Page 36 of Hero

I’m still scrubbing away when Zed suddenly bursts out, “Damn it, Esther. Would you get your ass over here?”

I freeze. Then turn around slowly, the dishrag still in my hand. “What?”

“Just get over here.”

I put the towel down, spreading it neatly on the sink so it can dry. Then I take a step toward him. “Why?”

“You know why.”

“Kind of presumptuous, aren’t you? Assuming I have something like that in mind.”

“If you didn’t have it in mind, you’d already be in your own bed. You’re not. So stop wiping the damn counter and get over here so I can fuck you like you want.”

I gulp, my cheeks growing hot. “If it’s just me who wants it—”

“You know damn well it’s not just you. You think I’m ever gonna say no to you?”

I’m not sure how it happens—I’m not conscious of taking specific steps to move my body—but I somehow end up over near the bed, standing above where Zed is seated.

He reaches out to take me by the waist and pull me so I’m standing between his legs. He’s gazing up at me, his blue eyes hot. Strangely hungry.

“Too lazy to even get up off your ass to do it right,” I say dryly.

He chokes on a laugh. “Oh, I’m gonna do you right. You can count on it.” Before I can come up with an appropriate rejoinder, he’s swung me down onto the bed. I’m on my back, my upper body and butt on the mattress, but my legs hanging clumsily over the side. He moves over me. Kisses me deep and hard.

I wrap my arms around him and surrender to the kiss, parting my lips and trying to suck his tongue into my mouth. He’s big and hot and heavy, and I’m having to brace myself with my feet to keep from slipping off the bed.

Finally I break out of the kiss. “This isn’t what I’d call doing me right. I’m falling off the bed.”

With a low, husky laugh, he straightens up and rearranges my body so I’m lying in the right direction on the bed. Then he climbs over me again, this time straddling my thighs with his legs.

He kisses me until I’m breathless. Until I’m squirming beneath him, trying to rub my aching pussy against anything hard and firm I can reach.

When I find the bulge of his erection in his jeans, I wrap one leg around his hip so I can grind against it.

“Damn,” he mutters, yanking his mouth away from mine. He stares down at me, his eyes blazing and his skin damp with perspiration. “We can probably do better than a teenage dry hump.”

“Well, you’re the one with the delusions of grandeur. If you’ve got any skills, you better drag them to the surface and show me.”

With a wolfish grin, he unbuttons my jeans and then pulls down the zipper, grabbing them with my panties and peeling them all off at once.

Eager to get to the good stuff, I pull off my top and drop it over the side of the bed. Now I’m completely naked.

He’s kneeling between my legs, leering down at my body.

“Okay,” I say at last.

“Okay what?” He manages to wrench his gaze away from my breasts to meet my eyes.

“I thought you were going to show me some skills. All you’re doing is gawking.”

“Best thing I can think of to gawk at.”

I shake my head with a well-deserved eye roll, but my cheeks are burning again. He does seem to like how I look. It’s impossible for me to believe anything else.

“Maybe you’re just stalling because you’re not as skillful as you like to believe.”

“I’m not stalling. Just taking my time.” He reaches out to thumb one of my nipples. “We kind of rushed things the other times.”

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