Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

“Yeah,” I responded, feeling off-balance.

“Yes to all of that,” Lucky said. “But I have a rule too.”

Lucky’s finger trailed down the center of my chest. “No matter what, you have to say goodbye to me. Whether you’re leaving me after we’ve fucked or you’re leaving for good, you have to kiss me goodbye. No disappearing.”

His request was a relatively reasonable one which only served to piss me off because he deserved so much more. “You won’t be able to handle it,” I said.

Lucky tilted his head as he began toying with the collar of my shirt.

“Maybe not. But you’re a good teacher, Zach,” Lucky said softly right before he slid his hand down my body and skimmed it over my hardening cock. “Even if I only get a few lessons under my belt, it will be worth it.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by that particular statement, but I was already too distracted to care. It was idiotic to even consider his offer, especially the part about returning to Colorado and maintaining a physical relationship, but admittedly I needed the time to work him out of my system. At most, it would only be a few weeks and then I’d be moving on to a new place and a new job.

Three weeks to get my need for Lucky Reed out of my blood and released back into the world to find someone better than me, someone healthy and whole.

It would be more than enough time, I silently reassured myself even as I leaned in to capture Lucky’s mouth.

As Lucky’s tongue dueled with mine and he pressed his sweet young body against me, a fleeting thought passed through my mind before I sent it scampering.

Three weeks, my rules… so why do I feel like I’m coming out the loser?

Chapter 26

Lucky

Tag’s insistence on taking a full week off was reversed when Zach bounced back as quickly as he did. Within two days, we were both functional enough to make it back to class to complete the final requirements. That part, I could handle. When I went to class, Zach was my instructor the way he always had been. It was the hours outside of class that I struggled with. All Zach seemed to want to do was feed me and repeatedly ask me questions about how my knee was feeling.

Not that I minded his show of concern. I didn’t. But being around the hot, muscled Army Ranger without any sex, or at the very least making out, was enough to set me on fire with want.

“Um…” I began, approaching him as he walked to his truck that first afternoon after wrapping up for the day.

Zach turned to me with a crinkle of concern between his brows. “You okay?”

Not really. I wanted to touch his naked body with every bare inch of my own, but I wasn’t quite sure if that was allowed.

Or how to ask.

“Well…” I said stupidly. We stared at each other for a minute before I cleared my throat and tried again. “Um, so like… can we… or maybe…” I scratched the back of my neck and looked around, hoping like hell some better words could be found in the scraggly trees on the edge of the parking area.

“Lucky, spit it out. What’s going on? Is your knee bothering—”

“I wanna get naked with you,” I said all at once on an exhale. I blinked at the trees several times in a row before glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.

He was grinning.

“Don’t laugh at me,” I bit out. “I don’t know how to do this, or what… or what the rules are.”

Zach crossed his arms and leaned his hip back against his truck. His teasing grin was not attractive. Much.

My neck still itched. Hell, everything itched. I felt like I was crawling out of my skin with want. I hadn’t touched him sexually in two whole days after he’d insisted on downtime to rest and recover.

Well, I was plenty rested and beyond recovered. Now I wanted sex. As much of it as I could get before he pulled his expected disappearing act on me. If he suggested watching another damned movie or taking a slow stroll outside to “stretch our legs,” I was going to lose my mind.

“Rules?” Zach asked. “Rules about what?” His question was spoken in a lazy drawl which only made me itchier. Why did he have to be so damned sexy all the freaking time?

“You know what,” I snapped. “Sex. The sex. Our sex.” My hands flapped like dying fish between us in an effort to show him… what “us” meant, maybe? I was pretty sure I was sweating now. In weird places. “Sex,” I said again for clarification.

Zach’s face lit up in laughter.

My face heated, and my heart, which was already thundering with nerves, roared in my ears. No wonder I’d never had sex before if this was how incredibly bad at it I was.