Where Their Hearts Collide: Wardham Book #2 (26 page)
Read Where Their Hearts Collide: Wardham Book #2 Online
Authors: Zoe York
“Baby.”
The grin was infectious, even hundreds of kilometers away.
“You rang?”
“I missed you.”
“Sorry I’m not coming home this weekend.”
“Nope, don’t be sorry. You got school work to do, I’ve got speeding tickets to write.”
It was their first weekend apart since she’d moved. And surprisingly, she didn’t feel conflicted about it. Miss him, yes. But she had a group project to do, and needed to stay in the city. And his total support made all the difference. Laney had been right on that score.
“Are you going out tonight with your young and single classmates?”
“Nope.
I’ve got a hot date planned later, though. I’m going sit on the dryer and read a chapter on metadata principles.” He laughed gently in her ear and she sank back into her pillows. “I bet if you were here, you could help me study.”
“Absolutely.
Give me a definition.”
“Metadata is data that describes data. In other words, it’s what we know about stuff.”
“Tags and keywords?”
“You’ve been paying attention.”
“I try. So the noises you make during sex that tell me you like what I’m doing?”
She knew where this was going, and
flipped open the top button of her jeans. “Mmm-hmmm.”
“Yeah, like that.” He groaned, and she was reminded of the first time they had phone sex. They’d come so far in a few short months.
“Are you touching yourself?” she whispered.
“
Hell, yes.”
“Tell me about it.”
“You first.”
“No, you…”
Her laundry sat for a while before she made it back to the basement.
***
“Baby, you home?”
Her car was
parked at the curb, so he knew she was, but he never tired of asking that question.
They’d had five weekends at home like this,
one trip to the city, which Megan had loved, and a couple of missed visits between work and school. A comfortable routine had formed, but this weekend was going to be special.
“In the kitchen.”
He followed her voice. “You parked on the street.”
“I need to run to the liquor store and pick up a bottle of wine.”
“I’ll go back out if you want.” She was chopping vegetables at the counter. His beautiful woman, in his kitchen. Her long legs were covered in denim appropriate for the cooler autumn weather, but the jeans fit snug across her curvy bottom and her fitted t-shirt showed off the nip of her waist and he could imagine how good her—
“You
just going to stare at me all afternoon? Come and give me a kiss, mister. I’ve missed you.” She glanced over her shoulder at him and laughed as he covered the space between them before she finished talking. She went back to chopping and he settled in behind her, legs spread wide, arms around her waist, chin on her shoulder.
“You get your paper done?”
“Mmm-hmm. Only have a bit of reading to do this weekend.”
“Good, you can do it in bed.” It was their first
full weekend together without Megan, and he was going to soak up as much naked Karen time as he could manage.
“I look forward to it.”
She set the knife on the counter and elbowed him gently, wanting him out of the way. He grudgingly shifted so she could carry the cutting board to the stove and deposit the chopped carrots and parsnips into what looked like a stew.
“Does that have to simmer for a while?” He couldn’t help the hopeful tone in his voice.
Didn’t really want to, either.
“
Mmm-hmm.” Karen gave it one last stir and headed for the stairs without looking back at him. She knew he’d follow.
She took her jeans off at the top of the stairs. He’d stop and pick them up. Probably fold them, too. To slow him down even further, she looped her shirt over the bannister. In their room, which now housed two tall wardrobes stuffed to the gills with her clothes, she quickly swapped out her bra and underwear for the silk negligee she’d picked up on Bloor Street. She’d been planning to bring it out later that night, but no time like the present—
The door swung open as she was arranging herself on the bed.
“Hi,” she breathed.
His heated gaze took her in.
All of her. And got even more heated. “That’s pretty.”
Gotcha.
“I splurged a little.”
“I approve.” He stripped off his t-shirt and jeans, and her pussy pulsed at the realization that he’d gone commando.
Naked and very turned on, her man approached the bed. “You look like an early Christmas present.”
She toyed with the ribbon that laced up the front of her torso. “Feel free to
unwrap me.”
He hovered above her, tracing his fingers across her cheek, down her neck and along the strap of her chemise before tugging, ever so slowly, at the bow she’d offered him. As the lacing loosened, he peeled open the silk, groaning as her erect nipples popped into view. “I miss you during the week,” he said, burying his face in her chest.
“Are you talking to me, or them?” She giggled as he surged up to kiss her and scowl.
