Deep (The Deep Duet 1)

Charisse was silent for a beat. Then two. “Oh. My. God. You slept with him!”

“It’s not my fault. But he kissed me… and…” Her voice trailed. “Well, I don’t really know what happened after that. I know I shouldn’t have, okay? I feel shitty about it.”

Charisse stayed silent.

“Fuck. Say something.”

“Was it good?”

Was it ever. “Seriously, I tell you I fucked the enemy and you ask if it was good?”

“I mean, was it?”

“Yes, damn it.”

“But you still want to go through with the plan.”

“I don’t really have a choice. That’s why I’m here.”

“Or maybe you do have a choice, and you’ve lived with this for so long and ignored who you are as a person and as a woman and you needed this. Maybe it’s time to bury this vendetta.”

“What, and live a blissfully shagged life with my father’s killer?”

“When you put it that way, it does sound a little warped.” Charisse took a breath. “So what’s the plan, Stan? You going to sleep with him again?”

Vagina: Fuck yes.

Brain: Hell no.

Her brain won out despite the deep pull in her belly. “No. I’m going to do my best to wrap this up and stay alive.”

She glanced around the kitchen where the remains of their dinner were still on the table, spilled wine and all. The place was a damn disaster. The situation just kept spinning more and more out of control, and she was afraid that eventually she’d be thrown off the ride. She blew out a breath as she grabbed a dishrag and started cleaning. It was something to take her mind off how crazy the situation was at least. She’d made such a mess of things. So it was time to get to plan B, or she was going to make a deadly mistake.

“I just—”

“What, Char?”

“I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Me too. I always have the Corbin James contingency.” Corbin James was the fictitious ex she’d created for herself. If things got too hot, she’d leave some clues that her ex had found her, and she’d vanish. Rafe would be so busy looking for a ghost that it would be too late by the time he found her real trail.

At

least she hoped that’s how things would go.

“I hope it doesn’t come down to that.”

“Yeah, me too.” Diana put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher and then went back to wipe down the table. She could hear Charisse breathing softly and figured her friend was trying to come up with something to say. But in the end she just sighed.

“Be safe, Diana. Love you.”

“Love you too. I’ll call you later today when it’s safer.”

“Uh-huh. Be careful.”

“Always.”

Diana hung up with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Then she turned, and her stomach dropped completely when she saw Rafe standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching her with shrewd eyes.