Zeke (The Powers That Be, Book 2) (14 page)

I’d walked
Zeke out to his truck and now here we were. A kiss had led to his
pushing me back against his truck, his body flush to mine, and
things had gotten pretty hot and heavy fast. I could feel him hard
against my stomach and I wished it was Friday night already.
Damn.

He pulled
back, resting his forehead against mine and I was glad to see that
I wasn’t the only one breathing heavily.

“Fuck,” he
murmured. “Gotta go before I fuck you right here.” He pulled back
and gave me a sweet kiss then walked me to the porch where he
brushed his lips against mine again with a groan. “Get inside. I’ll
see you in the morning.”

“Okay, Zeke.
Thank you for tonight. Lane had a blast.”

“He’s a cool
kid. Inside.”

“Okay, jeez.
Give me a freakin’ moment.” I frowned at him. “And stop bossing
me,” I snapped.

“Not bossing
you.”

“You are.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you
are.”

“No, I’m
not.”

“God!”

“Scarlett,” he
said in a warning tone which caused me to put my hands on my
hips.

“Are you
kidding me right now?” We glared at each other for a moment and I
rolled my eyes. “Just who do you think you are?” I asked, shaking
my head.

I saw his jaw
muscles jump as he leaned into me. “I’m the guy who’s getting ready
to throw you over his shoulder, haul your sexy ass to my truck then
take you home and fuck you all night long.” He was still glaring.
“You wanna be the one explaining to your grandmother why you didn’t
come back in tonight?”

My mouth fell
open and I blinked as I stared up at him. Damn, that was hot.
He
was hot.

“Now get your
ass in the house before I make that shit happen.”

I tiptoed up
and gave him a quick kiss then smiled at his growl before going
inside
.

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:49 p.m.

Me: Checking that
you made it home okay
.

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:51 p.m.

Zeke: Babe

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:51 p.m.

Me: What?

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:51 p.m.

Zeke: You’re
so fuckin’ cute

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:52 p.m.

Me: Making
sure you made it home okay is cute?

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:52 p.m.

Zeke: It is
when you do it

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:52 p.m.

Me:
Oooookay

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:53 p.m.

Zeke: See?
Fuckin’ cute

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:53 p.m.

Me: So I’m
taking it that it means you made it home okay then?

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:53 p.m.

Zeke: Babe

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:53 p.m.

Me: WHAT?

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:53 p.m.

Zeke: Yes. I
made it home okay. You were here, I’d fuck that sass right out of
you… although I kinda like it

How was it
that he could say just one thing and my body went hot for him?

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:54 p.m.

Me: I’m glad
you like it because I’m probably not gonna change… and, holy crap,
Zeke… your texts are, uh, hot

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:54 p.m.

Zeke: I can do
lots of hot things with my fingers…

OMGuh!

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:54 p.m.

Me: I’m, um,
gonna go before I beg you to text more

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:54 p.m.

Zeke: Babe…
you’re bein’ cute again. Tomorrow…

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:55 p.m.

Me: Tomorrow.
Goodnight, Zeke. Have sweet dreams xo

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 11:55 p.m.

Zeke: Night,
Scarlett. Always xx

God, I was
falling so hard for him. As I thought about all things Zeke, I know
I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

~*~*~*~

“Taste this!”
I said, holding a sampling spoon out to Zeke.

He smirked
then taking hold of my hand, guided the spoon to his mouth, opening
it and closing it around the spoon so sensuously, his eyes hot on
mine, that it was all I could do to remain upright as my eyes moved
down to see him slide the spoon out from between his lips and begin
to chew.

Holy crap. How
could he make taking a bite of apple crumb pie sexy?

“Mmm,” I heard
him groan. Damn.

He’d picked me
up from home at five since I hadn’t work at the Dean’s office, came
inside to say a quick hello to Grammy and Lane then we’d left. He
surprised me by taking me to a little town up north by Puget Sound
where there was a kind of small county fair going on. I say “kind
of” because the city was still urbanized, but this was something I
guess they put on to bring the “small town” feel to their
community. We’d been here for a couple hours having already watched
a tractor pull (uh), a demolition derby and we were now making it
through some of the tents to look at the arts and crafts and were
tasting samples of various baked goods.

