Prologue

Six months earlier

Bonnie was over her brothers and their high-handed bullshit. Making her way around the crowded circular tables, trying not to bump into anyone with her dress, she stalked out into the hallway, desperate for some fresh air. She felt bad she’d messed up Valerie’s special night; she understood how important this was for her. But Quinten was being a complete donkey’s ass.

To his credit, Simon had gotten better since she’d been back. But he was still being protective about her “safety” and was content to lock her away in his guest house and throw away the key. But Quinten was all up in her business, especially tonight with Zack, and Bonnie was over it.

Smoothing her dress down, mostly to wipe the sweat off her palms, Bonnie breathed deeply, trying to get over her embarrassment. She hadn’t meant to lose it, but she’d wanted to have a conversation with Zack, and Quinten had blocked her at every turn, going so far as to dump an entire tray of deserts on Zack’s lap when he’d leaned forward to speak to her.

It had embarrassed her, and she’d lost it, further humiliating herself. Bonnie knew better than to act like that in a crowd full of people.

She couldn’t go back in there, that was for sure.

Her gaze fell on the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the hallway outside the ballroom. They overlooked downtown Austin, the capital building lit up beautifully, and Bonnie tried to clear her mind as she watched the bustle below her.

A throat cleared behind her before she got her emotions under control, and she spun around to find Zack standing there, cane in hand, his tux ruined.

“Sorry about all that. We both know how he is.” As if hearing her voice pinpointed her location, Zack took a few steps toward her. Bonnie backed up against the cool glass, suddenly feeling hot.

“Yup. I didn’t follow you out here to talk about your brother, though.”

“Good. Because I don’t want to talk about him, either.” There were a lot of things she wanted to say. But she was a human being, first and foremost, and could imagine Zack was hurting. “As I was saying, I’m really sorry about your dad being sick. I hope he’s at least comfortable.”

Zack’s voice lowered as he moved closer to her. “I didn’t come out here to talk about my dad, either.”

“Oh.” Bonnie swallowed, suddenly nervous about what he could possibly want to talk about. She hoped he didn’t have anything flirty planned because she was still mad about before. Before they’d grown up and started their lives away from each other. But Zack worked with her brothers, and they had been friends at one point in their lives. Of course, she’d just shouted that very thing at Quinten not five minutes ago.

“I’m sorry, Bon-Bon.” Zack looked pained, his eyes clear and blue and slightly glazed. She knew he couldn’t see her but didn’t know exactly what he could see, if anything. “I shouldn’t have done what I did. I hurt you, and I never meant to do that.”

Okay, so he was going to talk about it. She rolled her eyes at him. He couldn’t even say what he’d done. This was truly one of the last things she wanted to talk about. Tonight was quickly turning into one of the worst nights of her life as anger knifed through her, cutting her to ribbons. But Zack had a knack for fucking up her world. Bonnie could feel things shifting. Between her and her brothers, between her and Zack.

A snort escaped her lips, and she tried to laugh it off, even as Zack took one more step closer. Able to smell the chocolate on his tux as it mingled with his spicy, citrusy cologne, she sighed, trying to get the decadent odor out of her nose.

“Don’t. It was years ago. I know we were both young and stupid, but if you thought that wouldn’t hurt me, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.” Bonnie was well aware her body and her head were at war with each other. Her emotions were just along for the ride.

He flinched, as if slapped, his crystalline eyes squinting briefly. She felt bad for a moment, but only for a moment. Zack had been the one to bring up the past, whereas she was perfectly content to tiptoe around it.

“So what? We’re just going to forget our history? Pretend we weren’t the best thing that ever happened to each other? It’s going to be small talk about your asshole brothers and my sick dad for the rest of our lives?” He took the last step closer, folding and pocketing his cane in one swift move. It was suddenly an inferno in the hallway outside the ballroom. Bonnie pressed her body up against the glass, trying to become one with the coolness, escaping the heat.

“I guess you threw away the best thing that happened to you. I’ve moved on.” She tried to sound haughty, using the tone her mother had perfected, but it fell flat.

She didn’t know what was next for them, if they could ever have a future together. She wasn’t sure she even wanted one. But as he took the step that ate up the space between them, she realized he’d taken her silence as a challenge.

And she couldn’t push him away. She never had been able to.

That had been the problem from the get-go. Bonnie wanted to be near Zack. The way her nipples pebbled as he pressed his chest against hers proved it. He was smearing chocolate all over her dress, and she didn’t even care.

“Have you?” She forgot what she’d said, but he seemed to read her, maybe even better now that he couldn’t see. “Moved on?

Zack’s scent was overwhelming her. His heat invaded her space. Then his hands conquered her, and she hadn’t even realized he was touching her. Her whimper was the only response she could give, and he took it. Whole-heartedly.

