“Why should I? We weren’t anything. We talked and texted for a few weeks. Went on a couple of dates. That’s it. Then he ignored me for weeks, and I didn’t blame him. I just wanted a chance to explain myself.”
“Which was what he was coming to do when he saw -,” he lifts a brow at me not wanting to say out loud what Zane saw with so many people around. I’m not sure if he notices or not, but Ryder is listening to our every word.
“It still didn’t give him the right to go after you,” I hiss lowly. “Or to be so fucking insulted like I did something wrong.” I suck in a long, hard breath then blow it out as if I needed the strength to keep going. “It’s better this way, Mads. Nothing was ever going to come of this. He lives in River City and I live here. His work is crazy. Besides, I don’t do the long-term thing. I’ve never had a boyfriend last more than a month or two. I don’t know how to do a relationship.”
“The guy just wants to talk to you. Not marry you,” he tells me, shrugging off everything I’ve just said.
My eyes narrow into tiny slits as I realize something. Something that kind of makes me feel like Maddox is a traitor. “You’ve been talking to him, haven’t you?” I accuse. He gets that fucking cocky ass smile on his face that tells me all I need to know. “You fucking traitor. You’re supposed to be on my side.”
He laughs at me with a tousle of my hair. “I’m not on either side. Look, according to Zoey, Zane hasn’t acted like this over a girl but one other time, so you’re not just like all the other girls.”
“Zoey told me the same thing. I just don’t know why. Why are either of you telling me this?”
He leans forward on the bar. His eyes searching for something. What I don’t know, but I keep my expression neutral anyway. Finally, he shakes his head going back to wiping a glass. “Just answer the phone, Tori. If nothing else, tell him to stop calling you.”
I blow out another breath. This one of frustration. “Thanks for ruining my night,” I grumble.
But the more I think about it, the more I think maybe Maddox is right. So, I stand to go outside. To call him back. To give him the chance he never gave me. The chill of the night sifts around me when I exit the building, making me wish I’d brought my jacket out with me. But this won’t take long. Just a quick phone call. I’ll hear him out then ask him to leave me alone.
The phone rings once, twice, three time before going to voicemail.Oh well. I tried.
I turn to go back inside when someone grabs me by the elbow. Without thinking, I quickly grab the hand and hip toss them to the ground.
“Son of a bitch,” a familiar voice calls up to me. I look down to see Zane rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s the second time you’ve put me on my ass,” he smirks.
“You shouldn’t touch without permission,” I tell him without an ounce of apology. He stands to his feet. His six-foot something frame towering over me by at least half a foot, and I’m five-eight. “I’m not worried because there won’t be a third time,” he tells me with a smirk.
And damn I have to struggle to remember that I won't give him a chance to hurt me again. That I don't need his kind of complicated, but the way those powerful legs look in those jeans that mold to him like a second skin makes it pretty hard to concentrate. “What do you want, pretty boy?”
“I wanted to talk to you, but you won’t answer my phone calls,” he tells me getting a little too close. I fight not to breathe in his scent. To not get intoxicated in those dark eyes. I take a couple of steps back to put some distance between us, but he keeps coming until he has me pushed against the wall of the building. Something tells me this is exactly what he wanted to happen.
“If you don’t back up a little, there will definitely be a third time,” I tell him as I note the lack of space between us.
“Try me, sweetheart. See if I’m lying when I say there won’t. Just. Try. Me.”
Dear lord he’s fucking sexy as hell, but dammit if he doesn’t know it. I think that infuriates me as much as anything about him. I suck in a breath and squeeze my thighs as I fight against the need he ignites in my body. “I tried calling back. You didn’t answer,” I say it with as much – or as little emotion as possible.
“That’s because I was five feet away from you.”
I shrug off his words even as his scent wafts into my nostrils. I swallow against the need that is getting more intense. His hard body pressed against me is making it harder and harder to think clearly. I move quickly to the side to get that space I need between us. So, I can think clearly. Remember what it is I’m trying to say. Sirens going off in the distance pull my eyes in that direction, giving me a reprieve from his dark ones staring so intently into mine. “What do you want, Zane?” I finally huff out, proud of the impatience and anger in my tone.
“I just want to fucking talk, Tori,” he grumbles. “I wanted to apologize. For everything.”
“Great.” I acknowledge with sarcasm and anger. “You just did. Now you can leave me alone.”
His dark eyes seem to grow inherently darker. His jaw muscles tic as his teeth clench. He rolls his shoulders in the leather jacket that makes him look dangerous in all the right ways. “Can you just fucking listen to me for five minutes while I tell you how much of a jackass I was?”
My body reacts in ways I don’t want it to - the tone of his voice and the simmer in his eyes, but I manage to keep my head clear. As long as there is space between us, I can think. “I already know how much of a jackass you were. I don’t want to hear anymore.”
I move to go back inside when my back is back against the wall. One hand grips my hands above my head while he pins my body with his hips. He moves so much faster than I realized he could. I never even saw him coming.
“I was pissed off about Zoey, Tori,” he tells me with his teeth still clenched, “but I get it. I get why you didn’t say anything. I still don’t like it, but I do understand. I shouldn’t have ignored you. I did it because I was fucking pissed. Every time I went to respond, my words were nothing but anger. But just because I didn’t answer your calls or text didn’t mean I stopped thinking about you. Fuck, Tori, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
He is so close to me again, that my clear head begins to fuzz. He smells so good. Why does he have to smell like that? I will my body to be absolutely still and my breathing to remain even. I work to keep any affect he has on me unnoticeable.
I see his lips tip up in a smirk as he runs his nose down the side of my jaw. Unfortunately, this is Zane Valen, and he is very well aware of when he has an effect on a woman. He is well versed in the tiny nuances of their bodies. He knows what his smile does. He knows exactly how his voice and words charm even the iciest of females. Why would I be an exception?
But just because I am insanely attracted to an insanely attractive man, doesn’t mean anything has to be done about it. I blow out a huff of air as it starts to rain. People on the sidewalks begin to make their way into the already packed bar to escape the cold wetness, but Zane keeps me right there.
