Love in the Time of Zombies (18 page)

His
mouth curved, pleased even though he was about to break that trust.  “Did
you?”  His hand left her arm and slid south.

She
swallowed, knowing here his palm was headed.  “This is a bad idea.”

“You
always say that about my ideas.”

“And
I’m always right.”  But she wasn’t pushing him away.

“I
won’t go beyond third base.”  He wouldn’t have to in order to mate with her. 
“Just relax and you can go back to being right tomorrow.”  His palm slipped
under the edge of her skirt.  “You don’t have to do anything but feel good.”

Her
felt her breathing get even faster.  She still didn’t say no.

Zeke
pushed a little further.  He never would’ve gotten anywhere with this woman if
he wasn’t a pushy sort of guy.  His hand slid upward.  “It’s dark in here.” 
Which didn’t mean much to a shifter, but she didn’t know that.  “I drew all the
blinds.  We’re thirty-some stories up.  I have the door blocked with a chair,
so we won’t be interrupted.  You can keep your clothes on, even.”  His lips
found the back of her neck.  “Everything is safe.  Let me play with what I
won.”

She
made a soft sound and rubbed against his erection in that little undulation
that drove him insane with lust.

“That’s
a good girl.”  He reached the inside of her thigh and bit back a groan at the
heat of her.  Scotlyn’s legs shifted apart giving him better access.

…And
that was all Zeke needed.

His
whole body throbbed, remembering all the thousands and thousands of times he’d
seen her behind that damn desk and wanted her.  She was the every dream he’d
ever had amplified to the highest degree.  No way in hell was he going to give
her a chance to change her mind.  It had taken the damn zombie apocalypse to
get this far.

His
fingers slid under the silky edge of her underwear --underwear that
his
money had provided-- brushing the hidden thatch of curls.  She was hot and damp
and Zeke had never felt anything so right.

Finally
he had her in his arms.

His
thumb found her tight knot of nerve endings and she drew in a quick breath. 
“This might change things between us, though.”  She bit her bottom lip.  “I
wouldn’t want that, Zeke.  Even when your drive me insane… you’re my best
friend.”

His
heart turned over.  “You’re my
only
friend.”  He nuzzled her hair.  “You’re
my only everything, Scotlyn.”

“But
what if you don’t feel that way after…? 
Oh.
”

He
started gently caressing her soft flesh and her whole body arched.  “I will
alway
s
feel that way, baby.”

“
Zeke
.” 
Scotlyn’s hand found his wrist, holding tight.  Not trying to push him away,
but keeping him right where she wanted him.

“I’m
not going anywhere.”  He made a soothing sound.  “Trust me, you’re going to get
everything you need.  You don’t ever have to worry about that.”  One finger
worked its way inside of her.

Christ
she was tight.

Her
head fell back against his shoulder in pleasure.  “Oh God, right
there
.”

Her
poor beautiful body was starved for some attention.  Which was just as well,
since Zeke would’ve killed any man who touched her.  For months, he’d been
quietly interceding anytime he saw another guy getting too close.  Staking his
claim.

His
teeth ground together.  “I’ve been dying for you.  I’ll
never
get
enough.”  He began working his finger in and out of her, and was rewarded with
a gasp.

“Oh
yes.”  Her grip on his wrist tightened, trying to bring him deeper.  “Harder.”

Zeke
deliberately did just the opposite.  “Noooo, I don’t think so.”

“Damn
it, you
promised
…”

“And
I’ll keep my word.”  He assured her.  “You’re gonna come all over my hand,
screaming my name.”

Her
answering whimper went straight to his groin.

Zeke
dipped his head to graze his teeth against her shoulder, wondering if he was
going to survive this.  “But, I’m pretty sure that I’m the boss, aren’t I?”

“Well,
that’s what it says on your door, but… Oh
God
.”  Her nails bit into his
skin as he moved his palm just a tiny bit faster.  “That is so unfair.”

“Talk
to OHSA.”

She
tried to draw him deeper and get more friction.  “Please, Zeke.”

That’s
what he wanted to hear.  “Every time I walked into the office and saw you
sitting there, I wanted this.  I wanted you to be mine.”

She
turned her head to meet his eyes.  “Then you should have
asked
.”

“You
would’ve said no.”

She
would say no to the mating, too, which was why Zeke wasn’t telling her about
it.  When it came to courting Scotlyn Summerline Zeke’s philosophy could be summed
up in six simple words:  Better to ask forgiveness than permission.  He had one
shot at this before she came to her senses and realized she could do better for
a mate, even at the end of the world.

“If
you’d asked
nicely
, without the innuendo and wiseass remarks, I
would’ve…”  She trailed off with a small cry as a second finger slid home.  He
stopped the gentle motion and just kept them there, filling her.  “Oh please,
oh please, oh please.”  She chanted, trying to make him resume his thrusting. 
“
Please,
Zeke.”

“I’m
asking nicely.”  He licked her ear.  “Will you be mine?”

“What?” 
She sounded delirious.

“Do
you accept me as your mate?”  His thumb rubbed her knot of desire.  At the same
time, he slowly spread his fingers deep inside of her.

Scotlyn
gave a shriek.  “
Yes
.”  The answer was immediate and desperate. 
“Anything you want.  Please just let me finish.  I’ve never been so close with
another person…”  She broke off, flushed and befuddled.  “I mean… I’ve never… with
anyone.”

Zeke
paused.  “Never?”  Shit, he’d known she was a nice girl, but that was just
amazing.  “Why not?”  It didn’t make any sense.

She
frowned as if the answer was obvious. “I’ve been waiting for the kind of man
I’d marry, of course.”

She
wanted someone special.

Zeke’s
jaw clenched, his whole body stilling.