“Both. Don’t ruin this moment I’m having with them.” He kissed her again, this time more deeply, reassuring her that he missed every part of her body and mind while she was gone, and while his tongue did its magic, his hands went to work doing theirs, stroking and teasing her body. Somewhere in there, the silk nothing disappeared into actual nothing, and then he was spooning her, ready to enter her from behind.
“Wait!” she gasped. “Are you sure?”
He groaned hard into her hair.
“Seriously?”
She swiveled her hips, teasing his swollen head. “
No, I mean, I’m sure. I just wanted to check that you…”
He thrust into her, making her gasp again, then moan, as he splayed one hand across her stomach and used the other to fist her hair out of the way.
“We talked about this, darlin’. No reason to wait.” He moved his hips slowly, pushing deep inside, pulling back just a bit, then surging forward to make contact with her cervix again. “Unless you don’t want me to come inside you.”
She did. Oh god, she really did. “Please…”
Pushing back, she urged him to pick up the pace, and he did, which set off a chain reaction of physical sensations that ended with what felt like fireworks going off in her brain, her breasts, her sex and every other part of her body all at the same time. As the rest of her being trembled and collapsed, her heart sighed with content.
Behind her, Paul shuddered with an aftershock of his own. “Wow,” he said quietly.
“That was worth the hundred dollars I spent on the lingerie, eh?” She sighed.
“That was worth a heck of a lot more than that.” He paused. “
Except if we’re going to have another mouth to feed, maybe not.”
She twisted away, stretching out on her stomach, and offered him a languid smile. “It might not take the first time. I only stopped taking the pills this cycle.”
“Then we’ll keep practicing.” He tugged the blanket over her naked body. “You have a catnap, I’ll run out for that wine.”
THE END
Dear Readers,
You may have noticed I took a few liberties with the hockey schedule and
the details of Karen’s schooling options. I promise all sports fans and librarians that I did consider being strictly realistic on both fronts, but the story suffered for it. So, in this alternate world, I shifted the calendar a bit, gave St. Louis a bit more success than they’ve had in recent years, and conflated the MLIS program from one school with the location of another.
A few early readers sent me notes about
Evie—her story is coming next, I promise! As I pen this letter, I’m taking a break from Chapter Three. Look for it in early 2014. I’m saying Valentine’s Day, but it’ll probably be out sooner than that. If you’d like an opportunity to read it before it releases for sale,
sign up for my
mailing list
. I use the list once or twice a month to alert readers to sales, giveaways, and early review opportunities. I’ll never spam you or share your email address with anyone else.
Have you read the earlier books in the Wardham Series yet? If not, there is a great opportunity to read
What Once Was Perfect
as part of a larger Christmas boxed set
, available now for a limited time. NYT bestselling authors Noelle Adams and Samantha Chase each have a brand-new story in this
collection, and all five books are bundled together for the cost of a single book. Don’t miss it! Laney and Kyle are in fantastic company.
Also available
is
the first Wardham novella,
Between Then and Now
. Discover the moment that Carrie and Ian let go of their past and fell in love all over again.
As always, I love to hear from you. You can find me at
[email protected]
, on
my website
, or on
Facebook
and
Twitter
.
~ Zoe
I usually start my acknowledgements with a nod to my husband, but since I dedicated this book to him, we can move right to my usual crew of cheerleaders: Rachel, Natalie, Hannah,
Andraena, and Lori, whose collective positivity could power the sun. I’m humbled by your faith and support.
My sister, who hates reading, and my mother-in-law, who hates reading anything that doesn’t feature dwarves or dragons, and yet they both scoured the book for typos and inconsistencies. The
best, and most unlikely, proofreading crew a girl could have.
Molly and Jennifer, who don’t pull any punches and push me to be a better
writer. Any remaining repetition and pathetic use of crutch words is on me and my stubbornness.
Facebook, and all of the awesome people who have liked my page, promoted my books, sent new fans my way, shared lovely messages, and so on…I’m late to the game, but I get it now, and I’m grateful for the direct connection to readers.
Book bloggers! I try to keep an updated list of these amazing friends on my website.
And finally, the Divas, without whom I’d still be stumbling around with a sheaf of papers and a crayon sketch of a cover. Their collective wisdom is staggering, and surpassed only by their collective kindness.
Zoe York lives in London, Ontario with her young family. She has an English degree and works at a university, so it was probably a foregone conclusion that she’d write a romance novel one day. She’s currently writing the third full-length novel in The Wardham Series.
Copyright © 2013 Zoe York
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-0991973651 (RRKY)