Page 136 of One More Heartbeat
Garrett didn’t send any texts today to cancel on me, so I ring his doorbell. I don’t even bother to try to see if the door is unlocked. Athena prefers it locked for security reasons, and Garrett has gone along with that request. Even if he knows I’m coming over.
It seems like forever since I last saw him, and I miss him. I miss the mind-numbing sensation of his lips on mine, and I miss his achingly sweet kisses that flutter deep in my soul. Kisses that leave me feeling like I’m the most precious thing to him, other than his daughter.
The front door opens, and Garrett steps onto the stoop. “Hey.” For a millisecond, he stares at me, like I’m some sort of white-clad angel sent from heaven.
Then his lips are on mine, and he kisses me as if I’m the oxygen he’s thirsty for.
He’s not the only one who’s thirsty. I greedily gulp him down, myfingers knotting in his hair. All lingering fears about his true feelings for me are temporarily shoved aside.
I keep kissing him, embracing the dopamine rush, embracing Garrett until he eventually releases me. And even then, I don’t want to let him go. But I have to for now.
He presses his lips to my brow. “Thanks. I needed that.” His low voice comes out rough, scraping deliciously against my kiss-flushed skin.
“Me too,” I whisper, searching for the confidence to tell him I am in love with him. The confidence I had after talking to the couple the other day, but which seems to have momentarily fled.
He opens the door before I can pull together a reasonable string of words to convey my feelings.
I make small talk with Athena in the kitchen while Garrett rounds up the stuff we need for hiking.
Things are a little easier now between Athena and me, but the ghost of her wall remains. Solid, uncrumbling.
Baby steps.Things will get better in time, as long as she isn’t crushing on her boss and believes I’m somehow keeping him from her.
A few times, I’ve come close to asking if her feelings for him have ventured into the unprofessional arena. But the last thing I want is to piss her off with my questions and make things rocky between us again.
Peony comes rushing around the corner and practically hurls herself into my leg. “Zawa.”
“Hey, Princess Peony.” I crouch and hug her.
As I straighten to my feet with Peony in my arms, I catch the tail end of Athena’s scowl. Guess nothing has changed between us—at least not when it comes to Peony. It’s as if Athena is jealous of my relationship with Garrett’s daughter, but why would she be? That doesn’t make sense.
More than likely, I’m reading way too much into her expression.
I’msweaty and my muscles ache more than normal by the time Garrett, Peony, and I finish hiking my favorite trail on the Warriorsproperty. Not once did I find the right moment to tell him just how much I care about him. But the confession is not the kind of thing you do when the other person has a toddler strapped on their back.
“Are you still coming over after you get Peony to bed?” I ask as he carefully removes his sleeping daughter from the carrier. The warm evening and the rocking motion of the carrier have lulled her to sleep.
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes, please.” No matter what I think about or do while I pleasure myself, my body refuses to come apart at my touch the way it does for him. No one else’s touch will suffice but Garrett’s.
But I’m not about to admit that to Garrett. No need to have his orgasm-inducing powers going to his head. I’d never hear the end of it.
“Alright. I’ll be there as soon as she’s settled in bed.” He straps the sleeping Peony into her car seat.
By the time Garrett shows up at my apartment, I’ve showered, practiced yoga, and answered a bunch of emails. Em’s advice from two days ago buzzes in my brain.“Tell him you love him.”
Garrett walks to where I’m standing in the brightly lit kitchen. In a heartbeat, his mouth is on mine, and my thoughts are all scrambled in my brain.
His lips not straying from mine, he lifts me onto the counter. He widens the space between my legs and pushes up the hem of my skirt, revealing my underwear. His eyes darken.
Satisfaction at his response sings through my body. He wants me as much as I want him. No words need to be exchanged. We just know. The way we quickly learned how to read each other’s body, to read the signs of what we need. It’s all instinctual when it comes to us.
He runs his tongue along his bottom lip as his thumb trails along my pussy. I drag in a sharp breath, every part of me singing for joy, for him. Every part of me humming with an ache so different than what usually wrecks my body.
I suck my lip between my teeth, and his eyes go even darker with lust, igniting a power in me, a confidence I’ve never had with another man. I’m doing this. Making him react this way.
His thumb draws tight circles around my clit, teasing the throbbingbundle of nerves hidden under my panties. “Fuck, you’re so wet, Zara.” He pushes the panties aside, baring me for his naked perusal, and that only makes me wetter.
