7 Dirty Lies: a Tease Novel

by Alexis Anne

  Which was a really sad comment on my life, but it was what it was. I grew up in Hollywood royalty. Most of the people around me were either fame obsessed or social climbers. They cared about themselves and little else. It was a strange, sad world to come of age in, even with my sister’s protection and Uncle Oliver.

  “So, what can we talk about that doesn’t put us in a weird place?” Colt smiled between forkfuls of salad.

  “Where are you from?” He didn’t need to give me details about his house or his family, I just wanted to picture him somewhere.

  Luckily he seemed to understand exactly what I wanted. “California. It’s a great place to grow up. I got to do a little bit of everything. Hiking, swimming, horseback riding . . . I was a pretty outdoorsy kid. What about you?”

  Back lots and movie sets. “LA and New York mostly. I moved back and forth a lot until college.”

  “Where did you go?”

  “Yale”

  His smile brightened. “Can I ask what you studied or does that make you think about all the things you aren’t supposed to be thinking about?”

  “Yes and no,” I said because it was the truth. This was exactly the reason why Ted told me to hold tight to my Annie persona. She gave me a way of talking about myself without having to bring in the baggage. “I double majored in art and business. Art is what I love, but business is what keeps the lights on, so to speak.” It was all true, just with a little color thrown in for effect.

  But something I said seemed to upset him. He focused on the last few bites of salad and didn’t ask any follow-up questions.

  Feeling him slip away I grabbed at the first question that came to mind. “Do you have any siblings?”

  That brought him right back. “A meddling sister who booked me a vacation, packed me a bag, and refused to give me any option other than getting on a plane.”

  “I like her.”

  He grimaced. “You would. I love her, really I do, but she doesn’t understand, mostly because she’s chosen not to.” I didn’t really know what that meant and he realized that when he saw the expression on my face. “She’s supposed to be part of the family business and she is, but not in the way I need her to be. I know that makes no sense.”

  “I get it. I have a sister, too. And she’s also chosen her own route which has left me holding everything.” I didn’t mean to say that much. “She deserves everything she has right now, but sometimes I wish that we were in this together.”

  He took his empty salad plate and stacked it on top of mine, pushing them out of the way, then he took my hands in his. “What do you do for fun?”

  “I think the better question is what would I do if I wanted to have fun.”

  He winced. “Okay. We’re more alike than I realized.”

  “I used to write.”

  “What did you write?” His thumb ran over the back of my hand, back and forth.

  “Stories, poems, lyrics . . . it wasn’t until high school that there started to be a rhyme or reason to any of it. In college I realized I wanted to write stories about life so I wrote a book. It was terrible, but taught me a lot.”

  “But you don’t write for a living?”

  “No. Maybe one day?” I was walking a very fine line between truth and fairy tales right now. I did tell stories for a living, but not by writing. And I did want to do more writing that would hopefully become an income stream for me one day, but not in books. I wrote screenplays. I had every intention of moving behind the camera at some point . . . but then I stopped writing right around the time my parents were indicted for tax evasion—and my finances went under the microscope right along with theirs.

  It wasn’t fair considering I’d never had my money tied to theirs, thanks to my sister Elizabeth. She went through hell and back in a very public legal fight over what my parents did to her money. And yet, here I was, having to prove I wasn’t a crook like Cybil and Roger.

  And that was just the beginning of the crazy that was my life for the last two years.

  “What about you, cowboy? What do you do for fun?” I needed to stop thinking about myself and get lost in my rugged new friend.

  He didn’t like the way I changed the subject, but he didn’t fight it. “Cowboy, huh? Is this about the hat?”

  “Of course it’s about that fantastic hat. Why didn’t you wear it tonight?”

  He practically shuddered. “That thing is not dinner appropriate.”

  “That thing?” He made it seem like he hated his hat.

