Chapter Twenty-two

Two weeks later

“You can’t go skiing!” Bonnie’s voice was shrill in the hotel room at the ski-lodge Evan had hooked them up with under their new, temporary identities. They had decided on Pamona Gulch, a small, artsy ski town in the mountains of New Mexico.

“I can. There’s nothing to it. Just point me down a hill and let me fly.” Zack smirked at her, fully intending on doing it, whether she wanted him to or not. He had lost his independence but not his daredevil streak. He’d come to the realization, since arriving here, that the shadows were overwhelmed by the white snow. It would be refreshing to see nothing but white rushing at him instead of being mired in darkness all the time.

“Is there anything I can do to talk you out of this?” Bonnie’s voice was filled with concern as she wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her head into his chest. He loved this—her warmth pressed up against him, seeking comfort only he could provide. Pride welled up in him at the idea that he, a broken man, could give this woman what she needed.

“Well, I can think of ways to temporarily distract me, but you know me. I’m like a pug, so intent on barking that I’m likely to bark my buggy eyeballs out.”

“Well, thank you for that visual.”

Shania was snuffling around the hotel room, checking things out before she crawled into her crate with a satisfied sigh and closed her eyes for a nap. They’d traveled all day, having just arrived with minimal luggage. They would need to shop for stuff, since zero places in Austin sold ski-wear. Besides, neither of them had gone to their apartments after staying at the hospital, where Bonnie had been under guard until she was released last night. Simon and Quinten had taken turns driving them to Pamona Gulch, an effort to keep her out of sight of Jonas, since he’d totally disappeared.

“Lead me to the bed, and I’ll let you distract me until we go get some clothes. But I am getting on a slope before this is all over with.” His low murmur in his ear was a calculated one. Zack needed her like air, and hadn’t had a chance to show her what the rest of their life would be like. Sure, they’d had sex since they’d reconnected, but he was ready to make love to her.

Her dainty fingers wrapped around his as she guided him until the backs of his knees hit the mattress. Zack wrapped his hands around her hips and fell backward, tugging her with him. He eased her down gently, as they’d landed in a laughing tangle of limbs, before his hand found the back of her neck and he pulled her down for a kiss.

Bonnie let out a moan as their lips met, melding into each other with a seductive softness. Her warmth shredded something inside him, something he never wanted to see again. Kissing Bonnie gave Zack a new resolve to be everything she could ever want. With her in his arms, he was a new man, a man with no reservations, no inhibitions, no doubts. His self-confidence with her mouth wrapped around his tongue was at an all-time high.

They kissed forever, the leisurely kisses of people who had nowhere they’d rather be, willing to lounge in bed and kiss all day long. They kissed like lovers, like friends, like soulmates.

That thought sent a shiver racing through Zack. The need suddenly clutching his insides projected to his hands, and he found himself stripping her. Eyes closed, Zack didn’t want the shadows, the vague impressions of what Bonnie looked like. He wanted to see her in his mind’s eye. Where his sight was perfect.

Zack’s hands on Bonnie were reverent, stroking her synapses, plucking at her nerves with the callused intensity only Zack could provide. His touch was different from the night at the hotel in the yoga swing, where his need and desire had overtaken everything, leaving her shattered. No. This touch was different; coupled with his closed lids and soft humming noises from his chest, it brought about something totally different.

And he hadn’t even touched anything really erotic.

He was keeping things relatively innocent, even though she was under no illusions of how impure Zack could be. But he was only touching her legs and stomach, caressing lightly, as if proving to her that he wasn’t a total hound. But he methodically stripped her clothing as he went, his hands exploring as if for the first time.

Zack was being so sweet, worshipping her. That was almost her undoing. Lowering his head to her stomach, he sniffed slowly, inhaling the scent of her skin, and Bonnie had to arch into his touch. He stoked her, higher and higher, until she thought she would burst into flames at just his touch.

Then his mouth went to work. Everywhere he touched, he would follow up with a taste, as if trying to experience her body with senses other than sight.

His hands seemed to be everywhere, and his mouth wherever they weren’t. Bonnie clutched the sheets with white knuckles, her body writhing and gyrating underneath him. Zack’s body fell on top of hers, and she could feel his hardness against her thigh as it probed her heat.

Bonnie couldn’t stop herself. She pressed into him, placing him at her willing entrance, but Zack placed a sweet kiss on her mouth before sliding down to devote time to her breasts. Cupping one in his hand, he kissed and suckled on the other, placing hot kisses all around the areola before sucking the nipple into his mouth.

