Page 211 of Positively Pricked
Chapter 71
An hour later, it was just him and me. At Zane's insistence, he'd been the one to give Kayla a ride back to her car – minus the silverwareorany paintings, for that matter.
As for me, I'd spent that time waiting at Zane's place, mostly playing with the dogs, who'd apparently just arrived home from their doggie vacation up north.
Of course, I spentsomeof this time rummaging through Zane's massive freezer in search of – yup, you guessed it – stray meatballs.
Did I find any?
I'll never tell. But Iwillsay that two microwavable minutes later, along with a few bad throws, the dogs were in no mood to complain, and soon settled down for a nap in the shade.
I was in no mood to complain either. Somehow, after wandering from the kitchen, I'd ended up on the same exact rug that I'd been cleaning however many months ago.
In fact, that's where Zane found me when he returned from taking Kayla back to the gas station. With an amused smile, he asked, "What are you doingthere?"
I was sprawled on my back, gazing up at the high ceiling. "Just thinking."
"About what?"
"My question." I gave him an impish smile. "You neverdidanswer it, you know."
He sank down onto the rug beside me and pulled me into his arms. "What question?"
"Earlier, youclaimedyou were terrified when I showed up on your doorstep. But you weren't really, were you?"
"Hell yes, I was terrified."
I gave him a playful swat to his arm. "Oh, stop it."
"I was," he insisted. "And you wanna knowwhy?"
"Why?"
He pulled me closer. "Because even as mad as you were, I still didn't want you to leave."
I laughed against him. "Wow, thatisscary."
"Yeah. Tell me about it." He ran a hand along my back. "And it wasn't just me. It was the dogs, too."
"Now, Iknowyou're joking."
"No joke," he said. "You should've heard them when you left. They howled for an hour." His voice softened. "Youdoknow they're crazy about you."
I was still laughing. "They're not crazy aboutme. They're crazy about meatballs."
"Nah, they can get those any time. Butyou? You're something special."
His words made me feel warm and gooey all over, and I smiled against the cotton of his shirt. "So are you."
"Yeah?"
"Totally." Still, I had to tease him. "But I've gotta say, if you didn't want me to leave, you sure had a funny way of showing it."
"Hey, I did what I had to."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You want the truth?" His tone grew serious. "I didn't want you coming around."
