The Maverick's Red Hot Reunion (Entangled Indulgence) (11 page)

She wiggled and squirmed. “You win. Please—for the love of God.”

“Soon.” He covered her with his body and deftly unhooked her bra’s front closure. “After I get my fill.” He licked up the soft underside of her breast and sucked her elongated bud.

She murmured incoherent words of pleasure, panted mindlessly, tilting her hips upward. His length rocked against her pelvis; his velvet and steel were hers for the taking. She could feel the warmth radiating off his skin and the fine hairs of his chest brush against her naked breasts.

Naked but for her sexy shoes and thigh high pantyhose.

Molten heat flowed through her limbs. She clutched his hair and held him to her breast. The sensation of his rough tongue and warm mouth suckling her was almost too much to bear. The feel of his hand cupping her and relentlessly stroking brought her to the point of desperation.

“Zach,” she yelled. “I want you.”

“Yes,” he said, his voice husky and tinged with male victory.

He pulled away long enough to sheath himself. Moaning, she reached for him and tugged him back onto the bed. He knelt between her legs and spread her thighs with his powerful hands.

“I’ve waited a long time to feel your sex around me,” he said, then entered her in one long thrust, burying himself to the hilt.

Kennedy angled her hips higher and he thrust deeper. Her pulse quickened and her muscles stretched to accommodate his large size. She came apart, clawing his back and scraping his shoulders. Wanting more, so much more. To be possessed and claimed as his was like coming home. And when she finally crested out of her body and into the universe, catching starlight and exploding, she contracted around him and cried his name.

Chapter Twelve

Zach followed her release with his own, collapsing on her, weak and breathless. When he regained a measure of his strength, he stroked a strand of Kennedy’s wavy hair from her brow and tucked it behind her ear.

He pressed his forehead against hers. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” She shifted beneath him. “If only…”

He rolled onto his side, carrying her with him, still connected and wanting to remain cocooned in the afterglow of their lovemaking. “Let’s just be in the now,” he said.

“In the now works.” She stroked the length of his arm and clasped his hand.

He stirred. Already he was aroused again. This woman had always been his obsession. She was an intoxicating mixture of strength and vulnerability wrapped in a sexy, sassy package. Though he’d partly hoped the all-consuming passion that had reignited the moment he’d first laid eyes on her again would be doused by this explosive encounter, once would not be enough. Now that he’d reclaimed her, he wasn’t ready to let her go.

Nor was he ready to end this steamy encounter. Grateful for their friends-with-benefits renegotiation, he kissed the fluttering pulse in her collarbone, tasting her unique blend of spice. Then he reached between her legs, circled through her curls, and parted her slick folds, swirling her moisture across her tight bundle of nerves.

“Feels so good,” she said, arching her back.

“Hold on,” he said, leaving her long enough to sheath himself before taking her again, then trailed another line of nibbles and kisses across her taut stomach. He licked around her belly button, then kissed the silvery, nearly invisible lines on her skin.

Her pulse rippled in tiny waves against his tongue. “Oh. My. God,” she cried.

Zach’s groin tightened and blood thundered through his veins. Lower, lower, and lower still he followed her racing heartbeat’s path until he’d settled between her legs and planted his mouth on her sex.

He suckled, licked, and probed her moist heat. So ready. So luxuriously hot and wet and throbbing for him. She moaned incoherently and panted as she curled her hands through his hair, anchoring him.

“Zach, I want…”

He stopped his tender ministrations and looked up. “I know.”

“Please,” she cried. Then she arched her back and he felt her shatter against his mouth. He savored her honey as her orgasm rippled through her.

He continued rubbing her sensitive nub while he raised himself and held his heavy erection with one hand. He looked at her flushed face, the moisture on her skin, taking in her beauty.

He pressed between her slick velvet folds. She angled her hips upward and he entered her slowly. She clenched around him, drawing him deeper into her incredibly tight, hot core. Thrusting to the hilt, he reclaimed Kennedy and returned home, blissfully surrounded by her molten fire.

