Wrong for Me

  He shook his head and, ignoring her pout of disappointment, shifted his attention over to the long, metal, industrial-looking bar. No sign of Zoe there either.

  Last place to look was the seating area at the back of the massive space, and, if she wasn’t there, he was going to have to figure out just where the hell else she might be, because there weren’t many other places in Royal she would have gone to.

  Worry began to thread through his anger, and he had to fight the very real urge to start picking people up and flinging them out of his way.

  He’d protected Zoe ever since she’d been a kid, and he’d be damned if he was going to fail in that duty now just because she was having a teenage tantrum.

  The seating area in Anonymous was composed of black leather sectional couches and small metal coffee tables. The lighting consisted of exposed, old-fashioned filament bulbs and glass shades. There was graffiti on the brick walls, some of it put there by clubbers, all adding to the gritty, industrial vibe of the place.

  He checked out the huddled groups around the tables, and then, his anger beginning to flex like a body builder on steroids, the pairs entwined in the darker areas toward the back.

  Not that it should matter to him either way whether Zoe was with anyone or not, but still. He didn’t like the thought of it. She was too young for that kind of stuff, too innocent. Jesus, if some fucking asshole had picked her up, there was going to be hell to pay.

  But Zoe wasn’t one of any of the entwined couples, which made him feel relieved and yet even more worried. Because if she wasn’t here, then where the fuck was she?

  Jackie Ashenden lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband, the inimitable Dr. Jax, two kids, and two cats. When she’s not torturing alpha males and their stroppy heroines, she can be found drinking chocolate martinis, reading anything she can lay her hands on, posting random crap on her blog, or being forced to go mountain biking with her husband. Jackie also writes the dark, sexy contemporary Nine Circles romance series for St. Martin’s Press. Visit her at jackieashenden.com.

  DIRTY FOR ME

  Ezekiel “Zee” Chase has a complicated past. Born into a family whose wealth grew from the seedy world of big-time crime, he ran away as a teenager and made a home for himself on the streets of Detroit. By day, the mechanic works at a local garage. But by night, he throws down with the best of them in Detroit’s gritty underground fighting scene. With all those muscles, he’s never had trouble with women—until he meets one who challenges him to the greatest fight of his life . . . .

  Tamara Eliot is a hardworking corporate high-flyer who appreciates the finer things in life, from her expensive perfume to her designer handbags. More than anything, though, she likes to be in control—and when Zee explodes into her life, she feels anything but. He’s the definition of a bad boy: brash, fiery and, of course, irresistibly hot. And there’s a darkness about him that keeps her coming back for more. As Zee takes Tamara deeper into a world she never knew existed, she just might prove to be the one opponent he won’t be able to dominate—at least not without some pleasurable convincing....