Sensations shot to Bonnie’s core with a zing, and she started flying.

“Oh God!” She couldn’t be quiet. It was too much, he was everywhere and everything all at once. He spent a lot of time on her nipples, ratcheting her nerves higher and higher with each pull of his mouth.

His other hand found her slick heat and sank inside, filling her, stretching her in ways only Zack could.

Seriously. She’d been with other men, not a ton, but enough to know nobody could touch her the way he could. Bonnie was at his mercy.

“Please …” She begged. She pleaded. His grin around her nipple told her he heard her but was just ignoring her. Teasing her.

Zack let loose on her, redoubling his efforts to make her crazy with his fingers.

“What do you want, Bon-Bon? You want to come?”

“Yes, please. Make me come.”

“Tell me what you want me to do, Bon-Bon. Let’s get dirty.”

“Make me come with your tongue first, then put your cock in me.” The words fell from her mouth without thought, and he complied, sliding down her body until his mouth was at the juncture of her thighs.

Fingers still inside her, he attacked her clit with his mouth, sucking on it until she practically came off the bed. His teeth trapped it, his tongue flicking it back and forth until she was in a frenzy of heat and light.

He curled his fingers, hitting her spot and rubbing it hard, and Bonnie flew apart at the seams, moaning so loudly her sight dimmed at the edges and she saw stars.

When she had her senses back, Zack was standing at the foot of the bed, undressing quickly and sheathing himself with a condom.

“Don’t. I’m on the pill.” He ripped the rubber off with one swift pull and his muscles coiled to pounce, but he seemed to hold himself back by a thread.

He was magnificent.

A sheen of sweat from his restraint coated the muscles he’d grown since adolescence. Coupled with the dewy perspiration on Bonnie’s skin, it made for a lovely slide when he came down on top of her again, hovering over her body. He was hot, by all definitions of the word, and they came together with an explosion.

He stretched her as he entered, and the moans that followed filled the room with the sounds of sex. Skin against skin, mouths entangled, tastes mingling, every essence joining as one.

The feel of him bare inside her was exquisite, all the warmth of their bodies joining in that one place where words defied meaning. They slid together, bodies slick with desire and sweat, grinding against each other. She clutched his back as he moved within her, her hips meeting each of his pistoning thrusts. His mouth stayed on her neck as he laved her with open-mouthed kisses, each one hotter than the one before.

Bonnie closed her eyes to the overwhelming sensations, feeling nothing but the joining of their bodies as if it were some sort of magic. Because it was. It was a transporting magic, taking her home.

They came together in shouts and groans, neither knowing where one ended and the other began. It was color and light and everything beautiful all at once.

Zack’s arms gave out, and he fell to her side, tugging her into a tight embrace as he cocooned her in his arms. Bonnie went willingly, ruined by the experience they had just shared.

They breathed together in silence, trying to catch their breath, Zack’s head on top of hers. It was overwhelming, the thoughts racing through her mind, knowing she had come so close to losing all this. If Jonas had gotten his way, she’d be dead. Or still held captive in his hoseable room.

But she didn’t want to dwell on that. Zack and her brothers had refused to tell her what exactly had happened with the senator and Jonas, only that they wouldn’t stop looking, but the doubt in their eyes spoke volumes.

She thought they’d lost him.

But she couldn’t think about the unknown. As much as she wanted to know, she didn’t really. They were protecting her, but she had some semblance of freedom here in this tiny tourist town, with a new identity. Bonnie would get tired of it after a while, she knew, but for now, she had Zack.

That’s really all she needed. She would stay here, in their little bubble, until Simon and Quinten deemed it safe for her to return. Until then, she had her man back.

“Where did you go, Bon-Bon?” Zack crooned against her hair, the heat of his breath sending a shiver coursing through her.

“Everywhere. Nowhere,” she muttered stupidly. “I’m glad we’re here. I guess I’ll let you ski, if you promise to go down one of those easy slopes.” She’d never been skiing before, and the entire experience was thrilling to her. She couldn’t see why he’d want to do something so dangerous, but then again, she’d never been able to tell him no.

She felt his grin on her head. “I see my distraction worked.” His evil cackle against her head sent a warmth through her that subdued her shiver.

“Sort of.”

“Well, I’ll just have to sort of try again, huh?” He waggled his eyebrows and slipped back down her body, parting her thighs once again.

Bonnie was in some serious trouble. But she was going to love every damn second of it.