Playing in SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 9) Read Free Page A

a
little, and then put a hand to the fabric, holding it in place as I
climb out. I know I shouldn’t have worn it, but I couldn’t help
myself. I’m walking into a room full of sharks, and if I’ve
learned anything over the years, it’s that asserting my power first
is the best way to throw them off the scent. Not that I couldn’t
handle them now—I wouldn’t even bat an eye—but high school is
over, and anyone who still wants to play those games isn’t worth my
time.
    Blake exits behind me,
and his hand goes to my back like it belongs there. I see us briefly
in the reflection from the window, and my heart clenches at how good
we look together. How good he looks with his jet black hair, his bright brown eyes, and
that dark stubble covering the lower part of his face, making me want
to rub various parts of my body all over it. No, I do not want to do
that. I don’t. Much.
    I focus on the
reflection of myself instead. I know I’m beautiful. It took me a
long time to see it, and accept it, but I know it now. Together we
make a striking couple.
    “You sure you’re
okay?” he whispers in my ear.
    “Yes. I was just
thinking that we look good together,” I tell him honestly.
    “Does this mean
you’re going to give me a chance?”
    “No,” I say with a
laugh. “Looking good together is very different from being good together.”
    “Audrey, I just need
a chance. Just one.”
    He looks so earnest,
and I’m feeling a little vulnerable, so I say something neither one
of us is expecting. “You have one .
Don’t blow it.”
    His eyes go wide, and
that movie star smile takes over his face. Oh God, what have I done?
I want to backtrack. I even open my mouth, but he covers it with his
fingers. “Challenge accepted.”
    He holds out his hand,
and I place mine in his as the seventeen-year-old me jumps up and
down inside, and the thirty-seven-year-old me wonders if this is the
worst decision I’ve ever made in my life. There’s no going back,
though. Not when all conversation stops as we walk in together. I
know it’s not because anyone recognizes me—they just didn’t
expect Blake to bring anyone else here, not with Misha in attendance
as well. From the times I’ve looked him up, I know he never brings
a date to a function that she’ll also be attending. I’m pretty
sure it’s because they still hook-up, but that’s not happening
tonight.
    “Shit,” I say,
realizing that I’m already getting possessive of him, when he’s
not really mine.
    “What’s wrong?”
he asks, stopping in the middle of the room, and pulling me sideways
to face him.
    “I was just thinking
something I shouldn’t have.”
    “Are you going to
tell me?”
    Why not? “I was
thinking that tonight, at least, you wouldn’t go home with Misha
after an event. It’s not my place to decide that.”
    He looks genuinely
confused. “I haven’t gone home—or anywhere else in the way
you’re implying—with Misha in over five years.”
    “Oh. You never take a
date to events you’ll both be at, so I just thought…I mean, it’s
not my business.”
    “I don’t take dates
to those events for two reasons. One, the headlines would be crazy,
and no one deserves to be subjected to that. And two, while I don’t
ever want Misha in my life—or bed again—she’s still the mother
of my child, and deserves some respect.”
    Wow. That’s just—wow.
If he keeps proving what a good guy he is, I’m going to be in even
more trouble than I thought I was already. “And tonight?”
    “Tonight, I’m with
a woman who I want to be seen with, and who I respect more than
almost anyone else in this world.”
    I search his face, and
see that he means what he just said. “We should probably start
walking again. They’re all staring.”
    “You’re ready?”
    “As I’ll ever be.”
    “No one’s going to
mess with you, Audrey. No one. I won’t allow it.”
    “Even Misha?”
    “Especially not that
bitch.”

Chapter 2
    Blake
    I meant what I