Hearts on Fire (The Hunter Family) Read online

  My eyes searched hers carefully. “Yeah, that’s right. Why?”

  “Because that’s right around the time he stopped calling me. He really likes you, um…what is your name?”

  “Abby.”

  “He really likes you, Abby.”

  “How would you know?” I know I sounded bitchy but I wasn’t going to take the word of a girl that liked the same guy I did.

  “I just know. Have a good night.”

  She grabbed her purse off of the counter and walked out of the bar. A few seconds later, Zane came back over to me.

  “I am swamped Abby, can I give you a call tomorrow? I still have about three more hours here tonight.”

  I was pissed. “Sure, see ya.” I turned and walked away without waiting for him to say goodbye. Before I made it to the door, I felt his hand on my arm and he spun me around.

  “Hey, don’t be pissed. I’m happy that you came by tonight, okay, but it’s just really busy and I won’t be able to spend time with you.”

  “Zane, a little help!” The other bartender did not look happy and I didn’t want Zane to get in trouble.

  “Okay, go back to work. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  He smiled and gave me a quick kiss. “Okay baby, talk to you tomorrow.”

  Tons of emotions were swirling in my head as I climbed into bed but the thing that I kept thinking about the most was Kelly telling me that Zane really liked me. It did make me feel good to know that he stopped calling her after he met me. Maybe there really weren’t any other girls. I drifted off feeling pretty good about us and I couldn’t wait to talk to him the next day.

  Zane called me around 1:00 the next day and I missed his call because I was in the middle of rehearsal. I was slightly irritated that he didn’t call me earlier since I’d made the effort to see him at work, but I called him back when I had a break.

  “Hi Zane.”

  “Hey there, gorgeous. You must be at rehearsal.”

  “Yeah, another long night ahead of us.”

  “Oh, wow. So, it was great to see you last night. Sorry I couldn’t hang out with you, we’re usually swamped like that on the weekends.”

  “Well, it looked like Kelly was keeping you company.”

  “Abby, Kelly is old news. We went out a few times and that’s it. There is nothing going on there.”

  “Do all of your exes hang out and wait for you at the bar?”

  “No. She just didn’t get the hint that it was over. She’s a nice girl but I’m with the one I want to be with. I’m not interested in seeing anyone but you. You have to understand that there will be girls hanging around us all the time because we’re a pretty popular band. But groupies are not my thing, and neither is cheating. If I don’t want to be with someone I tell them, I don’t lead them on. No games here, Abby.”

  I don’t know if it was the tone of his voice or the words that came out of his mouth, but I instantly felt better.

  “Okay, no games here either.”

  “Good. When can I see you?”

  “We have late rehearsal tonight, but not too late this time, we should be done around 10:00. Are you working at the bar tonight?”

  “No, I have no plans if you’re free.”

  “I can meet you after practice, if that works for you.”

  “Yeah, that works. How about I pick you up at the dance studio?”

  “Sounds good. I’ll call you when we’re done.”

  “Okay baby, can’t wait to see you tonight.”

  I went back to practice on cloud nine and the rest of the day did not pass fast enough for me. We finished up a little bit after 9:00 that night and I rushed home to take a shower and make myself pretty for Zane. I called him when I was almost ready and told him that I decided to go home to freshen up since we finished early.

  “Okay, I will be there in 20 minutes. Do you need to grab a bite to eat?”

  “No, we took a break earlier so I’m not hungry.”

  “Okay, well I’m leaving in a minute so I’ll see you soon.”

  I put the finishing touches on my makeup, checked my self in the mirror and then looked for my purse and my keys. Claire was with Logan, again, so I didn’t have her to double-check my look. I liked to bounce my fashion choices off of her sometimes because she said that I took too many risks. I smiled to myself as I rolled my eyes. Whatever. My sister was the exact opposite of me and where she thought I could tone it down a bit, I thought she could sex it up a bit. I did notice that she was dressing a little bit sexier now that she was hanging out with Logan and that was a good thing. He was different from any other guy she ever dated and so far I didn’t notice any red flags about him. Zane buzzed me from downstairs and I grabbed my purse and keys and headed out.

  He gathered me in a huge hug and gave me a tender peck on the lips, his eyes searching mine as he held me close.

  “It’s so good to see you, I’ve missed you, Abby.”

  The butterflies rolled through my belly as I let out a soft sigh and small smile touched the corner of my lips.

  “You just saw me last night, silly.”

  “I know, but it was too fast. And you were pissed at me.”

  I cocked my head to the side and decided to give him a little bit of a hard time. “Well, maybe if you didn’t have exes hanging around all of the time I wouldn’t have a reason to be pissed.”

