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But beauty aside, if Zane Traynor was shriveled and hunchbacked and covered in warts, I was pretty fucking sure he’d still find a way to get under myskin.
It was the king-of-cool way he spoke, the king-of-the-jungle way he took up space, the god’s-gift-to-rock-’n’-roll way he sang; hell, the way hebreathed; even the way his twisted mind worked… the way he looked at me like he’d eat me alive if I ever so much as gave him the chance, exactly like he was doing right now… yeah. The list of things about Zane that screwed with my mind and body on a moment-to-moment basis went everon.
I never knew quite how he was gonna floor me next. I just knew he was goingto.
Always.
I watched as he pulled a Zippo, a baggie of weed and a pack of rolling papers from his pocket and said, “You wanna tell me what’s got your panties all in atwist?”
Yeah. Just likethat.
King ofcool.
The man just shoved me on the floor and thenspaton that floor, all because I kissed him, and now I was the one with the problem. Made perfect sense, really, that level of crazy being just an average moment in the life of ZaneTraynor.
Not so much in the life of me, and since my head was feeling a little fuzzy from all the champagne, I actually let myselfhopeI hadn’t heard himright.
“Excuseme?”
“Dig in,” he said, eyes narrowing as he flicked his chin at the ice cream. “Know a fellow junkie when I seeone.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. I was definitely addicted to the sweet stuff, and no matter how ticked I was at him, there was no sense wasting good ice cream. So I dumped the warm, fudgy syrup over it and dove in while he fingered weed into the crease of one of the little papers. If this was a peace offering, it was incredibly effective. As the ice cream sank in, I could definitely admit I was more ticked at myself than I was at him. No matter how much his supreme coolness irritatedme.
I watched as he ran the tip of his tongue along the edge of the paper and sealed up the joint. He sparked up the Zippo and lit it, then tucked the lighter away. He offered the joint to me, but I shook my head. Last thing I needed was anything else clouding my judgment tonight. Probably shouldn’t have opened the champagne, but I didn’t actually think I’d be seeing him again when Idid.
He took a few short drags, exhaling a wisp of smoke as he studied me. Even though I rarely smoked it, I loved the smell of good grass. I didn’t love it when Zane smoked up, though. Over time, I was afraid he’d just replace one addiction with another. I wasn’t shy about voicing it, either. We’d debated it, ad nauseam, and it was Brody, not Zane, who’d finally convinced me to let it go.Let the man have his weed. He’s battled back a large-size demon, and you don’t do that without earning somescars.
That was some straight-up Brody-style man logic, but since he was usually right about anything and everything to do with the band and their business—professional and otherwise—not to mention he was the hands-down master of diffusing situations that were bound to otherwise end in me throttling Zane, I let itgo.
Didn’t mean I liked doingit.
Zane cocked his wicked eyebrow at me, the double-pierced one, as I watched him smoke. He took another slow drag, his eyes never leaving mine. “Your panties,” he said, his blue eyes narrowing as he exhaled smoke. “They’re all up in a fucking twist tonight, Maggs. Gonna tell me what that’sabout?”
My spoon froze halfway to my mouth, and it took alotto get between me and icecream.
I set my bowl down, my appetite leaving me, and tossed the spoon in so it clattered loudly. Then I drew in a breath, digging deep for the strength, the patience, and the will to resist committing murder that I was sensing this conversation was gonnatake.
“I don’t know, Zane. Maybe you could tell me why you’ve gotta crank the crazy on up to eleven. I mean, everyone knows you’re pretty fucking crazy all on your own… but get you and me alone in a room together, andJe-sus.”
He considered this a moment, looking completely unvexed. Then his gaze skimmed down to the gap in my robe where my thighs were on display, lingering a moment on my nakedskin.
“Because I can’t fucking think like a sane person when you’re around and my dick isup.”
Yeah. We’d kind of established thatalready.
But as much as I tried to pretend it didn’t happen, my pussy clenched at hiswords.
Admittedly, it was a stupid pussy. Which was why it didn’t call theshots.
Unlike Zane’s dick, which definitelydid.
“Nothing was gonna happen, Maggie,” he added, as if reading my thoughts, his voice low, quiet. “You were hurting. I could seethat.”
Hurting? Yeah, I was hurting. But not so much about Coop, which was probably what hethought.
“Whatever you think of me and my track record with women, I’d never do you likethat.”
Well, that made mesoften.
