He went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, shaving at the sink as the room steamed up. He stripped out of his clothes and stepped beneath the warm spray, tipping his face up to catch the rain. His mind ran through all the possible reactions Willow might have to the scene. When Willow was in high school, one of the football players had asked her out. Zane remembered how proud she’d been. Her green eyes had twinkled with delight. She’d always thought of herself as awkward and a brainiac, but he knew better, as did half the guys in their school. But of all her luck, the asshole who had asked her out, Butch Clayborne, had proceeded to run his mouth in the locker room after football practice. He’d bragged about asking her out to “get a piece of ass,” among other parts of her, which had sent fire through Zane’s veins. Even in remembrance his fingers curled into fists. He’d waited for the rest of the team to clear out, and he’d grabbed the asshole by the collar and shoved him against the lockers. You’re not going out with Willow. You’re not to talk to her ever again. And if I hear you so much as mention her name, I will kill you. They hadn’t come to blows, but Zane would have taken him down without thought. What he hadn’t counted on was how upset Willow had been for being stood up. He hadn’t told her what he’d done because she’d already felt self-conscious about her breasts, and the last thing she’d needed was to think guys believed she was only good enough for sex, when in reality it was only the scum of the earth who treated women like that. He should have told the asshole to cancel the date, but he’d been too pissed off to think straight.
He pressed his palms against the tiles, the water streaming down his back, and prayed Willow wouldn’t hate him for what he’d done. The scene in the screenplay wasn’t the same, but he’d left enough clues. And if she didn’t get it because she was too tipsy, he’d tell her outright. But he had faith in his beautiful, brilliant girl.
When the shower door opened, he hesitated before looking over, taking one last second to throw a plea up to the powers that be. She stepped into the shower, raw hurt glittering in her eyes, slicing through him like a knife.
“Wills—”
She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face to his chest. Her lush, naked curves molded to his body, arousing more than just his heart.
“The lunar eclipse,” she said softly.
“I’m sorry, baby. I should have told you.” The night the date was supposed to occur, there had been a lunar eclipse. The whole town had gone to the fairgrounds to witness it, but he’d found Willow down by the creek behind her parents’ house. Her thinking spot. Two years later, that spot had become theirs.
Her delicate fingers trailed along his back, and she gazed up at him. “I’m glad you didn’t. It would have mortified me, and there’s nothing I hate more than being embarrassed. That’s why you came looking for me that night. I remember. You said my mom was worried about me and you offered to go find me.”
He nodded. “One day when Ben and I were playing basketball, you said you were going to the creek to read. I saw you heading for the woods a few weeks later, and Ben said that you went to the creek to think. When you didn’t show up with everyone else at the fairgrounds that night, baby, I assumed you were there.”
Her hands slid to his ass, holding her body firmly against him and making him hard as steel. “You really have loved me forever.”
“I’m pretty sure we’ve determined that you’ve had me since I first set eyes on you.”
“Do you remember the very first time you saw me?” She swayed against him and flicked her tongue over his nipple.
“I can barely think when you do that, much less retrieve a memory from so long ago.”
She sucked the pebbled peak into her mouth, and he groaned, backing her up against the wall. When she clamped her teeth around the sensitive nub, he pushed her legs open with his knee and thrust the head of his arousal against her center.
“Fuck, baby.” He rocked his hips, teasing her slick flesh. “I don’t have a condom, and I want to make love to you so badly.”
“I’m on the pill and clean,” she said urgently. “But the question is, are you?” She was breathing as hard as he was.
His pulse skyrocketed. “Yes. I wouldn’t have let you put your mouth on me if I wasn’t.”
All his blood rushed south as he lifted her into his arms, unable to wait another second to make love to her. Water ran like a river between her breasts as her legs wound around his waist. He loved the feel of her warm thighs against him and her hands on his cheeks as her tight heat swallowed his shaft. Their mouths came together in a smoldering, greedy kiss. She clutched at his shoulders, moving with him in a mind-numbing rhythm. Lust and love pulsed through his veins as they quickened their efforts. More, his body demanded, thrusting harder, kissing rougher, almost violently, needing to be even closer. Her back met the wall as he drove into her. He broke away from the kiss to make sure she was okay, but she crashed her mouth to his, giving him the green light he needed. He sped through that sucker, eating at her mouth, slamming into her time and time again, driven by the heat pooling at the base of his spine. Pressure mounted with every sweet moan. Her head tipped back, and he took her breast into his mouth, sucking and teasing the peak.
“Z—harder. So good—”
Hearing her desires took him right up to the edge of sanity. He sucked harder, and she cried out, gasping for breath. Her inner muscles pulsed around him, and his release crashed over him, pulling him under, drowning him in ecstasy.
Her body shuddered with aftershocks, and he moved her beneath the warm water.
“Z,” she whispered.
“Yeah, sweetheart. Did I hurt your back?”
She lifted her head from his shoulder. “No. I just want you to know, I love that it took us so long to finally come together.”
He pressed his lips to hers and lowered her feet to the floor, holding her close as they rinsed off. “Why? I wish we had all those years together.”
“Because you’ve had time to become the man you are, and I’ve had time to become the person I am. And those feelings are still here, only stronger. And now you’ve written a story about us, straight from your heart. Nothing could be more perfect than that.”
“You’re wrong, baby. As cheesy as it sounds, every day we’re together will be more perfect than the last, because every day I’m learning how to be a better man for you.”
“You’re the king of cheesy,” she teased.
“I love you, too. Now finish up so I can take you home and devour you properly.” He smacked her ass.
She squealed and spun out of his arms. Her gaze turned sinfully seductive as she cupped his balls and said, “Why wait?”
CHAPTER TWENTY
PATCH LOADED UP a plate with gluten-free pancakes, breakfast pizza, and fruit Friday morning as he pleaded with Payton to put in a good word and get Willow hired to cater all the future set breakfasts. He looked like a rebellious teenager with his black jeans, shock of brown hair sticking up in all directions, and strands of leather and silver wrapped around his wrist. Willow knew he and Piper had met for drinks, and when Piper came by that morning, she’d claimed that was all they’d had. Willow tried to picture Zane’s chilled-out assistant in a relationship with her high-strung sister, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t see it. She had a feeling they were both barking up the wrong tree. Then again, until she and Zane had come together with this zany plan and cleared the air, she might never have visualized the two of them in a lasting relationship, either.