Reckless (23 page)

Alex's heart pounded a rhythmic warning against his sternum, but he pushed past his clanging sense of self-preservation. Westin might be an old-school firefighter with an honor code to match, but he was still a fair man, and the closest thing Alex had to a father.

And he wanted Zoe enough to put it all on the line.

“It's going to take a delicate conversation, and we'll have to figure out the best way to have it. I'm not saying it won't be . . .”
Awkward. Brutal. A carte-blanche invitation for the man to kick my ass.
“Difficult at first,” he managed past his tightening vocal cords. “But like you said, we're adults. This isn't just some one-night stand.”

Zoe's hair slid over her shoulders as she nodded in agreement, and Christ almighty, she was stunning, standing there in his kitchen with flour smudged on her face and his name spilling past her lips. “I know, and I want this, too.”

The words bolted all the way through him with uncut goodness, until she followed them with, “But I'm scared. I know that being a firefighter isn't just what you are, it's who you are. I do. It's just . . . God, Alex. What if you get hurt?” The unspoken
or worse
hung in her tone, and even though he wanted to reassure her, his no-bullshit demeanor didn't take a sabbatical just because the topic of conversation got a little dicey.

“I might,” he said, dropping his chin to bring his gaze completely level with hers. “My job is an all or nothing proposition, and I can't promise you I'll never get hurt doing it. But you can't sink yourself in
what if
. At some point, you've got to trust. You've got to take the leap.”

Alex leaned all the way in, so close that he could feel Zoe's breath hitch beneath the tissue-thin cotton of her shirt. But he was all-in, all the time, and as reckless as it was, he couldn't think of a stronger, sweeter thing to put everything on the line for than this woman.

“So tell me, Zoe. Do you trust me enough to take the risk?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Yes.”

The word collapsed past Zoe's lips in a whisper, although it rattled her pulse as if she'd launched it on a scream. The thought of Alex going back to the firehouse—and all the risks that went with it—still scared her to death. But when he looked at her with that Caribbean blue stare and told her in his own wide-open, utterly confident way that he wanted to be with her, she couldn't ignore the truth.

He'd had her back, and he'd never faltered. Alex had been there every step of the way, making her believe in not only mending the fences of her past and really living the moments right in front of her, but in wanting more. In wanting him.

Zoe didn't just trust Alex with her past and her kitchen. She trusted him with her heart. And she wanted him enough to take the ultimate risk.

“Yes,” she whispered again, pressing up to her toes to taste the surprise on Alex's mouth. “I trust you. I want this, Alex. I want
you
.”

His shock turned to a look of pure desire, and he wrapped his arms around her, cradling her tight against the frame of his body. “If you want me, I've got you, baby. C'mere.”

He dipped his mouth to meet hers, returning her quick kiss with one that lingered. Cupping the back of her neck with hot fingers, he coaxed her lips apart with a sweep of his tongue. Alex explored her mouth with slow, lazy strokes, tasting and sucking and nibbling. Sparks flared, low and dangerous in Zoe's belly, as one palm slid to the back of her head to knot in her hair, while the other found the curve of her chin. Focusing the attention of his mouth on her upper lip, he swept the pad of his finger over the sensitive center of its counterpart, working her skin back and forth with just the hint of a touch.

“
Oh.
” The moan was all Zoe could manage past the tingling heat of Alex's movements. Oh God, she'd never known such a tiny spot on her lower lip could be such an absolute turn-on. She parted her mouth further to allow him better access, but he kept his finger where it was, stroking her slowly.

“You like that.” The rumble of his voice raked over her, turning her nipples to hard, achy peaks behind the soft satin cups of her bra. She darted her tongue over his finger in reply, and the rumble became a growl.

“I'm going to touch you here until you scream,” he said, nipping at her upper lip with just enough pressure to make her cry out with want before soothing the pleasure/pain with a soft, openmouthed kiss. “Then I'm going to find all the other places that make you hot.” Alex swept his finger harder against her lower lip, the friction sending sparks of wet heat between her thighs.

The sparks nearly combusted when he pulled back to pin her with a glittering blue stare full of promise.

“And then I'm going to touch every one of them until you scream all over again.”

Shifting his weight over the ceramic kitchen tiles, Alex guided Zoe away from the counter, the distance creating just enough space for the leverage he needed to drop his hands over her hips and lift her feet off the floor. His shoulders flexed and squeezed beneath her fingertips, and she wrapped her legs around the corded muscles of his waist. The move put the seam of her body in perfect contact with his rock-hard erection, pulling a moan from her chest as she canted her hips over his in a fast, demanding thrust.

