Wicked Lies

by Lora Leigh

  Straight to his face? Well, it wasn’t easy, but of course she would.

  “What reason would I have to lie to you, Jazz?”

  She could think of a page full of reasons.

  “Because you think you can get away with it.” He sighed his own answer.

  She could get away with it, for a few minutes at least. It wouldn’t be easy, but she’d manage it if she had to. No doubt she was going to have to if his expression was anything to go by.

  “Personally, I think you’re a little paranoid,” she informed him with an air of pity. “Such a shame, too. Jessie seems rather certain you’re a very intelligent man. Paranoia could be quite detrimental to that.”

  He’d always been fun to play with, too. That hadn’t changed, he still enjoyed a few word games as well as his more sexual pastimes.

  “Jessie likes to fuck with your head, baby,” he chuckled, the low, rough sound far too sexy.

  “Or perhaps you’re still in denial. That’s never a good thing, Jazz,” she assured him, enjoying the exchange far too much. “Talk to Jessie. She’ll explain it all to you.”

  Or actually manage to screw his head up completely, she thought, amused. Jessie had learned how to play those games as well.

  He sniffed at the advice, never taking his eyes off her. He wasn’t stripping her with his eyes, he was warming her with them. But Jazz had a way of doing that, of making a woman feel like she was the only female on the face of the earth. He charmed and seduced and led them along a path of sultry kisses and dominating caresses—and at the end of that path they were left with the memory of something they would never know again. He’d seduced them so well that getting angry at him was impossible.

  Kenni begged to claim otherwise. She was furious with him over every former lover he’d ever had. She wanted to claw their eyes out, then claw his out for being such a damned Romeo.

  “You’re a pretty little thing aren’t you?” The statement had her heart nearly stopping before it began racing in her chest with a speed that made it difficult to breathe properly.

  “Th … thank you.” Damn him, now he was making her stutter? Just because he thought she was pretty? And why had he waited two years to say that?

  His head tilted to the side, his sapphire-blue eyes watching her for another silent moment. Sometimes she wondered what he saw and what he thought when he did that. He had a tendency to watch her as though she were some puzzle he needed to put together. If that was the case then she was in trouble. Once Jazz decided to figure something or someone out, he was just as tenacious as the most stubborn men she’d ever met.

  Well, probably more.

  When he looked at her like that he did things to her that no other man had even come close to doing. She tingled and could feel herself flushing. Her knees went weak. The tingles raced over her body, detoured to the peaks of her breasts, and then went decidedly south with a surge of energy that had her shifting on her feet to dislodge the ache.

  Sweet merciful heaven. This was just wrong. This was not why she was here, and she didn’t have time for the distraction. She couldn’t let him draw her in yet, not until she was certain where his loyalties lay.

  “I should go…”

  “Something about you just makes me hard as hell.” He sighed, causing a laugh of pure disbelief to slip past her lips.

  Well, he was rather blunt tonight. She normally steered clear of him, so she’d never really seen him like this. Heard of it, but hadn’t seen it. It frankly terrified her. If he kept this up, she might have to let him seduce her and that would simply defeat the purpose.

  “Something about me, huh?” She lifted a brow at the phrasing, crossed her arms beneath her breasts, hoped she was hiding her hardened nipples, and tried for a doubtful expression as she watched him. “Perhaps it’s because I’m female.”

  He seemed to pause for a moment. Maybe he was thinking about the accusation. It wasn’t possible to deny it, that was for damned sure.

  “Well, I am known for my love of females.” He nodded seriously before lifting the beer for another drink.

  “Yes, Jazz, you are known for your love of females.” Damned alley cat. “Healer of broken hearts, seducer of weeping divorcées, and all-around charming rogue,” she pointed out. “Never been married and not so much as a chip taken from your heart. Lucky man.” The mockery wasn’t nearly as subtle as she was trying for.

  He glanced down. Kenni stilled at the flash of dark emotion that swept across his face for just a moment as he stared at the bottle in his hand.

