Zane (Alluring Indulgence) (5 page)

“No?”
V stood suddenly. Her abrupt shift had Zane flinching backward instinctively.

Yeah,
he was clearly going to have to work on that.

Pushing
himself to his feet, he closed the gap between them, towering over her as she
stood staring up at him. At six-foot-four-inches, Zane was not by any means a
small man. He was still working on gaining the pounds he’d lost while in the
hospital back, along with the strength that was zapped from him thanks to a
month in a coma.

Standing
next to V, all five-foot-seven or so inches of her, Zane couldn’t help but
remember how well their bodies fit together. She was tall and curvy and
breathlessly beautiful. Even in those heels, he still had to look down at her,
and when she hit him with those whiskey brown eyes, some of his anger subsided.

“No,
baby. None of it was your fault. You couldn’t have predicted what that fucker
would do.” He kept his tone low and even as best he could.

Truth
be told, Zane should’ve been smarter. He should have known after Jake jumped
him at Moonshiners that the man was rapidly losing touch with reality. Maybe it
was because Zane had knocked his ego down a notch the day Jake had insulted V,
or maybe Jake was just a loose cannon, bound to explode at any time. Either
way, Zane should’ve been prepared.

Instead,
he’d let down his guard some.

“He
was waiting for you.
At my house
. Why don’t you understand this?”

“Understand
what
?” He took a step back. “You weren’t even at the bar when he jumped
me there, were you? So I’m not sure how you get to blame yourself for any of
this.”

“No,
I wasn’t. But if it weren’t for what happened at Anderson Croft’s, none of this
would be happening. And in case you forgot that all started because of me.”

True.
V had a point there. The whole thing started that day, but besides her accuracy
on the timing, her logic didn’t make any damn sense. Regardless, talking to her
was useless because she had since made up her mind. The only thing he could do
now was to try and change it.

 “You
couldn’t control what Jake was going to do, baby, any more than you can control
whatever this is between us.”

Zane
hadn’t expected to say the last part, but somehow the words had slipped out.
The woman was a distraction, one that kept him away from some of the darker,
gloomier thoughts and he welcomed that into his life. He’d gotten attached to
her, and he wasn’t ready to let go even if she resorted to trying to convince
him otherwise. Which he knew she was going to do.

Zane
didn’t have it in him to give up, and no matter how hard she tried to push him
away, he wasn’t going to budge.

Not
this time.

“Zane,”
V choked a sob back, “I can’t do this anymore.”

Well,
that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, even if he had expected it. In fact, it was
a long time coming because he had been anticipating this conversation ever
since the day he went to pick her up to take her to the groundbreaking
ceremony. She’d been alluding to the fact that she didn’t want to see him
anymore, but Zane didn’t believe her then.

He
still didn’t believe her now.

“What
can’t
you do?” He needed to hear her say the words. He wasn’t sure she could
actually say them.

“This.”
She wiggled one hand back and forth between them, referencing the two of them.

“You
can
do this.”

“I’m
not talking about sex, Zane,” V huffed, backing up another step, her hands
going to her hips, her eyes blazing with frustration and what he sensed was
anger. “Fucking you has never been the problem.”

Fucking
him?

Zane’s
body hardened at the same time something else took root deep in his soul.
Something that told him whatever this was between them wasn’t just about sex.
Even if V wanted to believe that.

“Then
what’s the problem?” He was getting irritated now. “Are you scared, V? Scared
that
fucking me
might turn into something more?” Taunting her, he
continued, “Scared that I might just be able to get past that impenetrable
outer shell?”

“No!”
V stormed away, presenting Zane with her back.

“That’s
what it sounds like to me, baby. Sounds like you can’t handle
fucking
me
because you’re scared there might be something more between us.”

There
already was, but Zane didn’t say that out loud. He knew how far he could push
her.

“You’re
delusional, Zane Walker. Maybe you should go back to the hospital. I think the
doctors might’ve overlooked the severity of your brain damage.” V turned
abruptly to face him again.

Zane
laughed, and that earned him a death glare. God she was so damned bewitching
when she looked at him like that.

“Honey,
I think you already feel something for me.”

“Bullshit.
You’re just a baby, Zane. We might have fun between the sheets, but that’s all
it is.”

V’s
reference to his age, specifically the difference between them, only pissed
Zane off more. He hated that she used that as an excuse. She’d tried it one
other time, and if he remembered correctly, she’d been sprawled out beneath him
in ten seconds flat, begging him to let her come.

He
was twenty four, almost twenty five, and she was just barely thirty. Fuck, he
wouldn’t care if she were forty. What Zane felt for her, he’d never felt for
anyone else, and he wasn’t about to let her get by with throwing whatever this
might be away because of a few measly numbers.

“
A
baby
?” Zane stalked her across the room until he pressed her into the glass
partition that enclosed his bathroom. He didn’t stop crowding her until he was
crushing her between his body and the cool glass at her back. “That’s not what
you were screaming when I had my dick buried inside of you.”

Zane
leaned in closer, his mouth hovering above hers as he waited for her response.
Her sharp inhale, along with the full body shiver, told him exactly how much he
still affected her.

“Was
it?” Letting his lips brush lightly over hers, he waited for V to push him
away.

She
didn’t.

And
that told him all that he needed to know.

♀♂

What
the hell was wrong with her? Why did she knowingly push him like that? Zane
wasn’t the kind of man to back off freely, and she had found exactly what it
took to push his buttons. With the warmth of his body pressed against her, V
knew she should be pushing him away, knew she should race right across the
room, throw open his front door and run. Never look back.

