“Nice,” she said with a smile full of forced cheer. “Craig took us to a place that, um…had wonderful burgers and chicken. Yeah, on the south side of town. They sang to her. But Craig is doing well. I’m glad we went.”

  Liar, liar… But why?

  “The whole thing tuckered Hallie out, so I put her to bed. It’s just us now.”

  And he couldn’t miss the suddenly seductive note in her voice. She swayed closer.

  What the hell? After avoiding him for days, she was suddenly turning on the charm?

  Oh, baby. If you’re going to play with fire, I’m going to burn you so bad…

  “Great.” He took her hand. And if you’re willing to seduce me for information, let’s see how far you’ll go to get it. “But I’m more tired than I thought, and it looks like I have to leave town soon. I can’t say much, but let’s catch up next week, when the op is over. And if I’m back on Wednesday for her big day, I’ll take you and Hallie to dinner then.”

  She swallowed. “So the rescue op is definitely on for this weekend?”

  “We’ve got a really solid plan that… Well, sorry. I can’t tell you. I’ll see you later?”

  Tessa squeezed his hand tighter, as if she thought that would stop him from leaving. “Don’t go. I-I’ve been thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “You. Us.” She bit her lip—something she only did when she was nervous. “Moving in is a really big step. I know I said earlier that it wasn’t a good idea, but…I’ve reconsidered. I’m open to talking about it.”

  He wasn’t buying it. How fucking long had she been playing him? “That’s good to hear, baby.”

  “And I know you’re tired, but I’d love it if you stayed a little longer so we could…talk?” She pretended to adjust the tie of her robe, but she pulled it free. The folds slid apart. And under the thin white terry cloth, what she wore scrambled his brain.

  Her blue, lacy baby doll covered less than half her tits. The bow tucked just under gave way to a filmy, transparent fabric that told him she wore nothing underneath except a teeny tiny thong.

  Yeah, she was playing him—no question—and it pissed him the fuck off. But holy shit, when he clapped eyes on her, he could barely breathe. And he was more than willing to let her take advantage of him in whatever way she wanted.

  “Tessa, baby…”

  She shrugged off the robe and tossed it on a nearby chair, then tugged him through the darkened living room and into her candlelit bedroom.

  Tessa had definitely ramped up the seduction factor for his visit. Because she wanted something other than sex or love or commitment from him.

  Goddamn it.

  Later, he’d let himself hurt. He’d wonder why the first fucking time he had truly lost his heart it had to be to a lying viper with big green eyes and gorgeous tits doing her best to play him for reasons he could only guess at. He’d take her engagement ring back and kiss all his dreams of a happily ever after goodbye. He’d wonder how the hell he was going to pick up the pieces of his life to live without her forever.

  Now, he was too angry that she’d turned out to be just as self-serving as every other asshole he’d grown up with.

  “Zy?” She looked tense. No, worried. “Do you not like this?” She gestured to her lingerie, almost cupping her breasts—and making him lose his ability to speak.

  Until something occurred to him. “Who else have you worn that for?”

  She relaxed, as if that question didn’t stress her. As if she didn’t have to lie. “No one. I bought this for you.”

  When? After she’d decided to screw him figuratively and literally? “You look sexy as fuck.”

  He could say that with all sincerity. The lace and ribbons framed her cleavage so temptingly, he itched to touch her. The shadow between her thighs was dusky and mysterious and he swore he could almost taste her. His mouth watered.

  “Thank you.” She stepped closer. “I’d planned to talk to you tonight…but I want to be with you, too. We’ve only been apart a handful of days, but it’s felt like a lifetime.”

  “It has.” Zy couldn’t keep the rough note out of his voice.

  “Do you want to talk now and get it over with? Or talk…after?”

  “Definitely after.”

  After that, he lost all patience for talk. He flattened her against the wall of her bedroom, gripped her hair in his fist, then slanted his mouth over hers with a groan.

  Tessa might have turned out to be a poisonous liar, but she tasted so fucking sweet.

  Against him, she arched, then whimpered as he stroked his tongue inside her, loving the way her breath caught. He slid deeper. The kiss turned urgent. He cupped the pert globes of her ass and crushed her lush tits against his chest.

