Zane (Alluring Indulgence) (44 page)

V
was so happy her mother came, and she was almost beside herself when she saw
that Regina did not bring a date. According to her mother, there were no dates
in her near future. She was quite content with Buttercup. Not that she wanted
her mother to be alone, but she knew time was the only thing that could
alleviate some of the emotional pain she’d been dealing with over the years. V
made sure her mother knew she was there if she ever wanted to talk.

V
turned her attention to Lorrie and Curtis who were smiling at one another like
teenagers in love. She could only hope that one day, she’d have what those two
had. With seven sons, they were brimming with love for every one of their boys,
as well as each other. It was hard not to watch them and hope that she’d find
that one day.

“Care
to dance?”

Zane’s
beautiful baritone broke into her thoughts, and V turned to smile at him. Taking
the proffered hand, V let him lead her out to the middle of the floor and
settled into his arms like she was born to fit there.

“One
of these days, you’re going to have a party like this, you know?” Zane spoke
close to her ear, and V let the warmth of his breath wash over her.

“Maybe
one day,” she replied, smiling into his shirt. She was through running from
this man.

“Maybe?”
Zane pulled away from her, effectively separating their bodies.

V
looked up at him. He looked serious. Was he hurt? She hadn’t meant anything by
it.

That’s
when she noticed that people around them had stopped dancing. Oh, no. She did
not want to be the one to ruin this party.

“I
didn’t mean –”

Zane
cut her off with a press of his fingers against her lips, only seconds before
he dropped to one knee on the plywood floor beneath him.

“Vanessa
Carmichael, as long as the day will come, I’m willing to be patient. As long as
there aren’t any maybes in our future, I’m not going to rush you. However,
until that day comes, I’m not willing to wait one more second without that
promise.”

V
looked at him, confused. Promise?

“Will
you marry me? I don’t care if it’s tomorrow, or a year from now. I just need
you to promise me that you’ll be with me for the rest of my life. It’s the only
thing I want in this world. I love you.”

V’s
vision blurred as the tears formed in her eyes, threatening to spill over her
lashes.

“Marry
me.”

Zane’s
final demand made her smile. He knew her so well. Those submissive tendencies
were hard to deny. Even now.

“Yes,”
she whispered, and the cool metal that slid over the third finger on her left
hand stole her breath.

Clapping
ensued, and before Zane could even get to his feet, V found herself wrapped in
Zoey’s arms. Her best friend was smiling, and there might’ve even been a tear
or two.

“I’m
so happy for you!” Zoey exclaimed.

V
noticed all of the people standing around them, clapping and smiling. “This was
supposed to be your day,” V whispered to Zoey.

“Oh,
honey. It is my day. It couldn’t have gotten any better if it’d been planned.”

Before
the tears could leak from her eyes any more, Kaleb swept Zoey up in his arms,
making her laugh as he began two stepping around the dance floor with her once
again, leaving V to be pulled into Zane’s arms.

“And
just so you know, I did ask permission. From your mother and Kaleb and Zoey. I
wasn’t going to ruin this day for anyone, baby, but it was time. Way past time,
actually.”

When
Zane pressed his lips to hers, V felt her heart heal just a little more. It’d
been doing that.

With
each minute that passed, the fissures he’d made in those invisible walls she’d
erected so long ago continued to get bigger while the little cracks in her
heart continued to get smaller.

♂♀

Three
months later...

Zane
was pretty sure the weather had been handpicked for this very day. There was absolutely
no way they’d have been able to come up with a good enough reason to duck out
on Kaleb’s important day. As if the penguin suits they’d donned just a few
weeks ago hadn’t been punishment enough, Zane and his brothers had been
summoned to help Kaleb and Zoey move into their new house. The man was racking
up a shitload of IOU’s, and when those get multiplied by six, Zane was pretty
sure Kaleb was going to be in their debt for quite some time.

“What
the hell are you doing?” Travis’ irritated growl erupted from just outside of
the moving truck. Zane didn’t bother to turn around.

“Lift,”
Zane instructed Beau who had also been wrangled to help out – by Zane directly.
There was no way he was going this alone. As it was, V was already inside
helping Zoey unpack boxes just as quickly as they were being delivered.

Zane
backed down the ramp, one end of the heavy sectional couch hoisted up to his
chest in order to keep Beau from having to lean down. Once they were on the
ground, Zane continued toward the house, Travis following close behind.

It
wasn’t that he was purposely ignoring his oldest brother, but quite frankly,
the man was beginning to get on his nerves. Ever since Gage disappeared about
two and a half months ago, apparently off on one of his super-secret jobs,
Travis hadn’t been himself. It spoke volumes about the man, although after
witnessing what he had that one day, Zane wasn’t about to say a word. None of
his business. He still wasn’t sure why Travis was in such a lousy mood. It
wasn’t like he and Gage got along on the best of terms when the man was in town
anyway.

Ever
since they actually started breaking ground on the resort, Travis had been
directly involved with the resort and almost completely stepped out of the
Walker Demo business altogether. That’s where their cousin Jaxson came in. He’d
stepped up to manage the business side of the demolition company since Kaleb
and Sawyer were both splitting their time between the two.

Once
Zane and Beau made it up the front steps, Braydon was directly behind them
holding open the screen door so they could maneuver the oversized furniture
inside. Two minutes later, they had it situated where Zoey instructed and were
heading back out to the truck.

“He’s
on his way back,” Zoey was saying to Kaleb, but Zane tried his best to ignore
their conversation. Truthfully, he just wanted to get this truck load emptied
so he could sit back on the rest of his day off with a beer and maybe a little
relaxing time with V.

