Dirty Little Lies: A Men of Summer Novel by Lora Leigh

how brave you are.”
    She gave a little shrug. “The chances of that happening before we go to D.C. are slim. I’ll take my chances.”
    She would take her chances, would she?
    Zack braced his arm across her hips, leaned forward until his lips were less than an inch from her, and warned her softly, “I’m not one of those little boys who pant after your cute ass. I’m a man, Grace, and one you don’t want to dare.”
    Her lips parted, her breathing heavy. Zack watched as a flush suffused her face and pure want filled her eyes. “I didn’t barge into your bedroom, making demands,” she whispered, breathless, her tongue poking out to dampen her lips. “We both know you can make me want you—it’s a game you’ve been playing since I was eighteen.” The hurt that flashed in her eyes then surprised him. “You are indeed a man, Zack, but I’m not a stupid girl anymore. Don’t make that mistake. Now, stop teasing me and let me go to sleep. It’s been a helluva two days.”
    He leaned forward just that little bit, then captured her lips at that moment when she thought she could turn away from him, thought she could escape the hunger raging through his system. He deserved one more taste of her before morning came. Before she learned what a bastard he intended to be.
    He deserved the pure, unvarnished need he tasted in her kiss, the way she flowed into him, melted against his chest, and let him in. Her arms snaked around his shoulders, those delicate nails pressing into bare skin, pricking at his flesh with heated need.
    Oh, he was going to have her. Not tonight, not until she knew what she was facing, knew what they were doing. He didn’t want fairy tales in her eyes when she stared at him. Fairy tales didn’t exist, but this did.
    Her lips parted for him again, her tongue tasting his as he possessed her with his kiss and pulled those hot whimpering little moans from her throat. This was what he wanted to see in her eyes. The need for this, the aching hunger, and a woman’s knowledge that she would come to him, no matter what, just for this pleasure alone.
    That she was his—
    At that thought, he jerked back, staring down at her, shocked at his own musings, at the depth of need beginning to burn in his veins. Pure, raging lust mixed with a hunger he’d never allowed himself before and wouldn’t tolerate now.
    Rising quickly from the bed, he glared down at her, jaw clenched, his body demanding he take her, lust tearing through him with a force he’d never experienced before.
    What the hell had she done to him?
    She accused him of teasing her since she was eighteen? Hell no, it wasn’t her he’d teased; he’d been teasing himself, killing himself with the need for her. And he was damned if he could figure out why.
    “Get your rest, Grace,” he growled, the discipline it took to force himself away shaky at best. “Rest well, because after tonight, you may be far busier than you ever imagined.”

 
    chapter five
    Tension lay thick in Vince Maddox’s office the next morning when Zack stepped into the room, the files he’d put together gripped loosely in one hand. The space reminded him far too much of Alex Brigham’s office. Perhaps not so stately or so expensively decorated, but the appearance was more or less the same. Dark wood, walls, and floor offset with large windows positioned to allow maximum light. Tall bookcases filled with suitably impressive titles, among them historic and military tomes.
    He hadn’t glimpsed a single modern paperback on the dust-free wood. It was enough to send a chill up a man’s back.
    Vinny sat at the other end of the room behind the heavy executive desk with his sons positioned on the two sides just as before while Grace stood with her back to the room, arms crossed, staring pensively out one of the large windows.
    The pale blue sleeveless dress she wore emphasized her delicate figure, but rather than the high heels he was used to seeing her in, she had a pair of