Zach met Kiera by the front door a few minutes later. She’d changed into blue jeans and a much less sparkly top. She’d removed the little gems from her face, but as she turned to open the door, the light caught a glimmer of something near the outside corner of her eye. He looked closer. She’d missed one. But he didn’t tell her. He loved it. All night long he’d look at it and think about how she’d put those on for him.
As Zach maneuvered out of her neighborhood and onto the main street, he felt what could only be called anticipation. He was excited about his surprise for her. He hadn’t felt that way in a long time.
“You know, when I called you earlier, it was for a reason,” Kiera said after a few minutes.
He looked over. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “I know I don’t open up or get close to people easily, and I know that bothers you, so I was going to tell you part of the reason why.”
Zach squeezed the steering wheel. She was about to tell him something personal. On her own. In fact, she’d called him earlier to do that. It was ridiculous how happy he was about this. And how pissed he was that he hadn’t been able to talk earlier.
“Okay,” he said easily, not letting on how much he wanted this.
“My mom and dad were both writers. My mom’s a songwriter, Dad’s a novelist. They both worked at home and needed to be alone and have peace and quiet. So when I was little, I spent a lot of time playing quietly in my room, with my books and my toys and my imagination.” She gave a soft laugh. “It’s also why I like cereal so much. I could get that for myself so I ate a lot of it.”
Zach scowled at the road. “They just left you alone?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t feel alone. I could always hear Dad’s typewriter and Mom’s guitar. I liked my imaginary world. I didn’t know any different.”
“But you had to feed yourself? Entertain yourself? Stay in your room?” he asked, a streak of anger moving through him.
“They didn’t force me to stay in my room. I liked it there. I had a TV in there. I’ve watched a million movies and I’ve seen every Looney Tunes cartoon a hundred times. There’s nothing better than Looney Tunes, I don’t care what you say.”
Jesus, she was trying to make him feel better, Zach realized.
“You didn’t have any real friends?” he asked. “Neighborhood kids or something?” The anger was now building.
“We lived on twenty acres. Far from anyone else. It kept things quiet.”
Kiera glanced over. Zach was sure she could see that he was gritting his teeth. Her parents had neglected her, and she was trying to convince him she’d liked it. She hadn’t had friends growing up, hadn’t hung out with anyone but animated characters, but it was okay? No, it wasn’t fucking okay.
“What about when you went to school?” he asked.
She was quiet for a moment, and Zach looked over, wondering if she was going to answer. Kiera was staring out the side window. But she pulled in a deep breath and said, “I still spent a lot of time alone. I liked the kids in the books I read more than most of the kids I met at school. I would sit on the playground and read my book every day, and I was fine. No one bullied me; no one made fun of me. They just left me alone. Until one day in third grade, this little blond girl sat down next to me at lunch with the same book I was reading and told me I was going to be her best friend.”
Zach let the quiet moment pass but then said, “And?”
Kiera glanced over with a sad smile. “And then we were. She just sat there next to me at recess every day reading. It was a low-maintenance relationship for several months.”
“That’s all you did with your best friend?” he asked, unable to even fathom being quiet and alone that much.
“At first. But no, we eventually starting doing more. Talking. Spending time together. We were inseparable from third grade until about three years ago.”
Zach cared about this. A lot. He cared that Kiera hadn’t had doting parents, he cared that she’d sat alone at recess, he cared that something had happened with her best friend three years ago. And it struck him that Kiera might need a little fixing too.
“What happened three years ago?” he asked gently.
“She chose a controlling asshole over her best friend,” Kiera said flatly.
Zach looked over quickly. “This was the friend who hooked up with your ex?”
She nodded.
Zach blew out a breath. If nothing else, she needed to see that people wanted to be around her—hell, craved being around her. That she was important to people, and that at least one person was finding himself completely consumed by her. Damn, he was glad he’d chosen to surprise her tonight.
“I’m just trying to help you see that it’s not you,” Kiera went on. “I’m not used to having people around all the time and paying attention to everything I do. You’re not failing me or anything, Zach. This is just me. I wanted you to know that.”
And now she was trying to comfort him about all of this. He almost laughed. Well, he wasn’t going to let her keep thinking she was insignificant.
He relaxed his grip on the wheel. “Tell you what, Princess. I appreciate you looking out for me, but you don’t have to do that.”
Kiera shifted on the seat so she was facing him. “Really? Who looks out for you?”
