The proposal, p.23
The Proposal, page 23
She made a mewling sound that sent even more blood rushing to my cock. The denim confines were a torture I’d endure for the sake of touching and tasting her.
I broke our kiss. “Do you want to—”
“Yes.” She strained to press her lips to mine again.
I leaned back. “My cock is so hard for you I can barely walk. We’re not going to make it back to our room.”
“I don’t care.” She held onto the sides of my face and delved right back into the kiss.
Barely breaking our kiss, her shirt was up and over her head, her hair flopping into her face. I brushed it back and drew her back in and against me.
Her hands tugged at my shirt, making quick work of the thermal. And her fingers were like magic, unbuckling my belt, the jingle of the metal sending shivers down my spine.
“Where?” She bit her lip, tugging down my zipper.
My gaze zeroed in on the flat surfaces available. The leaf-covered ground. A tree. The ax-throwing targets.
Lifting her off the ground, I wrapped her legs around my waist. I kicked out the legs of the target and slammed my back into it. Leaves fluttered around us as the flat, heavy target toppled over like a felled tree, giving me a raised platform off the ground. Keeping one hand on her ass, I pulled my shirt up and over my head. I flung my shirt over the smooth wood.
Zara worked her hand into my boxers. The cold rasp of her fingers against my skin sent my pulse skyrocketing.
“Good god.” Her eyes widened as she worked her hands up and down my length.
I had to get my hands on her. I had to taste her. I had to have her.
31
Zara
Outdoor sex? Who knew it was my thing? I sure as hell hadn’t. Or maybe Leo was my thing. The throbbing between my thighs hadn’t faded for a single second since Leo had wrapped his arms around me, leaving me breathless and electrifying my skin.
“Zara, I need to fuck you.”
My mouth watered as I rocked my hand down over the thick crown of his cock. Fuck, I couldn’t wait to get him into my mouth, but we’d save that for round two. Right now was all about the main attraction.
“For once, we’re in complete agreement.”
Leo tugged me forward by the waistband of my jeans. Damnit, I should’ve worn a skirt. He didn’t waste any time dragging them down my legs and pulling me down onto him. With a practiced move so welcome I didn’t even have time for jealousy, he produced a condom and rolled it on.
He tightened his hands around my waist, dragging me forward until my bent legs were on either side of his. “Next time we do this I’m eating you out until you come on my lips screaming my name.”
“Again, no argument from me.”
“Then come here, Gingersnap.” His fingers sunk into my hips. Thick, callused fingers crafted over years of dedication and hard work were now devoted to my pleasure.
I ran the head of his cock up and down my soaking seam.
His grip tightened, fingers teetering on the edge of painful. He was at the end of his rope. So was I.
But the heady power of having him on the brink heightened my excitement. The goosebumps all over my body intensified every stroke and rub.
A happy sigh broke free from my lips as I dropped my weight, allowing the mushroom tip of his cock to stretch me. The blunt thickness of him stole my breath away and made it hard to concentrate on anything except where our bodies were joined. Being on top, I had complete control of my descent, but the shallow thrusts of Leo’s hips sent my back bowing.
Every inch, thick and weighty, set off nerve endings I didn’t know existed, and I sank onto Leo, shuddering as his stomach ground against my clit. Fully seated on his cock, I tried to gather my senses and remember how all my limbs worked. Everything in my universe was now centered on the desperate, demanding race for the blissed-out feelings coursing through my body that I never wanted to end.
“You’re killing me. I’m fucking dying you’re so tight.” He locked eyes with me saying it like an accusation. As if death by outdoor sex had been my plan all along.
“Are you going to talk or are you going to fuck me?”
His hooded gaze snapped open with fingers biting into my ass as a pleasurable punishment for teasing. In a fluid motion that disoriented me, he stood, taking my full body weight with him and settling me back onto the thermal-covered target.
“Always challenging.” Bracing his hands on the ground behind my head, he traded the shallow thrusts he’d used when I’d been on top of him for powerful driving action, keeping my thighs pinned back by his hips colliding with mine.
Dirty. Demanding. Delicious.
The coursing pleasure overwhelmed my senses and licked an ever-growing intensity up and down my spine in time to the efficiently ruthless strokes that hit my every pleasure center.
He held onto my neck, cupping the side of my face, dragging his thumb over my lips. “You’re beautiful.”
The crescendo raced higher, the notes growing in intensity until they broke. My back arched off the wood, my legs locked around his waist, not wanting him to move an inch or I’d be thrown into overload, but wanting him to keep going to push me there.
He ground his hips harder into me, setting off another cascading orgasm triggering by his own. He swelled inside me, feeling impossibly larger, his last thrusts sloppy and fierce, wringing the last drops of pleasure from us both.
Unrestrained and wild. That’s how he made me feel. If you’d told me a month ago I’d be having sex in the woods with Leo Wilder, there wouldn’t have been a bank account big enough to make me believe you.
Clinging to him trying to catch my breath, I laughed at the inevitability of this moment from the moment he’d stepped on my breakfast that first.
