Page 69 of The Silent Note

Instead I breathe hard and press my naked legs back together because, without Zane’s body hovering over me, keeping out the cold, all I feel is a cool wind in a place that was ready for blistering heat.

The phone suddenly goes silent.

Zane’s body dips the mattress and I roll toward him, my eyes wide and my mouth open in shock. I glance at the phone and I see that he powered it down.

“You didn’t answer?”

“You wanted me to stop?”

I bite down on my bottom lip.

His smile is amused. He keeps looking at me like that, like I’m a little girl playing a game he already won.

The urge to smack him rises in me.

“Did you?”

A tortured grunt is all I offer.

He leans down and I anticipate him kissing me but his mouth meets my ear. “The world can burn.”

I’m gripped by the frightening honesty in his tone. The recklessness. The surety.

I know the truth. Zane Cross would only burn if the world burned with him.

“You’re more important to me,” he adds. There’s something dark and genuine behind his eyes, and I get the feeling that he’s letting me see it. That he’s undoing his mask with as much strain and effort as it took him to undo my blouse.

Trying to be semi-responsible, I point out, “Still.”

He grabs both my ankles in one palm and yanks me to the edge of the bed. Kneeling down, he spreads my legs again. “Still?”

“You should…” I dig my fingers into the sheet as my veins liquify.

A kiss behind my knee. Then a cocky tilt of his head in question. “I should?”

Defiance unfurls inside me, but it’s no match for the wet heat of his mouth climbing closer and closer to?—

Heavy thuds bang on the door.

“Zane!”

We both groan at the interruption.

“Zane, check your phone!”

“My phone’s dead. Now go away!” Zane yells, returning his attention to my inner thigh.

More thudding.

The door’s about to drop off its hinges.

“Put your clothes back on and check your damn phone! Jinx just posted.”

My heart skips a beat. I unfold my legs from Zane’s shoulders, crab walk backward so I can get to the nightstand and swipe my phone off the dresser.

Chills run down my spine when I read the latest update.

“What is it?” Zane asks, his face hardening.