He glanced over. “What? No one. I mean, my family and friends.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think anyone does. I think that the last time someone took care of you, he ended up dying, and now you feel like you can’t let anyone do it. And you’re determined to make his sacrifice worth it, so you throw yourself into taking care of everyone around you. And you see so many people hurt and sick and in bad situations that you never let yourself think that your problems and feelings are worth any attention.”
Zach felt his heart pounding through his whole body. He worked on breathing and driving, the two most essential things at the moment. He pulled into the parking lot of their destination five minutes later, choosing a spot away from the doors to the building and the rest of the cars. He shifted into park, took a big breath, and then turned to face her.
“That was a lot of insight from someone who doesn’t get involved in other people’s stuff.”
Kiera nodded. “I know. I can’t…help it with you. I tell myself I don’t want to be involved, but I find myself thinking about you all the time. And then when I learn more about you, I find more and more that I want to…”
He leaned in as she trailed off. He pinned her with a look. “You want to what? Run? Or get closer?”
She hesitated for a moment. Then nodded. “Yes.”
Zach felt relief and frustration wash over him at once. At least the desire to get closer was one of the things she was feeling. He nodded. “Fair enough. But you don’t have to worry about me, Kiera.”
She smiled. “Well, too bad, I guess.”
There was something about that, about her, that made him feel completely…humble. She worried about him. She thought about him. She cared about him. And she seemed resigned to continue to do all those things even though they scared her. The fact that she was doing them anyway got to him.
“We’re here,” he finally said, because he didn’t know what else to say.
She frowned, then looked out the window. He also liked that she’d been wrapped up in their conversation to the point that she hadn’t realized where they were.
“An arcade?” she asked, looking back at him.
He grinned. “Yep.”
“This is our surprise date?” she asked.
“Yep. Thought I should see what all the hype was about video games.”
In truth, he just wanted to take her someplace that would make her smile.
Kiera nodded slowly. “Okay. We’re going to game.”
“Yeah.” Zach got out of the truck and rounded the front bumper to pull her door open. She slid to the ground, and they walked into the arcade together, holding hands.
And as with the hugging, he wondered if he’d ever truly appreciated how great just holding hands could be. Once inside the door, they both looked around.
“Where do we start?” he asked.
“Over there, I think,” Kiera said, pointing to a long counter that had several large stuffed animals hanging on the wall behind it and additional toys and prizes in the glass case in front. They exchanged money for tokens and then headed for the games.
“What’s your favorite?” Zach asked.
“Uh…” She glanced from side to side. “Do they have Pac-Man?”
Zach looked down at her. Something seemed off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “I’ll bet they do.”
“Let’s find it.” She headed deeper into the arcade.
They did, indeed, have Pac-Man. And Ms. Pac-Man. And it took only two games of each for Zach to figure out what was going on.
He, predictably, sucked at the games. But Kiera sucked even more.
“Princess?” he asked, as they both watched her final Ms. Pac-Man be eaten by a ghost.
“Yeah?”
“Have you ever played Pac-Man in your life?”
Kiera looked up at him and sighed. “No.”
“Then why did you want to start with it?”
She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. Then admitted, “It was the only one that came to mind.”
Zach leaned against the Ms. Pac-Man console so he could see her face fully. “Why is that?”
“Because I’ve never played any of these games in my life.”
Zach just watched her for a moment. The humor of the situation finally made him chuckle. “You don’t play these games?”
“No, I didn’t game until Leokin, and I started because of my friends. And Leokin is live-action role playing, not an arcade game.”
Why in the hell did she think he would understand that distinction? “Why didn’t you say anything?”
She finally chuckled too. “Because you were being so sweet trying to find something to do that I would like. You seemed so excited to bring me here. I had to play along.”
He shook his head. “I was excited to bring you here because I wanted you to be excited.”
She stepped close and took his hand. “It was really sweet.”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely. Big points for trying.”
He tugged her closer. “I just wanted us to do something together that we could both get into.”
“We don’t have to be into the same things, Zach. I don’t have to totally get why you love basketball. And you don’t have to fully understand Leokin. We just have to know and care that it matters to the other person.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“But,” she said, turning away from him and pulling him with her, “I do want you to teach me to shoot a basket.”
They stopped in front of a basketball toss game. It was made up of full-size basketballs, a full-size basket, and a timer that kept track of how many baskets they made. That was it. For the first time since stepping foot inside, Zach felt as if he might know something. “Deal.”
