Leaving at Noon (22 page)

His shoulders, the ones he’d been holding
rigid, seemed to relax, and he took a step closer to her. “Know
what, Zo?”

“
No.”

“
I like you
too.”

A sob caught in her throat. “You do?”

“
Yeah, babe. I do. I’m
madly in like with you.”

Zoey couldn’t help it. She laid a possessive
hand on his shoulder. “I’m madly in like with you too.”

Theo grinned at her then. A grin so big that
even in the starlight, Zoey could see his beautiful dimple. “Know
what I think would be a good idea now?”

She shook her head. “Tell me.”

“
If you showed me your
tits.”

A snort of laughter burst through her
nose.

“
Oi. I like the rest of
you. Just gotta make sure I still like those puppies
too.”

Zoey didn’t hesitate. She yanked her dress
over her head and tossed it in the sand. Her bra followed seconds
later.

Theo caught his breath audibly. He raised
his hands with a sort of reverence, cupping each of her breasts.
“Interesting,” he murmured.

Zoey’s eyes slid shut as he stroked his
thumbs over her nipples. “What is?”

“
I don’t like your
tits.”

She opened one eye to look at him
menacingly.

“
I fucking love
them.”

He dropped his head then, pressing hot, wet
kisses over each one of them before pulling a tight, hard nipple
into his mouth and sucking.

Sensation shot through Zoey, making her
belly roll and her pussy clench. Liquid heat pooled between her
legs, and she groaned and offered Theo her other breast.

He feasted on it, rolling her nipple between
his lips and laving it with his tongue before sucking hard.

Zoey’s hands weren’t idle. How could they be
when she needed to feel his hot flesh against her palms, needed to
know her fear hadn’t scared her husband away? She needed to touch
him, hold him. Not his clothes. His flesh. She needed her husband
like she’d never needed him before.

He raised his head and arms long enough that
she could tug his shirt off, and then his mouth was back to
suckling her, kissing her, nipping at her. He pulled the tender
flesh of one breast into his mouth and sucked hard enough, Zoey
knew there’d be a mark there in the morning.

Theo’s mark.

She clasped her hand to his head, holding
him there, wanting to be marked by him.

Her other hand found the button of his
shorts, and in seconds she had the pants open, his boxers pushed
down and his hard shaft in her hands.

“
Know what else I don’t
like, babe?”

“
Tell me.”

“
Your hand wrapped around
my cock like that.”

“
I know.” She soothed her
palm up his erection and back down again, savoring the silky
softness of his skin around the solid steel of his dick. “You love
it.”

“
Almost as much as I love
your lips wrapped around it.”

“
I’ll wrap my lips around
your cock any time you want, but first…”

“
Mm?” His mouth was full
of her nipple again.

“
First kiss me,
Theo.”

He raised his head and shot her that full
grin. The one that made his dimple stand out so clearly. “Sure,
babe. I like kissing you. I fucking love it.”

Before she could register what he was doing,
he’d sunk to his knees, tugged her panties down her legs and placed
his mouth on her pussy, kissing her there. His lips parted, and his
tongue slid over her clit in velvety soft strokes that made Zoey’s
knees shake in pleasure.

Theo increased the intensity of the kiss,
drawing her pussy lips apart with his thumbs and languidly licking
her. He started at her clit and worked his way down, running his
velvety tongue along the seam of her pussy, dipping it inside and
returning to lave her clit.

“
Oh God, Theo. Oh my God!”
Goose bumps covered her back and arms.

Thank heaven the dark beach was deserted,
because Zoey made no effort to keep her voice down. She couldn’t if
she tried. The delicious sensations pulsing through her were too
powerful to keep to herself.

He kissed her until her heartbeat seemed to
pound in her ears. She couldn’t differentiate between the whoosh of
the waves lapping the beach and the roar in her ears. The bliss was
overwhelming, and she began the inevitable climb to climax. Her
pussy tightened. Light pulsed behind her eyelids and ecstasy built
to a crescendo. She was a whimpering mess.

