Page 34 of Keeping Her Safe

“How did you do that? How did you remember what it looked like and recreate it?” he asked, looking down at the white strips.

“Photographic memory and puzzle-solving skills. It wasn’t hard.” She got up and grabbed the laptop again.

“But, you dropped out of high school.” He regretted the comment immediately. When his dad had first told him she was dropping out, he couldn’t believe his father would let her do that. At the time, she only had a semester left, but she had turned eighteen.

“I didn’t really drop out. I just got my GED instead of a diploma. The test was easy, and then I didn’t have to waste my time attending school. I didn’t realize that you thought I was stupid.” She opened the laptop.

“Not stupid, Zephyr, just a high school dropout. But then you didn’t need a diploma to do what you love to do,” he admitted.

“Zachary.” She started to slide the headphones back on. “I know you have a poor opinion of me, and I have learned to live with it.”

He would have responded, but she was not going to listen. She was right, after all. Until two days ago, he’d had a poor opinion of her. Though he knew she was successful at doing her job, he thought that she was using his dad and was not very smart. Now he saw she was as smart as the sister who skipped grades and had needed his dad more than he had most of the time.

With a sigh, he got up and put the bandage supplies back in his bag. Walking back to his side of the bed, he slid under the covers. After watching her type for a while, he wondered how long she would be at it. He was starting to see that she really didn’t sleep much. When working, she didn’t think about eating or sleeping. It was all-consuming for her.

He picked up the second book in her series, stifling a yawn. This afternoon he had finished the first and was already halfway through the second one. It was eerie that she was writing the ending to the story he was currently reading. She was creating a world that he would read years from now. As the typing faded into background noise, he read what had been typed so many years before.

* * *

A light touch on his chest woke him from a dead sleep. The lights were off, but the room was taking on the rosy glow of sunrise. His heart was racing, and when he saw movement, he grabbed the intruder and slammed them on the bed with a thump. Rolling onto them, he wrestled the object from their hands and held them high above their head, all the while holding down their legs with his lower body.

Below him, the body wiggled and then giggled. His mind cleared as he realized he had captured Zephyr again. Her small body was trapped, and she was wiggling to get free. In the pink light, he looked into her blue eyes. There was no fear in them, just humor that was making her giggle at his actions.

“Again, Zachary,” she whispered.

From above her, still holding her down, he watched her mouth say the words, then her tongue slipped out of her mouth to lick her upper lip, then it was gone. With a groan, he lowered his mouth to hers, tasting the spot her tongue had just wetted. Her lips were as soft as they had been last evening in the cold, but now they were warm. The first taste was so good, Zachary had to do it again. This time she answered the kiss with one of her own.

Relaxing his grip on her arms, he pulled one of his back and leaned on it for support while running the other down her bare arm, just feeling her soft skin beneath his fingers. Lowering his head again to her waiting lips, he was rewarded by her mouth, ready for his. As he deepened the kiss, he half expected her to push him away. Especially when he felt her hands pressed to his chest, but then they slid to his back and pulled him closer to her.

Shifting off her legs, he felt her groan and tighten her grip on him. Her grip loosened as he continued to kiss her, and she trailed her hands down his back. Warmth spread through his body at her touch.

Sliding his hand down her body, his mouth left hers to lightly kiss across her jaw and ear. As his lips loved on her soft neck, his hand found their way under the T-shirt she wore, across the stomach he had held not so long ago. Slowly, his hand reached higher and cupped her breast. He had a dream about this the night before, and it was even better in reality.

It surprised him that her breasts were larger than his hand could hold. He had no idea that they were that big. She was so small otherwise.

Returning to her mouth, he kissed her until he felt her moan as his hand brought her nipple to a hard peak. Shifting again, he sat her up and pulled her shirt over her head. With the shirt gone, he could finally see her before him.

When his eyes had swept over her body and back to her face, he looked into her eyes. He could see worry in them. She was worried about if he liked her body. He smiled at her and let out a low whistle, then pushed her back down on her back on the bed.

Lying down beside her again, he ran a finger from her ear to her jaw, turning her face towards him. “You are gorgeous, Zephyr Hart.”

At his words, he watched her blush from her breasts to her hairline. Leaning over her, he took a nipple in his mouth and brought it to a peak, then circled it with his tongue. He gently blew on it and said, “I love these.”

He then moved to the other one and did the same. This time her fingers found their way into his hair, holding him to her. Leaning back, he slid his hand over the peaks and cupped her breast in his hand again. This time, he just watched his hand, then looked into her eyes. She was watching his hand also. Her mouth was slightly open, and she was breathing heavily.

Suddenly, he kissed her open mouth fast and deep while his hand moved to the other breast. Pulling away, he looked down again at where his hand was caressing her. “I love how pale you are, how my skin is such a contrast to yours. It turns me on. Does it turn you on, Zephyr?”

All he heard in response was a raspy, “Yes, Zachary, yes.”

God, he had needed to hear her say it. He smiled, then leaned down and took her mouth again in a deep kiss that had their tongues battling for control. After a moment, he pulled away again and kissed his way down her body. As he made it to her breasts, he slid his hand down her stomach until he brushed over her core, and her hips lifted at the contact.

As his hand slipped past her panties and into her wet folds, he focused his attention on her other breast. Lightly, he caressed her with his fingers as his mouth matched the movements on her breast. Zephyr rewarded him by arching her back with a gasp, calling his name into the early morning light.

CHAPTER 14

His fingers and mouth were making her body hum, and that hum was turning into a heart-pounding melody as the speed increased. The movement was making her body respond to him, and she was unable to control what was happening. She needed to feel more of him.

He had flipped her onto the bed after she’d tried to take the book out of his hand. She thought she was dreaming when he kissed her, an odd dream since she had yet to sleep. After writing all night, she was going to go to bed, but Zachary was still holding the book in his hand.

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