The little girl shrugged, still staring hard at her. “You’re living with him.”
“He’s trying to help me with something.”
She shook her head like she didn’t believe it. “I heard Mommy and Mindi talking. They said he was in love with you.”
Amanda didn’t know what to say to that. She was sure Zoe had to have misheard. There was no way Zane wouldn’t have said something if he was in love with her. Zane tended to know how to get what he wanted. She ended up shaking her head and going back to folding the laundry in front of her.
“Are you in love with him?” Zoe pressed on, proving how much like her older brother she was. Zane had always been one to push until he got what he wanted out of a person.
She swallowed, debating in her head what to tell the child, when she pushed again. “Well, are you?”
Amanda just closed her eyes. The little girl knew how to get straight to the point. She decided not to lie. “Yeah, Baby, I am. Boy am I ever. I always have been.”
“Then why do you date other guys?”
“Sweetheart, I think you understand way too much.”
“Maybe,” she shrugged. “But you didn’t answer my question.”
“You are definitely a Townsend, you know that?” she asked, brushing the little girl’s hair out of her eyes. “And honestly, I don’t know anymore. If we can get through this mess with Austin, I won’t do it anymore, I promise.”
“Okay,” she nodded, getting up to finally walk out of the room.
Amanda sat back, taking a deep breath, wondering how accurate what Zoe had heard was. If she could believe the little girl had heard what she thought she heard, she’d be willing to take matters into her own hands. Problem was, she just couldn’t see what would have held Zane back for all of these years.
******
Carl walked into the kitchen and chuckled. “Squirrel, what are you doing?” he asked when he found Emily in the middle of the kitchen counter.
“I’m hungry,” she said, giving him a big grin.
“Hungry? What were you looking for up there?” he asked, picking his youngest daughter up off the counter, and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“I want cereal,” she said, starting to giggle.
“Oh, you were looking for a bowl.”
He got a small plastic cereal bowl down and turned toward the pantry. “What kind of cereal do you want?”
“Chocolate,” she said with a squeak.
“Chocolate?” he chuckled again. “I don’t think so. How about something with less sugar?”
“Daddy, I want chocolate cereal,” she pleaded.
“No, it’s what I choose, or nothing. I’m sure your mom would throw a fit if I let you have chocolate cereal this close to dinnertime.”
“Okay,” she sighed, sounding very put out.
Carl exited the pantry with the little girl still thrown over his shoulder in time to see Zane walk in the kitchen. “Hey, Dad. Where did you find it this time?” Zane asked, pointing at his sister.
“In the middle of the kitchen counter. It says it’s hungry.”
“It’s kind of cute. Do you think we should keep it?” Zane asked, pulling his youngest sister off his dad’s shoulder.
“I don’t know. It tends to eat a lot. It may be more than we can afford. We already have Alex and Nathan to feed. What do you think?”
“Well, it can be kind of troublesome the way it climbs all the time,” he answered, lifting his sister up to blow a raspberry on her belly, causing her to giggle.
“Oh, like you didn’t climb everything in sight when you were her age?”
“Have you found her on top of the refrigerator yet?” he asked with a smirk.
“No, so far the only one that’s managed that stunt, is you. I think that was a lesson your mother learned well the day she found you on top of it. She makes sure not to put anything up there that any of the smaller children might take a notion they want.”
He laughed, blowing another raspberry on Emily’s belly, causing another round of giggles.
“Maybe we should just throw it away. Do you think it’ll fit in the trash can?” he asked, hanging her upside down over it.
“Zane, put me down, Silly,” she said, still giggling. “You can’t throw me in the trash.”
Zane sat his sister down at the table were his dad had sat her a dry bowl of cereal. “I guess we can wait for another day, but you better watch it. You never know, I might go ahead and throw you away tomorrow, when Dad’s not looking.” Carl just shook his head at his son.
“Daddy, I want milk,” she whined.
“No, that’s enough of a snack for now. We’ll have supper soon, and I don’t want in trouble with your momma for giving you too much to eat now.”
She stuck her bottom lip out but turned to her cereal and started putting pieces in her mouth. It seemed she had already learned when to stop trying.
Carl chuckled and turned to his son. “Amanda’s in the game room. Do you two want to stay for dinner?”
“No, we have steaks in the fridge. She was wanting me to grill them tonight.”
Carl gave his son a considering look. “I thought you hated grilling steaks as much as I do.”
“It’s just two,” he shrugged. “It won’t take that long. It’s not like grilling for the whole entire clan.”
“Yeah, I think it’s that you just don’t like telling her no.” Zane grinned back at him, not saying a word, as he turned to make his way out into the hall.
“Well, what do you know?” he whispered, a smile slowly spreading across his face.
“What do you mean by, what do you know?” Jamie asked, walking in through the same door Zane had just left.
“That boy knows he’s in love with that girl,” Carl said, grinning big at his wife.
“What makes you think that?”
“For one, he didn’t deny it when I said I thought he just didn’t like telling her no.”