  She gasped as she clutched his shirt, hanging on like she couldn’t breathe and wouldn’t let go.

  His lips raced down her neck as he laved at her throat like she was a delicious treat to savor, not a Mata Hari he should unmask.

  “I’ve missed you. I need you. Zy…” With quick fingers, she unbuttoned his shirt. He did nothing to stop her, just let her shove the garment off his shoulders to pool on the carpet. “Take me to bed.”

  Twenty-four hours ago, he would have believed that whisper. He would have been throwing a party in his head as he carried her across the room and made her his again. He would have gone out of his way to lavish her with pleasure until she was sighing, sated, and smiling.

  Not anymore.

  “Let’s not rush this, baby. I want to take my time with you tonight.” See how desperate I can make you…

  Panting, she shook her head. “No, I can’t wait. I ache for you. I’ve craved you so badly. I’ve tried not to. I’ve tried to keep my head and think straight. But when you touch me, you make that impossible. Please…”

  She sounded so needy. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear her words were sincere. Despite all the evidence of her guilt, Zy still found himself half believing she meant all that.

  Then Tessa turned the tables on him, opening her lips against his neck, nipping at his lobe, nuzzling up to his five-o’clock shadow, dragging her tongue down his chest as she plucked at his nipples with pinching fingers and nibbling teeth.

  He hissed as pleasure hit him hard. The scent of her arousal drifted between them. Fuck. He needed to keep his head and stay in charge. He couldn’t succumb to the desire gnawing at his restraint, but christ, she was undoing him.

  Tessa kept kissing her way down his body, breathing hard and clutching him—until she landed on her knees at his feet. And god help him, he fucking loved her there. His body roared in approval with a slam of his heart and a jerk of his cock.

  Blinking up at him, she gripped his thigh and tugged at the button at his fly. He yanked the zipper down before helping her shove his boxer briefs past his hips.

  She took his cock in her eager hands, and he moaned. Then, with her big green eyes devouring him, she parted her swollen red lips, took him onto her tongue, and sucked him deep.

  The hot silk of her mouth seemed to envelop his whole body. Zy closed his eyes with a growl, using a determined fist in her hair to guide and lengthen the stroke of her lips up and down his dick. “Yes, baby. Nice and slow. Watching you wrap your lips around me is…” She swallowed, her throat working the head of his cock into a staggering nirvana. He tugged harder on her hair and fucked her mouth ruthlessly. “Don’t stop.”

  Tessa shook her head, totally unshy about heaping pleasure on him. That turned him on even more.

  She didn’t give the most practiced blow job he’d ever had, but she sucked him with gusto, eyes sliding shut as if she savored every inch. The little catch of her breath almost convinced him this turned her on as much as it did him, and he wondered how she’d willed her nipples to be so hard under the transparent lace. Hell, maybe she was practiced after all. Maybe he’d underestimated her. Maybe she’d been inserted by the enemy onto this team in the hopes one of the operators would find her his Kryptonite, and he’d been the gullible sap to fall for her.

  Then he stopped thinking when her tongue lashed his sensitive crest before swirling around his length. Head spinning, he staggered back to the bed, desperate to fuck her and almost not giving a damn that she was taking him for a ride.

  If he didn’t need to figure out what game she was playing, he would let her suck him until he came down her throat and do it again just because why not take advantage of the fact she seemed willing to whore her mouth out to serve her cause?

  But now, he needed to take control of this wretched drama and arouse her until she turned pliant. Then he’d turn the tables and figure out why she didn’t mind selling herself out and for whom she had chosen to fuck him over.

  He tugged on her hair, smiling when she gasped as he pulled her off his cock. Using his rough grip to guide her to the bed, he laid her flat on her back, then reached for her tiny blue excuse for underwear.

  The wet spot staining the fabric was unmistakable, and when he tugged the silky wisp down, it clung to her pussy.

  Impatiently, he tossed the garment away. Her scent steamrolled his senses. His nostrils flared. Hunger roiled in his gut. His restraint snapped. “Spread your legs.”

  “Zy—”

  “Spread them.”

