Author: Bella Andre

Her hand was still in his as they headed for the bedroom. Zach closed the door with a soft click that sounded like a bullet going off inside her head.

Feeling shaky, she had to reach for him, had to wind her arms around his waist and back, knowing he’d be strong. Solid.

She’d never let herself lean on anyone before.

Zach caressed her cheeks, his thumbs brushing over her mouth before his fingers moved into her hair, to the spot that felt just right whenever he held her there.

“I’ve never made love to anyone before,” she whispered, overwhelmed by what she was feeling, how strong, how unstoppable her emotions were.

He leaned closer and his mouth hovered over hers. But instead of kissing her, he whispered across her lips, “Yes, you have. Every time we’ve touched, you’ve let me love you.” His voice was even deeper than normal, and raw with emotion. “And you’ve loved me right back.”

His reply was utterly unexpected.

And, amazingly, just as true.

Just because she hadn’t wanted to let herself love him, didn’t mean she’d even come close to succeeding. From that first brush of their fingertips in the park, to the kiss she’d given him on his cheek, to passion exploding in the alley at the ballpark...no matter what she’d told herself, no matter how she’d tried to pretend none of it really mattered, every second with Zach had shifted the walls around her heart.

Until they’d come crashing down.

“Love me again, Zach.”

His mouth covered hers a heartbeat later with a kiss that was so sure and warm and utterly sinful it made her toes curl in her tennis shoes. He loved her mouth the way he loved every inch of her skin—with complete possession, unbridled pleasure, and pure male satisfaction.

His tongue slipped and slid against hers, before moving back out to run a sensual path across her lips, from one corner to the other. “So sweet.” He nibbled on the flesh of her lower lip. “So soft.” His tongue laved over the small bites, soothing her at the same time he built her arousal even higher.

And then she was in his arms and he was carrying her over to the bed, pressing her back into the duvet as he covered her body with his. Both of them were still fully clothed, but that didn’t stop her from wrapping her legs around him and pulling him even closer.

He deepened their kiss with a possessive growl that sent the dials on every last nerve in her body way past eleven. There was no space in their kiss for thinking, for worrying, only the sweet release of feeling herself open all the way up, inside and out.

For Zach.

He lifted his head to stare into her eyes. “Mine.” The word was rough, ragged from his lips. Fire burned in his gaze, hotter, more intense than her beautiful charmer had ever been before. “You’re mine.”

Before she could tell him yes, she was his, and always had been, his mouth was stealing her breath away again and his hands were pulling at fabric, unzipping where he could, ripping when fabric didn’t come off easily enough.

Heather loved every one of his rough demands, the same ones she was making of him as she kicked off her shoes, then yanked his shirt off and shoved his pants down with her feet.

She’d never felt this wild, or this free, before.

Only with Zach.

She had to run her hands over his hard muscles, his chest and arms, his back and shoulders, to make sure it wasn’t a dream. His hands were just as greedy as they stroked over every inch of her skin, his mouth following his fingers from her ankles, then up her legs to that spot behind her kneecap that had her trembling and gasping at how sensitive it was before he moved even higher to the needy flesh between her thighs.

Emotions crashed into her as his tongue slid over, then into her, until the combination of heart and body, mind and soul, had her release going on and on until she was begging Zach to stop with one breath, and for more the next.

She was lost—and then, miraculously found—as he slid his mouth and hands from her to replace them with such hard heat it took what was left of her breath away.

She was amazed by the beauty of their connection, the way her body had always recognized his as its mate every single time they’d come together, even when her head, and her heart, had wanted so desperately to remain unsure.

His mouth covered hers again as they rocked together, their bodies slipping and sliding in a perfect rhythm of strength. And surrender.

To love.

* * *

Heather’s hair spilled around them as she came over him. Even caught in his need to possess her, Zach could feel her need to possess him right back, to claim the heart he’d given her. As they shifted together so that he was lying beneath her and she was sitting up on her shins to take—and give—so sweetly, so beautifully, he could barely do anything but stare in wonder at the woman who had rocked his world so completely.

Her hands were pressed flat on his chest, her head thrown back as she rode him, and he shifted his legs so that she could lean back against his thighs to go deeper, to fly higher. Her gasp of pleasure at the small change, and then at the feel of his hands on her breasts, her belly, between her thighs, was almost more than he could take as her body tightened around his.

“Heather.”

At the sound of her name, she opened her eyes to look down at him.

“I need to hear you say it.”

Her eyes darkened with passion. And with all the emotion she’d finally stopped holding back from him.

“I love you.”

They were the three most beautiful words he’d ever heard.

“Again,” he demanded, even as he tightened his hold on her hips and slid in deeper.

“I love you.”

“Give me more.” He would never grow tired of hearing her say the words, of having her become one with him like this.

“I love you.” She leaned down to kiss his mouth. “I love you,” preceded another kiss on his shoulder. “I love you,” landed on his chest along with her lips.