“What did he not tell her no, about?”
“Grilling steaks for supper tonight.”
“He would only have to grill two,” she said, shaking her head no, still not buying it.
“I know, and that’s what he said, but you did not see the look on his face when I said what I did,” he said, shaking his head. “Besides, it’s Zane. How did we ever get the idea he didn’t know he was in love with her? He is far more aware of what’s going on than that. Whether around him, or in his own head. He always is.”
“Well, it would certainly explain so much,” she said on a sigh, “But I’m not going to believe it without proof.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to wait much longer to get that proof,” Carl answered back with a big cheesy grin.
******
“Here, hand me your plate,” Amanda said, getting up from the table. “I’ll wash the dishes.”
Zane shook his head, walking past her. “No, I’ll help you.”
“That’s not really fair. You did the largest part of the cooking,” she laughed, trying to push him away from the sink. “I can do the dishes.”
“Yes, but you did all the cooking last night, then did the dishes with me anyway,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “You wouldn’t even let me in here until you had everything on the table. Remember?”
“Well, I could tell when you picked me up from your mom and dad’s yesterday, you were exhausted,” she huffed, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head against his shoulder. “Then by the time you were done describing your day, there was no question you needed to rest.”
“Maybe so, but my momma taught me to help,” he grinned to himself, relishing the way she felt in his arms. “Besides, I enjoyed doing dishes with you. It’s the first time I ever found the chore to be fun.”
She stepped back enough to look up at him, but not enough to pull out of his arms. “Really?” she asked, grinning up at him.
“Yep,” he said, leaning to kiss her on the forehead before
pulling her back against him.
“Well, since you feel that way about it, I’d be more than happy to do the dishes with you.” For the next fifty or sixty years, please.
******
Zane stood staring at Amanda for a few minutes, trying to control his thoughts and not having any luck. It had taken them only a few minutes to get all the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up. He’d had a hard time not staring at her mouth the whole time they were working together, and now he found himself staring at her again, wondering how she would react if he walked over there and kissed her silly. It wouldn’t take more than a couple of steps to have her in his arms. With her staying with him, he was having a hard time stopping himself from hoping he was the one she was in love with. Well, he really wasn’t having any success at all.
“What, Zane? You’re looking at me funny,” she said, giving him a strange look.
He didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure how. All he knew was the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know what she tasted like. He wanted to know how she felt in his arms while he devoured her mouth. And the rest of her.
He sat his iced tea down on the counter and took the two steps needed to bring him within touching distance of her. She seemed to sense the change in his demeanor. Her eyes grew big. Not with fear, but awareness. She turned to face him but gripped the counter like she was fighting the urge to run. She trusted him, completely. But she wasn’t sure she was ready for this.
It was too late to run. He had already closed the space between them. He lifted his hand toward her slowly, still giving her time to escape, if that was what she wanted. The last thing he would ever want to do, was scare her. She had enough to fear already, without him adding to it. She stood there, silently watching his eyes, knowing she would never run from him, no matter what.
His hand gently cupped her cheek as he lowered his head. The moment their lips touched, her mind went blank. She had never felt so much before. She had never had one simple kiss leave her stunned.
She brought her hands away from the counter and wrapped her arms around his waist. She needed to lean on him for support. Her knees had grown weak, and she had started to tremble. When he realized she was shaking, he groaned and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer.
He knew he needed to stop. They were in his house, alone. There was nothing or no one to stop them, and he refused to take advantage of her that way. She had been through enough with Austin. If he let this go too far, he would be no better than the other guy.
He pulled his head back, but unwilling to let go of her yet, kept her wrapped in his arms. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
The second the words were out, he regretted them. She started to cry and tried to push him away.
“Amanda, don’t. I just meant I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you. You’ve been through way too much.”
“Zane, you don’t have to lie.” she mumbled, unwilling to raise her head. “You obviously didn’t feel what I felt with that kiss. Would you, please, let go of me?”
“No, I won’t.”
When her head snapped back up, he didn’t give her time to argue. This time when he kissed her, he wasn’t quite so gentle. By the time he was done, she would never again entertain the silly notion that he didn’t enjoy kissing her.
At first, she kept trying to push him away, but his mouth was too hot, and his body was too solid. Within seconds she was clinging to him and had brought her arms up around his neck. She was unable to stop herself from kissing him back. He was the only one she had ever really wanted, and she had dreamed of being in his arms like this ever since she was a teenager.
He held her tight against him with the thought in his head, he couldn’t let this go on. His control was slipping away. He ended up mumbling, “We have to stop. The bed’s too close.” He didn’t even realize he had spoken out loud. He pulled her tighter against him and kept devouring her mouth. He still didn’t want to take advantage of her, but he didn’t want to let her go yet, either.
Chapter 6
Thursday, July 24
It had been a long day and all Zane had wanted to do when he left the police station was go get Amanda, then head home to relax. She even had something special planned for supper and had told him this morning he wouldn’t be helping her cook. That was something he could truly appreciate. He was so exhausted, he could barely put one foot in front of the other.
