by Aliyah Burke
“Zoë,” he said, reaching for her. She met him and he brought her close, kissing the side of her face. “Are you okay?”
“I should be asking you that question. You were having a nightmare.”
He ran a hand down his face. “I’m fine. What about you?” He peered at the clock beside his bed. Four thirty in the morning.
“Not sleeping well, either.”
“Are you in pain?”
“No. Numb. Throat is a little scratchy but I’m all right otherwise.”
He read between the lines and understood what she spoke about. Physically, she was all right. He knew it would take time for her to mentally get over this. Much longer than it would take to recover from the bruising and cuts she had on her body.
“Will you come on a walk with me?”
He reached over to click on a light at her question. The darkish marks on her skin renewed the anger he had simmering within him. “You want to go out on a walk at four thirty in the morning?”
She held his gaze and he knew he was giving in. “Let’s get dressed.”
Another small smile but to him, it lit up his world. They walked down together and out the front door. The crisp morning allowed them to see their breath from the glow of the porch light.
Her small act of reaching for his hand calmed the remaining raging beast inside his soul. “Where are we going?” he asked as they descended the porch steps.
“I don’t know. Where did you used to sneak girls on this property?”
“What makes you think I ever did?”
“Because I heard you guys talking about them all when you were together.”
“You do know boys exaggerate, right?” he teased.
“I also heard the girls talking about what it had been like to be with one of the Kendrick boys. So, where did you take them?”
He shifted, uncomfortable with the conversation. “Usually out to a field.”
“And where would you take me?”
“Back to bed,” he said instantly.
“Bed? We just got up.”
“I’m still up,” he said brushing his cock along her hip. “I would take you to my bed, Zoë. A place none of those other girls ever got.”
“I’m sure you took girls to your bed. That’s okay, we both have pasts.”
“What are you saying?”
“Nothing hidden in that meaning. Just stating a fact. I’m sure you noticed I wasn’t a virgin when we slept together the first time.”
“I noticed.” He lifted her to sit on the split-rail fence they were beside. “Just like I noticed we never once used protection. Are you on anything?”
“Couldn’t you have asked me this before you blurted it out in the police station?”
“Are you ashamed to have it known you slept with me, Zoë Duncan?”
“No, not ashamed. But I am a bit more private than that, typically. I’m not Cora, who doesn’t mind if everyone knows who she was with from night to night.”
He flexed his fingers on the rail as she remained between his arms. “This isn’t about Cora.”
“No, it’s not. This is about you taking that decision away from me to decide if I wanted anything more. I told you, Zane, to stay away from me. Begged you to.”
“You never gave me a reason other than you don’t do casual. Fine. I’m not in this for causal sake.”
“Do you know what this could do to the relationship between our families?”
“Why are you worried about everyone else as opposed to you and what you want?”
“Because unlike you, Zane, my life is here. I’m not leaving to go seek some other adventure. I see your brothers all the time. They come over to Sunday dinners occasionally with my family. They hang out with my brothers and make my life hell. I love every moment of it, not that I would let them in on that bit of information. I’m a little sister to them. This…whatever it is, can only lead to trouble between our families and I’m not about to risk that.”
Frustration welled up inside him and he stepped back. She hopped off the fence and he spun to keep up with her.
“So that’s it then? We just forget it ever happened, so these dinners don’t get strained?”
“You’re not understanding.”
“You’re damn right I’m not. You haven’t given me one valid reason for this. I don’t give a fuck about your brothers, my brothers, and forgive me, even your parents in this. It’s about us, not them. Two people in a relationship, Zoë. That would be me and you. No one else.”
“It’s not that simple.”
He realized they’d come full circle back to the house and she ascended the steps to the front door. Zane latched onto her wrist, halting her. She stared down at him, one eyebrow up in silent question.
“It is that simple, Zoë. It boils down to us wanting to be together.”
“You don’t know, you’ve been gone. You could leave again. I don’t know what your plans are. You don’t talk to me about them. We’ve fucked, multiple times. I won’t even deny the amount of passion between us; it was there, no doubt. Yes, I get that. We’ve lain in bed together and talked about your time in the service and I can’t”—she dampened her lips—“begin to tell you how much it meant to me that you shared your experiences with me. I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to get to know the real you. I wasn’t lying when I said earlier that I see the difference in the way you treat me compared to others, but I’m not willing to risk my heart again over a man who may not want to make his life here in Springwood.”
He frowned. “Again?”
The corners of her mouth pinched and she shook her head. “I don’t want to do this now.” She tugged on her arm until he released her, then vanished inside.
Zane swore a blue streak and paused when the door opened again. She stood with Cade.
“Where are you two going?” Jealousy raised its head.
“I’m taking her home,” Cade said, his hand on the small of her back.
“I’ll do it.”
“Not a problem, Zane. I have to talk to Cora anyway.” Cade guided Zoë down the steps and to his SUV.