He positioned her in front of the hoop and put a ball in her hands. He showed her how to hold the ball, tuck her elbow, and follow through. She missed the first five tries. But finally one went in.
“Yay!” She turned to him, throwing her arms around his neck.
His hands naturally settled on her waist, and he grinned down at her. “And that’s how it’s done.”
“Easy.” She smiled. “But I’d still rather watch you do it.”
He rubbed his thumbs over the bare skin between her jeans and her shirt. “I get it. I wouldn’t mind a bit if you were shirtless right now.”
She laughed. “This is a family place.”
“Yeah. Too bad.” He stroked his thumbs over her stomach again, loving the goose bumps he felt erupt. “Maybe I’ll get one of those mini hoops on the back of my bedroom door and we can play strip basketball.”
She laughed. “So every time I miss, I have to take something off?”
“Yep.” He grinned unapologetically.
“Then I’d better get one too so I can practice. I’m going to need you taking some things off too.”
He ran his thumbs along the top of her jeans, his voice dropping. “If you’re taking things off, I promise I’ll be taking things off too.”
She arched into his touch, and Zach felt something hard under his thumb. But it wasn’t the button on her jeans. He stroked over it again, then pulled back and looked down. In the dark arcade, he couldn’t see anything, but he knew what he was feeling. “Are these the little gems like you had on your cheek earlier?” he asked.
She grimaced. “I changed so fast I forgot about those.” She swallowed. “Maya’s idea.”
“I love Maya,” Zach said. He ran the pad of his thumb over the circular shape just to the left of Kiera’s belly button. “Is this a basketball too?”
“Yeah. That one’s red and black. We were going to make it orange, but Sophie thought that clashed with the shirt and…” She trailed off as if she realized she was rambling.
He pulled in a long breath. “Damn, that’s hot.”
She smiled. “It’s silly.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Definitely not silly.”
He lowered his head and kissed her. He wanted to devour her, ravish her, drink her in. But he kept the kiss soft, brushing his mouth over hers. When he lifted his head, he took a deep breath and asked, “Want some popcorn?”
“I—” Her brow creased. “Popcorn?”
“Kettle corn, actually.”
“Um…”
He smiled. “I wanted to take you on a date. To spend time with you, to show you that I’m interested in the things you are, even if I don’t get them, and that our time together doesn’t always have to be about Aimee.”
She smiled. “That’s really nice. I love it.”
“But now I want to back you up against the side of that Pac-Man machine and run my tongue all over the basketball on your stomach.”
Her eyes widened. But so did her smile. “I’d really like that too.”
“But I don’t want to just make out with you.”
“I hope that means that you want to do more than make out with me,” Kiera said.
He had to clear his throat as heat shot through him. “I most definitely do.”
“Then let’s—”
“Have kettle corn.”
She sighed. “You really want to be sweet, huh?”
He really wanted to cover her in sugar and butter and have her for a snack.
* * *
Kiera didn’t care about kettle corn. But she did care about Zach. And this was how Zach did things—the right way. Or the way he thought was right, anyway. He’d told her that, for him, women were either around for one night or they were long-term. There wasn’t anything in between. She and Zach were already past the one-night-stand stage. No, they hadn’t slept together yet, but they were definitely in deeper than that.
“I really want this to be about more than how much I want to take you to bed,” he finally said.
Kiera started to reply that she wanted to talk more about the taking-her-to-bed thing, but…he’d brought her to an arcade. To try to do something with her that he thought she was into. She couldn’t say no to anything after realizing that.
She nodded. “Okay. Let’s have kettle corn.”
They chose a high round table with stools in the snack bar area. Zach bought kettle corn and two sodas, and they sat looking at each other and munching popcorn for nearly a minute before either of them said anything.
“I asked Aimee about Leokin today,” Zach said.
That surprised her. “You did?”
“Yep, we texted for a few minutes this afternoon.”
“You asked her about Leokin in a text?” Kiera asked. “Did you get hit in the head today?”
He laughed. “Yes, I asked her in a text, and no, I didn’t get hit in the head.”
Kiera grinned and ate some more of the surprisingly delicious popcorn. “What did she tell you?”
“The basics. It’s a magical world with creatures and powers and battles and spells.”
Kiera laughed at the simple summary.
“I asked her if she’s filled you in on basketball,” he added. “Apparently you haven’t talked about basketball at all.”
