Downunder Heat (8 page)

Zakk tensed and he grated out, “Condoms! Now!”

“On the bedside table,” Kitty whispered. When she’d brought them home she’d shoved them into a drawer, hiding them under her panties, but tonight, while dressing for the evening, a streak of boldness she hadn’t known she possessed had made her pull them out and place them where they could be seen…and reached…and used…

If Zakk wanted her, then she wanted Zakk just as much, and her decision to put the condoms in open view marked her acceptance of that relationship.

Zakk leaned up over her and groped around, found the box and tore it open with a small grunt.

Reaching up, Kitty grabbed the condom from his hand. “Let me.”

Too impatient to search for the opening nick, she ripped it open with her teeth and tumbled the ring of latex onto her palm. A gentle shove on Zakk’s shoulder gently, rolled him onto his back. “Mmm,” Kitty hummed. “Nice view.” Her hands caressed him as she slid the condom onto his hard cock, letting, enjoying the small moan of pleasure that accompanied her actions. It felt so good, she circled her fingers around his wide girth and squeezed, a soft pumping that made Zakk jerk his hips up off the bed.

“Oh shit, there goes slow,” he muttered as he spun her around and slammed her back down onto the bed, entering her in one strong, smooth sweep. “I swear I’ll get to it next time,” he added, his hips lifting and falling, driving into her hard and fast.

Kitty loved the glide of his cock, but even more she loved the power his sexual desire gave her. He said she drove him wild and he showed it was true. The sound of air rushing in and out of his lungs, his snarl of pleasure, the frantic dive and retreat of his hips, the sweat beading on his brow and turning his skin to wet silk, the heated scent of musk rising from his body—all combined into an erotic symphony that played on every nerve ending and pleasure center in her body. He groaned out her name and that added the final, perfect note. He knew who he was with and he wanted her. There was nothing more. She dissolved into a quaking, quivering orgasm that rocked the deepest, most unexplored center of her being.

Like a sympathetic explosion, her release triggered his and he arched against her, a shout of satisfaction torn from him, his body vibrating like a plucked string. He stayed that way, every muscle pulled tight for a long moment. At last he lifted his hips, rolled to the side of the bed and tugged the condom off. He dropped it into the waste-paper basket.

He lay back down beside her. With one arm pillowed behind his head, he wrapped the other around her to pull her into his side. “
Next
time we’ll take it slow.”

The glow of great sex surrounded Kitty, and for a moment she was happy to just lie there, feeling content and desired…and hot and sticky. She wriggled, the wet glide of skin on skin not quite so sexy now that their frenzy of sexual need had temporarily abated.

“I need a shower,” she said.

“I’d come with you,” Zakk said, “but I think I’d better stay here and recoup my energy instead.” He grinned at her. “You wore me out, woman. I’m not eighteen anymore. Not that I ever got a chance to do three in a row then, either. I just reckon I could have.”

He stretched, and, even though Kitty really didn’t think she could face another bout of sex at the moment, her mouth still went dry as she watched the play of shadows from the slanted light from the bathroom falling across the muscles on his chest and stomach.

Kitty retreated while she still had the strength of will. In the shower the warm water washed away some of the aches. When she emerged from the bathroom wrapped in her light robe, Zakk was waiting for her in the doorway of the bedroom. He leaned forward and sniffed appreciatively. “Hmm. You smell lovely. All soft and womany.”

“Womany, huh,” Kitty snorted.

“It’s a word,” Zakk replied with mock dignity. “It means sweet and lovely and very, very sexy. Like you.”

He reached down and planted a swift kiss on her lips, then stalked unconcernedly naked and semi-erect into her bathroom. Kitty slumped onto the side of her bed and sat there, not sure what she should do next and positive she didn’t have the energy to do it.

The sound of off-key singing emerged from the bathroom over the splash of running water. A smile curved her lips. It amused her that he sang badly but had the confidence or the sheer delight in life to do it anyway.

When he came back to the bedroom, he pulled her into his arms and tugged her back onto the bed with him. “Come here, you.” He nuzzled her neck. “One last kiss with the most womany woman in the world. Then I really should leave. It’s late.”

