A Perfect Bride For Christmas (15 page)

She reveled in the unaccustomed feel of her body yielding to his. Her hips rose to meet him, to take him deeper. Her hands skated over his arms and felt his muscles bunch under her fingers. Sweat

plastered his hair against his forehead. He thrust into her; each time it took her higher than any of her memories of her brief time in Vegas. Alex was with her this time, not half-drunk or full of hurt pride.

He swept her hair from her face, his mouth

taking hers again as he moved, driving her closer to the brink of losing her resolve that this was only sex.

His fingers found her sensitive nipples, gently rolled them into hot points of desire.

Zoe moved with him, letting her nails brush over his heated flesh, down to the vulnerable skin of his balls, scraping with feather lightness until he gasped and rose up. His brilliant blue eyes rounded.

The pupils dilated as he gripped her butt, pulled her hard against his body to give a final thrust. She went over with him, her breath clogging her lungs, her heart hammering against his.

The ticking of the clock broke the silence of the room. Alex rested his damp forehead against hers, gulping for breath.

It took a few seconds for him to raise his head, the expression on his face a mixture of shock and puzzlement. “What the hell just happened?

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Zoe didn’t know whether to be hurt or laugh.

Better to laugh it off. “Sex, that’s what happened.”

She gave her hips a slight push upwards, clenching her muscles to clamp around his penis. A groan

rewarded her efforts as he throbbed inside her.

“Some mighty fantastic sex.” Alex shook his

head. He planted a gentle kiss on her cheek before his mouth came down on hers. Sparks of his desire ignited the embers of her spent passion, stoking it up again until she lost herself in the moment. It might be all she could salvage of her long ago, ill-advised love for Alex. She didn’t want to put any rose-colored interpretations on his words.

He rolled over, taking her with him. She

straddled him, with his shaft embedded deeply

within her body. Nature took over. Zoe rose and fell, impaling herself in an inner rhythm that made her undulate her hips at the same time. Alex’s hands gripped her hips to bring her down, driving himself in deeper. Again and again, they fought for control.

One minute, she rejoiced in the feel, the taste of him. The next, he touched her clit. She bit her lower lip to keep from coming. Her thighs trembled with the effort. Alex ran his hands from her hips to her breasts, giving them a gentle squeeze that was at odds with his ferocious thrusting. Fingertips ran over the responsive skin to roll her nipples into hard, aching points of fire.

She stared down at him, watching the heat

dancing in his blue eyes as his hands worked magic.

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He filled her, again and again until she thought she might die from the sensations rocketing through her body.

She wouldn’t let him win this battle.

Zoe lifted off his body.

“What’s wrong,” Alex groaned. He reached out to pull her back.

“Nothing is wrong.”

He was hard, ready, but she had other plans for Alex. This would be something he would take with him always, this memory of an afternoon together.

She took him into her mouth, tasting their

combined desire.

Alex’s back arched off the bed. His fingers

clenched the sheets as she worked on him with her tongue. Relentless, powerful. That’s how she felt as she heard his groan and soft words of

encouragement. He almost lost it at the first feel of her fingernails against the tender skin of his

scrotum. Instead, he ran his hands through her hair to urge her on.

This was no longer a skirmish for control.

They’d merged in a bond of love. It might only be for the few heartbeats.

“Stop,” Alex gritted out.

Zoe raised her head. “I thought you were

enjoying this.”

Alex lifted on one elbow, his eyes serious. “I—”

She placed her hand over his mouth to stop the

words she knew he was going to say. She couldn’t handle it if he said he loved her. How many other women had he said that to as well? Bianca, Sydney, all the others who flocked to him?

Zoe let out a soft sigh to cover the ache in her heart. “Let’s just enjoy the few minutes we have left.

No words, nothing to regret later on.”

Alex took her hand away. “You make me crazy. I

don’t know what I feel when I’m with you.”

