Free Locked and Loaded (Bullet, #6) by Jade C. Jamison Page A

shit he hid from her now—well, maybe it was night and day.  He knew from past experience that he couldn’t just tell her anything.  She’d lose her shit and likely just not get it.  It wasn’t worth the drama that followed.
    But that didn’t mean he didn’t want to be with her or near her.  It didn’t mean he didn’t want to spend time with her or reignite what had once been.
    Instead, it meant he was guarding himself.  And he had every right to do so.
    She shrugged.  “Maybe.”
    “So what do you say?  Let’s blow this joint and spend more time together.  Maybe we’ve changed a lot, but how are we going to get to know each other as we are now if we decide to call it quits again?”
    Jennifer blinked and he couldn’t quite read the expression on her face.  “Are you saying...you want to try again?”
    He paused.  He wasn’t sure that that had been what he’d been saying, but why the hell not?  He knew he loved this woman, loved her more than anything else on the planet—knew she was more important to him than any other damned thing had been in his life.  “Yeah, I am.  We should.”  He still couldn’t read her, couldn’t see through the mask she’d been wearing since she’d been back in his life.
    She smiled sweetly then and placed her hand on his.  “Okay.”
    He swore he could feel his heart swell in his chest, and that one little word made his world feel a whole lot better.

Chapter Ten
    ––––––––
    “O HHHHH.  OH, GOD, Zane.  Oh, God.  Oh, God.  Ohhhhhh.
    “Mmmmmm.”
    “See?  What did I tell you?”
    “Yeah, I...know.”
    “I know you said you loved sex no matter what, but if someone’s doing it right, there’s a prize at the end.  Like that .”
    “A big, happy, amazing, mind-blowing prize.  Holy crap.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Mmm.”
    “Are you ready?  I really want to feel you wrapped around me now.”
    “You kidding?  I feel like a warm ball of putty.  You can do anything you want to me, sweetheart.”
    “I...I love you, Jen.”
    “I love you, too.”
    Jennifer couldn’t believe she was doing it.  She was doing it.  But at least she’d been halfway— halfway —smart about it.  Zane had tried to talk her into going to his place in his car, but no way.  Jennifer needed a way to escape at any moment, any time, and she didn’t want to be at his mercy.  At this point, she had no doubt that everything would be okay...but she didn’t want to take any chances.  Yeah, she still cared for Zane very much and felt hopeful that maybe this time would be different from all the others.  Maybe this time they would work.
    Their past track record told her things wouldn’t work...but that didn’t mean they couldn’t try.
    Still—caution was key.
    Zane didn’t live where he used to, and before they left the restaurant, he’d warned her of that and told her to call him if they got separated in traffic.  He lived in Thornton now, a suburb north of downtown, but he’d lived in Denver the last time they’d seen each other.  And, when she’d discovered she was pregnant, she’d made sure to avoid any and all places she knew he’d ever frequented.  The pressure was off once he was working on his side project’s album and touring, but before that, she needed to be careful.  She hadn’t wanted him involved in the pregnancy for more reasons than she would have wanted to throw at him.
    It was easy following him on the interstate and up the off ramp and even once they were on the main drag.  She started getting nervous when he turned off onto a side street, but it was actually easier following him then instead of in the heavier traffic.
    It grew really dark as they drove farther off the beaten path and she could see (or rather not see) wide open spaces off to one side, and that was when Zane turned on his blinker, signaling to her that they were taking a right.
    So it wasn’t a gated community, but it was definitely a posh development, an