The Heart Of The Game (24 page)

“I told them you didn’t need to call here,” Alastair said in a weak voice that made her feel even worse. “But thanks for feeding my horses. I hope I didn’t disrupt anything.”

“I’m coming over there right after I finish in your barn,” she said firmly.

“You are not. Absolutely not. A man has his pride, girl. Just don’t give them any extra. You’re a soft touch, and they’ll know it immediately. Sugar has your number, and Jericho probably does too.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. He was in the emergency room and worrying about her overfeeding his horses.

“I’ll be mindful of their diet,” she said. “But who’s minding you?”

“There are so many blasted people in this room poking and prodding me, I don’t need any more. I just had one of my episodes, that’s all. Happens once in a while. Damn gardener came over to drop off a pumpkin pie and found me and called the ambulance. I don’t even like pumpkin pie. But I do appreciate him calling you. Just feed my guys and gal, you hear? I don’t need any drama.”

“I’ll feed them in the morning as well. And then I’m coming over to the hospital.”

She heard voices in the background.

“The doc’s here. I told him I’m not staying in his fancy prison. Hospitals are dangerous.”

“If he says you can go home tomorrow, I’ll be over to pick you up.”

“I can take a taxi,” Alastair protested. “Save your gas money. I have to go now. I should charge them a fee for all the blood they’ve taken out of me. It’s good, strong blood.”

She wanted to laugh but couldn’t.

Before she could reply, he added, “Thank you, Zoe.”

Then the line clicked off.

“How is he?” Cody asked as they rounded a curve

“I can’t tell. He doesn’t want me coming over. I suppose I should respect his wishes, but I don’t want to.”

“Want me to drive you to the hospital?”

“No. He said something about his pride and not wanting me there.”

“If he’s worried about his pride, he’s probably going to be just fine,” Cody said.

“He’s ninety-one, if not older,” she said quietly.

“We should all be so lucky to be in his shape when we hit ninety.”

“Turn in here.” She pointed to the narrow drive leading up to Alastair’s.

“This is a lot of land for one man to handle,” Cody said as they wound up the long drive. “Especially an older man.”

“He’s the most”—she struggled for the word in English—“stubborn man I’ve ever met. Next to my father, that is.”

Cody pulled up in front of the barn. She leaped out of the car and shivered against the blast of brisk night air.

“Take my jacket.” Cody wrapped it around her shoulders, not allowing her to protest.

“
You’ll
be cold,” she said as she thrust her arms into the sleeves. His scent rose from the soft wool, and she felt wrapped in a cocoon of safety and support. And desire. She shook her head. How could she even be thinking such a thing at a time like this?

With Cody’s help, she fed Domino, Tempter and Jericho. True to form, Sugar nudged her and begged for treats.

“You are so very spoiled,” Zoe said, rubbing the mare’s neck. She lifted her gaze to Cody’s. “I imagine Alastair spoiled his wife just as much.”

“I know I’ve said this before, but you really are amazing with animals, Zoe. Why don’t you follow through on such a passion?”

She shut the stall door, ignoring Sugar’s last nudge for a treat. But she couldn’t dismiss the zing that rippled in her at hearing Cody say the word passion. She wondered if he had any idea the effect he had on her.

“I promised to help my father launch this new family wine business.”

“But Adrian is helping him.”

“The vineyard is intended to be a family affair, my father’s pet project and his way of keeping us all involved. At least those of us who don’t have established outside interests.”

“But that’s not right. You and Adrian taking on a project you have no interest in just because the others have decided on their life courses and you haven’t? Why would your fa—”

“No, stop. I can’t let you think it’s all Papa’s fault.” She didn’t want him to think badly of her father, but no matter what she said, she’d be sharing an intimate part of her father’s world. Sharing personal information with those outside the family was frowned upon. Still, Cody should know something...

“I... I cared for my mother when she got sick. I don’t think I told you that. I was there and I couldn’t let strangers do for her what I could do.”

Cody wrapped her hands in his. She squeezed back when he squeezed her fingers, relaxing at that signal of his understanding.

