Past Lies

by Kim Rees

  “You scared me.”

  He blinked.

  She rubbed at dry lips, her mouth suddenly parched by nerves. “The lies started early. I didn’t come here”—she waved her hand around the bright kitchen—“to this apartment because I thought you weren’t in it.” Her smile was strained in his continued silence. “I knew you’d be here. Made certain. I came for you.”

  “For me?”

  “You’d just turned my world upside down, Zach. I was still full of Isabelle’s little jibes about you. But I had to risk it, in spite of her warnings.”

  “You ran.”

  “I thought what she had warned me about was all true.”

  “And letting me think you’d slept with most of the country? Simply going with the opposite of my need for virgins?”

  Heat bled into her cheeks. She had never thought she would be explaining this to him, and worse, wanting him to understand. “That, and my reputation would be so terrible…”

  “…I wouldn’t touch you?”

  Anna nodded.

  “Well it worked. Mostly.” His expression was wry. “Except for my constant need to find another wall to push you up against.”

  “That wasn’t just your need.”

  Zach’s hands stopped rubbing over his face. “So we’re in agreement about this mutual lust thing?”

  Lust.

  Was he closing down on her? Retreating?

  As long as you come back to me…

  The words tightened her gut. Lust could not make a man say that.

  Anna closed the distance between them. She tried not to see the tremble in her hands as her fingers closed around his and drew them tight into her own. She swallowed.

  And said it.

  “I love you.”

  Zach simply stared at her.

  Yes, it was official. She was insane. But there was no going back. She had said it in the cold light of day. There were no excuses of being half asleep now.

  Now if only he’d say something. Anything.

  “You love me?”

  Panic fired through her blood and she wanted to run. Something in his tone sounded…wrong. Her breath stopped and she knew she was waiting for his harsh burst of laughter.

  “You love me.”

  Zach pulled his hands free and strode out of the kitchen.

  ˜™

  His hand shook as he splashed brandy into a glass.

  He’d gulped a mouthful before he realised what he was doing. He grimaced and stared into the dark liquid. The brandy burned his gut.

  He had offered her everything he thought she wanted. Everything. At that moment, he hadn’t cared about anything else other than having Anna in his life. Any way he could. Something inside of him had cracked when she turned him down. But then she had said…

  The thought burst the same panic through him and his hand tightened around the glass.

  Anna loved him.

  ˜™

  Anna stared at her hands, the burn of his touch still on her skin. “All right.” She drew in a much-needed breath. “Not the response I was expecting.” She made herself follow his path out of the kitchen. “But better than laughter. Just.”

  She found Zach in his drawing room.

  Unwanted, her mind flipped back to the night she had entered his home with stolen keys. He stood before his drinks cabinet, a crystal tumbler already half empty of brandy. Light from the window cut sharp across his profile, shone through his dark tousled hair. He really was beautiful.

  Her heart hammered, as fast as when she had stood in the same spot six years before. She half expected him to turn and have his old fury burst back over her. Fury. She had never questioned it before. She did now. “You told me to get out, that night. Why?”

  Zach straightened his shoulders, put down the glass and turned. “All that I could think about was you and the fact that I’d almost had you at the Christmas party.” He laughed, something bitter, tired. “Me. The man who was so controlled, so private. I’d nearly made a fool of myself. Again.” He glanced back to the glass, toyed with the rim, but didn’t pick it up again. “And then you came to me.”

  A smile lurked on his mouth and the promise there pooled heat low in her pelvis. Was he remembering them? It drew her to him. He caressed her jaw, slow, exploring, and her heart squeezed. His thumb stroked over her bottom lip.

  The gentle kiss swept warmth down to her toes.

  “I forgot everything in you.” His forehead pressed against hers and the intimate gesture forced a sigh. “Wanted everything. Until Freddie.”

  Anna closed her eyes and guilt crawled up her spine. “I’m sorry.”

