Page 63 of The Silent Note

“Goodnight.” I wave.

Cadence smiles softly and waves back.

Dutch takes her hand and leads her past Finn to mount the stairs.

“Aww. If Dutch and Cadence weren’t already a couple, I’d ship them.”Sloane leans on the railing besideFinn, her chin cupped in her palms and her eyes on the newlyweds.

I feel a warm hand on my lower back.

Zane is behind me, giving me a long, observant look. “You ready for bed?”

The words feel loaded with a different sort of meaning and I stiffen.

Sloane runs up to me, hovering over my shoulder.“He’s not talking about going to sleep, Grey.”

I swallow hard, feeling the same adrenaline as I did when we were extracting Grandma Slavno from the nursing home.

Zane waits for me to answer with words, but my tongue is heavy and all I can do is nod.

I was annoyed that we couldn’t get our bedroom activities out of the way yesterday. Why does today feel so different? Why does it feel likemore?

“Because yesterday, you felt like you were being manipulated. But today, you feel loved.”Sloane shrugs and walks a circle around Zane.“Even if you’d dated a guy who was six years OLDER than you, he wouldn’t have done what Zane did for you tonight.”

My heart picks up speed, pounding faster.

I don’t think I feellovedlike Sloane assumes, but… I know that at least I’m not going to hate tonight.

My eyes slide over the lean, hard muscles filling up Zane’s scrubs. The material is absolutely unflattering and a strange shade of green, but on him, it might as well be a fashion statement.

I run my tongue over my teeth, mentally preparing myself.

It’s just sex, Grey. No need to be nervous.

Or maybe there is.

Nothing is ever easy with Zane Cross.

He’s the very definition of a heartbreaker. A ‘lady killer’ as one of mom’s fellow waitresses at the diner used to say, with his slow, slow grins, tattoos, and a dangerous ability to look straight into a woman’s eyes and make her feel things she never asked to.

The way he’s looking at me now. Straight into my eyes. Heated. Possessive.Blue.His gaze emits its own heat, its own energy, merging with my frigid persona, melting the ice woman inside me until she’s nothing but liquid.

“That’s a lot of words just to admit he’s hot.”

Zane is… okay-looking.

“Oh, that’s such B.S.”

Fine, he’s very handsome.

Better?

“Marginally.”

“Let’s go,” Zane says.

“Uh, do you mind if we both shower first?”

He stares at me.

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