9. Zane

9

ZANE

The shower is still running when I walk into the bedroom, steam billowing out of the crack in the door.

For a second, I have a flashback to this morning. Of walking into the dingy motel bathroom and finding the shower empty. I know Mira is in there, but I don't think that gnawing pang of anxiety that she isn't is going to go away anytime soon.

I push the door open.

Mira is little more than a fuzzy outline through the condensation on the glass, but she's here . That's more than enough.

I slip out of my clothes and ease open the glass shower door.

Mira is already looking at me. She keeps her eyes on me as she runs hands through her onyx hair. Water sluices down her shoulders and between her breasts. Her nipples are tight little knots.

"Miss me already?" she teases, her gaze dropping to my aching erection.

"I just needed to talk to you about some security updates." I step closer, a growl building in my chest when she meets me halfway, every inch of me pressed against her flat stomach. "This visit is purely business."

She swirls her finger over my chest, doodling in the mist gathering on my skin. "Should I be taking notes?"

I slide my hand between her thighs, gliding over her already-slick center. "Only if you're worried you'll forget something."

"I might," she gasps, "forget a thing or two."

"I can repeat myself." I spin her in my arms so I'm nestled in the swell of her ass. I dip a finger into her, teasing her open. "As many times as you need, Mira. Again and again and?—"

She moans and her head falls back on my shoulder. Her eyes flutter closed as I touch her, and I could almost forget that I really did come here with another purpose in mind.

But I've always been good at multitasking.

"I have a new security system. It monitors the main door and the windows." I kiss her jaw and her throat, my other hand shifting higher to knead her full breast in my hand. "The code is 80085."

She laughs breathlessly. " BOOBS ? Your code is ‘boobs'?! Are you a middle school boy in math class?"

"No, I just wanted to hear you laugh. I'll give you the real code later, but you won't really need to know it."

"Why n—?" she starts to ask, but she loses her train of thought when I slide myself between her thighs from behind.

She arches against me, letting me work myself back and forth exactly where we both want me to be. She rocks against me, panting.

Suddenly, she plants her hands on the shower wall and looks back over her shoulder at me. Her green eyes are dark and that sinful bottom lip is pinched between her teeth.

"Fuck me, Zane."

She wiggles her hips and, just like that, there isn't a single other reason I came into this bathroom. There isn't a single other reason I exist on this planet, as far as this moment is concerned.

I band an arm around Mira's waist and pull her against me, sinking every inch of myself into her.

"Fuck," I growl, slapping my hand on the wall next to hers. I bite her earlobe and lick the water from her neck.

There isn't a single place where she isn't soft. A single place she doesn't fit me like a fucking dream.

Mira loops her arm back and around my neck. "This doesn't feel like business."

I drag out of her and drive back in, gritting my teeth against the urge to take us both there now. Because I could. God, I really could.

"You know what they say: if you enjoy what you do, you'll never work a day in your life." I tease in and out of her in small increments—an inch in and out, loving the way she clenches around me. The way she arches back looking for more. "And I fucking love what I do, Mira."

"Me?" she asks in a breathy laugh.

I hum my "yes" in her ear. "This. And taking care of you. Keeping you safe. It's all my job."

She stiffens, and I hate that she's still scared. That, even now, her past is hanging over us.

I slide out of her and spin her around. Before she can protest, I'm on my knees in front of her, her right leg tossed over my shoulder.

"That's why I asked Evan to watch you."

"Watch me?" she gasps as I drag my tongue over her. " Now ?"

Even the suggestion sends a bolt of possession through me. I delve into her, claiming her inside and out until I don't think she'd care if Evan really was in the room watching. "No. This is all mine. Right now, you are all mine. But when I'm not here, I want someone to be with you."

Her fingers slip into my wet hair, dragging me closer. "Evan is already our bodyguard."

"Now, he's your guard." I kiss along her inner thigh until she whimpers, rolling her hips until my mouth is back where she wants it. "You'll be protected twenty-four-seven. Even when I'm not here."

She moans as I circle her clit, sucking and flicking until she's riding my mouth. "Yes, Zane. Holy shit. Yes."

I smile against her skin. "So, you agree?"

"Ye—" She falters. "Wait. No. No, I don't—Fuck. I can't think with your mouth on me."

I lower her leg to the floor and kiss my way up her body.

"I didn't mean you should stop ," she whines, circling her arms around my neck. "But I don't need security. I can?—"

"Take care of yourself," I finish. "Yeah, so I've heard. But I don't care. If you think you can take care of yourself, then—" Mira reaches for me, but I catch her wrist and pin it to her side. "—you'll have to take care of yourself. "

Her green eyes go wide as she catches my meaning. "You aren't serious. You won't touch me?"

"Oh, no—I'll touch you." I press her against the tile and find her entrance. She's so wet that I slide home in one thrust. Mira sighs. "But you won't come around my cock. I'll take you to the edge again and again and again—but you'll never, ever finish."

She tries to work herself against me, but I hold her hips against the tile. I pin her in place and only give her what I want to. An inch here, a slow stroke there. I circle my thumb over her center—but as soon as her breath catches and I feel her tightening around me, I pull away.

"Zane," she whimpers, "I need to come. Please."

"Then stop fighting me." I drag my tongue over her thundering pulse and follow the slope of her shoulder with my lips. "Tell me what I want to hear, Mira."

She huffs out a frustrated noise, and I tease into her again. She parts around me, whimpering as I slowly fill her…

Then I retreat.

"Let me come!" she cries, actually stamping her foot. "I need to— Yes! Okay? You can hire a bodyguard. I'll stop fighting you. Is that what you want to hear?"

I catch her full mouth in a kiss as I respond with a language we both understand. She gasps into my kiss as I drive into her, and I already feel her clenching around me.

"You're so close," I grit out. "I feel you."

Mira is too far gone for words. She moans and bucks against me until I press deep and she holds me there. Her fingers dig into my lower back as she takes me as far into herself as she can and falls apart.

I feel every ripple of her body, every pulse of her orgasm around me. She's falling and dragging me down with her, but I wait. I fight the bone-deep need to release until she's trembling and spent against the shower wall.

Only then do I slide out of her, gently lower her to her knees, and spill myself across her chest. She smooths her hands over her chest, spreading me across her skin.

This woman is perfect.

She's mine and I wasn't kidding before. My job now, more than playing hockey or becoming captain, is protecting her and Aiden.

My job is to keep them safe .

I fucking dare Carson or Dante or Peter Morris or anyone else to try taking them from me.