Nicole Edwards - Zane

“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.”