Tingles started in her fingers and spread throughout her body, all arrowing down to the place where she and Zach were connected.His pace increased, and with it so did the sensations threatening to drown her.She wanted to drown in it.Drown in Zach.
Her orgasm crept up on her, and when it hit, it took her breath away.Her cry of release strangled her, her body tensing and then relaxing in a rush.Zach’s movements became erratic, and then he pushed in deep one last time before tensing in her arms and calling out her name.
Never before had she felt so close to a man as she did with Zach right at this moment.He gave her strength, and she liked to think she gave it to him as well.
Tomorrow would come soon enough, and with it the stress of the Christmas event.She hadn’t told Zach yet, but communication with Rainey Webster had trickled to nothing.The up-and-coming star wasn’t responding to Tilly’s messages.She didn’t want to think she was being ghosted and Rainey was just busy, but the longer the silence went on, the more concerned she was getting.
“I don’t like that you’re frowning.What’s wrong?”Zach’s fingers moved softly up and down her arm, igniting her desire again.
She rolled over so that she was lying on top of him.He closed his arms around her and she snuggled into him, feeling his body respond to her closeness.“Nothing’s wrong.In fact, everything is wonderful.”
Chapter Eighteen
The sun shonebrightly, and the tinkle of the snow as it melted and hit the drainpipe was a welcome musical accompaniment for Zach.He was standing on Tilly’s porch, coffee cup in his hand and breathing the clear mountain air.
Last night with Tilly had been the best night of his life.He was tired, but it was a good tired.A different tired from the exhaustion he felt after being on shift.
Standing on her porch was a gossip risk, but he didn’t care.He was too happy to worry that the good people of Marietta might speculate about his relationship with Tilly.
Behind him the door opened, and he glanced over his shoulder, smiling when he saw Tilly in the doorway.A thick, white, fluffy robe hugged the luscious body he’d spent hours learning.He knew she had a freckle on her right hip.That she loved to be kissed just below her left ear.That the sound of his name coming from her mouth as she orgasmed was a sound he could hear for the rest of his life.
“Why are you standing out here?”she asked, shivering.“It’s cold.”
Zach walked over to her and pulled her close.“Just enjoying the fresh morning mountain air.”
“How about you enjoy it inside, where it’s warm?”she grumbled.
Was Tilly not a morning person?That didn’t seem right.She always had a smile on her face, no matter what time of the day it was.
“What’s wrong?”He immediately went on alert, looking around to see if perhaps someone from the press or paparazzi had turned up overnight and was lurking behind a trash can or tree.For them, it didn’t matter if it was a hundred degrees outside or below freezing.Whatever it took to get the shot that they could see, they’d do it.
Tilly still hadn’t answered him by the time they’d walked into the kitchen.He watched as she got her own cup of coffee, inhaling deeply before she took her first sip.
“Have I been mistaken this whole time?”he asked.
“Huh?”She looked over the rim of her coffee mug.
“I can’t believe Tilly Bloom is not a morning person.I don’t know what to do with this information.”He’d teased a smile and a roll of her eyes out of her, and he chuckled.“How many other people don’t know this little fact?”
“Just my family.Say one word to anyone else in town, and it won’t be pretty.”She frowned at him, and his chuckles turned into a full belly laugh.
“Your secret is safe with me.”He closed the distance between them, took her coffee cup in his free hand, and placed both his and hers on the counter before sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her tight against him.“Perhaps I can make things better for you.”He lowered his head and touched his lips to hers.She melted against him, and his body flared to life.
He was getting addicted to her.How was he going to get through his next shift without her?
It would be so easy to pull at the tie of her robe and spread it open, but there had been something else in her eyes.Something that had nothing to do with tiredness or not being a morning person.
He broke the kiss and held her loosely.“Feel better?”
“I do.This is a nice way to wake up.”
“That’s good.So how about you tell me what else is worrying you?”
“Nothing’s worrying me.Everything is good.I truly am not a morning person.”
Someone who hadn’t known her well wouldn’t have been able to hear the forced brightness in her voice, and while he could be in that group of people, he had been around her long enough to know the difference between her genuine happiness and not so genuine.
Did he push?Or wait it out and let her decide when to tell him what was going on?