  “Look, my sister literally grabbed me off the ranch—something I was actually happy to be doing for a change—shoved my suitcase at me, and had me driven to the airport. I was wearing the hat when I got on the plane, and since she didn’t pack me another, I’ve been wearing it all week.”

  The ranch. So my cowboy really was a sometime cowboy. Oh sure, he seemed to be stuck in some CEO-type role most of the time, but somewhere in his life there were cowboy hats and ranches. “And the laptop?”

  He grimaced. “She just barely let me keep that and the phone for a call I couldn’t miss today. That’s why I had them out at the pool. And get this—she had IT lock me out of both of them until the call, and then locked me back out the minute it was over.”

  I fought back a smile because he was so adorably upset, but in that brotherly, I’m-mad-but-can’t-hate-you kind of way. “She wanted you to come meet me and have some fun, can’t say I blame her.”

  “And how did you get here?” he shot back.

  I shrugged. “Not all that different. Ted dragged me here to get me to relax because I had reached that insomnia stage where I wasn’t eating or sleeping anymore. He did it for my own good and I’m glad.” I couldn’t see how bad I had gotten. Thank goodness for good friends.

  Gerald returned with our main course. “The Mahi Mahi for the lady and the Swordfish for the gentleman. Now, will there be anything else or shall I leave you to your flirting?” He shot me a cheeky grin.

  Colt cocked an eyebrow. “And what makes you think we’re flirting? Maybe we’re conspiring against our enemies.”

  In a way that’s exactly what I was doing. Having fun and feeling free were two things that would make my parents itch since it wasn’t by their design.

  “Considering you haven’t smiled this much all week, I’m going with flirting. Because if you were smiling over destroying your enemies that would mean you were evil and I wouldn’t believe that for a second.” Then he spun around and left.

  “I guess we should go back to flirting then.” I picked up my fork and pulled open my fish. It smelled heavenly.

  “I guess we should.”

  I let him eat for a few minutes. The food was too good not to give our full attention, hoping that after he had some food and wine in his system he’d be a little less freaked out by the idea of there being something more after dinner.

  So I was surprised when he beat me to it.

  “Maybe it’s the island, or maybe it’s just you Annie, but I’m actually having fun.” He glanced up at me between bites.

  “So am I.”

  “And I’m wondering what happens next. How you’re feeling.”

  I carefully chewed and swallowed, studying the nervous way he cut into his vegetables. “I’m feeling optimistic.”

  He set down his knife and fork, and folded his hands in front of him on the table. “As I said before, I’ve never been a . . . an . . . impulsive man. I’ve found I need to know and trust the women I bring into my life.”

  “And you don’t know me.”

  He nodded slowly. “But I feel like I do, which is quite possibly the strangest thing I’ve ever said.”

  He felt this too, whatever this was. “Logic is telling you that it takes time to get to know someone.”

  “And a background check.”

  Dear god, what kind of people did he have in his life? “Think about it this way. In two days I get on a plane and fly away. You don’t know my name, where I live, or what I do for a living. A
ll I know about you is that your name is Colt, you’re from California, and you wear a cowboy hat. I couldn’t track you down unless the hotel gave me your information—and we both know we paid a ridiculous amount of money for the security this resort provides.”

  “True.”

  “And,” I hurried on before he said anything that might shut me down. “The worst that could happen is that one day, years from now, we cross paths again. Colt, I can’t hurt you and you can’t hurt me. This is two days of nothing but what we want to make of it. That’s it.”

  I felt the urgency of this moment. If I didn’t make my case he was going to back out, be the gentleman. Be responsible. But the last thing either of us needed was that. We needed wild, crazy, and out of control.

  We needed to be different.

  “You’re telling me to throw logic out the window.”

  “Damn straight,” I murmured, pushing back my plate. “Where has logic gotten us? Stressed out and working ourselves to death. Maybe it’s time to do the opposite.”

  He pushed back his plate and leaned towards me. “You make a very compelling case.”

