Page 45 of An Inconvenient Marriage
After I did what I presumed to be a walk of shame back to the booth, Zach told his brother he’d meet him for lunch the following day, then informed me we were leaving. There was a part of me that wanted to protest and tell him no, but even though I’d somehow found a small piece of my voice around him, I still hadn’t found it completely.
Besides, staying at the club with his brother didn’t feel… right.
Although, that might have been a better idea than coming back here with Zach. His mood had changed so suddenly after what had happened on the dance floor. Like he was angry that his body had reacted to me.
And maybe it wasn’t even me. Could have been the music or the atmosphere. It was all so sensual and sexy, you couldn’t help but be affected by it. Hell, evenIwas turned on, but that had nothing to do with the music.
I’d needed new underwear before we even left the elevator.
That was me, though. I couldn’t speak for Zach. I just knew whatever it was, he surely wasn’t happy about it. Hadn’t been for a while.
His words were short and clipped on the drive back to the hotel. We’d barely stepped inside our suite when he planted his hands on his hips and paced back and forth in the living area.
I probably should have gone to my room. Left him alone to brood. But I was too curious and fascinated. Especially when he shoved his jacket over his shoulders and threw it on the couch. Even more so when he reached for his tie and forcefully tugged on it while harsh Spanish words spilled from his lips.
If he wants to rant, he could at least do it in a language I understand.
He stopped moving then and looked up. Dark, intense eyes bored into mine, his mouth still half open, whatever else he wanted to say trapped on his tongue.
Oh shit, had I said that out loud?Please tell me I didn’t say it out loud.
Cocking his head to the side, he pulled the tie from his neck and dropped it to the floor. My heart stopped dead before it kicked into overdrive, furiously slamming against my ribs. The whooshing in my ears grew louder, and time seemed to slow down when he reached up to undo the first three buttons of his shirt.
I got the tiniest glimpse of his skin and yet I was transfixed. My gaze stayed glued to that tanned triangle until he advanced toward me. For every determined step he took forward, I took one backward. Again and again, and before I knew it, I found myself trapped between the wall and Zach.
Freezing me in place with that stare of his, he studied me like he was seeing me for the first time. I was still thinking about how that made me feel when he licked his lips and gently brushed his fingers over my collarbone.
The action was slow and deliberate. Goose bumps popped up all over my skin.
“Zach.” I’d intended for his name to come out as a question, but it sounded more like a plea. A desperate, needy plea.
He must have thought so, too, because he slipped the fingers that’d trailed my collarbone around the back of my neck and then pushed them into my hair.
A noise I’d never heard before came from my throat. It was low and breathy. Zach groaned more Spanish words. They weren’t angry, they were sensual. I wanted to know what they meant, but before I could even think about asking, he used the hand tangled in my hair to tug my head to the side.
Then he swooped down, and like he’d done at the club, ran his nose up along the length of my neck. Sucking in a sharp breath, he whispered more words against my skin, then completely robbed me of my senses when he curled the fingers of his free hand around my hip.
“Zach,” I stuttered. “What are you doing?”
Instead of answering immediately, he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the spot below my ear, and I couldn’t stop the shiver from rattling down my spine.
“I don’t know.” Another kiss, this one a bit lower. “But tell me to stop.”
Tell him to stop? I couldn’t do that. Even if whatever came next scared the heck out of me, not getting rid of this desperate ache inside my body scared me more.
I took too long to answer, because he drew back to look at me. His gaze bored into mine, dark and intense, searing me to my very core.
“Natalie,” he murmured. “I need you to tell me to stop.” He pulled his hand from my hair to grip my chin between his fingers. “If you don’t, I’ll fucking devour you.”
His words knocked the breath right out of me because I wanted that. Holy heck, did I want that, but since he’d rendered me speechless, all I could do was shake my head.
The muscle in his jaw twitched. “Tell me.”
“Please… please don’t stop.”
His mouth was on mine not even a second later.
Our lips moving frantically, the kiss was rough and demanding. It took me a second to find his rhythm, but when I did, I matched every ounce of his urgency until my knees grew weak. As if he could sense it, Zach stepped forward and kept me in place with his big body.