  “No.” His lips brushed over one eyelid and then the other. “I was an idiot. I offered money. I protect myself with money.”

  More kisses traced over her jaw, edging back towards her mouth. “What are we doing here, Zach?”

  “What we’ve been doing since yesterday?”

  Anna couldn’t help the smile. “Yes, I got that part.” She willed herself to pull back. “With us.” She held his darkened gaze. “I meant what I said. And you ran.”

  He sighed. “I know. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. You turned me down again. And again.” The slight smile faded. Anna’s stomach dropped. Had she made yet another stupid mistake? His hand slipped over her shoulder, gently stroking her arm, and then he pulled her to him. His arms enfolded her and she drew his warm, familiar scent deep into her lungs.

  “I want to say it now, so it’s not misconstrued…later.” There was a smirk in his voice before he kissed her hair. “We’ll fight, Anna. We’ll scream and shout. We can’t help ourselves.” He sighed. “I love you. Probably have for a long time. But I needed Gregory to point it out.”

  “We both did.”

  Zach’s hand slid down the smoothness of her jersey, resting possessively on her hip. “Where were we?”

  “Can you say it again?”

  “What? Misconstrued?”

  Her fist dug hard into his ribs and he grunted. “You know what I want to hear, Mr. Quinn.”

  “Fighting?”

  Anna bit back a smile. She pulled out of his hold and took his hand in hers. “Going to make you say it,” she said.

  “Is that a dare, Anna?”

  She glared at him. “Careful, Zach, I might have to enforce the exclusivity clause.”

  “Ah, you’ve begun the negotiations…” His grin was wicked and her heart did a little kick.

  Anna couldn’t stop her smirk and she all but dragged him from the drawing room. “Oh yes, serious negotiations.”

  “It is possible that they could go on for days?”

  “There’ll need to be a thorough investigation…I’ll have to go into detail.”

  Zach burst out laughing. “But only if I’m a very good boy?”

  Anna stopped at the door to his bedroom. She held out her other hand and Zach took it. His grip was warm, strong and Anna felt the flutter in her chest. She was allowed to love him. And he returned her love. That still simply didn’t feel real.

  She smiled. “Honestly, Zach…I’m not lying anymore. There is only you. No one else.”

  “I know.” He opened the door. The sheets spilled out over the bed, the floor and the scent of them still lingered. “Fresh room?”

  Anna laughed. “Would be nice.”

  He pulled her along the hall to the next bedroom. Closing the door, he leant back against it. Light filtered through the thin-curtained windows and shadowed his face. Anna couldn’t stop her need to trace over the smile that curved his mouth, sighing when he kissed her fingertips.

  He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, the slow contact sending more shivers over her skin. “I believe you, Anna. I do. It’s just…we wasted so much time.” He winced. “I will always regret that.”

  “No regrets, Zach. I promised myself.” She smiled. “And I’m sure Gregory didn’t orchestrate all of this for us to spend our time feeling stupid.”

  His laughter sounded
warm, real. “No. We can’t waste his efforts.”

  He pushed himself away from the door.

  Heat flooded Anna’s body at the predatory smile curving Zach’s mouth. She found herself backing away, until her legs hit the bed and she dropped to the deep mattress.

  “I believe you were going to make me say something?”

  She stared up at him. Her mouth twitched. “I was?”

  “Anna…” The low growl to his voice pulsed through her blood.

  “You may have to…” Her words dried.

  “…remind you?” He flicked open a button and then another. Warm skin slid into view, until he shrugged out of his shirt and dropped it to the floor.

  Zach getting naked for her.

  She could get very used to that.

  Anna stopped his hands on his belt buckle. “Say it, Zach.”

  His chest rose and fell with a slow breath.

  The smooth run of very biteable muscle… Anna unconsciously wet her lips.

  Zach grinned.

