CHAPTER SIX
Alisa
“Hi. I’m Alisa Manning. Nice to meet you.” I extended my hand to the kind looking guy who sat in the waiting room for Zek.
“I’m Ronald Burk. Nice to meet you too.” He smiled kindly and lifted his eyebrow as he turned his attention to Zek. “Where are we taking this pretty lady today?”
I walked to the door and held it open as Zek moved in behind me. My body was on fire, my insides aching with the need for a long week of fucking the man beside me. Our relationship had started with me wanting to explore lust as a horny teenager, but I didn’t feel like it had really expanded much past that. I still wanted to drown in the depths of pleasure with the sexy bastard behind me. His additional muscle mass and short haircut left me a bit dizzy with desire. I hadn’t ever been attracted to that type of guy, but seeing it on Zek... I was sold. His aggression was another intense turn on altogether.
“Anywhere she wants to go.” Zek touched my lower back and pressed the button on the elevator.
“You choose. You don’t get out much.” I turned and looked up at him to still see the desire he’d laid on me only moments before. “I’ll eat anything.”
“Alright. How about we go to that sushi bar you love?” His fingers dug into me a little, and I could see how tightly he was holding himself together. It wouldn’t be long and he would unleash every bit of that pent up emotion onto my body.
I couldn’t wait.
Having not gone back to see him for the last two weeks was my only means of sending him a serious message. Yes, there was lust between us, but it wasn’t going to be fully exploited until I could figure out where our future lay. I needed him to be one hundred percent committed, or I needed to move on.
Lizzy was right about figuring out if there was someone worth fighting for, and I’d quickly discovered what I expected to find. There was very much something worth doing anything for between us. He had always been the only man for me, and that wasn’t changing any time soon.
“I’d love that.” I got in the elevator and turned to Ronald. “That sound okay with you too?”
“Yep. I’ll eat anything as well. I’m a bachelor.” He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Zek here tells me that you guys knew each other as kids. How in the world did you reconnect?”
Warmth spread up my chest and covered my cheeks. I couldn’t help but wonder how much of our story Zek had shared with the man.
“I saw his story on the news, and we lawyers talk amongst ourselves, so I decided to get involved. Zek was my older brother’s best friend back in the day.” I turned and patted his chest lovingly. “Clark still relives those early days through more stories than anyone would want to hear.”
“I want to hear them.” Zek chuckled and trapped my hand on his chest. “I told Ronald that you were my girl too.”
“Am I now?” I tugged my hand from him and glanced back at Ronald. “He’s just full of hot air today. You have to discern truth from lie with him.”
Ronald chuckled and moved up beside me as Zek slipped his hand into mine. I couldn’t refuse him, nor did I want to.
“Maybe he’s just talking the future into existence. I hear that stuff works more often than not.” Ronald shrugged and gave me a warm smile. “Everyone deserves a second chance, right?”
“Your check is in the mail.” Zek smiled over at me. “We’re going two blocks to the left. No need to use the car unless my girl wants to.”
“Nope, and stop calling me that. You’ve yet to promise me anything but a load of inappropriateness.” I gave him a cheeky grin and pulled my phone from my purse as it buzzed. “I have to take this, so lead the way, and I should be done by the time we get down there.”
They moved past me and I followed just behind them as I spoke with a new client about various items we would need to assess his case. I was grateful for the repetition of some of my jobs, especially now. There was no way to concentrate on anything but Zek Kellington’s beautiful backside as we walked down the street.
Our conversation would be the last piece of the puzzle for me. Then, I was giving myself over to him fully, and if anyone knew how to make my body and heart purr in tandem, it was the broad-shouldered man before me. I stifled a shiver at the thought of a twelve-hour lust fest with him and tried to focus on my conversation, which was virtually impossible.
***
I waited until the food was delivered to start in on the discussion I wanted to have with Zek. I was grateful that Ronald was sitting at the bar just behind us, which was more privacy than I expected to have.
“Look... I need to completely clear the air between us before we move into anything else with each other.” I picked up my chopsticks and glanced up to find Zek watching me intently. The hunger in his gaze was stifling, but I’d seen it enough times that I could still manage to keep my head about me.
“I’d like that a lot.” He took a quick sip of his tea and leaned back. “I get to go first though.”
“Really? You selfish ass.” I gave him a quirky smile and popped a piece of sushi into my mouth.
“You love it.” He picked up his fork, unwilling to look like a fool with the tinker toys, or so he’d called them. “I spent those last few weeks before prison trying hard to figure out what the hell you were doing back in my life. It had been more than eighteen years, Alisa. I left my senior year and never looked back for several reasons, and I’ve figured them out.”
