Zack (Armed and Dangerous Book 1) (18 page)

Sky held back a groan as she felt the hardness of his jean-clad thighs between hers, the stiffness of his cock pressing against the little bit of material covering her folds. “You so do not play fair, Zack Hunter.”

He brushed his thumb across her cheek, his eyes and expression dark in the cab’s light. “No, sweetheart, I don’t.”

All of the time they’d spent together over the last week flowed over her in a smooth wave. She’d enjoyed being with him every moment. It had been more than lust she’d felt when he was near. Comfortable companionship and a feeling that grew deep in her belly every single day just knowing he was on his way to her home to work with Satan—and to be with her.

With a sigh, Sky leaned her forehead against Zack’s chest. The intensity of his masculine scent heightened her arousal as she breathed in deep.

“You win.” She rubbed her face against his shirt. “I’ll give it a try.”

“Hey.” He caught her by her chin with his fingers and forced her to look at him. His expression was hard, serious. “I don’t want some half-assed attempt at this. All or nothing, Sky.”

“Just how serious are you?” she asked as she looked up at him, wanting to see it in his eyes.

“I told you,” he said. “I want it all.” Zack reached behind her head and pulled out the clip, setting her hair free and letting it fall around her shoulders. He tossed the clip onto the seat next to them and nuzzled her hair. “I want that sweet body and I want your heart again, Sky MacKenna.”

“Oh, God.” She let her breath out in a rush. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”

He kept his fingers in her hair as he drew away. “Yeah, I do.” His expression looked more serious than she had ever seen it. “I made the biggest mistake of my life when I walked away from you, from us, ten years ago. I intend to make up for every lost moment.”

“I missed you so much.” She brought her hands to his face and traced the scar with her fingertips. “I’m scared, Zack. What I went through—it was like a nightmare. I don’t want to have you and then lose you all over again.”

Zack’s throat threatened to close off.
Goddamn.
Every time they talked he found he’d hurt her even more than he’d realized.

“You’re not going to lose me.” Zack wrapped his arms around her, brought her tight into his embrace, and buried his face in her hair. The ache in his throat grew even more intense as her orange blossom scent filled him. “I promise,” he murmured while he rubbed one of his palms in a circle on her back.

She gave a shuddering sigh against his chest, then drew back from his embrace. Her smile was a little shaky, but it was a smile.

“Okay.” She moved her mouth closer to his. “I’ll give us another chance.”

Relief rushed through Zack like he’d never felt before. Relief measured with something more. More than triumph and more than hope that he’d win Sky’s heart again.

Rain had begun to drizzle lightly on the front windshield. He helped her out of the Silverado, handed her the purse she’d left on her seat, and locked up his 4x4.

Her hand felt small and delicate in his as he took it before walking side by side through the misty rain with her toward her house.

The crazy pounding of his heart grew and he almost didn’t notice the difference between the blood thundering in his ears and the rumble of thunder over the mountains.

Sky glanced up at the dark clouds as lightning brightened the sky, and her face was wet with moisture. The air stirred with the scent of a serious oncoming storm. “Damn, but we need the rain.” She sounded a little nervous, as if she was trying to think of something to say as they walked.

Zack squeezed her hand and she looked up at him, this time with a more confident smile that made his heart flop over like an egg, sunny-side up.

Fat drops of rain burst from the sky and wind whipped around them in a sudden rush. Zack scooped Sky up and she laughed and clasped him around the neck, almost hitting him in the face with her purse.

They were drenched by the time he’d hurried up the steps and reached the porch, before setting Sky on her feet. She shook her wet hair out of her face as she handed him the key and he unlocked the door before guiding her through the doorway and into her home.

Zack closed the door behind him and Blue greeted them with enthusiasm. Sky paused to rub the Border Collie behind his ears and tell him hello before she straightened and focused her eyes on Zack.

His blood stirred hot as Sky’s gaze met his. She took a deep breath, then looked at Blue long enough to order him to go to his bed by the fridge in the kitchen. If dogs could glare, Blue did, but he did as she ordered. His toenails clicked across the kitchen floor and then were silent once he curled up in his bed.

