Page 101 of 10 Things I Hate About Zombies

He kissed the tiny tattoo he’d given her, then traced the line of her body with his mouth, low and lower until she squirmed under the touch of his lips, his tongue.

‘That tickles,’ she whispered, knotting her fingers in his hair and pushing him into the warmth of her. ‘But don’t stop.’

Nick had no intention of it. He had Zoey back, and he wanted to reclaim every part of her. Hands pressed to her thighs, he worshipped her until she shivered and trembled beneath him, gasping for air.

‘Holy shit, I’m seeing stars,’ she whispered, as her convulsions slowed and her grip on his hair loosened.

‘Only stars?’ Nick grinned as he moved his way back up until they were face to sweaty face. ‘Let’s strive for the whole galaxy.’

And they did, losing themselves in each other until their vision sparkled from breathlessness and they collapsed together, trembling in the afterglow of release.

‘Wow, that second one was beyond seeing stars,’ said Zoey, when she’d recovered enough to string together a sentence. ‘It was a comet bringing an extinction-level event with it. Sorry, dinosaurs, but it was utterly worth it.’

Nick nodded, because that was all he could manage at the present moment. His heart was off and running both physically and emotionally, and he was on a high that even in Portland was probably considered illicit.

‘Shall we … ?’ said Zoey at last, gesturing at the half-dug toadstool patch.

Alice’s tail thumped. The poor girl had kept a polite distance at least. Cattle dogs didn’t kiss and tell.

‘Oh, that’s right,’ said Nick. ‘We were meant to be digging up toadstools.’

‘We have time,’ said Zoey. ‘Zombies move slowly. Well, except in 28 Days Later. And …’ She trailed off, her eyes sparkling mischievously as she prepared a teasing comment.

‘Don’t you dare compare me with Cillian Murphy,’ warned Nick.

‘No one compares with Cillian Murphy.’ Zoey leaned back, her hazel eyes practically devouring him. ‘Damn, I love your body.’

Nick tried not to preen. All those days of hauling rocks around and sweating over the Assault Bike had paid off.

‘And here I just thought you wanted me for my brains.’

‘Honestly, even before the whole zombie thing, I was definitely thinking about eating your brains. I bet they’d taste amazing.’

Grinning, Nick rapped his knuckles gently against the top of her head. ‘Right back at you, nerd.’

Zoey’s eyes were bright. ‘I love it when you call me a nerd. Come here, you.’

She pulled him towards her, and Nick happily acquiesced. He’d roll around in the dirt with her any time the urge struck her.

But then.

‘Hang on,’ said Zoey, frowning. Her elbow had made a thudding noise, as though it had hit wood. ‘There’s something solid here. Some old wood or something.’

Rolling over, she grabbed her trowel and started scraping away at the clumps of toadstools and the moss and lichen that clung to the dirt. Slaters and centipedes went trundling off, and a family of tiny snakes beneath a rock slithered away to safety.

At least they’d put down a tarp, he thought grimly.

But as Zoey scraped and hacked, her trowel slowly pushing aside the dirt and debris to reveal what she’d bumped against, Nick realised that they weren’t just dealing with any wood. It was a very specific kind of burnished, polished wood with gold hinges.

‘Oh, fuck,’ he said.

Well, at least he knew what had been getting in through the fence. Or out through it.

Now he understood what Darina had been trying to tell him before her unfortunate zombie turn. And why Alice had shown up with herringbone fabric stuck in her collar that time. There was a graveyard on the property.

And they’d just …

‘Sorry, guys,’ he said, apologetically, to whichever posthumous folks had just witnessed their unabashed lovemaking. All this acreage and you’d think you’d be safe from watchful eyes. But no, nowhere was private. Although the corpses were probably feeling rather the same way. But, who knew, maybe they’d enjoyed the entertainment after however long they’d been down there.