CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Zane
She was good.
Her expression hadn’t changed, but the pulse throbbing in her throat was a giveaway. She hadn’t broken yet, but I had her almost to the edge of the truth.
With exaggerated movements, I ran my hands down her sides and around her back. “I see you left the gun off this time.”
Her expression still didn’t change. “You need to go.”
I closed my hands on her shoulders again. “No. I’m not going anywhere until you tell me the truth.”
She didn’t flinch. “It’s none of your business. We had one drink, one dinner, and one kiss. Walk away.”
I wanted to shake her. I walked her backwards until she was trapped against the wall, my arms moving to either side of her head. “I don’t want to walk away.”
She lifted her chin. “Too bad.”
Time slowed and sped up as we stared at each other. I wanted to kiss her so bad my lips nearly exploded from my head. “Just tell me the truth. Please. I saw what I saw. You aren’t who you said you were. I don’t know if you’re a crook, a spy, a private investigator. I don’t know who Smith is or why you broke into his place. What I do know, is that you’re in some kind of danger. What I do know is that I’d take a bullet for your ass. And because of that, I deserve to know if I’m willing to do that for a good person or a bad person. Is that fair enough?”
Confusion flickered in her eyes, but only for a moment before the walls of her emotions slammed down again. “I didn’t ask you to take a bullet for me.”
“Too bad. I’m in. All in, Sloane. Now, tell me the truth.”
She exhaled, her breath warm on my face, tears pricking her eyes. I nearly sagged in relief. “You can’t tell him about me, Zane. You just can’t.” The tears that she was desperately trying to hold back broke free, cascading down her cheeks. “I’ll tell you, but you have to swear to me that you’ll never tell a soul. Not one person.”
I had her. She was being honest. Finally. Walking her to the little sofa, I pulled her down next to me and plucked a tissue out of the box on the coffee table and handed it to her. “I swear that I’ll never tell a soul a word that you say to me. But I have to know, Sloane. I have to.”
With a nod, she wiped her tears away. “My best friend in high school, Beth Harris, contacted me a few weeks ago. She was upset because her husband of five years seemed to be cheating on her. She wants to get a divorce, but they have two kids, a huge home, and lots of money. She’ll get full custody, the home, and most of the money if she can prove he’s having an affair.”
I was perplexed. Why get an old friend to do such a thing? Why not hire a professional if she was so rich? “And why did she ask you to get this proof?”
She sniffed but didn’t miss a beat. “She eluded to Charles being into bad things. She said that he knew lots of people and she didn’t know who she could trust. She called me because she knew I wasn’t afraid of danger. I really am a photojournalist. The book writing is made up, but not my job. Being that I’m cool under pressure, she thought I could get the job done. Take a few pictures and get them back to her, she’d go to a lawyer and file for divorce with evidence in hand.”
I sat back and rubbed my temples. It was hard to believe, but I had called it. Sloane was out to get evidence of an affair. I felt pretty damn good about my intuition, and now that I knew everything, I felt damn good about Sloane.
She was one great friend, one brave girl, and I was relieved she wasn’t a thief. “I thought you might be a cat burglar. Hearing that you’re really just a badass friend pleases me to no end.”
Her hand ran up my arm, a smile playing on her lips. “A cat burglar, really?”
“Yeah, really. I’ve thought you were a spy or a private eye too.”
Her laughter was light and gorgeous. “Well, I guess you were close. I am spying on him for a friend, but 007 I am not.”
I laughed too, thinking I really had let my imagination run off with me. “So, I’m going to help you with this job of yours. I can take lots of pictures in the wide open since we’ll be doing all kinds of things together.”
She shook her head as her brow furrowed. “No. You can’t do that. It’s very important that neither of us ends up in the pictures. The way my friend talked, the man may be associated with a dangerous gang or the mob or something. If he ever thought either of us gave her that information, then we’d be in mortal danger. Let me get the pictures, Zane. Promise me. I’m supposed to take them with my cell and send them to her. After she gets them to her lawyer, she’ll delete them off her phone, so he’ll never know how she got them.”
I was impressed. “You two really thought this shit through. I’ve got to hand it to you, but I still want to help. And, quite frankly, now that I know he’s dangerous, I’m going to have to really protect you.” I wrapped my arms around her, snuggling her close to my side. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’re kind of growing on me.”
