by Nola Marie
I frown like that would be a huge let down if she wins. “What do I get if I win?”
“What do you want?”
“For you to finally admit how you really feel about me,” I tell her simply. I lean over the table getting just a little bit closer, “For you to admit you fucking like me."
She pales making me chuckle. I don't get insulted. Well not too much. “Or we bet a hundred bucks,” I offer.
She chews the inside of her cheek and gives me a weak nod. I extend my hand for a handshake to seal the deal. She slips her hand into mine and I wink.
It should make me a self-conscious, I guess. I’ve been working my ass off for weeks now with her, but it doesn’t. Not even a little bit. She’ll come around. Fuck knows she should know how goddamned serious I am about this. I haven’t even tried to fuck her because she needs to know this is about more than sex. I am forcing her to be with me emotionally and mentally. I want her to see this that we have isn't just going away. It's not just a physical attraction. But based off of what she wanted if she wins, it’s really getting to her which is okay too.
Our waitress comes over for our orders. I order for her the grilled seafood platter that comes with gumbo, coleslaw, shrimp, fish, oysters, frog legs, and stuffed crab while getting myself the fried version because I intend on her trying both. I also order appetizers of fried crawfish tails and alligator.
“Do you always take it upon yourself to order for a woman?”
“First, you know I don’t. Second, there’s a hundred bucks at stake. I need to make sure you get to try as many things off the menu as possible. This is the best way to make sure that happens.”
She giggles until a song begins playing in the background. “Here too,” she groans.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t like the song earlier,” I say taking a sip of my drink.
“You wouldn’t let me tell you otherwise,” she snarks.
“The song makes me think of you,” I tell her. “Every fucking time I hear it I think about you. Then again, there’s not many times I’m not thinking about you.”
She ducks her head with a blush. I’ve noticed her doing that more and more lately in spite of the fact she claims to not be the blushing type of girl. “I understand the problem,” she mumbles.
The waitress brings our food out before I can respond. Tori’s eyes nearly bug out of her head. “You expect me to eat all of this?” she squeaks.
“No. I expect you to try it all. That’s why I asked for the appetizers to come with the food.”
“Zane, this is a lot of damn food. How much is all of this going to cost?” Her eyebrows are furrowed in frustration.
Mine are too. I’m tired of her always worrying about how much money I’m spending. I’m not trying to flaunt it, but it’s not like I’m going bankrupt any time soon. “Just eat, Tori,” I snap a little roughly.
She leans back with a little gasp. I can see the shock written clearly on her face until it morphs into her own frustration. “I don’t like you spending so much money on me, Zane,” she hisses. “It makes me uncomfortable.”
I realize in this moment; we are about to have an argument. The first in a while but always over the same thing. You’d think since I see it coming, I would stop it before it starts, but I’m don’t. “And I don’t like you catching an attitude every time I do. It’s my money, Tori. I can spend how I want.”
“Even with me telling you that it makes me uncomfortable?”
“Why? Why does it make you uncomfortable?”
“Because it does, Zane.” She ducks her head slightly and leans across the table. “It makes me feel like you’re trying to buy me.”
“Back to this seriously?” I hiss. “Why the fuck would you feel that way, Tori? You know what? No. I am trying to buy you, Tori. I’m trying to buy your time and attention. I’m trying to buy a few minutes or hours or days or however much time I can because fuck if it’s not the only time I feel sane lately. If I could spend every damn penny to make sure I had your undivided attention forever, I would.”
Another gasp slips from her lips. Her big brown eyes fill with tears and I instantly feel like shit because Tori is definitely not the crying type of girl. I must really have hurt her feelings if she’s about to cry.
I slide out of the booth and move to her side. I lift her chin wiping a trailing tear with my thumb. “Fuck, Tori, I’m sorry. Don’t cry please. I don’t handle tears. I didn’t mean to -.”
