6. Zane

6

ZANE

I wake up to the shower running.

My body is heavy with sleep. Like I fused with the mattress while I was sleeping. It takes me a few seconds to remember where I am. To remember why my joints are stiff and there's a warm, heavy feeling low in my stomach.

I found her.

I smile and stretch an arm across the bed, but it's cold.

I jolt upright before I can piece it all together.

She's in the shower.

After last night, she probably does need to clean up.

I didn't plan to do any of that. My plan was to get into the room, grab her, and leave. I wanted to get her home as soon as possible.

Then she was there in front of me, and I couldn't think about anything else. Some ancient instinct rose up, and I needed her to be mine. I needed her to be mine again and again and again.

Even right now, I'm barely conscious and my cock is already rising to attention. I wasn't kidding about making up for lost time. We have weeks and weeks to catch up on.

I slide out of bed and pad to the bathroom door. I don't bother knocking, I just push it open.

A cloud of steam rolls through the door like smoke.

"Holy shit." I wave my hand in front of my face and water gathers on my skin. "Are you trying to boil yourself in there?"

The floor is damp and the steam is so thick I can't even see the mirror.

I rip back the curtain and…

It's empty.

She's gone.

I tear out of the bathroom and search the room again, as if she might have rolled between the mattress and the headboard like loose change.

I spin in a circle and she's gone .

Last night might as well have been a dream. I can still feel her on my cock. I can smell her in the dingy comforter. But she isn't here.

My phone rings. I dig it out of my pants on the floor. "Where are you?" I grit out.

But it isn't Mira on the other line.

"I guess you finally woke up," the P.I. says. "I've been calling you for hours."

I belatedly recognize the ringtone. I must have been tired if I didn't hear it for the last few hours. Weeks of no sleep and hours of fucking can really take it out of you.

Was that her plan? I think. To exhaust me and run?

"Where is she?"

"Your girl snuck out the bathroom window before the sun was even up. I followed her and she checked into a motel a couple towns over."

She left.

She's not just gone; she chose to leave.

I have to force myself to loosen my grip on my phone so I don't crush it in my hand. "You have eyes on her?"

"I'll send you the address and make sure she doesn't get away," he says. "I'd move quickly if I were you."

I pack up what little she left behind in the room in a mad dash and leave. The motel looks even worse in the daylight. The sun-washed green paint is the color of an old bruise and there's shattered glass glittering all over the cracked parking lot.

This is the kind of place I used to stumble out of in the middle of the day, sweating out the drugs and alcohol from the night before.

Mira absolutely doesn't belong here.

She can't want this over the life we could have together. Last night was enough to prove that. I know she wants to be with me. I felt it in every kiss, every curl of her body around mine. There's no way to fake this thing between us.

So how the fuck do I get her to stay?

I climb into my car, enter the address the P.I. sent into my GPS, and call Daniel as I screech out of the lot.

"Good news?" he asks in lieu of a greeting.

"I found her."

Daniel cheers and I hear muffled yelling. He's talking to Taylor in the background.

Good. I could use her input on this.

"Then," I add loudly, drawing their attention, "she ran off again."

Daniel cuts off his celebration. "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean, she waited until I was asleep and slipped through the bathroom window like a fucking ninja."

There's a shuffling sound and then Taylor's barking at me. "What were you doing sleeping in some cheap motel? You were supposed to grab her and bring her home!"

I don't answer, which must be answer enough.

"Men," Taylor spits in disgust. "You're all the fucking same. Sex is on the table and you let all of your well-laid plans—and the woman you love—go right out the window!"

"Why'd she escape through a window?" Danie's voice is faint in the background. "I thought she loved Zane."

"She does! But she's obviously running from something." Taylor clicks her tongue. "I should've figured it out sooner. Mira was always jumpy and she changed her locks more than any normal person should. Obviously, something wasn't right."

"Running from what? Is she in witness protection or something?" Daniel asks.

They start talking amongst themselves like I'm not even here, tossing around theories that are somehow even more wild than the truth.

"It's her story to tell," I finally cut in. "Mira will tell you when and if she wants to. But right now, all you need to know is that she thinks she's protecting all of us from her past. The only reason she wants to leave is because she thinks it'll put us in danger if she stays."

"Then tell her you don't care about being in danger!" Taylor snaps.

"I did."

"Tell her you'll protect her, then."

"I did ."

There's another scuffle and then Daniel's voice comes through loud and clear. "Or, alternatively, you kidnap the woman you love and hold her against her will until she agrees to stay with you."

I snort. "She'll love that."

"It's not exactly romantic," Taylor muses, "but the plan has its merits. Mostly that I get my best friend back."

"I think it's a great plan," Daniel says. "Plus, you're doing it to keep her safe, which I think is very romantic. One day, she'll thank you."

I don't know if that's true.

I don't even think I care if it's not.

It would kill me if anything happened to Mira because she was trying to protect me . So I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect her.

Whether she likes it or not.

She is down the street grabbing food , the P.I. texts as I pull to a stop behind the dumpster behind the building. No luggage with her, so I think she's coming back. Room 129.

I could go chase her around town, but I think it's about time Mira came to me.

All it takes is the slide of my credit card along the inside of the door and the lock to her room pops.

