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He laughed. “Easy there.”
With a hand to her heart, Sophie smiled. “I don’t care that you scared me if you’ll laugh like that again.”
When he extended his hand, she let him assist her from the car. He didn’t back up. With two strong arms caging her against the open door, Zach leaned into her.
“We’re both sweaty . . . you more than me.”
He ran his nose along the length of her jaw and traveled up to her ear. “I like being sweaty with you.”
Whatever had gotten into this new affectionate Zach, she wanted more of it. But right now she couldn’t think beyond the fact he was turning her inside out up against her car in the middle of the day.
“Wh-what are you doing out here?”
His hands settled on her shoulders, squeezing. “Maybe I was waiting on a beautiful woman to drive up.”
Her body trembled, ached. “What are we doing?” she muttered, then gasped when his lips slid over her throat. Her head fell back and all she could do was stand here and let him touch her so perfectly, yet so tenderly.
“I’m ignoring warning flags and tasting you.” His mouth eased back up, hovering a breath away from hers. “Unless you’d rather I stop?”
“No. No stopping.”
She felt the smile against her lips seconds before he captured them. Sophie opened, welcoming that familiar thrill she’d come to know only from Zach. She slid her hands around his waist and wished they were somewhere other than the driveway of an old historic house with people inside.
Before she could melt into a puddle, Zach pulled back. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded, releasing her. “I know I shouldn’t touch you or kiss you because I have no idea where this is going, but resisting has become near impossible.”
“I never said I wanted you to resist, Zach.” She had to make that clear. “I didn’t want you to be torn. You know what I want. You. That’s all. Nothing more complicated than that.”
His eyes nearly blazed right into her. “Everything about you, about us, is complicated.”
He’d admitted there was an “us.” She wasn’t going to state the obvious. This was a step in the right direction. A long time coming, but she’d take this victory.
“Is Brock here?”
The warmth in Zach vanished and his face hardened. “He’s inside with Liam. Those two have clicked.”
“And you’re upset about this?”
“What? No.” He shook his head and raked a hand over his messy hair. Taking a few steps around the drive, he stared out toward the pond. “Brock filled me in on everything earlier. I’m just torn right now. I’m going to have to call someone because he needs out of that environment.” Clasping his hands behind his head, he looked down to his worn boots. “Damn it, he won’t trust me if I do that, but this has to be done the legal way.”
The battle Zach was fighting was going to be difficult, there was no way around it.
“I’m afraid to ask what he told you.” Sophie pushed off her car and pulled at the damp silk clinging to her back. “What I want to know is what your plans are where he’s concerned.”
Zach’s dark eyes cut to her. “I’ve known him less than twenty-four hours and already I want to help him. I have no clue how. He needs to live with someone who cares, but I know the system doesn’t always work, and if he gets placed somewhere . . .”
Shaking his head, Zach muttered a curse. “He’ll take off again and who knows what will happen to him.”
Sophie’s heart melted. Zach may have tried to push people away, he may have hated the world and been punished for one tragic mistake, yet here he was taking in stray dogs, nursing pups until they could be adopted, and now he was trying to save a young, broken boy, all while restoring an old mansion because his late sister had a dream.
If she hadn’t fallen in love with him years ago, she was 100 percent head over heels now.
“Why are you smiling?” he asked, his brows drawn in.
“You know why.” Sophie closed the space between them and kissed the side of his face. His prickly beard tickled her lips. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