  Slowly, almost shyly, she did. Once, he would have believed her sweet act. Not now. She wanted to jack up his desire and fuck with his head?

  Two can play that game, baby. And I can play it better…

  He braced impatient hands on the insides of her knees and shoved them wide, then raked his lips up one thigh before exhaling onto the sticky heat of her cunt.

  She trembled and gripped the sheet, wriggling like she needed him now. “Zy…”

  He only half listened to the keening that came out of her lying mouth. Instead, he focused on parting her folds with his thumbs and exposing her to his dirty gaze. “I’m going to melt you, Tessa. Whatever you think you wanted out of tonight? I’m going to take you, make you scratch, beg, and scream for me. I’m going to own you, baby. And I’m going to get exactly what I want from you.”

  The roaring of his heart almost drowned out her answering whimper as he raked his tongue through her naked slit. He plowed her indecently again and again, worshipping her juiciness and sweetness. He couldn’t find any fault between her legs. Here, she was everything he wanted, and if the way he devoured her was impolite or obscene? That wasn’t going to stop him from dragging his tongue between her swelling folds and tormenting the pouting nub of her clit for as long as he damn well wanted.

  “Zy… I can’t breathe,” she panted, proving that she was a liar again. “Oh, my god.”

  Her toes curled. Her back arched. She lifted to him in sweet, sweet offering. He gripped her hips and yanked her against his open mouth, covered her with the flat of his tongue, then sucked her without mercy.

  Tessa shrieked and twisted. She ripped at her baby doll, tugging at one side of the bow beneath her breasts. The garment parted. Her tits bounced free. She pinched her nipples with greedy fingers and cried out.

  Fuck, that turned him on.

  He sucked harder on her clit before lashing it with his tongue. She trembled, her heels digging into the mattress. The deliciously frantic sounds falling from her lips cranked him up higher.

  “Zy!”

  Yeah, she was on the brink. But he’d be damned if he gave her satisfaction now. Maybe not at all tonight. At least not until he got his—climax and information.

  With a long last taste of her folds, he prowled up her body, pausing to nip and suck at her berry-hard nipples, before he worked his hips between her splayed-wide thighs. Cock in hand, he aligned his crest to her slick opening. “I’m going to shove my way so deep into your pretty little cunt that you’ll still feel me tomorrow,” he growled in her ear. “Next week, too. Hell, maybe for the rest of your life. No one will ever do you better than me, baby. That’s a vow.”

  “Zy…”

  He watched her eyes widen as he sank his shaft into her, barreling past what little resistance her body offered. “Hmm, such a sweet, snug pussy around my cock. That’s it. Take every inch of me.”

  “Yes.” Her nails were already in his back and her legs rising to wrap around him. “It feels so—”

  “Save your breath. You’re going to need it to scream.”

  Warning delivered, he propelled himself inside her. She cried out, digging her nails in his shoulders and bucking beneath him. Immediately, he slammed his way in again, even deeper this time. She climaxed—moaning, clawing, and pulsing around him.

  Zy didn’t slow down, just shoved every inch inside her again, scraping her awakened flesh and bottoming out to prod some sweet spot that made her shriek louder and clutch him tighter. He battered her body with pleasure again and again. Her bed frame groaned. Her headboard banged against the wall. Time stood still as he unraveled her without a second thought.

  She’d scratched his back to ribbons, and he had lost the hearing in one ear when Tessa’s orgasm finally subsided. Not that he gave two shits right now. His first night with her had been great. The following morning, even more amazing. But this? His blood fired. Every hair on his body stood on end. Each nerve ending jolted with her touch.

  It wasn’t merely because she had a banging bod, was good in the sack, and rocked his world. He couldn’t be that lucky. Despite whatever devious shit she was up to, he was still totally in love with her. Sure, her surrender turned him on, but when he was with her, he’d swear they were meant to be forever.

  God, he was a stupid bastard.

  Finally, her body relaxed. She exhaled a breathy sigh of repletion between her rosy, swollen lips. Fuck no, it wasn’t over. Everything inside Zy rebelled against that. Yeah, he shouldn’t want to give her another climax. He shouldn’t ache to stay inside her half the night. He definitely shouldn’t feel this love for her beating in his mutinous heart.