  “Enough to convince you to walk me home? Whether you kiss me goodnight is totally up to you, but I’d at least like a few more minutes of your time.”

  Silence hung between us for several beats before his lips started to curve upward as he fought back a laugh, his eyes glittering with mischief. “Can’t we at least have dessert before you try to get rid of me?”

  “Get rid of you? I was trying to keep you around!” He had me giggling now, too. Damn his laugh was infectious.

  “Good. You’ll need the time to prepare yourself.” He sat back, his eyes smoldering now. “Because when I kiss you good night, you’ll need all the energy you can muster.”

  CHAPTER 4

  A whimper escaped my throat as Colt’s hands tightened around me, deepening our kiss. The world spun. I was light as a feather in his arms. I felt electric, magical, and as if I needed to crawl inside him.

  He must have felt the same way because he kept pulling me closer, his lips and tongue dancing, tantalizing my senses until nothing else existed but this kiss.

  I wanted to throw open my bungalow door and drag him to bed—let our bodies meld into one—but I didn’t want to scare him off.

  Luckily our kiss was every bit as overwhelming to him as it was to me. He pulled back, gasping for breath as he cupped my face, holding my forehead to his. “Where did you come from?”

  I looked up through my lashes. Colt’s face was so handsome. I loved the way his nose wasn’t perfect. It made him look all the more capable of taking care of anything that got in his way. His strong jaw and solid cheekbones gave him a distinctively male presence. And his eyes . . . oh how his eyes seemed to see right into my soul.

  I loved looking at him, but when he looked at me? Well, the whole world fell away.

  “Maybe we weren’t ready until now,” I whispered. “Maybe if we met out there in the real world we wouldn’t have been able to see what this could be.” I kissed him hard and fast, desperate to connect again. How was it possible that a few inches was too much?

  “Maybe.” He lifted me off the ground and spun me so that my back was against my door. He kissed my collar bone, my neck, letting me slide down his body, feeling every dip and curve, until our lips met all over again.

  Softly. Just once.

  “Come inside, Colt.”

  He hesitated, then took my face in his large hands, and ever so slowly, pressed his lips against mine.

  Electricity exploded between us, sending a current over every inch of my skin. I shuddered, losing all control, clinging to Colt out of necessity to stay upright.

  “Yes,” he murmured against my lips. “Inside. We need to get inside.”

  I was a mess as I fumbled for my key, dropping my purse as I swiped. Colt kept one hand on my hip as he picked up my stray lipstick. “Careful now.”

  The door swung open. Our eyes locked.

  Yes.

  There would be no more careful. Only instinct.

  “You want me to stop thinking?” He slammed the door shut. “To leave my responsibilities out there?” He stalked toward me, a man on a mission. “To be crazy?”

  I nodded, the words drying up on my tongue.

  He stopped in front of me, testosterone rolling off of him in waves, eyes burning with need. “Then I need to hear that you want this.” He put his hands lightly on my hips. “I need to hear that you know what this is and won’t regret it in the morning.”

  I cocked my hips toward his. “I want this, Colt. I want you. I know what it means to have sex and I will not be regretting this tomorrow, the next day, or any day there after.” Why did he need so much confirmation? “Tell me you feel the same way.”

  He lifted me again. He seemed to really enjoy how easy it was to move me around. “I can’t imagine ever regretting being with you, Annie, but I also know how I feel right now.”

  “What do you feel?” Why was it so hard to think straight when he touched me?

  He rocked his erection up against me, telling me how much his body craved mine. “Out of control.”

  And that’s when I understood. It wasn’t that Colt didn’t do flings, it was that he never allowed himself the opportunity to let his guard down. Flings required a bit of irresponsibility and throwing caution to the wind.

  Colt didn’t know how to do that.

  “I want you out of control, Colt.”

  His eyes flicked up to mine and held. “You don’t know what that means. Not really.”

  “I want to find out.”

