Zane (Alluring Indulgence) (11 page)

He
had spent more time with V in the months leading up to the assault than
probably all of the women from his past combined. He knew she tried to play off
their interactions as only sexual in nature, but Zane knew better. They might
not know everything about one another, but he certainly knew more about her
than she was willing to admit.

V
wasn’t much on asking questions about him personally, but he knew her well
enough to know she tried to keep her own life as quiet as possible, and as a
result, she didn’t seem interested in getting to know others. Probably because
she was scared they would learn more about her than she was comfortable
sharing.

Zane
wouldn’t go as far as to say he knew V as much as he wanted to because she had
an uncanny ability to keep herself guarded. There were a few times in the months
leading up to his attack that she had almost opened up. And there were things
he knew about her just because they both lived in the same small town all of
their lives. Like the fact that she was an only child, her mother being one of
the most infamous people ever to come out of Coyote Ridge thanks to her
promiscuous lifestyle. Even to this day, V didn’t know who her father was, and
according to the rumors, Zane wasn’t sure her mother even knew. Not that he
believed the varied bullshit that was thrown out like old garbage on an ongoing
basis. In fact, Zane preferred not to listen to it at all.

That’s
how Jake Sanders had found himself up against the wall with Zane’s hands
wrapped around his thick neck. The man thought he could start talking shit, and
he just happened to pick the wrong woman to start running his mouth about. Zane
had learned real fast just how much he was willing to tolerate from smart
mouthed bastards like Jake. Especially when it came to V.

Thanks
to his quick temper, Zane also learned that V wasn’t fond of having someone stand
up for her. She had been downright livid once she finally got over the hurt
that Jake’s words inflicted. Not that Zane cared about that one way or the
other. He didn’t regret it, and he’d do it again in a heartbeat. As far as he
was concerned, a man stood up for those he cared about. That’s what his parents
had taught him, and he’d never questioned their logic. Since he cared about V,
even if she didn’t want him to, Zane was going to make sure no one spoke to her
that way. And if they did, they’d be damned smart not to let him find out about
it.

“Zane?”
A dainty, feminine voice interrupted Zane’s thoughts, along with V and Zoey’s conversation
apparently. When he finally looked up at the woman standing beside the table, he
could feel V staring from her place beside him.

Zane
nodded his head in acknowledgement, recognizing the woman standing just a few
inches from where he sat.

“I
heard you were out of the hospital,” Tamara Stalth smiled affectionately, her
baby blue eyes darting from the other three at the table and then back to Zane.

“I
am,” he answered, not sure what he was supposed to say.

Zane
knew Tamara. He’d had sex with her once.

Literally,
one time.

From
that day forward, the woman had stalked him to the point he thought he was
going to have to move to another country and change his name. It was a mistake,
and he knew he was solely responsible for his own actions, but... Well, there
were no buts. It was entirely his fault.

“I
talked to your mom when I went to visit you in the hospital. She was so sweet.”

Oh,
hell
.
Just what Zane needed, Lorrie Walker talking to Zane’s ex-flings. Still staring
up at her, he had absolutely no idea what to say. He couldn’t very well thank
her for coming to visit him. If he did, he knew she’d take it as an invitation,
and she’d probably show up at his damn house later.

When
he felt V’s hand on his thigh, Zane didn’t react. At first, she was just
touching his leg, but when she squeezed in a possessive gesture, he turned his
attention to her. He expected to see anger in her pretty brown eyes, not heat.
She didn’t seem to be jealous, but her touch was meant to be a warning and he
found he liked her reaction.

Letting
his arm drop onto her shoulders, he pulled her close, never taking his eyes off
of her. “Did you need something, baby?”

His
words were loud enough for everyone at the table, including Tamara to hear, but
he honestly wasn’t speaking to anyone but V. At the moment, she was the only
damn person that mattered.

She
flashed a smile, then tore her gaze from his, looking back up at the woman
still standing by the table. Waiting.

“I’m
sure Zane’s mother will fill him in on all of the visitors he had while he was
there. She probably hasn’t had time yet,” V told the woman nicely.

Zane
wanted to crush his lips to V’s sassy little mouth and kiss her with the
fierce, agonizing longing that he’d been living with for the last three months.

What
he did was turn to face Tamara and smile.

She
smiled back as though he was only there for her. Weird.

“Thanks
for checking up on me.”

“If
you need anything, anything at all, you’ve got my number. Just call me.
Anytime.”

V
pinched the inside of Zane’s thigh, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from
growling.
Fuck that hurt
.

“Thanks,”
Zane replied through clenched teeth.

♀♂

Watching
as the lovely young girl walked away, V felt every single one of her thirty
years. The girl couldn’t have been older than twenty one, maybe twenty two. She
clearly had an interest in Zane, and from the way she looked at him, she was
hoping for a white picket fence sometime in the near future. If V knew anything
about Zane, it was that he would not be giving anyone a white picket fence. At
least not in the near future.

Considering
he was only twenty four years old, V also knew he had years to think about it.
Hell, she was thirty, and she felt as though she still had a few good years in
her before she worried about settling down and having... Ok, she wasn’t going
there.

Just
like his brothers, Zane liked his women willing and often, although he wasn’t
quite the player the others seemed to be. He steered clear of clingy women and
more often than not had one night stands over brief affairs. Those were things
V knew from having lived in the small town with him.

