Zane (The Powers That Be, Book 6) Read online

  Finally there, he set me on my feet and pinned me to the wall kissing me hard as he removed every stitch of my clothing. I managed to get his shirt off as he kicked off his boots, and when led me to the bed, telling me to move to the middle of it, I was so distracted to see him barefooted with only his jeans on, I forgot that I was totally naked. Eep!

  I swallowed hard seeing him standing at the foot of the bed, eyes glittering, when he ordered, “Lean back on your hands and put your feet on the bed.”

  I hesitated before doing as he said and saw him frown.

  “Move your hair.”

  I looked down to see my hair covering my breasts and smiled up at him, which garnered me his piercing, narrowed eyes. Damn. Okay then. I considered getting up and dressing because this was making me uncomfortable since I’d never done anything this intense. But when I saw his face soften a little, I slowly pushed my hair back over my shoulders and saw the slightest twitch of his lips and I relaxed a little. Until he spoke again.

  “Spread your legs.”

  “Zane…”

  His eyes bore into mine when he said, “Baby, you’re beautiful. Let me see you.”

  I bit my lip, uncertain of this whole thing, and then he did the best thing ever. He winked. For some reason that gave me confidence, like I knew he was still him, and I slowly moved my feet and parted my knees. His half smirk let me know he liked what he saw. But, God. This was so nerve racking. My breathing sped up because I’d never been put on display like this before, and I licked my lips as I sat there, completely bared to him. Gah!

  “Good girl.”

  He walked to the side of the bed and reaching down to the nightstand, he pulled the drawer open.

  “Do you trust me, Jillian?”

  My eyes went quickly to his, and other than the huge erection I’d seen straining against his fly, I could tell by his look he was very turned on. Letting out a breath, I nodded because I did trust him and knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

  “Hold out your wrists,” he ordered.

  I faltered again, wondering what he was going to do. And he waited. When I finally did as told, he reached into the drawer and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

  My eyes went huge as I looked up at him.

  “I told you I’ll never do anything you don’t want to do,” he reminded and waited on me again.

  A moment later, I held my hands in front of me, and saw that he was pleased, his eyes crinkling just a bit at the outsides. Then my wrists were cuffed.

  “Lie back and put your arms above your head.” I did what he instructed, and as he walked to the foot of the bed again, I heard him utter, “Stunning.”

  The anticipation of what he was going to do to me had my heart pounding in my chest, my insides suddenly aching for him as he stood looking at me.

  He took off his jeans and putting a knee to the bed, moved forward, his eyes on mine. He lifted my leg, kissing the inside of my calf, the inside of my thigh, my hipbone and belly. On up to my breast where his tongue teased one nipple then the other. His lips grazed over my chest, up to my neck, brushing over my lips then mouth at my ear, he whispered, “Gonna fuck you hard, Jillian. Can you handle it?”

  An unintelligible sound escaped my throat when out of nowhere, my body bowed up and I climaxed.

  Holy shit.

  “That’s my girl,” he said, his hips cradled between mine now and skimming his hands down my sides and underneath me, he raised my hips and drove inside with a groan.

  Eyes closed and head back in ecstasy, I cried out again upon finally having him inside, his cock filling me so fully with each thrust, easing the ache I’d felt and causing me to shatter again for him.

  Wow.

  Without warning, he was gone and flipping me onto my belly, the handcuffs making a clanking noise as I was turned, and pulling my hips up, he drove back inside, pounding hard exactly as he said he would.

  It. Was. Amazing.

  “So fucking wet for me, baby. Fuck!” he groaned gruffly, the air around us filled with want and need, so sexually charged as skin met skin with each rough stroke of his hips.

  Arms stretched above me and cheek to the bed, I clasped the sheet with my fingers as he did as he’d promised, fucking me hard until with a loud growl, he rammed in powerfully one last time, holding my hips as he emptied himself inside.

  Going down on his forearms at my sides, he puffed hot breaths against my back as well as uneven kisses as he gathered himself, while tremors still shuddered through both our thoroughly used and satiated bodies.

