Sloane,

Put this with the rest of your keys.

Give Michael the one to your apartment. He’ll bring it back within the hour.

Z

Forget being pissed off before. Now I’m livid. Now I’m seeing red. He thinks he can just demand the key to my house? He thinks I’ll just hand it over to possibly the most intimidating man, aside from him, that I’ve ever come across? Ha!

“Pump the brakes there, buddy,” I tell Michael. He’s grinning now, flashing me brilliant white teeth, laughing under his breath. “Why the hell does he think this is gonna fly with me?”

“Because I heard from a contact of his this morning—Rufus. And Zee thinks you might be grateful for the information he kindly shared with us. Something about a woman you might be looking for?”

I close my fist around the key still inside the envelope. Is he…is he for real? “Not five hours ago he told me he wasn’t going to help me,” I mumble.

“He says a lot of things. Trick is figure out when he’s telling the truth is all. He’s been looking for a while now. Not since the hotel, but—”

Oh my God, I think I’m going to throw up. “You know about that?"

“Mr Mayfair informed me of only what he deemed utmost important. I needed to know who I was keeping an eye on for him. You can’t tell him I told you, though. I’d be in six pieces and at the bottom of the docks before I could blink.”

This is all suddenly very overwhelming. I walk over to the waiting room chairs and sit down, covering my face with my hands. My heart pumps with a vengeance—finally, finally, finally, finally…

Finally.

Michael sits next to me, letting me digest. I tilt my head sideways, closing my eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay. “Call him,” I whisper. “I need to speak to him.”

Those extraordinarily white teeth are flashed at me again. “You can call him yourself, Ms. Romera. He put his contact information into your phone before he gave it back”

I pull my phone out of my scrubs pocket and immediately check to see if it’s true. S, T, U, V, W, X, Y…my finger stills over the touch screen.

Z.

There it is. One single letter, followed by eleven digits.

My heart. God, my heart doesn’t know what to make of that. I hit the call button, eyeing Michael warily. The sound of the dial tone is enough to make my palms break out into a sweat. It rings once, twice…

A pause…

“Did you do it?”

That voice is even deeper on the end of a phone—a growl, a low reverberation that makes me want to press my legs together to stop the need from building. “Do what?” I whisper.

“Don’t play with me, Sloane.”

I’m pushing my luck with him already and we’ve barely said two words to each other. “Fine,” I admit. “No, I haven’t. I can’t really say that I want or need the key to your kinky sex den.”

“It’s not the key to my kinky sex den,” he says, and I’m stunned by the sound of laughter in his voice. It’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever heard. “It’s the key to my home. And if you have mine then it’s only right that I have a key to yours.”

“And what if I don’t want that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what that reality looks like.”

Yeah. I’ll bet. I bet he never even considered I would reject this demand of his.

“Ask yourself the question, though, Sloane. Ask yourself if you want to walk away. If you want me out of your life. Forget Alexis and Eli and the way you and I met. Think about what happened last night instead. You knew who I was, then, exactly who I was. You knew what I liked. And you chose to be with me like that.”

He waits silently, his breathing slow and measured, sending chills down my spine as I do what he told me to. I consider it. This path can only lead to trouble. A dangerous guy like Zeth, mixed up in God knows what and with whom… He was shot three weeks ago for fuck’s sake. That’s not something from his past. That is very much current.

“Plus the kid who was seeing to Lacey’s injuries has disappeared,” he says softly. “She needs her dressings changed. You don’t want me doing that, do you? I have very dirty hands.”

“Yes, I know all about your dirty hands,” I shoot back, blushing slightly when I remember Michael sitting beside me. “What would happen if I said no?”

“Then we would have problems. You gave yourself to me. You’re mine. That’s not something you can undo.”

“I’m sure lots of girls have given themselves to you. You can go back to fucking them.”

“I’m not fucking anyone but you from here on out, sweetheart.”

“Until you get bored, you mean?”

“Until I get shot and it sticks. Until you pack up all your shit and run from me. But let me just say this, Sloane...Don’t bother running. I’ll only have to come find you. Stay here and be with me. I’ll make it worth your while.”

Why, just when it might sound like he’s trying to be sweet, does he then follow it up with a threat? And why does that danger thrill me so much? I feel like I might need a few sessions with Pippa myself. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

I blow out a deep breath, and then extract the key from the envelope—it’s small, brass, the kind of key made for a padlock. I close my fingers around it, feeling the sharp ridges bite into my palm. I am a stupid, stupid woman. “Okay, Zeth. Fine. I’ve claimed ownership of your stupid fucking key.” And you have claimed ownership of me. I still have no idea why he wants me so badly but I don’t doubt him. Zeth doesn’t waste his time. I know that much about him already. If he weren’t interested, he wouldn’t be going to these lengths. I’d be well on my way to being a long forgotten conquest by now.