Theo stopped kissing her seconds before that
crescendo broke. Seconds before Zoey gave herself over to what
promised to be one of the most incredible orgasms in history.

She growled in fury. “Theo, damn it.” Her
breath came in shuddering waves, harsh and uneven, and her body
swayed furiously with the disappointment of unfulfilled desire.
“You can’t leave me hanging, can’t do this to me—”

He surged to his feet, cutting her off as he
crushed his mouth to hers.

The second their lips fused, his tongue slid
over hers and he kissed her with a burning passion. This was no
Slow-burn. It wasn’t even a Scorcher. Nope, Theo had gone straight
in for the Ultimate.

So aroused was Zoey, his kiss alone almost
sent her rocketing into orgasm.

But once again, Theo switched things up.

At some point, he must have disposed of his
shorts and boxers, because as he kissed her, he planted a hand
beneath one of her knees and tugged her leg up, holding it against
the bare skin of his hip. Then he was bending his knees and pushing
closer to her. Something nudged her swollen pussy. Something thick
and hard and so familiar, a jolt of desire coursed through her
body.

Zoey swayed against him, and Theo moaned
into her mouth.

Restlessness throbbed through her. She was
close. So damn close. And with Theo’s erection teasing her pussy,
promising fulfillment, she couldn’t wait a second longer.

She reached down, wrapped her hand around
the length of his shaft and positioned him exactly where she needed
him.

Eight years she’d lived with Theo, and her
desire for him was no less frenetic today than it had been eight
years ago. If anything, the need was more urgent, more insistent.
She’d come this close to losing him, to walking away from the best
thing that had ever happened to her. Zoey had to have him inside
her. She had to prove to herself, and to him, that as tenuous as
their bond had been these last few months, it was rock solid now.
Nothing and no one would ever come between them again. Not her
mother, not her father, and most of all, not Zoey herself. She was
done with cutting Theo out. She was done running.

Theo was it for her. He was all she
needed.

He was
everything
she needed.

She rocked against him, dropping her hand,
and Theo thrust up, filling her completely.

As incredible as his kiss was, Zoey had no
choice but to tear her mouth from his as he pounded into her. She
had to draw in enough oxygen to charge the scream that exploded out
of her.

She yelled his name, the sound drowning in
the roar of the incoming tide. And then she yelled it again,
because he felt so damn good inside her. So damn good filling her,
stretching her and pulling out only to drive back in again.

She cried out over and over, his name a
litany on her lips.

Every nerve ending was alive, tantalized by
his thrusts. Electricity seemed to crackle in the air around them.
Or maybe they were generating the electricity. Each time Theo
thrust, a current of energy rocked her soul.

Zoey wished she could remain like this
forever, locked in her husband’s arms as he pistoned into her. She
wished she could feel this way forever. Hot, needy, aroused and
loved. Absolutely loved.

But Theo made it impossible. He’d taken her
too close to the edge for Zoey to last much longer. Every drag of
his turgid flesh took her straight back to that edge. She tried to
hold on and savor the perfection of the moment. With every swing of
her hips she tried to convey how goddamned much she loved her
husband. And liked him.

But as tightly as she grasped, her
determination was no match for his skill and expertise. She’d been
hanging on the precipice since he’d touched her with his mouth. The
next time Theo drove into her, she plummeted headfirst over the
edge.

Zoey came hard. Her pussy clamped around
Theo’s cock, convulsing. Pleasure rocketed through her until every
inch of her body was awash in it.

Just when she thought it couldn’t get any
better, Theo moaned her name. It reverberated through her ears as
his thrusts jerked to a stop and his body went rigid for a
heartbeat.

And then he came, shooting inside her,
bathing the walls of her pussy in the scorching heat of his
release. Over and over he pulsed, each shudder of his gorgeous cock
sending another ripple of ecstasy through her.

Zoey held her husband as tight as she could,
riding the waves of her orgasm with him. She delighted in each
tremor in his shoulders, in the arching of his back as he pulsed
and in the delicious rasp of his breath as his chest heaved against
hers.