“Do tell. I’m interested in hearing why you thought that was a good idea.” I tried to keep a calm about me that would leave him opening up, but it was damn hard. Those reasons were directly linked to me feeling like I would never find someone like Zek — ever. They were the igniting force behind me losing him.
“I was four years older than you, and I didn’t want to put your life on hold or mine until we were old enough to be together. I couldn’t have been a college freshman with a high school sophomore as a girlfriend. No one would have accepted that, not your parents or my mother.” He ate a few bites, but never broke eye contact with me. “By the time I decided that we were both old enough, you were dating some dude I assume was Ben. I never asked his name. I didn’t want to know.”
“How did you know I was dating someone?” My insides tightened. Maybe I wasn’t ready for this conversation.
“I never stopped asking Clark about you, baby. You have to know that.” He gave me a sexy smirk. “I didn’t resurrect anything between us because I’d talked myself into believing that you were a horny kid and I was your boy toy, and quite happy being just that. You deserved better than me, and I honestly still believe that shit.”
“And if I’m not open to exploring any other option in my life but you?” I was ready to lay it all on the line. No more pussy-footing around about my intent and desires.
“Then I’m ready for that too.” He reached across the table and touched my fingers. “I love you, and I’ve always loved you. I think part of growing up together leaves me wanting to protect you from guys like me, including me. I didn’t want you to wait for this last year. It was a waste of your life, and honestly, I can’t help but feel like that’s my fault.”
“But you don’t get to tell me what I do with my life. You and Clark have been trying since we were kids, each taking turns to make sure I was okay when the time called for it. I’m stronger than both of you put together.” I turned my hand over and clasped his. “I want us to be together, one hundred percent. I want to talk about a future where we sift through the ashes of this last year and rebuild. I want kids, marriage, but not with anyone but you. None of that has changed for me.” I threaded my fingers through his, willing the tears back that threatened so close to the surface. I looked back up at him. “And you know what terrifies me most? That my love will never measure up as enough to bring that future into reality.”
His eyes filled with tears, and mine did too.
“Fuck, baby.” He pulled my hand toward him and leaned over to kiss my fingertips. “I don’t deserve a woman like you.”
“No, you don’t, but that’s beside the point.” I chuckled through my tears as they dripped down my face. “I need to know you feel the same or I have to walk away. And don’t look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t have strong feelings for me unless you truly don’t. No more of this self-sacrificing bullshit that leaves me broken and hating life. You’re not doing anyone any favors.”
He nodded, and I continued. “I need to know now if you want us, Zek. I’m willing to wait forever and sneak in your window until we’re eighty, but I need to know that my heart’s where it belongs. I need—”
“I need you. I’m sorry for pushing back, and it won’t happen again. When I see my future, I see you and me together with a huge family and loads of adventure. I can’t imagine sharing any part of myself with anyone but you, but hear me when I tell you how uncomfortable I am with you sacrificing for me. I did this shit to myself. Dragging you into it with me just makes it so much worse.” He took a shaky breath and released my hand.
“Then feel like shit, and then get over it.” I picked up my napkin and dotted my eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, but understand that me not budging includes us not moving forward until this is settled.”
“There’s nothing else to say then. I love you and want a future with you, whatever that looks like. You’re the only woman for me, and though I hate myself for needing you enough to ask you to be with a piece of shit like me, I do and I’m asking you to be mine. Just mine.”
I nodded as my whole body came to life. I’d been waiting to hear those words since I was a girl, and though I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by all of it, I was.
“Tell me you will.” He leaned forward with a hungry intensity that drove spikes of desire through the center of me.
“I always have been, Zek. Of course, I always will.”
***
Ronald waved us off after we got back to Zek’s place, feigning exhaustion and the need for a nap. Zek locked up the house and reached for me as I stood by the kitchen sink, letting my eyes move across the array of colors the fall leaves created along his backyard.
“I feel like I have a new lease on life.” He pressed his mouth just below my ear and wrapped his arms around me. “You’re all I want, which has been the case for a long-ass time.”
“You hide it well.” I turned in his arms and slid my hands up his chest. “No more talking, right? Only grunting and the sounds of pleasure that we can pull from each other.”
“Yeah, that.” He leaned down and consumed my mouth as his fingers raced through my hair, wrapped around the strands and tugged enough to force me to lift my face toward him. The thick press of his tongue in my mouth caused a long groan to leave me. He echoed his pleasure in tandem and pulled back, licking at his perfect mouth as his eyes hooded. “To the bedroom. I want privacy while I take my time with you.”
