Surrender to Temptation (19 page)

“How do I open the garage door?” I pressed the button and the car rumbled to life. My foot on the brake, I shifted the car into first. Beside me Zach tensed, but after a deep breath forced his muscles to relax.

“It's a motion sensor. Just start going.” I eased off the brake, and once the vehicle had started moving, the garage door opened in front of us. The pale lemon color of midmorning light made me blink.

I watched Zach from the corner of my eye as I maneuvered the sleek vehicle out of the garage and onto the street. His jaw clenched when I shifted from first to second too quickly and the car jerked forward, jolting us back in our seats.

“I'm sorry.” Though this was what I had wanted, to take this trip, just the two of us, I felt my nerves begin to fray as the pressure between us grew.

I didn't want to abuse the precious trust that Zach had given me. I'd drive like a little old lady from Florida the entire way, if that was what it took to encourage him through this gigantic step.

“Don't apologize. You haven't done anything wrong.” Zach leaned back in his seat, turning to stare out the passenger's-side window rather than straight ahead. Though he seemed to be the picture of nonchalance, there was still an underlying tension in the way he held himself, one I could detect only because of the vast amount of time I had spent studying his body.

Those muscles relaxed a bit as we made it down Market Street and through the busy downtown core without incident. I thought about turning some music on, but was stymied by the dash that looked like it could launch a space shuttle. Zach seemed content with the silence, and I would do whatever it took to keep the peace during this trip.

Turning the signal light to indicate that I was exiting onto the 101, I heard a growl from beside me. Taking my eyes off the road for a moment, I found that Zach had gone rigid in his seat and was shaking his head.

“Not the 101. No.” His voice was fully channeled from his dominant side, but I heard the ice that coated it. “Take Highway 1. You have to take Highway 1.”

He reached over from his seat and curled his fingers around the wheel. Fear shot through me in a searing bolt.

“Zach! Stop it!” I stomped on the brake without thinking to shift down, and the car shuddered.

My heart rate slowed a hint when he pulled his hand back and I realized that he hadn't done any more than touch the wheel.

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.” His eyes were wide and not a bit wild when I dared look his way. I shivered, at a loss.

“It's . . . it's okay. Just . . . maybe close your eyes. We'll take the coast. You just can't do that again, all right? You scared me.” Bleakly Zach nodded, then deliberately reclined his seat and shut his eyes. I drove on, forgoing the exit that would take us to the 101, a much shorter drive than the one along Highway 1.

It wasn't long before hints of the ocean began to glimmer on my right, like shards of blue jewels welcoming the sun as it moved across the sky. I couldn't appreciate the wonder of the water as I normally did, however, preoccupied as I was with Zach.

“Shit.” I muttered the word under my breath as I glanced over and saw that, though he had positioned himself for sleep, the rigidity of his body wasn't letting it happen.

What happened to you, poor baby?
He had made it clear that I couldn't ask. Not knowing and still trying to accommodate the issue, however, was a challenge akin to creating a work of art without the benefit of eyesight.

The man took overwhelming control over everything in his life, and something in me thrilled to it. I found myself at loose ends in this situation, in which our roles had somehow become reversed.

The silence became less dense as the minutes passed, then a half hour, an hour. The smooth movement of the sports car had lulled Zach to sleep finally, his breathing light and shallow beside me. I felt myself relax as well, the boulders of my shoulder muscles softening as the pressure to put Zach at ease ceased.

Five hours into the drive, I dared to press some of the buttons on the panel in search of music. I managed to bring up a satellite station, and, with the volume low, grinned when I recognized the tenor rasp of Steve Perry and Journey.

“When the lights go down, in the city.” I grinned and sang along softly, feeling the last bit of my tension drain away and elation take its place.

Zach had done this for me. We were going for a weekend alone in my favorite place in the world.

For the next few days, we had nothing to do but focus on each other. The thought of just how he might focus on me made me shiver with delight.

“So you said, you're lonely.” In the rearview mirror I saw a massive semitruck coming up behind the car rather quicker than I was comfortable with. Frowning, I signaled and changed lanes, grumbling a bit at the impatient driver.