She decided to be honest. “I’m a huge fan of basketball now and don’t need to know one single rule.”
He leaned even closer, his eyes growing warmer. “I know what you mean.”
“You do?”
“I don’t need to know that there’s a pond in Leokin where the water can make someone invisible for three hours after they bathe in it. I don’t need to know that there are medallions hidden all over that cause confusion and anger and envy until the person finds them and gets rid of them. I don’t need to know that there are dragons that shed a glittery dust that regenerates anything it settles on—grass or plants, a dead dog, a severed hand. All I need to know to be interested is that someone I care about is interested in it.”
She stared at him. Wow, that was…nice. Of course, she couldn’t help but wonder whether the person he cared about who was interested in Leokin was Aimee or her.
“So now you’re fine with Leokin?” she asked.
“Anything that you love this much and that gets my sister talking to me for twenty minutes straight—even if it’s via text—is definitely tolerable.”
Relief swept through Kiera. Was it possible that she’d already accomplished what she’d wanted to? Had she already helped bridge the gap between Zach and Aimee?
“Did you meet Aimee’s friends tonight?” Kiera asked.
“No, she met them wherever they were going.”
“Oh.” Kiera picked up another kernel and chewed. So Zach didn’t know who Aimee was out with. Crap.
“But I’ve met them before,” he said. “Of course.”
“You have?”
“She’s had the same friends since seventh grade,” he said with a nod. “And I’m so grateful they were patient with her and let her work through her issues. Six months is a long time to not talk to anyone and to avoid going out or seeing them.”
Kiera nodded and took a sip of her soda. “It is.”
“I’m relieved she’s out tonight. And maybe they won’t talk about everything tonight. It would be okay if they just concentrated on having fun.”
“I agree,” Kiera said. How could she bring up that Aimee was with new friends? Friends that Zach didn’t know?
It would hurt him, she knew, to find out that Aimee was spending time with people she hadn’t introduced to Zach. People she’d met online. Even though Aimee was spending time with these people in real life now, she knew that Zach wouldn’t like that Aimee had met them through Leokin. It would bother him that Leokin and the people there had pulled Aimee through something that Zach couldn’t.
Kiera had to be careful here. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she also didn’t want him hurt. Did it matter how Aimee had met these people? She was happy. That was what was most important. Kiera knew Zach would agree with that.
“I don’t think it’s true that she hasn’t talked to anyone about Josie and everything,” Kiera said.
Zach shook his head. “Her friends all learned about the accident from their parents or at school. She wouldn’t talk to any of her teachers, or her cheerleading coach. She broke up with her boyfriend, and she stopped seeing her friends. All she wanted to do is sit in that room, by herself, and play that fuc—that game. Thankfully, that’s over.”
Kiera winced. Partially from the sharp tone, but also because that fucking game was one of the most important things in Kiera’s life. “The game was her way of coping, Zach,” Kiera said gently. “Everyone copes differently.”
Zach looked at her with weariness. “Please don’t.”
She frowned. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t tell me that all of this is okay. I know you’re into all of that. But she was a cheerleader, she was social, she went out, and she was happy and smiled and laughed. For six months, she’s been none of those things. She’s threatened to move out on her own once she turns eighteen. She’s said she doesn’t want to go to college.”
Kiera pressed her lips together. He was concerned. But maybe, if he could just understand about Aimee and her online friends, he’d feel better. Kiera had to at least try to reassure him. “She has been talking to people, Zach. She’s got friends.”
“Who?”
“Her clan.” Kiera didn’t outwardly flinch, but she did inside a little.
“Her what?”
“Her clan. Her family. Her…tribe.”
“In the game?” he asked. “You think she’s telling the elves and dwarves all her problems?”
Probably more the other witches and some wizards. Witches didn’t often have elves in their clans. But Kiera didn’t think Zach would appreciate a lesson on the social dynamics in Leokin at the moment.
“Yes,” she said truthfully.
He blinked at her as if surprised by her answer. “She’s talking to elves?”
Wizards. “Well, the people behind the characters.”
He frowned. “What?”
“The people behind the characters talk. They become friends. They get to know each other really well. Sometimes the anonymity makes people incredibly open and honest.”
“She’s in online chat rooms or what?”
Relieved, Kiera nodded. “Yes.”
“Oh, that’s great!” he exclaimed. “She’s in online chat rooms talking about who knows what with who knows who.”
