SIXTEEN
KELLY
For all the drive to the lock-up takes less than five minutes, it seems like an eternity, stuck in the cab with a seething Zac.
What's he got to be angry about? What did he expect after he moved out this morning before the sparrows had time for their first argument.?
That job will give me the creative freedom I've worked hard for over the years. No more answering to a higher-up and having them question my creative rationale.
On arrival at the lock-up, Zac swings the truck and trailer around in a wide arc, before backing up to the roller door of the end unit. And, for the first time since arriving at my place to grab the float, he looks me in the eye.
"I'll need you to guide me in, Kelly. It's a tight fit and I'll need to drive it in as far as it'll go."
There's no missing the glint in his eye, nor the way he runs his tongue across his bottom lip. The thing that's missing is his usual arousal when he talks to me like this. He's being provocative.
Well, two can play at that game. You don't work in advertising without learning to defend yourself when you need to.
"Hah! It's not THAT big, Zac." I laugh in his face before unclipping my seatbelt and jumping out of the truck. I then lean back in, my breasts shoved in his direction as I hold my hand out for the key to the roller door. "If you try hard enough, I'm sure you'll get it right, for once."
Key in hand, I slam the door on his muttering, worried I've pushed him too far. I don't know if it's because I'd wound him up, but it's only on his third attempt that he's able to back the float into the lock-up.
It's a tight fit, with the trailer separating us, not a bad thing when I fire, "Three tries? That's more than you usually take. Third time's a charm, I guess."
The barrier is nothing, with Zac as wound as tight as he is. He's clambered over the trailer and is next to me before I've even moved. There'll be no escape. Not with me trapped between the float and the wall of the lock-up. He stalks toward me with my retreating apace.
Soon enough, I'm hard up against the back wall, with nowhere else to go. Zac, however, keeps coming, until he's smack bang in front of me. The difference from when he'd stared me down earlier is that his eyes are now dark with arousal.
And blast it if my body doesn't respond. I can't turn off my attraction to him because he's up and moved out. Nor can I change the way I love him.
It'd take months of eating too much ice cream and crying at old movies to help ease the loss of what we had. No matter that I don't know what it was; it was something I'd not had before, and I already missed it.
Zac takes another step in my direction, his body hard against mine, pressing me into the breeze block wall. While it's cold, he's hot. His lips are even hotter when he claims my mouth and my breath.
My body shrieks in desire. At first, I don't see what's different about this kiss. Then it hits me. Gone are all Zac's smooth moves, as if everything has been choreographed in advance. With this kiss I'm getting raw, unadulterated Zac, without that gigolo persona of his getting in the way.
It's devastating in its intensity, cutting through any barriers I'd held on to, hoping to protect myself from potential hurt. With a single kiss, he's laid my soul bare. And yet, hasn't he revealed a side of himself he'd kept hidden, until now?
If not for this, I'd be struggling to get away, rather than tight against him, my tongue tangling with his as I undo the buttons on his jeans. An invisible dam has been broken.
His hands are everywhere, tugging on my clothes, caressing, teasing, making me pliable. My breathing is now as ragged as my self-control, leaving me gasping for more. More of everything, more of Zac.
"Yoo hoo!"
Not even a bucket of iced water would have snuffed out my libido as rapidly. Meanwhile, Zac straightens, struggling to button up his jeans in case Mary Miller ventures to the very back of the lock-up.
While he blocks me from view, I rush to make myself presentable enough to face my elderly neighbor. The one thing I won't be able to hide from her is the arousal that coats my body like oil, leaving me slick with need.
On peeking over Zac's shoulder, I'm reminded the roller door is wide open. It's a good thing Mary interrupted us before I was open to Zac and the world.
"Oh lovely, you're both here." If Mary spots anything different with us, she doesn't comment. At the very least, I've been expecting her to remark on how flushed my face is, and worry if I'm not coming down with something.
I nearly was. With Zac the one responsible. A peek to the side and I'm surprised to see that rather than appearing abashed, his face is flooded with what appears to be relief.
Is it relief that Mary stopped us going any further? Unfortunately, I can't ask, with my elderly neighbor now monopolizing him as he takes her yet again through how the final float will look.
It doesn't matter that the design was mine. She's of the old-school mentality that thinks men know best. She'd get on with Brian Mackey like a house on fire.
It's when Mary asks how Barry will climb aboard the rocket, and what will hold him in place, that I'm okay with being excluded. One look at Zac's face and I realize I'd never gotten around to telling him about this. What with his sister arriving, Brian's job offer, and Zac moving out, it'd slipped my mind.
