Dirty Little Lies: A Men of Summer Novel (4 page)

Especially him.

“Because I don’t play war games with your cousins and bloody my knuckles every chance I get to prove I’m strong enough to suit you?” He had to laugh at that one, despite the insult.

“Because it’s not your fight.” Fists clenched, her expression tight with anger and fear, it made him wonder at the decision to hide who he was, what he was from her all these years.

She didn’t think he could protect her. That thought ran through his mind on repeat, infuriating him with each pass.

It was a dare.

A challenge.

He’d never imagined Grace would have the nerve to step that close to the danger zone where he was concerned. Few people did, male or female.

Lust, anger, fear for her. They all collided then, wrapped around him, and broke the restraints he kept on the inner demons trapped inside. That darkness, that hunger he’d denied himself, and the aura of nonthreatening courtesy he was always careful to maintain.

In that second, they were gone, and a part of him wondered if he’d ever recover from it.

“Then I’ll make it my fucking fight, how’s that one?” He moved before she could anticipate it, one hand sliding into the back of her hair, the other gripping her hip while he loomed over her, pressing her back to her pillow.

Before she could utter a cry or so much as whimper, his lips covered hers, and in that second, he realized why he’d stayed away from Grace Maddox.

Zack didn’t ask for the kiss; he didn’t warn her first.

He owned the kiss.

His lips mastered hers. His tongue slipped past, parting hers in surprise. Then his lips slanted over hers, and it was nothing like what Grace had imagined this first kiss would be.

It was better.

It was hotter.

It completely consumed her senses and shot to hell any preconceived notions she might have had about Zack as a lover and the pleasure he could give her.

He mastered her senses with his kiss, stole reason and resistance before he pushed his hand beneath the blanket to the sweet flesh hidden there. His fingers slid into rich, heavy dew and swollen folds of flesh as the heel of his palm pressed into the engorged bud of her clit.

And right there, between one heartbeat and the next, she cried out into his kiss, her body bowing, moisture rushing over his fingers as sweet, quiet little Grace came in his hand with a strength and desperate hunger like nothing he’d known in his life.

In that moment, Zack knew that this woman was the greatest weakness a man could possess. Especially a man who didn’t dare allow weakness into his life.

chapter three

Now what?

Stepping into Vince Maddox’s office nearly thirty minutes later, Zack felt that punch of the inevitable still ricocheting through his senses. The second Grace exploded like dynamite in his hands, he’d known he was in more trouble than he ever imagined he could be. And he’d imagined quite a bit of trouble where she was concerned.

And she was madder than hell at him.

The thought of her flushed face, anger gleaming amid the pleasure sparking her eyes, had left him wanting nothing more than to feel her coming for him again.

Damn, she made him hot. It had taken everything he had to pull back—to keep from crawling over her, tearing his jeans from his hips, and pushing inside the sleek, wet depths of her. As she’d climaxed, her nails had dug into his shoulders, her body bowing, pushing closer to him, unconsciously seeking more, searching for every second of pleasure to be found.

“’Bout time you showed up,” Cord growled from where he sat in a heavy leather chair next to his father’s desk. His brothers, twins Deacon and Sawyer, sat on the other side, sprawled in matching chairs as they glared back at him.

“Call Jazz and Slade off,” Vinny demanded as soon as the door closed behind Zack. “Those two are like a coupla junkyard dogs.”

With an arch of his brow, Zack took a seat in the leather sofa facing the desk. “What are they doing?” he drawled, knowing damned good and well what they were doing.

Vinny leaned forward, propping his elbows on his desk, his dark green eyes shadowed with grief and the knowledge that his wife had been murdered by her own sister, his own daughter nearly killed more than once by the same woman.

The past two months hadn’t been easy on Vinny or his boys. The truths now being uncovered had the power to chip away at the faith they had in the work they did. And Zack couldn’t blame them, but he was damned if he’d let that lack of faith destroy Grace.

“They’re parked at the gates, refusing to move. Kenni actually threw a tomato at the guards stationed there, and now she’s threatening to neuter them!” he snapped furiously.

Something resembling a smothered chuckle came from one of the twins at his right, but when Zack glanced at them, both men were staring at the rounded tops of their boots with intense concentration. Turning back to Vinny, he caught the other man glaring at his sons.

