Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
He lifted her and she jumped into his arms, wrapping herself around him. He turned her back to the wall, slamming inside her over and over.
“Oh God. Yes, Zach. More.”
As if he planned on stopping. He already knew he wouldn’t last long and needed to quicken her pace. Having learned how to send her flying, he slid his hand between them and pressed his thumb long and hard against her clit, waiting for her to tighten around him. And when she came, he followed her over.
Chapter Eleven
Hadley lay in Zach’s arms, totally sated and at peace, something she shouldn’t be given the state of her life. She blew out a heavy breath and pushed those negative thoughts away.
“Why the sigh? Regrets already?” he asked, his voice clipped.
She slid a hand over his chest, resting her palm against his warm skin. “No. Of course not.” She inhaled his woodsy scent and closed her eyes, wishing with everything in her they could have a future. “I’m just being… wistful.”
He covered her hand with his. “It’s hard, knowing what could have been.”
“It is. But I would like to know more about you and what happened after I left.”
“You mean how did I deal with being the guy whose date disappeared instead of going to prom with him?”
Unexpected tears pooled in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.”
But he hadn’t gotten over it. The tightness in his voice told her as much. If she had to guess, despite his forgiveness and them sleeping together, it still stung. Since there was nothing she could do to change things, she decided to keep the conversation going.
“Tell me about your life, Zach.”
He pushed himself up against the pillows and she did the same. She curled her legs beneath her, pulled the sheet over her breasts and settled in to listen.
“Honestly? Life after you left sucked.” He clenched and unclenched his fists.
The memories clearly hurt and watching his pain was excruciating. She rubbed her chest, reminding herself she’d asked for the story.
He cleared his throat. “You already know my mother left us when I was four and died by suicide later. I told myself that I don’t remember her and I had Serenity to fill the gap… but after you left, I felt her loss more acutely. On top of you leaving, it was unbearable and I needed a distraction.”
His words felt like a punch in the stomach but she remained silent. He needed to tell the story his own way.
“So I dove further into computers. Hacking became my favorite pastime. Not that I was able to track you down.” He frowned, then reached for a bottle of water on the nightstand, pausing to take a long sip.
After he put the bottle back, he continued.
“I also began bulking up because at some point, I wanted to be able to nail anyone who made fun of me.”
She managed a smile. “You certainly accomplished that goal.” Reaching out, she squeezed his bicep. “Sexy.”
His eyes darkened. “Do not tempt me unless you don’t want me to finish the story.”
“I definitely want you to finish. Then I want you.”
She loved the low growl that reverberated in his chest. “Anyway, by the time summer ended and it was time for college, I’d bulked up and I couldn’t fucking wait to get away.”
“Did you go to Columbia?” She remembered how excited he’d been when he’d been accepted in April. They were so excited because while she’d be finishing high school, he wouldn’t be far away. At the time, they’d been looking towards the future.
He nodded. “That’s where I met Remy. We were roommates and bonded immediately. He had a rebellious streak like mine and when I told him about you, he agreed to help me dig for information. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, we got caught trying to hack into a federal database.”
She gasped and grabbed his wrist. “What happened?” The more she heard about his behavior after her disappearance, the worse she felt.
“The feds showed up on our respective doorsteps while we were home for Thanksgiving break. I didn’t even know if the database we’d been trying to get into had the information I needed. Given what happened to you, it’s doubtful.”
“Oh, Zach.” Her actions, although she’d been forced to leave him, had defined his life in unimaginable ways.
He met her gaze but instead of pain, she was surprised to see amusement in the dark blue depths. “It’s okay. That was the unfortunate part. The fortunate part was we didn’t end up in jail. They offered us a deal. Work for them doing shit I can’t reveal because it was part of the agreement we made, and we could stay in school. Nothing would be on our records.”
She blew out a long, relieved breath. “You got lucky.” He could have ended up in prison for God knew how long.