When he reached the back parking-lot where his jeep always sat while he was at work, all of his plans for the evening got put on hold. Looking at the damage that had been done, he just groaned. He knew who was responsible but proving it would be nearly impossible. There were no security cameras back here and the likelihood that someone had walked by at the right time to witness what was going on just wasn’t there.
He yanked his cell phone off his belt and dialed his brother, doing his best to keep his temper in check.
“Hey, Bro. What’s going on?” Phillip asked, his voice coming through the phone.
“I need you to come and get me at the station. And bring your flatbed.”
“What happened?” his older brother asked in a tone that made Zane imagine him sitting there with his brow pinched and fire in his eyes. Phillip always did take it personally when someone messed with the rest of them. As much as he did himself.
“Someone slashed all the tires and destroyed the paint job on my jeep,” he answered in a dry tone.
“He bettered pray I calm down before he crosses my path,” the other man growled through the line. “I put a lot of hard work in on getting that paint job just the way you wanted it. He needs to have more respect for my work.”
Zane couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “I figure he’s lucky it wasn’t my Firebird.”
“I would have gone head hunting if it had been your Trans Am,” he growled again. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay, I’ll be here. I need to call Amanda and Mom to let them know what’s going on.”
“Alright. See you in a few.”
“Bye,” he said before punching end and turning to see who had just walked up behind him.
“Oh boy,” Andy Rogers mumbled, staring at the mess Austin had made of the jeep. “I know you said the guy wasn’t crazy, but just how sure of that are you? Your brother’s going to lose it when he sees this mess.”
Zane just shook his head. “Tell me about it. He wasn’t happy when I called to tell him what happened. But no, Austin’s not crazy. Mean as an old rattle snake, but not crazy. He may be a whole lot stupider than I had thought, though,” he finished before dialing his mom and dad’s number. He managed to finish talking to Amanda and his mom, only telling them he’d be late, then get hung up in time to watch Roger’s partner, Officer Daniels walk up.
“Oh, wow,” the other man chuckled. “That man has a death wish or he’s lost his mind, one. Does Phillip know yet?”
“Yeah, he’s headed this way,” Zane said, closing his eyes and throwing his head back. “And all I wanted to do was go get Amanda and stay in for the night.”
“It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon,” Daniels grumbled, watching their day time dispatcher walk up like he was seriously thinking of running.
“Hey, Jackie. Want to join the party?” Rogers asked as she came to a stop beside him.
“Oh my,” she whispered, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head. “Who would be crazy enough to vandalize a car sitting on the police station parking-lot?”
“Austin Green,” Zane grumbled, rubbing his temples. He was starting to wonder if maybe he should get a grill going and start cooking burgers. Join the party indeed. His jeep was starting to draw a lot of attention.
“Not so crazy. They obviously didn’t get caught,” Daniels grouched, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Oh, good grief,” Rogers chuckled. “Knock it off, Grumpy. She just voiced out-loud what the rest of us had been thinking.”
“Tha
t’s probably why he only got the tires and the paint. If he had thought he could take the time and not risk getting caught, it would probably be a whole lot worse.”
“Just the same, I’d have Luke go over it with a fine-tooth comb before you try to start it,” Daniels added. “You don’t know what he could have done that we just can’t see from this perspective. It’s not like you had it locked, with the top off and all.”
“Yeah, I’m probably lucky I had the top off. He would have slashed that too,” he grumbled, praying Phillip got there soon.
******
By the time Zane and Phillip made it to their mom and dad’s, all Zane wanted to do was take a shower and crawl in bed for a week, with Amanda beside him. Once Phillip had gotten there and gotten the jeep up on the flatbed, he had called Luke to have him meet him at Phillip’s shop. By the time Luke had made a cursory inspection of the jeep, which included crawling under it, they had discovered Austin had definitely messed with some of the mechanical parts. All Luke had told him so far was, by not trying to start it, he may have saved farther damage. He didn’t know if Austin had known what he was doing, or if he had just gotten lucky. It didn’t matter either way. Zane was still so angry, he had to fight not to grind his teeth and he kept clinching his fists.
The first thing out of Amanda’s mouth when he walked in the door with Phillip behind him was, “Where’s your jeep?”
He closed his eyes, rubbing his temples, something he had been doing a lot of in the last couple of hours. “At Phillip’s shop.”
“Phillip’s shop?” she parroted, immediately checking him out for injury. “Did you get in a wreck?”
She ran her hands up his ribs, causing him to chuckle. “Hey, watch it. That tickles.”
She huffed, rammed her fists on her hips and gave him a dirty look. “What happened?”
“I wasn’t in a wreck,” he said, hesitating on telling her what had really happened.
“That doesn’t tell me what did happen,” she growled back, doing a really good imitation of her mom when she and her brother were young and would get in trouble. Zane had been around enough to get a few of those looks himself growing up.
Austin's Revenge (The Townsends Book 4) Page 5
