Secrets from Her Past: Scandalous, Book 2 Read Free

legal name was Cori, not Corinne, as the rest of the world knew her.
    She eased the door open, her eyes darting around. “Where is it?”
    “Dead.”
    He reached for the bag and she crossed the room to hand it to him. He put his hand inside the bag to hold on to the plastic while picking up the bat. Once he had the creature in hand, he turned the bag inside out and tied it. Ignoring the visible shudder from Cori, he walked through her house and out her back door in search of the trash. Once he disposed of the critter, he went into the bathroom to wash his hands.
    Dylan stopped in the bedroom to tell her he was leaving, but the sight of her with her back to the door, shoulders slumped and head hanging, twisted something inside of him. But he had to steel himself against her because he was still feeling the aftershocks of his sister’s vulnerability and he couldn’t get wrapped up in another female with emotional woes.
    Yet he found himself moving into the room, just a step, then two. He stood right behind her, but didn’t touch her. Touching was a big hell no .
    “I’m going to go,” he told her. Saying it out loud made it more believable. “The bat is outside in the trash.”
    She lifted her head and turned, and now that they were in the light and she was looking right at him, he noticed she’d washed off her makeup and her eyes were nearly hollow with dark circles.
    With a slight smile, she nodded. “Thank you, Dylan. I’ll try not to bother you again.”
    He felt like an ass. Apparently she was upset, for good reason because her life was a mess, but there was no need for him to be a complete jerk to her. So she’d jilted him years ago. Enough time had passed that he should be over it…and he was. Well, he’d thought he was until she showed up at his doorstep earlier. They had been teens, for pity’s sake. They weren’t even the same kids they’d been.
    “Look.” He sighed, rested his hands on his hips to keep from ripping that robe off of her and seeing if she still felt the same beneath him. “I don’t want you to think I hate you. You said that earlier. We have a history and, yes, it’s uncomfortable with you back, but I’m not purposely trying to be mean. I’m sorry I slammed the door in your face. I’ve got a lot going on and you just threw me off, that’s all.”
    She tilted her head, causing all that dark hair to slide over black silk. “Then I’m doubly sorry for bothering you.”
    For a moment he didn’t say anything, but his damn mouth opened before he could stop it.
    “You’re so beautiful, Cori,” he murmured. “Without all that makeup and those fancy clothes. You look the exact same.”
    A shadow crossed over her eyes. “I’m not the same, Dylan. I’m damaged, broken, but I’m going to be okay.”
    He slid his hand over her smooth cheek and up into her hair. This was a mistake. All of it. Coming in here, talking, touching. Wasn’t that a nonnegotiable rule he’d given himself? No touching?
    She stepped up against him and looked into his eyes. “What are you doing?”
    “Hell if I know.”
    His mouth captured hers, hard, fast, and she gave it right back, clutching at his shirt and leaning into him.
    He relished in the fact her lush body was rubbing all over his, the fact her tongue was in his mouth. All of this was so familiar, yet so new and…so wrong.
    Dylan pulled back, putting his hands on her slender shoulders and ignoring the confusion and hurt in her eyes.
    Dropping his hands to his sides, he took a step back, then another. “Did you do this on purpose?”
    “Excuse me?” she asked, her hand coming up to wipe her mouth. “Do what?”
    “Get me over here, in your bedroom.”
    Cori rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dylan. I planted a bat on my curtain to lure you into my bedroom. Do you hear yourself?”
    Yeah, that sounded ridiculous, but…
    “The bat I believe, but the robe, the lack of clothing beneath it.” He swallowed. “The kiss.”
    She placed her hands on