as pale as ivory, and the delicate rainbow hues of the lotus blossoms stretching across her skin, he knew he was staring at the most amazing sight he’d ever seen.
His muscles shook and need gripped him, turned him into stone as he fought the urge to take, to savage.
“So fucking beautiful.” He stroked a hand up her thigh, over her hip. He danced his fingertips over the lines of the paint he’d swirled along her flesh before he captured her curls in his hand and tugged her closer.
Dipping his head, he took her mouth and this time, he didn’t care about the fact that the cut on his mouth split, didn’t care about the pain.
“Zach,” Abby whispered. “Your mouth . . .”
“I don’t give a damn.” Then he pulled back a little, stared down at her. “Do you?”
She twined an arm around his neck and tugged him closer. “No.”
* * *
As Zach covered her mouth with his again, Abigale was almost certain she’d just die from the pleasure of it.
Where had this been . . . all of her life? Where had he been? Except he’d been right here . . . and this hadn’t ever happened.
She tried to tug him closer, but he kept the distance between them. “No . . . I want to see that on you . . . again.”
For a second, she didn’t know what he meant and then she felt his fingers tracing along her belly, her hip, back up over the lines of her breast and the look on his face was like nothing she’d ever experienced. It was a memory she’d carry forever. The way he looked at her . . . the way he watched her. She looked down, watched as he traced his way across the blossoms crossing her chest. Even as he swiveled his hips and drove his cock inside her, his touch was gentle, so damned gentle.
Involuntarily, she clamped down around him, twisting against him. She felt him swell, felt him stiffen and then he groaned, reaching for her thighs and hooking his elbows under her knees, drawing her close . . . opening her. She sucked in a breath as it forced her weight up back, until she was balancing on her hips and her hands as he surged inside her, so deep, so full. The ridge of his cock throbbed and swelled, stroking over sensitive, delicate tissues and she cried out at the sheer, utter bliss of it.
“Abby . . .”
Forcing her eyes open, she sought out his gaze.
And he was staring at her. Like he saw nothing else. Nobody else.
Dazed, she surged, desperate to get closer. He moved faster, closer . . . still taking care not to press his body to hers, but she felt surrounded by him. Not close enough—
With a breathless cry, she sobbed out his name and exploded, coming with a desperate sob.
And he wasn’t far behind.
Chapter Seventeen
He took the next day off. There was only so much he could get done with the repairs and shit on a Sunday anyway. Abby wasn’t around—she had a wedding to cater and he was so sore, so damned sore, it hurt to move. Why in the hell was today even worse than the past two days? Unless of course it was because he was pushing it so hard, and that was entirely possible. Not that he’d mention it to Abby because she’d absolutely say I told you so.
All in all, it was a wise, wise decision, because he spent most of that day in more agony than he cared to think about. Between hot baths, a couple of narcotic-induced naps, and a lot of cussing and swearing, he made it through.
But he wasn’t happy about it.
One thing that distracted him was thinking about the conversation he planned to have with Keelie that night. He wasn’t going in to work. He wasn’t going in to do a damned thing except talk to her.
It was a conversation that was past due, he figured.
Sebastian was nosing around in his business. Granted, brothers did that, but still, enough was enough.
Keelie, she was like a kid sister to him and had been since they’d met six or seven years ago. But again . . . enough was enough.
Sundays were their shortest business day and he waited until five thirty before he headed over. Javi would be hanging around until Keelie left, because they weren’t doing this shit anymore. Nobody was going to be in the shop alone from