Toeing the Line (The Complete Serial) Read online

  “I bet he didn’t even get you the right ring.” A smile broke through his shifting expressions.

  She paused, brain wrapping itself around the words. Was he really talking about…? There was no way he remembered that. “It had a diamond on it. Solitaire, pretty, princess cut. You know, every girl’s dream ring.”

  “Except yours. Unless you’ve changed your mind.”

  It had been over a decade, and he still remembered. The realization warmed her. They’d been at the mall, and they passed a jeweler. She’d pointed out an engagement setting in the window and said, if she ever got married, she wanted something just like that. Low profile, so it didn’t snag on anything, but brilliant and unique. She’d never seen anything like it before or since.

  Back then, Zane made a face, said he didn’t understand why girls spent so much time thinking about things like that, and then tugged her toward the food court.

  “I never changed my mind.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

  “Did you love him? Do you love him?”

  She’d lost count of the number of times she asked herself that question, and she didn’t know the answer. “He’s a good guy.”

  Except for every habit he had that drove them apart. And those she had, which he hated. And that no matter how many times she tried to talk to him about it, he’d been boring in bed. And he thought her art was a waste of time. And… And… And…

  However, he’d never raised his hand against her or asked her for money, and he would have taken care of her.

  Zane tugged at her fingers, to draw her attention. “It doesn’t mean the two of you belong together. Do you love him?” It wasn’t as if she knew what love really was. What if she did love Archer and was too dense to recognize it? “You’re the only other guy I’ve ever met who’s that considerate and fun. Okay, you’re a billion times more those things, but you’re also not the one who proposed.”

  “You’re avoiding my question. If you prefer, if those are your only qualifiers for what makes marriage material, and supposedly I have them in spades, would you say yes simply because I asked?”

  Her breath caught, and her pulse increased. Would she? The thought of Zane down on one knee, or even better, of her spending the rest of her life with him made her pulse quicken. She studied his face. No. Romance ruined friendships. “No. I don’t love him.”

  “So you made the right choice.” He caressed her knuckles with his thumb.

  She smiled, the reassurance not chasing away her misgivings, but making it easier to believe she’d been right to walk away.

  “You didn’t answer my other question.” He smirked and slid from his seat to come around to her side of the table. He dropped to one knee next to her and took her hand in his.

  What’s he doing? He’s teasing me, right? Blood rushed in her ears, making it hard to hear. They’d been catching up for all of half an hour, and he was talking about love and marriage?

  “Riley Ann Carter”—he locked his gaze on hers—“we’ve known each other forever.”

  Oh God, he’s really doing this.

  “You’re the sexiest, most intelligent woman I’ve ever met.”

  Riley’s heart stopped. He twitched. The corner of his mouth pulled up for the briefest moment.

  He continued. “With your sister being a close second.”

  Her stomach plummeted. He was yanking her chain. Trying to distract her.

  “Would you”—his serious expression faltered again—“and she make out, while I watch?”

  Was that really relief flooding her or just the tiniest bit of hurt and disappointment? She smacked him on the arm. “You’re an ass.”

  He sat on the bench next to her, his leg brushing her knee. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.”

  “You’re not sorry.”

  “Promise me something?”

  “What?”

  “I meant what I said, except that last bit. You’re the smartest, most fun and brilliant person I know. Promise me, regardless of how many guys come and go, you won’t marry one unless he deserves you—the amazing you—and that you’ll never beat yourself up for turning someone down.” He lifted her face with a finger under her chin. “Say it. Promise me.”

  “I promise.”

  “Want to get out of here?” Zane stood and offered her a hand up.

  She shivered when another gust of wind rushed past her. Some place warmer might not be a bad idea. “Dinner?”

  “I’m in. Where to?”

  She let him pull her to her feet and landed closer to him than she intended to. The bite in the air stole her breath, and she let her attention linger on the heat of his grip. “You pick.”

  His gaze searched her face. “I’m fine with whatever.”

  Her thoughts fuzzed, and all she could make sense of was the fading sunlight and the stillness around them. She didn’t pull away, settling a hand on his chest instead.

  His heart pounded under her palm. It was as though he was terrified of being so close to her. The realization dug deep. Maybe if she brought up the one topic they both avoided… “About what happened while you were gone.”

  “Which what?” His voice came out as a dry croak.

  Tingles rose under her skin from the way her body molded to his sturdy frame. “The flirting. The dirty talk. The long-distance mutual masturbation.”

  His gaze caught hers, and he placed his hand against the small of her back, holding her tight. “Sounds familiar.”

  Heat flooded her, chasing away the chill in her legs. “Was it a mistake?”

  “Do you think it was?”

  As enticing as the thought of continuing things in person was, something ran underneath, tempering her desire. “It was fun, but we were both heartbroken and lonely. Besides, in person is a different story.” Understatement of the century.

  He dropped his arm from around her waist and stepped back. His shoulders relaxed, but the corners of his mouth tugged down. “It’s true.”

  “I told you things I’ve never told anyone.” She hadn’t meant to admit that. “But having the expectation out there—”

  “Exactly.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “It puts up a wall I don’t want.”

