The Hardest Fall

“Take it easy, man. Every room is full. Didn’t know someone had already claimed this spot. We’ll find another corner.”

“Yeah, do that.”

When they left, I turned around to find Zoe leaning her forehead against the wall, eyes closed.

Stepping behind her, I rubbed the arm she had bounced off of. “You okay?”

Clearing her throat, she nodded but didn’t give me her eyes.

Instead of forcing her to face me, I slid my arms around her and pulled her hands away from the wall. I wasn’t ready for her to hide from me. I needed more.

More of her eyes on mine.

More of that shy, shaky smile I loved so much.

More of her touch.

More of her lips, her skin.

“Zoe,” I coaxed. Her forehead still pressed against the wall, she was looking down at our hands. My palms were open, her hands resting on top. This time she was the one to curl her fingers around mine and hold on tight.

Lost in our little bubble, I flipped our hands and pressed the backs of hers against the tops of her thighs. With no hesitation at all, I pulled her ass against my rapidly growing erection.

I was watching her so closely, every hitch of her breath, every drowsy blink of her eyes. It was easy to catch the moment she stopped breathing and time stood still.

Then she groaned, a low, sexy sound just for my ears, and it broke the hold I had on myself. I hadn’t realized there was no music in the background until that sound ripped through me. As I held her in place, it took everything in me not to grind myself against her ass, or better yet, just take her against the wall.

She pushed her ass back and I dropped my head to her shoulder with a growl.

“Dylan,” she moaned, triggering another thrust of my hips. Her skin was burning under my lips as I kissed the little spot right under her ear and felt her shiver.

Removing her hands from mine, she grabbed my forearm with one and placed the other on the wall. I kept my hands on her thighs and pushed both of my thumbs right under the edge of her jeans and her underwear so I could pull her tighter, so we could fuse together and become one bundle of need. She rolled her hips back against me.

“Fuck, Zoe. Don’t do that.”

I lifted one of my hands and gripped her chin, slowly turning it toward my lips. We were both breathing hard when my mouth touched the edge of hers. She let out a small groan and with another roll of her hips, my dick wanted out and in her.

Just when I was about to claim her lips and lose myself in what was probably going to be the best fucking kiss of my life, someone called her name and we both froze.

Zoe gulped.

Unfortunately for us, we heard the same voice again and had to reluctantly step away from each other.

Instead of turning around like Zoe had done immediately after the second call, I faced the wall and adjusted my dick before looking over my shoulder to see Zoe talking with Kayla. I took a deep breath, willed my heart to slow the fuck down, and turned to casually lean back against the wall. When Zoe came back, I took in her flushed cheeks and parted lips—all because of me, all for me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my voice all kinds of fucked up, and I realized it was taking a whole lot of effort to keep my hands to myself.

“Something…I’m not sure,” she replied, her eyes rising to mine for the first time. “She wants to leave, but Keith isn’t listening. Something is wrong with them. I need to go.”

I straightened from the wall. “I’ll come with you.”

Shaking her head, she touched my arm then quickly pulled it back.

“She won’t talk to me if you’re there. She called an Uber and I’m going to go with her.”

“You won’t come home?”

“I…I don’t know. I’ll text you if I can.”

Fuck.

“We need to talk, Dylan,” she said quietly, voicing exactly what was going through my mind. Yes, we needed to talk, badly, but first, we needed to do other things—quenching the thirst I had for her being the first item on the list.

“Tomorrow. We’ll figure everything out tomorrow. If you can come back, call me and I’ll come get you.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll call an Uber or just walk. It’s not that far away from the apartment.”

I closed the distance between us and tucked her hair behind her ear so I could kiss her temple. “Call me—I don’t want you out on your own so late, definitely not walking.”

A quick nod as she stared into my eyes, and then she was walking away from me.

Chapter Nineteen

Zoe

“Hi,” I said as I answered my phone. If I sounded a little breathless, it had nothing to do with the fact that I was speed-walking—and occasionally hopping to avoid puddles—to the library to meet Kayla and Jared, and everything to do with who was on the other end of the line.