Zane (Alluring Indulgence) (42 page)

When
he went to walk away, V grabbed his arm, and he stopped. He didn’t turn to look
at her. He couldn’t. To hear her tell him it was over would be too much.

“Can
we go back to your room when the party is over?” she asked, her hand still on
his arm. “To, you know, talk?”

Zane
did turn that time. “You want to talk?”

“Yes.
There are some things we need to talk about. But, if you’d rather we wait until
we get home, I understand that too.”

Zane
knew they’d be on a plane back to Austin first thing in the morning, but he
wasn’t sure he could wait that long to talk to her. He needed to though. It
wasn’t like he could displace Beau for the night anyway. Not that he couldn’t
share a room with someone else, but Zane didn’t want to.

“When
we get home.” Zane found himself saying. “I’ll come to your house when we get
back –” Zane held up his hand to stop her when she tried to interrupt. “This
isn’t up to you right now, V. When we get home tomorrow morning, I’m coming
over. We’ll talk then. But that’s it. We figure it out then, or we both walk
away. Understand?”

He
was tired of playing games. As much as he hated to think he could very well be
ending this relationship as he knew it, Zane wasn’t willing to continue moving
in circles. For the longest time, he’d thought they were moving forward, at
least inch by inch. These last few days had proven that he was wrong. They
weren’t getting any closer to solving these issues between them. It was time
they put the past behind them. Moving forward was his only option from here on
out.

♂♀

By
the time Zane was on his way to V’s, the day was more than half over. The
morning had been hectic, getting to the airport in Vegas, getting on the plane
and then finally pulling into his driveway had taken a little over five hours.
Truthfully, after the night before, he really just wanted to fall into bed for
a couple of hours. After he and V had opted to wait to talk, they’d returned to
the party and even though they didn’t talk much, they’d managed to liven things
up a little.

In
true twin fashion, they’d had three more strippers come join the party and no
one could ever call Zoey sweet and innocent anymore. She’d helped the strippers
tease both Kaleb and Gage, which if no one had known that the three of them
were doing the deed together, they sure did now. When Zoey kissed one of the
strippers, Zane thought the bar was going to erupt. His dick had sure enjoyed
the sight, but thankfully, he drowned his hormones with alcohol.

At
one point, Gage and Travis had been talking, and despite the aggressive way
they regarded each other, Zane could sense another kind of tension between
them. Strange. Very, very strange. He tried to blame it on the vodka, but now
he wasn’t so sure. Maybe he was just seeing things. After what happened between
him and Beau, it was quite possible his mind was playing tricks on him. Just because
he had experimented, didn’t mean everyone was.

Then
again, Zane hadn’t imagined what happened between Ethan and Blake. He’d been
innocently on his way to the bathroom to take a leak and lo and behold, right
there in the hallway, Blake was pressed up against Ethan, their mouths locked
together. Not even a crowbar would’ve pried those two apart. He pretended not
to see anything and went about his business.

What
the fuck? Shaking off the thoughts of his brothers with men, Zane focused on
driving to V’s. Just as a precaution, he’d called Travis and Beau beforehand.
Not that he expected anything to happen, but Zane wasn’t interested in getting
his ass handed to him again. He wasn’t feeling one hundred percent at the
moment as it was. Being precautious wasn’t a bad thing, he reminded himself.

He
managed to arrive at V’s without incident, making it through her front door
without a second thought. When he saw her, his mind blanked, and he could think
of nothing except stripping her down right there in the living room and burying
himself deep in her body. So deep, she would never be able to run from him
again.

“Hey,”
she greeted, slipping behind him and locking the front door. He knew she
thought she was being discrete, but it hadn’t worked.

“Hungry?”
she asked as she turned back to the kitchen.

“Yeah,”
he mumbled, not referring to food. He was hungry all right. He wanted to lift
up that dress and feast on what he found underneath. In fact, he fully intended
to do so in the next few minutes. If she’d let him.

He
followed her to the kitchen and found she’d been passing the time cooking. It
smelled delicious. Almost as good as that distinctively spicy fragrance of her
skin. His hands itched to touch her, and his mouth watered.

“V.”

The
moment she turned to look at him, Zane’s heart pounded hard. A fast, painful thump
in his chest. She was so damn beautiful. Her long, chocolate brown hair hanging
in waves around her face, flowing over her breasts. The succulent curves that
were outlined by that dress. Her feet were bare, which wasn’t usual, and he
took a moment, admiring her pretty purple tipped toes. Purple. An unusual color
for fingernail polish, but he suddenly loved the color purple.

“Hmmm?”

Her
response was but a whisper and he knew she felt it. Whatever it was. She felt
it too. He knew she did.

“Tell
me what you’re thinking right now,” he told her, not moving from where he stood
just a couple of feet away from her.

“What
I’m thinking?”

“Yes.
Right this minute. What are you thinking?”

“I’m...
I don’t know.”

“Yes,
you do. Now tell me.” Zane wasn’t sure what was wrong with him or why he needed
to get this out in the open right now, but for some reason this felt urgent.
The need to get their feelings hashed out seemed startlingly important. As
though they didn’t have enough time.

“I
missed you,” she said.

“And?”

“And
what? Isn’t that enough?” V started to turn away from him, but he reached out
and grabbed her arm.

“What
else? Tell me.”

“What
about you?” V sounded defensive. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re thinking?”

“I
love you.” The words sprang out without conscious thought. They were exactly
what he’d been thinking, but maybe not right then. Those three words had been
tumbling around on his tongue for quite some time now. He just hadn’t known he
was going to say them to her. He felt them. Every single syllable was etched
into his heart, echoed with each beat, but he had some self-preservation. Or so
he thought.

