“Oh. I meant to say, that’s fucking hot. What a rugged, beastly thing you did.”
His lips curled up at the edges, and his eyes got a wicked sparkle in them. “That’s better.”
This was how it had always been between us.Easy.
Maybe that’s why I stammered out my troubles to him. I’d had a hard time sharing the nasty details of my divorce, but with Zane I felt like I could open up more.
“Wade wasn’t terrible at first. He was charming and ambitious. Being with him was exciting… for a while.” I set the bread down. “But he needed me to be smaller than I was.”
Zane’s brow furrowed. “He wanted to put you on a diet? You’reperfect, Mallory. Don’t lose an inch unless you want to.”
I squeezed his hand. What a nice thing to say to a woman aswell-roundedas myself.
“Actually, I meant in our lives. Wade hid it until we were married, but he didn’t want a modern woman at his side. Turned out the thing he liked best about me was my roots. He thought he was getting a sweet, country girl who would dote on him without questioning a thing he did.”
Zane’s jaw clenched. “Anyone who’s been around you for more than five minutes should know you can’t be bossed around.”
And that’s one of the things I loved about this man. He knew me.
“Yeah. I don’t take orders well, do I?”
“Nope. You gotta be in charge.” His eyes softened as he studied me, like that little fact delighted him.
Being with Zane wouldn’t be like that. He might be an alpha kind of guy, but he also listened to reason and knew when to give some ground.
“He never cheated, that I know of, but we divorced in our hearts years before we signed the papers.” Then I admitted something I hadn’t even told Kelly. “We had a dead bedroom. I haven’t had sex in four years.”
Zane blew out a breath. “Damn, girl. That guy dideverythingwrong.”
“Was it like that with you and Tina?”
He furrowed his brow, and I got the sense he chose his next words carefully. “Tina and I got along better than that. We weren’t married long, but when we divorced, there was still some fondness sitting between us.”
I liked that for him.
“Well, I wish I could say the same. My divorce got nasty. My advice, don’t ever marry a lawyer. He goteverything. Even my dog.” My voice caught slightly on that last part.
Anger flashed across Zane’s face. The first time I’d ever seen him get riled up. “He took your dog?”
One tiny tear slipped down my cheek. “Yeah. Quincy is my little darling. A tiny French bulldog we got a year before we split up. But Wade paid for him and had the receipts to prove it. He demanded ownership and… the divorce judge sided with him.”
Then I confessed the part that hurt worst. “Wade didn’t even like Quincy. He just knew it would hurt me if he took him.”
“What kind of asshole steals a woman’s dog?” he growled out, a storm brewing behind his eyes.
Wiping at my cheek, I told him, “Look at me ruining this perfect picnic lunch you set up for us. I don’t want to talk about Wade anymore. He’s in the past.”
But Zane’s jaw tightened, and his eyes went dark and serious. “I’ll get your dog for you.”
I laughed despite myself, warmth flooding through me at his show of loyalty. Zane was a thousand times the man Wade could ever be. He’d never steal a woman’s dog.
But maybe he would steal onefora woman.
I grinned and kissed him on the cheek. “Youwouldtoo. If you showed up in Chicago, every man there would go running from you.”
“You’d probably make him piss his pants.” I pictured Wade in his expensive suit coming face to face with a six-foot-four mountain of a man built like a stone wall. Zane would literally crush him in seconds.
Zane’s mouth curved, slow and satisfied. “I’lldoit,” he rumbled. “I’ll get your dog.”
