Free Tequila Sunrise (Last Call #3) by Moira Rogers Page A

made him want to bare his teeth and bite her. His hand
tightened around his bottle, and he set it down on the nearest
table. The last thing he wanted was to end up in the bathroom,
picking glass slivers out of his hand.
    The blond man sitting next to her was
obviously incapable of handling the power inside her. His body
language said it all, from the slight slump of his shoulders to the
way he hunched a little, as if trying to keep his head lower than
hers in spite of his four inch height advantage.
    Zack had seen it before, though not often,
and almost never with a woman this strong. The fact that she was
there, desperate for a man who could challenge her, wasn’t
surprising. The fact that the man beside her seemed willing to go
along with it, even participate… That was different.
    She turned, and the full force of her power
hit Zack as her eyes found his. There was nothing submissive there,
nothing but wild strength and a need for someone just as strong. A
craving for somebody stronger, somebody to take the burden of
control away from her, if only for a few hours.
    If it had just been the woman, Zack would
already have her room key in his pocket and his hand at her back,
urging her toward the elevator. She was exactly what he’d been
looking for -- a woman who could handle the dominant wolf inside
him. He’d kept him penned for far too long, denying the wild in
favor of the civilized.
    It was driving him crazy.
    But it wasn’t just the woman looking for
domination tonight. The man beside her drained the last bit of his
drink, reminding Zack that the two were a package deal. Then the
man turned, following the woman’s line of sight, and caught Zack’s
stare.
    The blond man looked away immediately.
    Well, why the fuck not? Zack arched one
eyebrow at the woman, and held her gaze as he approached the
bar.
    She didn’t look away, but she did shift to
the side, a subtle move that put her in front of the man. Whether
he was strong enough for her or not, it was obvious she’d long
since staked her claim. He belonged to her, and she’d protect him,
even if the look she’d leveled on Zack had already begun to shift
from angry challenge to hot invitation.
    The mixed signals would be easy enough to
sort out upstairs. He stepped up in front of her, his eyes fixed on
hers as he reached behind her to rest his hand on the man’s
shoulder. “Give me the key.”
    The blond man stiffened for a second, then
turned and rose from the stool. “Eve?” His voice held a trace of an
accent, probably British. “Is this okay with you?”
    “ Don’t ask her,” Zack
ordered. “Tell her. Yes or no.”
    The man cleared his throat and leaned closer
to the woman before murmuring, “Let’s go upstairs.”
    She stayed frozen for just long
enough to make him wonder if she could give in. The tension between them twisted tighter
and she lifted her chin in a gesture of defiance, though who it was
aimed at was anyone’s guess. Then she slid from the stool, the
split skirt of her dress sliding open to give him a momentary flash
of tanned skin luscious enough to make his hands clench. “Fine,”
she whispered. “Let’s go upstairs.”
    Zack took the key and led
the pair toward the back of the club, his smile growing with every
step. He could give them what they needed, take what he needed, and be done
with it. No more tight leash on the wolf inside. And when he was
exhausted, sated, maybe he could get his head on straight
again.

    Even with Kieran at her side, every step Eve
took toward the elevators at the end of the hallway felt like a
betrayal. It wasn’t her intentions, exactly; she’d mostly come to
terms with what they were going to do. What shocked and embarrassed
her was the strength of her need, and the fact that the strange man
guiding them to the room made her body feel empty and aching with
just the brush of his power.
    Kieran stopped beside the elevator, his hand
still wrapped firmly around hers. The man called the elevator