alex . . .” Her head dropped to one side, and she canted her hips forward in search of more contact. Ignoring the base demand from his cock to give her exactly what she wanted, he pulled back, stopping only when he'd caught her stare in the depth of the shadows.

“Say it. Tell me what you want.”

Alex registered the flash in Zoe's eyes at the same time she slipped her hand into the breath of space he'd created between them, her fingers wrapping around his erection with perfect, delicious intention.

“I want your mouth on me. Right now.”

He didn't think. Just moved.

Rounding his back and shoulders, Alex wrapped his arms around her body to cup her bare shoulder blades and hold her close. A slight dip of his chin gave her what she'd asked for, and he drew one nipple past his lips to swirl the hardened tip with a groan.

“Alex.” Zoe rocked against him with her fingers and hips, locking their bodies together as the nails on her free hand turned into his shoulders with sweet, sharp pressure. But rather than dissuade or distract, the sensation made him even harder, and he slipped one palm beneath her breast to hold her closer still as he sucked. Her nipple tightened with every pass of his tongue, every taste drawing little moans from her throat and sweet friction from her hand on his cock. Widening his stance, he reached around the lush curve of Zoe's ass, lifting her level with his hips to thrust against the soft, fabric-covered heat between her thighs, refusing to loosen the contact of his mouth even when her moans shaped his name.