  God.

  A moment later, he left me and I heard the drawer open. Then he was unlocking the cuffs and removing them from my wrists. I lazily turned my head to see him tossing them into the drawer then he was there, pulling my back to his front as we lay on our sides, his hands massaging my wrists before he brought each up one at a time and touched his lips to them.

  “Was that okay?” he asked and I nodded.

  It was more than okay, and I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg, that he’d gone easy on me for now, but there was so much more we would do. And as he kissed the back of my shoulder, I realized I was good with that.

  “Was that my other present?” I asked and felt his body shaking behind me. He was laughing. “What?” I turned my head glancing back at him.

  “Babe, that was more a present for me.” He kissed my cheek. “Get up and I’ll show you.”

  He got out of the bed and pulled his jeans on leaving them undone then grabbed a t-shirt from a drawer for me. I pulled it over my head then took his outstretched hand, getting up on wobbly legs to be led to the French doors in his room. He pulled back the curtain flipping on the outside lights.

  All I saw was trees, of course, and looked up at him in question.

  “See the one with the fresh dirt around it?” he asked, pointing to a large oak.

  “Yeah?” I answered then waited for him to go on. When he didn’t, I stared at it for a moment before it hit me. “Wait. Is that?” Mouth dropping open, I looked up at him.

  He nodded.

  Oh, my God! It was the oak tree Izzy and I had been chained to when he and Robocop had shown up!

  “But how?” I asked in shock.

  He put his arm around me. “I know a guy on the construction crew.”

  “You saved it! Oh, my God! I love you! It! I mean it!” I blurted and felt him go stiff beside me. I quickly backtracked, “I mean, I love that you did this. You saved the tree!” I wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him down for a kiss that I hoped took his breath away, thus depleting all the oxygen to his brain so he wouldn’t remember my little slip-up. Ack!

  We stood for several minutes staring out at the tree, my front to his side, arms around his middle, his arm curled across my shoulders.

  And I was happy.

  With a side of sad.

  ~*~*~*~*~

  “And he said nothing?” Izzy asked.

  “Nope.” I popped a tater tot into my mouth and rudely talked around it. “But his body language said it all.”

  Izzy and I were having dinner the next night at one of my favorite places in Pike Place Market, and I’d just told her about my feckless flagrant faux pas.

  “Maybe he was just kinda shocked.”

  “Ya think?” I asked and took a sip of my bourbon margarita.

  She shrugged. “But he saved the tree for you. That means he cares about you, right?”

  I shrugged back, putting on my false bravado. “It’s not a big deal. Like you said, if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’ve gone twenty-two years without him, so I’ll be okay, right?”

  She didn’t buy it. Watching me, she took a drink of her Piledriver. “But you do love him.”

  I wiped my mouth and looked around the place. So many people. So many lovers. So many who were happy. And so many who’d been hurt. I wondered how they’d handled the rejection.

  Looking back at her, I tried another tactic, going the psychological route. “Ye
ah, but it’s only my first love. Japan did a study which found that only one in a hundred first loves lasts. Not good odds.”

  “I’ll bet you could be the one percent!” she challenged.

  “Yeah, well, I’m not a gambling chick.”

  She threw a raisin at me. “Stop being a stick-in-the-mud. It could happen.”

  “On another note, what’re you and Corey doing for New Year’s?”

  “Some party at one of the players’ friggin’ mansions on Lake Washington. But all the other players and their wives and girlfriends are supposed to be there too, so that’ll be fun. There’s gonna be fireworks on the lake at midnight. But I’m really more excited to see inside that huge house!”

  “I’ve seen some of them around there. They’re monstrous. Don’t get lost.” I laughed.

  “What’re you and Zane doing?”

  “We’re going to dinner first then heading to Seattle Center where I’ll be freezing my ass off. His brother Wilder’s band is playing so we’re going to see them.”

  “That’ll be fun! Minus the ass freezing.” She snorted.