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His words made her eyes sting. She smiled and

straddled his hips, sinking down once again on his erection. “Then don’t think. Enjoy.”

The turbulent blue eyes closed, but his hands

skated over her heated skin, teasing out emotions she thought long buried. She did love him. She’d never stopped, And she admitted it to herself, no matter how much she wanted to deny it.

There might never be another chance like this.

She rocked against him, reveling in the fullness, the fire building between her legs; the ache in her heart grew until she wanted to fly apart. The next

heartbeat she shattered with his final thrust.

Zoe collapsed on top of him.

His aftershave and the scent of sex mingled. His heart thudded against her ear. She wanted to stay like this forever. He was no longer with Sydney but she didn’t know if she could trust him with her heart. Not yet. Not one bit. This was her time with Alex. However, there could be no words of love, nothing to mark the moment. She had to play this cool. Zoe glanced over at the clock. “We have just enough time to clean up before the girls get here.

You want to take a shower with me?”

****

dead. Alex rolled to his side and pulled Zoe along, only to have her struggle to sit up. “Let’s just take a minute. Okay.”

She unwound his arm from around her waist

and sat up. “I need a shower not an after sex

cuddle.” Her finger pointed at the clock. “Besides, I don’t want the girls to show up early and have to explain why Mr. King is naked in my bed.”

That stung. Hard. But she was right. “Okay, a

shower it is.”

Zoe bounced out of the bed and headed for her

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bathroom. He followed.

The old-fashioned bathroom’s white and black

tile floor chilled his feet. The fixtures were updated versions of antiques. A claw foot tub took center stage with a circular shower curtain of bright yellow adorned with blue butterflies.

He couldn’t tell if she’d had an interior designer, but he liked the homey feel of her house—the rich, bright colors mixed with comfort. He could live here and never get the feeling he was either in a museum of modern chrome and plastic or a bordello.

She turned on the taps. “It takes a few seconds for the hot water to get this far. It’s an old house.”

Before he could make a comment, she’d flitted away to remake the bed.

The pipes groaned and complained, but soon the

hot water rained from the showerhead. He held his hand under the water to check and adjust the

temperature. “Water’s hot,” he called out as he got into the tub and pulled the curtain closed just far enough for his head to stick out.

Zoe bounced into the room as carefree and

chirpy as a bird. “Great.” She got in beside him and picked up a shampoo bottle from a small shelf beside the tub.

Alex took the bottle from her, palmed a few

squirts of shampoo as he gritted his teeth against the ache hammering away at his chest. Zoe should be soft and loving, not this person who acted as if the most significant thing in the world had happened, and she didn’t give two shits.

He pulled Zoe around to face him, sputtering

and still covered in suds. “We have to talk about what just happened.”

“Not if you’re going to drown me,” she spluttered and wiped the water from her eyes. “What do you want me to say—I love you? Hmmm?”

Zoe rinsed the shampoo from her hair and

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reached outside the tub for a towel. She grabbed a bright blue towel to wrap around her body sarong style and handed him one in yellow. “Been there, done that. Remember? Besides, you’ve just broken up with Sydney.”

“Yes, but…”

She tossed another towel, this time hitting him square in the face. “Time’s up. Get dressed.”

Alex stepped out of the tub, lifting one foot to the edge to dry his legs. He curled his toes into the warmth of the blue bath mat to maintain his balance as he shot a look over his shoulder at Zoe. He caught her gaze in the vanity mirror. For a brief instant, he saw the uncertainty in her eyes. As an attorney, he had to learn to read people, to know when they were lying through their teeth or telling the truth. Her lashes fluttered down to hide her eyes.

Her eyes might as well have been lie detectors.

