Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“What?” he urges.
I can barely dare to think about it, let alone say it. I’ve dreamed of quitting the diner and focusing on my art for so long, and now here it is, the chance I’ve dreamed of.
“Maybe I can tell Clive I’m going to quit, but give him time to find somebody else? Then I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about bailing and leaving the other staff members to cover for me.”
Zack leans in, kissing the edge of my mouth. I surprise myself when I turn to catch his lips, returning the kiss with even more force, moaning through the closeness as our bodies try to take over, as my body tries to make me do what my mind knows would be a mistake.
At least tonight. At least after everything that’s happened.
But then do I really think I’m going to be magically ready tomorrow?
“You’re going to make an incredible mother,” he growls, sending warmth cascading welcomingly through me. “You’re so damn caring. The way your voice softened just then, the way you care so much about your colleagues…” He smirks. “It’s almost enough to make a cold hearted prick like me smile.”
“You don’t seem cold hearted to me,” I tell him.
“That’s because you’ve changed me,” he snarls. “But believe me, Zoey, before you came along I was about as cold as they come. And I will be again if anybody tries to threaten you. If Jerry tries to hurt you, I’ll be as cold as I need to be to end his fucking life… if it comes to that.”
“I hope it doesn’t,” I whisper.
“Why? After what he did to you – after what he’s probably done to others – he deserves it.”
“I know. But I can’t stand the idea of you being arrested, going to prison… ending what we have before it’s even started.”
He kisses my cheek, the warm imprint making my skin tingle with sensation. “I’ll come to work with you tomorrow. There’s some business stuff I can do on my laptop while you work. That way if Jerry shows up I’ll be there to show him exactly who you belong to.”
I tighten my grip on him. I never want to let go.
“You’d really do that?”
“I’d do anything for you,” he growls. “That is, as long as you don’t mind me hanging around.”
My instincts try to still the words which rise to my lips, but my instincts have never been much help to me. “Of course I don’t mind. If I had my way, we’d never be apart.”
He leans closer, closer, until we’re almost kissing but not quite. “You might just get your wish.”
And we kiss.
Chapter Twelve
Zack
It’s both heaven and hell lying in bed with my woman.
I hold her close to me, my chin resting atop of her head, my hands on her lower back as I squeeze as close together as it’s possible for two people to get.
This is the heaven part… the closeness, the certainty that she’s here. I could stay awake for the rest of the night just listening to her breathe, close my eyes and focus on the warmth of her body, or let my mind drift as I wonder what she’s dreaming about.
The hell comes from the same sensation… her closeness, her breath, her heat.
It takes a herculean effort not to give in to my primal desires and flip her over, laying her flat on her belly so her round gorgeous ass is sticking out in the air, pulling out my cock and grinding it between her ass cheeks. And then – fuck, my mind is on overdrive – I’d slowly guide the helm of my cock down, down until I felt the hot kiss of her hole and slide inside.
I bet she’d make the cutest whimpering noise of shock as I slid inside of her, as I pushed and pushed until I was buried up to my balls and her pussy was clinging onto me tightly, as though desperate to keep me inside of her until I’ve exploded my seed into her hungry womb.
She sighs and looks up at me, face shadowed in the semidarkness. The curtains and windows are open, letting in a summer breeze that beats back the heat, and a slice of moonlight that colors her features iron-blue.
“Why aren’t you asleep?” she says, with an intoxicating smile on her face.
“I could say the same to you,” I banter.
She sits up on her elbows, mock-glaring at me. I could spend the rest of my life studying her different facial expressions, losing myself in them, caught up in the way she shifts and changes depending on her mood.
There’s a savage part of me that roars out at this softness, the SEAL part that screams at me to return to my old ways, to my hard ways, when I was shielded with a gruff carapace that nothing could crack. But although my woman has penetrated the shield with which I protect myself, I know that nobody and nothing else could.