  He’d been in love? Oh, that wasn’t fair. Damn him, she’d never had a chance to give herself to the man she loved as a young woman, no chance to tell him how much she’d ached for him or to see if she could make this far-too-dangerous man fall in love with her. And he’d dared to fall in love while she was gone.

  Bastard.

  Double bastard.

  “Yeah, lucky man.” But he didn’t sound as though he agreed with her. “What about you? Ever been married? In love?”

  “I’m twenty-six years old, Jazz, what do you think?” She would be twenty-seven soon, but she couldn’t tell him that. She was tired, lonely, starving for his touch in ways she hadn’t in all the years before coming home, and certain that if she allowed herself to taste the pleasure he could give her, he wouldn’t just break her heart. No, Jazz wouldn’t do anything by half measures. He’d shatter her soul into a million pieces.

  She hadn’t had a chance to fall in love because she compared every damned man she met with Jazz Lancing. She was terribly afraid what she’d thought was a crush when she was seventeen went far deeper and ruined her for any other man.

  He chose that moment to set the now empty beer bottle on the front bumper of his RV and stepped farther into the shadows, closer to her.

  She should leave, right now. Kenni knew she should leave. She should run from him so fast and hard that she left dust in her wake. Instead she stood there like some foolish twit too stupid to get out of the path of danger.

  She had so thought she had better control of herself than this.

  “Are you frightened of me, darlin’?”

  Oh God, he was so close.

  Kenni stared up at him, his gaze holding hers as his fingers settled at her hip, drawing her slowly closer until she was flush against his much larger body.

  “Frightened of you? No, Jazz, I’m not frightened of you.” Fear was the last thing she felt, but what she did feel was more dangerous than fear.

  It was hunger. It was the overpowering need for touch. For his touch.

  His hold tightened further on her as his head lowered, his lips brushing over her jaw.

  Instantly sensation shot across her flesh. Like fingers of incredible pleasure sinking beneath her skin to nerve endings she’d never known could be so sensitive. The slightest brush of those well-molded, sensual male lips had her lashes fluttering in helpless, hopeless need.

  Helpless. She couldn’t allow herself to be helpless. Helpless meant dying. And she wasn’t ready to die.

  “What is with this need of yours to seduce every single female you come in contact with?” she questioned him desperately. “Find another playmate, Jazz. I’m unavailable.” It nearly killed her to step back and place several feet between them.

  “You’re always running away,” he drawled, the slight curve of a grin at the corner of his lips. “Keep doing that, you’ll hurt my feelings something awful.”

  Really?

  She simply couldn’t believe that the statement, no matter how teasing, had actually fallen from his lips. There was a hint of frustration there as well. She could see it in the narrowing of his gaze, the way the muscles ticked sexily at the side of his jaw.

  “Poor baby.” The patently false sympathy she offered him wasn’t helping if his glare was any indication. “I’m sure you can find someone to soothe your poor hurt feelings. I hear you could actually start your own harem.”

  Oversexed ass!

  He was so
damned powerful, her fascination for him far too strong—yet she had to deny herself. Where was the fairness in that?

  “There’s an opening if you’d like to apply for a position,” he offered teasingly. “Tryouts could start now if you like?”

  Kenni could sense far more than just amusement and irritation now. There was something deeper in his gaze. Darker. Something that made those tingles start playing through her body again.

  She really needed to get the hell away from him.

  “You’re obviously far drunker than I suspected to actually try that one,” she accused him as her fingers dug against her palms to keep from smacking the daylights out of his smug face.

  “Or not drunk enough,” he grunted, watching her closely now. “Hell, I should have known better, right? You have to be the most irritable woman I’ve come across in years.”

  Irritable?

  Kenni glared back at him, her ire beginning to heat to anger at the accusation. “If I’m irritable then it’s because you can’t help being an ass. Besides, no one’s holding a gun to your head and forcing you to make such idiotic offers.”