Adrenaline hit hot and fast when the solid length of the truck, now even with the tiny sports car, began to drift into our lane.

“Fuck!” Slamming on the brakes and downshifting hard, I laid on the horn with my elbow. Zach jolted awake beside me with a shout, and I felt his arm fling across my chest, a gesture designed to protect as I wrestled the car to the shoulder of the highway and forced the car into park.

Ahead of us, the truck jolted back into its own lane as if the driver had drifted off and the sound of the horn had woken him up. The pair of us sat there for a long moment, panting as we gathered our composure.

“Holy shit.” I turned to face Zach with wide eyes. “I am so sorry. So sorry. He came out of nowhere. That's so not what you needed. I—”

Zach grabbed my face in his hands and pulled me to him for a rough, hot kiss. I moaned beneath his assault, trying to move closer to his seat and seething with frustration when I found myself held in place by the seat belt.

My lips felt swollen when he pulled back. Those dark eyes of his scanned my face rapidly, searching for something.

“Find a safer place to pull over.” The tension in his voice was like ice.

Guilt and nerves made my movements jerky as I slowly pulled back into traffic. From the corner of my eye I could see that Zach was gripping the sides of his seat, his knuckles white as snow. His face was set in a pained grimace.

My heart sank. Changing lanes, I spotted a rest stop not far ahead. My own hands shaking, I pulled over into it, out of the direct flow of traffic.

When I turned off the ignition, Zach released the long, shuddering breath that he had been holding.

I furrowed my brow, confused, then distracted when he reached over and unfastened my seat belt.

“Zach, it's okay. Maybe we should call Charles to come get us.” After the near miss, I would be fine with anything that eased Zach's anguish.

Instead, he barked out a laugh and hauled me from my seat and onto his lap.

“I promised you a weekend alone.” Before I could reply, my lips were teased apart by his tongue as Zach thoroughly sampled my mouth.

The tart burst of desire that I felt when his lips pressed to mine flowed into my blood, whooshed through my veins, made my hands tingle and my stomach burn.

My heart began to pound as a realization washed over me.

This beautiful creature, this man, had chosen
me
. Me, even if just for right now.

It was a powerful reckoning, a benediction.

Zach laced his fingers through mine, capturing first one hand and then two, crushing them between the soft flesh of my breasts and the hard planes of his chest.

I was lost. As I was crushed tightly to him, my mind briefly took me to the first moment I had seen Zach, and how much I wanted him right from that instant. Then all thought was drowned, swallowed whole in a vaporous quicksand of something more intense than simple lust. It sweetened the air in that tiny, enclosed space, drugging me and, I think, him with its perfume.

My breath whooshed out of my lungs when his mouth moved from my own to whisper a kiss over the curve of my neck, sending shivers running down my spine.

A passing semitruck honked loudly. Neither of us jumped or jerked away. But it was a reminder of where we were and what we were doing.

My attention was caught on the hand he'd clutched in his, where his palm was surprisingly rough for someone who wielded such authority and strength in the boardroom. Thick pads of skin scraped my own smaller, softer fingers as they explored, traced, and memorized my curves.

Though we had been together countless times now, I still couldn't quite believe I was here. It felt like the very best of dreams.

“I want you now.” Zach teased as he playfully pulled me closer. “Here, where anyone could see us.”

I made a face that betrayed my nervousness, a face that was quickly kissed away.

Then he groaned, and a surge of triumph shot through me.

I pressed hard against him, twining myself tightly around the ropy muscles of his chest. I gasped when, with a movement so smooth I didn't even know how it had happened, I found myself straddling his lap, pressed tightly to him, face buried in his neck.

“Sorry.” His voice was muffled against the heated, sensitive flesh of my collarbone as he tasted, the rough expanse of his tongue ratcheting up my excitement with each stroke. “Not much room to maneuver in here.”

Adjusting myself, I reached down with my left hand, groped blindly for the lever that would recline the seat. I found it, yanked, and the jolt of the seat as it fell backward pressed the soft center of my heat against a hardness that I couldn't imagine I'd caused.