He didn’t want to let it go. He didn’t want her in Cade’s vehicle. Zane wanted to lock her in a room until the world was safe enough to let her back out. He didn’t move until the lights disappeared down the drive. Then he walked in to find Nate seated on a couch.
“What’s going on, Zane?”
“I don’t need a shrink, Nate.”
“Good thing I’m not one. I think you need a brother, which, lucky for you again, I am.”
“I don’t know what to do with her, she keeps spouting this shit about not being together.”
“Have you tried asking her instead of dictating to her?”
He scowled at his sibling. “Who is the one she loved that didn’t stick around in Springwood?”
Nate arched an eyebrow. “Really?”
“What? How the fuck would I know who it is. I’ve been gone for eighteen years.”
“You truly are dense sometimes, brother. She’s loved you forever. You left her once before and that was before all this happened between you. She’s scared it’s going to happen again.” Nate rose and walked to the kitchen.
***
“You saved our baby girl.”
Zane moved his gaze between Zoë’s parents, Rolland and Marcia Duncan, before finally landing on Rolland, who’d spoken.
“Yes, sir.” He sat in their living room, a slice of homemade peach cobbler, partially eaten, on the plate before him.
“And you announced she may be carrying your baby to the entire police department.” Rolland drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair.
“With all due respect, sir, that’s between your daughter and me.”
“Twice now you’ve called me sir. You were one of mine growing up, your footfalls were ever present in this house, and you carried on with our boys. Now I’m sir.”
“You’re her father and a man who deserves my respect.”
&nbs
p; “Enough that you sleep with my daughter.”
“She’s not a teen. We broke no laws.”
“Stop it, both of you,” Marcia said, pushing up from her seat to pour more coffee. “This isn’t about that. It’s about saying thank you to Zane for being there when she needed him.”
He licked his lips and perched on the edge of the cushion. “Actually, I don’t need thanks from you. I could use something from you, however.”
They exchanged looks and waited for him to continue.
***
“Ready?”
Zoë shook her head, even as she rose to follow Cora. “Not even remotely.”
Cora squeezed her hand as she guided her to sit in a certain chair. Snapping on gloves after she gathered the label she wanted, Cora eased close on her wheeled stool. She beckoned for Zoë to put her arm out on.
Zoë watched her. Cora was efficient, no doubt, and had taken the vial of needed blood with no pain and swift accuracy. “You know what else I need.” She pointed.
Zoë grunted and waited for Cora to tape on the gauze. “Your job is so rewarding,” she groused, reaching for the empty specimen cup.
“I think so. Go on. I’ll be near.”
“Lucky you.”
Cora pushed away, removing the gloves as she did. “Stop procrastinating and pee in the damn cup.”
Zoë made a face at her before she walked off. She returned to deliver the cup. “Here you go.”
“Sit down, Zoë.”
She listened, accepting some more hand wipes. “What’s up?”
“I’m running your stuff straight through.”
Dread filled her gut. “The blood test was positive, wasn’t it?”
Cora faced her. “Let me start running everything before you jump to conclusions, okay?”
Pregnant. The possibility neared with each tick of the second hand on the clock off to her left.
“Right,” she muttered.
“You don’t have to wait,” Cora said. “I can call with the results.”
“But I can wait?”
Cora nodded. “Yes, come on.”
She led Zoë to a spot out of the way in a small sitting area. Accepting a seat in the corner, she drew her legs up on the seat and wrapped her arms around them. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her heart, which currently was doing a great equivalent of the speeds obtained in a NASCAR race.
She walked out of the hospital three hours after she’d entered, lost in thoughts about the news. So much so, she nearly missed the parked truck with a man resting against the driver’s door. Zane waited, arms crossed over his wide chest and his ankles hooked as well.
“What’s the verdict?”
She jerked at his words, realizing she’d almost figured what she’d been seeing was a figment of her imagination. “What verdict?” She hated how instantly her body betrayed her when it came to him. It wasn’t only physical. Even her soul missed him when they were apart.
He cocked a brow. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
“Find out what?”
“Playing dumb does nothing for you,” he said with a shake of his head. “Are we pregnant?” He shifted, a ripple of power, and she saw a man who would have no problem going in and demanding to know the results from Cora.
“I am, yes.”
He stepped toward her, ignoring the halt motion she made with her hand. She found herself in his strong arms. “I think it’s time we sit for a serious discussion,” he said, lips pressed against her temple.
“No need.” He thwarted her attempt to step back.
“Zoë.” Frustration laced his tone. “We go somewhere together or I put you in my truck now and we can talk there.”
“I’m not avoiding you. I have to help my mother with the final prep for Cade’s thingy tomorrow.”
“Okay then.”
Zane put her in his truck. “I’ll drop you off at home and we can talk on the way.”
His look silenced her protest. Not that there was much of one. She buckled her belt and watched him climb up into his truck. His presence was such, for a moment all she could do was stare. He quirked a brow at her.
“Yes?”
She shrugged. “Nothing.” No way she could…or would tell him, he made her lose the ability to speak.