She slaps her hand over my mouth. “Shut up before you ruin it, asshole.” She pulls her hand back and I keep my mouth clamped shut. “No one has ever said anything that nice to me before.”
I run my hand up her arm to the side of her neck. “Baby, I have a feeling that’s because you never gave them a chance because no sane man would ever not feel just like that.”
“Fuck you, Zane. I don’t like this shit,” she says soggily.
I gather her hair that’s hanging around her face and pull it behind her. I tip her chin up a bit to make her look at me. “Tori, don’t you think it’s time you tried to let your guard down and let someone in?”
“It’s not that, Zee. I just don’t know how to do a relationship. I don’t have any type of examples. It just seems like so much work and effort for something that might work out. I don’t like living my life in maybes. I did that for my entire childhood. I want certainties.”
“I can’t give you that,” I tell her honestly because how the fuck can I give her concrete proof when I have no idea what will happen tomorrow?
“I know that. That’s why I tell you I can’t do a relationship.”
I lean over to kiss her softly. “Let’s eat, Baby. I have a bet to win.”
We’re sitting on the back of my truck looking over the river. It’s a place Jax and I like to come to get away. Pretty sure Bastian does too since he’s the one who showed us this place when we were kids.
The sun is setting over the river and the cantilever bridge that connects two sides of the city. The Diamond Industries building can be seen from this spot. My penthouse apartment is about five miles up the road and Bastian’s loft five in the other direction.
“It’s really beautiful,” she says leaning into my side. “I mean I know we have sunsets and bridges like this in New York, but there’s nowhere to see it that’s quite this peaceful.”
“Yeah, this is probably my favorite spot in the city,” I tell her while taking a sip from the beer I bought on our way here. “It’s where I come to think or be alone. Unless Jax is having the same thought that day. Then we commiserate together.”
She peels the label on her own beer. “It’s strange to me that you’ve been friends for so long,” she says softly. “I can’t think of one person I was friends with as a kid that I even know where they are now.”
“I imagine that’s more the norm than all of us, but we’re a very tight knit – family.” I try to be vague as possible. La famiglia is in my blood as much as the rest. My dad was a legit attorney, but he was also the attorney for River City Mafia. I always knew even though my dad tried to keep it from me. I’m not even sure if Zoey knows. To this day, I have no idea how dad got Rossi to let him transfer to London, but I have a feeling there was always more to that story than he told us. One that I will probably never get because my dad is gone.
Rossi is too now. That fucking bastard deserved it.
One thing I do know, the reason why Rory has always been so damned determined to keep us out of all of it, is my dad made him promise to keep Jax and I out. No one else knows that and Rory has no idea that I know.
“Mmm,” she hums. “I think I like y’alls way better.”
I nudge her with my shoulder with a chuckle. “You do realize you just said ‘y’all’, right?”
“Fuck off,” she laughs nudging me back.
“You know if I had a high-powered telescope, we could look right into Jax and Rory’s apartments. It would be fun to fuck with them right now,” I tell her laughing.
&n
bsp; “That’s horrible. I’m pretty sure they’d kill you if you did that.”
“I’m not scared of Jax or Rory,” I tell her with a shrug.
She looks down at her beer bottle again with a little chuckle. She looks like she has something on her mind. I want to ask but I’m not sure if I should push but I want her to know she can talk to me. If something is on her mind, I want her to want to come to me. So, I give into my urge. “What’s going on with you, Baby? You look like you’ve got something weighing you down.”
Her head tilts to the side. Her long blond hair is nearly glowing in the light from the setting sun. She begins chewing on the inside of her cheek as she decides if she wants to tell me what’s going on. If she wants to share part of herself like that.
And I hold my fucking breath because this will tell me if I really am making any kind of progress with her.
“I’ve been lonely back in New York,” she finally admits. “Dane and the guys are on the road. Cara is at school. Pete is off on another business trip. I don’t think I ever realized how alone I was before I stumbled into Dane until all of a sudden everyone is gone. And, as much as it pains me to admit it, I miss you when you’re not around.”