Zack’s heart pounded harder as he held Sky’s hand again while she led him to her bedroom. She flipped a switch by the door, and twin lights came on to either side of the bed. She tossed her purse on a chair beside the doorway. In the distance the sound of thunder rolled over the desert, and a gust of wind rattled the windowpanes.

For endless seconds they held each other’s hands and stood face-to-face, just looking at each other. Her rain-soaked hair clung to the sides of her face, and the water had plastered her dress to her body.

She’d never looked more gorgeous than she did at that moment.

Sky kept her gaze focused on him as she reached up with both hands and pulled the straps of her dress over her shoulders. The wet material whispered down her body as it fell to the floor. All she wore were black garters, those tiny panties, stockings, and a bra, along with high heels.

Zack felt like a fist pressed against his Adam’s apple and a thousand strong hands held him in place. He couldn’t move. He could only watch as she reached behind herself and unclasped her bra and it landed by her feet, too.

It was like he was in a daze as she untied each side of the tiny black panties and dropped them, too, baring the copper curls of her mound.

Jesus.
His knees were going to give out.

He tried to swallow. Tried to touch her. But still he couldn’t move.

A dream.
It was a goddamned dream, and he was going to wake up and pump several hundred pounds of iron to get control over his mind and heart.

Her clear green eyes were wide, drinking him in the same way he was watching her. Her lips parted and her nipples were hard as she took a step closer to him. His gaze slid over her fair skin. The sprinkling of freckles across her bared shoulders. The patch of copper curls on the mound between her firm thighs.

“Damn.” He swallowed, the fist pressing into his throat making it hard to speak. “You’re so beautiful. I don’t know if I can breathe anymore.”

“Come to me, Zack.” Her voice was a caress and a demand all in one.

He finally found the strength to take a step forward, meeting her so that they almost touched.

The fog stayed in his mind as she helped him undress. He shed his boots and every last bit of his clothing. He surprised himself by actually remembering to pull out his wallet and drag out a foil-wrapped condom that he tossed on the nightstand beside the bed.

She stroked his cock, wrapping her fingers around it and looking at it almost in fascination. Zack groaned, grasped her by her waist, and forced her to release his erection by picking her up and placing her on the bed.

She smiled as she lay back on the bed and held her arms out to him. Her wet hair was a shade of auburn against the white of her pillowcases. He eased onto the bed beside her, trying to catch his breath.

Zack propped himself on one elbow as her gorgeous face mesmerized him. Looking at her was making him insane. At the same time, animal instinct to take her hard and fast warred inside him with the desire to make love to her and cherish every bit of her body.

He smiled and allowed himself to caress her cheek, then brushed his lips over hers. She sighed, her warm breath fanning over his mouth. He ran his tongue along her lower lip, then caught it gently between his teeth.

Soft cries rose from her throat as he released her lip and his tongue moved into the warmth of her mouth. Just the taste of her was enough to set off a thunderstorm in his mind.

As Zack kissed Sky, he trailed his fingers down her shoulder and arm to her waist and over the curve of one hip. His fingers skimmed her flesh, light brushes that caused her to shiver and goose bumps to roughen her soft skin.

In turn she stroked him, her nails lightly raking him from his back to his hips. “Make love to me,” she murmured as her hand slid up his back and into his hair.

He pushed a strand of wet hair from her face. “I am, sweetheart.”

Slowly, Zack kissed and licked, and explored every part of her body he could reach, using his lips and tongue and hands. Sky’s palms continued to stroke his muscles and his cock as he kissed the tender spot below her earlobe, then moved to the hollow at the base of her throat where her hand always crept when she was nervous. His tongue found the soft skin of her shoulder, the mole above her breast, the curve of her waist, and her navel.

Lower and lower he worked downward until he reached the copper curls of her mound. He nuzzled the soft hair of her folds and drank in the scent of her musk.

Zack looked up to see her watching him, her eyes so green with passion, her chest rising and falling.

He kept his eyes focused on her as his tongue dipped into her folds and he tasted her. Her eyes widened and her body jerked at the contact. “Zack!”

