An Eye for an Eye: Zach and Katie's Story (Redwood Falls) (26 page)

"It was her idea."

Josh nodded his head but remained silent.

Zach tried to lighten the atmosphere. "Family now, huh?"

"Seems so."

Zach felt the determination rise in his blood. "It's going to get more so."

"Yeah?" Josh questioned tersely.

"I'm going to marry your cousin."

Josh didn't look a bit surprised. "I assumed as much. Does Katie know?"

"I haven't told her yet."

"Told her?"

"Asked her. Whatever."

"But you feel confident she's going to agree?"

"I wouldn't say confident . . . I'm hopeful." He watched the younger man for a reaction. "I have to take one step at a time with Katie, you know?"

The younger man crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah," he remarked without giving much away. "That would probably be a good idea."

"Tell me about Jesse Whitaker," Zach said.

"What do you want to know?"

"My father seems to think he's in prison for the full twenty years. No chance of parole."

"Well, there's always a chance." Josh smiled humorlessly. "But trust me, it isn't going to happen."

Zach wanted the man in prison, but he'd never get to pound him with his fists, at least not for twenty years. "I wish I'd known."

"You didn't have a relationship with Katie back then. What could you have done?"

"I would have liked to have beaten the shit out of him, at the least."

Josh's lips lifted in satisfaction. "If it's any consolation, before I became a cop, I beat him black and blue and had the satisfaction of feeling his skin break underneath my knuckles."

Zach raised his eyebrows. "When was this?"

"After he attacked the sheriff's daughter. I caught him at it and made him suffer."

Zach nodded his head and smiled. "All right. If anything changes, you'll keep me posted?"

"Sure. But you'll have to stand in line, because trust me, beating him once wasn't near enough."

"Good to know. Always happy to have someone on my side."

"Are we that?" Josh asked.

"What?" Zach asked, although he already knew the answer.

"On the same side?"

"Yeah. The past is history, man. We're on the same side." Zach paused and then added, "As long as you never hurt Hannah. You hurt Hannah, you better watch your back."

Josh smirked as if the idea was ludicrous. "Duly noted."

Chapter Fourteen

A Promise Fulfilled

The drive back over the causeway was completely different for Katie this time around. Although her nerves still jangled, they mostly jangled in a good way. The only apprehension she felt was from the fear that she wouldn't be able to obtain normalcy in her life, because she pretty much knew that if she couldn't have that with Zach, it probably would never happen.

He loved her.

Did she love him?

It absolutely didn't take long to think about; she was sure she did.

She'd always been fascinated by him, she'd always wanted to call him and tell him,
'Yes! I'll go out with you.'

But she never had. And certainly his gruff exterior and lack of any softness had helped to make her run scared.

But she wasn't running scared anymore.

She had a life to lead, and for once, she was ready and more than willing to embrace it.

****

Once they arrived at South Padre, without asking her, Zach put her bags into the spare bedroom she'd been using before they'd left. She knew he did it to make her comfortable, and it immediately worked. Katie never doubted that Zach wanted her to take the lead with the pace of their physical relationship, and her bags in the spare bedroom were the first concrete indication of his intention to proceed slowly.

It was still only midday when they reached the island, and a subtle change occurred after they reached the house. Within a matter of a few hours, Zach had clearly relaxed and his easy-going personality rose to the surface. It seemed to Katie, that he felt content just from her presence in his home, and he allowed his focus to shift back to the running of his empire.

Zach handed her a tablet, and she took it from him and settled down into the couch to wile away a few hours as he worked several feet away from her. She never felt neglected in any way, if she so much as rose to her feet, his dark gaze would snap to her until he figured out what move she was making and why. It didn't make her feel uncomfortable; instead, it had the opposite effect and soothed her. He didn't make her feel as if she were being stalked; his goal was a protective one and Katie could feel it.

A couple of relaxing hours passed as Katie read an online magazine. Several times, she felt Zach's gaze and when she glanced up, his penetrating stare was focused on her alone. His eyes softened as her gaze met his and for a few seconds, he looked her over as if to reassure himself that she was still there and content.

She was content.

She pushed all thoughts of sex from her mind and only enjoyed their companionable silence. She had attained a modicum of peace about the future. It would happen when it happened, and although she was nervous about the first time, she mostly just desperately wanted to move on with her life.

With Zach.

She wasn't putting any pressure on herself to actually enjoy the first time, her only goal was to face it with a lack of fear and anxiety. Sex was a closeness she wanted to achieve with Zach, for that reason alone: she wanted to be close to him in every way she could.

But for now, she was content to be with him in the easy silence of the cozy living room.

****

Zach glanced up from his laptop and for once, Katie was so engrossed with whatever she was reading that she didn't catch him watching her.

He wasn't getting any work done.

He couldn't work; he was scared shitless.

If this didn't work, if they couldn't move away from Katie's past and have a normal, intimate relationship, he knew that Katie wouldn't marry him.

And Katie
had
to marry him. Anything less was unthinkable.

For now, she seemed to be relaxed and happy to be lounging on the couch while he worked. But how long would that last? What if he fucked up, made a wrong move with her in the next few days? Stark fear slid down his spine at the thought of inadvertently traumatizing her. He knew he had to take it slow with her, and he was more than willing to do that, but slow meant gentle as well, and Zach had never really been a man with a 'gentle' touch.

