Bliss Series Boxed Set: The Whole Damn Harem (102 page)

I choke on my drink as the table erupts in laughter. Bending over to try to recover both my breath and my composure, I freeze when a warm hand rubs up and down my spine ever so slowly. I turn my head to my right, watching her laugh with the group, acting as if she’s not making me hard by touching me, even if it is just a few feet away from her ever protective—and frequently armed—cop brother.

Her hand stills and I turn toward her just as Zander leans around Kate. “Zo, doesn’t that fall into the T.M.I. category? You know, never needing to know about your sibling’s sex life?
”
He smirks and I let go of the breath I was holding. I swear my life just flashed in front of my eyes.
Brother. Gun. Enough said.

“Definitely don’t wanna know about yours. I invested in ear plugs before I moved in,” she retorts with a smile.

Surprisingly, Zoe doesn’t remove her hand. She just rests it there. I’m not complaining—it’s a move that tells me she’s letting me in. Victory courses through me, and I unapologetically start grinning like an idiot.

“Noah, you look like the cat that got the cream. What’s that look about?” Dan asks.

“What look?” I feign innocence. It’s the safest bet I’m guessing.

“You know what look,” Mac butts in.

“No, Mac, I don’t know what look, because you’re not a mirror and I can’t see my face. I may have many talents . . .” I waggle my eyebrows at her which just makes Daniel snort and the women around the table giggle, “ . . . but that is not one of them.”

“With the amount of time you spend in the mirror, that’s a fucking miracle,” Daniel muses, earning him a bottle cap to the head. “Ow, ya bastard.”

“Asshole.”

“Dickhead.”

“Boys! There are ladies present.” Sean leans back in his chair, his arm wrapped around Sam who has her hand resting on her barely-there baby bump.

Zander pipes up from the end of the table, “Have you heard the way these women talk? I think calling them ladies is taking it a step too far. Aye, Sam?”

“Officer Roberts, I’m watching you. Don’t think I won’t make your life hell and ask the desk sergeant for a reassignment.”

“You wouldn’t!” he retorts, earning a calculating smirk from his blond-haired superior.

“Try me, Roberts. Just fucking try me.”

“Damn hormonal women,” he grumbles loudly, knowing full well that we can all hear him.

Kate puts her hand in Zander’s lap and looks toward Sam. “I apologize for my fiancé, Sam. It seems he forgot his manners somewhere between beer five and six.”

Note to self: Zander has had a few brews and would likely rip me a new asshole if he knew what I was planning to do to his sister.

Daniel nods in agreement. “He’s not wrong. When the girls go out drinking, they’ve been known to cause a disturbance.”

“Like that time you told me you could touch your elbows behind your back?” Zander asks, looking at Mac. I watch Zoe, shaking my head in confusion, which just makes her smile grow wider.

She leans in close to me. “What’s wrong Dr. Taylor?”

Fuck if she hasn’t lowered her voice just to screw with my head—or my dick.
One can only hope!

“Elbows behind your back?” I ask perplexed.

“Oh!” She stands up and looks to Kate and Mac before announcing to the group, “it seems sweet and innocent Noah . . . sorry, my mouth struggled to utter those words together in the same sentence.” She shoots a cheeky smirk my way, which just makes my cock hard. Again. “It seems he needs a demonstration of how we can indeed touch our elbows behind our backs. Care to help me show him?”

I hear an irritated growl come from Zander—which helps to somewhat alleviate the state of affairs in my groin—and a laugh from Daniel, Sean, Rico and Matt, who obviously know what the hell the women are about to do.

Then my eyes widen in amazement and awe, switching between Mac, Kate, Helen, and finally Zoe as they pull back their shoulders and brazenly stick out their chests to display everything the good Lord blessed them with, and by God, were they blessed with great tits. Forget a nice ass—with the bouncing racks in front of me, I could easily become a breast man—well at least a Zoe’s breasts man.

“Eyes off my girls, Taylor,” Zander growls, which makes Zoe giggle, her eyes dancing with amusement as she wiggles from side to side. My head struggles to stay still, let alone drag my eyes away from the sexy display she’s putting on for me.

