Are You Sure?

SHAY

Zane gently placed me on the bed, his eyes a whirlpool of emotions I couldn’t quite decipher.

“Sweetheart, are you certain about this? If we proceed, it means you’re accepting my conditions.”

“And what are those conditions?” I asked, struggling to recall if we’d discussed them. My body was in overdrive, making it hard for my mind to focus.

“You, with me, from this point forward. Standing by my side through thick and thin, eventually tying the knot and starting a family together.

“You’ll be mine, no questions asked, no backing out. You’ll follow my lead, and we’ll both find happiness.”

I took a moment to process his words, then nodded. “Yes, I accept your conditions.”

In a swift motion, he discarded his towel and was on top of me. His lips claimed mine as he took control, his hands resting on my waist as he trailed kisses down my neck.

“When was the last time you were with a man?”

“Over a year ago!” I managed to gasp out.

He looked at me, his gaze intense. “This is your last chance to back out. Are you sure this is the life you want?”

I blinked up at him. “Make me yours, Zane. I am yours.”

His lips crashed onto mine as he thrust into me, hard and fast. I tried to scream, but his mouth muffled my cries as he slowly filled me. He groaned deeply as my body adjusted to his size.

“Damn, you’re tight!” he growled in my ear. “I don’t know how long I can hold out, sweetheart.”

“We have a lifetime, baby. Take what you need now.”

“If you need me to stop, just say the word. Promise?”

“I promise.” He started slow, then quickly picked up the pace. His breath was ragged and heavy as he moved within me. I felt my climax building quickly from his relentless thrusts; my back arched as I cried out.

A low, primal growl escaped his throat; his eyes were closed as he took what he wanted from me.

After I came down from my high, he followed soon after with grunts and a low growl. As he pulsed within me, he kissed me passionately one last time, then pulled back to look at me.

“My beautiful love, I’ve been dreaming of this for days, even before I knew you.

“Watching you from my room, seeing you hustle and bustle around, made me fantasize about this moment. And now it’s real.

“Right now, there’s nothing else in the world but us, discovering each other’s desires and eventually loving each other like no other couple.”

He withdrew, collapsed beside me on the bed, and pulled me to his chest. I rested my head on him, listening to his rapid heartbeat, feeling his chest rise and fall.

“Zane, I need to know something,” I said, turning my head to look at his handsome face.

“What’s that, sweetheart?” He looked down at me, one eye open.

“You mentioned watching me for a few days from your room, but I thought tonight was your first night there?”

“No, sweetheart, I’ve been there all week for business. I didn’t notice you until three days ago, but once I did, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. You were always on the move, serving drinks, laughing with customers.

“When you walked out that door this afternoon, I’d been waiting for you. I knew your schedule, and I made sure I was in that alley to get a closer look at you.

“When you smiled at me, I knew I had to have you. I was just a stranger in an alley, smoking, but you took the time to smile at me.

“I referred to you as Bella, the girl I wanted to know, but they told me that wasn’t your name. But it didn’t matter to me what your name was; to me, you were ~my love~.”

Just then, the intercom buzzed, startling me. He chuckled and rolled over to answer it. “Yeah?”

“Food’s ready, where are you?” Noah’s voice came through.

“We’ll be down in a bit, hold your horses.”

I sat up as he turned the volume down. “Forgot it was that loud. Let’s get dressed and head down.”

My stomach growled loudly, and I placed a hand on it. “Sorry, I didn’t eat much before work.”

“You’re about to feast in a bit.” He stood, and I got a glimpse of him in his relaxed state. I gasped and tried to move.

Groaning, I rolled out of bed and slowly made my way to where my clothes were scattered on the floor.

“Hey, I apologize for that. I got so carried away, I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“It’s okay. It’s been a while for me, and with your, um, size, I guess it was more intense than I expected.”

Zane walked over to me after slipping on his boxers and kissed me gently. “I’ll be more careful next time, unless you want me to be rough.”

“I’m okay, Zane, really. I wouldn’t change a thing about what we just did. It was satisfying for me, and judging by your expression, you enjoyed it as much as I did.”

We finished dressing and made our way to the dining room. Conner and Noah were already there, and they turned to look at us as we entered.

“Have a good time?” Noah smirked.

Zane shot him a warning look. “That’s none of your business, got it?”

“Yes, sir.” Noah saluted him and turned back to his mountain of food. I was taken aback by the amount piled on his plate.

“Noah, you do know you can refill your plate, right?”

