Taming Val Read online

  Even if he’d spent most of their lives avoiding her, he still knew that move. That nail between her teeth. It was a move she made when she hated what was happening so much, that she had to put a finger in her mouth to keep from saying something she was sure she’d regret later. It was also something she did when she was hurt. That was all he would ever know how to do with Zoey, hurt her, because there was no other choice.

  No other choice that he could trust himself with. Opening up to her had been a mistake. He’d proven that last night. He didn’t know how to just dip his toe in with Zoey, without eventually diving in completely, and if he dove in completely he would be constantly struggling to keep his head above water. Even if she was willing to jump in and save him, he knew he would just take her down with him. Down into a darkness that was deep and limitless in ways she couldn’t even imagine.

  He watched the nail between her teeth, riveted. “We’ll take the pregnancy test together in a week. If last night didn’t work, maybe we should consider going the medical route from here on out…” He immediately refuted his words. “Or even cutting our losses completely. I really couldn’t live with myself allowing you to get poked and prodded for me. Maybe I’m just not meant to be a father, Zo.”

  She saw the pain stinging his eyes, tingeing them red, and was thankful when she was somehow able to fight back tears of her own. “We don’t have to stop, but if that’s how you really feel…”

  His eyes searched hers. “Don’t take the test without me.”

  She sputtered softly, taken aback. “I won’t.”

  His eyes fell to her mouth, and for a moment, he was somewhere else. Just as soon as he was gone, however, he was back, pulling the door open while leveling her with the rawness in his eyes. “Have a good day, Zo.”

  “You too,” she whispered, frowning deeply as he closed the door behind him.

  ***

  The next afternoon at work, Val stared blankly at the screen on his computer. He’d turned it on and opened this spreadsheet for a reason, but he’d be damned if he could remember what it was.

  Problems arose throughout the day, as they often did, and he’d done his best to focus long enough to solve them. He was barely succeeding.

  There was simply no space in his mind. Not for Novsky. Not for anything.

  Anything but her.

  It had only been a day since he’d seen Zoey. How was it possible that his dick still went rock hard at the mere thought of her? Sleeping with a woman once was usually enough. He’d nut and be over it, onto the next conquest. Not with Zoey.

  He wanted more.

  He couldn’t stop his mind from exploring all of the positions they hadn’t had a chance to try, the parts of her body his tongue still soaked to taste, how addicted he was to the parts he already had, how much he already missed the feeling of that tight pussy, tugging him in. It consumed him. His dick swelled to twice its size, starved for the distant promise of Zoey’s wet warmth, a promise that would have to go unfulfilled.

  He needed more, but he couldn’t have it.

  He couldn’t have her.

  It wasn’t possible.

  His father would murder him. Then his brothers would dig up his carcass, detach his limbs, and scatter them across the country. His mother would never forgive him. She’d see nothing but some sex starved maniac every time she looked at him.

  Zoey was the first woman he’d ever woken up looking for, clawing at the sheets in search of her warm, supple body. She was the first woman he’d ever spent the night with without experiencing a single urge to flee. Holding her in his arms had not only felt right, it had relaxed him, lulled him, and left him damn near comatose in the kind of good nights sleep he hadn’t even realized he’d been missing. No woman had ever done that for him, and he couldn’t deny it meant something.

  His eyes fell shut.

  No.

  He was trying to justify it. Justify the need to have more of her in any way he could, but there was no justification. He could never have her.

  A truth shot through him that made him suck in a sharp breath.

  He never should’ve agreed to this arrangement to begin with. He could already sense the million and one ways it could spiral out of control. It was already spiraling, he could feel it inside of him, picking up his stomach, his heart, and all of his senses as it blasted through him like a tornado.

  He was spiraling… completely out of control, had been from the moment he’d climbed between her legs. He’d come inside her once, given her everything he had, and that should’ve been his cue to leave. But it hadn’t been enough. Even with his cock still inside, it hadn’t been enough. He’d needed more. He’d needed to feel more of that sweet tug, to see more of the darkness in her eyes with each stroke. He’d needed to taste her pussy. He couldn’t remember ever needing anything more. So he’d done it, he’d taken it.

  And she’d let him.

  His dick pushed hard against his slacks, and he pushed it away like the nuisance it was.

  No.

  He struggled to focus on the files on his desk, but couldn’t get passed the fact that he didn’t even know what her tits looked like.

  He could have killed himself for leaving that t-shirt on her body. It would’ve taken two seconds to rip it off her. Two seconds to give himself a more complete picture to keep stored in the back of his mind. One that he could revisit, again and again, as he worked himself to completion in bed at night, thinking of her.

  He’d been so gone that night, so outside himself, it hadn’t even occurred to him to undress her completely. He usually had to see a woman entirely naked to get excited enough to show her a good time. Not with Zoey. From the moment she’d stepped out of her panties, for him, he’d been completely gone. Blind. He’d already been dripping, soaking through his boxers, before he’d even touched her. Once he actually had his dick inside, it was all but impossible to stop long enough to remove the rest of her clothes. He’d been too preoccupied, too desperate to be connected with her, too enraptured by the need to spill everything he had in her sweet channel.