“When?”
The voice that interrupted Zoey’s conversation belonged to none other than
Travis, and that made Zane smile.

The
man had a serious hang up with Gage Matthews. It was comical actually. Considering
Travis had been visiting Dallas more and more frequently these days, Zane was
beginning to wonder whether the man actually was involved with someone up
there. Based on his reaction to Gage’s whereabouts, that might not be the case.

“Ready
to finish this off?” Zane glanced over at Beau as they headed back down the
front steps toward the moving truck that was thankfully about three quarters
emptied at this point. That didn’t seem like nearly enough since they’d been
going at this moving thing for the better part of four hours now. Even with
Braydon, Brendon, Ethan and Blake helping out, they didn’t seem to be going as
fast as Zane had hoped.

“You
up for a beer when we’re done?” Zane asked Beau as he walked up the sturdy
metal ramp that ended on the wooden floor of the twenty six foot moving truck.
He still had no idea where the hell Kaleb had kept all the shit he’d managed to
fill inside the truck. There were only two of them, yet Zane had moved enough
furniture to fill a four bedroom house.

“Can’t,”
Beau answered, lifting one end of a hulking wooden dresser that Zane had never
seen before.

Hefting
the other end, Zane glanced over at Beau. “Why the hell not?”

Thankfully,
their relationship hadn’t changed at all, even after that one night of
experimentation. It hadn’t happened again, not so much as a hand job during
their threesomes, but Zane could feel Beau starting to pull away. He hated that
it was like that, but he just didn’t have the same feelings for Beau that his
best friend seemed to have for him.

“Date,”
Beau smiled, and Zane almost stumbled right out of the truck.

“With
who?” He didn’t mean for so much disbelief to lace his words, but as far as he
knew, Beau hadn’t dated anyone in quite some time.

“Not
saying.” Beau smiled.

“What
the fuck? You’re going on a date, and you’re not even going to tell me who
you’re going out with?”

“Not
yet. I’ll see how it goes, then I’ll let you know.”

Zane
wasn’t going to push him. Right now, he didn’t have the energy to do much of
anything except make it up the steps into the house for what felt like the
hundredth time that day. He was dripping with sweat even though the brisk
breeze and sixty degree temperature should have been keeping him cool.

After
lugging the damn dresser up to the second floor, Zane was once again descending
the stairs, his thighs and back screaming in agony from all the moving. The
sight of his beautiful fiancé took his mind off of his worries almost as
quickly as they’d come on.

Damn,
the woman just got more beautiful by the day. Today she was sporting a pair of
short jean shorts and one of his sweatshirts, her hair piled into a haphazard
mess on top of her head, and she looked so fucking gorgeous, he wanted to sneak
her up to that extra bedroom the twins had been working to set up.

Before
he had the chance to make the suggestion, the front door opened and in walked
Gage Matthews. The room suddenly went quiet, all of the movement silenced
immediately as everyone turned to look at the man standing in the doorway. It
wasn’t like they were all that surprised to see him.

No,
that wasn’t it at all.

Zane
was pretty sure everyone was more interested to learn exactly who the stunning
blonde on his arm was. He noticed that her facial expression went from surprise
to murderous in three seconds flat. Now she looked like she was ready to take
his head off with her bare hands.

“Sonuvabitch.”
That one word growl pierced the eerie silence and had everyone turning to look
directly at the man who spoke. The one who looked more pissed off than any of
them had probably ever seen him. And that was saying something. Travis looked
like his head might just explode right off of his powerful shoulders.

Zane
just wanted to make sure he was nowhere in the near vicinity when that
happened.

“Travis?”

Zane’s
head shot back over to the doorway, along with several others in the room. Why
did it sound like that blonde woman not only knew who Travis was, but there was
something else in her tone. Something way too familiar.

“Fuck.”
That was Travis’ only response.

Well,
that probably said it all.

♂♀

Gage
stared blankly at Travis, ensuring his face remained expressionless. The
recognition in the man’s eyes was exactly the response Gage was going for when
he made the decision that morning to come back home to Coyote Ridge.

One
thing he prided himself on was his ability to do his job. Not only could he
protect those he cared about, he also had an uncanny ability to uncover dirt
that other people tried desperately to hide. Travis’ dirt was hidden better
than most. In fact, it had taken Gage almost a month, but he’d finally
accomplished what he set out to. Gage had finally found what Travis apparently
didn’t want anyone else to know about.

Gage
only had one question...

If
Travis was looking to bury his past, why hadn’t the man ever gotten a divorce?

With
all of the support that I receive through the various social media sites that I
probably spend way too much time on, it’s still difficult to sit down and list
out the amazing people who inspire me and keep me sane most of the time, but
I’m going to try.

Many
of you are familiar with my amazing husband, the man who supports me no matter
how many times he finds me talking to myself, trying to hash out a scene or
figure out what a character is actually trying to say. If it weren’t for him, I
wouldn’t be here today. He is my best friend and my soul mate and he deserves
more credit than I can ever relay.

For
the bloggers who have become such an important part of my life because of their
support and their kindness, I just want to say, thank you. There are so many
and I’m afraid to leave anyone out, but you know who you are.

Denise,
throughout the last few books I have written, you have been there to inspire me
*wink* and I will never be able to thank you enough for your time and your
support. Thank you.

And
my fans, above all else, you make this all worth it. Each and every email
brings a smile to my face and I thank you for taking the time out of your day
to send kind words my way.