The lights are off. The room smells like decades-old cigarette smoke and dust, but Mira wafts in the air. The floral scent of her hangs like a ghost in the doorway.

So I drop down into the rickety plastic chair in the corner, and I wait.

It can't be more than ten minutes later when I hear footsteps on the concrete outside. Then her keycard sliding in the door.

The second she pushes the door open, I grab her by the wrist and pull her into the room.

Her paper bag of food goes flying and she screams, but the sound chokes off when I pin her against the wall and she gets a good look at me.

Her green eyes go wide. She's teetering between shock and relief. "Zane."

"Considering what we talked about last night, you shouldn't be so surprised to see me."

She winces. "I'm sorry."

"See, I want to believe that, but it's hard because I believed you last night." I fight to keep my voice even. I don't want to yell and scare her, but frustration is simmering under my skin. "I believed you when you said you wanted to come home with me."

"I do." Her voice breaks. "I do want that, Zane. More than anything."

"Good. Then let's go."

I grab her arm and tug her towards the door, but she pulls back. "No. Wait."

"We played that game last night. I took things slow and then you waited until I fell asleep and crawled out the bathroom window like I was a terrible blind date you needed to escape from. I'm not letting you get away again."

She yanks hard, her thin wrist slipping out of my hold. I swear she's lost weight since I saw her last.

"What are you going to do, lock me up?" she spits. "Chain me to my bed? Might be a little traumatizing for Aiden to see me in handcuffs."

"It'll be even more traumatizing when you get yourself killed!" I roar, backing her into the wall.

I flatten my hand on the wall, flexing my fingers as I work out the urges I'm fighting to throw her over my shoulder and carry her away kicking and screaming.

Mira blows out a deep breath. "I can take care of myself."

My molars clench. I've heard that too many times. "How long do you think you can keep this up? Look at how easy it was for me to find you, Mira."

"My brother doesn't have the kind of resources you have." She lets out a bitter laugh. " No one has the kind of resources you have."

"Say that again," I demand. "Listen to yourself this time."

She frowns. "What?"

"No one has the kind of resources I have. You may be able to outrun your brother, but you can't outrun me. I won't let you."

Her eyes squeeze shut and she shakes her head. "You can't, Zane."

"I can." I grab her chin and force her face up to mine. I hold her there until her eyes open and she's looking at me. "I can and I will. I have more money than God already. Fuck hockey; I'll retire and spend my time dragging you home over and over again. As many times as it takes."

"I'm sorry I lied," she says softly. "I should have told you the truth last night. I just thought it would be easier if we got to… if we could say goodbye. I thought maybe you could let me go if we got one more night together."

I bark out a laugh. "Do you think one night with you is all I want? If that was true, I would've been done with you months ago."

"No. No, but—" She pinches her lower lip between her teeth. "You asked me to leave, Zane. At one point, you agreed with me. You thought it would be safest if I left."

"I was wrong!"

"You weren't!" she fires back. "You were thinking clearly and now, after last night, we're not. What about Aiden? Think about Aiden."

I am thinking about Aiden. I'm thinking about me and Aiden and Mira—the life we'll have together. For the first time in my fucking life, I'm thinking about weddings and happily-ever-afters.

"I love you." I drag my thumb down her jawline, over the thrumming of her pulse. Right now, it matches mine. "I love you, Mira."

She stiffens. "Don't."

I ignore her, massaging warmth into her cool skin. "I've never said that to a woman before."

She wraps her hands around my wrists, trying and failing to pull me away. "Don't waste it on me, then."

"You're not a waste, Mira. The time we've spent together, the time we're going to spend together… None of it has been a waste." I kiss her forehead and the end of her nose. I press my lips to hers, exhaling against her mouth when she won't kiss me back. "Our family is the only thing that matters. I fucked up when I told you to leave. I'm not going to make that mistake again. You belong with me and Aiden. You're going to live in my house and sleep in my bed. One day, you'll take my name."

A desperate sob escapes from her pinched lips. "Zane…"

"You're going to have my babies, Mira. Our babies. As many as you want." I can't help but grin. "They're going to look like you and me and we're going to love them and be together and?—"

She's crying now and I brush my lips over the tears on her cheeks. I follow one to her jawline, her throat. "Tell me that's not what you want. Tell me you want me to let you go. Look me in my eyes and tell me you don't want to be with me, Mira."

She squares her shoulders and stares at me. "I don't want?—"

But the words die in her throat.

Her chin wobbles.

She drops her forehead to my shoulder with a sob. "I don't want anything to happen to you or Aiden. I don't want to be the reason you get hurt."

"We're already hurting because of you. The only way you can stop it is by coming home."

Mira curls her hands around mine and holds the bundle of our fingers against her chest. She draws circles along my knuckles with her thumbs, thinking.

Finally, she looks up at me. "You have to know everything first."

"I already know everything I need to know."

She's mine. I'm hers. It's a tale as old as time and all that.

"I'm serious, Zane. I'm not going to let you risk Aiden when you don't even know the full story." She drops our hands and walks around me to the bed. She sits down on the end of it, her body curling in on itself. "I need to tell you what I've done."

I drag the plastic chair over and drop down, my knees enveloping both of hers. I grab her hand and press a kiss to her knuckles. "I'm listening."