“You’re amazing,” he said. “And everything I’ve ever wanted.”

“So are you,” she said.

Time evaporated and passion ruled his mind. “Mine. You’re mine.” Relentlessly, mindlessly, and enthralled by their connection, Zach drove into her. She met him thrust for thrust. Skin-to-skin. Man-to-woman. Where he ended and she began no longer mattered.

“Only you.” She held his waist and rhythmically joined him in their primal dance. “You’re the only man I’ve ever wanted.”

Her cries punctured through the sexual fog clouding his senses.

His. She was his. He manacled her hands in his, drawing them over her head. “You have me now.” He plunged deeper until he could feel her pulse increasing and the flow of her release. He followed her to the abyss and flew over the edge with her again.

Minutes later, when the haze of their coupling had lifted, he gazed into her emerald eyes. “How long has it been for you?”

She lowered her lashes. “To be honest, I haven’t found a replacement.”

His breath caught. A sense of euphoria filled his chest. “You haven’t dated anyone since we broke up?” He stroked damp tendrils of her hair from her temple, then kissed the exposed pulse point.

“I’ve dated,” she said, “but not
dated
.”

A possessive sense of victory pumped through his veins. He’d been her first lover and now, after all these years, her second. No one else had taken Kennedy. She was still his and his alone.

But who would be her third? The thought sent a burning sensation straight to his gut. He had no right to hold her back from finding another man, but he didn’t want anyone else to have her. Unnerved and feeling strangely disoriented, he lowered his mouth to nibble her delicate earlobe.

“You could have had anyone you wanted,” he said gruffly.

She trembled beneath him. “I haven’t met anyone who can live up to my expectations,” she said. “Frankly, you’re a tough man to top.”

His world shifted strangely. And he didn’t like the sensation. They had a physical reunion which would burn out in due time after he returned to New York City. Yes, they’d agreed to remain friends, but there could be nothing more.

Desperate to regain a lighthearted detachment, he sucked in her lobe and was gratified by her answering gasp of excitement. “You have me now,” he said. Whatever had burned between them hadn’t been doused by their frenzied lovemaking. Yet. “I don’t know about you, but I’m glad we’re playing this friends-with-benefits game until the renovation is complete.”

She hooked her legs around his. “We’ll be finished by December. When do you plan to leave?” she asked.

Her breath whispered like a cool breeze across his slick bare skin. A momentary empty feeling dipped in his stomach. He swallowed, then caressed her smooth cheek. “January. After the benefit. I’ve got to head overseas to my offices in Europe. We’ll be able to ease Michael into accepting that our reasons for breaking up this time are due to time and distance, not anger.”

“I think he’ll go for that explanation.” She stroked the length of his back and curved her hand over his bottom. “If you really do remain my company’s financial angel.”

Zach shook his head, then tilted her chin up and gazed into her eyes. “I’m sorry I acted like such an ass. I was frustrated. I knew you were lying when you rejected me. I shouldn’t have used your business to manipulate you.” He kissed her forehead, her temples, her flushed cheeks. “I just wanted you to admit your attraction to me.” And to finally get her out of his system, but he chomped that bit of reality into pieces. He’d purge his physical addiction to Kennedy by January. He was sure of it. After all, he’d learned the hard way that nothing good ever lasted forever.

“Now you know the truth,” she said. “I’ve lived like a nun until the day you drove your motorcycle back to Sweetbriar Springs. I’ve been lusting after you ever since you arrived at the resort.”

He heard the raw emotion in her voice, the unspoken words in the undertone of her quiet confession. Something twanged inside his heart, loosened the barriers he’d erected against her, but he’d never admit it.

Still, Kennedy’s loneliness cut him to the core. Why had she chosen a solitary life when she could have had anyone? Anyone except for him. The day they’d fought all those years ago, when she’d booted him out of her life, pinged early warning signals in his brain. Tonight she sounded sad, but the end of their relationship had been her decision.

He had to distance himself from her before she gained another foothold into his heart. “Lusting is good.”