  But he did.

  Cursing, Zy tore free from her body and lunged to the side of the bed before he gripped her hips, pulled her to the edge of the mattress, and covered her pussy with his tongue again.

  If she’d been wet before, now she was dripping. He closed his eyes and savored the sweet-tart taste of her surrender, thrilled as fuck when she keened out his name so loud he was shocked it didn’t rattle the windows or wake the baby.

  He licked and nipped at her clit mercilessly, feeling his way up her body to pinch her distended nipples. She gasped, her breath catching hard in her throat.

  Zy looked at the bounty of her body spread out before him, at her pink cheeks and her eyes glowing with need. God, he’d love to forget all the reasons he couldn’t simply lose himself inside her. Who would know if he kept her in bed all weekend, naked and under his cock, so she could never tell his enemies the “plan” and fuck him over?

  But then he’d never know who or what she valued more than the man who’d planned to put a ring on her finger and love her for the rest of her life. If he didn’t let this play out, he’d never be able to board up his heart.

  Under his relentless tongue, the little bud between her legs quickly swelled and hardened again. She screeched out high-pitched pleas and raked her nails across his scalp.

  “Zy! Oh, my god… I’ve never”—she panted—“ever felt anything… Oh! Yes…” she moaned. “Ahhh! So good.”

  She was about to come again. Not that Zy was patting himself on the back. Sure, he fucking loved that he owned her right now, but he wouldn’t congratulate himself on a job well done until he got the information he needed.

  His fucking heart had other ideas, shouting at him to stop playing games and talk to her. To assure her that she could tell him anything and that, together, they could fix any issue. But that ship had sailed; he was no Pollyanna. He needed to swallow the bitter pill that Tessa hadn’t even tried to talk to him, just chosen to fuck him in every way she could.

  He could do the same.

  As she surged toward another peak, Zy pulled back, flipped her over, shoved her to her hands and knees, then plunged his cock deep. At his invasion, she cried out, fisting the sheets.

  Tessa was tighter in this position. Still, he fucked her like a madman, rattling her bed and her body with the force of each thrust.

  It was goddamn January, and sweat dripped from his forehead and rolled down his back. A sheen of it covered her skin, looking so peachy by the candlelight. The narrow nip of her waist, the delicate line of her spine, the graceful curve of her shoulders… She was a work of art. Hips flaring, thighs trembling, ass cushioning his every stroke…yeah. He wanted to possess all of her. He wanted her to be his for the rest of his life. But since that didn’t look possible, he was going to make sure she regretted him like hell.

  He reached under her and settled his fingers over her clit, rubbing in controlled circles.

  “Zy!”

  “Like it when I fuck you?”

  “Ah…yes!” Her cunt tightened on him. Her clit turned to stone. “Please…”

  “I love to hear you beg,” he said roughly in her ear. “Get used to that.”

  He was going to do what it took to hear her desperate, breathy pleas every chance he got before he had to tell the bosses she was a gorgeous, lying sellout.

  Then, to make her even more mindless, he slowed his thrusts and lightened his touch on her bud.

  Right on cue, she twisted, hips thrusting, seeking more. “Zy, please… Please!”

  Tessa might be able to pretend sweetness and loyalty and giving a shit. But she couldn’t pretend desire like this. Right here, in this bed, he was forcing her to be fucking honest with him about something, by god.

  The problem was that undoing her undid him. His head might know she was the enemy…but his cock hadn’t gotten the memo. Neither had his stubborn heart, which kept insisting he break down the walls between them and talk to her.

  Fat fucking chance now.

  Her pussy tightened. Her breath stuttered. Zy rolled Tessa to her back, forced her thighs wider, grabbed her ass in both hands, and rammed deep inside her again. “Look at me.”

  She shuddered as he growled against her mouth, teeth bared, and fucked his way harder into her. But she obeyed, opening her eyes. They glowed as they revealed her soul to him. Of course her pupils dilated and her body raced for the climax he dangled just out of reach. But when he really looked at her, he saw anxiety, need…and love.