by Emma Salah
His best friend’s little sister never looked so good...
Two weeks.
A trial period, in which hockey superstar Zac Quinn will prove to Reagan Thomas—his best friend’s younger sister and the one woman he can’t seem to keep his hands off of—that they can’t possibly date for real.
After all, the Thomas family is the only family he’s ever had. He can’t risk losing them, no matter how much he wants Reagan. She’s too important to him; he can’t let things get weird.
But Reagan has known they’re meant to be since forever. She’s not about to back down now.
If she has to play dirty to bring him around?
No problem.
This book is approximately 70,000 words
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
DIRTY TACTICS
EMMA SALAH
To my siblings for believing that I can actually write romances—hope it doesn’t make you blush too much!
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Epilogue
Author Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Excerpt from Hate Crush by Angelina M. Lopez
Prologue
Reagan Thomas was fifteen and she was mad. So mad, she kicked a big, fat boulder and instantly regretted it.
“Ow, ow.” She hissed, hopping up and down on one foot. She tried to keep her voice down, because if her father knew she had snuck out past curfew and was standing in the Muckberry Field, instead of being tucked up in her bedroom—at 9:30 pm!—there would be hell to pay. It didn’t matter that it was dark outside and that they had school the next day, because everybody who was anybody, including all her friends, was at Hill’s ice cream parlor having fun.
Except me, she thought bitterly. Here she was in the middle of an empty field like a loser, while all her friends forgot about her. They were all probably chatting and laughing. She could just see Jen and Mickey whispering to each other, making eyes at Jason and his crowd. Not that she really wanted to go to Hill’s and boy-watch when she could be at home. But that’s not the point!
With her foot still throbbing, Reagan slid to the ground, shoulders hunched, her back against the boulder. It wasn’t fair. All her brothers could go anywhere they wanted and stay up as late as they wished. Why was she the only one who wasn’t allowed? Hell, Aidan was only a couple of years older than her and he had never been told to go to his room like a naughty child and to stop asking questions about things that weren’t important.
When she’d asked to go to Hill’s, her father had reacted like she had asked “what is sex?” and not just “can I hang out with my friends?”—not that she needed him to explain what sex was. Why was she the only one who had to be taken everywhere like she couldn’t be trusted to walk down the street?
Reagan pulled at some of the grass beneath her Converse-clad feet, her frustration getting the better of her.
CRUNCH.
Reagan lifted her head and saw a silhouette moving towards her. She scrambled to her knees and considered leaving. If she got caught alone outside and her dad heard about it, she wouldn’t see anything but the inside of her room until she was twenty-one. She squinted her eyes, trying to make out who it was, and almost had a heart attack when she saw who was coming.
Zachariah Quinn.
What’s he doing here? Oh god. Oh god. Chill, Reagan, it’s all good. Heart pounding, she waited for him to get closer. He was almost on top of her before he noticed her, huddled against the boulder. He came to a standstill.
“Ree.” His blue eyes were filled with surprise as he stared at her.
He leaned over her, all six feet and three inches of him. He was one of the tallest boys she had ever met (other than her brothers and her father) and definitely one of the prettiest.
Licking her lips, she asked, “What are you doing here?”
His mouth curved in amusement. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“I asked you first.”
He shrugged as he slid down to sit beside her, his long legs stretching out.
“It seemed like a nice night for a walk.”
Reagan had a feeling he wasn’t telling her the whole truth, but she’d known Zac since she was four years old and Aidan and Zac became best friends. She knew he wouldn’t talk about something until he was good and ready to.
“And what about you? I thought you would be with the usual suspects at Hill’s.”
Reagan frowned. “Usual suspects?”
“Miss Giggles and Miss Gigglier.” He grinned at her, his cheeks creasing and showcasing those dimples of his on either side.
She tried not to laugh, because that was horrible. Except it described Jen and Mickey perfectly. The girls couldn’t stop giggling for longer than a few seconds to even have a decent conversation with a guy. She had a lot of fun with her girls when it was only them, but when they added boys to the mix, they became really stupid. Sometimes she gave up even trying to hold a conversation with them when one of their crushes was in their vicinity. And that included Zac.
Reagan peeked a glance at him from the corner of her eye. He was really pretty. His dirty blond hair was overgrown, falling into his eyes messily. His square jaw and long nose made him look more like the man he was becoming, rather than a boy. And his body... She’d accidentally (okay, it wasn’t an accident!) seen him changing clothes at her house one day after coming over from hockey practice. She had stopped dead in the middle of the hallway and stared. Maybe even drooled a little. Her cheeks grew hot just thinking about it.
“That’s just mean,” she said, bringing her knees back to her chest.
“But true.”
Zac’s shoulder brushed hers and she felt the slight pressure all the way down to her curled toes. It was a comforting warmth that did nothing more than just...be there. And even if it was only in a small way, she felt connected to him.