When his uncontrollable jerking slowed to
the odd jolt every few seconds, and Theo leaned in and whispered he
loved her, Zoey had another little orgasm, right there on his
almost spent cock.

Breathless and boneless, Theo gathered Zoey
in his arms and shuffled over to a rock, dropping his weight on it.
Grateful for the support, he arranged his wife in his lap so she
straddled him. He planted her pussy on top of his softening cock
and tugged her legs around his waist.

The cold stone against his bare ass wasn’t
comfortable. Neither was the uneven surface of the rock. Theo
suspected he’d have a few bruises in the morning, but he didn’t
give a damn. He cared about nothing but the woman in his arms. His
wife was wrapped around him now, her arms draped around his neck
and her chest plastered to his.

Far off in the distance, hints of pink broke
the inky blackness of the sky. Soon the stars would fade and dawn
would break across the sky. Early-morning joggers would fill the
beachside path, and swimmers and lifeguards would make their way to
the beach.

Soon, but not yet.

They had time to catch their breath and
recover from the storm of their passion.

Theo was in no hurry. He’d rather be left
panting from pleasure than doubled over in pain. He’d experienced
enough agony over the last few weeks to last him a lifetime.

For long moments he said nothing, choosing
instead to relish the intimacy he and Zoey had found once more. For
the first time in months, the tension that had haunted their
marriage was absent.

The calm after the storm was a balm to
Theo’s battered soul, and he steeped himself in it, letting it wash
away the hurt and nastiness of their silence and their fights.

Eons later, Zoey stirred. She pressed a kiss
to the tender spot just beneath his ear and whispered, “The bad
times are over.”

Theo drew in a deep breath. “Yeah, babe.
They’re over.” Finally.

“
We got through
it.”

“
We did.” Never had two
words provided such great relief.

“
And we’ll be stronger for
it.” Her lips nibbled where they’d kissed, and Theo moved his head
to the side to give her easier access.

The play of her mouth sent shivers down his
spine, and his cock stirred—despite the fact he’d come not ten
minutes ago.

“
I love you,
Theo.”

“
Love you too,
babe.”

Neither spoke for a while after that, mostly
because Zoey moved her mouth over his and kissed him slowly and
sensuously, sliding her tongue along his in lazy, hypnotic strokes
that made Theo forget all about the cold, hard rock beneath his
ass.

“
Know what else I love?”
he murmured when she pulled her lips away with a soft, contented
sigh.

“
Tell me.”

His hand found the soft curve of her inner
thigh, and he trailed his fingers up until he found the slick folds
of her pussy.

“
You. Full of me.” He
closed his eyes and let his fingers wander over her swollen
flesh.

Zoey sighed again, softly and with just a
hint of a hiss in her breath.

Theo was already half-hard, something he’d
have thought impossible—if the very evidence of his arousal wasn’t
thickening against his wife’s wet pussy. But talking about his
guilty pleasure sent blood surging to his groin.

His hand itched with impatience. “Need to
touch you. Let me in.”

With a sexy whimper, Zoey raised her hips an
inch—just enough space for Theo to dip two fingers between her legs
and slide them inside her.

He knew his next words made no sense. How
could they? Her channel was hot and wet and tight, and it clamped
over his fingers rhythmically as he slid them ever deeper, frying
his brain.

Zoey’s mouth found his, her tongue sensuous,
her lips demanding. She rocked on his hand, taking his fingers ever
deeper, and Theo hit pay dirt, feeling the thick slickness of his
come mingled with her wet heat.

His body roared to life. There was nothing
half about his arousal. His cock was full and erect and pulsing. As
much as he loved playing with Zoey after he’d come inside her,
there was something he needed more now. Something he wanted
more.

He withdrew his fingers and wrapped his hand
around his shaft. Zoey raised her hips another few inches, and he
swiped his cockhead over the seam of her pussy lips, once, twice,
three times, until Zoey squirmed.

Hot liquid oozed from her, and Theo had to
squeeze his eyes together at the incredible heat. He needed to be
inside her again. Needed to feel all that heat surrounding him.