Oh, God, she tasted better than he remembered. He slid two fingers inside her warm core and moved his mouth over her clit. He licked and sucked it, enjoying her flavor on his tongue and breathing in her scent.

When her body tensed, he slipped his hands under her hips and pressed his mouth harder against her, driving her toward her climax. Her body arched up off the bed and she cried out as her orgasm tore through her.

Even then, he didn’t stop. “Zack. Baby,” she moaned. But then she was too helpless to do anything more than ride the next wave sweeping through her.

Rain pattered on the windowpane, a distant sound that somehow made their joining even more intimate.

Before she had completely come down from the summit, Zack rose above Sky, somehow managed to sheathe his cock, and thrust into her. He fought for control as he took her slow and easy, reveling in the sensation of being inside her and wanting to prolong it as long as possible.

Sky wrapped her legs around his waist, her hands clenching his hips, her eyes closed.

“Look at me.” Zack’s voice came out in a rough growl. “Watch me while I’m inside you.”

Her desire-filled green eyes met his. He couldn’t hold back any longer. He pounded into her, like the rain that was now pounding down on the house. She begged him for more, urging him on, like parched earth begging for moisture, until she cried out with another orgasm.

Zack shouted Sky’s name as he climaxed, buried so deep inside her that he never wanted to find his way back.

Sky reveled in the feel of Zack between her thighs, the weight of his big body pinning her down, his sweat-slicked skin against hers, the feel of him inside her.

It was almost like a dream, almost surreal.

Zack.
In her arms. Again.

She squeezed her eyes tight and had the absurd desire to cry. The moment felt too good, too precious to be real.

“Hey.” Zack brushed his lips so lightly over her forehead that it was almost like she’d imagined it. “Let me see those beautiful green eyes that I’ve missed so much.”

The tears really wanted to come then, but she wouldn’t let them. She’d cried all she ever would over Zack. No matter what he’d said about a fresh beginning for the two of them, she wasn’t getting her heart stomped all over again.

Zack slipped out of her and rolled onto his side, bringing her with him so that he had one of her legs pinned between his. She opened her eyes and met his gaze as he squeezed her to him with one of his muscled arms, making her feel secure, like nothing could ever hurt her.

Lightning flashed close enough that the brightness through the window cast light and shadow over his features. The long scar running down his cheek and his expression gave him an almost harsh look.

“No regrets?” he asked in a low rumble.

The words came more easily than Sky expected. “I don’t regret a minute of what we just shared.” She managed a smile, a real one. “I didn’t remember us being so incredibly good together.” Zack raised his eyebrow, and Sky stumbled over more words. “I mean, it was good before, but this time...”

“I don’t know what’s going on in that exceptionally intelligent head of yours, but I know one thing.” Zack ran his palm up and down her upper arm as another flash of lightning let her see his gray eyes. “You mean more to me than good sex.”

Sky’s cheeks felt warm and her core started aching to have him inside her again. “Let’s try the good-sex part again. Just to make sure we’re getting it right.”

Zack growled and she gasped as he rolled her onto her back, braced his hands to either side of her arms, and stared down at her. Small bursts of lightning seemed to go off in her belly at the dark, intense look he gave her. “This time we’ll get it all right.” She squirmed beneath his big body, not wanting to answer, just wanting him.

Sky reached up her arms to bring Zack down for a kiss when an insistent beep came from somewhere in the room. For a moment she was confused, her thoughts too filled with lust for Zack.

“Not mine,” he murmured as he nuzzled her ear and she realized it was her cell phone. “Leave it.”

At the same time, Blue started barking. Loud, sharp barks outside the bedroom door.

“Blue doesn’t sound like that unless something’s wrong.” The sparks in her belly died away and changed to a heavier weight of concern. “And no one calls on the ranch line this late at night— it’s got to be important. Really important.”

Zack rolled off her and she could feel the abrupt change in the atmosphere. A switch from lust to professionalism in virtually an instant. “Where’s your phone?”

“My purse.” She scooted off the bed, almost catching her foot in the bedcovers. “I left it on the chair—”