Gripping her waist tightly as he bowed his head down to her neck, he spoke into her ear, the whisper against her skin sending goose bumps rippling across her flesh.

“See? Your body still reacts to me. I can hear your breathing changing.”

He was right. She was gasping for air, suddenly not getting any. Her eyes zeroed in on a clump of chocolate on his neck, a few crumbs of cake that were stuck to the pudding lava from inside the desserts Quinten had dumped on him. Without thinking, her tongue snaked out and gave it a swipe.

Zack groaned, a strange mix of triumph and defeat, before his mouth pressed against hers. Her world changed then. As the familiar feel of his lips moving against hers registered in her brain, Bonnie knew she was finished fighting him. At least for now. The past didn’t matter. Her brothers didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except Zack and Bonnie. They were together again, in this moment, and she was taking advantage of it to erase the pains and hurts of the past.

Her fingers tangled in his hair, even as the sticky goo of chocolate squished between her fingers. It was warm, adding another sensual texture to everything Zack right now. Her mouth opened for him, and his tongue swooped inside as he gripped her waist tighter, his body against her, his thigh pressing into her sweet spot.

Zack had changed so much. He was bigger, harder, manlier, but the connection between them was the same. It was like adding gasoline to a fire, and as soon as he touched Bonnie, she wanted to explode.

She couldn’t get enough of him. Her mouth wanted to consume him, and together, they were incendiary as their mouths suckled and nipped, tongues entwining together in a dance older than time itself.

And then Zack’s hands began roaming. As one slipped down her hip to her thigh, he inched her skirt up until it bunched in his palm. A hitch in his breath told her he’d discovered her stockings. The rough pad of his calloused index finger traced the edge in a seductive dance. As his finger dipped under the elastic, popping it, the sting against her flesh had her gasping for air.

Bonnie hadn’t noticed his finger moving toward her panties until it was already there. She was too distracted by everything else—the cool glass against her back, his mouth on hers moving down her jaw to behind her ear, his other hand palming her breast through her dress.

But when he tugged her panties out of the way and swiped along her folds, she moaned. Remembering they were in a very public place, Bonnie clamped a hand over her mouth.

And Zack was still working.

He was a man on a mission, wholly focused on her pleasure. When his mouth moved down her collar bone and started working on the tops of her breasts, she felt the goose bumps rupture all the way down her arms. But that was barely noticeable, as his fingers were still working under her panties.

Bonnie bit the back of her wrist as she threw her head back and arched into his touch. His fingers delved into her heat, pumping in and out furiously. Bonnie wasn’t worried about people seeing, as her skirt was so full, but if someone walked by, it would be no secret what was going on underneath it.

She sighed against her hand, forcing air into her lungs as Zack pressed his thumb against her clit, his fingers still thrusting in and out of her. When he rubbed a hard circle over the tiny nub of nerves, her body exploded, shudders wracking through her, even as she bit her wrist hard.

A slight cough nearby had Zack spinning around, blocking Bonnie from whoever had just walked up on them.

“Uh, Simon’s looking for y’all. Do I tell him you guys are coming?” A guy with dark curls on his head and a physique to rival an elite body builder was standing there. “Figuratively speaking, of course,” he added with a smirk. It was one of the guys from Pierce Securities, but Bonnie didn’t know which one. She thought it might be the computer guy since she hadn’t seen him much. Bonnie had heard some murmurs about him—he was rich, smart, and utterly taken with his fiancée.

“Yeah, let me get this chocolate off me and we’ll be in there. Thanks, Evan.”

“No problem, man.” The smirk remained as he deftly spun on his heels and went back into the ballroom, a smattering of applause erupting at something someone had said into the microphone as he walked in. Then the door shut behind him, followed by silence.

Zack spun back around. “Clean up and we’ll go back in together?” His eyes danced around her forehead, her mouth, the air around her face, as he spoke. She wondered what exactly he saw.

“Um, sure. Yeah.”

Now that he was done, it was as if they hadn’t done anything at all. Zack extended his cane and ambled to the restrooms, his fingers trailing on the walls until they got to the braille signs.

Suddenly, all Bonnie’s doubts rushed back to her.

Zack Ward was a manwhore. She’d known it back then, she knew it now, and Bonnie didn’t want to be the latest in a long line of conquests. He’d seemed genuine when they’d spoken before the kissing— like he really wanted her.

But she was older now. And wiser.

She didn’t know exactly what she wanted from Zack. At one time in her life, she’d wanted everything. Bonnie had wanted forever with him, for better or worse.

And then the worse had happened and he’d thrown her away. The pain returned in the form of a weird roiling in her stomach as it sank.

Yeah. She wasn’t going through that again.

Smoothing her dress for the umpteenth time that night, Bonnie held her chin high and strode to the elevator door, strong in her convictions.

Zack Ward had hurt her for the last time.