“Stay,” she asked. “I’ll make you breakfast.”

“An offer too good to refuse,” he replied. “And, after a good night’s sleep, I’ll have lots of excess energy to burn off…”

He chuckled and Kitty gave herself up to his embrace, snuggling in as he spooned behind her. His erection nudged against her. He was abstaining from initiating another bout of sex, not because he couldn’t handle it, but out of consideration for her. Zakk, her handsome, considerate lifesaving hero—the perfect man. A perfect man who wanted
her
. With a deep sigh of contentment, wrapped in his arms, she fell asleep.

* * * *

When she awoke, the sun was shining through the window, the bright light making everything sharp and clear. Before last night she’d have scurried over to close the blinds, cut out the light, reduce the room to gloom so that Zakk would not see her flaws and signs of age… But not now. Now she felt confident, ready to face the sun and accept herself the way Zakk accepted her—as she was.

She smiled and rolled over onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows, and looked at the man lying face down next to her. The sheet had been kicked to the bottom of the bed, leaving his perfect, tight buttocks on display for her to study at her leisure.

A white line marked where his bronzed back gave way to the strip of skin covered by his swimwear. Before she was aware of making the movement, she’d reached out and traced the mark. Instantly, Zakk twitched and rolled over.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to wake you.” Sliding out of bed, she picked up the robe Zakk had tossed to the floor last night. “I’m going to make coffee, and I promised you breakfast.”

“You did,” Zakk replied, “but it can wait.
I
promised you I’d be recovered by morning. And you did wake me up. You’ll have to pay for that.”

With one quick tug on her hand, he tumbled her back into bed and the robe hit the floor again. The long lingering kiss he pressed to her mouth removed any thought of breakfast.

He slid his mouth down her body, kissing as he went. “What are you doing?” Kitty asked.

Zakk looked up, his chin on her naked stomach and a smile spread across his face. “Seeing if you taste womany too. I was going to do it last night, but you’d had enough, so I saved it up for morning.” His dark eyes sobered for a moment. “Are you okay for this, Kitty? Not too sore?”

She stretched a little and felt a twinge or two, but they were pleasant twinges, reminders of time very well spent. “No. I’m not too sore.”

“Good.” His grin got wider. “Just scream when you’ve had enough.”

And scream she did. Zakk’s tongue and teeth worked in perfect synchronicity to turn her into a quivering shaking mass of melted female. If being womany brought her to this, then she was all for it.

Before the quivering subsided, Zakk donned a condom and slid smoothly inside her. And this time it was slow. Slow and leisurely, punctuated by soft, tender kisses and long, languid strokes. Instead of a wild rush to orgasm, they climbed steadily, looking into each other’s eyes, watching the tension build, feeding off each other’s pleasure.

When her climax hit, it was a deep throb that seemed to go on and on, with Zakk’s lips fastened to hers, his body pulsing out his release at the same time.

Their bodies stilled and they lay with Zakk’s head resting in the crook of her neck, their hands clasped, fingers linked on the pillow either side of her head.

After a long moment, he lifted his weight from her and sighed. “I wanted to stay for breakfast, Kitty. I intended to. But I have surf patrol this morning and we just used up any extra time I had.” He pushed himself upwards. “I’ll have another shower here, if you don’t mind, then I’ll have to rush home, get changed and get down to the beach.”

“Yes, of course,” she said.

He got out of bed and walked away. Kitty told herself to get up, to do something, but she lay there another couple of minutes. Then she heard the bathroom door open and she forced herself out of bed, pulled the much mistreated robe back on once more and walked out to find Zakk in the living room gathering up his clothes. He turned his pants back the right way out and, as he did so, a pile of square condom packets fell out of the pocket.

“You had some anyway,” Kitty noted.

Zakk bent and gathered them up. “I knew damn well what I had in mind and came prepared for it.” He smiled at her. “I just wasn’t prepared for the way you’d make me lose my senses. And then later… I wasn’t going to leave you and get out of bed to get these when there was a box right there.”

He looked at the little pile in his hand. “I was going to say I’d leave these here, but it occurs to me that any time I’m with you, the need for these could—ahem—
arise
in an instant. I think it might be safer to carry these with me at all times.”