“You
do?”

That
wasn’t what he expected from V. A denial, maybe. An argument, definitely. V was
always trying to tell him what he was feeling and so far, she’d always been
wrong. This had never been about sex with her. Not since that first night at
Jaxson’s party. And not one single minute since. He loved her.

“I
love you.” It was like all other words had vanished from his vocabulary. He
only knew those three, and he would have to repeat them over and over until she
believed him.

“I
love you, too.”

Zane
grabbed the counter. He hoped he was subtle, but he doubted it. Those words
were like a sledgehammer to his heart, knocking the breath from his chest.

“You
do?” Now it was his turn for confirmation.

“I
do. I’m pretty sure I’ve loved you all along, but I didn’t want to believe it.”
V took a step closer, and Zane wondered whether this was the same woman he’d
gotten to know these last few months.

“But
you believe it now?”

“I
know it’s true, yes. I knew the minute I got to my mother’s house that I
couldn’t run from you anymore. I couldn’t run from my feelings. But, it’s never
been about that. I’ve never wanted to hurt you, Zane. I just want to protect
you. I wasn’t able to protect you that day –”

V’s
voice faltered, and Zane moved until he was holding her in his arms, his lips
pressing against hers. “I’m the one who’s supposed to protect you.”

V
pulled back, cupping his face and the smooth, gentle touch of her fingers made
him want things he never thought he’d want. “Not true. I’m supposed to protect
you just the same. I want to protect you.”

“The
best way you can do that is to love me, V.” Zane knew that her love would be
all he needed.

“I
do love you. I can’t change that, but...”

Zane
stopped her again. “No ‘buts’, V. Not this time. Love me. Just like I love you.
It’s the only way I know how to go forward from here.” It was true. He was
tired of moving backward or sideways. Even his anger for what had happened to
him had been sidelined because this woman managed to fill him with so much more
than the anger could ever offer. Loving her was the only thing that mattered.

“I
love you,” V muttered, her lips pressing against his.

Zane
lifted her onto the counter, stepping between her thighs. “Please tell me you
have nothing on underneath this dress. I need to be inside of you. Right now.”

Her
smile was radiant. Palming her thigh, Zane ran his hand up her leg until his
fingers found the smooth, hairless lips of her pussy.

“Yes,
Zane. Please.”

They
were at least on the same page. He knew he shouldn’t do this here. He should carry
her to her bed, make love to her properly, but he couldn’t wait. With hurried
movements, he freed his erection from his jeans, sliding back between her legs.
The counter was too high to make this possible, so he lifted her in his arms,
forcing her legs around his waist and sinking his cock into her without further
ado.

Turning,
he backed her against the kitchen wall, holding her tightly, unable to move as
her wet heat pulled him deeper. He groaned, dropping his head to her shoulder,
burying his face in her neck as he inhaled her pure, fresh scent.

When
her fingers slid into his hair, holding him closer, Zane began to press deeper,
barely able to pull back thanks to how close their bodies were, but that was
ok. He didn’t even need to move. Her body could probably milk a release from
him just like this.

“Look
at me, Zane.”

He
lifted his head reluctantly, staring into those bottomless whiskey brown eyes.
It was then that he saw his future flash before his eyes. Everything revolved
around this woman. Every minute of happiness and pain had been spent getting to
this moment in his life. This was all for him. She was everything.

“Tell
me you love me,” she whispered.

Zane
hitched her a little higher, thrusting in deep as he did. When she moaned, her
eyes closing briefly, Zane waited until she opened them again. “I love you,
Vanessa Carmichael. I love you with everything I am.”

V
started pulling him closer by pressing her ankles against his naked ass, and he
gave her what she was asking for. With deep, slow thrusts, Zane made love to
her. It didn’t matter that they were almost fully dressed in her kitchen. This
was what making love was all about. Two souls coming together, accepting one
another in a way that had never happened before. For either of them.

“I.
Love. You.” Zane punctuated each word with a hard thrust. His release was
barreling down on him, faster than he expected. “V! Oh, God, baby.”

“I
love you, Zane,” V exclaimed, her voice strained, her legs tightening around
him.

V’s
pussy clamped down on him, hard. Her body milking him until his release was
inevitable. Pounding into her once, twice, and one final time, Zane gave
himself over to her. Not just his body, or his release. He gave every part of
himself to her right in that instant.

♀♂

After
the two of them cleaned up, V forced Zane to sit down at her kitchen table.
She’d been cooking almost since the second she walked into her house and was
looking forward to a few quiet moments.

Instead
of sitting in her car panicking, she forced her brain to ignore the pressing
thoughts and her body to block out the overwhelming fear that she was consumed
with. Once inside, she locked everything up, made sure there weren’t any notes
on her refrigerator door and she’d taken a quick shower.

Since
then, she had worked in the kitchen, cooking until she didn’t know what else
she could possibly make. It was time she started moving forward. Just like Zane
was. She had to stop living in the past, and although she knew these panic
attacks weren’t entirely at bay, V was ready to rid herself of them.
Counseling, as Greyson had suggested, was inevitable. While she’d been making
grilled cheese – the comfort food her mother had always fed her in times like
this – she’d called the number on the card Greyson had left on her
refrigerator. She had her first appointment tomorrow.

While
the two of them ate, V explained all of this to Zane, and he asked if he could
go with her. She’d agreed to allow him to go along, but she wanted to go the
first time by herself. As much as she wanted to lean on him, V knew she had to
do this for herself as much as for him. He deserved for her to be whole again,
just like he was.