Page 71 of An Inconvenient Marriage
Toying with the end of my braid, I took a tentative step forward. “Do you need help with something?”
I thought for sure he was going to tell me to sit down like he’d done earlier, so I was pleasantly surprised that wasn’t what came out of his mouth.
“You can grab us a couple of sparkling waters from the fridge.”
“Yes, sir.”
Zach’s gaze darkened in that deliciously intense way that turned my insides to mush. Heat rushed through my body, making me feel hot all over. My skin prickled, and my mind provided me with vivid images of me and Zach in the living room earlier.
I wasn’t just hot, I was on freaking fire. And just when I thought I’d spontaneously combust right there where I stood, Zach muttered something in Spanish and turned his attention back to the stove.
Pressing my hands to my cheeks, I chewed on my lip and drew in a few steadying breaths through my nose. When I was certain I could put one foot in front of the other, I headed to the fridge and grabbed the waters like he’d asked.
I put them down on the island where Zach had already set places for us to eat, then slid onto one stool. It took me a couple of seconds to notice something was missing. Zach’s usual wineglass, to be precise.
Leaning to the side, I tried to see if maybe he had it with him, but there was nothing.
“You’re not having wine tonight?”
“No.”
Without elaborating or looking at me, he opened a drawer to his right and pulled out a ladle. He then spooned the contents from the pot into two bowls and brought them over. After grabbing a plate of sliced bread, he finally filled the space beside me.
The food looked and smelled amazing, and as hungry as I was, I needed to know why he wasn’t drinking.
“Why, Zach?”
He reached for the black peppercorns and cracked a good amount of the spice over his soup. “Why what?”
“Aren’t you drinking?”
He’d just dug his spoon into his bowl when I spoke, still holding on to it. His gaze met mine. It didn’t matter how many times I’d seen his eyes so dark and intense, it always had the same breath-stealing effect on me.
I was still trying to recover from his stare when he finally answered me. “Because I don’t want to drink when it’s just you and me.”
“Why?” I sounded like a damn parrot but I couldn’t help myself, I had to know.
Zach dropped his spoon and swiveled his stool so he faced me. His hand clamped down on the knee closest to him, and he used it to spin me toward him. When our legs were mere inches apart, he put his hands on my thighs and leaned closer.
“I can’t imagine you’d enjoy the taste of wine on my tongue when I kiss you. Since you—”
Somewhere in the back of my mind, it registered that I needed to listen to what he was saying, but my brain short-circuited after the word “kiss.” After that, all I could think about was the feeling of his palms against my skin.
Of how much I wanted him to move his fingers higher.
Maybe that was why I wore a dress yet again?
Subconsciously, I knew it’d be so easy for Zach to slip his hands under the hem and put his fingers where I craved them the most. Touching myself had felt so incredible, I couldn’t even imagine how amazing Zach’s experienced touch would feel.
I was so lost in that fantasy, I almost fell from my seat when his fingers dug into my chin. When the hell did his hands move?
“Such a naughty girl, looking at me like that.”
His shit-eating grin told me I’d been stuck inside my head for a while. I would have been mortified if my body hadn’t burned with enough heat to melt the south pole.
“You haven’t eaten yet,” he chided and inched even closer. So close, his lips brushed over mine when he spoke again. “I need your energy levels at full capacity because I plan ontrulydepleting you.”
I couldn’t keep my underwear from getting wetter or stop the shiver from running through my body. How was it even possible for a man’s words to affect me like this? Or maybe it simply was Zach.
