Page 199 of The Forbidden Note

I swallow hard.

The car stops.

Distractedly, I fluff my curls and take out my lipstick to reapply.

Before I can trace my lips, I suddenly find myself flat on my back with Zane hovering over me. He eyes me hard. “Who are you prettying yourself up for?”

“Zane…”

He frowns, his eyes two stormy pits of blue and gold. “I really don’t want to let you go.”

My heart is heavy.

Now that I’m here, looking up into the chiseled planes of his face and feeling the heat of his chest, I realize I don’t want to go either.

Is that because I have real, sincere feelings for Zane? Or is it just because of the urgency I feel to get back to the investigation?

“I’m only here so my mom can calm down enough to listen to me. I’ll take two minutes to apologize for wasting this guy’s time and leave.”

Zane considers it and then eases off me.

I think he’s going to let me go when he leans in and gently brushes my lips with his own. It’s only a quick flash of a kiss but I chase his lips down, searching for more.

His hand cups my face. The tender look in his eyes is mesmerizing. And unexpected. This rogue of a drummer with the tattoos, the blue eyes, and the thirst for danger is no longer hiding his affection. It’s pouring out of him like a flood and it makes me breathless.

He taps my nose. “Consider that a taste of what will happen later. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can come back for more.”

I poke his side, right where he got punched last night.

Zane doubles over. “Ow!”

“Stop messing around and go.”

He scrunches his nose and sits straight up. “I’ll be watching from here. This guy could be a psycho.”

“He can’t be worse than you,” I mumble.

His finger teases the corner of my shirt. A reluctant smile on his lips, he nods. “At least you know it, tiger.”

The cab driver glances at us. “W-we’re here.”

I ease out of the car on shaky legs. The sun is high in the sky and it beats down on my head. I can feel sweat gathering already.

I lift a hand to shade my eyes from the blaze and enter the restaurant.

I have no idea what mom told this guy about me but, after I break my date’s heart I need to figure out a way to break Zane’s.

CHAPTERFORTY-NINE

GREY

“Grace Jamieson?” A man in a corner booth waves.

He’s tall, wiry and wearing a sharp grey business suit. Small glasses, the kind that most would consider ‘spectacles’ dangles from the edge of his nose.

He seems nice, if a bit socially awkward. Unlike Zane, whose presence immediately fills up a room until it drowns everyone else out, this guy seems content to be a background character.

It’s unfair to compare the two. Knowing mom, she’d pick the opposite of Zane’s strong-willed, rebellious, and sensual personality. Plus, this is exactly the type of guy who seems likely to agree to a date the moment it’s offered.