Defending Zara (Mountain Mercenaries #6)(75)

“Okay.”

“Okay,” he echoed.

“Do we still have to shop?” she asked.

Meat raised an eyebrow and looked at his watch. “It’s only eleven o’clock.”

She shrugged. “We can only have sex at night?”

“Make love—and no, of course not,” he said immediately.

“Then . . .” She let the word trail off.

“I think we can get what we came for another time,” Meat agreed, and grabbed her hand and started for the exit.

He heard Zara chuckle behind him—and was shocked when her free hand rested on his ass for a brief moment. He turned to look at her in surprise.

She shrugged. “Morgan did tell me I should go after what I want.”

“I owe her. Big,” Meat said.

As they neared his car, she asked, “Would you have made the first move if I didn’t?”

Meat nodded. “Eventually, yes. I like you, Zara. But more than that, I want you. There’s no way I would’ve been able to hold out forever.” At his car, he turned to her and said seriously, “But if we do this . . . you’re mine. I don’t want to be an experiment for you. This is the real deal for me. A forever thing.”

Zara stared at him. “How can you be so sure?”

“I just am. From the first time I saw you, I knew there was something special about you. And every day we spend together, I’m more and more sure. I want to be in your life, Zara. Not as a friend who’s giving you a place to stay until you figure things out, but as a partner. A man you can lean on when you’re upset and scared, and one you can laugh with when you’re happy. I want to celebrate your accomplishments and support you when things don’t work out.”

“Do I get the same?” she asked.

“Absolutely. I’m an open book to you, and I promise to never shut you out. We’ll be a team, make decisions together, and fumble through whatever life throws our way.”

“Deal. Now can we stop talking and get home so I can finally see what all the fuss is about?”

Meat couldn’t stop grinning. “Yes, ma’am.”





Chapter Twenty-Three

Sex.

Zara was about to experience it for herself. She should be nervous. Instead, she felt as if it were Christmas and Easter all wrapped into one. She remembered the anticipation she used to feel about opening presents or knowing she’d get to search for Easter eggs. This felt much the same, the same sense of exciting anticipation.

Now that she’d decided to go for what she wanted, she couldn’t wait to actually see Meat naked. She’d seen him without a shirt, and had felt his erection against her, but now she was going to get to see all of him.

When they arrived back at his house, after Meat turned off the alarm, he headed straight up the stairs to the master bedroom. He pulled her inside and didn’t even bother to shut the door. Zara wanted to giggle at the single-minded purpose he was exhibiting, but she managed to hold back.

He escorted her to the edge of the bed and turned to sit. Then he wrapped his hands around her waist and held her between his legs as he looked up at her for a long minute.

“Meat?” Zara asked finally. “What’s wrong?”

“Absolutely nothing,” he told her. “I’m just memorizing this moment. We’ll never have another first time together, and I want to remember everything about it.”

Gah!

He was so perfect.

There were times when Meat annoyed her a little. Not many, granted, but they were there. Currently, he was saying and doing all the right things, and those little annoyances faded into the background.

There hadn’t been too many times in Zara’s life that she could remember being truly happy. She’d done the best she could with the hand life had dealt her, but she’d never let herself completely trust someone else. Never let go of control enough to let someone else call all the shots. Not even Mags.

But standing there in front of Meat, seeing his hair mussed from the way he always ran a hand through it, seeing his cheeks pink from anticipation and lust, and feeling his thumbs caress her sides as he stared into her eyes all made her realize that she trusted Meat one hundred percent.

She trusted him to make her first time pleasurable. Trusted him enough to open up about what she wanted to do with her life. Trusted that if she made the first move, he wouldn’t embarrass her or make her feel awkward about what they were about to do.

With that in mind, Zara reached down and pulled off her T-shirt.

She stood before him silently, in nothing but her jeans and bra. She wasn’t overly large in the boob area, but she’d always been thankful for that because it made binding her chest less painful than it might’ve been otherwise. She’d worn a bra for the first time when she’d left Peru, and had definitely felt a little inadequate since, after seeing how busty a lot of women seemed to be here in the States.

Meat’s gaze went from her face to her chest, and she watched his pupils dilate. He licked his lips and shifted on the mattress.

She loved his uninhibited reaction, the fact that she could turn him on.

Reaching behind her, Zara clumsily undid the clasp of her bra and let it slide to the floor.

Her heart was beating a million miles a minute, and she could feel her nipples pucker in anticipation.