She wasn’t as unaffected as she claimed to be. A kernel of hope planted itself in his heart. He

frowned. What was he going to do about that? Alex decided his first order of business would be repairing their friendship. Once he finished drying his hair, he wrapped the towel around his waist and finger-combed his hair as he made his way back to the

bedroom. Zoe sat on the bed pulling on a frilly pair of panties. The peach-colored lace worked well with her pale skin. Sydney wore expensive lingerie, but

nothing she wore sent his blood racing like that little bit of peach lace covering Zoe’s body from his gaze.

Zoe picked up a matching bra, leaned forward to adjust her breasts into the cups.

He wished he could follow his first instinct—to throw her on the bed, to claim her as his. His dick rose to the occasion, but his brain put a halt to the wild need growing by the second. Alex picked up his boxers. He didn’t bother to hide the effect she had on him but dressed in silence.

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“Are we going to talk or not?” He jerked the

laces on his running shoes with more force than he intended, nearly cutting off the blood supply to his foot. He eased up and tied his running shoe.

Zoe pulled on another pair of gray wool socks

and patted down the legs of her jeans. A soft pink, long-sleeved, t-shirt hugged the curves of her body.

“I thought the woman always wanted to dissect ‘the morning after’.”

“It’s one-thirty in the afternoon.” He crossed his hands over his chest and gave her his best
driving
the witness against the wall
stare.

“Whatever.” She gave a dismissive shrug.

His blood pressure skyrocketed. “Don’t whatever me, Zoe Bennett. We were fucking our brains out less than fifteen minutes ago, and you act like nothing happened.”

“That’s right, fucking.” She got off the bed to stand with her hands on her hips. “I consider it closure.”

“Closure?”

“Yes.” She went to the door and held it open for him. “I wanted to hammer the nail into the coffin of our past. It’s a done deal. I’m going downstairs. Why don’t we discuss what we’re going to do about the girls over a cup of coffee? There’s a couple of double chocolate chip cookies down there with my name on them.”

****

about brewing the coffee and filling a couple of small plates with gourmet cookies. The kitchen seemed to shrink in size as the seconds ticked by. He leaned against the counter with his hands across his chest and watched her every move. She’d seen that

particular look more than once. She’d just never thought she’d be on the receiving end. It didn’t matter if Sydney had called off the wedding, Zoe 121

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refused to be his rebound. She couldn’t let her heart get involved, even if she knew she still loved Alex.

“Let’s get the first thing out of the way. The girls are mine, correct?”

She nodded. No game playing, just the honest

truth,

“We need to tell them. How do you propose we

do that?”

Zoe filled the mugs, black for Alex and light for her. She handed Alex his. “Sit down. First, we need to figure out how you’re going to fit into their lives.”

Alex pulled out the old, pressed back, wooden

chair from the table and sat. He picked up one of the cookies on the plate in front of his and held it up, examining it like he’d never seen a chocolate chip cookie in his life. “How do you think people come up with something that looks so plain and lumpy but tastes like heaven?” Alex peered at her over the cookie. Heat radiated from his blue eyes, lust

blossomed as he bit in.

Zoe squirmed in her chair. “Alex, this isn’t the time to discuss recipes.”

“I merely made an observation.” He took a slow

sip of his coffee. “Life doesn’t always give us what we want, but sometimes it’s better than what we ever expected. I want to get to know my children. And there’s the process of getting the birth certificates changed.”

His words sliced through Zoe’s heart. Removing

James’ name from their birth certificates hurt. It made him seem non-existent, irrelevant in her

children’s lives.

“He
was
their father,” she protested. Part of her wanted to run away from this discussion, but it had to be done. So much for Alex’s chocolate chip cookie theory.

“I
am
their father.”

“You’re right.” She got up from the table and

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dumped her still hot coffee down the drain. “It just seems wrong after all this time.” She leaned against the edge of the counter so she could get the tears burning her eyes under control. It seemed the only things she could do today were either make love, correction—have sex, or cry.

She felt Alex’s body heat, the proximity of him, before he touched her. He rested his hands against her shoulders for a second before he turned her around with a gentle pull. “It’s time to let the girls know I’m their father.”