I let out the held breath as quiet as I can. My heart pounds with her confession. That’s the biggest admission I’ve gotten out of her. But I have to play it cool.
“What about your other friends? The people at Lucky’s? The guys at the shop?”
“I love Stitch and the guys. They’re great, but they have their own thing out of the shop. Lucky’s is great too. It’s just not the same though. I never realized just how close I’ve gotten with Dane and Cara. Hell, I didn’t even realize Maddox has become my best friend. The only time I’ve been happy there, lately, is when you’re there.”
She finishes peeling her label off perfectly then turns up the beer, drinking it down in one very long pull.
“I’m sorry, Baby,” is all I tell her. I want to tell her that to come here. Stay in River City. But that won’t be well received. I already know that.
“I think I’m going to start spending time at the gym again,” she suggests. “Not take anything sanctioned, but maybe start having a class or training someone.”
“Is that what you want to do?”
She shrugs a bit but doesn’t say anymore.
I hop off the truck then help her down. “Come on. Let’s get home. As much as I hate it while you’re here, I have an early morning tomorrow, and you’ve had a long day with the flight here and all.”
She gives a slight nod then follows me to the truck.
A few minutes later, we walk into my apartment. I turn the security system on once we’re in the door. Then I turn, pulling her tightly into my body. With a firm hard grip on her hips, I kiss her slow and deep. She tries to pull me into her harder, tighter. She tries to turn the kiss into fury and fire, but I control it. I force her to continue at my pace. I want the ember to sizzle and burn and build.
Because I plan to leave her wanting.
Tori
God, I missed his mouth. I missed the way his hands feel on my hips. In my hair. Against my back.
Every single time he kisses me or touches me it’s like a slow building fire in the pit of my stomach. He leaves me panting, out of breath, and so fucking horny that BOB has done absolutely nothing to satisfy the ache.
His tongue sweeps slowly over my lips exploring my mouth like he’s got all the time in the world. The need in me grows and builds like a forest fire. It starts with a few embers in the underbrush then ignites until there is nothing left.
He pulls back and leads me up the stairs. Every nerve ending in my body is lit with excitement. I’m in his apartment.
Apartment? This is not a damn apartment. My apartment would fit in his living room.
But for the first time in months, he will not be walking me to my door. This time he can’t just peck me on the cheek and walk away. I’ve always been the type of girl that if I wanted sex with a guy, I didn’t wait on him to make the first move. Even though I could’ve jumped Zane’s bones from the first date, I wanted to slow things down a bit. Then all of the mess with Zoey happened and Vegas too. I just want to keep distance between us. While I may have wanted every inch of his body, my resistance stayed strong because I didn’t want to give him any ideas about this going anywhere.
I still don’t want him to get any ideas. I haven’t changed my mind. There is no point in starting a relationship with him. Not when our lives are so far apart or his is so busy. And definitely not when I suck at relationships.
But damn I am tired of being left at the door wet and needy. And it has been so long since I’ve had sex. I guess I’ve had opportunities, but no one has been appealing. No one has lit the tiniest of flickers except Zane, but I’m not delving in too deeply into what that could possibly mean.
He leads me into a room then pulls me back to him. He grips my face bringing his mouth back to mine except this time it’s not slow and leisurely. It’s just like I like him – hard, fast, and burning. His hands move down to grip me close and tight to his body. I run my hands up his chest to grip his shirt firmly to keep myself from falling – hold myself up. Except I don’t need to worry about that because he’s not letting me go anywhere. His hands slip up my shirt where he rubs the bare skin of my back leaving a blazing inferno everywhere he touches. His lips move down my jaw to that sensitive spot just below my ear that sends boiling lava to the pit of my stomach and further down. A low moan slips from my lips as my core clenches at his ministrations.
