“But I’m scared if loving me makes you more corrupt than you’re willing to be,” I remark, my words spilling from my lips with haste. “I can’t be the reason you wind up corrupt to the core.” I look up at him, my eyes now doleful. “Because it’s only a matter of time until you see what you’re becoming and you’ll hate it like I do.”
“That’s the thing, Amelia,” he begins to say. He pushes me backwards until my back is flush against the wall, his body leaning into me. The heat and chemistry are palpable and strong between us and it’s undeniable. Zane apparently uses that to his advantage. "I was already a corrupt cop. My love for you out ruled everything. I was never destined to remain on the good side of life when I'm forever chasing you. You need to see that. Your father pulled us apart and I allowed that twice, but this time he's pulling us together. I'm here to stay, and I'm here to prove a point." He’s becoming almost ferocious with this argument, and I can’t help but wonder if I’ll remember any of it come daybreak. The sinking part of me so wants to remember and relinquish what we had while another part of me orders me to remain distant. “I jeopardized so much of life for you, and I can’t stop until I have you back. It’s not so simple anymore. It was never meant to be, and I never want it to be. Life with you has been nothing but a fight and it’s consuming and I love every single moment of it. I just want to make sure there are no more obstacles.”
“There are always going to be obstacles,” I tell him, gulping hard against the lump forming uncomfortably in my throat. “This world is risky.”
“Then I’ll be more than happy to do it with you by my side,” he says passionately. “I will do whatever your father wants, play whatever role, protect you at all lengths, Amelia,” he tells me, his eyes upon me heavily. “You asked me once if I was your knight in shining armor or your kryptonite, and I can tell you that I’m still both. Let me prove it.”
I shake my head. "I don't need a knight in blood caked armor," I tell him, pushing him back, announcing what he’ll become. I’m sobering up a little and my senses are telling me to run. I cannot make him a victim of my love and my family. He’s chose one without my consent, but my love is one I can strive to stop.
Zane's first response is to slam both hands on either side of me against the brick wall of the foyer of the bar. Invariably, I’m trapped me between it and his aching body and I never knew it was a place I missed being. He places a leg between mine, pinning me more and I look at him waiting for his next move.
"Sorry, sweetheart, but by the look of things, it's what you're gonna get."
Fuck. I feel myself moisten as I become overpowered by everything Zane Maverick. His overbearing power over me is something I fall a willing victim to every time, but this time, his fight for me, that inability to heed my woes and leave, makes my heart skip a steady beat. I know, again, I never fell out of love with him. Lorenzo is, sadly, living proof of that. My body reacts the same, my heart does too, and my mind becomes entirely unbidden to all possibilities when Zane is around. I am well and truly screwed, and he hasn’t even gotten into my panties yet – if I was wearing any, but Zane doesn’t have to know that.
“You are all I’ll ever need,” he murmurs, his hand cradling my face gently. “I’m nothing more than a callous, greedy man, Amelia. You must know that. I’m impulsively stupid, I make the wrong decisions, but I’m convinced this is the right move for us now.” His tone is soft on my hearing, lulling me into a sense of belief. “Deep down, you must’ve known this was the only way for us to have a final chance.”
He has me there. It’s the God’s honest truth. I did only believe that we would have been a match made in heaven had he been more like me or had I been more like him. He’s made the move to become more like I am – aggressive, powerful, frightening. I can’t break the bindings in which I was born to, it’s too late for me to get out unscathed, but Zane is proving that I am worth more than a casual fling. I am a lifelong goal to him. His newfound commitment to a mafia crime family proves that.
Without thinking again, I forget for a second that I’m meant to be abstaining from him. I fling my arms around his neck and draw him down to my height so our lips can kiss in perfect unison. The spark I’ve felt every time he’s around igniting, coursing through my entire body with an adrenaline rush so commanding I vie for more of Zane. When he doesn’t deny the kiss, I push my tongue into his mouth, proving that I am still a victim of his love. As one hand drops from his neck, coursing down his chest, I know I cannot leave this bar with just a kiss. I move my hand ever so slightly, playing with the top button of his shirt.
“Not here,” he grunts suddenly and releases me as he recognizes what I’m up to. He glances behind him and turns back with a smirk. “Come with me,” he commands and takes my hand.