Up
until recently, V didn’t have much interest in the goings on at the Walker
household, but for some reason, after that one party she attended with Zoey,
she’d developed some strange infatuation with Zane Walker. Hell, she couldn’t
explain it. No matter how hard she tried, so she’d given up.

V
remembered the day she and Zane had actually said more than a standard “hello”
or “goodbye” to one another. She’d run into him at a party that Zoey had
dragged her to.

“Why
are you standing in the corner all by yourself?” A dark, seductive voice caught
V’s attention, and she turned to see none other than Zane Walker standing much
too close.

“Why
are you worried about where I’m standing? Do you own this piece of real
estate?” V couldn’t help the snide remark because suddenly she felt a little
off kilter. Ok, a lot off kilter.

The
Walker men were sinfully attractive, that wasn’t a secret. From their dark hair
to those wicked blue-gray eyes to the hard bodies they honed with hard work.
Every inch of them screamed prime, alpha male. Considering the party was hosted
by Jaxson Briggs, a cousin of the Walkers, V had seen more than her fair share
of them tonight alone.

On
any normal day, she tried to ensure she never got this close to one of them.
Yet here she was standing less than a foot away from the youngest of the seven sinful
brothers, and she couldn’t come up with anything better than a snide remark.

“Maybe
I do,” he replied, his head cocked to the side just slightly and an adorable,
crooked grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“I
didn’t realize you were friends with my cousin, Jaxson,” he said a moment later
when it was clear she was trying to ignore him.

“I’m
not.”

“Then
what brings you here?” He took a step closer, successfully invading what was
left of her personal space. V took a step back, finding herself much closer to
the wall than she expected.

“I’m
here with Zoey,” she said smartly, keeping her eyes trained on his.

“Well,
it must be my lucky night then.”

“That’s
a horrible pickup line,” she retorted, laughing.

“Who
said I was trying to pick you up?” Zane asked, sounding much too serious.

“No
one. I –” V had no idea what to say to him at that point.

Zoey’s
voice broke through V’s wayward daydream, bringing her back to the present and
the three people who were staring at her. “What?”

“What
were you thinking about?” When V realized Zoey was talking to her, she caught
her friend grinning sheepishly.

“Nothing,”
she said, grabbing her beer and making a giant production out of finishing the
rest of it off.
Yuck!
She hated warm beer.

“Nothing,
huh?” Zane’s big, warm arm held her much too close for comfort.

V
had never been into public displays of affection, but for the last hour, she’d
been sitting beside Zane, his rough, callused fingers touching her in some
manner and she’d managed not to shrug him off. Mainly because she was enjoying
it, although, it still made her a tad uncomfortable. She only could imagine
what other people thought when they saw the two of them together.

“Well,
I think we really need to get going. I’ve got to get up early and meet the
contractors at the house before I come pick you up,” Zoey stated as she pushed
her drink away.

“I
really should be going, also,” V proclaimed when Kaleb maneuvered out of the booth
and back on his feet.

“Stay,”
Zane’s voice was low, but V knew the others could hear him.

“I
can’t,” she lied, grabbing her purse from the spot beside her.

“Then
I’ll take you home,” Zane insisted, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to argue
with him. Considering she and Zoey had ridden together, she didn’t have much of
a choice. From the look in Zoey’s eyes, she had much bigger plans for Kaleb
anyway.

“Thank
you,” she replied, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

When
Zane pulled up in front of her house a short while later, V knew she wouldn’t
have the luxury of sitting in his Jeep and trying to figure out just how she
was going to force her legs to move up those steps and through the front door.

What
if Jake was hiding in the shadows?

She
absolutely had no intention of letting him know just how panicked she was, so
as soon as he pulled the emergency brake, she grabbed her purse and reached for
the door handle. She was out in the crisp night air with her feet planted
firmly on the ground before she could think about what she was doing, but not
before Zane was rounding the front of his Jeep moving briskly to her side.

“I
don’t need you to walk me to the door,” V stated, her nerves erupting as she
instinctively began looking around, waiting for something dreadful to happen.
“Please, just go.”

The
sound of metal crushing bone echoed in her ears. Make it stop!

“I’m
walking you in,” he demanded, and she heard the insistence in his tone. When he
took her elbow, she forced her feet to move. They hadn’t taken five steps
before the shaking began and V knew she was on the cusp of freaking out. This
was becoming a frequent thing, and she didn’t want Zane to see her like this.

“Please,
just go,” she told him, ripping her arm out of his grasp and forcing her legs
to move faster.

God,
please don’t let them hurt Zane again. Please. Please.

Zane
didn’t seem to care what she was saying because he was right there beside her.
When she tried to push her key into the lock, she couldn’t get the damn thing
to line up because she was trembling like a leaf in a windstorm.

Need
to get inside! Must get inside. Please don’t let Jake be close.

Zane
stilled her hand with his, taking the key and dexterously inserting it into the
lock. Once he had the door open, he took her hand and led her inside before
shutting it behind them. V efficiently locked the door, but she didn’t move.
She
couldn’t
move.

“What’s
the matter, V?” Zane asked, his tone low and soothing.

The
images played like a horror movie that she couldn’t erase from my memory.
The
grunts and growls of grown men hitting one another, iron striking bone, Zane
falling to the ground, not moving. Oh God!

She
couldn’t get any words out, and she was immediately overwhelmed with a cold
chill that raced down her spine. Without meaning to, she dropped her purse on
the floor, her arms wrapping around her body while she tried to hold herself
together. She was shaking, her teeth chattering, her mind whirling with
memories she so desperately wanted to eradicate from her mind.