“Anyway,” she said, clearing her throat. “My dad said I couldn’t go. Said I was too young to be out this late.”
“Do you even want to go?”
“Yes!”
He raised his eyebrow. “Really?”
“Okay, maybe I’d prefer to be at home playing War of the Worlds or the new Future Fantasy game,” she said, begrudgingly. “But I do want to hang out with my friends.”
“So, you snuck out anyway?” he asked her, tapping her Converse with his index finger. “Naughty, naughty, Ree.”
Reagan pressed her ankle against his thick thigh, her knees so close to his chest she felt the heat of his body.
“Not to Hill’s! So, I consider that a compromise.”
&
nbsp; “I don’t think your dad will see it that way.”
Yeah, she didn’t see her dad thinking the same way either, but she was sick of always doing what she was told. For what? Her dad never let up. Zac faced her, his finger continuing to tap away on her shoe. They were sitting so close, but Reagan didn’t want to shift back. Her chest squeezed tight, not like she couldn’t breathe, but as if suddenly she was aware of every heartbeat.
“Zac, can I ask you a question?”
He nudged her shoulder with his. “You can ask me anything you want. You know that.”
She placed her hand on her knee, picking at the denim.
“Do you think Dad hates me?” she whispered.
He looked at her, eyes narrowed.
“Never mind.” She shook her head quickly. “I don’t know why I asked that.”
But Zachariah wasn’t going to let her off that easy. He tilted her chin up and stared into her dark brown eyes as if he was searching for something. She was helpless to pull away from him. His hands against her dark skin fascinated her; the golden sun to her night sky.
“Why would you ask that?” he finally said.
She tried to shrug, but didn’t let go, his fingers tightening.
“Don’t try to bullshit me, Ree. I know you.”
“Fine,” she grumbled. “Sometimes... I see him when he doesn’t think I’m looking and he just looks at me funny. Like he’s not really seeing me. But seeing Mom.”
Reagan’s voice dropped down to a whisper as tears filled her eyes. “I think he hates me because I look like Mom and I killed her. Oh god, Zac, it’s my fault that she’s not here. It’s my fault.”
“Stop it.” He shook her. “Ree, it wasn’t your fault. You were just a baby and it was your mom’s choice. Not yours.”
“Her choice cost us everything.”
“Not everything,” he told Reagan. “Her choice gave us you. Without your mom, you wouldn’t be here and your dad knows that. Stop torturing yourself this way, okay?”
The hand holding Reagan’s chin reached up and palmed her cheek. “I mean it, Reagan. Your mom wouldn’t want you hating yourself; there are better ways to honor her.”
She had no memories of the woman who had given birth to Reagan. Her dad found it too painful to talk about Mom, even Reagan’s older brothers couldn’t mention their mother without their faces twisting in pain. So, she stopped asking altogether, but there was still so much she wanted to know about Mom. What she did know was her mother had been a beautiful and wonderful person and she had given up her life to allow Reagan to live. She wouldn’t dishonor that. She would try harder to not act out, to make things as easy as possible for Dad.
“You’re right.”
“Damn right, I’m right.”
She laughed through the tears. He grinned back. She opened her mouth to continue the playful banter, when she noticed the dark purple smudge beneath his eye.
“What happened to your cheek?” Frowning, she reached out and touched the bruise.
He jerked back, letting go. Reagan’s hand fell uselessly to her side.
“It was him, wasn’t it?”
Everyone knew what was happening at the Quinns’. They could see the bruises and cuts plain and simple on Mrs. Quinn’s face when she came into the supermarket, pushing her trolley all hunched forward and moving like a ninety-year-old instead of the thirty-four-year-old woman she was.
He sighed. “Just let it go.”
No, she would not. His living situation was shit. It was the reason why Zac spent so much time at her house and not his own. And there was nothing that she could do since his dad wasn’t just his abusive father, but Sheriff Quinn as well.
“Does it hurt?” she asked quietly. “I could get you something for it.”
He shook his head. “Nah. I’ve suffered worse on the ice.”
“Yeah, but that was your choice.”
“Ree.”
They were facing each other now. She let go of her knee.
“I don’t like knowing you’re hurt,” she admitted, the back of her neck and cheeks feeling hot. Today, she counted herself lucky that her cacao skin didn’t reveal her true feelings.
“It’s not going to be forever. One more year and I’m off to college,” Zac said.
Like Aidan, Zac was in his senior year and already had a scholarship for college to play hockey. Soon, they would both be gone, like her other brothers who were all at college already. She was going to be the only one left. Alone with her father. Oh god, what were they going to talk about at mealtimes, especially when she wasn’t allowed to have dinner in her room? I can do it. I can do it. Maybe if she chanted it to herself a few times a day, it’d become the truth?