Was it something he could learn?

He had no choice, he had to learn and learn it immediately. Katie needed and deserved to be handled with the utmost care, as if she were a piece of delicate porcelain that might shatter into tiny pieces.

He'd be damned if that would happen. She wouldn't ever be hurt again, not while in his care. And it was his intention that she be in his care for the rest of his life. He'd do whatever it took to help her be whole again. And if that meant reining in his basic instincts, controlling the urge to express his lust by demanding her total acquiescence, then he'd learn how to do just that.

He could be gentle.

He took a slow, raspy breath and blew it back out again.

Yeah, he could be gentle.

Hell, he
wanted
to be gentle.

For Katie.

****

That first evening after a light meal, Katie sat on the couch under the crook of Zach's arm while they watched a movie.

Or at least, she was supposed to be watching the movie, but she wasn't. With the muted sound of the ocean's waves beyond the house, and Zach's fingers playing with her hair, a pleasant feeling of somnolence crept up on her and her eyes slid closed. A feeling of such intense pleasure rushed through her veins as she saw a picture well into the future.

She saw the two of them, just as they were now, but thirty years or so into the future. They were in this house, sitting on a couch much like this one, and they were tired after a long day of playing on the beach with little grandchildren who she couldn't quite picture, but knew she had an intense love for.

Her grandchildren. Zach's grandchildren.

Her eyes flew open and she swallowed deeply. She wanted those grandchildren. She wanted her own babies and then she hoped that someday, she'd get those grandchildren.

She sat up straight and in the darkness, lit only from the screen of the television screen, she turned and placed her hands on Zach's cheeks.

He looked into her eyes and jerked to attention at once. "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head because her throat wouldn't work quite yet.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded her head again and finally got past the frog in her throat. "I love you."

His eyes flared with a look of relief and happiness that soothed her, and his fingers slid from her hair to her scalp with a move so firm that Katie felt the intense, masculine strength behind it. "I love you, too, baby. I have for a long time."

As they studied each other, Katie was aware of her heart banging against her chest and his pulse racing under her hands. He attempted to smile at her, but she continued to focus on him, and his lips dropped and the smile dissolved completely.

Katie rose to her knees and straddled Zach's torso carefully, her palms falling to his shoulders. She was aware that his breathing was growing ragged as his fingers clenched around her hips. She inhaled nervously. "Will you kiss me?"

His nostrils flared. "I'd love to kiss you."

Katie closed her eyes but he didn't kiss her, he stayed completely still until finally, he spoke. "I think we should establish a few parameters, first, okay?"

Her eyes opened. "Okay."

A large hand slid up and tangled in her hair again. "We won't make love tonight."

Katie sucked in a quivering breath. "All right."

"We can play this two ways, whichever way you want. And I'm not talking about just tonight, but about how you want it to be so you can feel safe. If you want, I won't make a single move that you don't ask for first. You can ask verbally or you can make the first physical moves, either by putting your hand somewhere, or by putting my hand where you want it."

Katie listened and felt a hot rush of anticipation that stunned her.

"Or--" Zach began again and then stopped.

"Or what?"

"Or, we can play it the other way."

She licked her dry lips. "What other way?"

His eyes ran over her cheeks and lips and down to her neck. He slid his fingers to the pulse in her throat and let them linger there. "Or you can just say
no."

Temptation gripped Katie. "How would that work?" She pretty much understood what he meant, but his words were seductive and Katie wanted him to keep talking to her in his deep, rumbling voice.

His hands continued to caress her softly but firmly. "It means that I do what I want to do. But the second you feel uncomfortable or hesitant, you call a halt by either saying,
no
or
stop."

Katie was beginning to feel light-headed. "And. . . and you'll stop?"

His hand left her neck and began blazing a gentle trail down her chest with the single, rough pad of one finger until it landed on the top swell of her breast. He cleared his throat and a tic began beating in his cheek. "Yeah." His finger moved down a centimeter toward her nipple and his eyes lifted to hers. "Any time at all. You say stop, and I'll stop."

Katie's ears began ringing, her pulse began racing as their eyes caught and held. His finger swirled around her nipple, causing it to pebble into a hard knot. Her legs began shaking and could barely hold her up. When his fingers found her nipple and began strumming her, her eyes closed and her forehead fell to his.

Their breathing grew more ragged, racing in and out of their lungs at a pace that was almost synchronized.

His fingers continued to pluck at her nipple. "Are you all right?"

Katie began nodding her head frantically and when she did, his hand left her breast and dropped to the juncture of her thighs where he palmed her in a firm grasp. She gasped and jumped and lifted her head from his and her eyes flew open. "Stop."

His hand lifted away from her immediately. "Good girl," he rumbled from the back of his throat.

"Was that a test?"

"Yeah."

Katie shook her head. "I don't understand. Did you not know if you could stop?"

Zach frowned. "My restraint isn't what I was testing. I was just trying to prove that you can trust me."

"I trust you."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"So which way do you want this to go?"

Katie thought about her choices and knew immediately she didn't want to be the one leading every physical encounter between them. "You'll stop when I tell you to."