“That sounds like Kenni,” Zack agreed somberly. “They’re lucky she hasn’t used the Taser Jazz bought her.”

Vinny’s eyes rounded in something akin to horror. “He gave her a Taser gun? Did he lose his mind?”

Zack’s initial reaction had been similar.

“He didn’t want to lose another of his antique corkscrews, I guess.” He shrugged. “I thought it was a smart move.”

Kenni was nearly murdered by a henchman of her aunt’s. She’d killed him by plunging one of Jazz’s antique corkscrews straight into his heart.

Zack was still impressed with the move.

Vinny shot him a killing look rather than agreeing with him.

“As for her current threats,” Zack continued. “I suggest you let Kenni check on her cousin, let Jazz and Slade in on the situation, we share info, and we all get along.” He let his look harden. “Or I take Grace out of here, hide her myself, and Jazz, Slade, and I handle all this on our own.”

Four sets of varying shades of green gazed back at him with suddenly icy expressions.

“Do you want to die, Zack?” Cord asked softly then, his beach cowboy look doing little to soften the cold emerald gaze.

“Not today, Cord,” Zack assured him facetiously. “Check back with me tomorrow. I have a feeling dealing with your cousin will be more detrimental to my careful control than I ever imagined she could be.”

“Just kill him now, Dad,” Cord grunted, not in the least amused.

“You could do that.” Zack gave a short nod of his head. “Of course, if you do, I won’t be able to tell you about my little visit to the Brigham Estate yesterday.” He met each man’s gaze once again. “I’m sure you want to hear about that.” Zack relaxed back in the sofa, propped his ankle on the opposite knee, and watched the three men silently as they exchanged looks.

Finally, Vinny gave a hard shake of his head, his expression becoming heavy and filled with grief once more. “You’ll break her heart,” he said, his tone saddened. “You’ve already wounded it with your disregard for her over the past eight weeks.”

“Better her heart broken than her life taken.” A broken heart would keep her breathing, at least. “Alex Brigham had a file detailing Lucia’s interrogation. She claimed Grace was helping her and that she was holding a flash drive containing evidence pointing to Lucia’s partner. The leader of the silent coup you’ve been battling since Grace’s father died. The only way we’ll save her is if Brigham is convinced she’s my lover. He won’t strike out at her if she belongs to me. Not for any reason.”

“And what makes you so fucking special?” Cord burst out just as his father lifted his hand for silence.

“Dad, you can’t believe that—” Deacon leaned forward in anger only to receive a silencing look from Vinny.

Sawyer sat still, simply watching. He was the only one who would have worried Zack, if he’d had anything to worry about.

“You’re going to play that card, Zack? After all these years?” Vinny asked softly. “For a girl you’ve steered clear of since she first showed any interest in you? You wouldn’t play it for yourself, but you’re playing it for her?”

The implication that he was letting this get personal wasn’t lost on Zack.

“Whoever targeted Grace is the same bastard who killed my parents as well as your brother and your wife.” Zack dropped any pretense of casual amusement. Leaning forward, he stared back at Vinny, fighting to control his anger. “Sierra Maddox is the reason I was sent to Toby Rigor.” Vinny’s first wife had seen things even Vinny hadn’t wanted to see. “Losing Kenni all those years nearly destroyed Jazz. I want that bastard, Vinny. I want him bad. And if this is what it takes to smoke him out, then fuck him, it’s time he learns who he’s dealing with.”

Something flashed in Vinny’s eyes, there and gone before Zack could identify the emotion.

“Very well.” Vinny sat back in his chair, that casual attitude Zack had displayed moments before now infusing the Maddox patriarch. “Introduce yourself, then. Let Cord, Deacon, and Sawyer know who they’re dealing with. Let them know why you, Jazz, and Slade hold the potential to divide the Kin.”

His teeth clenched. He should have known Vinny would take this particular tack.

Finally, his lips curled mockingly with the knowledge that Vinny thought he’d back down. “Zackary Richards,” he stated clearly. “Son of Zackary Richards Sr. and Nicole Brigham—Alexander Brigham’s youngest sister.”

Silence filled the room for long moments.

