Page 30 of Sweet Tooth
Maybe seeing that I didn’t understand, not really, he continued. “The thing was, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. I figured why not see the world a bit first. If I’d really given up that much, why not take a risk.”
“But it worked.”
He grinned. “Hell yeah it worked. Worked better than I even hoped for. I was a new man. Happy. I didn’t want to leave.”
“Why did you?”
“You really don’t know?” His voice was hushed as he used his thumb to brush a curl off my face.
I swallowed thickly. “Zane, there are things you don’t know about me, about Paul.”
“Him coming today, you mean?”
I nodded. “I left in a hurry. We’d been on and off for months. The only reason we stayed together, for me at least, was Parker. Anyway, I found a new place outside of town, a fixer-upper I could actually afford. Then I called up Tamara and the moving company moved everything in a day.”
“Why’s he back now?”
“Parker – so he says,” I said bitterly. “But I know him. He barely gave Parker a second glance. It’s the same as always with Paul; he wants money. Plain and simple. And he won’t go away until he gets it.”
The admission out, I sunk back onto the bed, tears blurring my vision.
What was I going to do now? I had no money to give Paul. And if he tried to get into Parker’s life, I was going to lose my shit.
Zane broke my reverie: “He comes back, you call me up. Ok?”
“But Zane, this isn’t your problem.”
“I mean it.” His voice had a harsh edge. “I’m not going to let him hurt or mess with you or Parker. It’s not going to happen.”
When I turned to Zane, his eyes held a coldness, a fury that I’d never seen before. Knowing that it was out of protectiveness for Parker and me set butterflies off in my stomach.
“Now kiss me,” he said harshly, bringing my face to his.
He didn’t have to ask me twice. All the pent-up nerves and desire bloomed to the surface as he kissed his way down my torso.
As his lips and hands parted my legs, all tension fell away. Sensation took its stead.
Zane’s expert mouth kissed and nibbled its way around my upper thighs, over my pussy.
I trembled, and Zane’s finger joined in too.
His settled a wet kiss on my clit at the same time his fingers massaged me. I throbbed with the heat and the want and his kisses.
Uncontrollable tremors took over as he lapped and massaged worked my clit in quick circles, bringing me ever closer to the edge.
He slid his finger inside me, and I groaned. Fuck was that good.
Butterflies of pleasure were swooping out in all directions. With Zane’s pulsing finger and his lapping tongue, he was building, slowly, painstakingly. More than enough.
I came with a shudder, crying out. But Zane wasn’t finished yet – far from it.
Not with how his finger had picked up the pace and his lips has joined in too.
Until I realized that the shrieking was mine and I was coming, gloriously, fully, wonderfully coming again and again.
And then he was holding me, stroking me.
“I’ll never let anyone harm you again, Jess. You understand?” was the last thing I heard him say as I dozed off.
18
Zane
At work the next day, I couldn’t goddamn concentrate. It was almost launch date for our Smarty Pen update and I couldn’t fucking concentrate.
Not with last night replaying in my head. The way Jess had cried out as she’d come. How ridiculously beautiful she’d looked, wearing the golden frog pendant I’d given her so many years ago.
Finally, the most important emails answered, and meetings scheduled, I gave up. I got out my phone.
Christmas is coming up… Anything you want?
Seconds later, my phone was buzzing with a reply: You there. Celebrating with us.
I put my phone away and started pacing. Shit – how had she landed on the one thing I’d been hoping for myself? The image of the three of us on her couch, laughing, smiling as Parker ripped open another present, flickered in my mind temptingly before I shook it away.
My phone buzzed again.
Too soon? Jess’s text asked.
Not at all, I texted her back. And tonight?
Tonight, I’m taking him over to Tam’s. But tomorrow?
Tomorrow.
Putting my phone away, I started walking. Already, my mind was buzzing with possibility. I couldn’t remember Jess mentioning whether she had board games but bringing one to play with Parker tomorrow wouldn’t hurt.
I knew Jess liked them; we’d had our fair share of dates at board game cafes. As I walked, I looked in the stores I passed but nothing jumped out at me as anything suitable.
Only when I stopped, did I realize what I’d been looking for.
There it was – the perfect ring. Sitting in the window, waiting for me. As if it had been made specifically for me.