“What can I say? You’re hot and I already knew you could deliver.”

“Flattery will get you anywhere with me,” he joked.

“And food will get you anywhere with me,” she said. “Speaking of which, I seem to recall a hefty stash of cashews and Belgian chocolate in the wet bar’s cupboard.”

Though she’d given him exactly what he’d wanted—a lighthearted response with no heartstrings playing a tune for more than what had just happened—an emptiness settled low in his chest.

Only one thing could fill the pain carving a jagged hole behind his breastbone. He had to feel her move with him again. Quickly, he withdrew and replaced his protection.

“What about food?” she murmured, but her pupils grew black as night, exposing her primal desire.

“Eating is overrated.” He trailed his hand down her elegant, smooth-as-satin neck.

“Yes.” She arched her back. “It is.”

He teased her pearled nipple and nibbled her lower lip before taking her mouth with his. She stirred beneath him, settling her legs across his bare hips. He lowered his hand down her smooth torso, across the sweep of her flat belly, caressing her slick folds.

She responded to his touch with a slow, sensuous rocking motion. He could feel her heat, her pulse’s acceleration, her wanting. His muscles tensed and a hot surge of desire roared through his veins and thundered in his ears.

Kennedy moaned, arched her breasts high, and twined her arms around his neck. “Oh, Zach.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, he moved toward her again and replaced his hand with the tip of his erection. Her clitoris pulsed against him, and he could feel her small answering spasms of increasing excitement.

She hitched her legs higher on his hip, positioning herself perfectly for his entry. He wound his arm around her waist, deepened his kiss—worshipping her mouth with his—and buried himself into her velvety warmth in one long stroke.

Kennedy molded her body against his. The heat vibrating between them transformed into something more primal and powerful, unleashing passion and stirring more than lust.

This knowing. This sensing. This belonging had never changed between them. They were locked together in an old, long-familiar dance of shared intimacy and memory.

He felt a jolt in his aching length when he recognized the passion in her eyes. Dark, beautiful jewels with the power to bedazzle him. He’d give her what they both wanted, needed, craved.

But he wouldn’t allow himself to fall in love with her again.

…

Kennedy stirred in Zach’s arms and curled her back into his sleeping form. She tingled with awareness and satisfaction as she remembered every intimate moment they had shared.

Tonight had been different than the first time they had made love. Then they’d approached each other with youthful inexperience on her part and masculine bravado on Zach’s. She’d resisted Zach’s early flirtations, but only because her attraction had been so overwhelmingly confusing. She’d never felt that way around guys before. Her cousins, even her high school male peers, had always treated her as one of them. A comrade. A buddy. A friend.

Zach’s masculine pursuit of her as a member of the opposite sex had been intoxicating. She’d been captivated by her constant awareness of him whenever he had been in the same room. That much hadn’t changed. She still wanted Zach with an intensity that shocked her. But this time she had entered into the act with her heart intact. And she’d made love to him as a woman who had the right to demand and expect equality inside and outside the bedroom.

She tossed the thought out of her sex-befuddled head. Zach was already showing signs that he could change and become the right man for her, but she was still the wrong woman for him. And deep in her heart, her love for him would not allow her to take away his chance for a family. Later, after they’d allowed their physical obsession for each other to run its course, she’d liberate him to find someone who could.

Though loneliness had chased her for years, at least this time when they parted ways they could still remain friends. The girl-woman she had once been with Zach had moved forward. Tonight she had become a new woman. Now she could control the outcome of her destiny. The knowledge gave Kennedy a powerful expectation on which to pin her own dreams. Dreams to help her hometown, and to one day find a man who could accept her unconditionally.

With Zach, she’d discovered mutual respect. And they’d developed mutual trust in protecting the people they loved. Though love could never influence their future, she planned to make the most of the extremely sensational, sexy side-benefits while they lasted.

Chapter Thirteen

Kennedy and Zach remained in their cocoon throughout the night and into the next day. Their rediscovery of each other sated them. Also, they hatched a solid scheme to break the truth to Michael after the lodge renovation was completed. Focusing on creating a united front to protect their friend had shielded them from examining their current subterfuge too closely.

