Past Lies

by Kim Rees

“I…” She had been leaving. She had. But now, with Zach pressing close, all sensible thought ended. “…should go—”

  “—back to that bed?”

  She didn’t want to echo his smile. Her chest hurt and she had to say, “This doesn’t mean anything.”

  His hand stilled on her cheek. “Does it have to? We’re both single consenting adults.”

  For a full moment, Anna wished she were the woman he thought she was. Everything would be so much easier. And she wouldn’t have the burning hole in her chest. “No.”

  “No?”

  Zach’s head dipped and his lips covered hers in a gentle caress that warmed down to her toes. His hands cupped her shoulders, their heat sinking into her cold skin. There was nothing else she wanted. Nothing.

  Except his love.

  Her heart contracted to a stone.

  And she would never have that.

  Anna tore her mouth away, twisted her head from him. “I can’t do this.”

  Zach’s tight breaths filled her senses. Why didn’t he say something? Anything? His hands shot back. “Fine.” She lost the warmth of his body. “More fool me for pushing the act.”

  “I wasn’t acting.” Anna’s fingers covered her mouth. The urge to cry burned her eyes. “I…wanted to be with you. But…”

  “It didn’t live up to expectations?” Zach’s voice was bitter.

  “No, never—” Anna bit back more words. He would never know how she really felt. Never. She would not give him that power over her. “I have to go.” She tugged at the door, feeling the handle give. “Good night, Zach.”

  She scrambled from the room. Get away. Get into that other bedroom, lock the door, collapse on the bed and try to ignore the complete fool she had made of herself.

  Anna leant against the heavy door and stared into the softly lit room. She let out a weary breath. Her gaze skirted the wide bed. Sleep. She needed to sleep. And she prayed not to dream.

  Sharp knocking jarred her spine.

  “Anna. Open up. You didn’t think you’d get away that easily… Did you?”

  Chapter Nine

  “So this is normally how you end your evenings?”

  Anna stepped back. “What? Being chased by a half-naked man through his flat? Let me think. That would be a…no.”

  A hard smile dragged at Zach’s mouth. “The act. The ‘what have I done?’ An easy way to escape without consequences.”

  “This is what you wanted, Zach.” Anna folded her arms across her chest. “Walk-away sex.”

  A sour ache twisted his gut. Did she have to make it sound so…sordid? He wasn’t going to admit to her how long it had been since he had sex. Nothing would drag that from him. Not when she’d probably had scores of men since their first encounter. And that brought out the old bitterness. “Your trademark I thought.”

  She was looking anywhere but at him. “Zach, can you leave so that I can go to bed?”

  “How did you turn out like this?” He closed the bedroom door and leant against it. His hand rubbed over his bristled jaw. “I mean, you always seemed such a quiet, modest girl. And yet you became your sister.”

  A flush rose under her pale skin. His pulse jumped but he clamped his will onto it. His body already demanded more of her. He would be a fool to give into that impulse. No matter how tempting.

  “I told you, Zach.” She looked up and her dark eyes shone with the hint of tears. Just a hint. She had to be too tired to act further. “I keep telling you. I lied. I lied because I didn’t want”—she jerked her finger between them—“this.”

  “This?”

  The flush to her skin flared anger now. “You can’t help yourself, can you?” She walked past him, heading for the en suite. “Get out, Zach. I’m going to scrub this muck off my face and get some sleep.”

  “No.” His hand closed around her bare arm and a surge burned through him at the contact. Damn the woman. Why her? Why did he react so strongly to her? “Not yet.”

  “More insults?” Anna pulled her arm free. She glanced down and the redness in her face deepened. “But then that seems to be calling you a hypocrite.”

  “That is biological,” Zach muttered. “Nothing more.”

  “Fine.” The word had an edge to it. Her chin lifted. “Just find someone else to sort out your problem.”

  Zach stiffened. “My problem?”

  What had she said now? His steel blue gaze pierced her and her heart thumped at the edge of ice it held. Heat burst through her. But, damn him, she was not going to be intimidated. Not anymore. “I’m not here to satisfy you.”