“Even in your bathers?” Kitty asked with a grin.

“Only if you’re going to be at the beach again today,” he replied.

“Not today,” she said. “I have things to do, and I wouldn’t want to distract you from your duty.”

“And you would,” he agreed. “If you were anywhere on that beach, I’d be constantly watching for you instead of keeping my eye out for people in trouble.”

“Speaking as one of the people in trouble you have rescued, I don’t want to be responsible for you not keeping your mind on the job. Go do what you have to.”

He kissed her again, and pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I’m on duty all day. I’ll call you when I can.”

“You do what you have to do,” Kitty repeated, returning the kiss.

“I’ll see you soon, though, okay?” Zakk said as he bent to tie his shoes. He straightened and headed for the door. “And next time I
will
stick around for that breakfast.”

He pulled the door shut behind him, and Kitty leaned against the sofa, feeling like a whirlwind had rushed through her life, shaking it up, changing it round and leaving her not sure she recognized herself.

She bent to pick up her new dress. Okay, maybe everything would have still happened without it, and maybe she hadn’t needed to shell out two weeks’ salary to ensure Zakk’s enthusiasm, but she smoothed out the creases and hung it in her closet with the greatest of care. Regardless of how much the dress had contributed to what happened last night—and this morning—she would always treasure it for its link to one of the most exciting, wonderful times of her life.

With Zakk gone, Kitty went about her normal routine. Every time she stretched to put something away and her clothes pulled tight against her skin, she thought of Zakk’s hands and mouth touching her. Before she threw the sheets in the washer, she buried her face in the crumpled white bundle and inhaled the intoxicating aroma of him that clung to the fine white cotton.

While eating a sandwich for lunch she wondered what she would have made him for breakfast and thought about what she needed to buy to make sure that next time—and she knew for certain there would be a next time—she could feed him something appropriate for the physical life he led.

Sitting at the kitchen table, she stared dreamily out of the window, wondering what he was doing at the beach. Had he had to rescue anyone? Was he watching the sun-gilded bodies of attractive twenty-year-old girls? The idea didn’t disturb her as it once would have. He’d been on beach patrol for a long time, but last night he had been with her—not because he’d had no choice but because he’d wanted to be.

After lunch Kitty told herself she had to snap out of it. Mooning over Zakk, letting thoughts of him occupy a part of every moment, was something a teenage girl dreaming over her first boyfriend would do. It wasn’t the behavior of a mature woman who had once been married. She considered visiting one of the local tourist spots, but she couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for catching a train and wandering the streets of a new place by herself.

Instead she stretched out on the sofa with a book. The exertions of the night caught up with her and she slept. When she awoke, it was after seven and the sun had begun to set. There were things to do, work to prepare for, any number of things that did
not
include sitting around dreamily, thinking of Zakk.

Her self-congratulations were cut short by the ring of her phone. She leaped into the air and raced to grab her handbag. Damn it, why hadn’t she put the phone on the fridge or the table or somewhere intelligent where she could get to it? And why was her bag always such a mess?

After a frantic search, she pushed the answer button. “Hello.” The word emerged as a breathy huff of air.

“Kitty?” Zakk sounded hesitant. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said, still struggling for breath. What was she going to tell him?
I’m all puffed out because I leaped over the lounge and ran to the bedroom because I really hoped it was you.
How desperate would that sound? “I was, um, exercising,” she lied. It was only a little lie. Running was exercise.

“I hope you don’t mind my ringing,” Zakk said. “I’m still down at the surf club. I just needed to hear your voice. ”

His words washed over her in a golden glow like warm honey. “I wanted to hear your voice, too,” she replied. “The beach isn’t far away. Maybe you’d like to come over.”

“I would love it, but I can’t.” He heaved a sigh that seemed to come from the depths of his spirit. “I’m going to be stuck here for a while yet, and when I get away it’ll be too late.”

Images of surf club parties and wild goings-on flashed into Kitty’s brain. Wollongong was his city, the surf club the hub of his leisure time. Of course he had a social life that didn’t include her. “It’s okay, I understand,” she said, keeping her voice neutral.