All that anger, all those emotions coiled and ready to strike, but instead of a viper or a cobra, it was a sexual explosion that made every other guy I’d been with feel like a fizzled-out sparkler.
“That’s a first.” He shifted his weight so he wasn’t crushing me.
“Sex in the woods?”
“No, laughing.”
“Sorry.” I pushed the hair off my face. “I was thinking about the coffee-and-croissant version of me seeing us right now.”
“She’d probably kick your ass.”
“Right after she kicked yours.”
He trailed his finger down my neck. “I don’t want to move.”
“I don’t want you to move.” Not just because the sex heat was wearing off and I was naked. I stared into his eyes.
There was a tenderness that shot a lump straight into my throat.
“Zara—”
“…and these trees have been on the property for nearly two hundred years. Their massive trunks and serene foliage providing shade for visitors such as yourselves.”
We gaped at one another, scrambling up off the felled target. I rolled off onto all fours, grabbing my inside out pants and shoving my legs into them.
My shirt hit me in the face. I grabbed it and threw it on while searching for my shoes. I spotted one and tugged it on.
The tour guide continued his droning speech.
I peeked around one of the trees. A group of twelve people walked along with him, staring up at the fall foliage that hadn’t already littered the ground.
Every leaf crunch sent my heartrate racing back to mid-sex speed.
Leo’s belt jingled. We both froze, staring at one another.
“We host a number of corporate and private events like weddings, family reunions and more.” The guide’s voice and the crunching of leaves got louder.
Where’s my other shoe? I mouthed.
Leo grabbed it, shaking the leaves free before handing it over.
Crouching low, we scurried away. Leo grabbing the basket I hadn’t even seen him bring along.
Running alongside a former athlete was a surefire way send a person to heart attack city, especially after the work out—and subsequent shock—we’d just had.
I panted, clutching at the front of my shirt, sure there was an outline of my heart there.
Our eyes met. The madness of what had just happened, and our last-minute getaway, cracked through the blind panic and sent me straight into full-on laughter. I dropped to my knees, a cramp in my side and generally unable to breathe after running for what felt like ten miles back to the hotel.
Leo braced his hand on the column on the side of the sweeping porch, wiping tears from his eyes. “They were feet away.”
“Had they shown up two minutes earlier…” I leaned against the wooden railing beside Leo.
“They’d have gotten quite a show. Unless there had been a bear or mountain lion, I wasn’t stopping.”
I batted at his legs. “Never again.”
His head jerked back.
I clarified. “No more outdoor sex for me. I can check that off my list.”
He turned, sliding down the column to sit beside me, one leg on the stairs we’d run up. “There’s a list, is there? You can’t hold out on me.”
“There’s not an actual list. It was a joke.”
He picked a leaf out of my hair. “Maybe you need to work on making one.”
A shiver raced down my spine at the way his eyes smoldered with the same hunger I’d been treated to back in the woods.
Ducking my head, I looked down at myself. “Maybe I should.” I grinned at him, brushing my fingers through his hair, flicking the small twig out of it before remembering the picnic basket.
Shooting to my feet, I flipped open the lid.
“You had a blanket this entire time?” I pulled out the massive fluffy blanket and shook it at him.
“I forgot. I was a little distracted.” He took it from me, shaking it out and draping it over my shoulders. “I’ll remember next time.”
“Next time? Sex outside isn’t my thing remember?”
“Like I said, from the way you ripped out half my hair, you need to reevaluate your sex list.”
“We need to reevaluate how to get past everyone and to our room when we obviously look like we just had sex.”
“Follow me.” He threaded his fingers through mine and took off around the back of the hotel.
Heading in through the service entrance, we made it up to our floor with only minimal eye contact. Kathleen had once again reserved us a room at the lodge, only this time it wouldn’t be an awkward inconvenience.
Leo slipped the key out of his pocket.
“We have three hours before anyone else gets here.”
He stopped so quickly, I slammed into his back.
Whipping around, he caged me between his arms and pressed my back against the wall. “Are you suggesting we don’t spend the next three hours going over and over everything we need for today?”
My breathing picked up. “I’m sure things are under control. We only need an hour, tops, to make sure everything is good to go.”
He dipped his head, our lips less than an inch apart. “Two hours.”
The promise of those two words sent shockwaves through my core. A needy ache was back, even though he’d been inside me less than twenty minutes ago.
“I’ll set an alarm.” I fumbled for my phone.
“You do that, Gingersnap.”
We rounded the corner, skirted past the housekeeping trolley, and nearly broke into a sprint on the way to our room.
He shoved the plastic key card into the lock which flashed an angry red twice before I yanked the card from his grasp, flipped it around and stuck it back in. His inability to focus made this moment even sweeter.
The green light flashed and we flew into the room, hands all over one another.
A toilet flush broke through our quest to explore one another’s bodies for the next 120 minutes. We jumped apart.
A small, older woman came out of the bathroom with a toilet brush, yelping when she spotted us. “I’m sorry. The front desk said no one would be here until later.”
“We came back early.”
“I just started on the room. I’m so sorry. Had I known you’d be back early, I’d have cleaned this one first.”