  A flush darkened his cheeks. “Believe me, you are the last woman I want.” His look scorched a path down her body and it had her skin tingling. “The very last.”

  Her smile was sharp. “Is that why you’re looking at me like that?” His attention shot back to her and hunger still lingered there. Anna wanted to ignore the responding tug. “Like you’ve forgotten what a woman felt like?”

  “You’re gloating?” The next words had a razor edge. “And you think it’s funny.”

  “Why not?” Anna said. The burn in her blood made her reckless. “The high and mighty Zachary Quinn reduced to wanting…me.”

  He pushed himself away from the door. Anna stopped herself from taking a back step. “Is that why you rubbed my face in how many men you’ve had? And this latest lie. I’m now the ‘last man you slept with’.” His voice sneered. “Because you so enjoy twisting the knife.” His laughter was short, bitter. “My God, Anna, you and Sofia really are from the same mould.”

  “I am nothing like her.”

  “Of course not.” His large hand framed her jaw and heat bled into her cool skin. “You’re just an innocent.” His thumb teased her mouth, edging her lips with so light a touch it had her mind spinning. “Trapped by your scheming sister. Poor. Little. Anna.” His hand snapped back. “Isabelle told you.”

  Her mouth burned from the press of this thumb and she still had the imprint of his touch on her jaw. Confusion clogged her thoughts. “Told me?”

  “Obviously tonight had to have been a shock.”

  Zach and his usual understatement. “Yes.”

  He sank onto the edge of the bed. “Finally you’re being honest.”

  What was he doing? “You were leaving,” she murmured and she tried not to follow the smooth run of chest, his stomach muscles, to remember the heat of them over her own naked skin. She swallowed. “Zach?”

  He looked up and what she found in him fired pain through her chest. Defeat. This wasn’t Zach. He was indestructible. Panic bubbled through her and words burst out. “Gregory’s will can be contested. A court will see it’s crazy and we can get on with our separate lives. Zach? It’ll be all right.”

  “Why reassure me about that, Anna? You’ve just secured a blank cheque for yourself, haven’t you?” His soft laughter sounded strangely bitter. “Why should I be concerned about buying yet another woman’s silence?”

  Anna stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “Stop this,” he muttered. “This act.”

  “You’re making no sense.” She scrubbed weary hands over her face. “And for the very last time, I do not want your business, I do not want your money. I want…” Stupid words had almost tumbled out. Wanting him wasn’t a part of the deal. “I want my house. That’s it.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “And tonight, being here…sleeping…with me, wasn’t what you planned?”

  Anna paused. “Planned? No.”

  “You just couldn’t help yourself.”

  “Don’t…”

  “Found the thought of seeing whether it was true too impossible to resist.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Me.” Zach stood, towering over her, so close she could feel the heat of his skin and his scent wrap around her. “Disappointed that what you heard was false?”

  “Have you gone insane?”

  “
Maybe.”

  Anna’s spine hit the door.

  “Déjà vu,” he said.

  “Zach?” She stared up into his darkening eyes and tried to pull coherent thoughts into her brain. But she could only feel the press of his long body against hers, the warmth through the thinness of her dress. One thought fixed in her head. Her stupid dress had to go. Her hips shifted involuntarily against his.

  “See? I’m more than ready for you. Isabelle lied.”

  Hints dropped into place and now she understood.

  His problem.

  Isabelle was telling the world he was impotent.

  Zach had always been a very private man, detesting publicity and holding a deep hatred of anyone knowing anything about him, or his private life. His lawyers had managed to gag Isabelle, stopping her from talking about their relationship in public…but in private?

  “I can’t believe it of Isabelle.”

  Zach laughed. “Why not?”

  He traced her lip, her mouth burning at the light touch.

  “Which one of your secrets would you like me to share?”

