Page 24

Zann winked flirtatiously as she helped her to her feet before starting down the aisle. “I really do.”

Lydia laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Zann paused with one foot on the lowest step to throw a positively smoldering smile at her over her shoulder. “Please do.”

“Shit,” Lydia hissed under her breath as the heat in Zann’s expression slid over her like a full-body caress. “Go,” she husked, feeling suddenly wide awake.

Zann’s throat bobbed as she nodded and whirled back around. She swore under her breath when the flat heel of her boot slid off the edge of the next step and barely caught herself before she fell.

“Watch your step,” Aspen deadpanned.

Lydia bit her lip in a completely failed bid to contain her smile when Zann huffed an embarrassed “Shut up” and flipped Aspen off.

Zann was unfairly sexy and charismatic in her confidence, but it was the moments like this, when she was adorably clumsy and a little awkward, that she was at her most charming. Lydia was constantly surrounded by people who were suave and polished, and it was just so goddamn refreshing to be with someone who was all of those things but also guilelessly without pretense. Zann was a force of nature, but so wonderfully human at the same time—and Lydia would be lying if she said she wasn’t absolutely enchanted by her.

Aspen cackled and tilted her head toward the path where Alder was waiting for them. “Whatever, Silva,” she drawled as she and Eve took off.

An easy silence fell over them as they made their way up the walkway toward the cottages nestled along the hill. The other three continued on with friendly goodbyes to their cottages that were on the next street up, and Lydia ran her thumb along the side of Zann’s hand as they turned down the sheltered walkway that led to their door.

The night warmed with a familiar anticipation as she stopped to retrieve the key from her purse, and her stomach fluttered when Zann took advantage of the pause to grab her by the waist and pull her back against her. The press of Zann’s hips against her ass was delicious, and she gave up searching through her bag to grab Zann’s hands and tug them around her tighter as she rocked back into her. “Zann…”

Zann hummed and nuzzled her ear. “You like this?”

Lydia closed her eyes and reached up to tangle her right hand in Zann’s hair as she leaned her head back on her shoulder. “So much.”

“Me too,” Zann whispered.

Lydia tightened her fingers in Zann’s hair as soft lips brushed over the edge of her jaw, and moaned when Zann licked at her pulse point before covering it with her mouth and sucking against it.

We’ve done this how many times already? It shouldn’t still be this good, she thought as she surrendered to the heavenly feeling of Zann’s lips and teeth and tongue. She groaned as Zann’s hands slid up her belly to her breasts, cupping her firmly and squeezing, once, twice, three times before deft thumbs swiped with devastating precision over her nipples. Fuck, but it is.

A broken whimper caught in her throat when Zann’s fingers closed around her nipples, and she squirmed against her as her clit twitched needfully and she grew wetter and wetter with every incredible tweak and pinch and roll. She struggled to catch her breath when Zann’s lips dragged over her jaw to her ear, and then promptly lost it all over again when Zann strummed the ends of her piercings, sending fluttering sparks of arousal skittering down through her belly as she nipped at her earlobe.

“If you don’t open the door soon,” Zann murmured, her voice low and rough with desire, “I’m going to take you right here.”

Lydia’s stomach clenched. “Oh god…”

“Would you like that?” Zann whispered, her lips curving into a smile as she slid her right hand down Lydia’s belly.

Lydia squirmed as that talented hand dipped between her legs and Zann’s middle finger rested tantalizingly along the seam of her absolutely sodden folds. “I—” Her voice cracked when Zann’s knuckle pressed firmly into her clit, and she instinctively rolled her hips into the pressure when Zann began rubbing her in a firm, steady massage. The rational part of her brain was trying to point out that the door was right the fuck there and that it would take less than a minute for them to get inside, but the heavy, rocking press of Zann’s knuckle against her clit was exquisite, and she didn’t want to be rational.

She needed to be kissed.

To be touched.

Not in a minute.

Not in thirty seconds.

But now.

She craned her head in search of Zann’s lips. “Please.” Her knees threatened to buckle when Zann’s grip tightened, and the knuckle on her clit pressed into her hard. She gasped and let her purse fall from her grasp as she threw her free hand out to brace herself against the door.

Zann relaxed her hold to begin finger-walking the hem of Lydia’s dress higher. “You’re sure?”

Lydia shivered as her upper thighs were exposed to the cool night air, and she tugged Zann’s mouth to hers so she could rasp, “So sure,” directly against her lips before claiming them in a deep, thoroughly messy kiss. She groaned when Zann’s finger brushed over her panties, the touch lightly questioning as she stroked the length of her before honing in on her clit, two fingers nestling over the bud as she rubbed in a measured circuit, and spread her legs wider. “I need you.”

“Fuck. Yeah. Okay,” Zann half-moaned, half-whimpered as she pressed more firmly. “God, Lyds, you’re so wet.”