  The conversation was rapidly deteriorating into a wall of its own. “So we’re still friends, what was in the past is in the past, and we can move on?”

  “No assumptions, no expectations. We don’t have that kind of physical relationship.”

  The tension evaporated from her neck. “I appreciate that.”

  “Besides”—he relaxed—“I’d rather be friend-zoned than what you did to Archer.”

  Her back went stiff. “What happened to it not being my fault?”

  He shrugged, his smile wilting. “I’m not saying you were wrong to turn him down; I completely agree. But you know… on again, off again. Giving him hope, when you know you don’t love him.”

  She clenched her jaw. “If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have given us another try. You know me better than that.”

  She thought he did, anyway. The reason she flitted from guy to guy was because she was looking for that special something. Love was such an elusive thing, she didn’t want to miss out because she refused to look.

  Zane crossed his arms. “It never works out. You destroyed that friendship a long time ago, and you keep trying with him. When you’re together, he’s this controlling, possessive jackass, and you keep going back to him anyway. It doesn’t bother me that you’re looking for something special, but you keep investing so much in these fucking losers. They’re not right for you—it’s obvious—and you still dive into it. It always ends with both of you miserable, and it wouldn’t have to be that way if you recognized it from the start.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t realize you thought so little of me. So… what? This friendship is your version of pity for the girl who can’t make up her mind because she’s delusional about finding her Prince Charming? Or maybe you’d prefer I ran my ch
oices by you first.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying you’re too good for these guys. The same way I tell you every time you end up with another doorknob.”

  “Really?” She couldn’t keep the hurt coursing through her from leaking into her reply. “Because it sounded like you were accusing me of being a heartless devourer of souls.”

  “You’re being melodramatic.”

  “You’re being a jerk.” This was all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. Six years apart, and they’d kept in touch… until two years ago. They’d remained friends while he had a psychotic fiancée. Now they’d been back together for less than an hour, and it was tearing them apart.

  “No, Riley.” He reached for her, but she pulled away. His frown deepened. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “Drop it. Don’t make this worse.”

  “Please?” He grabbed her hand, holding her fingers between his. “You’re this amazing, beautiful soul, and I get it—you see good in people who don’t deserve it. It gets painful to watch sometimes.”

  That’s what she got for dissecting her relationships with him online. A tiny voice whispered she was overreacting, and most of her agreed. That didn’t stop Zane’s words from digging deep, echoing with her own fears and insecurities. She swallowed it all, leaving a lingering bitter taste in her mouth. “I don’t mean to do that to you. Dinner?”

  “Yeah. All right.”

  The foot between them as they walked to his truck felt wider than the thousands of miles that had been there a week ago. Riley had no desire to be mad at him, and wanted to see this from his perspective. When she tucked aside her defensive reactions, she knew most of her destroyed relationships were meh at best, and had been from their inception. She couldn’t let this amazing one get away from her.

  Chapter Three

  Zane didn’t know what to focus on first, as he parked his truck on the street in front of the remodeled Victorian. Frustration? Hurt? Annoyance? Dinner conversation was stilted, and they both made their excuses to get back home soon after sitting down. He never had to watch what he said around Riley before, but apparently things were different now.

  He made his way up the sloping lawn to the storefront. Archer had inherited the house in The Aves from his grandmother. It had taken a lot of petitioning, to get the city to license the project, but Archer finally got the permits to turn the main floor into a comic-book shop. The top floor was Archer’s pad, and he’d converted the middle floor into two apartments, one of which was Zane’s until he found a new source of income.

  Work. The single word added another layer of dread to his dark mood and made his phone feel heavier in his pocket, weighing down his thoughts with the ignored text from Sabrina, which he knew was a job offer.

  Zane pushed into the store and snarled at the chime that echoed through the open room. He made his way past rows of wooden backlog cases and metal shelves full of toys and the latest comic editions. He slid onto an empty stool, behind the glass counter, and waited, jaw clenched.

  Archer was arguing with a brunette about whether or not the DC Comics reboot was a bad thing for the franchise. The words sounded like an argument, anyway. Their smiles said it was anything but. She looked familiar. One of the five billion people Zane had met in the last day or so. Victoria, maybe?

  “Your friend needs you more than I do.” She gave Zane a smile. “His scowl will drive off customers.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Right.” She pushed a dress wrapped in a dry-cleaning bag toward Archer. “I’ll be back later.”

  As she left, Zane leaned against a shelf. “She’s cute.”

  Archer hung the dress—it looked like a Renaissance recreation made of velvet—on a nearby rack. “She’s not Riley.”

  Fuck. There was the conversation opener he needed. “That’s the point.”

  Archer turned, using the counter to mirror Zane’s posture. “I take it you didn’t get a happy reunion.”

  “Did you possibly forget to mention something?”

  “I wouldn’t say I forgot. As far as I know, she hasn’t told anyone else. What makes you special? Stupid question, I know.”

  Zane rubbed his face. “What in the entire history of anything that has ever happened between the two of you made you think proposing was a good idea?”