  “Abby, I didn’t want her there, she just showed up.” He then gave me a devilish grin. “But, I can’t help it if all of the ladies can’t resist me!”

  I playfully swatted his arm and giggled as I tried to pull away from him, but he held me closer and the look on his face became serious.

  “You can’t get away from me that easily, Abby Hunter. You have my heart and I am all yours.”

  That was exactly what I wanted to hear and I hugged him tight as I whispered in his ear.

  “You have mine too.”

  We held each other for a minute and then we got in the car and went to his place. When I walked in it looked the way I thought his place would look. He had pretty good taste for a rocker bachelor and his place was pretty neat, which was a nice surprise. Zane also lived alone which kind of surprised me.

  “I like your place, Zane. How long have you lived here?”

  “I have been here for about four years. Logan used to live with me but he moved out a last year.”

  “Oh wow. How long have you guys known each other?”

  “A long time. We went to high school together.”

  “Oh cool, I didn’t know that.”

  “Yep, he’s my brother from another mother.”

  “He seems like a cool guy, from what I’ve known about him, so far. And he’s good to my sister, which is what matters the most to me.”

  “Yeah, I haven’t ever seen him like this with a girl. Ever. He really digs her.”

  “Good, I’m happy to hear that.”

  “So, enough about those two, can I get you something to drink?”

  “Do you have any white wine?”

  “I do. Is Pinot Grigio okay?”

  “Yes, that would be great.”

  “Okay, go relax on the couch and I’ll bring you your wine.”

  I settled onto the couch and Zane joined me with our glasses of wine. He sat down next to me and turned toward me, his arm resting on the back of the couch.

  “So tell me what’s been going on. How has practice been?”

  “It’s always pretty brutal right around the time we have a performance.”

  “Are you Claire’s understudy again?”

  For some reason his question bothered and I found myself feeling a little defensive.

  “Yeah, but it’s no big deal. I didn’t really want the lead anyway.”

  “Abby, I’m not trying to piss you off, I just think that you are not being honest with yourself about your dance career. I can hear it in your voice that you want to be the lead in a major production sometimes.”

  I let his words sink in and I had to
admit that he was right, I was starting to notice that I was tired of being second best. It’s just that Claire and I were so close and I was always careful not to let any kind of sibling rivalry get in the way of our relationship, but as time went on and I was getting older I realized that I did want to be the lead. The small lead roles just were not cutting it anymore. It would take a lot more work and dedication from me and I just had to make sure that I could push myself to that level. I had settled into a second string position for so long that really pushing for first place was going to be different for me.

  "You're right. I guess I do want it but Claire has always been the lead, and everyone just kind of expects that she'll be the lead and I will be the understudy. I think I’ve just allowed that to kind of be my reality. But we have a performance coming up in a couple of months and I think if I push myself I can really go for it and try to get the lead this time. It would be so weird to have Claire as my understudy but I think she would probably be really proud of me if that happened.”

  “You’ve been dancing all of your life and you strike me as a strong, persistent woman. I bet you can do anything you put your mind to. I, for one, believe you can be the lead if you really work at it.”

  “You haven’t even seen me dance.”

  “I know, but I can tell that you are a hard worker and you go after what you want. I know you can do this, Abby.”

  I reached out and gently touched his cheek. “Thank you for believing in me.”

  He winked at me. “Anytime.”

  “So tell me about you. How are things going with the band, your tour, your nights at the bar?”

  “The tour has been pushed back a month but they added another week so it looks like we’ll be on the road for about 5 weeks, maybe six, if they decide to add more venues.”

  My heart dropped. “Really? That’s a long time, Zane.”

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t happen that often. This is kind of rare but I guess we’re getting more popular so our manager wants us to get as much exposure as possible. Music reps go to shows all the time, so we never know until the last minute if someone from a record company will be there. We’re on the verge of being signed, I can just feel it.”

  My face must have shown how sad I was because he gently lifted my chin with his finger and smiled at me.

  "I have over a month before we leave and the time will fly by when I’m gone, you'll see. But let's not even think about that right now, let's just focus on the time we do have, okay?”

  I smiled at him. “Okay.”

  He smiled and his eyes slowly traveled down to my lips. “Good.”

  His eyes traveled back up to meet mine and he reached out and gently pushed my hair behind my shoulder, his hand trailing down my arm as his eyes searched mine.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  Butterflies fluttered away as I smiled at him.

  “I’ve missed you too.”

  Zane took my glass of wine and put it on the coffee table with his and within seconds we were in his bedroom. His fingers glided through my hair, pulling me toward him. His tongue swept across my lips before plunging into my mouth tasting and probing, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. His hot mouth was on mine as he pulled me down onto the bed and I instinctively wrapped my legs around him, feeling his arousal between my legs. Zane touched me with skilled hands causing my body to ache for more of his touch.