“Good, isn’t
it?” I asked him, still staring at his mouth.

He nodded then
took a drink from the cup of beer he was holding. “Bet yours is
better,” he said, dipping his head down and touching my lips with
his.

I shrugged and
smiled shyly. “I do make a mean apple crumb pie.” I took a drink of
the wine I had in my cup. Both our drinks were homemade and
excellent.

Zeke took my
hand and we walked around a bit more looking at everything from
afghans to canned foods to flower arrangements. We made it to the
end of the line where a huge canopy was set up where people were
dancing to the music of a small band with piano, drums and bass.
White, twinkling lights were strung crisscrossed across the inside
roof and it was very romantic. Zeke took my cup and set it on a
nearby table, putting his down too, then took my hand pulling me
under the canopy to join the other couples that were dancing.
Holding my left hand in his right, he pressed both against his
chest then wrapped his left arm around my waist as I laced my right
arm up over his shoulder, my hand at the back of his neck.

After dancing
to a couple songs that were old-timey, Nat King Cole’s “When I Fall
in Love” and what I think was a Carpenter’s song, Zeke looked down
at me.

“You’re sure
light on my feet,” he said, one side of his mouth tipped up.

I snorted.
Ladylike, I know. “You’re a goofball.”

“You’re
stunning.” He leaned down to give me a hot kiss, nothing obscene
since we were in public, of course, but it was hot nonetheless.
“Ready to go?” he asked.

I nodded and
he kept my hand, pulling me through the small crowd and off the
dance floor.

“That was
really cool,” I said as we walked to his truck. “How’d you find
this?”

He shrugged a
shoulder. “My Grandma Sophie used to take us boys here when we were
little. She was into knitting, crocheting, sewing, stuff like that
and loved to come up here and look at what other people were doing.
I remember one Christmas she saw a sweater with really colorful
snowflakes on it and thought we needed one too. Mom still has the
photo of the four of us looking like fucking fruit loops.”

“Wait. There
are four of you?”

“Yeah, you
haven’t met Loch yet. He’s a freshman. Still lives at home but
hangs out at the house a lot with Gable, Ryke and me.”

Good God.
Another Powers brother? The Hallervan College women didn’t stand a
chance.

“And you’re
only a year apart?” I looked up at him in shock.

“Yep.”

“That’s at
least two kids in diapers a year for at least four years!”

He laughed.
“Mom runs a daycare now and is still changing poopy diapers.”

“Holy crap,” I
whispered.

He put his arm
around me and squeezed me closer to him then put his face to the
side of my head. “Cute.”

I wrapped my
arm around his waist and still couldn’t believe that I was dating
him. I’d known him for almost two months and had held strong to my
convictions, but somehow along the way he’d made his way into my
heart.

Funny thing
is, I absolutely didn’t mind one bit.

~*~*~*~

On my knees on
Zeke’s bed, my hands against the wall, he was behind driving up
inside me hard.

“Oh, my God,”
I breathed.

One of his
hands was at my breast where he rolled my nipple between his thumb
and finger before moving to the other, his other hand between my
legs making me so hot, I was about to go to pieces.

We’d gone
directly to his house when we got back to Seattle and he’d assured
me that Ryker had gone to a wrestling tournament and that Gable was
staying at his girlfriend’s.

I was a bit
afraid to be in a house where three men lived thinking it’d be
messy if not smelly, but it was surprisingly clean and actually
smelled great. I’d looked around to see pictures of him and his
brothers on the walls along with some Seattle skyline ones and the
furnishing looked fairly new.

“Shocked?”
he’d asked when we got inside.

“Well, yeah,
to tell the truth,” I said with a chuckle.

“Mom. She
comes over every weekend.”

I frowned
looking up at him. “And cleans?”