“Jesus, woman.” Alex's steps became less steady as he crossed the threshold to the main living space. “Are you trying to wreck me?”

“Maybe,” Zoe countered, her grin getting lost somewhere between his neck and his shoulder as she strung a line of kisses between the two.

But Alex stuttered to a halt halfway across the living room. “I mean it, you know.”

“Mean what?” Confusion ribboned past the want pulsing through her veins.

He gently lowered her to the carpet, his glittering blue stare never leaving hers. “Everything about you just unravels me.” He paused to kiss her, both punishing and sweet. “Your hot little sighs when I touch you. The way you look so fierce one minute, then so open and honest in the next. You're just so . . . beautiful.”

Zoe had heard the word countless times in her life—had even heard people say it about her on occasion. But never, ever, in her twenty-seven years, had
beautiful
sounded brand-new, like a word that belonged only to her and one other person.

Until now.

“Alex,” she whispered, arching against him to fuse their bodies from hips to chest. Her heart pounded so hard she knew he had to feel it, too, but Zoe didn't care. He lowered his lips to hers, but he didn't increase his tempo, didn't push into her with fast, greedy hunger. He simply kissed her, testing her mouth with the perfect balance of give and take, and sweet God in heaven, she was going to die right here in this spot, in his arms.

“Please,” she begged on a need-soaked groan. Despite all the sensations flying through her body, Zoe pulled back far enough to keep their gazes connected. “I know how much you want me, because I feel it, too. Take me to bed, Alex. Please. Take me.”

In a flash of fast movements and faster intentions, they moved up the stairs, kissing and touching and building anticipation. When they reached the threshold of Alex's bedroom, he stopped, pulling her close for a long, slow kiss.

“No rushing,” he said, running his teeth over the still tender spot on her lower lip. Heat pulsed in her core, begging to be stoked, but he held back. “You deserve every second of this, and I plan to give them to you. Nice”—he drew her lip between his own, sucking for a brief second before letting go—“and slow.”

Alex led her into his room, the carpet soft under her bare feet. Scant strains of golden streetlight slanted in past the blinds, illuminating the space only enough to cut through the nighttime shadows, and Alex stopped just shy of his bed. Reaching down low, he crossed his arms in front of him, pulling off his shirt with one quick tug.

Zoe's eyes followed the trail of hard muscle and lean lines, and holy
shit
, he was gorgeous.

His gravelly chuckle told Zoe that she'd spoken the words out loud. “Your turn.” He treated her to the same motions, lifting her T-shirt over her head. Her nipples hardened, aching from the slide of the satin still covering them despite the fabric's softness. Alex skimmed his hands over her rib cage, pausing with a hard exhale before letting his palms fall away. Zoe nearly whimpered in protest—God, she wanted his hands on her with desire that bordered on mind-blowing—but then he reached for the top button on his jeans, and the sound jammed in her throat.

Alex freed each button, then lowered his jeans with a muted rasp of denim on skin. He stood in front of her in nothing but his boxer briefs, letting her take in the crisp trail of gold-blond hair leading down to the outline of his fully erect cock beneath the black cotton. She squeezed her thighs together, the seam of her jeans brushing against her already hypersensitive clit, and this time the whimper tumbled past her lips. Alex answered it with a slow, promise-filled smile. His fingers found the edge of her jeans, sliding from hip to hip before loosening the button and zipper to reveal her white satin panties.

“So hot.” The murmur melted between his mouth and her skin as Alex leaned in to guide her jeans all the way off. Turning toward the bed, he slid over the sheets, still rumpled from the night before, situating himself with his shoulders against the pillows as he beckoned for her to join him.

Zoe complied, her body thrumming with anticipation. The sparks between her thighs reignited at his touch, threatening to combust completely when he pulled her over him, parting her knees with his frame. Her core rested over the flat plane of Alex's belly, the thin, damp fabric of her panties the only barrier between them, and Zoe canted her hips over his heated skin. His fingers curled seductively around the flare of her ass, gripping firmly.

But rather than pushing her lower to cover his cock, he pulled her toward him with just enough force to guide her knees into the bedsheets and her sex mere inches from his sudden, wicked smile.

“You like this, too,” Alex said, with just enough question in the words that she nodded in reply. He locked his arms around the small of her back, holding her snugly in place as he flicked a glance to the sturdy expanse of wood behind him.

“Hold on to the headboard, Zoe.” With a look that shot right through her, he added, “Tight.”