Everywhere she could reach, she whispered her love for him, then sealed it with a kiss. Throughout, their bodies were joined, moving together.

“Don’t stop loving me,” he begged her, even though it wasn’t fair to ask her for this. “No matter what happens, promise me you won’t ever stop.”

Her smiled wobbled at his request as she leaned down so that her breasts were pressing against his chest and her mouth was almost on his.

“How could I stop loving you,” she said so softly he could barely hear her words over the blood rushing in his ears, “when I’ve never been able to do anything about the way you make me feel? I’ll love you forever, Zach.”

He could hear the surrender, but also the joy, in her admission, as their passion hit its sensual crescendo. Knowing just how much the words cost her, he wanted to give her more than just another climax, more than just the pleasure he knew she’d found in his arms as she lay soft and supple over him while they both worked to catch their breath.

He wanted to give her the same gift she’d just given him. He wanted to give her a promise of forever.

But he couldn’t.

All he could give her was what he felt today. Here. Now.

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear.

And this time, she whispered it right back.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Heather had never been able to sleep during the day, not even back in college after pulling all-nighters to finish a paper. But as she lay sprawled across Zach’s bare chest with early afternoon sunlight streaming over the bed, she was so physically spent that she knew she could have closed her eyes and kept them that way until the next morning.

Of course, there was no way that was going to happen with the dogs pawing at the bedroom door.

On a groan, Zach pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Go take a shower. I’ll go take care of the fur balls.”

Now that she was awake and temporarily sexually sated, her worries about Zach’s reaction to the anniversary of his father’s death came right back.

“Can I ask you something?”

He took her hands in his, brought them up to his mouth for a kiss. “Yes,” he answered, “I’ll be ready for another round soon.”

It would have been easy to use their incredible attraction to skip over the hard stuff, but she didn’t want that. And she was pretty sure he didn’t want that, either.

So even though she couldn’t help but smile at his teasing, she still said, “This is a hard day for you, isn’t it? Despite the baby,” she clarified, “and us. Because of your father.”

His hands tightened on hers for a split second before he shrugged. “It’s a good thing that we have something to celebrate now, instead of being bummed every year on this day.”

The dogs were all but throwing themselves against the door, and when he pressed one more kiss to her knuckles, then let her go to let them out, she really couldn’t stop him.

Wishing that love came with instructions, she went to the shower and got under the warm spray. If only she knew how to heal him over his father the way he’d helped her with hers.

She sighed as she faced the truth. Yes, she’d been brave and had opened up her heart to Zach. But just because she’d said “I love you” to a man for the first time in her life, didn’t mean there wasn’t more to say.

And how could she expect him to be completely open with her when she hadn’t been completely open with him?

When she’d told him a flat-out lie.

Zach found her forehead-to-wall as he joined her in the shower. He wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Already regretting it all?” he teased against her neck, but she could hear the real worry beneath his joking words.

She turned in his arms so she could press her face to his chest and hear his heart beating strong and steady in her ear. “Have I ever told you that I love the way you make me laugh?”

Maybe that was why she knew she could tell him anything; because he wouldn’t let her take anything too seriously, would always find a way to show her the joyful side of life.

“You mean like this?”

He tickled her ribcage until she was giggling as the water splashed down on both of them and made everything too slick for her to get away from his teasing fingertips.

And when laughter inevitably turned to passion and he pressed her back against the wall, she welcomed the chance to clear her mind of anything but the sweet ache of taking him inside her yet one more time, letting him fill up all her empty spaces with his heat, his kisses.

And his love.

* * *

Good thing Sullivan Autos was a well-oiled machine, because if it were a choice between hanging out under the engine of a car or spending time with Heather—naked or not—Zach would happily blow off every future day at the office. He was in the bedroom pulling on a T-shirt when he heard Heather speaking to Cuddles.

“Uh-oh, did you find another yummy shoe?”

He walked into the living room just as she picked up a slobbery hunk of brown leather.

She gave him a crooked, very cute smile. “I suppose we’ve been a little lax with training her the past few days.”

“I’ve got this,” he said as he grabbed a tiny chew toy from the floor and held it out for the puppy, who immediately latched onto it with her sharp little teeth. Cuddles shook it with her tiny mouth, her fur flying around her face, and he told her what a good girl she was.

Heather leaned back against the counter. “It used to really annoy me how good you were with her. The fact that she so easily accepted that you were the boss.”

He grinned at her. “I liked annoying you.”

She laughed. “Liked? Don’t you mean you still like it?” Her laughter fell away as she asked, “You’re not going to give her back, are you?”

He gave the other side of the chew toy to Atlas so he could take over. “She’s not my dog.”

Heather made a face. “I know your niece-to-be will probably be disappointed, but she only had her a couple of days. It’s incredible the way the two of you have bonded.” She pinned him with a serious look. “Cuddles is your dog, Zach.”