An hour before dinnertime, they’d exhausted themselves physically and reluctantly returned to reality—albeit while still lazing around in their oversized king bed. Laptop screens open, sitting side by side with pillows propped behind them, they worked in comfortable silence.

Zach checked long neglected emails and Kennedy scanned architectural details for a new project she’d handle in February.

“Michael’s leaving for Tallahassee tomorrow morning,” Kennedy said after checking her most recent texts. “He’s too tired to join us for supper tonight.”

“That sucks,” Zach said. “Text him and tell him we’ll let him get his beauty rest, but he’s not getting out of brunch with us in the morning.”

“He’s really a lot weaker than he wants people to know. Hannah says he puts up a good front, but he’s had some meltdowns when she’s the only one in the room.” Kennedy reread Hannah’s texts, then texted Michael directly. Naturally, he texted that he was up for a night out. “He says he’s fine and that Hannah’s just being over-protective.”

“Is she?”

“No.” Acting as a buffer wasn’t easy, but Hannah’s gentle strength was exactly what Michael needed. “With her background in nutrition and alternative medicine, I’m sure she’s not blowing his health situation out of proportion.”

“But we can’t let him know that, can we?” Zach wrapped his arm around her. “It’s our job to pretend everything is great. Remember?”

Her throat closed, tears formed. She moved to swipe them away, but Zach stilled her hand. “I promised Michael that he wouldn’t see me cry.”

“You don’t have to hide your tears from me.” Zach closed his laptop and placed it onto the nightstand next to the bed. “I can handle them.”

“I’m worried about his reaction when we officially
break up.
What if he gives up trying to make a difference?” She sobbed openly.

“Come here.” He drew her into his body, and for the first time since Michael’s diagnosis, Kennedy didn’t weep alone. Zach held her in his strong arms, shouldering her grief, murmuring words of comfort.

“We’ve got time to prepare him for it. The Biostem therapy will work. And like Michael says, he’s an excellent candidate for it.” Zach stroked her hair, pushing tear-dampened tendrils away from her cheeks. “After he gets through this first round of treatment and testing, and the renovation is completed, we’ll tell him everything. He’ll understand. I’m sure of it.”

Her chest constricted. She prayed the doctors, and the Biostem injections, could delay the progress of Michael’s ALS. And she prayed that Zach’s confidence wasn’t misplaced. She sniffled, then withdrew from his embrace. “One more command performance in the dining room tonight and we’re in the clear.” They’d agreed to stay together until after the New Year’s Eve benefit, but then they’d go their separate ways. Explanations would follow afterward. She couldn’t allow herself the luxury of relying on Zach, not without risking her heart.

“The entire Sullivan clan and a few of your straggling Gibson cousins have congregated at the bar.”

After a day of making love, ordering room service, and making love all over again, she didn’t want to leave the sanctuary of the suite, especially if it meant taxing Michael’s waning strength. “Maybe we should cancel tonight—for Michael’s own good.”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “Much as I’d rather stay in bed with you for another week, you know you’ll be mad at yourself if you don’t see Michael before he leaves.” Zach rolled out of bed and stood. “And he won’t like it if we don’t play along. He just texted that he was fine. We’ve got to roll with it and meet him for dinner.”

Her mouth watered. Dear lord, the man was built. “Then I’d better clean up.”

“Want some help?”

She smiled. “Not this time.”

Naked, he walked to the bathroom door. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

Longing sizzled along her nerves as she watched his tight, perfectly sculpted bottom. Oh, she was sure he would, but then they’d never make it to dinner. “You’re incorrigible. Go.” Kennedy pointed. “You shower first. I need to check in with the construction crew.”

“I’d rather you check in with me.”

“Go now.” She tossed a pillow at him. “Before the Sullivans send a search party.”

