True Bliss (Bliss #2)(23)
Author: B.J. Harvey

I hear footsteps and turn around to see Mac standing beside me. “Zan, she’s tired tonight, and I’m emotional which means she’s emotional too, so just give her some time. Treat her with care. I get that you like her, and I know she likes you…well, the nightdancer version of you, which I hope is the real you.”

“It’s me, Mac. I haven’t pretended to be anybody else,” I say, trying to reassure her.

“That’s good. Well, my room is your room, second door on the left down the hall. Door at the end is Kate’s room. The bathroom between our rooms is shared, so just make sure you lock her bathroom door before you shower…or don’t. Whatever you’re into.” She grins at me, and I know her mind has gone into the gutter, normally my favorite place for it to go. “Oh, and we combine food, so again, help yourself and then just sort out with Kate if you need anything picked up for you.”

“Gorgeous, we’d better get going,” Daniel says, dragging the suitcase to the door.

“Okay. See you soon, Zan.” She steps forward and gives me a hug. Out of respect for Daniel, I anchor my arms to my side. “And good luck,” she whispers in my ear before giving me a chaste kiss on the cheek and pulling away.

“Enjoy cohabitation, bab – uh, Mac.” I smirk, and she sticks her tongue out at me before heading toward the door, putting her hand in Daniel’s as he leads her out of the apartment.

And now I’m alone, in Mac’s house for the next two weeks, and I don’t have a clue how to proceed with my Kate plan. Mac seems confident that things will all work out, but me, not so much.

KATE

After I go to my bed and leave Mac to her packing, I double check the lock on her bathroom door and have a piping hot shower to try and clear my head, wondering how on earth I’m going to handle seeing Zander in my house every day for the next however long it is going to take for his apartment to be repaired.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel for the guy, and tonight has proven that the attraction I have to him wasn’t just a drunken lust-filled haze. It was real, as real enough as I’ve ever felt, but like a bucket of cold water to my soul, his rejection still stings.

Once out of the shower and dressed in my most comfortable pajamas, I lie in bed for what seems like forever, wondering where I’ve gone wrong with my latest two dates, with my previous lovers-not that there had been that many-and now, with the God of Gorgeousness sleeping only a bathroom away from me, how on earth I’m going to find my Mr. Right when everything I’ve been comparing them to is close enough for me to touch?

I’m knocked out of my thoughts by Mac’s bathroom door shutting and the lock being turned on my adjacent door. Holy crap, he’s in my shower! I mean our shower. He’s going to be naked and soapy with hot water streaming down in lucky as hell rivulets, caressing every hard as rock plane on his body. Hell, just the thought of him naked and close to me has my girly bits tingling and demanding attention.

It’s been way too long, Kate.

You want to touch yourself; imagine it’s his hands instead of your own.

He’s so close.

“Oh, f**k it,” I whisper to myself, my words echoing around the room as I slip my hand down my body. One hand moves down under the waistband of my pajama bottoms, the other rubs over my tight aching ni**les as I squeeze gently, wondering whether Zander would use his hands first or else jump straight into using his mouth on me. As my fingers touch my body, I groan at how wet I feel. Just thinking of him has me drenched, and I haven’t even come yet.

As my ministrations speed up, I hear a groan, albeit a quiet one, from behind the door and my mind goes crazy at the thought that he might be touching himself too. It’s not all that surprising; I have two older brothers, so it’s not a huge secret that males in the shower take matters into their own hands, and often. But imagining Zander doing it so close to me makes me hotter than ever. I sink a finger inside of me and have to turn my head into my pillow to stifle the whimper that escapes as my thumb zeros in on my swollen clit.

A few more strokes and the addition of another finger to fill me further has me writhing against my hand as I hear another groan from the bathroom. What if he wants me to hear him? Maybe he wants me to know what he sounds like. What if he’s regretting that night as much as I am, but for different reasons? The thought that Zander may want me has me spiraling out of control and catapults me over the edge as I cry out and quickly bite my pillow as I ride out my orgasm, coming down from a spectacular high, the likes of which I’ve never experienced.

I hear the water shut off, and my cheeks flush with heat as I realize that if I could hear him, he definitely could have heard me. I wait until I hear the shower turn off and his bathroom door shut before jumping out of bed and cleaning myself up. When I’m finished, I bury myself under the covers and resume my errant thoughts until I can no longer keep my eyes open.

Well, if nothing else, at least my self-love sessions will be hotter.

Chapter 13: “I Can’t Stay Away”

ZANDER

It’s been ten days since I moved into Mac and Kate’s apartment.

Ten nights since I heard her.

There was no mistaking the moans and whimpers coming from her room that night, and it just made me harder than ever. She sounded beautiful, but I wanted it to be me causing those sounds.

I didn’t want to do that in Mac and Kate’s shower. Don’t get me wrong, I have no qualms about jerking off; I’m a man, we do it, it is no state secret, and knowing that she was just a few feet away touching herself would make even the most strong-willed man weak. And I didn’t try to hide my own sounds. If I could hear her, there wasn’t a shit show in hell I was going to pretend they weren’t affecting me. Because when it came down to it, my firebird touching herself so close to me made me want to break through that wall and help her out, or put the fire out in my own unique way. Whatever she needed.

It’s now Saturday which means a day off from the academy, and having worked three gigs last night, I have tonight off, so I’ve decided that it’s time to make some progress with Kate. Since I’ve moved in, it has been very cordial and friendly, but I can tell she’s avoiding me, and there has only been one message to nightdancer. It was a very quick explanation about how she was really busy, but that she hadn’t forgotten about me and that she’d have more time on the weekend to chat. That’s something, I suppose.

I’m not sure how that is going to work with us living together. I can’t imagine being in the same room as her and chatting to her on the laptop, but thankfully, it hasn’t become an issue…yet.

I need to start the day, so I get up and throw some clothes on before sleepily making my way out into the living area where I’m planning on enjoying the kick ass coffeemaker that Mac and Kate have.