Page 39 of The Little Things

“Please, sweetheart,” he said, his voice much softer and lower this time. It was almost enough to make me soften to him. Almost.

Steeling my spine, I pulled in a fortifying breath and reached for the knob.

Zach

Fuck me.

All the air expelled from my lungs the moment she pulled the door open, and the carefully crafted speech I’d spent the past few hours rehearsing disappeared from my brain like a puff of smoke caught on a breeze.

All rational thought left me and the blood in my body traveled straight to my dick as my gaze slowly skated down her body. The glow from the lights inside the cabin created a backlight that looked almost like a halo, making her look ethereal. The robe she had cinched around her barely came to mid-thigh, the silky material clinging to her damp skin and putting all her curves on display.

Rae’s hair hung down her shoulders, the water dripping from it and soaking the robe at her chest. The wet fabric formed perfectly to her breasts and accentuated her puckered nipples. Christ, all I could think about was leaning forward and pulling those stiff peaks into my mouth, sucking until I made her moan. I wondered what color they were. Were they a dusky pink like the blush on her cheeks, or would they be peachier? If I sucked them hard enough, would they turn the same rosy shade as her lips?

“Zach?”

Her voice pulled me from my lustful musings. I’d come here to apologize, now all I wanted to do was maul her, show her how I really felt about her. Put that need on display so she’d know what I felt was the furthest thing from shame.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m not ashamed of you.” I blurted the words out with a lot less finesse than I’d hoped for.

Her chin jerked back in surprise, the center of her brows dipping in a V as she frowned. “What?”

Determination coursed through me, heating my blood and making my heart pump harder. “In the barn you said I felt shame and regret. You were wrong.”

“Zach, you don’t?—”

“I said I regretted the kiss because I was afraid you’d feel like I was taking advantage of you. That’s the only reason I felt that way.”

She blinked slowly, those big, beautiful doe eyes full of awe. “Really?”

“Absolutely. I feel like I’ve been walkin’ around on eggshells since you got here, tryin’ not to freak you out. I’d been trying to hide how I really felt from you, but I lost control that night. I hated the idea that I might have forced myself on you or put you in an uncomfortable position. I’m your boss and I’m a lot older than you?—”

“Not that much older,” she interrupted, her tongue peeking out to sweep across her plump bottom lip.

Her words caught me off guard. “What?”

“You aren’t that much older than I am,” she said in a quiet, throaty voice, her chest rising as her breaths came faster.

“Twelve years is a pretty big gap, sweetheart.”

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down, drawing all my focus to her mouth. Christ, I wanted my lips on hers again. “Not to me,” she whispered. I could have sworn my heart stopped beating at her words.

My dick was doing its best to bust through my zipper. I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I’d been this hard. It was painful, the way I wanted her. The kind of deep, throbbing ache that no amount of fucking my own fist would ever alleviate. The only thing that would take the pain away was sinking deep inside this woman, getting lost in her.

My throat worked on a swallow, the cords in my neck straining as the muscles in my entire body tensed. “You don’t think so?”

She shook her head. “No. And I never once felt like you were taking advantage when you kissed me. I... I liked it,” she admitted, her barely-there voice a whisp on the breeze that fluttered her silky robe around her smooth thighs. Hearing that made my dick pulse. “I wanted you to kiss me. I’d been wanting it for a while, actually, and I was excited when you finally did. Then you said it was a mistake.” She blinked, casting her gaze down to her bare feet. Her toes were the prettiest shade of pink. “That hurt.”

Oh, fuck me. Hearing that was a punch straight to the gut. I was desperate to take away the sadness I saw on her face.

I reached out, unable to keep from touching her another second. I took her chin between my fingers and lifted her face, giving her no choice but to look at me. “You weren’t a mistake. I wanted to kiss you too,” I confessed, the truth of those words pulling from the deepest recesses of my chest and making my voice rough and craggy. “Fuck, I wanted to kiss you so bad. Still do. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since that night.”

“Zach.” When she said my name in her beautiful voice it made me feel things I’d never felt before. She was the only woman who made me feel so out of control, and I was done fighting it. I was done trying to pretend I wasn’t attracted to her, that there wasn’t a single hour of the day where I didn’t think of her.

“Tell me I can kiss you again, Rae. Because if I don’t, I swear to Christ, I think I might die.”

Her lashes fluttered, her cheeks blushing that gorgeous pink I loved so damn much. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said quietly. “You’re still my boss. That hasn’t changed.” She gave her head a tiny shake, her expression turning sad. “I’ve made so many mistakes in my life. When I came here I swore I’d be different. I swore I’d be smarter, and a hookup with my boss is the furthest thing from smart.”

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