I tore my gaze away from Leo’s, barely keeping my smile in check. “It’s okay. We have a lot of work to do. Take your time. Is it okay if we stay while you work? We’ll keep out of your way.”
“No problem at all.”
Leo’s gaze narrowed. His hand wrapped around my arm as I brushed past, letting my fingers graze the large problem he had stuffed into his jeans.
“The payback for this will be repaid between your legs later tonight.” He dropped a kiss on my neck.
I looked at him over my shoulder. “I’m counting on it.”
Trying to focus, I dug into my list of tasks we needed to complete, completely aware of Leo watching my every move. He was the predator and I was the prey, and I was more than happy to tease him and myself for the next seven hours.
I’d never felt like this before. The crazy, can’t-wait-to-rip-your-clothes-off, ready-to-die-happy feeling made my skin tingle and my pussy throb in anticipation.
Tonight would be a night I wouldn’t forget. I’d focus on sexy anticipation instead of everything else turned me into a neurotic mess whenever it was time to run an event. He made me want to forget it and pretend we were a couple—my chest seized and I looked down at the ring on my finger.
Tugging it off, I set it on the desk, staring at the sparkling, shimmering stone.
Leo was the best distraction I’d ever discovered and I couldn’t wait for another taste.
But what happened when we stopped playing pretend?
32
Leo
An insistent buzz pulled me out of sleep. I fumbled around on the nightstand, grabbing my phone.
Hair brushed against my chest. Last night had been the longest foreplay in the history of man. The scavenger hunt had been another killer success. No back-ups at any activity. One team did attempt to cross a stream at one point, but I found them and got them back on course.
Kathleen commended us both and told us we’d have a bigger audience at our presentation on which events we could handle for Winthorpe next quarter. Well, that Simply Stark and Zara could handle next quarter.
Leaving felt wrong, but this wasn’t where I was cut out to be. No matter how high I’d felt yesterday beside her, keeping the day on track. We made a great team, but I’d learned those never lasted forever. It didn’t mean I’d give up before we won the championship ring, though—not with how crazy Zara made me.
We’d barely made it through the door before I was inside her again. Against the wall. On the coffee table. The floor. The bed was the last place we’d made it, with my face buried between her legs. My scalp would need a solid week to recover, but, damn, had it been worth it.
“Who died?” My voice was groggy and laced with sleep.
“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Hunter’s mildly amused voice pulled me out of my fog.
“Hey, Hunter, what’s up? Why are you calling so early?”
“It’s eleven am. And I thought I was the night owl.”
I pulled the phone away and checked the time. Shit. We’d need to check out soon.
“It was a late night.”
Zara groaned and snuggled in closer to my side.
I wrapped my arm tighter around her. The weight of her against my chest made getting out of bed seem like an impossibility.
“Since I can hear you’re not alone, I’ll make this quick. You’ve got an interview in two days at Sports Central in New York.”
I shot halfway up before sinking back down and rubbing Zara’s back. “You serious?”
“No, I called you on the phone like a psycho to screw around with you.”
She rolled away, snuggling deeper into the blankets and pillows, leaving a cold spot on my chest.
“What time?”
“Eleven. Try to be awake before noon that day.”
“You did it.” Could Hunter hear the awe in my voice? Because it was there.
“Pulling strings is what I do best. You’re in the door. Now get it over the goal line.”
“I will.”
He ended the call and I sank into the pillows. This was my shot. A Hail Mary pass. In two days, I’d have my chance to get back to the game I loved, even if it was in a different capacity.
Zara flipped over and brushed the hair out of her face. “Morning.” Her voice was rough and sleepy and sexy as fuck. “Who was that?”
“Hunter.”
“Was he trying to get you to smuggle parakeets across the border?”
“No.” The words stalled in my throat. If I told her about the interview and I bombed, it would be another tally mark on the Leo’s a fuck-up score board. “It was a party invite.”
“So early in the morning.” She scrunched up her face in disapproval.
“It’s almost time to check out.”
She shot up, clutching the blankets to her chest. Blowing her hair out of her face, she stretched over me to look at the clock, rubbing her body against me. “I haven’t slept this late in forever. Someone kept me up late.” Her hands brushed along my chest.
My body hummed in anticipation of another taste of her. “Someone brought this on herself with her let the cleaner stay foreplay.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Are you saying it wasn’t worth it?”
I wrapped my arms around her and flipped her over, settling my hips between her spread legs. “I wasn’t the one complaining about sleeping in.”
She looked up at the clock again, a hungry mischief filling her eyes. “It’ll only take us ten minutes to pack.”
“That gives me nearly fifty minutes with you.”
She hitched her legs around my back, digging her heels into my ass. “Yes, it does.”
Insatiable, and I fucking loved it.
I sat in the lobby full of two-story TV screens running last night’s Sports Central prime time broadcast in my suit, Windsor knot, and resume. It was a sparse, sad piece of paper. Barely three lines. Catering server and professional football player were my only qualifications. My degree in communications might win me a point or two. At least I’d graduated. It was more than a lot of guys could say.