An hour later, Kennedy finished applying her makeup and stared into the mirror. She liked the glow on her face, but not the slight bruising in the hollow of her throat where Zach had been especially amorous. After digging into her accessory arsenal, she fastened a coral scarf around her neck.

A knock sounded. “Who could that be?” she asked as she slipped her pearl earring into her lobe.

“Most likely it’s one of Michael’s snoopy Sullivan siblings.” Zach shrugged on his suit jacket. “I’ll get the door, and tell whoever it is that we’ll be down in ten minutes.”

“Good idea.”

He left the bathroom. She heard the door open and Zach’s greeting. “Yvonne. Ken. This is quite a surprise. I thought you were living it up in Florida.”

“We were until we got the texts from Shannon and Hannah. It’s a good thing we were within cellular range. Ken about had a fit,” her mother said. “Naturally we’re thrilled, but you could have tried to tell us yourselves.”

“Kennedy wanted to tell you in person.”

“Where is she?” her father asked. “I assume she’s staying with you. Y’all aren’t saints, after all.”

Kennedy’s pulse zipped into the fast lane.
Oh no. No way. This can’t be happening.
Quickly, she stepped into her high heels and gave her hair a final spritz of hairspray. She forced a fake smile, frowned at the result in the mirror, then practiced her smile again.

Deeming it better than the first one, she hurried to the main room, the clanging of her heart thumping against her sternum and echoing in her ears. What if her mother told Zach what Kennedy had learned five years ago? She couldn’t let that happen. Not when Zach was in Mr. Fix-it mode. Kennedy increased her pace, stumbled over the toe of her shoe, then righted herself by gripping the bedroom door’s brass knob.

Her mind raced. Adrenaline rushed to her extremities. Her fingers pricked with anxious tingles. She had to stop the flow of the conversation, but that meant she’d have to come clean. No way could she lie to her parents about this engagement. Unsure of where to start, she opened the bedroom door and stepped into the living area.

Her stomach bottomed out when she first set eyes on her mom and dad. Joy radiated in their faces. Relief mingled with happiness in her mother’s blue eyes. And her father’s green gaze held a staunch supply of paternal affection.

Kennedy read them easily and with an innate sensitivity born out of being the center of their world, she did the only thing she could under the circumstances. Because as much as she hated lying to her parents, disappointing them would have upset them even more.

“Momma.” She rushed into her mother’s arms. Welcomed the comfort of her soothing embrace and the familiar scent of her floral fragrance. “I’m so glad you’re here. I desperately need your help with my wedding plans.” And she desperately needed help with hiding her secret from Zach.

Zach’s mouth popped open. She shot him an apologetic look, lifting her shoulders. He closed his lips and nodded.

“And Dad,” she continued, “I know your golf clubs don’t ever leave your trunk so I’ll have Zach schedule a future father-in-law golf round with you tomorrow while Mom and I shop.” If she talked fast enough, she’d stop her mother from spilling her secret.

“Sounds great to me.” Ken clapped Zach on the shoulders. “You still shoot under par?”

“Damn straight.”

“Perfect.” Her mother tucked her arm into the crook of Kennedy’s elbow. “There’s a lovely wedding boutique in historic Asheville. We’ll head over there tomorrow while the guys play. But first we have to see Michael and catch up with the Sullivans over dinner.”

Kennedy nodded. Bad enough she’d one day let Michael down, but she’d never intended for her parents to get caught in the crosshairs of this masquerade. Even worse, she would have to fight more tenaciously to avoid revealing her deepest secret to Zach. Though a part of her wanted to confess the truth, she feared his reaction. Five years ago he’d bulldozed over her pain, refusing to listen to her objections about trying again. Could he ever accept the reality of her difficulties in carrying a baby to term?

They’d already agreed to a temporary affair, a friendship. There was no reason to come forth with her secret and risk losing what little she had gained.

“God, an entire day shopping for wedding dresses. I say no. No to the dress,” Kennedy griped when she returned to the hotel suite the following day. “Thank goodness we’re leaving Wednesday. I don’t know how much longer I can keep up this charade.” After all the happy chattering the night before between her mother and Shannon, and everyone toasting the engagement again, Kennedy couldn’t derail the Fake Wedding Train. Not when the joy blanketed the pain of Michael’s illness.