Zac’s hand touched her knee. The warmth seeped into her through her jeans. His blue eyes stared into hers.
“I can see your mind plotting all the ways you’re going to escape. Just be careful of the ladder, you don’t want to have to explain to people why you wince every time you sit down again,” he teased.
Reagan groaned, hanging her head down, so her black, curly hair fell and hid her face.
A couple of months ago, she had tried to sneak out of her friend’s house by using the ladder in their back garden. Except she had slipped and fallen. Luckily, there had been a bush to break her fall, but unluckily she fell into a needle bush. It had hurt like hell taking those things out of her ass and thighs. And to top off her embarrassment, Aidan and Zac had to drive her home. They had laughed their asses off. The idiots.
“Can you please just forget that ever happened?” she asked him.
“Mm, let me think about it.” He rubbed his chin. “Nope. Sorry, no can do.”
Zac laughed. It was so beautiful that Reagan couldn’t help but stare at him. Her breath hitched. For all that he had been through, Zac never lost his sense of humor. She adored that about him. Still staring at him, she noticed the instant he stopped chuckling. His eyes grew dark. Her heart began to beat faster, her breath coming out in little pants. They were so close.
She shifted her face a slight inch. And when he leaned in to brush his mouth against hers, she stilled.
He pulled away, just enough for them to breathe.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Kissing you,” he murmured. “Kiss me back.”
He kissed her again.
His lips were soft and pressed against hers all so delicately, as if he was afraid she would back away. No chance of that. She was hooked on one taste. Her hands slid up to his shoulders, kissing him back, having no idea what she was doing. She had never been kissed. Every one of her friends had said it was awkward at first, but there was nothing awkward about Zac. The moment his mouth touched hers, everything about it felt right. Reagan’s eyes flickered shut as she pressed deeper into him. His hand tentatively came up and touched the back of her head, his fingers warm on her neck. But it wasn’t until Zac ran his tongue across her lips and she opened up for him that something new happened to her.
She fell in love with him, with Zachariah Quinn.
Chapter One
Ten years later
“Do you think beautiful people have better sex than ugly people?” her best friend, Leticia “Letty” Garcia, asked.
They were sitting at the bar, completely alone, trying to get drunk on champagne.
“Why would you think that?” Reagan replied, amused.
She was used to Letty and her random thoughts of the day, but Lord some of the things that came out of her mouth honestly boggled her mind.
Letty shrugged. “Movies. Advertisements. Every romance novel. They’re all filled with seduction, with teasing touches, little kisses and lovemaking.”
Reagan’s eyebrows raised at the disgust she heard in her voice. “And you don’t want romance, seduction or lovemaking?”
&nbs
p; “I want to be fucked,” Letty said bluntly.
Reagan almost choked on her champagne. “What?”
“You know, I don’t want to have sex under the covers with the lights turned off in bed. I want to be pressed roughly against the wall, have him push up my dress, rip off my panties, unzip himself and just—”
“Okay, okay.” Reagan held up a hand. She shifted uneasily in her chair, trying to erase the images running rampant in her mind. “I think I get the picture.”
Letty grinned before popping a peanut in her mouth.
“Then, go for it. What are you waiting for?” Reagan encouraged.
Being half Hispanic, half Caucasian, Letty had big wide brown eyes with long eyelashes Reagan would kill to have and beautiful golden skin that looked amazing paired with her sleek white dress and siren-red lips. Letty was much bolder in life than Reagan. She was gorgeous, funny as fuck and so talented with watercolors that whenever Reagan stepped foot in Letty’s apartment she couldn’t help but stare in awe at all the canvas she kept haphazardly behind her sofa. Letty was never afraid to send back food when the waiter messed up the order or to tell a man at the bar he was cute. Her best friend sighed. “You saw the men at this party. Would you fuck any of them?”
Reagan laughed. “Yeah, but you know how picky I am.”
“I’m picky too.”
“Since when? Have you told your vajayjay this? And don’t roll your eyes at me, girl. You and I both know you can snap your fingers and get whomever you want.”
“But that’s the problem.” Letty set down her champagne. “It’s too easy. I want the chase.”
They might be best friends, but here was where they were very different. And, it wasn’t just their personalities. Reagan was nowhere near bold, brazen and beautiful. If it wasn’t for Letty, she would have come dressed to this event in her Future Fantasy T-shirt and her blue Converses.
Letty was a ten without even trying. Reagan, on the other hand, struggled to be a passable eight on her best day. Not that she thought she was ugly. No, she knew she was pretty. Her black skin was the color of Ethiopian coffee beans—or was it cacao? She never could remember what food people described her skin as—and was just as smooth. She had long legs that went on for miles. Reagan’s thick black hair had mostly grown back from when she cut it a few years ago. It now reached down her shoulders. All natural, thank you very much.