  His phone buzzed.

  Gary: What’s the name of the doctor you were at last week?

  Val cringed at the screen.

  Val: Why?

  Gary: Just tell me

  Val: No

  Gary: Why are you being an asshole about it? Just give me the name

  Val: Are we seriously having this conversation?

  Gary: It’s a simple question. I think it’s pretty weird how secretive you’re being about it

  Val: You know what’s weird? That you and Rome haven’t found time in your day to be here, at work, yet you’ve somehow got time to text me with cryptic questions that are none of your fucking business

  Val threw down his phone after sending that text. It was longer than he’d intended it to be. Gary always had a gift of dragging Val into maddening arguments. Val groaned when his phone immediately buzzed with Gary’s response. They’d both sent their texts at the same time, so Gary’s response was out of context, but still irritated Val to no end.

  Gary: In fact, I think it’s pretty weird how you’ve been acting lately in general

  Val dropped the phone on his desk, deciding to move on with his work before Gary pissed him the fuck off and dragged him into a debate that he didn’t want to be in. At the moment, Zoey was the only member of the family who knew about his fertility problems, and he planned to keep it that way.

  Gary finally got bored after five minutes, and Val’s phone stopped vibrating against his desk, thankfully.

  Fifteen minutes later, it vibrated, again.

  He snatched it up while mumbling, “For fucks sake Gary.”

  He was ready to type It’s none of your damn business, so kindly fuck off, but his mouth dropped before he could. His fingers froze over the message on his screen.

  Zoey: Hey, you left your beanie here

  His heart had come to life in his chest with such violence that he wondered if it had even be
en beating, at all, prior to getting that text from Zoey. His fingers flew across the screen, but he deleted what he typed almost instantly.

  Zoey: I was reading an article that made me think of you

  Now he was sure his heart had fallen clear out of his chest, leaving it empty, and him dying, while it went in search of the one person it really belonged to.

  Val: Where are you?

  He didn’t give her a chance to respond.

  Val: Are you home?

  Zoey: Yes

  Val: Stay there. 10 minutes.

  ***

  Seven minutes later, Zoey was opening the door to her apartment, finding Val standing in a suit and tie, looking so smart and dapper that it took her breath away.

  “Man,” she said, trying to joke passed her pounding heart. “When you say ten minutes you’re not kidding.” She held up an issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine. “This article is more important, but eventually we’re going to sit down and have a long talk about how the hell you got here from Tribeca in seven minutes.”

  Val was already making his way into her apartment, causing her to step backwards as she spoke. He pushed the door closed behind him and followed her into the living room, his eyes immediately falling to the ass of her jeans as she moved. Her feet were bare, and the sheer blue crop top she wore swung easily, giving him the tiniest hint of her brown skin with each step she took.

  He needed her now. He hadn’t even known he was pulling his tie apart until he was dropping it in a heap on her floor.

  He followed her into the living room, where she bent down over her coffee table to make room, sending the most disgusting thoughts flashing through his mind as she pushed her ass into the air. He took a seat on the couch opposite her, enjoying the view.

  “This is the article I was talking about,” she said, plopping down on the table while flipping through the magazine. “It’s about couples who are having fertility problems, and I know we aren’t a couple, but… It says that couples trying to get pregnant shouldn’t just try during ovulation. It says they need to be having sex multiple times a week, period, if not everyday. We’ve only done it once.” She thought on that. “Well, twice.”

  Val smiled at her, realizing he was blushing. “I know that.”

  Zoey jumped up from the table and began pacing the room, still flipping through the magazine. “After reading this article I think we should really keep trying. You shouldn’t have to feel bad about last night, Val, because that’s what this whole process is. It’s the very human, very natural process of conception. It’s your most basic truth as a man, remember? That’s what you told me.”

  “I remember…” He wasn’t fighting her. His tie was on the floor. He’d already unbuttoned half of his shirt. As he watched her, smiling, he wondered how long it would be before she realized any of that.

  “We shouldn’t hold back from the intimacy that comes natural, because those are things that make the act of sex more enjoyable. And according to my handy dandy Cosmo here.” She waved the magazine around proudly. “Enjoying yourself when you’re trying to conceive is paramount. It says that your chances can be sliced to almost half if it becomes something that feels like a chore. One needs to be in a positive mind space mentally, and you can’t do that when you’re having by the numbers sex. So, no, we shouldn’t be sorry about last night. We were doing everything right last night!”

  Val rose from his seat, and didn’t miss the slight jump her body gave at the sudden movement. He held still for a moment, then began making his way slowly towards her.

  “And what scientific evidence does Cosmo have… to support those claims?”

  “Um,” Zoey had finally realized that Val’s shirt was almost completely undone. For a moment, she was transfixed. Shaking herself back to reality, she began flipping through the pages, turned the magazine upside down, inside out, and flipped through all the pages again. “Well…”

  When he was within reaching distance, Val seized the magazine and flung it across the room. He took both her ass cheeks hard and fast, pulling her body to his.

