Inheriting a SECRET (Corrigan & Co. #7)(3)

“Hot damn, you look good enough to eat, Cat. I mean, your dress even looks like dessert.”

Is it wrong that the slight accent he has is turning me on? No? Okay, but I can’t let him have the upper hand, even if he does look edible himself in that black suit and skinny tie with his dark blonde hair pushed back, just begging for me to run my fingers through it.

“Darcy. My name is Darcy.”

“I know your name, but I already told you that you’ve been ‘Cat’ to me for ten years.”

“If you want to live another ten years, you’ll cut the crap.”

The smirk that had been on his face falls off at my words. “I assure you, Darcy, I am completely and totally serious about what’s going to happen between us. In and out of bed. I will have my family’s jewels back, and I will also have you. Make no mistake about either of those things.”

Two can play at this name game. “You’re the one making the mistake, Donkey. I don’t take kindly to threats from playboy princes.”

“Donkey?” he asks, his nostrils flaring.

“Well, they do ‘bray’ and you’re an ass, so it fits.”

“You little bitch,” he says, stepping into my personal space. I hold my ground, because while I may be considerably shorter than him, I’m not some shrinking violet.

“You can’t intimidate me.”

“It’s so cute that you think that.”

“I know it. Bigger and badder men than you have tried and failed.”

“I don’t fail, Darcy. Ever.”

“Neither do I.”

“Well, one of us is going down,” he tells me, and the smirk is back. Bastard.

“You’ll be on your knees longs before me. Trust.”

“You’d like that.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“Fuck yeah.”

He reaches for me, but a man who looks to be a few years younger than us has appeared behind him in the hall. I put my hands on his chest, and subtly gesture behind him. “There’s someone behind you.”

“Noah?” he asks, on a sigh.

“Yes, Bray. It’s time to go.”

“Of course it is.”

I step around him, stopping to whisper in his ear. “Hee haw.”

* * *

Brayden

Damn little vixen. And damn my best friend. “Perfect timing as always, Noah.”

“You were going to kiss her,” he says as he comes to stand next to me and we both watch her walk towards the stairs.

“Obviously.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea? Getting involved with her?”

“I’m not getting involved, I’m getting inside. Or, at least, I was on my way there before you interrupted us.”

“She’s not like your usual bed mates. And don’t forget, she holds the key to the mystery you’ve promised to solve.”

“So? You don’t think I can f*ck the truth out of her?”

“Maybe you can, but getting out unscathed? That’s another matter entirely.”

“She’s not that hot,” I lie.

“I’m not going to touch that comment.”

My jaw clenches as an unfamiliar emotion takes over me. I’m afraid it’s the one called jealousy. “Stay away from her. I mean it.”

“I don’t want her. At all,” he says with a shudder. “But don’t try and tell me you’re not already in too deep now. Because we both know you’ve always shared your women with me.”

Damn it. I need to rein it in before everyone sees it. “Go for it. If she wants you, she’s all yours.”

“I don’t really think she’s my type, but why not?”

He jogs down the stairs, and I force myself to walk slowly behind him. I don’t know what’s gotten in to me, but that’s how I’m feeling—and he knows it. That’s why he’s messing with me. Darcy’s different, and it’s not just because I’ve dreamed of her for so long. I can’t pinpoint exactly what turns me on the most about her, but I know he’s right. I’m already screwed, and if she takes him up on the offer he’s about to make, I just might have to kill my best friend.

“Son of a bitch,” Noah yells.

I take the last stairs at a run, only to find him on the floor with Darcy pushing her heel between his shoulder blades. I can’t stop the smile that takes over my face. I do refrain from the fist pump I want to do, though. She turned him down. No one turns down Noah. I’m secure enough to admit that he’s hotter than me, and he’s also well-known as my best friend.

“Keep your friend in line, Brayden. I’d really hate to have to mess up his face for all the women who might actually want to take him up on his lame offers.”

I can’t stop myself from saying the words, because I want complete confirmation. “He knows about us, so if you wanted to…”

“I don’t,” she replies, drilling into me with her gorgeous green eyes that look like hard emeralds at the moment.

I ignore the danger, and walk over to whisper in her ear. “Good, because I’m not willing to share you.”

“This isn’t real.”

“Maybe the engagement isn’t, but this fire between us is. And I’m not trained to fight fires.”