  He pressed a soft kiss to the side of my throat. “You scare me a little. I’ve already caught myself forgetting. It’s so easy to get lost in you.” He pressed another kiss to the other side. “I might not want to go back after two days with you.”

  He wanted this—all of this. Two days of nothing but this. I began unbuttoning his shirt. “I thought I told you to leave all that outside my door. There is only right now, Colt. And right now I want to fuck you.”

  His breath caught. “And I want you.”

  “So what’s the problem?” I pressed my palm to the bare skin of his chest. “You feel this, right? This crazy feeling every time I touch you?”

  He nodded slowly.

  “I’ve never felt anything like it. Have you?”

  “No. Never.”

  I placed my other hand on his chest, too. “Don’t you want to know why? How far this goes?”

  When he didn’t immediately rip my clothes off I slid my hands up his chest, up his neck, and around his face so that my fingers were in his soft hair, then leaned forward until we kissed. This was a man used to being in control, and that control was probably what kept his world moving forward. He was holding onto the last shred of it and I could tell he craved the freedom of letting it go, even if giving in to his feelings towards me scared the piss out of him.

  But the minute I brushed my tongue along his lips, asking to be let in, it was all over. His control snapped. I’d unleashed the beast.

  “Oh god,” he moaned as he surged against me. “Yes.”

  In a series of moves so fast I couldn’t keep track, our clothes disappeared. I’m pretty sure something was torn. Maybe my underwear? Possibly his. It didn’t really matter. We were naked and touching and his skin was on mine . . . the details were meaningless.

  “Colt, yes,” I groaned as I desperately searched for his cock in the darkness. It was night and we hadn’t bothered with lights, but the moon was full and shining through my open windows. The ocean breeze drifted through my bungalow, sending the white curtains dancing. It would have been so easy to get lost in the romance of it all. The white beach, the waves crashing outside, the moonlight . . . but there wasn’t any time to dwell on any of it.

  He gasped as I wrapped my hand around him, his hips jerking. “Yes.”

  He was large and warm and soft. My inner muscles clenched in anticipation. I fisted him severa
l times before I was airborne, landing on my stomach, my legs wrenched apart, my knees on the ground, as Colt parted my folds and circled my clit, a split second before his mouth was on my center.

  A jolt of pleasure shot through me, opening my lungs and igniting my own desire for more. “Stop thinking,” he growled.

  Was I thinking? Maybe. But only about him. How to please him, how to own his body for the next two days. I wanted all of it—everything he had to offer.

  And then his mouth was gone. I was empty and aching for more when he slammed into me.

  I cried out, bucking off the bed.

  “I told you to stop thinking. Next time you don’t listen it will happen again.” He moved inside me, slowly pushing deeper, stretching me with each stroke, until he was deep inside me.

  Then he stopped and took my hips in his hands, pressing even deeper.

  His method worked, even if it was a bit unconventional. There were no thoughts in my head other than Colt, his cock, and how amazing it felt to be with him.

  He pressed a kiss between my shoulder blades as he caressed my skin. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” His voice was softer now. Gentler.

  “No. Just surprised.” And maybe a little painful, but in a way I wanted to feel all over again.

  “You feel so good, Annie.” Then he pulled out and flipped me over so that I was lying in the middle of my bed. “So good I never want to stop.” This time I got to watch the transformation on his face as he entered me. The ecstasy. The way he shuddered when my body fluttered around him, the way his eyes became dark and wild, the way his gorgeous muscles flexed as he moved inside me. “All I can think about right now is you.”

  And he wanted us on equal footing. Well, mission accomplished. The whole world could go down in flames for all I cared. “How can I make you feel good, Colt?” I arched up to meet his slow strokes.

  “You already have.”

  Well that couldn’t be everything. “How do I make you come undone?”

  “Come undone?” He surged inside me and I cried out. His eyes grew large and hungry, drinking in the sight of my body. “Seeing the way you react, watching the way I make you cry out for more . . . that’s all I need.”