Still, all the hope and expectation in her mother’s enthusiastic shopping spree after they’d said good-bye to Michael and his family had drained Kennedy emotionally.

Zach handed her a glass of wine. “News flash. It’s not over yet.”

“I know, but we can give them the same explanation we give Michael after you return to New York.” She sipped the crisp chardonnay.

A tic jumped in Zach’s jaw and he pursed his lips. A sudden foreboding skittered along her spine. Anxiety fired across her nerves. “What’s wrong?”

“They’ve punted their next trip to come home to Sweetbriar Springs.” Zach swigged a healthy swallow of scotch. “Despite insisting that we have everything under control, your dad still wants to check on the renovation.”

“Oh God.” Kennedy inhaled deeply to stop her heart from exploding through her chest wall. “He’s not going to leave either of us alone. How are we supposed to survive with them in the picture?”

“They’re staying in their own place,” Zach said. “Your dad said he wants to check out the new mountain golf course in the next county, maybe incorporate it into improving the lodge’s course next year. Plus your mom wants to look at wedding venues.”

“I bet my mom drags me to every chapel in the county,” she whimpered, kicking off her heels. “Couldn’t we just make them go on another cruise?”

“Your parents want to come home because they’re happy for you.” He caressed her cheek. “They can’t cruise fifty-two weeks of the year.”

“But everything is spiraling out of control.”

“Relax.” Zach said. “Why burst their bubble?”

She crossed the room and plopped onto the sofa. “We’ll have to poke a pin into their happiness balloon sooner or later.” Though her heart wanted to rebel, she pushed down her longing with the reality of her infertility.

Zach sat next to her and pointed to his lap. “You look like you could use a foot rub.”

“I never knew shopping could be so exhausting,” she said as she surrendered her swollen feet to Zach’s powerful hands. “Mom’s relentless. I can’t wait to wear jeans and construction boots again.”

“Getting the smackdown from your dad wasn’t a picnic either. He told me if I ever hurt his baby girl again, he’d find me and kill me.”

“Fabulous,” she said glumly. “Chances are he means it.” Her father knew the truth about her difficulty carrying babies to full-term.

He squeezed her soles and massaged her instep. “Wear flats tomorrow. Your mom wants to visit Sweetbriar’s historic downtown after we get home. She’s thinking about opening a knitting boutique.”

A warmth spread through her limbs that had more to do with Zach calling Sweetbriar Springs home than the pleasure of his touch. His easy reconnection with all they had once shared invoked thoughts she had no right to indulge in.

Kennedy sighed and wiggled her toes. “Mom’s already planning the shower and the bachelor parties with Michael’s parents,” she said. “She’s gone wild on Instagram, already sent tons of pictures to Shannon. She’s thrilled to see me in dresses that are formfitting and white.” And not in a dress cut for a woman eight months pregnant.

“Yeah, your dad said he’s glad that this time it’s not a
shotgun
wedding.” Zach caressed her ankle. “I told him we’re going to do it right. Wedding first, babies later.”

She tensed. Zach longed for a big family much like the Sullivans, had thrived after he’d been unofficially adopted as their second son all those years ago. “How did Dad take to that idea?” she asked.

“He just nodded and reached for his nine iron.”

Thanking the heavens for her father’s taciturn nature, Kennedy relaxed. “Good,” she said. “You touch base with your father today?”

“Yeah. He’s still cool with our plan.”

Somehow, miraculously, Zach had forged a bond with his recalcitrant father to the point where he supported their fake engagement. Just as long as Zach remembered where he belonged. At the helm of Tanner Enterprises in New York. Not in the sleepy small town she called home.

Her heart was on a rack and being pulled in four different directions. Fear that her parents would never forgive her for her current lie. Fear for her friend’s reaction when he was told the truth. Fear for the pain she’d endure when Zach ultimately returned to his world.