I lifted to my toes and nipped at his lips before turning and walking toward the back of the house. I worked on my shirt and then my skirt, and by the time he locked the door behind us, I was standing in a skimpy pair of white panties and a lacy bra.
“Shit. I couldn’t have imagined this any better in my wildest fantasies.” He worked on his shirt as I turned and watched him intently.
“I’m in your fantasies?” I cooed softly.
“Baby, you are my fantasy.” He tugged his shirt off his shoulders and moved toward me, sliding his hands over my hips and cupping my ass tightly as he leaned in for another long kiss.
I ran my hands down his back, exploring the swell of muscle that ran all over his upper body.
“I love this.” I brushed my hands over his pectorals before moving forward and pressing my mouth to his nipple.
“Good. I hoped you would.” He growled and slid his fingers into my hair as I explored my new playground of delights. I reached the top of his slacks and dipped my tongue down below the waistband where the thick head of his cock pulsed rhythmically. “Oh fuck, Alisa. I need that, baby. Take me in your mouth.”
“Yeah.” I worked frantically on his pants until they dropped over his hips. I pushed his tight black undies off too and leaned forward, pressing my mouth to him as he brushed his fingers by my face.
“Just hold still and let me fuck you. Please...” He glanced down at me, and we locked gazes, both of us understanding that the afternoon might be a little rough, but the need to bleed out a year’s worth of passion would lead to something softer in time.
I nodded and settled onto the bed as he moved in and took my hair back into a tight grip.
“I love you so much,” he whispered and pressed himself into my mouth as his free hand cupped the side of my neck. I gripped his thighs and worked to breathe through my nose as I gave myself over to him.
The beautiful expression on his face combined with the deep, needy groans that left him caused every part of me to pulse with need. I didn’t need another turn with his mouth pressed to my center, but wanted to do anything that might keep him lost to the ecstasy he was experiencing.
He pulled out a few minutes later and pressed his hands to my shoulders as he leaned down and panted softly. “Fuck. I’m dizzy. That’s so damn good. You have no clue, do you, baby?”
I reached out and touched the side of his face. “Then don’t stop. Come for me.”
He groaned again and moved back. “No. I want to be inside you. I need to feel you come when I do.”
He worked to get a condom on as I stood up and tugged my bra and panties off. The look on his face when he glanced up at me was mesmerizing. It forced me to freeze in place and wait for him to whisper what he wanted against my sensitive skin.
“You’re so beautiful. I’m an idiot for trying to do anything but seduce you into being mine forever.” He slid his hands over my hips and up my side, over my breasts and stopped as his fingers wrapped around the base of my throat. “I’m going to make love to you in ten different ways. Tell me which is your favorite and we’ll start there.”
I whimpered softly, never having felt like a helpless woman as much as I did in front of him. I ran every part of my life, but in the bedroom with my man, he was in charge. Nothing could be more exhilarating.
“Grip my hips hard, okay?” I spoke against his mouth just before I pulled from him and turned to crawl up on the bed. I stopped about halfway and remained on my hands and knees as he crawled up behind me and ran his hands over my ass.
“Absolutely. You just scream out anything else you want from me.” He locked his fingers around my waist and pulled hard, impaling me fully.
I screamed in pleasure and pressed my forehead to my hands as a million emotions raced through me. “So good.”
“I love you so much.” He moved one hand up to grip my shoulder as he rocked himself against me, filling me up completely, opening me by force. “Hold onto the bed so you don’t get forced up too much.”
I gripped the sheets as he started to fuck me in fast, hard thrusts. He would slow down eventually, but I wasn’t going to ask for anything other than what he was giving. My body welcomed his aggression and begged for his assault.
Realizing that I’d moved up toward the headboard, I reached up and grasped it, pulling myself up and crying out as he moved in tighter, using his hold on my breasts to continue to thrust deep inside of me.
His lips brushed over my neck before the tight press of his teeth cause me to explode. I undulated my hips and rocked back on him as he whispered naughtiness into my ear. I’d never been spoken to in such a way, and yet every dark promise that left him seemed to drive me closer and closer into orgasm.
“More,” I groaned as he chuckled and slid his hand between my thighs, pinching my clit between two fingers as he rammed into me.
“There’s lots more. Just stay with me, baby. Remind me how much you deserve, and I’ll keep on giving it.”
That’s all I needed to hear.
I exploded again.