“The way you watch me, Zoë Duncan, makes me think we’ll be late to your mom’s.”
No matter the situation he could always make her mind sway toward sex.
“You realize you just left my car in the parking lot of the hospital.”
“So.”
Unrepentant. Stubborn, stubborn man. “What did you want to talk about?”
He gave a harsh chuckle. “I don’t know. The weather. How you like the wax job on my truck. If you think Nate and Angela will marry or…the fact you are now carrying my baby. You know, if we could possibly discuss that.”
“Sarcasm, Zane? Really?”
“Either that or anger. Take your pick.”
“Anger?” She faced him. “For what? I never once said I needed anything from you. Hell, I just found out myself. If anything I should be pissed you announced the potential for me to be pregnant in front of everyone at the fucking police station.” She faced forward with a huff.
The following silence had her side-eyeing him. He sported a serious scowl. Her temper rose high for a moment.
“I’m not fighting with you, Zoë. You have to face facts. We’re going to be parents.” He parked before her parents’ house. “I plan on being there for every aspect of this.”
“You don’t even know if you’re remaining here in Springwood,” she snapped.
She jumped out before he could come around and open her door. He snagged her around the waist, drawing her flush to him. “I don’t think so,” he growled.
Zane dominated her mouth until she sagged into him. She forced her fingers to relax and release the death grip she had on his shirt. Side by side they entered the house.
She noticed how at ease her parents were with Zane. Really? He got me pregnant. Not even a bit of fatherly gruff? They went to the kitchen.
“I’m right here, Zoë. In the same room as you. There will be no escaping. We may as well continue to talk.”
She glared in his direction as she stomped to the fridge. They were alone in the room. She opened the fridge and withdrew the pie crust her mom had made earlier, unwrapping the cellophane around it. “So talk.”
“I seem to be the only one doing so. Don’t you have anything to say?”
She stared at him across the kitchen. He stood at the island chopping vegetables, appearing altogether comfortable performing such a task. He’d not batted an eye when her mother gave him his job to do. After all these years of wanting him, why am I pushing him away now when he’s right there in front of me?
Zoë rolled out the dough as she weighed her words. Her parents never returned to the room, as if they knew her and Zane needed privacy. “I don’t want to push you into something you’ll regret later on.”
He pinned her with his gaze. “What is there to regret, Zoë? Tell me what you see because I don’t see it. I will have you and our child—be it a son or daughter. To me there is no downside.”
He doesn’t sound at all put out by the situation, just with my stubbornness. “I don’t even know if you’re staying in Springwood, Zane. How am I supposed to plan with you when I don’t know your intentions.”
“You haven’t asked me. You make statements but you haven’t asked. Try it.”
She paused in moving a pie pan closer. “Fair enough, I suppose I haven’t. Are you staying in Springwood?”
“You have no plans on leaving, correct?”
“Right. I love it here.”
“Then I’m staying.” He ate a carrot stick.
She arched an eyebrow. “Just like that?”
Zane put down his knife, wiped off his hands, and approached her. “Look at me.”
She met his incredible gray-blue eyes,
swarming with so much more emotion now than when he’d first returned to Springwood. Her heart did its familiar flutter that occurred when he looked at her. Zane Kendrick was more to her than any man ever had the opportunity to be. He may have been out of her life for all of these years but he’d never been completely gone from her thoughts.
Every year on his birthday, she wished him a happy one. Thought of him each holiday. And continually wished he remained safe wherever in the world he may have been at that moment.
This thing between them felt right to her. No, more than that. Absolute.
Time for me to stop being stupid and pushing him away.
“What do you see when you look at me?”
His words snapped her from her trance. “What?”
“When you look at me. What do you see?”
She attempted a grin. “Besides hot as hell?”
He didn’t smile back. “Do I look like a man who lies? Who will tell you one thing when I mean another? Have I ever done that to you? Even as kids I never lied to you, Zoë.”
“No. Not at all. I know you haven’t, Zane.”
“Are you scared of me because of what I did to those men who hurt you?”
“God no.” She moved toward him, suddenly needing to touch him. “You saved me, most likely my life, Zane. I get you’re a solider but I would never be scared of you. I’m not. I can’t be, I know you’ll never hurt me.”
“Then why don’t you believe what I said?”
She blinked. “What you said when?”
“That it was always you. You, Zoë, are the one I want in my life. The woman to take my name. Share my bed. Raise”—he touched her belly—“our children with.”
She didn’t resist when he gathered her in his arms. Disregarding the flour all over her hands, she held him in return. The brush of his lips just as potent as the first time she experienced them.
“I’m scared.” The truth slid free.
“Of what?”
They were moving and soon the counter pressed into her lower back. His mouth connected with hers in a heated exchange.
“Messing it up,” she panted.
“I’m not saying it will be perfect, Zoë. But you’ve already messed up if you don’t give us a chance.” He kissed her again.
She backed away as much as she could. Now wasn’t the time for going down this road. “Not in my parents’ house,” she said on a short breath.