  “Did I say you were irritable?” he questioned. “I’m sorry, I meant irritating. You’re damned irritating.”

  “Because I won’t sleep with you?” Disbelief whipped through her senses like a storm. This man was completely unreal. “What? No one’s ever turned you down before, Jazz?”

  The smug, too-knowing expression on his face made her teeth grit.

  “Nope, not till you,” he shot back, the growl in his voice matching the irritated look he shot her.

  “Then you’re far overdue for the experience, aren’t you?” Kenni kept her voice sweet as she stepped back to the path leading to the parking lot, and escape. “Rejection can ultimately be a wonderful character builder, I hear.”

  The way he looked at her then sent a rush of warmth spreading through her body. The reaction was surprising. As angry as she was, her body shouldn’t be reacting to him with such sexual warmth. Then again, Jazz had a way of making a woman just want to melt with a look. The lowered lashes, so thick and long they should be illegal on a man. The sexy smirk that tugged at the corners of his lips and the wicked sensuality that filled his expression were simply, almost, irresistible.

  “Then again, I haven’t actually been rejected by you, have I?” he pointed out before she could escape, his tone resonating with complete, sensual confidence.

  That was Jazz, he couldn’t help himself, she decided. For all his confidence and arrogant certainty in himself, he was also right. She had yet to truly reject him. She couldn’t seem to make herself do it.

  “If that’s what you have to convince yourself of, then you go right ahead.” She had to force the amusement into her voice as she forced the hunger out of it. “I won’t argue with you. Besides, it’s time I head home.”

  She turned her back on him.

  She should have known better. The second she actually did it she remembered what a bad idea it could be.

  Kenni had barely taken that first step when she found herself hauled around, lifted to her tiptoes, and her back pressed against the side of Jazz’s RV.

  Neon-blue eyes snared hers, refusing to allow her to escape his gaze or his hold.

  Perhaps bad idea was the wrong description. Not a good idea, but definitely a move that showed her exactly why fighting Jazz was going to be so damned hard now.

  Her fingers curled against his shoulders, nails pressing into the dark material of his T-shirt as he gripped her rear with both hands, lifted her, and pushed one hard thigh between hers.

  Kenni’s breath caught. Oh God, that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right that she get weak like this, that her flesh betrayed her common sense and gloried in his touch. Need surged through her with catastrophic results. The feel of him, hard, aroused, pressing into tender flesh far too sensitive and aching for touch, nearly destroyed any hope she had of resistance. Let alone control.

  “You’re not rejecting me, darlin’,” he stated, his voice deeper, darker than ever. “Say it now. Tell me you don’t want me.”

  He was so warm, so powerful. For just a moment she wanted to relax against him, to allow that heat to just sink inside her and ease the awful chill that filled her, kept her cold no matter the heat surrounding her.

  She had to get away from him before he made it impossible for her to escape the need she could feel building. Because he made her feel safe, heated, and oh so hungry for his touch.

  “Why do you keep running, Annie? You want me. I can see it, feel it. You want me until you hurt for it. Almost as bad as I hurt for it.”

  Annie.

  He had to call her Annie. He just had to remind her of who she wasn’t, and in doing so emphasize that she couldn’t allow anyone to know who she was.

  “Enough…”

  “Jazz, let the little teacher go for a minute so we can talk.”

  Kenni froze, the shock of the voice behind her sending fear racing through her. She hadn’t even known anyone was there. For the first time in years her senses had betrayed her at a time when it was most important. With someone far more dangerous to her than any other could hope to be.

  “Let me go.” Hissing at his ear, Kenni pushed demandingly at Jazz’s shoulders. “Dammit, I knew not to let you catch me in the dark.”

  He grunted at that, but lowered her to her feet and slowly released her, allowing her to step away from him.

  She glimpsed the shadow of a man hidden within the dark copse of trees that grew to the water’s edge. And she had to walk past him. Dammit, her luck was starting to suck. It was completely ridiculous that Jazz could affect her to this extent. That he could captivate her senses to the point that she was completely unaware this man had slipped up behind them.

