It Was Always You (9 page)

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.”

“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.

His gaze burned as he stepped back. “Do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“For Cade’s party.”

“Sure,” she said. “What do you want?”

“No panties.”

Her mom entered the kitchen. His grin was sinful.

“I mean it, Zoë.”

Moisture left her mouth at the command in his tone and her pussy clenched with need. Her mom spoke and she struggled to decipher the words attempting to penetrate the haze Zane left her in.

Zane leaned against the porch railing, a beer dangling from his fingers. Friends and those who were like family mingled around, laughing, dancing to the music, and enjoying the food prepared by the woman who would soon be his mother-in-law. The turnout was spectacular and he was pleased his brother had great friends.

He sensed Thomas behind him and waited for the man to say something. Silent, he sat on the rail, his own beer bottle held by his fingers. “I really want to plow your face in for touching my sister.” He cleared his throat. “My baby sister. My
only
sister. How could you?”

“Out of all the men out there, am I really that bad?” He sliced his gaze to look at Thomas.

The man scowled. “If I hit you, you’d just sit there, wouldn’t you.”

He drank some beer. “I’ve got nothing to prove. You want to take a swing at me, do it.”

A few moments passed. “You’ve changed, Zane. The one I went to school with was forever trying to show everyone he was top dog.”

“I still am top dog. I know it. I have no need to fight all the time. Trust me, I’ve done enough of that for a lifetime.” His gaze lingered over Zoë, who was speaking with Cora. Zoë’s short, flirty dress had his blood rushing south. Her hair hung in a French braid and he longed to release it so all the strands could fall free over his skin.

“Didn’t stop you the other night.”

He sliced his gaze back to Thomas. “When it comes to Zoë, I will
always
fight for her. You and I both know either one of us would have done the same thing for any woman.”

“Rescued them, yes, but you damn near killed them.”

“They deserved to die. I had a bit of control so they lived.” Miraculously he’d had enough control to rein in the murderous rage coursing through him. Although if he wanted to be honest about it, he stopped because Zoë had said his name, redirecting his attention to her.