Page 18 of To Tango, with Desire

I opened my eyes as he pulled back. It took me a few seconds to understand his meaning. The reason for his attention. He hadn’t kissed me because he wanted me, but because he’d been frustrated. I knew that. But my body didn’t seem to get the message.

Zane was dangerous. Not in a gang-boss mafia hitman sense, but in a raw, elemental, ‘I’ll make you beg for me’ way. Kissing him, being close to him was making me lose all sense of self. I trembled. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could make me want the very things that terrified me.

“Zane, you’re not making sense.”

“Stay away from Kade.”

“Why?”

“I mean it.”

“You need to explain this to me. I won’t just stay away from a guy without an explanation.”

“Take my word for it.”

Annoyance had me straightening to my full height. We were almost eye level. I refused to tilt my chin to meet his gaze. “You can’t tell me who not to date, Zane.”

“Date?”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Did Kade ask you out?”

I tried not to squirm under his steely gaze.

“No. I meant see. I’ll most likely see him at milongas, so avoiding him is going to be tricky.”

I could tell that he didn’t believe me. What the hell had happened between them to cause Zane to act like this?

“You will obey me.”

“Obey you?” I scoffed. “You’ve no right to boss me around. And you certainly don’t get a say in who I’m friends with, so get over yourself.”

I shifted, breaking contact between us. I took another sidestep for good measure. I couldn’t seem to think when he was touching me.

“You either speak to me in the way that I deserve or you leave me the hell alone. You don’t get to dictate who I dance with, talk to, or, yes, even date. If I want to see Kade, I will. And there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.”

“Amira.”

“This conversation is over.”

“Wait.”

I froze, only because of the concern in his voice.

“If Kade comes near you again, you need to promise me to be on your guard.”

“Zane, he was—”

“Promise.”

I gritted my teeth. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”

Zane placed his hands in his suit pockets, and when he looked at me again a moment later, the shutter was back in place.

Whatever bothered him seemed to go deeper than jealousy. What was it about Kade that had rattled Zane so much?

I was determined to find out.