  Her skin prickled. “She wouldn’t… She didn’t…”

  “Isabelle laughed when she told me how you discovered—what was his name?—Iain something…was cheating on you. How you walked and walked, until you were drenched to the skin—”

  Anna crushed her eyes shut. She had stupidly idolised Isabelle. “No.”

  “I’m sorry, Anna.” The softness of his voice forced out an unexpected tear. He caught it, her eyelashes fluttering against his thumb tip. “She plays everyone.”

  “Just like you.”

  His hand stilled on her cheek. “Is that what you think of me?”

  Anna snorted. “Haven’t I told you often enough?” She let out a slow breath. “Zach…”

  He had been offering comfort and she had slipped into her usual defensive. Attack. The soft light shadowed his features and she was certain she wasn’t imagining the wariness, the distrust in his face. Simple gossip, but gossip was Zach’s greatest fear. Anna had known that for a long time. Had used it. Yes, Isabelle’s vicious lies had scarred him.

  The need to hold him, to promise that it would be all right, seared through her. Yet those words she couldn’t speak. Zach wouldn’t believe her. But she did have a way to show she cared.

  Anna smiled. “We could be doing something much better than talking.”

  Her hands slid over his buttocks and urged him hard against her. The throb low in her flesh quickened and it was suddenly difficult to think.

  “You’re a piece of work…”

  “Want me to stop?”

  His low moan gave her her answer. She rubbed her pelvis over the hard length of his erection and heat licked. She swallowed. “Of course, you can leave, if you want.” Her tongue tasted his skin. “But I’d much rather you stayed.”

  “Damn you, Anna.” But his hands were already sliding down, down.

  “No.” She stopped them. Something flickered through his gaze and her heart squeezed. Pain. Hurt. “My way.”

  He blinked. “Your way? What’s…” Anna pushed him back against the wall and air left his lungs at the impact. “…your way?”

  Did the unflappable Zachary Quinn sound nervous? Anna smiled and traced a fingertip over his chin, slipping further and edging the sharp definition of his clavicle. Down. She ignored her nerves. He hissed as her nail circled his nipple. “A slow”—circling closer—“slow”—and closer until she flicked the nipple—“torture.”

  Zach groaned.

  Her finger slid lower, tracing his muscled stomach, and she came to the edge of his boxer shorts. She pushed them lower over his hips until they dropped to his feet. “Now where was I?”

  She placed an open-mouthed kiss on his shoulder, biting, licking her way to his nipple. Taking it into her mouth, she teased it between her teeth and grinned when Zach moaned. His fingers threaded through her hair.

  Her tongue licked the curve of his pectoral and moved lower.

  Zach formed a fist in her hair. “Anna. You don’t have to…”

  “My way, Zach.”

  His hand slipped away. She had to have imagined the tremor. “Do with me what you will.”

  Anna laughed against his stomach, felt his response in the ripple of muscle. The salt-sweet taste of his skin was addictive and her laughter faded. Touching him, letting her hands, her mouth slide and lose her fear in exploration. Anna wanted to do this for him.

  She licked the underside of his erection.

  Zach groaned, his body jerking.

  Her hand closed around his penis and she took it into her mouth.

  “Anna… Stop!”

  Her gut twisted. What had she done wrong? God, she felt like such a naïve idiot. Strong hands pulled her up and she found herself wrapped tight against his chest.

  “I thought…but it’s been… And I don’t…”

  “Zach, you’re making no sense.”

  His chest lifted as he let out a long sigh. “It’s been…a while.”

  Anna froze. She swallowed. “You haven’t…?” She pulled back to look up at him and found a dark embarrassed flush across his cheekbones. There was no emotion in his eyes. She didn’t want to drag it out, but it was too hard to believe. “But Isabelle lied.”

  The flush deepened and a muscle jumped in his jaw. “Her lie spread. Gossip followed me. It was like old times… In the end it was easier to avoid getting involved.” His mouth twisted and there was something bitter in his expression. “And cheaper.”

  “So you think that I want your money.”

  “Don’t you?”

  Anger put steel in her spine. The man made her crazy. “And what lie are you protecting? That you’re not impotent?”

