Dirty Little Secret (Dirty #1) by Amber Rides Read Free Book Online Page A

doorknob. What a bloody surprise.
    It wasn’t really warm enough to be topless, but he was anyways.  Of course.  The sight of him today, with his perfect pecs on display, pissed me off even more than the sight o f him and monstrous truck two days earlier.
    The asshole couldn’t even leave me alone long enough to be sick in peace.  And it was his fault to begin with.
    He looked up, like he could feel my eyes on him.
    C’mon, I willed silently. Just try your little act here. See how fast your ass gets kicked to the curb.
    But he didn’t notice me.  He just took a long swig from his water bottle, Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he did it.
    For a brainless second, I was envious of that bottle, and the way his lips closed over it.  What would it feel like, to have that mouth clamped down on me with such fervor?
    One of the other workers – his top was on , I noted snidely – said something, and the obnoxious bastard threw his head back and laughed before turning away from me.  A tattoo spread across his well-muscled back, stretching from one hulking shoulder to the other.  Was it an eagle?  Or a hawk?  It was hard to tell, and I leaned forward in an automatic attempt to get a better view.
    “How inappropriate,” my mom murmured.
    I jerked back, embarrassed, struggling to find an excuse.  But her gaze was fixed on the construction workers, just like mine.
    “Don’t you agree, Missy?” she asked. “It’s hard enough to enjoy brunch with the racket they’re making, but when they’re not made to comply with the club’s dress code, it’s twice as bad.”
    I bit back a comment about how many ladies were probably positioned on the deck at that very moment just to enjoy the free show.
    “Well?” she prodded.
    “They’re by the pool,” I pointed out. “Maybe they thought only the pool dress code applied.”
    My mother raised both her eyebrows in surprise. “Was that sarcasm?”
    I took a solid sip of my iced tea and met her eyes. “Of course not! You know me, Mom. I was just trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.”
    She sighed.  Because as of a few days ago, I wasn’t a liar.  Of course, if I was being honest…A few days ago, I probably would have agreed with her sentiments whole heartedly.
    “Someone ought to say something,” she added.
    I jumped up, nearly knocking over my iced tea. “I’ll do it. I think I saw the manager hanging around a few minutes ago.”
    “Oh, I didn’t mean you had to do it. I could ask one of the staff to find Mr. Cole and – “
    “No, Mom. I’m happy to so it. I want you to be able to enjoy your brunch.”
    I hurried away before she could realize that my words, which probably would’ve been said with the utmost sincerity just a week earlier, were a big, fat lie.
    I made my way through the club with my head tucked down, in case I ran into Mr. Cole, the manager of the club, for real.  I didn’t want him to ruin my fun.  After the way things panned out the other day, I was really looking forward to putting the construction worker in his place.  I took a short-cut down the staff stairs, then through the laundry room that was adjacent to the indoor pool, and out to the grassy area beside the outdoor hot tub. 
    I got about five feet away from Mr. Douchebag before I paused.  My gaze rested on his back.  The tattoo wasn’t a bird at all, but a griffin.  Its eagle’s wings spanned his ample breadth, and its lion’s body was poised as if ready for a fight.  There was something equally poignant and triumphant about the art.
    As if the jerkface has any depth to him at all, I thought. Probably got it in a drunken stupor.
    I dragged my eyes away, automatically travelling the rest of his body, assessing his appearance.
    He was wearing those ridiculous pants, the ones which make no sense at all, because they’re white and somehow supposed to be appropriate for painting a multitude of coloured surfaces.  The only good thing about them was the fact that