Green
eyes turned to meet his in the darkness.  “Are you going to stop?”  She sounded
heartbroken.

“Hell,
no.”

If
anything her words washed away any lingering hesitation he might have had about
taking her for himself.  The girl couldn’t survive in this new hellhole of a
world alone.  Jesus, it was a miracle she’d survived in the last one.  Marking
her would at least show the other assholes out there that she belonged to a
shifter who would kill the first man to even look at her.  Mating with Scotlyn
kept her safe.

Damn,
that was a good argument to pull out when she inevitably started screaming
about… He’d have to… With the…

Zeke
lost his train of thought as she tilted her head back to smile at him.

Oh
Jesus, she was sweet.

His
hand started moving more aggressively, tunneling through flesh no one else had
ever touched.  Every other man in the world was out of luck.  He would
never
give her up to some perfect, “special” jackass.

The
woman was his.

She
rode his palm, meeting his invasion with a dazed moan.  “I knew you could do
this for me.”  She sounded disorientated and
soooo
close, now.  “I
wake-up sometimes and I’m so tight.  I want to call you, because I’m
aching
and if you were just there to touch me I
know
I could…”

“Why
didn’t you?”  Zeke interrupted.  He would’ve been at her apartment so fast he
would’ve broken the sound barrier.

“Because…” 
She trailed off, trying to focus through her passion.  “I couldn’t think of how
I could
ever
ask something like that.”

His
mouth curved at that adorably puritanical answer.  “The vampire women control
mating.”  Zeke pressed his erection against her, letting her feel how much he
wanted her and her body quivered.  “They pick out an unattached male and say
‘pleasure me’ and he pretty much has to do what they say.”

“That…
doesn’t seem… fair to the men.”

“And
yet I have
never
heard a vampire male complain about it.”

Scotlyn’s
body was soaked and yielding, as she opened for him completely.  Her hips moved
against the length of him.  “Pleasure me.”  She whispered seductively.

Christ
yes.
 
No wonder the idiot vamps were so attached to their system.

“I
will just as soon as you say the words, baby.”  He moved his hand, determined
to be the one and only man who’d ever bring her to completion.  “Say, ‘I accept
Ezekiel Macready, now and forever.’”

“Wait,
why am I saying…?”

“Because
I want to hear it.”

Because
he
needed
to hear it.  He was going to explode just from the feel of her
and the sound of the words.  He didn’t feel an ounce of shame about it,
either.  There had never been a male shifter that didn’t come during the
ritual.  He’d never fully understood why until now.  “Say it, baby.”

“I
accept you.”  Every word was a pant of desire.

“The
whole thing.”  That would make it binding under pack law.  Or at least as
binding as mating with a human could be.  “Scream it for me.”  He twisted his
hand and her whole body bowed.

“
I
accept Zeke Macready!
  I do, I do, I
do
.  Now and forever, Zeke!  Oh
God!
”  She exploded and it felt better than anything he’d ever
experienced.  Her body rippled around him in scorching wet waves and Zeke found
his own release.

“
Scotlyn
.” 
The sweatpants were ruined.  He didn’t care.

Zeke
let out a roar of triumph and knew he’d just beat the house.  He’d won the
grand fucking prize and no one could take her away.  He’d cheated to do it. 
Preyed on her innocence of his kind and world.  He’d had to kill zombies and
nearly die.  But, he was mated to this woman and that meant
everything
to him. 
Scotlyn
meant everything.

She
was his person.

All
his life, the pack had called him a dreamer and this crazy human was his greatest
dream of all.  For a man who tried not to need anybody, he was tied to this
girl so completely it scared him.  Actually, no.  It was the idea of being
un
tied
that scared him.  Of Scotlyn not needing him back.  Of wanting to be free.

He
would be nothing without her.  Just an empty shell.

She
collapsed against the bed, replete and drowsy.  “Wow.”  She whispered.

“Told
ya so.”  Zeke yanked the pants off and tossed them aside.  “If you’d listened
to me, we could’ve been doing this from the very first day.”

“If
I’d listened to you, I would’ve been arrested for indecent exposure at least a
dozen times so far.”  She shifted so she was curled up against his side, facing
him, and leaned up to give him a gentle kiss.

Zeke
suddenly wanted to cry.  No one had ever been gentle with him or cuddled
against him with total trust.

Just
Scotlyn.

Guilt
swamped him.  Christ, he really had tricked her into this.  On her own, she
wouldn’t have chosen him.  She’d trusted him and he’d taken advantage.  But, he
needed her so badly there weren’t words for it.  Zeke said the only thing that
came close to a shifter.

“I
accept Scotlyn Summerline.”  His mouth brushed against hers.  “Now and forever.”

The
ritual was complete.

It
wasn’t enough.

She
gave him a drowsy smile and tucked her head beneath his chin, closing her
eyes.  She fell asleep in his arms and Zeke had
almost
everything he
wanted.  Scotlyn was warm and soft and belonged to him according to every law
of his kind….

Except
she
wasn’t
one of his kind.

She
was much, much better.

And
she wanted someone special.

Bright side
to the zombie apocalypse:

Could’ve
been worse.  Could’ve been Godzilla.

Whoever
had been staying the hotel room when the zombie invasion began left a whole
suitcase full of clothes.  The business attire wasn’t really Zeke’s style, but
a guy couldn’t be too picky during the End of Days.  He didn’t bother to button
his new white shirt as he answered the arrogant knock on the door.  “What
now?”  He demanded when he saw who was standing on the other side.

“We
need to talk.”  Joseff said.

“Since
you arrested me, I think I have a right to lawyer first.”

“All
the lawyers are dead.  It’s the best part of this whole ordeal.”  Joseff looked
passed Zeke to where Scotlyn was sleeping on the bed.  “Or, for you,
one
of the best parts, I suppose.”