Kiera’s felt her mouth drop open. “I’m saying that she’s talking to her friends about her feelings and problems.”
“Online.”
“It happens to be online, yes.”
Zach shoved a hand through his hair.
Okay, this was clearly not making him feel better. “Aren’t you glad she has somewhere to go to talk it all through?” she asked.
He looked up at her. “Are you kidding? Am I glad she’s turning to a bunch of strangers online instead of to her friends and family? Fuck no.”
“These are her friends. They’re almost like family in a lot of ways.”
“I’m her family.”
“Of course. But these people are very close. They care about her.”
He scoffed. “Come on, Kiera.”
“I’m serious.” She wanted him to understand so he would feel better. Aimee was being taken care of. Yes, online, by people she hadn’t met in person until recently, but that didn’t make them any less real. “It’s the connections and emotions that matter, not the mode of delivery,” she said.
“You have deep, serious online relationships?” he asked.
“I do.”
“Really?”
“Really.” In fact…“I feel like I’ve gotten closer to you in the times we’ve texted each other.”
Zach gave a heavy sigh, but he didn’t argue.
“She’s okay.” Kiera reached out and took his hand.
“Everything has changed so much,” he said, shaking his head.
“Of course it has,” she told him. “After you all lost Josie, of course things changed. But we all change. Life changes. That’s normal.”
“I don’t want her to be changed by or trying new things because of Josie’s death or my mom’s drinking,” he said bluntly.
“Zach—”
“When Aimee changes, I want it to be because of good things, positive and happy things. If she tries new things, I want them to be good, positive, happy things. College classes or a trip to Europe or white-water rafting or falling in love. And I want her to know she has a supportive brother who would do anything to bring her out of the dark stuff.”
Kiera didn’t know what to say. She understood what he was saying. But life didn’t work that way. And if he kept insisting on fixing everything for everyone else, he was the one who was going to get hurt. Finally she just slid off her stool.
“I need to go to the ladies’ room.”
What she really needed was to breathe.
* * *
Zach propped a shoulder against the pole just outside the restrooms at the arcade.
Kiera had walked away. When things got emotional and intense, she’d headed in the opposite direction from the situation as fast as she could. He hated that her way of dealing with intense emotions was to leave.
He didn’t walk away. Ever. Not when he knew there was something he needed to do anyway. And Kiera was something he needed to do. Not in the show-me-your-hidden-sparkles kind of way but in a she-needs-to-be-fixed kind of way.
Okay, also the hidden-sparkles kind of way.
The women’s restroom door finally swung open and Kiera emerged.
She didn’t look shocked to see him. She looked resigned. “Thought I was going out the bathroom window?”
“Is it big enough?” he asked.
“It is.”
“So you did think about it.”
“Absolutely.”
He moved in closer to her. “I don’t walk away, Kiera.”
“So I see,” she said drily.
“But you do.”
She lifted her chin. “I leave people alone and let them figure their own shit out. It makes them stronger, and it hurts me less in the meantime when they’re ignoring everything I say and doing damage that I can’t prevent.”
He nodded. “And it occurs to me that all of this makes us even less compatible than the cosplaying and basketball stuff.”
She crossed her arms. “You’re right.”
“But you need to learn that not everyone will walk away.”
She looked at him for a long moment. “There’s a difference between being there for someone, being a constant support in their lives, and not allowing them to change and try new things.”
A constant support in their lives. Yeah, Zach wished he could claim that he’d been that. “Since Josie died, I’ve found out things about my family that I didn’t know before, things they’ve hidden or that I’ve been happy to ignore because I loved the idea that my family was fine and normal and healthy and strong. And not at all like all the messes I see and help clean up every day.” He pulled in a breath. “I just want a few things, a few simple things, to be the same, to be what I’ve always known. Everything else feels foreign and…broken.”
Kiera was staring at him, gripping her crossed arms hard enough that he could see the indentations from her fingers. “You realize that you are different too, right? Josie’s death changed you. Aimee could be the same exact girl she’s always been and your life would still be different.”
He stared at her. “You’ve been thinking about this. About me.”
“Of course I have.”
