Bound Beneath His Pain (Dirty Little Secrets 1)

I grab a piece of chicken, tossing it into my mouth, chewing it longer than necessary, allowing me to think over the meeting with Darius tomorrow. Allie believes he’ll accept our relationship easily. I know he won’t. But I must do whatever necessary to ensure he’ll be okay with this. I can’t not have her, and I will never walk away. I tried that once. It sent me on a bender, where all of me shattered.

“Okay, enough with all the serious stuff,” Allie says, drawing my attention. “Tell me what Micah Holt does for fun.”

“Mixed martial arts.” I grin, once again hearing the music coming from the living room. “Levi and I get into the cage daily.”

She rolls her eyes. “I said fun. I can’t imagine getting your ass kicked by your driver is enjoyable.”

“First, Levi is more family than employee. Second, he rarely kicks my ass.” I had to get that straight. “But to give you the answer you want, when I can, I spend some time at a good friend’s pub. Have you ever been to O’Keefe’s?”

She nods. “Liv loves that place. We’ve been there a bunch of times.”

“Gabe, my roommate at Harvard, owns it.”

“Cool.” She gazes at me firmly, chewing the food in her mouth. “What else?”

“Charity events.”

“What else?”

I stare at her, and even I acknowledge how pathetic I’ve become, not having more answers to give her. All I do is work, or network with others who help me make money.

“That’s it?” she asks, eyes wide.

I nod.

She pinches her lips, regarding me. “We need to fix this immediately.” She jumps to her feet, the sheet trailing after her while she’s moving toward her bedroom. “Come on. We gotta get dressed.”

“Where are we going?” I rise to my feet.

She peeks over her shoulder. “To do the unthinkable for Micah Holt.”

“Oh, yeah.” I grin at her. “What’s that?”

“Something random.”

Allie

An hour later, Micah holds the safety bar open for me as we exit the Ferris wheel, and mutters, “That was anticlimactic.”

I snort a laugh, raising my voice over the chimes of bells dinging through the air. “Maybe for you. My heart is ready to beat right out of my chest.” I really hate heights.

He chuckles. “How about we stay at ground level then, hmm?”

I nod. “Yes, please.”

He readjusts his baseball cap, then takes my hand into the strength of his, leading us away through the dark, clear night.

We pass the Tilt-a-Whirl and hear screams of joy carrying over the starry sky, when something catches Micah’s eye. He tugs me forward, and soon I’m standing in front of the water race game. He releases my hand and takes out a five-dollar bill from his wallet, slapping it down on the table. “I’m in,” he says.

“Get ready to race,” the carny yells out to no one in particular.

Micah picks up the water gun and grins over his shoulder at me. “Prepare to be wowed.”

I chuckle, loving seeing him this way, and glad my instincts to take him to the carnival were spot-on. There’s a twinkle in his eye, and his smile is a bit brighter than I’ve seen before. And I know why that is. Tonight isn’t about business or someone wanting something from him. It’s just about me and him, and I like it, too. “Okay. I’m ready. Wow me.” I stay back as the carny presses the button starting the game and the creepy clown heads begin moving from left to right.

Micah widens his stance and raises the gun, taking aim. His T-shirt lifts a little, showing off the sexy flesh of his lower back. He’s dressed down in his workout pants, making him messier than usual. I decide I love him a little messy. In fact, I get the feeling he likes himself this way, too. His entire body is lax, like a giant weight of responsibility is lifted off him.

Loud pings begin to echo the ringing and dinging of the game, breaking into my thoughts, and as clowns begin to fall over, I’m shaking my head in amazement. Is there anything this guy isn’t good at?