“Son of a bitch.” Cord sat forward in his chair, his gaze sharp, suspicious. “Toby Rigor knew who you were, didn’t he?”

Zack inclined his head. “And he took steps to ensure I’d always be safe. Steps that are still in place.”

His foster father had been one of Vinny Maddox’s most respected team leaders, as were his friends. And now those friends, and the sons of those friends, were sworn to carry on that protection.

Several times over the years, those Kin leaders had backed Slade, Jazz, and Zack equally whenever they’d butted heads with the Maddox family, whenever needed and with such covert precision that Vince Maddox never identified any of the men and women behind it. And they’d tried.

“And you’re willing to extend that same protection to Grace?” Vinny asked then. “As well as holding back the Brigham family, no matter the cost to yourself?”

“To find the bastard who killed my parents and her father,” he agreed, “you’re damned right I am. I want this traitor, Vinny. I want it stopped. Now.”

Secrets.

They were a part of the Tennessee mountains, part of their heritage as well as the very existence of the Maddox family and the government-backed militia they called the Kin.

“And you’re willing to use Grace to catch him,” Vinny sighed, “because you believe she’s guilty.”

“Because I know she’s
not
guilty.” Zack denied the charge, ignoring the narrow-eyed suspicion suddenly creasing Vinny’s expression. “Grace wouldn’t betray her father’s memory, or the cousin she knew was alive for two years before Kenni ever admitted to Jazz who she was. If Grace were helping Lucia, then Kenni would have been dead before Jazz ever realized she was in trouble.”

Kenni and Grace had already admitted that to the family. Grace’s love for Kenni, for the family, wasn’t in question.

“Then Luce lied,” Vinny stated. “Grace can’t be in possession of that information.”

The disappointment in the other man’s tone was enough to send irritation flashing through Zack. He wondered if Vinny wouldn’t have preferred Grace be guilty just so he could get his hands on that information.

“If Grace even thought she had something the family needed, she’d turn it over in a heartbeat,” Zack agreed. “And she was too young when Benjamin died for him to have entrusted anything in her care.”

“Then how do you intend to learn who Luce’s partner was?” Cord asked.

“I won’t have to learn who it is,” he assured them, tapping the fingers of one hand on the arm of the sofa. “Luce swore Grace has it. Whoever’s been heading this attempted coup will be desperate to get it, or to kill her so she can’t reveal it. They have no idea who within the Kin backs me, or how many back me any more than you do. Whoever it is will get desperate now. They’re going to convince themselves they’re smart enough, strong enough to take her from me. I’m going to prove them wrong. And uncover who they are at the same time, however I have to.”

Sawyer spoke up then, an edge of disgust in his tone. “By using Grace. When it’s over, you’ll leave her broken, Zack.”

He repeated his earlier statement. “She’ll be alive.”

Grace would be alive, and that should be all that concerned her family. At the heart of it, he was afraid that part played too large a role in his own plans as well.

He’d begun thinking of her as his in some ways, long before now. He didn’t like it, but he also tried not to hide from himself. And Grace was a part of him he couldn’t define or make sense of.

“What do you need?” Vinny asked rather than protesting further. “How do you intend to play this little game of yours?”

It wasn’t a game, but so long as the Maddox family believed it was just that, then the safer Grace would be. The Brigham family would know better, unfortunately. Just as Zack knew it. There were secrets they shared, secrets that would end up not just hurting Grace but destroying him as well.

“Grace is too weak to protect herself. You raised her to be the replacement princess when you thought Kenni was dead.” He ignored the shocked anger in their faces. “She’s delicate, with no fighting skills and a trusting nature.” He shot the four men a scowl. “It’s like letting a puppy loose in a den of wolves. You set her up as bait from the moment you took her into your home.”

Grace hadn’t even been born with the fiery, stubborn nature of the Maddox Clan. She smiled sweetly at everyone when she asked for something, and for the most part, they indulged her. The princess could do no harm, until the true princess returned. Now she was a target.

“That’s how you see Grace?” Vinny asked heavily. “Weak and defenseless?”

“She’s a country club debutante,” Zack reminded him, though without scorn. “Through no fault of her own. She can’t survive in this world you’ve carved out for her. The very fact that she is so defenseless has made her a target.”