For
the life of her, she couldn’t seem to do it. Just like the very first time her
eyes met his, there was a kinetic energy that shifted between the two of them
and she couldn’t force herself to move away. Zane stole her breath and her
common sense with just a smile. When he actually touched her, it was even
worse.

In
fact, V was positive she had never met a man as capable as Zane of causing her
to drop her defenses as quickly as he caused her to drop her clothes. He was
like a drug, impossible to resist once she’d had a taste of him.

And
as for their age difference, V didn’t give a shit about it at all, but it was
the only tangible thing she had to hold on to; her only justification for
putting distance between herself and the one man capable of breaking her heart.
Never would V let that happen. Not after what she saw her mother go through.

Her
mother and her wandering ways had taught V one valuable lesson: never rely on a
man to fulfill you. As she had seen time and time again, no man had ever
satisfied her mother, yet Regina continued to ruthlessly pursue them in hopes
of finding the one who would. V just figured if she never started, she’d never
be disappointed.

This
man threatened all of her carefully erected walls because she wanted him more
than she wanted anything else.

“It’s
not going to work, V.” Zane’s words broke through the haze of lust that was
clouding her thoughts.

“What?”
V felt as though she missed a vital part of the conversation.

“Trying
to push me away is only going to make me come after you more.”

One
thing she had learned about this man, he didn’t say things he didn’t mean. He’d
been pursuing her for about a month before he was attacked and she’d tried to
push him away. He didn’t listen; always coming back for more, no matter how
cruel she was with his feelings.

Whatever
he thought this was, it wasn’t. What was happening between them was nothing
more than a highly reactive proclivity to lust. It was one hundred percent
physical reaction between two people who were attracted to one another, spurred
on by some wild and impassioned urges. Oh, and pheromones. Yes, definitely
those too.

“What
do you want from me?” V asked the question although she wasn’t sure she wanted
to hear the answer.

“Everything.”
The way Zane articulated each syllable had V’s pulse soaring. The way he looked
at her like she was everything and then some made her wish that there actually
could be something between them. The fact was, they came from different worlds,
and she wasn’t so sure that there was a way for them to meet in the middle.

Now,
if he were talking about sex, V could see the potential in a short term fling
with him. The man inspired orgasms with just a tilt of his head, and V could
attest to what he was capable of doing with his mouth. Anything more than that
was out of the question, and she didn’t want to lead him on.

“You
think that somehow sex is going to make me fall in love with you?” She let the
words drip with her incredulity.

“Baby,
you keep saying that word like that’s all you want from me,” Zane grinned and V
was damn near blinded by the intensity of his beautiful smile.

“That’s
all you have to offer me, Zane,” she whispered, trying to sound convincing.

“That’s
what you think. Give me a chance, V. Stop trying to push me away at every turn.
All I need is a chance.”

“You
don’t need to prove anything to me,” V said honestly. She knew just how real he
was. She’d experienced just how incredible it felt to be in his arms. She also
knew just how devastated she would feel when it was over.

“Maybe
not, but I need to possess you. All of you.” Zane’s mouth was brushing against
hers with every breath he took, every word he spoke.

Fuck.
She was a goner, and she knew it. She couldn’t get another word out if she
tried. He wanted to
possess
her? V knew exactly what he was referring
to. He’d mentioned it before. She had seen a glimpse of his dominating side on
more than one occasion, and she had a feeling he knew how worked up she got
because of it.

She
found herself leaning closer to him, although she knew she was supposed to be
pushing him away. She was taunting him, daring him to kiss her. If nothing
else, at least she could get lost in the kiss and forget about all of the
emotions this man stirred inside of her.

Thankfully,
Zane stole her ability to think anymore.

He
crushed his mouth to hers, the evidence of his desire pressing intimately
between her thighs. When his strong, warm hand slid down the back of her thigh,
then behind her knee, she knew there was no more fighting him. The only thing
she needed was his touch for her brain cells to stop functioning properly.

Holding
her leg against his thigh, V welcomed him by pressing her hips against his. She
was trapped between his muscular body and the hard pane of glass at her back,
unable to move in any direction and for some strange reason, V found comfort in
his touch. Zane controlled her movements, controlled every ounce of her
pleasure by the way he took his time with her. If she had learned anything, it
was that he wasn’t a man to rush through anything.

When
his lips scraped against the side of her mouth, down her chin before trailing
down the side of her neck, V tilted her head to the side, giving him better
access. She reveled in the warmth of his body, the strength she could feel in
every move he made. Having extraordinarily limited experience due to not having
been with many men in her life, V was still thoroughly convinced that no one
compared to Zane.

“I’ve
missed you.” Zane’s raspy words tickled her senses and had her thrusting her
hips against his more firmly, trying to increase the friction against her clit.
“Tell me you haven’t missed me, V.”

She
couldn’t speak, much less lie to him. She’d missed him more than she was
willing to admit to herself.

“Tell
me how much you’ve missed this, and I’ll give you everything you want. I’ll
bury my tongue in your sweet pussy and make you come with just my mouth. You
want that, don’t you?”

More
than she wanted water or air or any life sustaining substance. Not having known
his touch for the last three months had been hell. Having it now was like a
sudden plunge into warm water, her body was overheated, and her nipples
pebbled, her skin sensitive and aching for more of his touch.