  “I’ll be meeting all his brothers, so that’s kind of exciting.” I took another drink.

  “See? He’s serious about you or he wouldn’t have you meet the family.”

  Maybe. Maybe not. I decided I was just going to chill out and let the chips fall where they may. I was having fun, I was having great sex so why ruin it with three stupid words.

  “So listen to this. Laurel’s fiancé is a thousand years old,” I began, telling her about Robert and what Laurel’d said.

  “Ew. That’s nuts. How could she marry someone just for money?”

  “I don’t know. But that’s her plan. He seemed like an okay guy. A little uppity for my taste, but whatever. I guess I’ll be getting a wedding invitation soon, though.”

  “What do Anthony and Lillian think?”

  “Oh, they’re all for it. Mom loves that he’s a bazillionaire and Dad has a new buddy almost his age.” I shook my head.

  “So weird.” We ate in silence for a few minutes. “Oh, I found the thing.”

  I looked at her. “What thing?”

  “The thing that we can listen to Rusty through his phone.”

  I’d totally forgotten about him since I hadn’t been home in a few days. “You sure you want to do this?”

  “Yes! Let’s do it after the holidays when I know I’ll really be bored because of playoffs.”

  “Okay. But we can’t get caught.”

  “Duh.”

  When we finished eating, we caught a movie and afterward, I went back to my apartment.

  “Hello?” I called when I walked in but got no answer.

  Since they weren’t home, I went to my room and dragged the wrapped boxes of the video game chairs I’d gotten Chet and Rusty for Christmas out into the hallway, putting one in front of each of their doors. I know. I didn’t really like Rusty, but he was still my roommate, and we’d gotten along okay the past two years and had always exchanged gifts, so I guess I’d felt obligated to keep up the tradition.

  Just then, there was a knock at the door. Since it was past ten, I texted Zane quickly to see if it was him.

  Text Message—Tue, Dec 27, 10:17 p.m.

  Me: Are you at the front door?

  The knocking became pounding now and I hear the doorknob rattle. Shit! I ran to my room, closing and locking the door.

  Text Message—Tue, Dec 27, 10:20 p.m.

  Zane: No

  Me: Someone’s trying to get in!

  Zane: I’ll be right there

  Fifteen minutes later, my phone dinged.

  Text Message—Tue, Dec 27, 10:35 p.m.

  Zane: I’m here. Open the door

  “Did you see who it was?” I asked when he came in.

  “No one was here when I pulled up. Neither of them is home?”

  I shook my head.

  “Call Chet. See if it was him.”

  “I did. He’s at his parents’ having dinner. I asked him to call Rusty to see if it was him and call me back. He did and Rusty said he was in Oregon visiting his uncle.”

  Zane raised an eyebrow. “Does he have family in Oregon?”

  “Yes. He’s supposedly visited his uncle there before.”

  “What’s the uncle’s name?”

  “Jimmy Stewart.”

  Zane narrowed his eyes at me. “Seriously?”

  I nodded.

  He pulled out his phone and dialed looking at me. “Wasn’t he just in that movie we watched about that goofy angel?”

  I chuckled. “I know. But that’s Rusty’s last name, so it makes sense.”

  “What city?”

  “Ranier.”

  “Sandra? Zane. Can you find a phone number for a Jimmy or James Stewart in Ranier, Oregon?” He waited a moment then, “Got it. Thanks.”

  He dialed the number into his phone and put it on speaker.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Jimmy Stewart?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is Rusty Stewart there?”

  “Yes, he is.”

  “May I speak with him?”

  “Hang on a sec.” We heard him call for Rusty who answered the phone and Zane hung up.

  “Who was at the door earlier then?” I asked as a shudder ran through me.

  “I don’t know, but pack a bag ‘cause you’re staying at my place tonight.”

  Chapter 15

  Zane followed me to his house where he let me in, gave me the alarm code and told me he’d be home in a couple hours.

