Page 22 of Bad Boy Done Wrong
Chapter Seven
Carrie ended up spending the night. It was an unspoken thing, as in, she dozed off after all the Jane Bond excitement. She’d woken up a couple of hours later and started feeling him up. He must’ve been awake because he’d immediately responded, kissing her breathless and then saying in his gruff and growly voice, “I’m gonna take you sideways. You’ll like it.”
He was so confident, she totally believed him. She’d faced him on her side, scooting closer. “Tell me what to do.”
“Roll the other way.”
Then he took over, taking her sideways like he’d said. And she’d liked it.
She’d conked out shortly after.
Now she rolled to her back, all wrapped up in the blanket. Zach wasn’t in bed. The scent of coffee and something cinnamony reached her. She definitely had to stay for breakfast. It would be rude to rush home to dry toast.
She stretched lazily, a satisfied smile spreading across her face. Zach was kind of like a sex teacher. He told her what he was going to do, told her she’d like it, and then made it happen. And she was the eager student. She liked when he went off list too. After taking the leap of faith to get tied up, she was ready for anything. She trusted him.
She let out a happy sigh, rolled out of bed, quickly dressed, and went to brush her teeth.
~ ~ ~
Zach held a secret satisfaction that Carrie had texted to come over again the very next night after he tied her up. That meant she’d enjoyed it as much as he had. This sexual compatibility on top of personal compatibility was rare in his experience. She didn’t mind that he wasn’t overly talkative or touchy-feely. Two complaints he’d heard repeatedly from ex-girlfriends. She hadn’t seemed to mind that he always slept on the couch, needing to sleep solo. Or maybe she didn’t notice. She was usually out cold by the time he was done with her and he did wake up before her. Whatever. It worked.
He never had to hold back with her in or out of bed. He could be himself. Except for his bad-boy ruse. But that wasn’t so bad, was it? They were both happy with the arrangement. They enjoyed each other’s bodies. They enjoyed eating breakfast together and talking about cooking. Mostly him answering her questions on how he made stuff without a recipe because she didn’t cook much. In any case, their time together felt right. Natural.
The doorbell rang right on time. He opened it and took in his mate. He gave himself a mental shake for slipping into anthropological mode there. Carrie wasn’thisand definitely not as permanent as a mate. But, damn, she was sexy as all hell in a light blue tank top with matching short shorts and the biggest smile on her beautiful face.
He couldn’t help but smile back. “Come in.”
He backed up a few steps to make room for her.
She dropped her purse, ran, and leaped into his arms. He caught her instinctively. Her arms and legs wrapped around him and she kissed him all over his face. Dangerous warmth spread through his chest, a soft emotion that would bite him in the ass if he let it show too soon. Timing was everything.
He slid his hand over her pretty ass and between her legs, her heat igniting raw desire in him. Primal instinct triggered, he walked straight to the bedroom, his arms full of sexy woman.
~ ~ ~
Carrie was only on day five of wanton abandon with Zach when she realized they’d nearly completed the list. She was addicted to what he made her feel—a passion and freedom in the bedroom she’d never known existed. She was a little worried, though, because she’d actually considered missing her every other Thursday book club meeting just to be with him. Her friends would be there for her long-term; Zach wouldn’t. But she didn’t want to waste one minute of her time with Zach, so as a compromise, she invited him to meet her at Garner’s for the usual after-book-club drinks. He’d inquired into the male-female ratio, not wanting to be the focus of the women with questions into their arrangement, and when she told him he’d be the only guy, he’d promptly invited Ethan. Zach didn’t hold a grudge over Ethan messing with him on their disastrous “Sunday drive” in the park. No harm done was how he put it. In any case, Hailey was thrilled because it worked perfectly with her plan to flirt with Ethan and clear his name as not-a-sex-addict.
“So, ladies, what did we think aboutRescuing Hannah?” Hailey asked the group. The women, nine in all, sat in a circle of chairs in Something’s Brewing Café. It was a cozy meeting place with deep red walls, hanging light fixtures with golden sconces, dark wood tables with matching chairs, and dark wood laminate flooring. The coffee and pastries were to die for. Usually they arrived just before closing to get their drinks and snacks before their reserved private meeting time. It was a win-win for the local owners of the shop because they also owned Book It, connected to the café, where the women spent most of their book dollars.
Rescuing Hannahwas their first romantic suspense, a darker story than they normally read and had scared the daylights out of Carrie.
“It was good,” Mad said, tossing her dyed fire-engine red hair out of her eyes. “Lotta good action.” Mad was a black belt, a tough woman, the youngest and only girl from the testosterone-filled Campbell family.
“It scared the crap out of me!” Lauren, a sweet second-grade teacher, exclaimed. She was a good friend of Carrie’s. “Every time I heard a scratching noise I thought it was the serial killer at my window. And I have cats! There’s always some scratching noise somewhere.”
“It scared me too!” Carrie said at the same time as Sabrina.
“Jinx!” Sabrina said, socking Carrie in the arm.
“Ow.” She rubbed her arm.
The women were divided on whether or not it was truly scary or just suspenseful.
Hailey interrupted the debate. “I liked that Hannah played a big part in her own rescue after she was captured.”
The women murmured agreement. That had been pretty awesome.
Hailey went on. “And then when she and Colt were on the run and hiding out in the cabin, it was so steamy…” She trailed off because the women promptly launched into a discussion of Colt as a book boyfriend and what he had that other book boyfriends didn’t have. Not all of them made the cut for book boyfriend.
