“I’m sorry.” His laid his hands on her shoulders, meeting her gaze with an almost grim look. “When I suggested coming here, I had a plan. I had it all worked out to the last detail. I knew exactly how I wanted to do this. Had a perfect vision of how it would all play out . . . but now that we’re here, it just doesn’t feel right.”
Had he changed his mind? After all they’d been through, he didn’t want her anymore? “What do you mean? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“I’ll tell you what I wanted. I made this crazy baby-making deal with you in the belief that if we spent enough time together, you’d eventually see how well we fit. And I’m not talking about baby partners. I’ve tried to be patient, to give you time and space in hope that you’d come to see what’s plain as day to me, but I don’t know if that’s the case. Before we do this, Delaney, before anything can happen between us, there’s something I have to know.”
“What is it?” she asked softly.
“What I want . . .” He shook his head. “No. Let me rephrase that. What I need to know is whether or not this—and I mean you and me together—means anything to you?” His gaze was earnest and intense as it probed hers. “I need to know that you want me for me, and not just for the baby you’d hoped to make.”
Delaney gaped at Zac as if she were seeing him for the very first time. Her heart hammered against her chest at the realization that she’d misread everything.
“Yes, Zac,” she whispered, her throat thick with emotion. “I wouldn’t be here with you if it didn’t mean anything to me. You’re the only person who hasn’t passed judgement on me, the only one who seems to understand me, and that means everything to me.”
How could she ever have thought of him as rough and insensitive? Zac had been there for her from day one, just as he’d said he would be. He’d been supportive and encouraging and a better friend to her than anyone outside of Rosa, who’d practically raised her.
Her hands crept up his chest to slowly entwine behind his neck. She grew breathless as they stood breast to chest and heart to heart. “I won’t deny the physical attraction. I’ve tried all along to ignore it, but I can’t. I also can’t ignore that it goes much deeper than skin. Yes, I do feel something for you, Zac, and now that I’ve said it, what I want most is to feel you inside me.”
A smile spread slowly over his mouth. “Damn. I’m sure glad we got that straight.”
Although Zac answered glibly, there was nothing glib about what he was feeling. His heart galloped wildly at the realization that Delaney McCall, the woman he’d only fantasized about for eight long years, was about to become his. Although she’d stopped short of saying she loved him, she felt something, and that was good enough to keep him hoping for more.
He poured his heart and soul into the kiss, praying that his body might reach the part of her she still held back. She melted into him with a soft, sweet sigh of surrender. Their mouths melding, their tongues tangling, he backed her slowly toward the bed. Breaking from her lips, he pressed fevered kisses to her warm skin. Tangling his fingers in her hair, he sought her sensitive neck, licking, sucking, inciting sharps breaths and soft sighs.
He continued kissing, sucking, stroking, caressing, as his hands worked her blouse buttons free. He drew back only long enough to appreciate the view of the ripe mounds of mouth-watering feminine flesh spilling from her bra cups. Staring back at him with blue eyes filled with passion, Delaney shrugged out of her blouse and reached wordlessly behind her back to unhook her bra. She let it fall to the floor. Her gaze never breaking from his, she cupped the generous globes, offering them up to his hungry gaze and even more ravenous mouth.
Zac reached out to claim them, burying his face in her lush mounds with a moan. Kissing, biting, gently squeezing, he laid her back on the bed, intent on worshipping every inch of her lush, womanly body with his own. His desire for her ran marrow deep. He’d never wanted to please a woman as much as he wanted to please her. He leaned over her body, covering it with his while rooting between Delaney’s ripe breasts and rosy nipples. He tongued and teased both nipples before sucking one fully into his mouth. She clutched his head to her breasts and arched her back. With one gasp, her pleasure became his own.