He laughs at me as we walk down past several rooms and the nurses’ station. “I’ll be fine, Tori,” he assures me, but he stops walking making me wonder if he’s second guessing himself.
“Tori, Jax and Zane are fiercely protective of Zoey. They’ve kicked my ass over her more than once. But given their celebrity, they’re more protective than ever.”
“What are you talking about? They’re famous?”
His lips quirk a bit at the corners. “You’re something else, Tori. Only you wouldn’t know who they are. Come on and you’ll see.”
Of course, I know who they are. I recognize their names since they are all over the papers and the internet.
I follow behind him to the room. He eases the heavy door open to peek inside.
“Come on in, Masters, before they think you’re a creep,” I hear a deep voice call from the other side.
I hear a high-pitched tinkling voice laugh. Maddox’s shoulders relax when he hears the sound. We ease our way into the room. A big guy sits on Zoey’s bed kissing her. “Oh God my eyes,” Maddox teases. “I can’t unsee that shit.”
Zoey giggles again as the guy pulls back with a smile. The guy really is huge. And hot as hell too with tan skin and dark hair. Even darker lashes frame his hazel eyes that look at Zoey like she is the reason for his existence.
But he is not the guy that I’m really looking at. It’s the other one. The one I’m assuming is her brother since his lips weren’t just plastered to hers, and because they share the same last name.
Zane Valen.
If Zoey is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, then her brother is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. The kind of man that makes you squeeze your thighs together with nothing more than a smile.
His dirty blond hair is cut a little shorter on the sides than the top with waves and curls lingering on the top and around his ears a bit. Dark brown eyes frame his almost too pretty face. His cheek bones are super high, and his chin and jaw are strong. He’s tall too. Taller than Maddox, and slightly broader. His smile is coy and mischievous almost. Like he knows a secret about you but isn’t saying a word.
I’ve noticed him at Lucky’s a couple of times. Hard not to when he had men and women alike gravitating to him. I think, even if he weren’t who he is, it would be like that. Like Zoey. He’s like a magnet.
I wanted to approach him but didn’t want to fight my way through the crowds that surrounded him.
He impressed me the way he talked to each person. He talked to them like they were just any other person. Like he was just any other person. He didn’t carry himself like he was one of those big-headed athletes or whatever. He carries himself with a natural confidence. Like he knows he’s good and doesn’t need the accolades to validate himself.
“Oh girl, no wonder you never let me set you up with anyone,” I say from my spot behind Maddox. Zoey’s eyes go wide with surprise when she notices my presence.
“She wanted to make sure you were okay,” Maddox explains to her.
I step from behind him, keeping my eyes on Zoey instead of on her ridiculously hot brother who hasn’t stopped staring at me since I walked into the room.
“I’ll live for now,” she tells me.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to these two incredibly hot men?” I tease her.
She blushes a bit with a huge smile. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen Zoey smile in the year that I’ve known her. It’s wide and bright and could probably bring about world peace. I feel like I am getting a glimpse of the girl Maddox has told me about. The girl he is so hung up on.
I also see that he never stood a chance. Not with the way she looks all glassy eyed at Jax McCabe.
“Tori, these are the two most import people in the world to me even though I haven’t done a very good job of showing it in the last year. Zane Valen, my stupidly obnoxious and arrogant twin brother, and Jax McCabe, my best friend and soulmate.”
“Soulmate, huh?” I say, but it’s a tease. Anyone within a hundred miles of these two could see they are meant to be together. It’s like you can physically feel their need for each other. They need each other to survive. “Is that code for boyfriend? Because the way he’s looking at you seriously suggests it definitely means more than friend.”
Zoey turns bright red at my words as she looks to Jax not quite certain how to answer. She doesn’t see that there is really no other answer to that question. His love for her is almost too much to look at.
“‘I’m her boyfriend,” he answers but he’s telling her. Not me.
I smirk at the comment. “I think I understand now why you always stayed so quiet and secretive,” I tell her. I know it’s not the real reason, but I want to make her feel better. I want her to know that I’m not angry about the times she turned me down to hang out. “Kind of hard to keep things on the downlow when your brother and boyfriend are big time football players.”
Maddox lets out a groan as the realization that I know exactly who they are. “Please tell me you’re not going to go all fangirl.”
“I wouldn’t mind some fangirling right now,” I hear Zane say in a voice that makes my spine tingle with an accent I didn’t really pay attention to when it came from Zoey, Jax or Maddox, but out of his mouth sounds like sex. I make the mistake of looking at him. His eyes move up and down my body until they land on my eyes. The heat in them is unmistakable. My eyes fall on his mouth as he licks his lips before drawing his bottom lip between his teeth.
