Chapter 32

Zach smoothed the damp hair back from Maddie's face and brushed his lips against hers, then smiled down at her.
"Honey, if you don't know then we were doing it all wrong. Either that or I need to brush up on my technique."
His hand moved to her breast, plumping it slightly and dragging his thumb across the nipple.
"Your nipples are still hard, darlin'." His voice was like an intimate caress. "Still as sharp as diamonds. You just came so hard you shook the bed and you still want me again. Just like I want you. It was always like that with us, Maddie. You know it."
Maddie felt the heat rising in her again, making every pulse point in her body throb. This was so not good. All her brains seemed to have poured out of her body with her release. She struggled to find the words she wanted but intelligent conversation seemed to be beyond her capabilities at the moment.
"No, you don't understand. I came here to...to..."
To what?
"To what, darlin'? I'm curious to know what you had in mind besides delivering soup. I've been dreaming about this like a kid waiting for Christmas, sure as hell it would never happen." His hand moved to her tummy, rubbing slow, delicious circles of the skin, the tip of his little finger just reaching her pubic curls and dusting over them.
Maddie closed her eyes, then opened them again as if she could somehow erase the sensations his touch was arousing, forget the sight of a gorgeously nude Zach Brennan pressed against her. His body cocooned her, the hair on his chest tickling her nipples, his legs twining with hers in a pattern oh so familiar. Yup, she was lying here naked with him after some of the best sex she'd ever had. They'd ever had.
His hand moved lower a fraction of an inch at a time, almost absently, until his fingers found that closed seam of flesh so recently open to him and slid through the cream still coating it. She jerked when one fingertip brushed against her very tender clit but then her legs opened automatically, inviting further invasion. and two fingers slipped easily into her swollen cunt.
"You were saying?" he teased, his voice husky as he felt her response.
Yes, what was she saying? She'd come here to tell him...What? Something had definitely taken hold of her brain. Okay, a faint glimmering of light was penetrating the fog. She needed to put some distance between them if she planned to talk to him but his fingers felt so good sliding in and out of her, rubbing her labia, circling her clit, while his lips did wicked things to her nipples.
"You still taste like the best treat in the world, darlin'," he murmured, sliding his fingers out of her tender pussy and licking them as if he'd dipped them in chocolate.
Before she could hitch herself away and put some distance between them, his hand was back again, his devilish fingers once more sliding in and out, finding that sweet spot that always brought her to the edge.
Somewhere she found the strength to tighten her thighs and stop his movement.
"Stop. I can't think when you do that."
He grinned. "That's the idea, darlin'. That's the idea."
"I came here to talk to you. About us."
Another light kiss. "I like this kind of talking best, darlin'. It doesn't leave much room for doubt."
"No, no, you don't understand." She wriggled against him, then thought better of it as she felt his cock thicken and lengthen against her thigh.
"Then maybe I don't want to hear it." The teasing note was gone from his voice. "Because from what just happened, I'd say we're better together than we ever were."
She pushed helplessly at his chest. "You need to just let me say my piece, okay? Please?" Where was her anger, the rage she'd carried around for so long? That had made her strike out at him yesterday?
He captured both of her small hands in one of his large ones, his eyes locked on hers. "All right, Maddie. Tell me what it is that's so important to you."
She struggled to unscramble her thoughts. "Maybe we should have the cup of coffee we didn't quite get to."
"In a minute," he told her. "I want to hear what you have to say, so spit it out."
"First of all, I came to apologize for the way I behaved yesterday. It wasn't very adult."
That teasing grin stole over his face again. "Okay. I'll agree. Apology accepted."
"I just think we should know where we stand. Don't you?"
The room wasn't cold but Maddie could feel a chill creeping over her skin as the perspiration dried on it. Despite trying to maintain some semblance of dignity, she curled into Zach's body for warmth.
"Here. Maybe this will help." He rolled them enough to free the thick quilt beneath them and wrapped it around both of them. Then he cuddled her close to his body. "And where do we stand, Maddie Mae? It seemed to me that ten years just disappeared."
"That's what I mean," she cried. "Ten years. I thought I'd be spending them with you. I expected to be spending them with you. That's what you led me to believe. You have no idea how much you hurt me that last day, Zach. I came to you holding my heart in my hands and you just tossed it on the ground and stomped on it."
He breathed a long sigh, his hand stroking her again. "Oh, Maddie. You don't know how many nightmares that day has given me. How many nights I lost sleep remembering what I'd done to you. To us."
"But why? That's what I want to know. Why did you do it?"
He was silent for so long she wasn't sure he was going to answer her. Finally he said, "It's a long story, Maddie and not a pretty one. I'd like to be looking you in the eye when I tell you, so you'll understand. And then I'll answer any questions you have."
"But - "
"Tell me you'll have dinner with me tonight. Just the two of us. I'll tell you all about it."
"Can we talk about the ranch too?"
His body tensed, then she could feel him force himself to relax. "Yes. We can talk about the ranch, if that's what you want."
"I do," Maddie told him. "I wish you could understand how important it is to me."
He brushed his lips across her forehead. "I guess it is if you quit your job and gave up your apartment, put all your eggs in this basket." He sighed. "Okay, Maddie Mae. We'll talk about it. And maybe you'll listen to my suggestion for a solution that will make us all happy."
"I don't know how much privacy we'll have with my sisters there," she told him.
"You could always come down here. I'm a pretty fair cook these days."
She reached up and touched his face, as if it might be the last intimacy they shared. "Why don't you check with me later this afternoon. By that time I'll know if they have plans or not. Liza went to see Ty this morning and Jenna's got her own unresolved issues."
"Christmas Eve is right around the corner, darlin'. I'd like us to be together then. I mean really together."
Do you mean together as in bed or together as in forever?
"Come up to the house when you're through for the day. Or better yet, call me on my cell. I'll know by then what's going on."
"Don't put me off, Maddie," he said as he unwrapped the quilt and helped her off the bed. "We're not going to just let this hang fire."
"I agree."
They dressed quickly, picking up their clothes from where they'd been tossed on the floor. Maddie was very conscious of his eyes on her as she zipped and buttoned and finger combed her hair. When she turned to face him and saw the heat in his eyes she felt a flush warming her cheeks.
She wet her lips. "Zach, I - "
He cupped her chin and gave her a light kiss, barely a touch of mouth to mouth. "Later, darlin'. And thanks for the soup."
When Zach opened his front door she was thankful no one was around to see them. Bending into the freshening wind, she pulled her jacket around her and headed back to the house. Jenna was probably up by now and she'd poke a million questions at her. Great. Just what she needed. Especially since she didn't have any answers.