When his hand closed over one of her breasts, she covered it with her own, urging him to knead harder. Everything felt too soft. Too not enough. She found herself nipping at his shoulder, biting him even. Out of control, she just acted instinctively. Taking everything she could get. Drinking his kisses in with a thirst like none before.
“I can’t get close enough,” he half whispered, half growled into her ear. He pushed her hair away from her face, caressing the sensitive skin of her neck with his fingers and then his mouth.
Zoe moaned. “Declan.” She moaned again. She said it over and over. She couldn’t seem to help it.
Declan leaned up, supporting his weight on one knuckled fist shoved into the couch. He stared down at her bouncing breasts and drew his cock from her body, leaving only the tip inside her.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, reaching for him to no avail, desperate to get him deep again. To satisfy her need to have him buried to the hilt.
He gave her what she wanted. With a hard lunge, he sank to her depths. But then he stilled again as if he meant to torture her with need. He reached down and thumbed her nipple and then leaned down and drew it between his lips and teeth. Her hands went to his head and her back arched, but before she could fully enjoy the pleasure he offered, Declan pulled back and thrust again. And this time, he didn’t stop. In and out, he pounded into her. His muscular body defined with exertion. His expression was intense as he hit her core over and over. Zoe tried to watch him. The pure animistic look on his face turned her on. Pushed her to new levels. But the build of sensation, the edge of satisfaction came suddenly. She didn’t want it to be here yet. She wanted this to last. But he slammed into her, hitting her clit with just the right contact from his pelvic bone and she had no choice. She tumbled into the sweet, white bliss of orgasm. She stiffened and cried out something. His name, she thought. She didn’t really know. Ripple after ripple of absolute heaven lapped at her body as her muscles grabbed at his cock. The spasms actually made her body jerk.
With a hard thrust of his shaft, Declan lunged into her one last time and then began to shake. A loud roar of pleasure slid from his mouth as he, too, erupted in release. She felt the warmth of his seed touch her inside as she began to calm and it drew a smile from her.
It was long moments later when Declan eased down on top of her. For several minutes, they lay there, bodies pressed together, his face buried in her neck. When Declan finally moved, he rose up on his elbows and looked down at her. “I meant what I said.” He brushed hair from her eyes with a tender caress of his fingers on her temple. “I’m crazy about you.”
She smiled. “I’m crazy about you too.”
He studied her for several seconds, his eyes probing. “Stay the night. Sleep with me. Wake up with me. Eat breakfast with me.”
Zoe laughed. “That’s a long list.” “Say yes.”
She smiled. Staying the night was big to her. But Declan wasn’t like anyone she had ever known. Leaving would mean protecting her heart so it’s what she should do. It wasn’t what she wanted. And maybe it was time to take a risk. To believe a little in happiness.
“Yes,” she said. “I’ll stay.”
* * * * *
Zoe stood in Declan’s sparkling white kitchen, sipping coffee, watching him make omelets in nothing but his boxers. She wore his shirt from the night before. It was huge on her but it smelled of him and it felt…intimate wearing it.
She’d never cooked breakfast with a man before. Not that she was cooking. She’d been alone so long she rarely did more than microwave a TV dinner. If she wanted something special to eat, she picked up takeout.
“I didn’t expect you to be a cook,” she commented.
He glanced at her and smiled before turning his attention back to the pan. “Compliments of my mother. My dad was gone a lot but my mom, well, she and I spent a lot of quality time together. She seems to think a man who can cook is important. You know, reaching beyond the boundaries of the expectations.”
Zoe laughed. “She trained you well.”
“If you say so,” he chuckled. “I just remember a time with her being special. She came to my sporting events. I cooked with her.”
“What kind of sports?”
“Baseball. Second base. I screwed up my knee pretty bad my senior year in high school though. Pretty much ended my college ball. I tried my freshman year but it didn’t work out.”
She refilled her coffee cup and then walked to the fridge for more vanilla creamer, which she couldn’t believe Declan actually had. She loved the stuff. “I was all into the theater scene.”
“Plates. Can you grab them?”
Zoe nodded and set her cup down to help.
“To your left overhead,” he instructed.
She removed two white porcelain dishes and Declan distributed their food. “I guess that led to your job now?” he asked, wiping his hands on a towel.
“Yes.” She eyed the plates in his hands. “You want coffee?”
“Coffee would be good. With cream and sugar.”
Zoe filled a cup for Declan and then followed him to a long cherry wood table. They sat side by side, eating, talking, and just enjoying their time together. Avoiding difficult topics wasn’t hard. She found there were many things to discuss. Movies. Books. Politics. Sometimes they differed in opinion but debating with Declan actually was enjoyable.
“Have you ever been to Europe?” Declan asked.
“No. I’ve always wanted to go. You?”
“I have. All this political stuff we’re talking about, it’s much different in other countries.”
Zoe was about to ask, in what way, when the phone rang. Declan sighed. “Hold that thought. It could be my mom, or I wouldn’t answer it.”
She smiled to herself. Zoe liked how he worried over his mother. That had to be a good sign. She’d always heard a guy who was good to his mother was a good catch. Not that she was trying to catch Declan. The very thought made her panic a little. God,
she was thinking crazy things. She didn’t need or want…she didn’t even let herself finish the thought. The truth was, Declan wasn’t like the other guys she’d dated. He was basically everything she’d always said she didn’t want. The ironic thing—he made her feel special. He seemed to be exactly what she did want. Ignoring it or denying it wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Declan was Declan, not some formula of a man she thought was taboo. From now on, she was going to approach things with him that way. To give them a real shot at…whatever it was they had going on between them.
The phone being placed back on the receiver drew Zoe’s attention. Declan sat back down next to her, his dark hair more disorderly than before the call. As if he’d been running his hand through it. “My father is acting like a lunatic. He’s outside my mom’s apartment and the neighbors are threatening to call the police.”
Zoe smiled. “That’s good.”
His eyes went wide. “Excuse me if I don’t think my father going to jail is good.”