“I would have turned to my own pursuits after Mama died, but my father...” She focused on Cody’s hands. “My father seemed to go a little, a little
pazzo
. We all did.

“I’m ready to move on, but Papa, he hasn’t reached that stage yet. And so I need to be here with him. Does that make sense?”

He nodded, but she could see his mind working. She let out a nervous laugh. “It’s ironic, isn’t it, that I think I’m saving him and he thinks he’s saving me? We’re probably both deluded.”

Cody nailed her with the observant, assessing look that she’d seen on his face many times. Having his focus trained on her made her uncomfortable. Not being totally honest with him about her own plans made her miserable. But until she was ready to hop on a plane and see them to fruition, it was best to keep the gallery and her imminent return to Rome to herself. If Cody said anything to Alex or Kaz, even innocently, her whole family, including her father, would find out.

“I think you should stop seeing to family this and that and see to your own dreams, Zoe. The universe doesn’t play tricks. It’s not a mistake that you love the things you do.”

Bliss poured through her as he twined his fingers with hers. His words registered, and she began to consider that the universe had secrets she was only beginning to understand. His gentle words were the greatest of aphrodisiacs. She felt that he truly knew her and what moved her. She felt understood. No,
seen
, held in that special regard she’d only ever experienced in rare moments with her brothers and sisters. But as his fingers stroked hers, the passion fueling her bliss went way beyond familial.

With a fluid movement, he pulled her against his big body and murmured against her ear, “What
do
you want?”

What did she want? In that moment, she knew very clearly. She was tired of fighting the attraction, fighting the man who had lit up her life. She might have him only for a brief time, but she was going to have him.

Zoe pressed away from him, biting her bottom lip.

Cody shouldn’t have been so forward. Not at a time like this, when worry for her friend likely tumbled her emotions. But damn if he didn’t ache to make love to her, to comfort her, to show her pleasure that could erase her worries, if only for a night.

She pinned him with a look and squeezed his hand. At least she hadn’t broken the contact between them.

“Drive me home,” she said as she led him to the door of the barn and then reached out to switch off the light. “And I’ll show you what I want.”

Zoe was silent as he navigated the drive up to her house. Curiosity flooded his thoughts, along with the throbbing hope that her tone had meant what he thought it did. But there was no telling. He didn’t trust his read of anything right then, not when all he wanted was to press her naked body to his and do all the things he’d fantasized about.

When they reached the house, Cody followed Zoe to the back door and watched as she punched a code into the alarm pad.

“This is overkill on my father’s part, but he’s always loved electronic gadgets. It took me a week to memorize all the silly codes.”

He noted the high-res surveillance camera overhead and the fact that the windows next to the door were wired. The system protecting her house was far from what anyone could call a gadget. Something worried Santino Tavonesi, and Cody had a sense of just what that something might be. But he remembered his dad’s caution reminding him that none of the rumors had been substantiated. The questions forming in Cody’s mind should wait for another day.

Zoe put a finger to her lips. “Shhh... secret passage.” She giggled as she took his hand and led him up a dark staircase just inside the door.

She’d had a bit to drink during dinner, but he was sure she wasn’t intoxicated. He knew those signs only too well. Maybe the tinge of nervousness in her voice came from the same anticipation that had his guts turning somersaults.

“My apartment is at the very end.” She pointed.

They passed down a long hallway. A light flashed on and he froze in place.

“Just a motion light,” she said. “There’s likely no one here to surprise us. The rest of the family is having dinner at a new restaurant in Napa, and Placido and Leonora have the night off.”

She pressed another code into a panel beside a door at the end of the hall. He stepped in behind her, and she clicked the door shut. With a wave of her hand, the lights came on, bathing the room in a soft radiance.

Her lips tipped up in a sultry smile. “You asked what I want?” She rose up on tiptoe, reached a hand to the back of his head and drew it down, touching her lips to his. “I want you.”

All his mental analysis of the house and his inner chatter dropped away as he parted her lips with his tongue. Her sweet warmth was the taste he remembered and tried not to crave. He wrapped his arms around her, cupping her firm backside and pulling her up against him. His tongue tangled with hers, teasing, tasting. She nipped at his bottom lip. He opened his eyes and saw the challenge flash in hers.

