"But?" I prompt, when he doesn't speak again for a long moment.
"She found me."
"Here?" My mouth drops open. No wonder he's still single, if this is what he thinks women are like. If this is what he's had to deal with in his life already.
He's nodding, a grimace on his face. "She works in tech, so stalking me, finding where I worked and lived, then trying to find whoever I was dating, it's her professional skillset. The first few dates I went on after we broke up, she pulled this exact stunt. Stole photos of the girls-some of them nudes, some of them just regular pictures that she edited and Photoshopped to look like the girls were naked. She posted them everywhere, harassed the women, started fake websites like she did with yours." Zayne groans and runs a hand through his hair. "I had to file a restraining order. We got everything set down legally. After that, I hadn't heard a thing from her. It's been over a year since she did this to anybody, and I've been on a few dates since then. I figured the danger had passed. She hasn't tried to ruin any other girls' lives in a year, so I didn't even think to warn you … "
I groan and press my fingers to my temples, massaging. "Shit, Zayne. I'm so sorry that you had to deal with that."
"No. I'm sorry." He catches my wrists. Draws my hands away from my forehead to fold them in his instead. "You shouldn't have to pay for my past mistakes. You shouldn't be suffering for my problems."
"You shouldn't either," I counter, my lower lip trembling. "I can't imagine what all of that was like … "
He laughs faintly, bitterly. "That wasn't even the tip of the iceberg. God, there was the time she set my car on fire … "
"She what?"
"The time she tried to poke holes in all the condoms, back when we were still together-"
"Fuck, Zayne."
"I'm sorry, Clove. I'm a mess. I'm messed up, after all of that. I should have told you, but it was so … " He shuts his eyes. I fight the urge to kiss him, to kiss away the pain that's written so obviously across his face. "Embarrassing, really. And just, an old wound I hate reopening. I didn't know how to explain, how to talk about it. And I don't know why she would do this now, why she would come back to try and hurt you."
I give in to the urge and press a faint kiss to the corner of his mouth. "It's okay. I mean, it's not okay that you didn't tell me the truth, but I understand why you hesitated."
He opens his eyes to meet mine. Runs a hand through my hair, smoothing it back from my forehead. "I should have trusted you."
"We don't know one another that well yet," I point out.
He shakes his head so hard his hair flops across his forehead, almost into his eyes too. "We do, Clove. I know it's crazy, I know we've only been talking like this for a few days, only seeing each other up close for that long, but it feels like I've known you forever already. It feels like this is right, this is where we're meant to wind up."
I can feel myself nodding, agreeing. "That's why it hurt when you didn't tell me about your ex. When I found out someone had leaked photos like this before around you … "
"I know. I get it, Clove, really. And I never meant to hurt you. I swear I won't again."
I can hear myself laughing. "All this from a stupid dating app."
He laughs, too. "You know, much as I'm glad it helped us find one another … " He smooths my hair back again, gazes into my eyes. "I'm deleting that app tonight. I don't need it anymore."
My breath catches in my throat. "Me too," I hear myself whispering.
His smile widens. But then it catches, snags, sags a little. "I just don't want to hurt you, to hurt your career, over this mistake."
"You were right too," I counter, shaking my head now. "We'll figure this out. Especially now that we know who's behind this."
"Clove, I don't know what to say … "
"Then don't," I suggest. Then his lips are on mine, and I don't need another apology. This is explanation enough. I collide with him, let my head fall to one side and my mouth part as his lips work against mine and his tongue slips between my lips to tangle with my own. He knows me already, after just three days. Knows how to kiss me, how to turn his head at the right moment to deepen that kiss, and how to wrap his arms around my waist and lift me against him so that I can forget everything else in the world except for the feeling of his arms around me.
When he sets me back on my feet, we're both smiling faintly, despite the knot of worry still buried deep in my stomach. Somehow, I still need to find a way to solve this. But that feels possible here, wrapped safely in Zayne's arms. With him by my side, we can manage anything.
He kisses my forehead lightly. "Can I take this as a sign that we're okay again?" he murmurs softly.
"As long as you promise you're not hiding any other dark skeletons in your closet from me," I reply.
He laughs. "My closet is open wide. You can have a look anytime you want."
"What if I'd rather steal a peek under your clothes instead?" I counter with a raised eyebrow.
His grin deepens. "Hmm. That could also be arranged. But first, I'm afraid there's something else I really need to do."
"Oh? And what might that be?"
Without responding, he steps back and catches the hem of my shirt. In one smooth motion, he pulls it up and over my head and drops it to the floor beside us. "I'm very hungry, Ms. Walker. I need to eat something. Preferably you."
I laugh, which turns into a shiver as he catches me in a tight grip and lifts me onto the kitchen counter. He spreads my legs and starts the slow process of peeling my jeans off. I lean back, my head grazing the flowers that sit in the vase beside me, perfuming the air. I breathe in the scent deeply, sigh it out again as he yanks my jeans off my legs and tosses them aside with my blouse.
He kisses his way back up the inside of my leg, from my ankle up to my knee, then past it, along my inner thigh.
"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, Clove," he murmurs as he works his way up my body. "Every minute of the day, all day."
I think about the shower, my fantasies. My inability to force him out of my head, even when I was mad at him, even when I thought he did this, or thought he was lying to me. He was, I guess, but I understand his reasons.
"I can't stop thinking about you either," I whisper.
"I get hard every time I remember how gorgeous your body is, how beautiful you look spread out before me like this … " He leans in to lick his tongue across my mound for emphasis, and I gasp, biting down on my lip.
"I have to touch myself whenever I think about what you did to me this weekend," I admit, my voice low, soft. "When I think about that hour when you commanded me … "
"Or when I think about the way you moaned so loud and desperately, with my cock inside your ass … " He stands, so I can see the hard bulge in his pants, the way he strains for me.
"Nobody has ever made me come the way you do, Zayne," I admit.
He smiles. "Nobody has ever made me want to fuck them for hours and hours the way you do … " He trails his finger up my slit, through the wet juices already gathering there, and then pops it straight into his mouth, licking my juices with a hungry glow in his eyes.
"I feel like I'm going crazy." I brace myself against his shoulders, both hands gripping him tight. "How can I feel like this for you so fast?"
"Because I was always there, Clove. Waiting for you to see me under the uniform. We haven't known each other long, but we've been standing right in each other's paths for years."
He's right. I may not have known him well, but Zayne has been in my life for a long, long time. No wonder it feels right, now that I'm realizing how much more in my life he needed to be. How deeply involved in my life he should have been from the start.
"Let me make you feel good, Clove. Let me take your mind off all of this … "
He kneels in front of me again, but it feels different this time, charged somehow. Like he's not just touching me, tasting me, but feeling me too. He wants to give me pleasure, doing it gives him pleasure, and knowing that only turns me on even more. This isn't just a hookup. It can't be. Not when it feels like this.
Zayne spreads my legs, hands wrapped around my ankles, and kisses his way along my inner thigh. I close my eyes and shiver, savoring the feeling of his rough stubble as it grazes against my sensitive skin, right at my hipbone. He takes his time, the way he always does. I love that about him, the way he's so careful with me, so precise. He makes sure that I'm aching, about to burst before he gives me what I want. I never knew denial could be so hot, or that making me wait could make me so much hungrier for him when he finally gives me what I need.