For one long, ragged minute we stared at each other, the tawny gold of his eyes swallowing my cobalt blue. I imagined that the gold of his gaze was reflected back to him in my own.

We came together like lovers separated for years, the heat between us burning away any remaining awkwardness. I was spellbound, pulled under by the sexy rasp of breath, the intimate friction of rubbing cloth, as our small cries were swallowed by the other in the steamy confines of the car.

The pale light, the passing traffic, everything but the two of us seemed a million miles away. I lost my inhibitions along a stretch of highway along the Pacific coast. We were ensconced in our own little world, the only people left.

My soul sang under his caress.

His hand traced up the soft skin of my inner thigh unhampered, the cloth of my skirt having ridden up around the curve of my hips. I made a series of small, sharp cries when the tip of a finger traced the edge of my underwear, half on cloth, half on skin, and my hands raced down the muscled swath of his chest to clutch at his waist.

His hand moved mine to the buckle of his black pants. I drew in a breath as my fingers met the taut expanse of stomach.

I wanted more than I'd ever wanted in my life.

My hands shook as, instead of moving down, I moved up, fumbling as I coaxed the buttons of his shirt out of their holes.

It wasn't enough. When I slid a hand down his chest tentatively, he growled, fierce and animalistic, and rolled me until I was on my back. My shirt was tugged up midroll, the cotton catching on my sweat-dampened skin and pulling painfully. The expression of near reverence that he gave me at the sight of my breasts, plainly offered up in a simple black bra, erased the sting.

“I will never get tired of these.” Lunging, he buried his face where my flesh spilled out of the spandex-and-wire constraints. I bucked beneath the touch, tugging his shirt the rest of the way down his arms, and then, with a surge of renewed bravery, reaching for the buckle of his belt.

My knuckle grazed the hard ridge of flesh, and he inadvertently bit into me. I choked back a noise that was halfway to a scream and lost my grip. Soothing the sting with his tongue, he worked his hands between us and undid the fastenings with the quickness of familiarity. Without thinking about what I was doing, I tugged until his ankles were bound by cloth, and began to explore.

“Devon.” My name fell from his lips on a soft moan as I closed a triumphant fist around him. Hands shaking with visible need, Zach shoved up the cups of my bra without releasing the clasp, then cupped, pinched, and pulled. The pleasure and pain rushed over me in shades of deep pink and crimson.

I worked my bra the rest of the way over my head. “Exquisite.” He said as my breasts fell free. Their tips were so sensitized that one flick of his tongue over a tight peak tore that half scream from my throat again.

The scream cast me a lifeline in the tsunami of hormones and lust and intensity, waking me up from my sensual daze. I pinched his biceps to get his attention, even as I wound my legs as tightly as they would go around his waist, the weeping tip of his erection leaving a sticky trail across my inner thigh and nudging at the seam of cotton that covered my heat.

“Zach.” In return, he exhaled my name into my own mouth, his fingers dancing down my stomach. I pinched him again, this time at the waist. “Zach.”

Sex-hazed eyes blinked, cleared the tiniest bit.

“I don't want to have sex here.” His brow furrowed. I should, perhaps, have been worried about him being angry, but I wasn't. I knew he wouldn't hurt me.

Still, the creases along his brow deepened, then cleared as he nipped at my earlobe and gathered hold of himself. “All right. Let's move the car a few feet.” He grinned, and my womb clenched.

I loved it when he was playful.

“No.” Again my mouth was saying one thing, my grinding hips another. “No. Someone might see.”

There was a moment in which we both held still, frozen with the thin, icy sheen of uncertainty. He backed away, just a bit, and I was surprised at the ease with which he gave up.

He was a dominant man, one who always got what he wanted. So far I had found that what he wanted, I wanted too.

Swallowing my nerves, I banded my arms tightly around him, raked my nails roughly down the firm lines of his back. He grunted in pain, his eyes darkening again with want.

Biting my lip, I slid down in the seat while urging him up. The first taste of him on my tongue was like the stinging bite of a shot of vodka. Surprising at first, but addictive. Mouthwatering, powerful.