Page 53 of Take My Hand

“And your mum and dad like it?” Dad cleared his throat, peering into his mug.

“Dad says the hospital is great, especially the staff. As for mum, well,” Zak chuckled, “she’s happy as long as teeth are involved.”

“Same as Dad and beer,” I muttered, earning a nudge in the shin under the table.

“I serve it, it doesn’t mean I love it.”

Giving him a wry smile, I sat back in my chair. Then I realised doing that gave Dad a view of mine and Zak’s linked fingers, so quickly pulled my chair closer to the table.

“Anyway,” Dad said, picking up the bag. “I’ll leave you to it.” He looked directly at Zak. “Don’t stay too late. You’ve both got school tomorrow.”

He winked, but there was no disguising the warning as he got up and put his mug into the sink and the bag in the pedal bin. Walking slowly to the door, with his usual confident swagger, he called over his shoulder.

“Don’t forget I need to speak to you later, Maddy, so don’t go to bed until I have.”

I glanced at Zak and then back to my dad who was disappearing into the hallway. “Okay.”

Once I heard the living room door click shut, I swivelled in my seat to face Zak. “What do you think that’s about?”

Zak shrugged. “I have no idea.” He laughed and wrapped my hand in both of his. “How would I know? It’s not like I’m his best friend and he confides in me.” He leaned closer to me. “If I was, he’d let me stay late.”

I rolled my eyes. “Take no notice. He’s a pussycat deep down. Stay as late as you like.”

“I don’t know, Maddy. I don’t want to make him mad right from the beginning.”

“He’s not mad. Honestly.” I shook my head and grinned. “Don’t be scared of Big Bad Will.”

Zak’s eyes turned serious. “I’m not, but I do respect him.”

Wow, I did an excited internal dance. I knew that if he’d said that to Ana she’d have laughed in his face and told him he’d given her the ick. Not me, though, I liked that he cared what my dad thought.

“Okay,” I said, swallowing back the moan of appreciation. “But that doesn’t mean that you have to go yet.”

He frowned. “I wasn’t planning on.” He nodded towards the oven, specifically the clock glowing orange. “It’s only half nine. I think I have at least an hour left before he starts coming in and checking on us.”

“Really?” I smirked. “What shall we do during that hour?”

Zak watched me carefully, his head tilted on one side, eventually exhaling long and deep. “This.” Then he leaned in closer, his lips landing on mine. “Is that okay?”

I drew in a breath and nodded. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

“Good,” he whispered. “Because I’ve been wanting to do it for weeks.”

His admission surprised me and made my cheeks heat up.

“Weeks?”

“Yeah, bloody weeks, love.”

The way he said, love, made me want to jump him and wish that I had the confidence of Ana or Liv. They’d have kissed him as soon as they opened the door to him.

I straightened my back. “I suppose you’d better kiss me some more then.”

Instantly, Zak’s hands cupped my face, his fingers laced into my hair and his lips, soft and gentle, touched mine. It was the most perfect, most romantic of kisses. It was the best of all the first kisses that I’d ever had. It was everything that I hoped kissing Zak Hoyland would be like. As he leaned in closer, and his tongue pushed against the seam of my lips, I hoped that it would go on forever. His soft moan sent a message to the pit of my stomach, and I pressed my thighs together.

Wanting to show him that I was just as into it, I moved onto his lap, wrapping my arms around his waist, and holding on to his hard back muscles. There was smooth dip down the length of his spine, and I let my fingers moved slowly towards his jeans. When they reached the cotton waistband of his boxer briefs, I dipped a coupled of fingers inside, rubbing the tips of them along to one of the dimples at the bottom of his back.

“Maddy,” he whispered, shifting me so that I was straddling his thighs.

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