A few weeks have gone by and I really haven't said much to Zane. I'm just confused about everything. Now that he is full time at the bar he's been around more and it's awkward.

"Aren't you going to talk to him?" Paul asks me as I stock the glasses on the bar.

"I don't know. How bad was the crime?" I ask.

"I don't want to say. You need to talk to him. I'm telling you it has to come from him. I promise you though it will all be ok. Go...go talk to him now. Chris will cover you while you do." He glances over at Chris and he jumps up at his orders.

I hesitate but Paul gives me a pleading look to please just do what he asked. I set my rag down on the counter and head to the back. Zane turns around and sees me coming. You can tell he took a deep breath by the huge rise of his chest and he lets the breath out slowly. His body stiffens as he realizes that I'm coming to talk to him.

"Zane...can we talk?"

"Ok Lucy I'm just going to flat out tell you everything." He leads me into Paul's office and we sit on the sofa he has against the wall and Zane turns to face me. "I robbed a bank Lucy. I held the tellers at gun point until they filled the bags with cash. When one of the patrons moved I shot him in the leg. I thought he was going to try and take me down. Here he was having a seizure. When I realized that, I dumped the bags yelled I'm sorry and ran out of there like a coward but the cops grabbed me." He takes a deep breath before continuing and I'm trying to hide what I'm feeling. "I got in trouble for the robbery but not too much because I didn't leave with anything. I mostly got in trouble for shooting that guy. I plead that it was self defense from what I thought. I served 4 years and got off on good behavior."

"Wow..." He stops me.

"There's more. When I was arrested I called Paul. He was furious with me, he wouldn't bail me out and he left me in there which was for the best. I found out that the guy survived and wasn't going to press further charges. See, I got mixed up with a dealer. I would sell for him. My second round I fell for this wicked girl and she talked me into shooting up all the drugs I had to deal. When my supplier found out he gave me 48 hours to come up with the $10,000 I owed him. That's how I ended up at the bank."

"Paul wouldn't talk about your falling out. He kept that to himself."

"Yeah that's how he gets. But when I got out, I called him, I needed some help starting over and he refused me again. Met up with that girl and we got pretty messed up I overdosed. Paul wanted to come to me this time and swore that if I didn't do something he would disown me. The hospital was going to make him come and get me but I signed myself into rehab and well you know that story."

"I'm glad you did get help. How do we know though that you won't go back to everything?"

"Because I came here and I now know how much Paul cares for me and I don't want to be a disappointment anymore."

I can tell he's being sincere by the tone and the look on his face.

He scoots closer to me and brushes my cheek. "And I promise you Lucy, I will prove to you with everything I have that I can be a good man." He stands up and places a kiss on my cheek and fireworks sky rocket behind my eyes. "Don't give up on me Lucy."

He holds his hand out to help me up and I take it. He doesn't let it go and he smiles. I do what I shouldn't have done and reach up until our lips meet. His hands come up and cup my face and he kisses me deeper and harder. He's taking my breath away but I want to stay like this forever. Curling my fingers around his shirt for leverage as I'm sucked further and further into the life of Zane.

He is the first to break the kiss. "I take it you will give us a chance?" 

"Yes Zane I will." There's a knock on the door and we turn around to see Paul.

"Now that you two kissed and mad up can we all get back to work now?"

I blush and turn to walk away but first I made sure that my fingers brushed against for one last touch before going back to work. I turn around and wink and he smiles with those deep dimples of his and turns to follow.

"You two ok now?" Paul asks.

"Yeah he explained it all to me. You can tell he regrets it."

"Yeah and now he's here so now we can keep an eye on him. And Lucy I can't think of a better girl for him to get involved with. But I warned him that if he hurts you he's done for. He may be my brother but you are my family too."

"Thanks Paul." And I give him the biggest hug ever and catch Zane staring at me with a smile from the kitchen window.

The rest of the night was busy and I did pretty good with tips even though we had a group of kids come in here and racked up a hundred dollar bar tab and dip out. They'll never be allowed in here again.

I had some guy trying to grope my ass everytime I walked by and Zane caught him once. I was heading to a table to hand them their check and Zane was going to bus some tables. The guy reached over to grab my ass and Zane caught his hand do I have to throw you out? The guy shakes his head and turns around back to his friends and they all laugh at him.

I smile at Zane as a thank you and we both continue working. Chris looks over and smiles at us and turns to Paul and says something. I'm sure it has something  to do with us. Chris has been helping out at the bar too. He was hurt pretty bad in a car accident so he now collects disability. He took one look at the books and told Paul he was doing them because everything was a mess.

It's now 2am and it's time to close up for the night. The last patron had just left and I go over to start cleaning the table off, it happened to be the guy who kept groping my ass. He had left a $100 bill and a note that had said that he was sorry.

While I was carrying the plates into the kitchen Zane was coming out and the plates crashed to the floor.

"Oh shit!" I say. "I'm sorry I should have said I was coming in."

"Don't worry I'll clean it up."

Paul comes out of his office and sees the plates. "What the hell Lucy? You don't drop plates?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't say I was coming into the kitchen. It was an accident. You can take it out of my tips."

"Don't worry about it, please just be careful."

After everything is cleaned up I invite Zane, Paul and Chris over to hang out. Paul and Chris said they have plans so it's just me and Zane. Paul and Chris stay to lock up and Zane and I head to my apartment.

Zane turns to me as we were walking. "Let's make a cake!"

"That's random!" I say laughing. "I don't have anything to make a cake though."

"I'm sure they have something in this store." He grabs my hand pulling me into the store. We grab everything we need to make the cake and walk to my apartment. As soon as we step in the door Zane runs into the kitchen and starts pulling everything out to make the cake. "This will be the best damn cake you've ever eaten Lucy. It will be like an orgasm in your mouth!"

"An orgasm in my mouth? Sounds interesting." I say giggling.

Something about him being in my kitchen making a cake. It's seriously the sexiest thing I've ever seen. I hop up onto the island to watch as he work his magic. He turns around and smears flour down my nose so I reach into the flour jar and coat my hands. Smacking them off of his cheeks and I laugh historically.

"Hold this thought." He turns around and puts the cake into the oven and turns around standing between my legs. "Do we need to punish you Ms. Lucy?"

"You started it!" I say laughing and he pulls me really close to him. He trails his tongue across my jaw line and then nibbles at my ear. "Hey! Don't you dare start!" I giggle again.

"I love your giggle. It's like music to my ears. You Lucy alone are enough to drive me crazy." 

"Zane? Do you promise that the drugs and the robbery and everything is behind you?"

"I told you Lucy, I promise you with all they I am they it is all behind me. You are my new beginning. You and Paul. I need this relationship with my brother and you are a bonus."

His words make me smile. I want to believe him more than anything. I just need to give him a chance. He does deserve that. He's different, I've never been able to bring a guy home and have this kind of night. It was always a wham bam bam thank ma'am kind of night. Nope not tonight it's a make a cake kind of night. He pushes my hair from my face and kisses all those thoughts away.