  He knelt before her, his hands sliding up the sleek cotton of her trousers, easing her legs apart. She swallowed and suddenly it was hard to breathe. The clean scent of his skin tantalised her. His thumbs pressed against her inner thighs, heat surged and she fought down the very real need to squirm.

  Closer.

  “Anna Shrewsbury…”

  The hot pulse of his voice dropped passion into her blood. Her lips parted. His mouth was only inches from hers. If she just tilted her head to the left…

  “I love you.”

  She bit her lip to lessen the swift pain in her chest. It hurt. The joy hurt.

  Oh God.

  Zach loved her.

  “Anna?”

  She wiped hard at a stupid tear. “This is real, isn’t it? We’re real. Us.”

  “Oh yes. And I promise, we’ll be real for quite some time.” Zach’s clever fingers slid across her pelvis and he grinned as she yelped. “Now. I’ve met your demand.” His grin was sly. “So, do with me what you will.”

  Her finger traced a slow path over his pectoral, slipping lower, lower… “Oh, I intend to.” Anna matched his grin. “Starting now.”

  About the Author

  Kim Rees started writing when she was ten years old. That’s…okay we’ll not go into how long ago that was now. But in 2002, she gave in and started writing romance…well…sex. To her surprise, it came naturally. Yes. Please groan at the pun.

  Kim lives halfway between Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane. Honest. Just please don’t ask her to sing…

  To learn more about Kim, please visit http://www.romancefiction.co.uk. Send an email to Kim at kim@romancefiction.co.uk or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Kim! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/daughtersofcirce.

  Look for these titles

  Now Available:

  Buying Mackenzie’s Baby

  Past Lies

  It was nothing personal, just a business arrangement.

  Nothing Personal

  © 2007 Jaci Burton

  Available now at Samhain Publishing

  Ryan McKay is a multi-millionaire with a problem. He needs a bride to fulfill the terms of his grandfather’s will. Unfortunately, the one he chose just bailed on him and he’s hours away from losing his company. Enter Faith Lewis—his demure, devoted assistant. Ryan convinces Faith to step in and marry him, assuring her their marriage is merely a business deal. Ryan is certain he can keep this strictly impersonal. After all, he’s the product of a loveless marriage and for years has sealed his own heart in an icy stone. Despite Faith’s warmth, compassion and allure, he’s convinced he’s immune to her charms.

  Faith will do anything for her boss, but—marry him? The shy virgin sees herself as plain and unattractive, a product of a bitter mother who drummed into her head that she wasn’t worthy of a man’s love. But she agrees to help Ryan fulfill the terms of his grandfather’s will, hoping she doesn’t lose her heart to him in the process.

  But love rarely listens to logic, and what follows is anything but business.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Nothing Personal:

  She tried to stand patiently while Ryan slowly slipped each satin covered pearl button from its tiny loophole. But his touch did things to her sense of equilibrium. She shivered each time his warm knuckles brushed the bare skin of her back.

  “Are you cold?” Ryan’s voice whispered softly against her ear.

  “Not really.”

  “You’re shivering.”

  “Um…yes.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know.” Liar.

  Ryan’s hands stilled. “Does my touch bother you?”

  His touch most definitely bothered her. But not in the way he thought.

  “No, it’s fine. Go ahead.”

  She steeled herself against any more outward signs of his effect on her. It wouldn’t do at all to fall into bed with him, no matter how much his skin on hers made her tingle. She’d made a bargain for two months and needed that time to get to know her new husband.

  These were new sensations, new feelings, and her senses were already on overload from the day’s events. She couldn’t handle much more without a complete meltdown.

  But then his hands moved lower as he freed the buttons near her bottom. The chills returned.

  “I think there’s enough undone now that I can get out of this thing,” she stammered.

  “Just a few more,” he said, ignoring her request. Obviously his touch on her skin didn’t affect him at all. “Do you need me to help you take it off?”