  Since it was already past eleven by then and I had to work the next day, I went immediately to bed, only stirring a bit when I later felt Zane get in beside me.

  The next morning, we were both up and out of his house by nine, him heading to the precinct and me to Vinyl Impressions.

  “There’s my beautiful girl,” Alicia said when I got there.

  Why couldn’t my parents have been nice like her and Randy?

  “Hi, Alicia.” I gave her a hug.

  “Thank you so much for the wonderful spa day gift! I can’t wait to go indulge myself! And the tickets to the boat show? Randy danced around the living room for ten minutes all excited. Then whined for the next thirty because he has to wait until June.” She laughed.

  I chuckled. “I’m so glad you guys liked your gifts! And thank you both for the bonus! I’ve told you every year it’s too much, yet you do it anyway.” This was the third Christmas they’d given me $1000 bonus.

  “It’s well-deserved, honey.”

  “Well, thank you again. How was your Christmas?”

  “Great! The kids and grandkids came over. Randy got all the grandkids remote control cars and drones, and they spent hours outside playing with them. Of course, we had a few accidents. Two cars disappeared into the lake and a drone crashed into the attic window, but other than that, it was a success.” She laughed.

  I chuckled. “That sounds like fun, though!”

  “Oh, they had a blast! I think Randy had more fun than any of them. The good thing is, he bought enough to replace the ones they lost, so the tears were short-lived. Forward thinker, my Randy.” She snorted.

  “Yes, he is. I’m glad they had fun.”

  “Heard you had some problems with your roommate last week?”

  I let out a breath. “Yeah. Ever since I started dating Zane, Rusty’s been freaking out. If that doesn’t scream guilt, I don’t know what does.”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t sound good,” she agreed with a concerned frown.

  The rest of my workday went by without incident. Just before I left at five, Chet called to thank me for the chair telling me he’d put my present on the bar.

  “Someone was pounding on the door and turning the knob a little after ten last night, trying to get in. Any ideas?” I asked.

  “I kicked Rusty out, so it could’ve been him.”

  “You did?” I was surprised by this.

  “Yep. We got into it C
hristmas Eve and I told him to pack his shit and get out. Made him give me his key. I’m glad he didn’t have a copy and came in with you there alone.”

  “Well, damn. Thanks for telling me. What if he’d had a spare key?” I shuddered at the thought of what he might’ve done.

  “I know where he’s staying, so it’s not like he’d have gotten away with anything.”

  I didn’t even argue with Chet because he obviously didn’t get it.

  “Is he still at his uncle’s?” I asked.

  “No. He’s staying with his girlfriend in Beacon Hill somewhere.”

  “I’m getting the locks changed,” I stated.

  After hanging up, I called the landlord requesting new locks as soon as possible then I opened the gift Chet had left for me.

  A t-shirt that said, “May the Forest Be with You.” I loved it.

  ~*~*~*~*~

  The rest of the week flew by with nothing unusual happening except for Wednesday when I was at work and got a call from one Preston Templeton III who asked me to fly to New York City for New Year’s to be his date. I graciously declined, but in doing so, I gave up a night at the Premier Hotel which included an up close and personal mega-view of the ball dropping in Times Square along with a plethora of unspeakably good appetizers as well as an open bar of only the finest liquor. Tickets for the both of us would’ve cost around seven grand which was crazy, and I was flattered at his wanting me to join him. After hanging up, I called my mother telling her to stop giving people my number.

  “But Gerald Ainsworth said he wants to take you out,” she said.

  “He’s at least fifty, Mother.”

  “Robert’s forty-eight.”

  “I know, and that’s Laurel’s thing. But me? I don’t want to date anyone old enough to be my father, okay?”

  “Your father’s ten years older than I am,” she countered.

  “You see any ten-year-old fathers walking around?” I asked. “Although there was an eleven-year-old boy in Florida…but that doesn’t matter. Dad’s still closer in age to you than fifty is to twenty-two. And don’t you think it’s weird that your soon-to-be son-in-law is, what, three years younger than you?”