He squeezed the kid’s shoulder before moving down into the small kitchen off the hall. “Ethan, you got a number and address for me?”
“I do. Texting them to you now.”
His phone vibrated but Zane didn’t lower the cell from his ear.
“I haven’t been able to find any dirt on the reporter though,” Ethan continued. “The guy’s the cleanest I’ve seen.”
“It’s fine. I’ll just have to go in the old-fashioned way.” Find the guy and scare the shit out of him.
“Don’t do anything that could get you into trouble.”
“Thanks for the information, Ethan.”
“Zane—”
“You don’t need to worry about me. We’ll talk again soon.” He hung up and opened the text to run his gaze over the cell number and address. “Got you, asshole.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
He swung around to see Bonnie just inside the kitchen. Shit. He hadn’t heard her come in. “Is everything okay?”
“I was going to ask you the same question. Are you avoiding me?”
Hell yes, he was. “Why would I do that?”
“It might have something to do with our kiss.”
It hadeverythingto do with their kiss. “It was a mistake.”
She pulled back like he’d hit her. Then blinked as if physically trying to recover. “It didn’t feel like a mistake.”
No. It hadn’t. It had felt raw and explosive, like a sucker punch to the ribs stealing the air from his lungs. “I should get back out there.”
He moved to step around her, but she grabbed his arm. “Wait. Tell me why. Why do you think it was a…mistake?”
Even her fingers wrapped around his arm somehow both steadied and unraveled him at the same time. “Because now isn’t a great time.”
Her brows flickered. “For you or me?”
“For either of us. You’ve got enough going on. You don’t need my shit too.”
“You’ve got something going on?”
He’d had stuff going on for a long time. “Bonnie…I need to get back to the class.”
“Okay, but before you go, I just want to say…thank you.”
“For what?”
“The other night, before the kiss. With Carlos. You stood up to him for me. You brought me in here. You made that day suck a little less. Thank you.”
“I wasn’t going to stand back and let the asshole touch you like that. I’m not that guy.”
One side of her mouth lifted. “If you say things like that, you’re gonna make me catch feelings, Merrick.”
Why did it feel too late for him? “You should stay away from me.”
“I’m not sure if I can.”