They stop taunting us all, and finally sit down, all of them still laughing. I catch Daniel pulling Mac into his lap and kissing her hard and fast, and from the giggles coming from Kate beside me, I have no doubt that Zander is also playfully staking his claim. My brother is sitting at the opposite end of the table smirking at me, and nodding as he watches Zoe closely.

For all my brother’s faults, we have always been close, and from the look on his face, I can tell he approves of her. Not that there’s anything to approve of right now but you can’t fault me for getting my hopes up.

“So, Noah, given up on the Bears yet?” Sean asks, and thankfully my attention is diverted—for the time being at least.

“Talking Body”

Noah

Zoe and I are left with the cleanup. I told her she didn’t have to help me but I know she totally saw through my bullshit and knew that I wanted her to stay. I’d told her when I’d invited her that I wanted her to bring an overnight bag—I couldn’t have been any clearer with my intentions. I also noticed that when Zander and Kate went to leave, she walked them out to their car and was out there for a
while
before returning.

He didn’t come right back and shoot my balls off, so she must’ve told him she was staying.

I lift up a full trash bag with one arm, not missing Zoe staring at my arm as it tenses under the bag’s weight. I decide to take a chance with an idea I’ve been toying with ever since she turned up at my house. Fortunately, the hot weather is playing into my hands.

“Hey. Feel like a swim?”

She stops clearing the table and stands up straight. “It’s late . . .”

The fact that she’s questioning herself tells me this plan of mine is the best I’ve had in a long time. I need to show her she can trust me, trust this thing building between us. I thought that kiss last Saturday night—and the superhero level of restraint I showed in leaving—would be enough to prove to her that my intentions were not for a quick lay.

“It’s still hot and we’ve been on the go all afternoon. We deserve a break and I’m so fucking hot right now, I could do with a dip.”

“Okay. But I’m telling you now, you’ll be left with this mess if this is an attempt to get out of cleaning up.”

“I’ll do it in the morning, Zo.”

What she doesn’t know is that I’d clean up pretty much anything just for a chance.

Then I’m rendered speechless as she pulls off her tank top in front of me before bending over and slowly dragging her tight denim shorts that would give Daisy Duke a run for her money down her legs, revealing the tightest black bikini I have ever seen. Lightly tanned skin everywhere, except for the breathtaking watercolor tattoo of a phoenix that covers her right hip and upper thigh. I’d caught a hint of a tattoo on her back when we were running but a glimpse and seeing it in the flesh are two completely different things. Every part of my body is telling me to screw the rules and make my move anyway.

But that’s the old Noah. The one who was all about getting laid and to fuck with the consequences—to me or to her.

This feels different. It’s felt different since the moment I realized who she was and what I’d done. Once she gave me that chance to prove myself to her, to prove that I’m not the cocky asshole she assumed I was, it became
more.

Then I’m snapped back into reality by a loud splash of water as she dives into the pool and swims away from my still frozen form.

I strip off my T-shirt and just wearing a pair of board shorts I dive in after her, popping up out of the water to find her standing near the waterfall.

The waterfall came with the house. It’s rather ostentatious and opulent, considering the area and my non-Playboy mansion house, but at least it doesn’t have a secret grotto or anything.

It’s set amongst what looks like a stack of rocks about three feet tall, which steeps out so that part of the waterfall is overhanging the pool, a thin sheet of water flowing constantly, creating a surprisingly surreal and relaxing sanctuary in my own backyard.

I find Zoe slinking beneath the waterfall and into the small space beneath the rocks. I dive under and make my way over to her, coming up for air right in front of her. Dragging my hands up from her ankles, I slide my fingers over her knees, around her hips—taking note of the hot-as-fuck tattoo there—and stopping on her upper arms. Her eyes are wide but heated, her breathing is fast making that perfect rack of hers rise and fall in quick succession.

I pull her hard up against me, bringing my fingers up to cup her jaw, my eyes boring into hers, searching for any sign that this is moving too fast, too soon.

Any fear of that is shortly obliterated as she closes the distance between us and slams her mouth against mine, plunging her tongue inside and driving me crazy with short licks against my own. Taking control of the kiss, my hands angle her face to the side so I can deepen the contact. I keep tasting and exploring, grinding my hips against hers and feel triumph surge through me when she replies with a resounding moan, a sound so unmistakable that all I can think about is sinking inside of her just to hear it again and again.