  He held me firmly with one hand, his tongue sliding over mine, and his free hand roamed down my body, gliding over one breast then the other stopping to squeeze and knead each one. He reached behind me and his hand slid under my dress to swiftly unhook my bra. His hand felt so good on my bare skin and I arched my body toward him wanting to get as close as I could. He pulled my dress off over my head, exposing my breasts to the cool air and broke away from our kiss to clamp his lips around my swollen nipple. He captured my nipple between his teeth and bit down gently until I felt a sting that hurt so good, and then he quickly soothed the sting by running his tongue in circles around the hardened nub while kneading the other breast and rolling my nipple between his fingers.

  My core was throbbing, aching to be filled, and his practiced arms reached under my hips, stripped my panties off in one swift movement, and he went right for my sacred place. His tongue devoured the center of my heat, catching me by surprise as a loud moan escaped my lips. I raised my hips off of the couch, wanting to feel his tongue in every crevice. He made his way to my sensitive bud and slipped a finger inside my throbbing core moving in and out before sliding another finger inside, caressing, setting off unexpected waves of pleasure.

  I could feel my body getting hot and I felt flush as Zane teased my swollen bud, growing my release as he moved his fingers in and out, stroking me inside as he moved. I buried my hands in his hair, opening my legs wider, moving in rhythm to his mouth, rocking against his delicious tongue. He flattened his tongue and focused on my sensitive bud as his fingers moved with swift skill inside me, and one last stroke of his tongue put me over the edge. My muscles clenched down around his fingers as my body tensed up and I grabbed the sheets, began to quiver and shake as my orgasm consumed my body, my toes curling in ecstasy. I lay quivering on Zane’s bed, panting, trying to catch my breath. Not only did he know how to touch me, he was really into it and he enjoyed it.

  Zane leaned over and kissed me and before he could say anything I flipped him over and pulled off his t-shirt and jeans. He pulled off his boxers and I moved down to his member but he captured my wrist with his hand, stopping me, pulling me back up to him, and growled in my ear.

  “You can do that another time, right now I want to be inside of you.”

  In one movement he flipped me over on all fours, slid on a condom, and held onto my hips as he guided himself into me with a long, slow stroke. A deep groan escaped his lips as he entered me and I grabbed the sheets, wringing them in my hands, as sensations of pleasure washed over me. Zane was slow and steady at first and then he began to move harder, faster, his body crushing against mine. His breath came in spurts as a low growl escaped his throat. His hips steadily gained momentum as his thrusts went deeper, his fingers digging into the flesh of my hips. He reached around to my sensitive bud and feverishly stroked it as he fucked me and I could feel my muscles tensing, my orgasm ready to tear through me. I flipped my hair back and turned to look at him with a sexy grin.

  “Come for me, baby, give it to me.”

  That sent him over the edge, he grabbed my hair and with one final thrust, his back arched as he exploded inside of me. The rush of heat was too much and as he stroked my nub one last time I had another explosion, my body shuddering uncontrollably. We were both gasping for air as we collapsed on the bed together and our bodies were flush and slick with sweat. Zane tossed the condom in the trash and wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the lips as he smiled at me.

  “That was intense.” He put his hand over his heart. “I think you’re trying to kill me!”

  I gave him a teasing smile. “Me? Never!”

  “Seriously, Abby, that was amazing. I have never met a girl like you. Smart. sexy, beautiful, and great in bed. You’re the total package.”

  I smiled at him. “I could say the same about you.”

  He turned on his side and propped himself up on his elbow while he casually played with my hair.

  “Tell me more about your family, I don’t know very much about them. You have a younger brother, right?”

  “Yeah, Jonny, he’s in high school and he’s my little love bug. I love him to death.”

  “And your folks? Are you close with them, too?”

  “Yep. We always ate dinner together when I was growing up if my dad was home. He travels a lot for work, but whenever he was in town he always made a point to be home in time for dinner. My family is really big on together time.”

  “That’s awesome. My family was the opposite. I have a younger sister and from about age 12 I had to pretty much take care of both of us.”<
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  I looked at him, completely surprised. “Are you serious?”

  “Yep, I had to grow up really fast.”

  “I’m sorry Zane.”

  “It’s no big deal. Both of my parents had to work to put food on the table, I understood that. My mom worked as a cashier at a grocery store and my dad was a stock manager. I knew they loved me, they just had to pay the bills so I didn’t see them very much.”

  “That’s no way for a child to grow up.”

  “Yeah, but some people had it way worse than me so I’m okay with it.”