CHAPTER 2
She'd loved Zane for two thirds of her life.
Missy hadn't been exaggerating when she'd said that.
She’d loved Zane Alexander since she'd had braces on her teeth. Since she'd had to beg for a ride to the country club in case he'd be there. Since she'd put together her overflowing scrapbook filled with ideas for the wedding she'd planned for them.
But now she was an adult and knew what love really was. And she knew what pain was too.
He’d never hurt her. At least not on purpose. She truly believed that. But she was starting to really believe he'd never marry her either.
It shouldn't matter.
Did it matter? Yes. It mattered every time they got another invitation.
He thought he was the only one who dreaded seeing those envelopes in the mail. He was so wrong.
Every bridal shower, every wedding reception, someone—usually more than one—would ask when she and Zane were going to tie the knot. And every time she smiled and made some non-committal reply.
Honestly, if it was just her and Zane as the only two people in the world—or even just in their world—she wouldn't care. She had him. In her life. In her bed. In her heart. And she was in his.
He loved her. She wouldn't need a paper to prove that if they were the only people in the world. But they weren't. And apparently everyone else wanted them to have that license.
It was starting to get to her—and to get between them.
That she wouldn't let happen.
Other people and their pressure and opinions were making her resent Zane's stubborn streak when it had been the rebellious bad boy she'd fallen in love with all those years ago.
The teenager who did anything but listen to his father. The graduate who'd joined the Navy rather than work at his father's investment firm. The man who'd gone as far as he could, becoming a SEAL and then went one step further and became a member of SEAL Team 6—what he called DEVGRU.
The acronym didn't do justice to the reality of the job he and his SEAL teammates performed. She knew that personally from when they'd shot their way into a terrorist camp and taken her out of her waking nightmare.
They'd survived so much together. Too much to let this break them up.
She paused, shocked she'd even thought the words break up.
Nope. Not gonna happen. Haters gonna hate. Relatives gonna push. Smug bitchy sorority sisters gonna flash their diamond engagement rings in her face. She wouldn't let them get to her.
Zane was hers. And she was going to take advantage of that fact right here. Right now.
He was turning on the light on the nightstand in the bedroom when she stepped up behind him. Nestling against his back, she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight.
He covered her hands with his, loosening her hold enough he could turn in her grasp.
Those gold-flecked green eyes focused on her. Studying her. He was too observant. He knew she doubted them, their relationship. All because of these damn wedding invites and the interrogation gauntlet she dreaded facing.
“You okay?” he asked.
She made up her mind then and there. No more caring about what people thought about her relationship status with Zane. No more worrying about others.
No more thinking at all.
She reached between them to slide her hands into the waist of his pants and tug his shirt out. “Mmm-hmm. Very okay.”
He smiled and let her push his shirt up his body so she could lean in and kiss the warm skin of his stomach. The hard muscles of his chest.
He kept himself in as good shape as he'd been in while in the SEALs. Maybe better because now that he wasn’t always deploying, he ate healthy, slept well and worked out for as long as he wanted to, sometimes for hours a day.
Zane was pretty nice to look at naked thanks to all that hard work. She was ready for them both to be naked now.
She loved the strong hard feel of him.
He made her feel safe. As if nothing bad would ever happen to her as long as he was around.
She knew that was true because he'd already proven it. With his gun, with his watchful eyes, and with his own body he'd kept her safe as they escaped from that horror in Nigeria she thought she'd never live through. She had no doubt he'd protect her from anybody and anything.
The only thing he couldn't do was protect her from herself. Her own self doubt that crept into the dark shadows of her mind. That doubt only she could fight, and she would.
She let her mind go, ceding control to her body and her heart. Both wanted him.
“Take these off.” She tugged at the waist of his pants.
That crooked smile she'd loved since she'd been a tween tipped up the corners of his mouth. The mouth she'd learned to love even more as an adult for the pleasure she knew it could give her.
“Not a problem.” He reached down and did the hard work, unbuckling the belt, then moved on to the button and the zipper. “Hey, you still have those high heeled boots?”
Missy cocked up one brow. She remembered exactly what happened the first time she'd worn them on a date with Zane. She'd ended up naked—except for the boots.
“Yes.”
“Put them on for me.” He grinned like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Zane. It's June. Those are my fall and winter boots.”
“Come on. Just for a little while. Please? I'll make it worth your while.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Rolling her eyes at his persistence, she pretended to give in. “Okay.”
Little did he know he didn't have to beg or make promises. She'd do anything for this man. But his assurance to make it worth her while didn't hurt.