Breaking All Their Rules

‘It’s been so long,’ she murmured in a low voice that spelt sex. Her hands fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, finally pushed it open, and then her palms were on his skin, smoothing and teasing as only Olivia could do.

The memories that he’d lived on for all those long months apart rapidly became reality. He hadn’t enhanced any of them. This was how it had been between them. Then his belt was loose, the zip being tugged downward, and… Oh, hell. Her soft hand was wrapped around him, sliding down, up, and down again. Oh, hell. There was nothing quite like making out with this woman. She knew the buttons to push, remembered what he most enjoyed, and if she wasn’t careful would have him coming long before he’d pleasured her.

That wasn’t happening. Zac wrapped his arms around her and carried her quickly down the hall to his bedroom and the super-king-sized bed she had yet to try out. Toeing his shoes off, he knelt on the bed and leaned forward with Olivia still in his arms so that he was covering her before she could move. ‘Your turn.’

‘I’m ready,’ she croaked.

‘I haven’t touched you yet.’ But, then, often he hadn’t had to. All part of that explosiveness that had been them.

‘Don’t, if you want this to last more than the next three seconds.’

Now, there was a challenge. Pushing her dress up over her thighs, Zac slipped down to find her core with his tongue. The moment he tasted her she jolted like she’d been zapped with an electrical current.

Her hands gripped his head, holding him there. Not that he’d been going anywhere else until he had her rocking against him.

‘Zac!’ she cried when he licked her. ‘Zachary…’ As he pushed a finger inside.

Her hips lifted, her fingers pressed into his scalp, and she was crying out his name. Over and over as her body convulsed under him.

Reaching for the top drawer of his bedside table, he grabbed a condom and tore the packet open with his teeth. A small, warm hand whipped the condom from his fingers. ‘Let me.’

Then he was lying on his back, unsure how she’d managed to flip him so effortlessly. She straddled his thighs and, achingly slowly, slid the condom onto his erection.

Placing his hands on her waist, he lifted her over him and lowered her to cover him, took him inside to her moist, hot centre.

‘Zac!’ She screamed his name.

He hadn’t forgotten she was a screamer but it still hit him hard, stirred him and had him pushing further into her.

It was never going to take long, he was that hot for her, had been wanting this from the moment he’d seen her leaning against that counter in the hotel reception. When she put her hand behind to squeeze him he was gone. Over. Finished. One final thrust and Olivia cried out and fell over his chest, gasping for air, her skin slick with sweat and her body trembling against his.

As she lay sprawled across him, he spread his hands across her back, stared up at the barely illuminated ceiling and smiled. Everything was in place in his world. Olivia was in his bed. They’d shared the mind-blowing sex he knew only with her. Everything was perfect. His itch was being appeased.

Or would be when they did it again, just as soon as he got his breath back.

CHAPTER SIX

ZAC HAD NO idea what the time was when he rolled over and reached out for Olivia, only to come up empty-handed. ‘Olivia?’ He sat up and stared around. His heart thumped hard. Not again.

‘I’m here.’ Her voice came from the en suite bathroom.

Phew. He dropped back. Something clattered in the hand basin, and Olivia swore. ‘You okay in there?’ he called.

Silence.

‘Olivia? Are you all right?’ His gut started to tighten.

‘I’m making sure I can walk past the hotel receptionist without looking like I’ve been…um, doing what I’ve been doing.’

‘You’re heading over the road?’ Now he was on full alert. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he stood. ‘What’s wrong with staying the rest of the night? You and I don’t usually settle for once.’

‘Don’t do this, Zac.’ She stepped into the room, but kept her distance. ‘We’ve got to stop before we get carried away.’

As the cold reality of her words hit him he pulled his head back, glared down at her. ‘Why? We are willing, consenting adults, not two teenagers who have to go home to Mum and Dad looking guilty.’ Hopefully she didn’t hear the anger her rejection made him feel. Again. And the pain because she was right.

‘I’m sorry.’ Her eyes were brimming with tears. ‘I shouldn’t have got so carried away.’

A gut-buster, that statement. ‘We got carried away, sweetheart. We.’ He shoved a hand through his hair, trying to figure out what had happened to cause her to haul on the brakes. He should be grateful. He’d hoped to sooth his need, not crank it wide-open. How wrong could a bloke be?

‘Exactly. We didn’t stop to think about what we were doing. Not for a moment.’ Her back was straight, her shoulders tight, but her chin wobbled as she said, ‘Which is why I can’t go to Fiji with you.’

‘You’re changing your mind?’ Of course she was. For some reason he didn’t feel happy. He’d enjoyed being with her tonight. It had been like finding something precious after a long search. He could barely look at her and not reach for her again. She might’ve put the brakes on but it would take a tank of icy water to cool his ardour and return his out-of-whack heart rate to normal.

In the doorway she hesitated, turned around to look at him, sorrow leaking out of those baby blues. ‘Yes, Zac, I am. Going on holiday together would only exacerbate the situation. I can’t have another affair with you. It’s too casual, and anything more is impossible for me.’

He stood rooted to the floor, unable to ignore the sharp pain her statement caused yet knowing she was stronger than him. The itch had gone beyond scratchy, was now an open wound that needed healing. Olivia was the cure but, as she’d so clearly pointed out, that wasn’t about to happen.

Moments later his main door clicked shut, presumably behind her, and still he stood transfixed. For a moment earlier on, when they’d been sated with sex, he thought he’d found that untouchable thing he’d been looking for in his dreams and pushing away when he was wide-awake. Hell, he’d felt as though he’d connected with Olivia in a way he’d never connected with another human being in his life. Sure, they’d had se

x without any preamble, as they’d always done, but there’d been more depth to their liaison. He’d made love to the woman of his dreams. Literally.

Which made Olivia heading back to her hotel room absolutely right. Unlike him, she had a handle on their situation. Where was his gratitude?

*

Zac’s phone vibrated its way across the bedside table. ‘Hello?’ Had Olivia had a change of heart?

‘It’s North Shore Emergency Unit, Dr Wright. We’ve got a situation.’

Not Olivia. Guess it wasn’t his night. ‘Tell me,’ he sighed.

‘A bus full of rowers returning to Whangarei went off the road an hour out of the city. There are many casualties so we’re ringing round everyone. Can you come in?’

‘On my way.’ It wasn’t as though he’d been sleeping. A certain woman had taken up residence in his skull, refusing to let him drop off to sleep even when his body was craving rest.

*

‘Kelly Devlin, nineteen-year-old rower, fractured tibia,’ the ED registrar told Zac within moments of him striding into the chaotic department.

Zac studied the X-rays on the light box. ‘She needs a rod insertion,’ he decided, and went to talk to his patient.

Kelly glared at him. ‘I’m a national rowing champion, Doctor. I can’t have a broken leg.’

Zac’s heart went out to her. ‘You have. I’m sorry.’

‘Does that mean the end of my career?’

‘First I’ll explain what I’m going to do to help you.’ He sat on the edge of her bed. ‘I’ve seen the X-rays and your left tibia is fractured in two places. To allow the bone to heal without too much added stress I’m going to put a titanium rod down the centre of the bone. There will be screws to hold it in place while you heal.’ He kept the details scant. He knew from experience that too much information at this stage usually confused the patient and added to their distress.

‘Will I be competitive again?’ the girl demanded.