"Yes," she gasped, tearing at his shirt. Damn it, she wasn't thinking warm and gentle, not tonight. She burned with a do-me-baby desperation born of a need to forget the hurt.
Zach tugged her pajama pants down and off, flinging them away, leaving her in nothing more than her white T-shirt and tangerine panties. He devoured her with his eyes, melting every inch of her with heat, desire and a crooked smile. "That scrap of orange has haunted my dreams for months."
"The real thing's always better than dreams," she whispered, all the while longing to shout for him to hurry. She raised up on her elbows, lifted her foot to trail her toes down his chest.
He caught her foot before her path dipped lower and pressed a kiss to her ankle. "Do you know how crazy you've been making me for months? How much I've wanted to do this."
Strong hands with callused fingers rasped a path from her calf, up further, dipping behind her knee, then along her thigh to travel further still. "No one should be allowed to have legs this long."
His husky growl slid over her with a heat equal only to that of his body stretching on top of her. The power of Zach, the words, his warmth pulled her into the moment as she'd hoped. She tugged at him, draped her legs over his and locked him to her, showing him just what those legs could do for them both.
He edged to the side, cool air wafting over her, too cool after the heat and musk of his body blanketing her.
"Don't stop." She clutched his shoulders. "Even for a minute." Make me forget.
"Just bringing some birth control into the equation."
"In a minute. We haven't even finished undressing." Something she planned to change.
He clasped her hands to stop their restless motion and pinned them over her head.
Linking her wrists overhead with one hand, he slid his fingers under the edge of her shirt.
"Slow down. We have all night."
"So glad you came home early."
"Me, too."
"But you're here. And you're warm. Really warm." On fire like the coil of need unfurling in her belly and spreading through her.
Her hands trekked a frantic path into his jeans. "You scared me at first, though."
His fingers paused just shy of her breast. "What?"
She tightened her legs around him, needing to bring him closer so she would stop babbling things that brought questions. Geez, what was she trying to do, sabotage this before they even started? "Let's back up. Forget I said anything and keep doing exactly what you were doing two seconds ago."
He released her hands. "When did I scare you?"
Zach wasn't going to let it go. One slip threatened to ruin everything, something that promised to be so very perfect, something they both deserved so much.
Her head fell to the side. "I asked you not to stop."
"When, Julia," he insisted, "when did I scare you?"
"It's nothing now. Okay? I wasn't thinking clearly a few seconds ago. It was kind of tough to form rational thoughts when you had your hand shoved up my shirt."
He hooked a finger under her chin. "If it's nothing, then why won't you tell me?"
She threaded her fingers through his tousled hair, desperate to return to the promise of forgetfulness, already knowing the ever-honorable Zach would pull away when he heard, damn him. "Just a stupid minute earlier when you pulled into the driveway. You weren't due home yet and I didn't know who was out there. I thought it might be... I thought something had gone wrong on the flight." She stared at his throat. "Like before, with Lance a year ago."
Julia's words sluiced over Zach like ice water. Actually, ice water would have shocked less.
How could he have missed the date? He'd seen it stamped all over accident files a hundred times during the past year.
Because he hadn't wanted to remember. Not now.
And now he couldn't forget.