it.
“Be careful, sweet little Catherine,” she hisses, hatred oozing from every syllable. “The Halliday men may hide their secrets well, but they all have them—deep and dark and capable of bleeding hearts dry. That spawn of mine is no different.”
Did she really just call me Catherine? Does she think I’m my mother?
Spinning surprisingly steadily on her feet, Eunice weaves back down the hall into the opposite wing, her empty glass dangling from her fingertips and her terrible witchy laugh trailing behind.
Secrets? Was she serious, or was that just the booze talking?
Trepidation wraps around my neck like an itchy wool scarf, and I do my best to pull it off before I get to Poe’s room.
“So, this is where the magic happens, huh, Halliday?” I duck under the arm he’s using to brace his bedroom door open and do my best dudebro swagger to the center of the room, secretly pleasantly surprised at how airy and light the space is. “This where the girls all swoon and give in to your every desire?” Tipping his head back, he laughs before pushing the door closed and turning to lean against it. He wraps his strong, sexy hands around the back of his neck, cradling his head and putting every inch of his still-shirtless chest on display.
“Nah, no magic, and no girls. Not unless you count Payne, and the one time out of every thirty he manages to beat me in Mortal Kombat.” He grins and flicks his chin in the direction of the two leather gaming chairs in the corner that face the large flatscreen hanging on the wall. “Why? You jealous, Star?” Lowering his hands, he uses his palms to shove off the door and takes a few prowling steps toward me.
That is very much the look of somebody who is thinking impure thoughts.
Rather than shrink back, I match his movements and do a little prowling of my own to close the distance until only a foot or so separates us.
“Nope,” the ‘p’ pops solidly from my mouth. “I make my own magic—no need to be jealous of anybody else’s.” My eyes lock with his as I decide to let a bit of my inner bad girl come out to play, and my right index finger disappears between my lips. Slowly withdrawing it, I let it trail teasingly down the front of my torso and hook under the top of my leggings.
With a growl, Poe grabs for my waist with one arm, and I dance backward out of his reach, grinning.
“Nuh-uh. You lied to me, Poe Alexander Halliday.” His face blanches far more than it should, but my lust-fueled brain barely registers it. Shaking the same finger at him that was just in my mouth, I put my mock stern face on. “You said you weren’t wearing any panties. Clearly, you weren’t wearing a shirt.” He quickly covers the relief that floods his features with a shocked look and a finger pointing back at his chest, as if to say ‘who, me?’.
Strolling casually to his little man-cave corner, I turn one of the gaming chairs to face the middle of the room and plant myself in it, crossing my legs all ladylike at the knee. “Yes, you. If you want me to believe you, I’m afraid I’m going to require proof of your initial statement.” With an eyebrow raised at him in challenge, I wait to see how he responds, wondering if I’m a little too forward for his liking.
His reaction definitely says otherwise, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Without a word, he strides to stand directly in front of me, his long legs touching mine. While he’s looking down at me from his full six feet two inches, a section of his thick dark hair falls in front of his forehead, and he tucks his lower lip between his teeth. Enjoying the view from where I’m sitting, my eyes move from his gorgeous face and slowly slide down his muscular chest, pausing at the stainless steel barbell piercing his left nipple before continuing on to his well-defined abs. My thighs clench, and I feel the wetness building between them as my gaze drops further down to the carved V of his hips.
Practically sitting on my hands at this point to keep from reaching out and touching him, I know I’ve lost this game as soon as his thumbs hook into his waistband. When I raise my head quickly, and our eyes meet, he slowly and smoothly pushes his