  “I’m going home,” she muttered. “Remind me to stay away from lake parties in the future.”

  Neither man answered, though she could feel Jazz’s eyes on her as she stomped past the hulking intruder, following the path to the well-lit parking area where she’d left her small tan sedan.

  Within seconds the motor was humming. She backed quickly from her parking spot and headed for the exit to the main road.

  She was going to have to stay away from Jazz for a long time. Long enough to rebuild her defenses and find a way to make certain this never, ever happened again.

  She was in Loudoun to finish a game that had begun ten years before. One so deadly, so filled with evil purpose that it had destroyed everything she cared for. She was safe nowhere. No one was safe caring for her, or attempting to protect her. And now there was no way in hell she could actually be honest with Jazz. How could she catch a killer if all she could think about was touching Jazz, and how he would touch her?

  Maybe it was better that way. She was so completely alone that her enemies had no one to use against her, or take from her. She had to be alone to face the enemy from a position of strength, she reminded herself. Loved ones were a weakness. Caring was a weakness. And Kenni had already learned the punishment for caring far more than she could bear.

  Another lesson just might destroy her.

  Now she had to figure out how to complete what she hadn’t been able to complete in two years.

  Find a killer.

  At this rate, she might manage that task before she was a senior citizen. She doubted it, though …

  CHAPTER 2

  Well, didn’t it just figure, Jazz thought as Annie escaped, resigned to the fact that this night had just been screwed to hell and back. And just his damned luck.

  He would never figure out why she’d been tracking him so often for the past few months at this rate. It wasn’t just here at the weekend gatherings. He knew she’d been watching him in town as well, not that he’d ever glimpsed her doing so.

  It was that feeling. A feeling he attributed directly to her.

  Besides, seducing her was damned hard this way. She was so busy watching him or trying to follow him, catching her face-to-face wa
s becoming more and more difficult. When he did manage it, she was so wary that she ran as soon as she found an excuse.

  He’d been trying to get the little schoolteacher in his arms and in his bed for next to two years now. Fat lot of good it had done him. The minute he had her melting against him Cord Maddox showed up like a harbinger of doom.

  He should have expected it. Cord always showed up at the most inopportune times.

  “Pretty girl,” Cord remarked as he stepped farther from the shadows, his gaze moving slowly from the direction of the parking lot. “What do you know about her?”

  What the hell did he care?

  Jazz’s brows arched. “What should I know about her?”

  Cord didn’t ask useless questions. The fact that he was supposedly there to do Jazz a favor only made him more wary of Cord’s interest.

  Emerald eyes sliced to Jazz, thoughtful, suspicious. The ex–Navy SEAL didn’t have a whole lot of trust in him. Hell, Jazz had always sworn Cord and his brothers had been born distrustful.

  “What do you want, Cord?” Running his hand along the back of his neck, Jazz rubbed at the tense muscles there. Dammit, he had a bad feeling about this.

  “Can we talk inside?” Cord nodded to the RV. “It’s important.”

  “Must be for you to show up at a gathering,” Jazz bit out as he pushed his fingers through his hair, turned on his heel, and made his way to the narrow door on the back side of the RV.

  Moving into the home on wheels his gaze swept over the area, subconsciously prepared for intruders while hoping no one was dumb enough to piss him off tonight. It wouldn’t go well for them.

  “The gatherings hold too many memories, Jazz, you know that,” Cord remarked as they moved to the front of the RV.

  Opening the fridge and pulling free two bottles of beer, he tossed one to Colt while opening his own.

  For the Maddox family, the memories the gatherings held were all about one bright, flirty young woman-child they’d gathered around to watch out for. Cord’s baby sister had begun attending the gatherings when she was thirteen. Each of her three older brothers, often her parents, and a multitude of cousins turned out as well to make certain she was protected.