Page 4 of Insatiable

“I don’t see how my sexual preference can help you solve your case, detective,” Zane spat. Crew smiled at him and God; the man was beautiful.

“It can’t,” he admitted, “I’m just curious if you’re gay or bi.” Crew crossed his arms over his chest, waiting Zane out for his answer, and from the determined look on his handsome face, he was willing to wait all night.

“Fine,” Zane grumbled, “I can tell that you aren’t going to let this go. I’m bi, not that it’s any of your business.”

Crew took two steps closer and practically pinned him to the wall with his big body. “How about if I want to make it my business?” he asked.

“What?” Zane whispered. It took every ounce of his restraint not to rub up against Crew and beg him to kiss him.

“I want you to be my business, Zane,” Crew repeated. “Go out with me.” Zane wasn’t sure if Crew was asking him or telling him to go out with him, but for some crazy reason, he found himself shaking his head yes.

“Okay,” Zane whispered. “I’ll go out with you. When?” Now it was his turn to be a bit forward.

“How about right now?” Crew asked, “I know that you have plans to have pizza with the guys, but have dinner with me instead.” Yeah, Crew was bossy and Zane kind of liked it. He never really found bossy men to be his type, but there was something about the give and take that was going on between the two of them that he found completely sexy.

“All right,” he agreed. What did he have to lose? He wasn’t finding what he was looking for spending night after night at the club, waiting for the right man or woman to walk in through the front door. “Where do you want to meet?” he asked.

“How about you let me drive,” Crew insisted. “I know a great little Italian place. Do you like Italian food?” he asked.

“With a last name like Marino, what do you think?” he teased.

Crew chuckled and nodded, “I think that you’ll love this place then,” he said. Crew sealed his mouth over Zane’s taking what he wanted without asking permission and he had to admit—it turned him inside out with need. Crew broke their kiss and stepped back from him.

“What was that about?” Zane asked.

“I thought that we could get the first kiss out of the way. It leaves room for more of them later,” Crew whispered, giving him a little wink. “Now, how about you show me the private rooms, I’ll do a bit of investigating, and you can catch your breath.” All Zane felt capable of doing was nodding at Crew and pointing to the first door on the left.

“Great,” Crew breathed, “I’ll meet you in the office when I’m finished. Give me about thirty minutes and then, we can decide if you want to eat at the restaurant or get takeout and go back to your place.” Zane couldn’t help but just stare at the detective, not sure if he had heard anything that the guy said correctly. He was so forward, that Zane wasn’t sure if he was coming or going, but one thing he was sure of—he really liked how bossy Crewwas and the confidence that the man seemed to have was sexy as fuck.

Zane decided to step outside to call his father about the murder. If he knew anything about it, he might be able to help with Crew’s investigation. Sure, he was trying to earn a few brownie points with the detective, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. For some strange reason, he wanted Crew to like him.

His father answered the call after only one ring, catching him off guard. “I thought you were coming back to the office tonight after you met with Ross and Leo,” his father chided.

“Hello, Dad,” Zane drawled.

“I don’t have time for the niceties bullshit,” his father grumbled. “Why didn’t you come back to the office?” he shouted.

“I have an explanation, but I refuse to tell you what it is unless you stop yelling at me, Dad. I’m not a child anymore and I won’t be treated as one,” Zane insisted.

“Fine, I’m listening,” his stubborn father mumbled. Zane was sure that sometimes when his father looked at him, he saw a little boy instead of a grown man looking back at him.

“I came over to the club to talk to the guys and I ran into a police detective named Crew. Apparently, there was a murder at the club about a year ago, and Ross and Leo didn’t know about it. If their fathers knew anything about a woman being murdered there, they took it to their graves,” Zane said.

“What did the cop tell you?” his father asked.

“Not too much,” Zane said. “The woman’s name was Susan O’Hare, and she had her throat slit. Did Ross or Leo’s fathers ever say anything about that?”

“No,” his father quickly answered. “They never said anything about a woman being killed in one of the private rooms at the club. If I had heard such a thing, do you think I’d let you buy into that place?” A chill ran down Zane’s spine as he recounted their conversation in his head. He didn’t mention that the woman had been killed in a private room. His father was lying and somehow, he knew more than he was letting on. But Zane couldn’t prove that and questioning him about it now would only make his father angry. He needed to do some research of his own and figure out why his father would lie to him about any of this.

“Well, it was worth a try,” Zane said, “thanks for talking, Dad. I won’t be back in tonight. I promised Ross and Leo that we’d have a guy’s night, just like old times.”

“Ah,” his father said, “pizza and beer.”

“You guessed it,” Zane said. His mind was spinning, but he needed to get off the phone before his father started to suspect him because he was agitated. “Got to go, Dad. The guys are waiting for me to pick up the pizza,” Zane said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He quickly ended the call before his father could ask any more questions. Zane needed to get his head on straight before his date with Crew because the last thing he wanted to do was fuck up their dinner.

“There you are,” Ross said. Leo followed his husband out of the club. “Crew said to tell you that he’s going to be a few more minutes. What’s going on?” he asked. “You’re as white as a sheet.”

“Let’s go into your office,” Zane ordered, “we need to talk.” The two guys looked at each other and Leo looked as though he might ask another question. Zane shook his head, “Not here.”

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