Chapter 4:
John sat on a ladder-backed chair in the living room of her newly restored apartment. She was sitting on his lap straddling his legs with her bare back to his bare chest. It was quiet inside the empty apartment, only their slow breathing was heard. There was clothing strewn across the floor from the kitchen to the living room.
Zoe rocked slowly and delicately as John kissed all across her shoulders, his hands cupping her breasts. She's had half of what was left of the scotch from Far Rockaway, and he's had the other half. His hands seemed huge in comparison to her. She watched as one of his hands wandered down to her belly and hip.
For leverage, she put her feet on the rungs of the chair as she tipped her head back and rested on his shoulders. She continued to rock and glide against him. It felt wonderful. She felt full, with John. This was what she wanted, John nipping and sucking on her neck as her heart pulsed at her throat. It had been a long six weeks. As they rocked and pushed their way to oblivion, they melted into one. He held her long after their breathing evened out, long after their need was sated, against him, cherished like gold.
Half asleep and still a tad drunk, she breathed her contentment against him as he carried her to the bedroom and tucked her under the blankets and sheets; it was so warm and comfortable that she began to doze.
Lying there, Zoe's mind started to wander to the man next to her. Lying behind her as she lay on her side, she felt his breath on her hair, his steady breathing indicated that he had fallen asleep. She was gently making lazy circles along his arm that was draped across her waist, as if lulling a baby to sleep.
John sacrificed many things so that he could protect people, help them, understand them and fix them. Zoe saw that hidden behind the terse, stoic, restrained demeanor beat a heart of gold, a softie with a marshmallow heart who bought lemonade from little girls. She knew because she was watching on Harold's video feed and saw his puckered face as he took that first sip.
He was a gentle soul who wanted nothing other than to atone for the sins of the past and to do what was right.
The man with a questionable past risked everything to protect the innocent. It wasn't just their lives he was saving either but their souls as well. It was evident when he told one of his charges that the past didn't matter and that the man that he was now was what mattered. Zoe knew because she had been listening in with Harold while waiting for John in the car that would take Graham Wyler home.
As her thoughts ran rampant, Zoe came to a realization of a sort. She had deep foreign feelings for this man, John. Whether it was love, she didn't know, and there were very few things Zoe Morgan would admit to not knowing. Certainly, she felt a healthy respect and admiration, but also a feeling of protectiveness though it went against her motto of "Looking out for number one."
Well, she thought raising a challenge to the powers that be. I don't run from fights either.
Never one to back down from a challenge, self imposed or not, she made a decision to take that risk. John IS a good man. She had no illusions of a grand love affair; she meant it when she said it. She wanted John, for however long it lasted, if it at all. The man John is now was worth the risk.