“Goodnight,” he whispers in my ear then pulls back.
My mouth drops open as he walks out of the door of the room, leaving me in a puddle of want and need just like he’s done dozens of times before.
That motherfucker!
Holy fuck he keeps it cold in this apartment. I can’t sleep for my chattering teeth. I grab my phone to look at the time. Ugh it’s only six but I can’t seem to fall into the hypothermic coma I’ve been praying for all night.
I guess I’ll do the only thing I can do. Get into a hot shower. Better still, a hot bath. It will provide a temporary relief anyway.
I move into the en suite bathroom straight for the enormous tub. I am so fucking happy to find that the tub has its own heater to keep the water warm after it’s been run. A few minutes later, I am sinking into the water that is either too hot or I am frozen because pain instantly shoots into my toes and through the rest of my body making me yelp. I really hope Zane didn’t hear the yelp.
I relax into the water leaning my head back. I bask in the warmth of the water. I am finally warm.
I jump when a I feel someone move my hair off my shoulder. My eyes fly open with a start.
Zane and his fucking perfect teeth are squatting beside the tub smiling at me. I start to relax until I realize I’m still in the bathtub and all of the bubbles have vanished. An unusual feeling of modesty rolls over me for a split second until I remember who I am. I don’t have a modest bone in my body and I’m starting to think this is the only way he will ever see me naked.
“Do you always sleep in the bathtub?” he asks as he grazes a finger across my collarbone.
A shudder begins to form that I shove way down. “I was fucking freezing in this icebox you call an apartment,” I snarl with as much venom as I can muster as his finger continue to trail across my throat to the other collarbone.
“There are things called blankets, Tori,” he tells me without looking at me. His eyes are solely focused on the trail his finger is making. “You didn’t have to sleep in the bathtub.”
I suck in a breath as his fingers trail below the water finding my very peaked nipples that become unbearably harder as he grazes his finger around one without quite touching. I am definitely not cold anymore. I feel like an inferno has erupted in my belly.
My breathing becomes shallow as his finger continue to trail south. He dips into my belly button then brushes millimeters above my pubic bone. He is
so close to where I want him to be.
He leans over his lips grazing mine as his finger moves slowly down. He’s almost there!
“Zee, where are you?”
He leans his forehead to mine with a chuckle. He removes his hand then stands to his feet.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I screech like a banshee.
“Sorry, Baby. I either go see what he wants, or he’ll come up here to find me.”
“How did he even get in?” I’m still shrieking as I climb out of the tub not caring in the slightest that it is cold or I’m getting the floor wet.
He shrugs as his eyes move over me. “He has a key and the codes to the elevator.”
“Why?”
“Same reason I have his. We’re brothers.”
“Zane, get your pretty boy ass down here before I come up there. You know I love your ass.”
I groan and Zane laughs at the same time.
“I better get to him,” he grins while blatantly adjusting himself.
“Got an erection?” I ask smugly. “Good. Hope it fucking hurts. Then you’ll know how I feel.”
He laughs again, and I have to suppress the urge to slap the smug look right off his face. “Darlin’, I’ve been a walking erection for nearly a year. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“I think I fucking hate you,” I growl through clenched teeth and narrowed eyes as I make my way back into the bedroom.
He pulls me to his chest with a growl of his own rumbling in his chest. “No, you don’t,” he tells me dropping his lips to mine while pressing my wet, bare chest to his fully clothed one.
Fully clothed or not, it feels like throwing gasoline to my already blazing fire.
Footsteps coming up the stairs break us apart with panted breaths. “Unless you’re planning on giving him a show, I better get out there.”
“I fucking hate everything,” I hiss. “I’m sick of being left like this,” I gesture to my very sexually frustrated self.
He doesn’t say anything to that at all. Not the slightest hint that some kind of reprieve is coming. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion he only let things go as far as he did because he knew Jax was coming. I bet Zoey is down there too.