That mattered. A lot. “I’ve been functioning for so long with the belief that I came from a stable, happy home where people made good decisions and took responsibility for their actions and took care of each other. That all helped me go out every day as an EMT and believe that I could help other people. I gave people advice. I told them how my dad was always there for me. I told them I had two younger sisters who I wanted to be a role model for. I said that I wanted to make my mother proud. I said things like, ‘Think of your family’ and ‘Do it for your kids’ and ‘Your brother needs you.’ And now I look at my family and think, ‘How can I help strangers if I can’t even help the people I love the most?’ and ‘What the hell do I know about family when mine’s been lying to me and hiding things all this time?’”
Kiera pressed her lips together. He could practically feel her urge to run. She wanted to leave; she didn’t want to hear all of this. He was pulling her in, and he could feel her fighting it.
But finally she said, “You can still help other people. What’s going on in your family isn’t your fault. You’ve tried. But if they don’t want your help, you can’t do anything about that. The more you insist on being involved, the more hurt you’re going to get. You have to let them make their own choices. And mistakes.”
“I don’t know if I believe that,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “Loving them means when they’re hurt, I’m hurt. We don’t live in separate little bubbles, Kiera.”
“Bubbles are less painful,” she said. “I was in a bubble until Juliet came along. Instead of breaking it and letting the world in, she climbed in with me. We didn’t care about the rest of the world. We were happy. It worked. But then…”
“It broke.”
“Worse,” she said. “I popped it. I let the world in. It was my choice. And after that, the safe bubble was gone forever, and I couldn’t get back in.”
“You really wanted back in?”
“Definitely. After everything with Juliet and Mitch, I reconstructed as much of it as I could.”
“Bubbles are lonely.”
“They’re peaceful. No angst, no drama, no…failure.”
Zach felt his chest tighten. “Bubbles might keep that stuff out, but they also keep out joy and excitement and passion,” he finally said.
“Those are all pretty intense emotions,” she said. “Maybe peace and comfort is more my thing. Don’t you want some of that, Zach?”
“I don’t think so,” he said, honestly. “There are some really great intense emotions that aren’t painful.”
The sparkly gem by her eye caught the light and twinkled, and he knew exactly what he needed to do. He grabbed her hand and started for the door.
“Where are we going?”
To prove to her that inside a bubble wasn’t where she wanted to be. “Where we can have a private conversation.”
“I thought we were having a private conversation.”
“This is going to get a little more private than is appropriate for here.”
He got Kiera to his truck and put her in the passenger side. Literally. He had to open the door and nudge her inside. He wasn’t exactly forcing her, but he could feel her resistance—physically and emotionally.
He could talk to her right here and now. And put her up against the side of his car and kiss her from head to toe. But he didn’t want to risk interruption. Or a citation for public indecency.
He understood that closeness was difficult for her. He also knew that, while he could have had sex with her that first night, now that she knew him better and had been pulled into his life, she would shy away from true intimacy because it was less risky. She might go for a quickie in the backseat of his car, but that wasn’t how this was going to go between them. When he finally took her to bed, it would definitely be intimate. All in. Completely absorbing.
Tonight he needed to give her a taste of all of that. He needed to show her that everything between them was emotional now. He was climbing into her bubble.
They drove through the city streets without speaking. Zach wasn’t surprised. He simply turned the radio on and headed for Cambridge. Twenty-six minutes later he pulled up in front of her duplex.
“Thanks for the ride,” she said, reaching for the handle.
“This is the perfect place to continue our conversation,” he said.
She lived on a quiet street. The big, old houses were mostly duplexes or had been converted into three- and four-family homes. Several had cars in narrow drives between the houses or on the street. But there was little traffic now, and the houses all glowed with interior lights where people were settling in for the night.
“You want to come in.” It wasn’t a question or an invitation. She said it almost resignedly.
He smiled. “Nope. The porch is fine.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
When they were both out of the truck, he grabbed her hand and tugged her up the front steps. He pressed her against the house, beside the door, where the shadows would hide them but where he could still see her expression in the faint glow from the streetlights.
“Zach.” Her voice was breathless, but she didn’t say anything more.
He inched the hem of her shirt up slightly. The gems under the edge twinkled. The gems she’d put on because of him. For him. He moved the shirt up farther, slowly, so she could stop him if she wanted to.
She didn’t stop him.
He looked down at the sparkly basketball he’d uncovered. The gems were black and silver, like the ones on her cheek had been, and they made him groan with desire. Zach met her gaze again, and with his eyes on hers, he went down on one knee.
