Chapter Eleven

Zoey was on her third glass of wine and her head was swimming in a good way. She was having fun in the hot tub with the hot doc. Well, veterinarian. Which she supposed was still a doctor. Like Doctor Doolittle.

“Doctor Doolittle, I presume?” she said, a slight slur to her voice.

Tanner raised an eyebrow.

“Does anyone call you that?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Well, I suppose I can see why I’d have thought of it. After all, you do a lot. Get it?” She’d somehow moved closer to him what with all the vigorous motion of the bubbles, so she was able to lean in and elbow him jokingly in the ribs over her stupid joke, only her forearm grazed what she had to presume was a wicked big hard-on lurking beneath the surface of the water. Dayum. If that wasn’t tempting, nothing was. But no, she’d already had her one-night-stand-with-a-stranger, and look where that got her.

Actually it got her right here, right now. Were it not for that little lapse in judgment, she’d still be sitting in her parents’ Malibu cottage, hating that she was sitting in her parents’ Malibu cottage. So much for that argument. Nevertheless, she didn’t even know Dr. Doolittle, though he seemed nice enough, and he didn’t know her, except he knew all about her disastrous love life of late, which was mildly embarrassing. Then again, it felt good to get it out there. After a lifetime of having to live the veneered life of a child with celebrity parents, it was liberating not to give a shit who knew what about you. No secrets, no pretense, simply calling it like it was.

Huh. On the one hand, that would be the most perfect time to sleep with someone, wouldn’t it? One of those completely zipless fucks—no muss, no fuss, a lot of fun because you enjoy each other’s company, but no interest in anything more than that. A drive-by fuck.

She forgot why she’d become so focused on the sex she was not about to have with Dr. Doolittle, and it made her a bit sad she wasn’t going to have it. Because, well, it was evident he had the hots for her. And sure, she found him quite handsome and interesting. What would be so wrong with two people indulging a little?

Ugh, she’d done that with Rodrigo, hadn’t she? And that experiment failed miserably.

But the thing is, sometimes when you’re a little lubricated up with a few glasses of scrumptious wine, you act on impulse. And the fact was, Zoey’s mother always berated her for her impulsivity, whether it was scaling a palm tree in her bare feet on some island in the South Pacific while she was on a shoot, or jumping off someone’s balcony into their swimming pool below, or yeah, getting engaged to the skydiving version of a glorified cabana boy.

But then she started thinking about that swollen cock that had pressed against her arm and she was intrigued. Maybe a teensy bit of fun would be okay? Like not the whole thing but enough to tide her over till she found a new guy for real? A little bit of fooling around in a hot tub? After all, isn’t that what hot tubs were invented for? What the hell. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

She leaned into the doctor’s personal space only a smidge.

“I’ve been dying to do this—would you mind terribly if I indulged this one time?” she said, angling her head and pressing her mouth to his, her tongue probing for signs of compliance. He opened his mouth immediately, and her tongue began exploring along his lips, his teeth, his tongue. This guy was a way better kisser than Rodrigo, and that was saying something.

He reached around and pulled her toward him, and she let out a groan of pleasure. As their bodies met, his hard cock pressed up to her pelvis and she couldn’t help herself; she reached down and stroked the head through his shorts. It was his turn to groan this time as he clasped her face between his hands, securing her in place to deepen the kiss.

Good God, this was an out-of-body encounter of the best kind. How this day turned into this night was a complete mystery but in the best sense of the word. When she thought it couldn’t get any better, the doctor began to kiss along the edge of her jaw, his mouth moving toward her neck, drawing his tongue along the column of her throat. And she could feel things stirring down deep she hadn’t even felt when Rodrigo was at his best.

With ease, he reached into the scoop-necked edge of her T-shirt and lifted both breasts above the fabric, allowing easy access to each one. He pressed them together, and nipped at first one nipple, then the other, before his mouth closed over one nipple and he pulled hard. Yowza, if he kept that up, Zoey would climax long before anything more ever came of this little tête-à-tête.

Oh, but the idea of coming made her think this was too much like having sex and honestly, she needed to maintain at least a scintilla of integrity with herself at this point. Hadn’t she promised herself no one-nighters? This was beginning to have all the hallmarks of a one-nighter, and she knew she’d end up mad at herself afterward. But, man, that tongue, dragging across that nipple, those teeth taking the occasional friendly bite of one or the other. Meanwhile she’d been stroking his cock and if his breathing was any indication, he was into it. As he rocked his pelvis toward her hand, it felt so good. How could something so good be so wrong?

Willpower. She needed to prove to herself she had some. So even though she was fast approaching orgasm, she had to stop this. Otherwise his hands might find their way down her shorts and there’d be no question about orgasming once or even twice before they were through. Inevitably, certain hard things would end up inside certain soft things, and that spelled trouble for Zoey. So instead of indulging in the feelings, which were freaking amazing, she pulled back. Her nipple slipped from his mouth with a soft pop.

Dr. Eliasson’s brow wrinkled. Even more so when Zoey let go of his cock, midstroke.

She held up her hands as if under arrest. “I’m, I’m, I’m super sorry about this,” she stuttered out of nervousness. “Believe me, this is the last thing I want to do. But I promised myself no more one-night stands. That’s how I got engaged to Rodrigo—with stupid, impulsive actions on my part that might have been fun but were terribly consequential.”

He frowned. “Okay…” He drew out the word for a few beats. “I’m totally on board with whatever you want as long as you’re sure about it. I mean, whatever that just was, was a whole lot of fun. You’re sure you don’t want to maybe keep going for a little while longer?”

She nodded, worrying that all he’d have had to do was say “pretty please with sugar on top” and she’d have folded like a piece of origami paper. “I know. And I feel bad about it. But I mean, look, in the middle of all this, with my hand on your erection—and honestly, I was a bit relieved when I felt it because I thought you might be teensy weensy, what with your concern about that earlier—I thought, ‘Well, I don’t even know this man’s first name.’ I should at least know the name of the man who I’m masturbating.”

“I think it’s only masturbating when you’re doing it to yourself.”

She squinted. “Really? You sure about that?”

He nodded.

“Okay, the man who’s dick is in my hand. How’s that?”

He smiled. He must’ve thought she was crazy. Maybe she was.

“So anyhow, I’m grateful for your hospitality tonight. And for Katie’s makeshift swim gear. I’m sure you’re happy about that too since you could see through it pretty easily once it got wet.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You knew?”

She nodded. “Can’t say I didn’t enjoy the tease a bit. And when my arm hit your cock by accident, well, I knew it was working.”

He thrust out his lower lip. “You’re a hundred percent sure about this, then?”

She nodded, hanging her head. “I’m afraid so. It was fun, but I’d forgotten, I’m turning over a new leaf. A new, one-night-stand-free leaf.”

With that, she stepped out of the hot tub, pulled off her wet top only enough to squeeze the excess water from it and maybe cause his jaw to drop, tugged it back on, and started walking into the house.

“Tanner,” he said loud enough for her to hear it once she’d entered through the door. “My first name’s Tanner.”

As she walked down the hall, she closed her eyes against the sneaking suspicion that was gnawing at her. There was no way this guy was that Tanner. No doubt there were plenty of Tanners in the world. Of that, she could be sure.