  “You vanished, and things between Riley and me were going better than before. I know she’s got this vision of happily ever after. I figured maybe a ring was what was missing from the equation.”

  “Except the one thing that hasn’t changed is she keeps dumping you.”

  “Yeah—well—I get it now, but you’re not pissed because of that.” Archer turned away at the sound of a chime, focusing his attention on the two teenagers who came in.

  “Apparently more changed than I thought.”

  “After all the time the two of you spent verbally jerking each other off, I’d figure things would be perfect between you.” Sarcasm hung heavy in Archer’s voice. “Or did one of you think that wouldn’t change anything?”

  “She told you about that?” So much for keeping it between them. The revelation stung more than Zane wanted to admit. What he and Riley had done was no-strings stress relief, but he hadn’t expected her to think so little of it—and his friendship with Archer—that she’d risk throwing this wedge between them.

  “Jen might have accidentally stumbled on an e-mail or two, when she was looking for something on Riley’s laptop.”

  “You let your sister go through Riley’s email?” Zane kept his disgusted tone low. Even if half their friends already knew, no reason to let the teenagers in the back of the store in on it, too. “And you wonder why the two of you never work out.”

  “You know what’s made my life a whole lot happier?” Archer adjusted his position when the two teens disappeared behind one of the shelves. “Realizing Riley’s all talk. She may be entertaining fun to hang out with, but she doesn’t know what she wants out of life or the people around her, except that she wants it all to conform to her fantasy utopia.”

  Anger rushed through Zane. “Really? You’re blaming her for your inability to move on?”

  “I’ve moved on.” Archer tensed when the teenagers headed back toward the exit, one of them carrying a box with a bikini-clad figurine in it. “It’s funny how, for someone who doesn’t take sides, you always jump to her defense.”

  “Whatever.” Zane pushed off the stool. A tiny part of him hoped the boys would bolt with the toy. Give him a justified confrontation. He couldn’t ignore his disappointment when they set it on a shelf near the front door, before leaving. “I’m done,” he said.

  The two guys paused halfway out and turned to watch the five-feet-six—all curves—strawberry-blonde woman walk in. If she noticed, Jen, didn’t react.

  Zane shoved his fists into his pockets. Could he vanish before she saw him? The green eyes and seductive smile turned in his direction said no.

  Jen stopped in front of him. “I was hoping I’d run into you. You up to anything interesting?” She traced a finger along the edge of her plunging neckline, drawing his gaze.

  Archer’s groan filled the room. “Do you have to do that in here?”

  “Actually, I’m leaving.” Zane grabbed the opportunity to put several more feet and a glass display case between Jen and himself. “Nothing personal, but I’m not looking for a relationship.”

  Jen’s smile never faded. She leaned on the counter and rested her chin in her hands, pressing her tits together. “I never said anything about a relationship.”

  “Really?” He couldn’t keep the disbelief from his voice. He might be a little dense sometimes. Lost in his own world. But there was no way he’d misinterpreted the signals Jen had doused him with since he got back.

  “If you’d rather keep things physical, I’m fine with that.”

  As her meaning dawned on him, his imagination swept in from nowhere, asking why Riley couldn’t have made a similar offer. H
e pushed it aside.

  Archer interrupted before Zane could respond. “I’m not going to listen to you talk about fucking my best friend.”

  Jen straightened up with a sigh. “Why not? You did it.”

  Zane cringed at the reminder of Riley.

  Archer shook his head. “I love Riley. It’s different.”

  “Present tense?” Jen asked.

  So Zane hadn’t heard him wrong.

  “Loved. I said loved.” Archer’s back went rigid, and his hands clenched at his sides. “Besides, this isn’t about me.”

  The more the two argued, the more Zane’s aggravation grew. Worse, he felt justified saying Riley was too good for Archer, and horrible for screwing up how he’d phrased it to her. He headed toward the back stairs that lead up to his apartment, relieved when Archer and Jen didn’t notice him leaving.

  Chapter Four

  Riley sank back in her chair. She’d been staying in her sister’s condo for months, but it still didn’t feel like home. It didn’t help that most of the furniture was Kenzie’s, and a lot of it was more for show than comfort. She squirmed on the wooden seat. Maybe it was time to get some better cushions for the Ethan Allen dining set.

  She was trying to get some sketching done. It usually helped her relax, but now she couldn’t focus. Every few seconds, she glanced at her phone. Zane had texted her a few times since their awkward reunion two nights ago. Generic how are you, and job interview, wish me luck stuff. Her replies had been just as brief, polite, and without substance. She wasn’t sure what to say. He’d only been back a few days, and they’d destroyed a lifetime of friendship. Or he was right about her being melodramatic.

  She took a deep breath, to steady her shaking hand, She sent him a series of messages.

  I’m sorry.

  About everything bad I said the other night.

  Overreacting, all of it.

  She set the phone back on the table and stared at it, willing it to give her good news. Still, she was startled when it vibrated against the polished oak a few seconds later, sending a loud hum through the condo.

  Don’t be sorry. I was a jackass. Forgive me?