She shifted forward, her palms finding the cool wood. Ripples of want pulsed through her in a steady wave, and even though she knew she should feel vulnerable at the lack of control of her current position, she didn't.

She trusted him.

“You're so fucking sweet. I could taste you forever.” He backed up the affirmation with a slow slide of his tongue along the line where her panties met her inner thigh, and Zoe widened her legs, desperate for contact.

Alex didn't disappoint. Darting his tongue past his lips, he treated her core to the same glide. He worked the fabric over her folds, the soft satin combining with the harder motions of his tongue until she dug her fingers into the headboard hard enough to make her knuckles throb.

“Do you want more?”

She clenched her inner muscles, but oh God, release only built harder between her thighs. “Please, yes.”

Alex spread his fingers wide around the small of her back, tipping her hips against his mouth for another exquisite thrust of his tongue. “I'm going to make you come hard and fast,” he said, hooking his fingertips over the waistband of her panties before licking her over the satin one last time. “But only so I can take my time with you when I make you come again.”

He shifted her just far enough to lower the satin from her body, pulling her back into place in less than a breath. Zoe's hands trembled as she braced them back on the headboard for balance. Her knees pressed into the soft sheets by his shoulders, and when Alex bracketed her hips with both palms, she angled her body forward, closing the space between them.

“Oh . . . oh my
God
.” Heat ricocheted under her skin, forcing her breath from her chest in a gasp. Alex didn't waste any time making good on his promise, parting her folds with his mouth and thrusting into her with clear intent. His tongue slid in and out of her body, his hands driving her hips into a rhythm to match, both combining to coax her maddeningly close to the brink of release. With every part of her screaming for more, Zoe slid one hand from the headboard to the apex of her folds, her fingers making a brazen sweep over her swollen clit.

Alex's eyes flashed up at her, his moan of approval vibrating against her core, and her last thread of control snapped. Her orgasm broke free from the deepest part of her belly, shock-waving through her from the inside out. Alex stayed with her, only slowing his motions when he'd wrung every last
yes
from her throat. Shaping her waist with both hands, he rolled her to one side, propping himself on one arm so they lay face-to-face.

“Alex.” Zoe reached out, her hands itching to touch him, to return the favor, to get his cock inside her in very short order.

He stopped her with one quick grab of her wrist. “Sorry, Gorgeous,” he said, although his smirk said he was anything but. “But by now you should know that I mean what I say.”

“What?”

“I made you come fast and hard.” He placed her arm back at her side, dusting his fingertips from her shoulder to the rise of her hip. “And now I'm taking my time.”

Her skin tingled beneath his touch, dotting goose bumps in the wake of his hand as Alex skimmed the pad of one finger up to the center closure of her bra. He stilled for just a moment, with his hand resting between her breasts, and Zoe's nipples hardened even further at his touch.

But instead of freeing the clasp and touching her, his hand traveled up, over her breastbone to the hammering pulse point in her neck. Zoe bit down on her bottom lip. Alex caught the motion with his mouth, cupping her face to kiss her until he'd freed her lip from between her teeth.

“You don't have to hold back.”

She arched a brow through the barely there light. “I'm not the one holding back,” she murmured brashly, a tendril of surprise working through her when Alex didn't offer up a cocky comeback.

“I'm not holding back either, sweetheart.” He pressed his forehead to hers. Squeezing his eyes shut, he whispered, “I don't want just a night in bed with you. I want to give you everything. I want all of you, and I don't want to rush through having you.”

He followed the words with just a soft brush of his mouth, and Zoe was lost. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, letting him press her gently to her back in the covers as he kissed her with languid strokes of his lips and tongue. Alex tunneled his hands through her hair, sliding his kisses from her mouth to her jaw. He explored the stretch of skin behind her ear, down the back of her neck, uncovering sensitive spots she hadn't even known existed. He teased and tasted and touched, moving over every inch of her body with growing intensity. Heat rebuilt between Zoe's legs, but rather than treating it like a now-right-now demand, she took each moment in slow, sexy progression.

And Alex gave her every single one.

“Beautiful,” he said, finally parting her legs with a press of his palms against her inner thighs. She chased the affirmation with a lift of her hips, and he gave in with an audible exhale. He took off his boxer briefs in a quick move, grabbing a condom from his bedside table drawer. Zoe reached out, pushing to her knees in the middle of the bed as her fingers curled around his.

“Wait.”

Alex stilled, his body going bowstring tight in front of her. “What's the matter?”