“Angel, have you seen me? I can eat three of these plates.”

“Noah,” Zane’s voice held a note of caution.

“What? You call her ‘love,’ she calls you ‘baby,’ so I should have a pet name for her too.”

Zane growled low in his throat, but I placed my hand on his arm to soothe him. “I like it, Noah. It’s okay if you call me that.”

“Then I need one for you too,” Conner chimed in, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Keep it clean, Conner,” Zane warned, fixing him with a stern gaze.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Conner laughed. “I like ‘sunshine.’ She reminds me of a ray of sunshine, lighting up this house.”

I blushed deeply as he pulled out my chair for me, and I took a seat. Zane sat down next to me. “What are you in the mood for, love?”

Surveying the spread on the table, I chose the grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, rice, and gravy with a roll. The guys added a rack of ribs to my plate, and I looked at them in surprise. “I can’t eat all this.”

Zane gave my hip a playful pinch. “We need to put a little weight on you, love. Not much, just a bit.”

We spent over an hour chatting, eating, drinking wine, and enjoying each other’s company.

“Zane.” Noah cleared his throat. “Um, we have some unfinished business that’s been on hold for a while.”

“It can wait until morning. I’m tired and want a good night’s sleep. Tell the guys to put them in the cell; we’ll deal with them after breakfast.

“Conner, I need to talk to you in my office for a few minutes after this.”

“Sure thing, boss. I’ll see what I can do for you.”

Noah sent off a quick text on his phone, and then Zane stood up. “Love, I need you to go to our room please and get ready for bed. I’ll be up shortly; this will only take a few minutes.”

“But—”

He cut me off quickly. “Remember our deal earlier?” He looked at me, making sure I understood he was serious.

I nodded and stood up. He led me to the stairs and kissed me passionately.

“Find something you want to wear tonight in the closet.” He leaned in close to whisper, “If you want to be naked, I won’t object to that either.”

Blushing furiously, I nodded and headed up the stairs to our room.

I glanced back over my shoulder, giving him a seductive smile, then walked to our room, stripped down to nothing, and crawled into bed.

Finding the remote, I turned on the TV and looked for something to watch until he came to bed.

ZANE

Conner and I walked into my office just down the hall after I watched my beautiful woman walk to our room.

He took a seat, and I closed the door behind us.

“What’s up, boss?” Conner watched me as I walked around my desk and took a seat in the large leather chair behind it.

“I need you to do some digging for me. Something happened to Shay when she was eighteen, and I want the men responsible found.”

“Can I ask what I’m looking for?” I could see the concern in his eyes.

“Look into the hotels about a ten-minute drive from her parents’ house back then. We’ll need to hack into the mainframe of the hotel’s computer to find what I’m looking for.”

“That would be easier if you knew which hotel.”

“She didn’t tell me the name, but there will be two guys who escort her into the lobby and go straight to the elevators. I know it’s a tall order, but I’d appreciate it if you could do this.

“Also, she called a cab to take her home. Find out which cab went to that address, and then the driver can tell you which hotel he picked her up from.”

“Do we have a month at least?”

“It was warmer; she had left a pool party and was walking home.”

“Okay, if that’s all she told you, I’ll get to work on it and pull in some other guys to help. We’ll start with the cab companies around here to see who took her home and go from there.”

I stood up and nodded at him. “Thank you, Conner. This is something I need to do for her.” I started walking toward the door.

“Boss, it was that bad, huh?”

“They’ll answer to me for what they did to her. I don’t care how long ago it was; I want them found and brought here to show them who they’ll be answering to for this.

“It won’t be me; the devil wants to play for a while.”

Conner grinned as he got up and walked out the door. “I’ll have people working on this around the clock until we find them.”

I patted him on the shoulder and closed the door to my office, then headed back upstairs to my sweet love. When I walked in, the TV was on and she was curled up asleep in the bed.

I stripped down to my boxers, turned off the TV, and slid into bed with her. I wrapped my arms around her and felt her naked skin against mine.

Smiling to myself, I snuggled into her hair and drifted off to sleep with the woman I’d been waiting for safe in my arms.

The next morning, she was still sound asleep when I woke up. I tried to untangle myself from her and she groaned softly. I paused, waiting for her to settle back to sleep, then finished extricating myself from her and got out of bed.

I had some interrogating to do this morning, and I was looking forward to it. I pulled on a black shirt and blue jeans, kissed Shay on the forehead, and quietly slipped out the door.