She gasped softly as he traced over the design with the pad of his finger. Then he dragged his tongue around the perimeter of the basketball shape. “So hot,” he breathed against her stomach.
Her hand went to his head, her fingers sliding into his hair.
He kissed the center of the shape.
“I know how much you love dressing up,” he said, his voice gruff as he stretched to his full height again. “That it brings out something inside you that means a lot to you. The fact that you dressed up for basketball makes me feel…important.” He ran his thumb over the basketball shape again. “This basketball is proof that I’ve gotten close to you and gotten you outside of your bubble a little bit. That makes me feel like a giant and makes me want you so much I ache with it. But,” he added, “these sparkles are hidden.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, her breathing a little faster now.
“I want to cover you from head to toe in these gems,” he said. “I want you showing the world everything about you that sparkles and makes me want you.” He pulled tiny stickers from the basketball shape and placed one at the outside corner of each of her eyes. “Like your eyes and every emotion I see in them.” He also put one at each corner of her mouth. “And your mouth. It makes me crazy. Not just how your lips feel under mine, but the things you say and the way you smile.” He paused to peel another gem from her stomach. “Your wit.” He applied the sticker to the center of her forehead. “And your intelligence.” He placed another gem next to it. “And the way you have been there for my sister even though you don’t like to get involved.”
He put another gem between her eyebrows. “Even the way you frown at me when you think I’m full of shit.” He stuck another one to the center of her chin. “The way you lift your chin when you’re feeling determined about something.”
She took a deep breath, and he peeled another gem loose. He tugged the V-neck of her T-shirt lower and applied another sticker right over her heart. “And the way you care about people even though you don’t want to and you know you might get hurt.”
She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he inched her shirt higher.
She snapped her mouth closed.
Once her shirt was above her breasts, he dropped his gaze. His mouth watered at the sight of her breasts cupped in purple satin.
He peeled off a sticker and placed it on the curve of her left breast just above the bra cup.
“And here I thought all of the things you were marking were so sweet,” she said. Her voice was breathless.
He grinned, unabashed. “Hey, there were a lot of those. And at least I named them off first.”
She chuckled softly. “I guess you get points for that.”
He leaned in until his lips were nearly touching hers. “But honestly, Princess, you don’t have enough stickers here for me to really mark everything that makes me want to be close to you.”
“So you say when I’m half-naked.”
He reached behind her and unhooked her bra—with one hand, he might add—and pulled the cups up, exposing the breasts he’d been dreaming about for days. “There. That’s half-naked.”
He leaned back to get a good look. Before he got a good taste.
“Gorgeous,” he muttered, fumbling to peel another sticker free.
She took his hand. “I got it. You like my breasts.”
He looked up to find her smiling teasingly.
“How about we keep your hands busy doing other things now?” she asked.
“See? We can be on the same page once in a while.” He lifted both hands, cupping the firm, sweet breasts that he’d been dying for.
She moaned as he ran his thumbs over the hard tips before lowering his head and taking one in his mouth.
“Zach.”
His name had never sounded sweeter. Her head fell back, and he turned his attention to the other side, imprinting the feel of her nipples on his hands and tongue.
He touched and licked, tugged and sucked, until she was panting and arching against him. After dragging his lips over the soft skin of her chest, her throat, licking the tiny jewel he’d put on her chin, he finally settled his mouth on hers, kissing her deeply.
“God, your mouth,” he said gruffly when he came up for air.
“When do I get to stick jewels all over you?” she asked.
“You like a few things about me, Kiera?” He heard how rough his voice was and hoped she knew how much it was taking for him not to spread her out right here on the porch.
“I do like a lot of things about you,” she said softly.
“Tell me three.” He had only about enough time to hear three before he needed to start touching and kissing her again.
“Ironically it’s all stuff that also drives me nuts,” she said. “How protective you are of your sister, and that you want to save the world, and I’m completely hot for your arms and shoulders.”
He lifted his head. “My arms and shoulders?”
She gave a little sigh as her gaze went over his upper body. “Yeah.”
He palmed a breast with one hand and put the other on her ass, pulling her up against him.
She sighed again. “How can I be this attracted to someone so different from me?”
“Because you like adventure, Princess.” He pinned her with his gaze. “And I’m the biggest adventure you’ve ever been on.” And she was his biggest adventure. She was making him adjust his thoughts, his attitude, everything, at almost every turn. And he didn’t hate it—that was probably the most surprising thing of all.