She kissed my cheek. “You’re growing on me too. I’d like to have you watching my back.”
I closed my eyes, pulling her closer to me. “While we’re admitting things, I should tell you that I saw you almost naked last night. And what I saw started a fire inside of me. One only you can put out.”
She ran her arms around my neck. “Why would I want to put that fire out? In fact, I think I’d like to add some fuel, see how hot we can make it burn.”
Oh, yeah. She was saying what I wanted to hear.
Pushing my hand under her shirt, I ran it over her bare back. “I knew you’d be as soft as you looked, glowing under the full moon’s light like a silver angel.”
She flattened her palms as she moved her hands down my back. Her eyes were dark with desire. “Can I tell you something else without you running for the hills?”
Fuck.
Could she?
After taking a deep breath, I was ready to hear what she had to say. “You can.”
She leaned in very close, her lips almost touching mine. I felt the heat of her words. “Your kiss made fireworks go off inside my head.”
“Did it now?” I barely touched her lips with mine. “And the one in the café? What did it do to you?”
“The same damn thing.” She brushed her lips against mine, nipping at my lower one before pulling it into her mouth.
“I’m not running, and I saw shooting stars. You think that’ll happen again?”
“Kiss me and let’s find out.”
Oh, yeah.
Pulling her close enough that her breasts pressed against my chest, I took her lips, intent on searing our souls together. Yeah, there were shooting stars again, but I didn’t let them scare me. I wanted to see them, and I wanted to know what else this woman could make me see.
Zaps of electricity moved through me, resulting in a boner that grew at the speed of light. I moved with her until her back was on the sofa and I was pressing her down, grinding our sexes together through our clothes.
We were both gasping for breath when my mouth left hers to kiss her jaw, her ear, her neck. “Zane, Zane…” I nibbled her neck then gave it a good bite. She groaned, then pushed against my shoulders. “Zane, we’ve got to stop.”
I exhaled a long breath. “You’re killing me.”
She groaned again, in frustration this time. “Me too, but we can’t do this now.”
“Please.” I jutted my bottom lip out, and she laughed before taking it between her teeth.
She let me go. “Our twenty minutes are almost up.”
Well… fuck.
I sank down on her, forcing her to take most of my weight. “Damn. Forgot about them.”
Her lips brushed the place just behind my ear then she gently bit my earlobe. “Later?”
Feeling like I weighed a thousand pounds, I pushed myself up onto my hands then to my feet. Her eyes widened and I followed to where she was looking. “See what you do to me?”
She placed her hand over me, squeezed, and I closed my eyes. “Damn, Zane, you have a monster there.”
“Set it free, baby. It’s hungry for you.”
She laughed, which made me laugh, then I abruptly stopped when she began to stroke me again. The fantasy of last night was nothing compared to being with the real woman. The shooting stars had turned into a volcano that was erupting, spreading heat in its path, filling me with more than I knew was possible.
She sighed and dropped her hand. “We need to change.”
I stepped back, knowing she was right. “Need help?”
Very slowly, she rose from the sofa, a big grin on her face. “Later?”
My cock groaned. I swear it did. “Damn it.” I took her by the chin. “Promise me we’ll come right back here and continue what we started.”
Her grin was sultry, sexy, and somehow it was also cute as shit. “That is an easy promise to keep. If you still like me after you’ve witnessed me in snorkeling gear, it’s a date.”
Her ponytail was crooked, her lips swollen from my kisses, and she looked even prettier than she did before. I couldn’t wait to see her after she was freshly fucked.
“I’m going to fuck you so long and so hard.”
Those eyes gleamed. “Is that a promise?”
I smacked her rounded ass. “Absolutely. Now go before I can’t resist any longer.”
She crossed her arms over my chest. “This is my bungalow.”
I’m a dork.
“Well, I’ll go change. I expect to see you in something skimpy when I get back.”
She stuck out a pinky. I grinned and wrapped mine around hers. “Hurry.”
Without another word, I was out the door and pulling on board shorts so fast I nearly ripped off my dick. I was going to make sure she got what she needed with the cheating bastard, and we could put her little job behind us so we could get on to more important things.
Like us.