  “No!” Faith cringed, not meaning for her denial to sound so forceful. She turned to Ryan. His gray eyes darkened like smoldering storm clouds. Maybe he wasn’t so oblivious to the contact between them. “What I meant to say was, I can get this off by myself. But thank you, anyway.”

  He threw her a crooked smile. Now that her dress was all but slipping off her body, why didn’t he leave?

  “I’ll just wait here while you change, in case you need me again. No need wandering the halls half-naked for help.”

  Half-naked. Her cheeks flushed with heat. The dress was completely open in the back, and she had her hands firmly pressed against her chest to keep it from dropping to the floor. “It’s almost falling off me right now, Ryan. I hardly think I’ll need any more assistance. But thank you for your help. Goodnight.”

  Hoping he’d grab a clue that she wanted to be alone to undress, she fled to the dressing area.

  The satin nightgown. She had no other choice. It was either that or eat her sandwich naked. Bet Ryan would like that. The way his eyes had gleamed when he saw her in her wedding gown led her to believe there might be a spark of interest.

  She pushed the thought aside. Ridiculous. Ryan McKay had never been interested in her. Why would he be? She was nothing like the women he escorted. Not even close.

  Attempting to redirect her thoughts to her hunger, she removed her underthings and slipped the gown over her head. Unable to resist, she ran her hands down the cool satin. A quick glance in the mirror shocked her. The gown molded to her body like a lover’s hand, clearly showcasing every minimal asset she had.

  Why hadn’t she heard the door close? Surely Ryan had left by now. Faith waited a few more seconds for the sound of the door closing, but didn’t hear anything.

  “Ryan?”

  “Yeah?”

  He was still there but his voice was muffled.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Eating.”

  “Oh.” She peered around the doorway into the bedroom. He sat at the table next to her bed, eating one of the sandwiches Leland had fixed for her.

  “You haven’t eaten yet, Faith. Come out and have one of these sandwiches.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’m not that hungry, really.” Right. She was surprised Ryan couldn’t hear her stomach grumbling in the other room.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Come out here now and eat with me.”


  Fortunately the gown had a matching satin wrap that she quickly donned. Hunger won out over modesty. She wanted to get some food before he ate it all. She tightened the belt on the robe and entered the bedroom.

  As she crossed in front of him, his eyes widened. Faith clutched the edges of the robe over her chest, feeling less than adequate in a gown that should have been worn by a goddess like Erica, not by her. She didn’t do it justice.

  “Hungry?” he asked.

  Faith nodded. “Starving. I hadn’t realized that I hadn’t eaten until Leland mentioned something about food.”

  Ryan smiled. “I know. When I saw the food on the table my stomach reminded me I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. You don’t mind, do you?”

  “Why would I mind?” She grabbed a sandwich and tried not to shove it in her mouth. With as much dignity as she could muster considering the depth of her hunger, she took a bite of the delicious turkey sandwich.

  He sipped a glass of tea and watched her eat. At first she was self-conscious, but then her appetite took over and she downed the sandwich in no time flat.

  Satisfied, Faith sat back and took a drink. And still he stared at her.

  “Is something wrong?” She knew he wanted to say something, but didn’t. She chewed her lip in anticipation.

  Without a word he reached across the table and drew his thumb against the corner of her mouth, then slowly dragged it across her bottom lip. Faith watched in rapture as he brought his thumb to his mouth and licked it with agonizing slowness.

  “You had mayonnaise on the corner of your lip,” he said, his voice low and oh-so-sexy.

  Was he deliberately trying to drive her crazy? She grabbed the napkin and swept it across her mouth. “Thank you.”

  His dark eyes warmed her. “It was my pleasure.”

  She couldn’t tear her gaze away from him, despite knowing she should stop whatever was happening between them. She simply could not deal with any more today.

  Thankfully, Ryan stood. “I’m sure you’re tired. I’ll let you get some sleep.”

  Faith rose from the table, nodding. “Thank you for your help with the dress.”