He barked out
a laugh. “Hell no. She puts our asses to work. She’s just the
supervisor. If the job’s not to her specifications, we do it again
until she’s happy. And, believe me, Suzanne Powers is not an easy
woman to please.”

This made me
smile. He had a good mom. Then it made me a little sad thinking
about the lack of a mom in my own life.

“You want
something to drink?” he asked, pulling me by the hand into the
kitchen.

“What do you
have?” I replied with a grin.

He left me
standing at the bar and went to the fridge opening it. “Orange
juice, Gatorade, water, fuckin’ nasty prune juice that Ryke uses to
make weight sometimes and milk.” He turned and gave me his half
grin letting me know he was messing with me. “Beer, wine coolers
that must be Scout’s, and all kinds of shit to make you a mixed
drink.”

“Beer is
fine,” I said as I stared at the girly calendar that was being held
to the refrigerator by a magnet. Some chick in a blinding yellow
bikini was stretched out over an older model black car.

He pulled out
two bottles, popping the tops then walked over handing mine to
me.

“You lived
here the whole four years?” I inquired then took a drink.

“Last two. Had
to stay in the dorm freshman year then Gable did the next. After
that, the previous tenants moved out, so Mom and Dad let us move
in. They lost some good rent money but they own four other
properties, so they make do.”

I nodded as I
continued looking around the kitchen as I leaned a hip against the
bar. I loved the robin’s egg blue walls and the light oak cabinets.
Then my eyes lit on the appliances. Convection oven.

“I’m way
jealous of your oven,” I told him before I took a drink.

“Believe me,
there’s no need to be. We only went out once. What’s in my wallet
just wasn’t in her range.”

I looked at
him and blinked. I may even have blinked again. “Did you… did you
just make an oven joke?”

He chuckled.
“Guess so.”

I smiled at
him. “Stop. You’re kiln me.”

He looked at
me as a grin slowly formed on his beautiful face. “Woman after my
own fucking heart,” he muttered then his mouth was on mine and it
was heaven. His hands were on either side of me on the bar keeping
me there but I definitely wasn’t going anywhere. He pulled back and
looked down at me, narrowing his eyes. His hand came up and held my
chin as he ran his thumb over my bottom lip and as he watched it,
he mumbled, “Gorgeous… sweet… cute… funny… intelligent.” His eyes
moved up to mine, the gold flecks glowing as he looked at me.
“Fuckin’ hit the jackpot with you.”

I frowned now.
I was no prize and I told him this. “I’ve had three guys cheat on
me, Zeke. I’m no prize. I—I don’t think I’m, uh, very good.”

He took a step
back and I knew this wasn’t a good thing, his eyes now dark as he
stared down at me. “You fuckin’ kidding me right now?” he bit out,
his voice low and dangerous.

“What?” I was
not ready for that reaction.

Then I jumped
a foot in the air when he yelled, “You fuckin’ kidding,
Scarlett?”

And now I was
kind of scared. I didn’t really know him, I mean, not really, and
here I was at his house all alone in a part of Seattle that I
wasn’t familiar with. Shit.

He slammed his
beer bottle down on the bar making me jump again, his eyes staring
daggers at me. Then he started pacing. What in the world?

“You’re
scaring me, Zeke,” I whispered, my eyes moving around as I tried to
find the quickest escape route.

He stopped
moving and turned back to me, his face going softer when I guess he
saw that I was a little terrified right now. “Babe.” He took a step
toward me but stopped when he saw me flinch then his hands went to
his hips. “Fuckin’ kill ‘em,” I heard him mutter as he shook his
head. Then his eyes landed on mine and I saw his jaws jumping. “Had
fuckin’ everything right there and threw it away.”

I was so
confused. What had I thrown away?

“Telling you
right now, Scarlett, I’m pissed.”

Well, no shit.
I set my beer down and pushed away from the bar. “Maybe you should
take me home now,” I said quietly not wanting to upset him more
than he already was.

“Babe, look at
me.”

I bit my lips
but moved my eyes to his and now I was just a little pissed off. “I
want to go home, Zeke.”