  “I can’t get anything done at work, thinking about you.” He felt her chest heaving in time with his. “You didn’t have to bring Cosmo into this. I knew I was coming back… I knew it the morning I left.” It was true. He’d always known he would be back, even if every bone in his body had been telling him how wrong it was.

  “So then…” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “You didn’t you mean what you said?” she asked softly. “About stopping?”

  “I did mean it,” he whispered against her lips. “But I don’t anymore. Take off your panties.”

  She brought her arms from around his neck, backing slowly away from him as she tucked her fingers into the waistband of her jeans, pushing them, and her panties, down just far enough to give him a peek at the neatly trimmed patch of pubic hair she liked to keep on top. His eyes became riveted to that patch like it was the only thing that would ever exist to him. Not even when he was watching his favorite sports team had she ever seen the kind of mesmerized concentration in Val’s eyes that was there right then. It made her wet instantly, and she pushed her jeans and panties down a little more, then pulled them back up.

  “No,” she said.

  His eyes shot up to hers, golden orbs shining the darkest bronze. “No?” he croaked.

  She continued backing up, towards her bedroom. “No.” She screamed as he charged after her, giggling at the top of her lungs as she circled her couch and raced for the kitchen. He was faster, bigger, stronger, and seeing him bound after her sent her spirit racing in all the best ways. She felt like a kid again but, at the same time, a woman who could be so easily taken. He could do whatever the hell he wanted to her, take whatever he wanted, if he chose to.

  And she wanted him to.

  His arms came around her waist just as she was passing the island in her kitchen, immediately pushing her up against the black granite counter and yanking her jeans down past her ass. He embedded the hard bulge in his slacks into the soft globes and grinded softly.

  Pressing his chest against her back, he groaned against her ear, sucking it gently into his mouth, moaning from deep inside. Through her thin panties, her ass cheeks spread for him easily, and took him in. Even with his pants still working as a barrier, it felt like heaven. He swelled to twice his size from where he was embedded in the sweet slit, and cursed when she began grinding her ass against him in return, purring softly with her own blind need.

  Taking both of her wrists in one hand, he pressed them as far above her head on the counter as they would go, while undoing his belt and zipper with the other. He released his dick from his slacks with his free hand, and ripped her panties down just low enough to allow himself entry before guiding his hardness inside. He cried out as he realized the sweet heat of her pussy, again.

  “God yes, Zo. Yes.” He began an immediate, demanding pound, already pining for more, already wondering when she’d allow him to fuck her next. He hadn’t even come yet, and he already needed more.

  He needed so much more.

  She moaned against her counter as he pushed, and the sound of her sweet purrs was such a turn on he was sure he felt the pre-cum as it dripped off the tip of his dick inside her. Maybe that was it, he thought.

  Maybe that was their baby.

  The feeling that washed over him caught him off guard, and he pressed his chest to her back so he could feel her heartbeat when he came.

  He felt it.

  And everything else, too.

  Eight

  “This is it.” Roman put his car in park in front of a sprawling office building in Hoboken.

  “You’re sure this is the one?” Gary asked. “This is the office where you picked Val up?”

  “Yes.” Roman nodded. “I remember, because I almost crashed the car when I got distracted by the nice lady in the sex shop window across the street.”

  Gary followed Roman’s finger, and quickly found himself spellbound by the blown-
up photo of the “nice lady” hanging in the window. His breathing hitched. The whip in her hand, coupled with the you’ve been a very bad boy expression on her face, only served to turn him on more than the black panties and garter belt that hugged her milky thighs like a dream.

  “See what I mean?” Roman raised an eyebrow when Gary looked back to him. “Why are we here again?” Roman inquired.

  Gary nodded towards the doctor’s office. “Val’s been acting weird since he came back from that doctor’s appointment, and it hasn’t just been him. Zoey’s been acting weird as fuck, too. I’m gonna find out what the hell is going on.”

  Roman reached out a hand to stop Gary when he opened the passenger door. “Maybe it’s none of your damn business, Gar. Did that ever cross your mind?”

  Gary’s eyes searched Roman’s, and he looked contemplative before answering. “No.”

  Roman sighed as Gary hopped out of the car, having no choice but to follow him up to the doors of the doctor’s office.

  “Dr. Erin Matthews Fertility Center,” Roman read, blankly, as they made their way up to the doors.

  “Place Your Family in Our Trusted Hands?” Gary finished reading the blurb on the door, before looking at Roman in dismay. “You sure this is the building?”

  They’d both come to a complete stop.

  “Yeah, this is it. This is where I picked him up.”

  “Did you know Val was seeing a fertility specialist?”

  Roman shrugged. “Nah, man. I just picked him up.” Roman wondered if he was speaking English. How many times was Gary going to make him repeat himself? “They had to put him to sleep or something, so he couldn’t drive on his own. I wasn’t paying attention to the signs.” Against his better judgment, Roman was now finding himself curious as to why Val would be here, too.

  It suddenly occurred to Gary why Val would ask Roman to pick him up here, and not anyone else. It was because Val knew that Roman wasn’t nosey, wouldn’t ask invasive questions, and would keep his mouth shut.