Without a clue what that meant, Zach pulled a sheet over her.
“Kiss-kiss peez,” she said again.
Zach looked at Tessa, who covered the mouthpiece of her phone and whispered, “She wants a kiss good night.” Then she lifted her hand and told the senator, “I hear what you’re saying, and I assure you, all parties are making concessions to find common ground.”
Zach bent, placed his hands to the bed on either side of Sophia, and kissed her forehead. He let his lips linger and breathed in her unique, sweet baby scent—powder and bubbles.
She hummed happily and offered a whisper-soft “Night-night.”
“Night, angel,” he whispered back before straightening, stuffing his hands in his back pockets and staring down at his daughter.
His daughter.
Another stab of terror pierced his heart.
My daughter.
Jesus, this was wickedly surreal.
Tessa’s touch drew his gaze away. She closed her fingers around one hand and tugged him toward the door. She was still on the phone, distracted—and frustrated, if he were reading her right—and released his hand after they passed the threshold. But Zach wasn’t ready to let go and closed his fingers around hers as he pulled the door to the bedroom closed quietly.
With Sophia safely tucked into bed, soundly sleeping, and the rest of the condo empty, some of the walls Zach hadn’t realized he was holding melted away, allowing his desire to rush forward. He wanted to take that phone out of her hand, hang up on the politician, strip her naked, and sink into her right then, right there. Which made him wonder if having sex when a kid was in the next room—even if she was asleep—was taboo.
There was so much new territory to learn about, he felt like he was tumbling in the surf, fighting to figure out which way was up.
Tessa pulled out of Zach’s grasp and wandered toward the open sliding doors and the terrace beyond. “Those were minor changes in sentence structure,” she said into the phone. “They don’t alter the meaning within the text.”
He followed her out to the terrace, where the night was cool and humid. His gaze roamed over her—the fall of dark hair, her white tank and the bra beneath, her jean shorts that exposed creamy thighs.
He moved close, reached around her, and gripped the railing on both sides. She cut a look over her shoulder and stiffened—until he eased the front of his body against the back of hers. Then her lashes fluttered, and her eyes closed. For a moment, she leaned into him, and that tiny show of desire rushed through him like flames.
He released the railing and wrapped his arms around her waist. Nudging her hair off her neck, he laid his lips there and kissed a path to her ear. A wisp of the soap she’d used on Sophia touched his nose, opening a deep warm spot inside him. Then Tessa’s scent swallowed the sweetness with a powerful tang of musk and spice and exotic flowers. One that immediately stirred erotic memories. The combination of emotion and desire acted like oxygen to a flame. Her spine arched, her ass rubbed against him, and Zach’s body reacted instantly.
His mind calculated how much time they had before Abby got home and what he could do to her in that amount of time when Tessa said, “Yes, sir.” Her voice had turned breathy. “I’ll be sure to look over that section again and see what I can do to add the language you want.”
But the conversation on the other end of the phone continued and the serious tone of an older man’s voice filtered through the phone. He lowered his lips to her ear and whispered, “Get off the phone.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, making Zach smile at the thought of her speaking to him, not the senator. “The National Association of Hospitals pulled that language from the bill. Yes…I’ll let you know as soon as the changes have been made…of course…thank you for your input, sir.”
Zach closed his teeth at the base of her neck where it curved to meet her shoulder and growled with impatience.
She disconnected the phone. “Zach. You can’t maul me while I’m on the phone with a freaking senator.”
“This isn’t mauling.” He flattened his hands on her belly and slid them up her torso, cupping her breasts. “This…is mauling.”
When she gasped and turned her head t
oward him, Zach covered her mouth with his and let his hunger indulge. She tasted warm and sweet, but it wasn’t enough. He lifted one hand to her face and turned her head a little more, capturing her whole mouth and sinking his tongue deep into her warmth. He pulled back and let her catch her breath, but only for a second. And the moment her lips formed words again, he dragged her back. Her mouth softened, opened, and a low moan rolled from her throat.
She wrapped her arm up and around his back, sank her fingers into his hair. But a moment later, she broke the kiss. “We can’t do this.” Her blue eyes sparkled to life in the moonlight’s cool glow. “This is already so complicated.”
“Baby, we’ve already done it. Doing it again isn’t going to change anything.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “And I want you more now than I did that night.”
She closed her eyes, her brow tightening. He knew she wanted him. Was sure she was going to say yes. Was about to nudge her that direction when the tinkling of keys caught his ear.
With a frustrated growl, Zach pushed away from Tessa. “Damn.”
“Tess?” Abby called softly.