He broke off their kiss. “Well, then, that’s a good thing. Because I sure as hell want you.” He lifted her into his arms. It was all he could do not to have her right there on the plush carpet of her hallway, but he spied a bed in an adjacent room. He had plans, and he’d had many a long night to imagine the slow pleasure he wanted to bring her. The massive bed would do just fine for what he had in mind.

At the edge of the bed, he slid her out of his arms and set her on her feet.

“I’ll have my jacket back now,” he said, not bothering to hide the rumble of want flaring in his voice.

Hooking his thumbs in the collar, he peeled his jacket down her arms and ran kisses along the ivory skin of her throat. Heat rose from her skin, filling his senses with the scent of some spicy fragrance. He let the jacket drop to the floor and he stepped back, admiring her. The already hard tips of her nipples showed under the thin silver fabric of her dress. A flush of color crept into her face as he lifted his hand and ran his thumb across first one, then the other. As her nipples pebbled under his touch, he gave thanks that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

She drew in a shaky breath as she put a hand to his chest. She pressed her palm against his heart, balancing as she kicked off her heeled sandals. The heat of her hand blazed a brand through the starched cotton of his dress shirt.

“I believe I’ll have to have this dress off you too.”

The light dancing in her eyes was all the go-ahead he needed.

He knelt and ran his fingers from her ankles to her upper thigh, the shiver of her muscles under his hands shooting blood straight to his groin. He spread his hands, using the backs of them to lift her dress up along her legs and to her hips. And then he stopped. She wasn’t wearing panties. His tip of his erection throbbed hard against the buckle of his belt.

“My, my,” he said, stroking one hand up the tender flesh of her thigh, enjoying the quiver that followed the path of his caress. “I didn’t get my dessert tonight. I believe I just might have to taste while I’m down here.”

He used his finger to part her already soft, moist cleft, finding the hard nub that told him she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He bent and tasted, laving in gentle circles. He slid his free hand behind her, spreading his palm to grasp her warm flesh, then pulled her tight against his mouth. Her moan and the sweet, salty taste of her nearly drove him to the brink. He circled his tongue again, slowly and deliberately, learning her taste, learning what she liked. The shudder that racked her as she fisted her hands in his hair told him he’d hit his mark. He pulled his face away and admired the dark curls that he’d parted to give him access to her pleasure spot. He slipped one hand between her legs and rubbed slowly while he used the other to lift her dress. But when he reached her breasts, he paused.

“I believe I’ll have to taste here too.” She convulsed when his finger glided into her. “Would you like that, Zoe?’

She nodded, her eyes dark with pleasure and want. He liked that. Maybe too much. He’d never imagined wanting a woman like he wanted her.

“Tell me you’d like it, Zoe.”

He put a second finger inside her and flicked a slow circle around her clit with his thumb.

She shuddered and fell back across the bed, eyes wide, and her breath gasping and shallow.

“Yes.” Her voice had the soft, ragged edge of want.

The dress draped around her upper body like a silver bandana. He stood to pull the soft silk up, and Zoe stretched her arms over her head to help him. He tossed the dress to the floor.

Then he bent and touched his lips to the cusp of her ear. “Yes, what? What would you like?”

He sank back to his knees and traced his finger through her slick, pink folds. His erection turned to steel.

She was magnificent.

Before she answered, he stood again. Then he kicked off his boots and stripped off his pants and briefs. His erection sprang free.

She leaned up on her elbows. “You, Cody. Like I said, I want you. And I want you now.”

He ran his hand along the length of his erection and watched her eyes flare. Women liked to see men touch themselves. That had been a darn fine discovery. But another minute and he’d lose control. He couldn’t have that. Control was his master tool.

He bent down and pulled a condom from the back pocket of his jeans, ripped it open and rolled it on. She watched his every move, only scooting back when he moved toward the bed. Her hands went over her head again, this time to grab pillows and toss them across the room.

He chuckled and then stroked up her legs as he joined her on the bed. “Now, where were we?”