He kissed her again, taking her mouth fully with a touch of aggression, no holding back as he stroked over her lips and tongue and gripped her ass. Within seconds her fists were knotted in his shirt, and she was making those noises that made him hot and hard.
He moved his hand from her breast to the front of her jeans. He got them open, cursing the denim as he moved his hand down the front. He’d have more room to move if she’d worn…anything else. Dammit. No more jeans, he told himself.
Then his fingers encountered hot, wet silk, and he forgot about everything else.
“Zach.” Kiera ripped her mouth from his as he slid his finger over her clit.
He felt her grip his shoulders, and he moved again and again, winding her tighter and tighter.
He watched her face as he rubbed her through the increasingly damp fabric of her panties. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was breathing faster, but when he circled over her clit again, her eyes slid shut.
He somehow moved his hand within the confines of the fitted denim—probably by sheer will and the power of lust—and slid his middle finger past the edge where her panties snugged up against her leg.
She moaned, and her head fell forward onto his chest. The feel of her hot breath through the cotton of his shirt fired his blood. He slid his finger into her, relishing the tight grip of her inner muscles as they contracted to draw him farther in.
“I’ve been thinking about this hot, tight, wet sweetness since the other night. And now I get to actually feel what it’s like to make you come, Princess.”
She whimpered, gripping his shirt in her fists.
“Oh yeah. Just like you did with your vibrator the other night thinking of me,” he said gruffly, the zipper of his own jeans pressing painfully against his cock.
“Zach,” she whispered. Then she did the most amazing thing—she lifted one leg and wrapped it around his, opening her legs and pressing against his finger.
He slid his finger all the way into her slick heat, and he was the one to moan this time. “Damn, Princess.”
“Move your hand,” she begged.
“I can’t wait ’til I have a chance to get my tongue here,” he told her, pumping his finger deep while swirling over her clit with his thumb. “I can’t wait to make you beg for me to take you, spread out on my bed, looking up at me with those big chocolate-brown eyes.”
She looked up at him then. Her bottom lip was wet—obviously she’d been biting it—and he leaned in to kiss her, increasing his rhythm, needing to feel her orgasm.
He could feel her getting close, her inner muscles flexing and pulling on his finger, as she pressed against his hand.
“I have to see you,” he said, lifting his head, wanting to look into her face as he felt her climax building. “I want to picture you coming when I’m in bed tonight, imagining my hand is your sweet, tight body milking me until I’m coming with you.”
That was apparently what she’d needed. She cried out softly and gripped his shirt tighter as her body clenched hard on his finger and she went over the edge.
She clung to him for several long moments afterward. Finally the leg she’d wrapped around his dropped to the ground, and she took a long, deep breath.
Zach pulled his hands from her pants and sucked in a breath of his own as she straightened her clothes, rezipped her jeans, and covered her breasts.
When she was put back together, he pulled her close and kissed her. It was a softer, less ravenous kiss than the ones before it, but his desire had only grown.
He cupped her face, looking into her eyes. He stroked his thumbs over her jaw. “Good night, Princess.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re not coming in?”
He kissed her quickly and dropped his hands, stepping back. Everything in him wanted to go inside. To be inside her. Except for the one tiny corner of his mind that insisted it wasn’t right yet. Or maybe it was a tiny corner of his heart. “Not yet.”
“Not…yet? So later?”
“Another night.” He couldn’t help but love—and be tempted by—her wanting him to come in.
She tipped her head back, staring up at the stars. “You’re going to make me work for it?”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “No, I’m making me work for it.”
She frowned. “Work for what?”
“Making you want to be outside your bubble some of the time.”
That clearly surprised her. “Only some of the time?”
He looked at her as he backed toward the porch steps. “Well, it’s possible that my way isn’t always the only way to do things.”
She looked amused. “Do you really believe that?” she asked.
He did. Or was starting to. Zach laughed. “Not entirely.”
She shook her head, but she was smiling.
“But let’s just say I’m willing to give it a try,” he said.
Her smile turned from amused to pleased.
He was at the bottom of the steps when she said, “I’m really glad you were still awake last night.”
“I’ll always be there when you need me, Kiera,” he said honestly.
She bit her damned bottom lip, and he had to force himself to move in the opposite direction rather than storming the porch, throwing her over his shoulder, and heading straight to her bedroom.
“What if it’s not sexting?” she asked when he got to his car.
“Even then, Princess.”