“He didn’t tell you because he didn’t want Daddy to know. Daddy hates him, so imagine if he knew what Zane did, even if it was to save me.”
“He’d arrest him.”
I nod. “Exactly. So I need you to promise me, Katie. Promise me you won’t tell a soul about what I’ve told you.”
Katie is a long time in responding, and I fear she's going to run out and tell my father, but finally she nods. “I promise, Maddy. You don’t have to worry. I won’t tell a soul.” She bites her lower lip again and then looks anxious. “But there’s something you need to know.”
I hold back a groan. I’ve had enough surprises to last me a lifetime.
“The cops interviewed your dad and me, and I’m sure they’re going to interview you as soon as they think you're well enough.”
“Ugh,” I groan. “That’s the last thing I need right now.”
“You’re going to have to lie to them, Maddy.”
“I know that.”
“I hope you know you could get into serious trouble for that.”
“I don’t give a fuck.” I don’t care what crime I’ll commit by covering for Zane, I'm going to stand by him until the very end.
“Just making sure you know that.”
“Thank you,” I say sarcastically.
Katie scowls. “Bitch.”
I don’t miss a beat. “Ho.”
Katie laughs and leans down to hug me. “Maddy, I’m just so happy you’re alive!”
I wish I could rejoice with her, but I feel sick to my stomach. “Damn, I really wish there was a way I could get out of being interrogated.”
“You know, you don’t have to talk to them right now. You’re the victim in this, you can stall them by saying you’re not ready to talk about it. And then when you are well enough, you can lawyer up first before saying anything, if you have to say anything at all.”
“I’ll just say I don’t remember shit, that I fell and hit my head, which I did, and I’m having trouble recalling anything.” They can’t make me talk.
“You always were sort of brain-damaged,” Katie agrees, and we both laugh.
“Do you really love him?” Katie asks me in a serious tone after a moment of silence.
“Yes,” I reply with conviction. “I do. I don’t know if he loves me, or if he and my father will ever get along, but I do love him. Very much.”
Katie looks at me with a proud gleam in her eye. “That’s good, Maddy. I’m so happy for you, and I'm glad to know you’ve finally given a man your heart.” Then she wryly adds, “Even if he had to murder two guys to capture it.”
“Katie!” I protest.
“Wha? You know I’m just pulling your leg. You know, I talked to Needles too, during all this.”
“What did he say?” I ask.
“He told me that they’re moving shop. That Zane’s out of the mob for good and moving on. When you’re well enough, if you still want, I’ll take you to Zane.”
My eyes brim over with tears. “Thank you so much, Katie.”
She rubs my arm affectionately. “That’s what friends are for.”
I feel so much love and appreciation for Katie right now. She's been my rock throughout my life, and I'm honored that she's going to stand by me and my decision to cover for Zane. I’m not even worried that she’ll ever talk about what I’ve shared with her.
Still there is one last thing that is bothering me. “Katie, am I wrong?” I have to ask. “Zane killed those people, and I’ll have to live with that knowledge for the rest of my life. But even knowing that, I still love him and want to be with him. Do you think that makes me a bad person?”
Katie snorts with derision. “I think you refusing to tell me how big Zane’s dong is makes you a bad person.”
“Katie!”
Katie laughs, and a moment later, I’m laughing right along with her. We laugh and laugh until our sides hurt. When we’re done, Katie’s expression turns serious and she grabs my hand and rubs it. “No, I don’t think you’re a bad person, Maddy. You're the best friend a girl could ever ask for.”
“Thank you.” My eyes well up with tears, and I’m truly touched. I know then that Katie and I will be friends for life. Our bond is stronger than ever.
Katie smiles at me with great affection, the same that I feel in my heart. “Besides, you can’t help who you love.”
Grinning and filled with happiness, I squeeze her hand and reply, “Truer words have never been spoken.”
Chapter 27
Zane
“You sleep at all last night, man?” Needles asks as I place the machine in the cardboard box as carefully as I can.
“No.” I don’t mean to be short. But I’m worried about her, and tired as fuck. I stayed up in the waiting room downstairs.
I just can’t get the image of her tied up and helpless out of my head. I wish they were alive so I could kill them again. I never wanna leave her side ever again.
I know she left me. I know this shit is my fault. But I couldn’t leave her. I respected her father’s wishes, but I wasn’t going to leave.
The nurse on duty was nice enough to keep me posted. I know she’s awake now. I know she’s alright. I keep checking my phone, thinking she’ll call me. But nothing yet.
I wouldn’t even be here if Nikolai hadn’t told me the shop needed to be cleared out today.
“It’s gonna be alright.” Needles slaps my back and gives me a reassuring look. He has no fucking clue how I feel though.
“As soon as this shit is packed up, I’m going back to her. Her father can’t stay in that room forever.” I don’t know if she’ll want me. But I have to try.
“Even if he does, so what?” Needles says with a scrunched nose. “Fuck him.”