I walked into the kitchen, where the guys were sitting at the island, waiting for their breakfast.

“Morning, boss!” Noah greeted me with a big smile. “Where’s Angel?”

“She was still asleep when I checked on her last night, after my chat with Conner. I guess the day’s events wore her out.”

“Or someone else wore her out,” Noah mumbled.

“Noah! Don’t even go there. I don’t want to have to knock some sense into you.”

He just laughed as a heaping plate of waffles was placed before us. We all dug in, polishing off about three plates each. Once we were done, I let the chef know that Shay would be down later for her breakfast.

He nodded and started cleaning up.

“So, are those guys still at the warehouse?” Conner asked, glancing at Noah.

“Yeah, they spent the night in a cell. Let’s go have some fun with those assholes.”

We strolled out to the garage and hopped onto a golf cart. I steered us down a paved path that cut through the trees.

When we reached the entrance, I hit the door opener and drove in. After closing the door behind us, we walked over to where two men were standing guard at a door leading to the basement.

“Morning, Zane,” they greeted me in unison.

“Morning, Mike, John. How’s your morning going?”

“Just been guarding this door until you came down to see what these guys were up to.”

I chuckled as they opened the door for us and followed us down the long metal staircase. At the bottom, three more guards were sitting at a table, engrossed in a card game.

As I walked in, they nodded at me. “Morning, boss.”

“Have they said anything?” I asked.

Nick looked up. “No, boss, they’ve been quiet all night. Your boys did a number on them. Two didn’t make it through the night.”

“Bring them out and strap them to the chairs.”

The guards got up and went over to the cells, yanking my prisoners off their cots and dragging them out. They strapped their wrists, legs, and chests to some chairs that were stained with blood.

I smirked at them as they looked up at me through bruised and bloody eyes.

“Now, why were you chasing me last night?” I asked, leaning against the wall and toying with my favorite knife.

“Fuck you, man,” one of them spat at me.

Smiling, I slowly walked toward him.

“No, thank you.” I held the knife straight in my hand. “You’re not my type.”

I drove the knife down onto his hand, and he screamed out in pain. Twisting it, I asked again in a calm voice, “Again, why were you chasing me and shooting at me?”

He kept screaming as I drove my knife deeper into his hand. “The…boss…told…us…to!”

“There are a lot of bosses around here; I need a name,” I said, leaning down to look him in the eye.

“I can’t. He will kill me,” he said, his face contorted with pain.

“What do you think I’m going to do to you then, hm?”

He looked over at the other two, who were watching in horror. “If you don’t tell me, then I’ll get it out of one of those two sitting beside you here.”

Blood poured out of his hand as I yanked the knife out and stabbed his other hand. “~Fuck!!!~” he screamed out.

“~Name!!!~” I demanded.

“I’ll tell you if you let me go,” the third guy down said in a terrified voice.

“I can’t let you go. You work for an enemy of mine, and I can’t have that,” I said. Leaving my knife in the first guy’s hand, I walked over to the one who spoke.

“Please, I haven’t worked for Wesley long. This was my first job for him, so I can run and never return. My family is back in France, and I can go be with them.

“Please, I have a baby who I’ve never seen before. My son will never know me if you kill me.”

“You said Wesley?” I looked down at him as he sat there shaking and trembling hard.

“Yes, sir, I did.” He looked up at me with pleading eyes.

“Noah!” I called. “Take him to the airport and put him on a plane back to his home. If he’s lying, kill him.”

Noah walked up to him and smirked. “Of course, boss. I’ve been itching to kill someone lately.”

He unbound the man and led him out. The other two sat in silence.

“Who’s ready for a game of cat and mouse?” I asked my guards. They looked up from their card game with huge smiles.

“You know we are.” They dropped their cards and stood up.

“Take them to the maze and have fun with them. Make sure you clean up your mess when you’re done playing.”

Conner looked at me with a questioning look. “Are we playing?”

I gave an evil smirk. “Of course. Get them ready for the game. Noah will be sorry he missed this.”

“Missed what?” he said, walking back in alone.

“Where’s the guy?” I asked.

“I searched him. He was lying, so he’s on his way to the maze. He lives here and has no family that we could find on him. The guys have been researching them all night. He’s not from France.”

“What a shame, these two are about to join him, and then we’re going to have our fun.”

“Hell yeah, that’s what I was coming here to ask you—if I could go play in the maze with him. Let’s go hunting.”

We grabbed some tools, ready to have our fun.