  “I stopped having to play Isabelle’s games when I divorced her.” His gaze drilled her. “Or yours.”

  Her mouth thinned. There was something more. She could feel it.

  “Why did you stop me?”

  “Damn it, Anna, don’t push. You were right, this is a mess.”

  “No. Tell me.”

  He grabbed his underwear. “Good night.”

  “No.” Anna blocked the door. “Tell me.”

  Zach glared at her. “Move, Anna, or I will make you.”

  An insane pulse of excitement throbbed in her blood. The fire that had always burned between them flared again. His anger excited her. She knew now it always had. She pressed her body back against the solid door and met his glare. “Then make me.”

  “Anna.” The threat in his voice only pushed her hands harder against the door. “Stop this.”

  Her smile was sharp. “Again. Make me.”

  He was close and she breathed in the scent of his skin, the scent of his arousal. “Is that what you want?”

  She ran her fingers along the silken strength of his erection. His jaw clenched. “Dawn is still far off… But if you want to waste—”

  “Stop talking.” His mouth crushed hers, his tongue invading.

  Everything else was forgotten.

  Zach found the bed and stripped the silk dress from her body. He threw it to the floor. “How do you do this to me?”

  He pushed at her heated flesh, tantalisingly close, so close that sweet tension flared. He just had to push a little harder…

  “Do what?” Her hips tilted, wanting, needing more of him inside of her. Pushing, sliding, skin against skin. There. Oh God, there. Just… She grabbed at his buttocks, urging him deeper.

  Zach buried his face against her neck, his breath sending shivers over her sensitive skin. “Anna, we really should—”

  She rolled him.

  Her mouth found his nipple and all argument stopped.

  Faster. Zach’s hands on her hips, holding her, urging her.

  The tightening in her pelvis forced a moan. Almost. Oh God, almost… Little sparks of light fired through her brain and her body teetered on the edge—

  Anna cried out.

  The orgasm was
hed through her in a dizzying rush, endless, joyous.

  Zach’s mouth crushed hers and she swallowed his moans as he came.

  The kiss eased into something slow, gentle. Anna pulled away with a sigh and rested her head on his shoulder. Her lips brushed his damp neck. He still smelt wonderful.

  “Anna?”

  “Hmm?” Already sleep tugged at her. Falling asleep wrapped in Zach’s arms. Not the way she had seen the day ending. Her smile was wry. Not even the way she thought the past hour would end.

  His breathing had slowed and whatever he wanted to say drifted away as his eyes closed. Anna snuggled into his chest and found the even thud of his heartbeat under her ear.

  Its rhythm soothed her.

  She would face the fallout for this in the morning.

  Not before.

  ˜™

  Anna sighed and stretched, a delicious heat building through her body. Was she imagining the delicate play of fingers over her stomach, her breasts? Oh, that was nice. Very, very nice.

  She pushed her arms above her head and arched her spine.

  A hot, wet mouth found the underside of her breast and she couldn’t hold back the gasp. “Have I told you I love you today, Zachary Quinn?”

  And she froze.

  What the hell had she just said?

  Had he heard? God, she was an idiot.

  “Anna…” The loud ring of a telephone cut into his words. He cursed and threw back the covers. “I have to get that.” He jabbed a thumb towards the door. “But we are going to talk.” He grabbed his underwear and left.

  Anna collapsed back into the warmth of the bed, the light stinging her eyes. Zach’s scent clung to the pillow, the sheets, her skin. She groaned and scrubbed at her face. “I’m an idiot.” What had possessed her to admit that she loved him?

  And she did. Probably always had.

  She stopped herself from groaning again.

  Now he was going to come back from his phone call and want to discuss it.

  “Over my dead body.”

  Anna leapt from the bed. She glanced at the clock. Just after three.

  No, she couldn’t just run… The shower. She would make it look like she was in the shower. She ran into the en suite and snapped on the showerheads. Cool water spurted over her arm, face and she shivered. Her reflection caught her and for a moment she stopped and stared at the stranger she’d become.