I give him a sad smile. I thought about just being an ass and refusing to leave. But he’s her father, and I know she doesn’t want us fighting.
“It’ll hurt her,” I tell him. I know she didn’t like it when we fought before. Who am I to go in there causing problems when she’s recovering from that shit? The shit I caused her.
I want her though. I need her.
I have to try.
I breathe out deep and get back to loading my shit into cardboard boxes.
I hear the door open behind us and I assume it’s Trisha. She’s got a box in the back that she needs to move to the new place.
But then I hear Katie’s sarcastic mouth. “You better not be leaving town.”
I clench my jaw and try to hold in everything I wanna say. I need to know how my girl is. I wanna tell Katie there’s no fucking way I’m leaving her. Instead I slowly turn around, and I’m speechless.
Maddy’s standing there with a bandage on her leg and a bruise on her face. Her gorgeous green eyes are staring at me with so many emotions shining through.
I drop the shit in my hands and stare back at her, taking her in. I wanna run to her, take her in my arms, and kiss her. I’d drop to my knees and promise to make it up to her. I’d spend the rest of my life doing it.
She looks so uneasy. Like she doesn’t know why she’s here.
Fuck it!
I only have one life to live, and I wanna spend it with her.
I take large strides across the room to take her in my arms. And thank fuck she wraps her arms around me in return. I bury my head in the crook of her neck and kiss every inch available.
“I’m so sorry, Maddy.”
She doesn’t say anything which makes me nervous, but she holds me tighter.
“Is it true?” she asks in a voice that tells me she’s scared to know the answer.
“Is what true?” I pull away and search her eyes. My heart races with panic.
“Are you done with that? All of it?” she asks me. I slowly nod my head as I realize what she’s asking.
“I am. It’s over. I swear to you.”
I hear her sob, and it breaks my heart. I brush her tears away with my thumb and hold her face in my hands.
“I’m sorry,
peaches. I’m so fucking sorry.” I take her lips with mine and kiss her with all the passion I have for her. I want her to feel it, and to know it, never doubting me again.
“I’ll make it up to you,” I whisper with my forehead resting against hers. “Every day for the rest of my life.” I kiss her again and she leans into my touch. My hand splays across her back and braces her against me. I don’t want to ever let go.
“I love you, Zane.” She whispers her words and my heart swells in my chest, but I’m still worried. I wait for a “but”. After a moment she pulls back and looks at me, her eyes searching my face and then I see her vulnerability.
She’s just waiting for me to say it back.
“I love you too, peaches. Forever.”
Chapter 28
Madeline
“Yes!” I scream out as pounds into me. Fuck, he feels so good. Every time is like the first time. He groans in the crook of my neck.
“That’s right, peaches,” he says as his callused thumb presses against my clit, and I fall hard against the bed. My back bows, and my pussy spasms with an intense orgasm.
“Cum on my dick, baby.” He continues fucking me through my release as waves and waves of heated pleasure light every nerve ending on fire.
He thrusts into me, forcing the headboard to bang repeatedly against the wall.
The haze of lust clears for only a moment.
I push up against the wall as if I could stop it, but it’s useless. Zane is lost in pleasure and overpowers me, caging me in and fucking me as though he needs his release more than his last breath.
“Fuck!” I scream out as the waves dim and the tips of my toes and fingers tingle. Again. Slight fear overwhelms me as my body heats. My head thrashes, and I try to push him away.
I almost say the words, I can’t. But Zane’s lips find mine. He kisses me with such passion, I’m forced to give myself to him.
His hips pound against mine, each time pushing against my throbbing clit, once, twice, three times and he explodes in me. The feel of his massive cock pulsing inside of me sends me over the edge again.
And we find our release together.
After a moment, my breathing evens and Zane pulls out of me. I wince from how sore I am. We finally moved in together, seriously this time. Not just one of us staying at the other’s place. No more roommates. Just us. And he’s taken advantage. Not that I’m complaining.
Shit! The headboard.
I peek up at the wall and cover my face.
“Damn it, Zane,” I groan into my hands.
“What?” he asks all innocent-like. He knows what he did. He hasn't even sanded the spackle from the last time he dented the wall.
“We need a new headboard.” I concede. I fucking love this one. It’s beautiful. But Zane is a beast, and there’s no way this is going to work.
He chuckles, all rough and low. And sexy as sin. My clit throbs, and my legs scissor. I can’t get enough of him.
“Already?” he says and grins. “You’re insatiable.” I playfully push him away as he tries to crawl on top of my body.
I giggle and lie on my side, facing him.
I was so scared only weeks ago that we were ruined. That everything that’d happened was just too much. I didn’t think our relationship would survive.
Especially when my father came over and saw us together on the sofa. I stood up, ready to tell him not to say anything, but Zane and him took it outside.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t eavesdrop.
My heart nearly leapt up my throat when I heard Zane tell him he killed the men who put their hands on me. He told him everything.
My father still isn’t sure that I should be with him, but at least he has some respect for my decision to stay with him and he keeps his mouth shut when he sees him.
