A Million Dirty Secrets (Million Dollar Duet 1)

Dearest Delaine,

Noah asked me to send these over. He’s going to absolutely love them on you. I have to admit that I’m a bit jealous. So sorry we didn’t get a chance to play.

Enjoy!

Fernanda

That bitch!

And Noah had obviously lost his mind, thinking it was okay to have this stuff sent to me. You’d think he would’ve gotten the clue when I walked out on them yesterday. He couldn’t have actually thought I wanted to put something on my body that would remind him of her.

I wadded the note up and crammed it in my pocket.

In a fit of rage, I punched the box. Of course, that didn’t quite quell my anger, so I stabbed it with the knife that I was still clutching in my fist. I didn’t stop stabbing the damn thing until my arms got sore. Bits and pieces of lace and silk lay unrecognizable in the cardboard box, but I wasn’t satisfied. I could still see it, and I knew what it was and what it represented.

I jumped up and ran with purpose to the supply closet in the laundry room. Sifting through its contents, I finally found what I was looking for: lighter fluid.

I ran back, grabbed the matches out of the kitchen pantry, and dragged the offending box out into the driveway. I doused it with every last drop of lighter fluid left in the tin, struck a match, and dropped it into the box. I had to take a step back when a ball of fire ignited and shot up into the air.

Yes, I knew I was exhibiting irrational behavior. Yes, I knew my reaction was a bit on the psychotic side. But damn it all, I was not about to wear something one of his whores had picked out because she knew what he liked. And I wanted there to be no doubt in his mind how I felt about it, either.

As they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

I turned my back on the inferno and walked away. Even though the fire was relatively small and contained, in my mind it was huge. In fact, I was sure I looked just as awesome as little Drew Barrymore in Firestarter with flames engulfing everything around her, because Samuel stepped onto the porch with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide in awe.

“Are you okay, Lanie?” he asked frantically.

“Oh, I’m just perfect … now.” I heard the gentle purr of an engine as I stepped past him and across the threshold to the house, so naturally I turned around to see who had come to pay us a visit. It was Noah, and he was actually driving. His car was a sleek, shiny black sports number that looked like it cost him more than I did and reminded me of a leopard on the prowl.

He threw the car in park and jumped out, not even bothering to shut his door as he stalked over to my little bonfire. He looked at it and then up at me.

“Your gift was tainted,” I said matter-of-factly before I set my chin and walked away.

Of course Noah chased after me. “Samuel, get the extinguisher and put out that fire!” he ordered.

“Let it burn, Samuel,” I called in a bored tone over my shoulder.

“Delaine!” he shouted, but I kept walking. “Delaine! You stop right this instant or I swear to God I’ll—”

I spun on my heels to face him. “You’ll what?”

I watched his face contort in shock. The muscles in his jaws flexed as he ground his teeth, obviously trying to come up with a retort and failing miserably.

“That’s what I thought,” I said, and then turned and continued up the stairs. “You know, something’s seriously wrong with you, Noah Crawford. You saw that I was infuriated when we were at your girlfriend’s little shop. And yet, for whatever asinine reason, you thought having a woman who obviously still has the hots for my man send over something that she picked out was a good idea? And you’re supposed to be some huge business mogul?” I laughed incredulously and shook my head. “Soooo messed up. Oh, and by the way—” I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to look down at him while digging in my pocket. “She left a note.”

I threw the wadded piece of paper, and it hit him in the chest before falling to his feet. He snatched it off the floor and unfolded the crinkled page before looking it over.

“Oh, for the love of …” he started, and then sighed. “Delaine, Fernanda is bisexual. She wanted to see you in the lingerie and was disappointed because she had hoped that you and she …” His voice trailed off.

“That we …?”

He lifted his brows and gave me an expectant look.

Oh. Ohhhhh …

“You’re not serious,” I said with a humorless laugh.

“Well, she didn’t come right out and say it, but I know her well enough to feel safe in saying she was hoping for a little two-on-one fun.”

A Lanie sandwich. I had to admit, I was slightly flattered. I mean, Fernanda was beautiful and all. The hetero gal in me was a tad bit curious, but I didn’t think I could ever actually go through with something like that. I was strictly dickly. Period. But Dez?

“She’s going to get such a kick out of this,” I mumbled to myself.

“What?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t change anything. You bought that lingerie, even after you knew how much it upset me. End of story. I’m still angry.” With that, I turned and walked away.

I heard him growl in frustration, and I think he might have hit a wall with his fist, but I couldn’t be sure.

~$~

I felt awful about an hour later and decided to hunt Noah down to apologize. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, sure enough, there was a fist-sized hole in the wall around the corner. I rolled my eyes because it was completely uncalled for, but then again, so was the little tantrum I’d thrown with the lingerie.

I could admit when I was wrong.

He wasn’t in his office, or the kitchen. I thought I heard the television blaring from the entertainment room, so I followed the sound and gingerly poked my head through the doorway.

Noah was reclining in one of the theater seats with his shirt tossed to the side. It was the most relaxed I’d seen him since the day I’d met him. I cleared my throat to alert him to my presence.

He turned his head to face me, and although I expected his expression to be angry, it looked more like he was waiting for me to warp into bitch mode again.

“I’m sorry,” I choked out, because apologizing to the man who’d purchased me as his sex slave wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do.

He sighed and patted his thigh. “Come sit with me for a bit.”

I walked across the room and perched myself on his lap while resting my arm around his shoulders.

“I’m sorry, too,” he said, rubbing my thigh soothingly. “I didn’t think. I just thought you might like the lingerie, and truthfully, I really wanted to see you in it.”