“Cody, you’re making me crazy.”

He smiled. “That’s what I like to hear.”

She tugged at his hand and tried to pull him onto her. He knelt between her legs, nudging her thighs open with his knees. He bent over her and cupped her breasts in his hands, and the warm weight and beauty of them made his balls pull up. She let out a soft cry and tried once again to pull him onto her. With a quick movement, he pinned her arms above her head.

“Did I tell you that you’re beautiful?”

“
Cody
.”

He laughed at her attempt to be stern.

“That’s my name, yes.” He released her hands and leaned down onto his forearms until his chest brushed the tips of her breasts. Watching her face, he eased his erection along her cleft, stroking, pressing the full length against her soft flesh. A quiver rushed through him as she gasped his name again. Even through the condom he could feel her under his shaft, her softness and the tight pearl that said she was as aroused as he was. The heat that beckoned and promised an explosion of pleasure. For a brief moment he was able to tease at her opening—rubbing, ratcheting up her desire—and push back the driving, screaming urge to plunder. He lowered his head and teased her lips open with his tongue. Then she arched up with an almost feral cry. Waiting became impossible. He swiveled his hips and drove into her, taking her moan into his mouth. With the strength of his body, he began to rock slowly, rhythmically. He broke off their kiss and pressed himself up, just enough so he could watch her orgasm build. And as she met him move for move, they began a dialogue without words, a language spoken only by the body. He loved the powerful wordless connection that gave sex its buzz. But the last thought that touched him was the awareness that the intimacy he felt with Zoe was unlike any other experience in his life. When she wrapped her legs around him, gripping tight, and cried out in a voice of heart-stopping, primal pleasure, her body shuddering with her release, that awareness exploded in a sea of hot, unimaginable intensity.

“I’m crushing you,” Cody said as he pushed onto his elbows and lifted his weight from Zoe. As he eased out of her, a strange, empty feeling crept over her. It was so strange, so foreign, she had to catch her breath. Cody brushed a kiss to her lips, stared into her eyes and then swept his hand along the curve of her jaw. He sat up and removed the condom. Her insides clenched at the sight of his still-hard erection.

She watched as the soft light from her chandelier cast rippling shadows on the broad muscles of his back when he stood and walked into her bathroom.

The man was physical perfection.

She heard the water run, heard his movements near the sink. Every sound echoed, hollow and odd. Shouldn’t she feel thrilled? Sated? Joyful? She’d just had the best orgasm of her life; the shuddering release still danced in her, teasing her senses. But a floating, vacuous feeling settled around her heart like a dim fog. He’d pleasured her, no doubt about that. But she’d sensed that though she’d been lost in the glory of their lovemaking, he’d held back, maintained control, held tight to some sort of boundary.

And why not?

She’d imagined holding to just such a boundary herself—enjoy his amazing body and meet desire with desire. Enjoy a night of blissful pleasure without getting caught up in any emotional complications. And she had. At least the enjoying the pleasure part. And what woman wouldn’t with a man who looked like a god, made love like a stud, and seemed to care more for her pleasure than his own?

But having sex with Cody had been so much more than pleasure. Something in her had broken free of its bounds. All the emotion she’d dammed up since her mother’s death and the drastic uprooting from Rome had rushed out when Cody filled her, flooding her. She’d known, somewhere deep in her being, that opening to him would feel like that. She’d ignored the quiet voice telling her, warning her, that keeping her feelings for him at arm’s length might be harder than she’d imagined.

He returned with a warm washcloth and gestured to her. She took it from his hand, not able to bear the intimacy of him washing her, not now, not while her feelings were so raw.

He sat on the edge of the bed, perhaps sensing her reticence. She pushed up onto her elbows and twisted until she was nestled in the pillows piled against her headboard. With the warn washcloth in one hand, she used the other to pull the sheet up to cover her breasts. He looked away, giving her time to use the washcloth. She stroked its warmth between her legs and drew in a breath, letting it out in a soft sigh.

“Hey,” he said, turning back to her and taking the washcloth from her hand. He studied her face as he dropped it to the rug beside the bed. “You okay?”