The truth is, I needed Zane, and he needed me.
Without each other, we wouldn’t have healed like we did. My fingers trace the snake on his arm. It’s my favorite thing to do while we’re in bed.
“When are you gonna let me give you a tattoo?” he asks me.
I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. We have a fresh start. A new home all to ourselves. I want everyone to know I’m his. I’d be proud to wear his art.
But I’d be prouder to wear something else.
“When you put a ring on it.”
He gives me a panty-melting smirk and crawls on top of me. “Is that so?” he asks, cocking a brow and chuckling.
“Hell yeah. Haven’t you heard the song, if you like it you shoulda…” My voice trails off as he reaches over to the nightstand.
Oh hell no. No. He. Did. Not.
He pulls the drawer open and pulls out a small black velvet box.
I cover my mouth with both my hands as tears well in my eyes.
“Madeline Murphy, be my wife.” He doesn’t ask, of course. I roll my eyes and sniffle before letting out a small laugh.
“You didn’t even ask.” I look into his eyes and feel so freaking loved.
“Last time I asked you for something, you gave me the runaround for weeks.” My shoulders shake with a soft giggle, and my eyes go glassy with tears. “I wasn’t willing to take the risk this time.”
“I fucking love you, Zane.” I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him with every ounce of passion I have.
He looks into my eyes and smiles wide as he says, “I love you too, peaches.”
Epilogue
Zane
“Are you sure it’s not going to hurt?” Maddy asks me again. I’ve told her it’s gonna fucking hurt. Tattooing over any bone isn’t a walk in the park. But somehow she keeps getting it in her head that I’ve told her it isn’t going to hurt.
“Just a little, but don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you.”
She looks up at me warily and takes in a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s do this.”
She opens the door to the new shop and walks right in like she owns the place. And I guess she does, since what’s mine is hers, now that we’re married.
“Hey Needles, do you guys have cosmos here?” she asks Needles, and I can’t help but laugh as he gives her a look like she’s crazy.
He looks past her and right at me. “She for real, bro?” he asks.
“Give her what she wants, man. She’s getting my mark on her.”
Needles gives her a big smile and Trisha walks out from the back. She must’ve heard us come in.
“I got something in the back you’ll like.” She grins at Maddy, and I get the sense that the two of them have talked about this before.
“Whatever you’re drinking, take it down fast, baby.” I pull her into my arms and hold her tight to me. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
“What’d you decide on?” Needles asks Maddy.
She looks back at me with a small smile and then to him and says, “I told him whatever he wants. I trust him.” That’s almost true. She told me she wanted peaches. Her confession nearly knocked me on my ass.
She said she needed it. She needed me to make my nickname for her permanent, so she can’t run from it.
I think I’m going to throw in some sunflowers too. She lights up every time I get them for her now. If she’s having a bad day, it’s real easy to put a smile on her face and then take her to bed and help her forget whatever’s bothering her.
Needles snorts a laugh as Maddy pulls away from me and grabs a small pink bottle of something from Trisha. “Well, it’s your funeral,” he says under his breath.
“Kinky?” Maddy asks.
“Fucking delicious,” Trisha says, shooting back her own tiny ass bottle.
“You on the clock?” I ask her.
“Nah, me and Katie are going out tonight.”
Maddy rolls her eyes and sets her empty bottle down. “Don’t let her get you into trouble.”
“Us?” she asks. “Never.”
I pull Maddy into the back as I nod to Trisha and Needles. “See you guys later.”
; She squeezes my hand and takes a deep breath as she sits on the table.
I decide to give her a little laugh. She’s too stiff, too worked up.
“How about on your inner thigh? Right near your pussy. Since it’s so fucking sweet.”
She smiles a bit and bites down on her lip, but she’s still nervous.
“You don’t have to do this, you know?” I’ve given her so many chances to back out of this. I know she’s not into getting a tat herself. I wouldn’t blame her if she never got one. I’ve been trying to hide my excitement just in case she did want to back out.
She shakes her head emphatically and says, “I want this, Zane.”
She lifts her shirt and leans back on the table.
“Make me yours forever,” she says.
I bend down and kiss her stomach. Faint stretch marks are still there from when she carried our little man, Gabe. He’s safe at home napping with the sitter while we go on our first “date” out. She could do anything she wanted, and this is what she picked.
She took a chance on me. She loved me, married me, and gave me a family.
I look into her gorgeous green eyes and know I’m cherished.
“You are mine forever.” I wait for her to look up at me before I say, “I love you, peaches.”
She gives me a sweet smile and says, “I love you too, Zane.”
* * *
Tempted
From USA Today bestselling authors, Willow Winters and Lauren Landish, comes a sizzling and tempting romance about the bad boy you can't resist.
I lived my life with no regrets.
Until she showed up.
It started with her old man. That stubborn bastard set me up.
He knew what he was doing, and I fell for his daughter before I even heard her voice.
Hard to Resist: A Collection of Hard to Resist Romances Page 16