Her hands are everywhere—my shoulders, my back, my ass, roaming wild and uninhibited. It’s as if she wants to touch me everywhere and as much as possible, which makes me even harder than my current aching state of three seconds ago. It’s been a slow burn all day, full of spikes of heat and frequent hardons, but now my cock is angry. It’s willing, and it’s making its intentions known to both of us in a big way.

Her hands sweep around my hips, skirting the waistband of my shorts before her palm strokes me over the top of the wet material. The water laps around us, the constant splashing of the waterfall dulling out any noise around us. It’s just us. There’s nobody to interrupt us, no brothers to punch me, no ex fuck-buddies to throw tantrums, and no distractions. It’s just the two of us.

As this permeates through my brain, her hand dips beneath the elastic, her warm skin against my wet hard cock, forcing my head to drop back and a guttural groan to escape my throat. “Fuck that’s good. You feel so damn good, Zoe.”

“I need more. I need you naked,” she moans as my hands grip her ass, her cheeks filling my palms perfectly, just as I’d imagined. I rake my teeth against her bottom lip, pushing my chest against hers and licking my way along her jaw, burying my face against the soft skin of her neck, loving the way her body reacts to mine.

I want to touch her everywhere, and feel her nipples harden against my hand, in my mouth. To see and feel just how wet she is for me. I need to have her in my house, in my bed. The first time I have her can’t be in my pool. The pool is for quick and nasty, definitely not meaningful.

And whatever happens between the two of us tonight, it’s going to be intense, it will definitely be hot, but it
will
mean something.
I
know that much.

“Let’s go inside,” I mutter in between kisses, the strokes of her hand against my cock growing more and more urgent, and my self-control waning in the face of imminent pleasure. Forcing myself to take a step back, I kiss her softly one more time and grab her hand, gently pulling it out of my shorts and moving it to rest against my chest.

“Sweetheart, I told you I want you in my bed, and I meant it. We can utilize the pool later, but the first time I sink my cock inside of you I want to be in my bed.”

Her eyes rise from her hand on my chest back to my face before a slow, fucking amazing smile forms on her flushed—and somewhat dazed—face. “Okay.”

We both swim out of the waterfall and over to the wide sweeping steps leading out of the pool. I hold my hand out to her and we walk out of the pool together. I lead her toward the ottoman where I have spare towels hidden away.

Pulling one out, I wrap it around her shoulders, placing a kiss on her forehead before wrapping another towel around my waist.

Grabbing her hand once more, I lead her along the hall to the bathroom on the ground floor.

∞
∞
∞

Zoe

“If you want to have a shower down here, I’ll go use my bathroom upstairs. Okay?”

What’s going on here? I thought we were going to get straight down to the monkey business.

I frown but quickly school my expression. He looks wary, almost scared. It’s as if he’s waiting for me to freak out and run away.

“Sure,” I reply, extra cheerfully. He gives me a half-hearted smile and then nods once before disappearing from sight.

I try to stop myself from overanalyzing what just happened between us outside. I finally let my guard down and made my move on him, and then he gives me space, leaving me to wonder whatever is going through his head.

Turning the faucet on—the huge, glass-roomed
monsoon
shower—I strip out of my wet bikini and step beneath the shower head, washing away the chlorine from the pool and clearing my mind of anything other than the relaxing water streaming over me.

When I’m done, I grab a new towel from the rail on the wall and dry myself. Stepping out of the bathroom with one hand pulling it down so my ass stays covered, my other hand clutches the top of the towel where it’s wrapped tightly around my breasts. My eyes meet Noah’s and I freeze in place as I’m confronted with the awesomeness known as the wide expanse of his bare chest. I’d seen it in the pool yet it still succeeds in sparking something in me. Stoking the fire that’s waiting to erupt.
And by God does it need to erupt!

My eyes rake down his body, only stopping at the white towel covering his hips, right below a happy light brown trail of hair leading down to . . . I snap my head up and meet a now very amused Noah as he leans back against the hallway wall opposite me and returns the favor. I don’t miss the heat in his eyes as he studies my body like it’s a final exam, stopping to take obvious mental notes at the breast and hips before taking in the high hem of the towel and my long bare legs.