Page 17 of Nothing to Fear

Someone behind her cleared his throat. Oh, Darroch. With one hand on the back of her chair, he gestured with the other.

Sit.

Right.

“You got the short straw,” he said, sinking down at the next place.

“Sitting next to you?”

“No, sitting next to Boo Boo, the little guy on your other side. He’s kinda attached to his mom.”

“And you’re not?”

“Not tied up in her apron strings.” He slanted closer. “I’m no virgin, Cherry, remember?”

“That’s not actually my name,” she said, straightening a fork that was already straight. “And I think Buoy is adorable.”

“Competition, huh? I forgot you love everything Breckenridge. Would you turn brother against brother?”

“Being I’m not attached to any one brother, how can I turn you against each other?”

“I’ve staked my claim.”

“Oh, really?”

Turning her head was the mistake because when their eyes met, she forgot how to verbalize.

“I like your getup tonight, beautiful.”

And, uh… why was she suddenly singing scales in her head? Stop. No tunes. No melody. Language, vocabulary, respond. Why was she wearing—what was she wearing? Clothes. Ha. The dress. Would help if she could remember which one. Geez, she didn’t even have that many—did it matter? Breathe. He was being polite. Just breathe. She could do this.

“Celeste…” she started on a half throat clear, eager not to choke on the words. “Celeste, my boss, she asked us to make the effort… for your mom.”

“Mom doesn’t care about things like that.”

“And you do?”

“You don’t need to dress for me either. Though if you want to undress for me…”

What a flirt. Could he be like this with every woman? Maybe. Except he hadn’t taken his focus away. Celeste, Yvette, they weren’t targets of his teasing. Nessa was the youngest, and the prettiest, yet she couldn’t be sure he’d even noticed her.

Still, a little restraint never hurt anyone. “Your little brother is sitting right next to me.”

Alice was whispering to the boy, something she couldn’t hear.

“Playing it cool, I’ve got you,” Darroch said. “Let start at the beginning, how long have you worked for Breckenridge?”

Arrogance wasn’t scarce in this house. “My life didn’t start at Breckenridge, but three years ago. I started as a model.”

“I bet you did. In intimates?”

“Maybe.” Before Jeremy and what came with that relationship. More life reflection. She really had to stop that. “A long time ago.”

“Sorry I missed that.”

“We all have to grow up sometime,” she said, touching her spoon. “I thought fancy houses like this did a million course meals with a thousand different utensils. I think I can guess what these ones are for.”

“We only do that with people we don’t like.”

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