A Million Dirty Secrets (Million Dollar Duet 1)

He knew right away what the look was for. He rolled his eyes in embarrassment before saying with a shrug, “Everyone in my family has always called me by my middle name. It was just the easiest way to differentiate between me and my father without having to call us Noah senior and Noah junior.”

“Of course,” I said. Details like that were probably something he should’ve shared before introducing me to his family as “my Delaine,” but who was I to say? I sucked back half of the champagne in my glass, my nerves getting the best of me.

“And no, Lexi, I haven’t seen them yet,” Noah continued, looking through the crowd as if trying to rectify that situation.

“Well, they’re around. I’m sure they’ll eventually make their way back over,” she said with a wave of dismissal. “You know how Daddy can be at these functions.”

Brad, Mason, and Noah started up a conversation about some sports team that I was paying absolutely no attention to because Noah was rubbing circles on the small of my back with his thumb while his pinky dipped beneath my dress to rest in the crevice of my ass. Polly and Lexi were chatting it up, a conversation to which I had nothing to contribute because I didn’t have a clue about the gossip in their circle of friends. So I did the only thing I could: I preoccupied myself with a game of Let’s See if I Can Drink All of My Champagne Before the Next Tray Comes Around with More, and I was winning. It was no small feat. There were lots and lots of trays.

Noah leaned down and whispered into my ear. “Pace yourself, kitten.” Which made my head swim. Funny, I’d just had four, maybe five glasses of champagne, and I was fine. But the man called me “kitten,” and I was suddenly unequivocally inebriated.

“I have to pee,” I blurted out. The conversations around me came to a sudden halt and all eyes turned to me. I supposed that what I’d said wasn’t very ladylike, and certainly not the sort of thing a woman dating Noah Crawford would say out loud. Noted.

Lexi laughed. “I have to pee, too. Come on, Polly. Sounds like we need to hit the head.”

“I swear, Lexi,” Polly said with a disapproving scowl, then turned to me. “She may look like a debutante, but don’t let that fool you. She’s a rude, crude dude underneath all that glitz and glamour.”

“That’s my girl,” Brad crowed as he smacked her on the ass and sent her on her way.

“Hurry back,” Noah’s husky voice floated across the sensitive skin beneath my ear. “I want you by my side all night.” He pressed his soft lips against my neck inconspicuously, but I definitely felt that kiss and it melted me like butter over a stack of hotcakes.

“Jesus, Patrick. We’re just going to the damn bathroom. I promise not to scare her off,” Lexi said with a roll of her eyes.

He scoffed. “Good luck with that. I think you’ll find Delaine is quite capable of withstanding your witty charm.”

“Fuck you,” Lexi retorted.

“I love you, too, dear cousin.” Noah smiled and then winked at me before he took a sip of his champagne and turned back to the guys.

As we made our way across the crowded hall to the ladies’ room, Lexi stopped short. “Look what the dog dragged in,” she said under her breath as she nodded to our right.

There was a huge mountain of a man with slick black hair, tanning-bed-bronzed skin, mutton chops, and super bright teeth standing in the middle of a crowd of people across the way. Women were fawning all over him, and somehow he managed to pay equal attention to each one. He certainly possessed a great deal of animal magnetism.

“Well, he’s a cutie, if you like the whole Wolverine Ken thing,” I said with a snort. “Who is he?”

“David,” Lexi sneered.

“David who?”

Polly leaned in like she was about to tell me a dirty little secret. “Noah’s former best friend David, that’s who.”

I gasped, and then I got impossibly hot—under the collar, definitely not under the skirt.

“He’s also Patrick’s business partner,” Lexi mumbled, pushing the bathroom door open. “He’s been trying to get Patrick to forfeit his share of Scarlet Lotus since my uncle and aunt died, the cunt fucker.”

And so my love affair with Lexi Mavis began.

“Wait, Noah’s parents died?” I asked before I realized I probably should have known that, too, but I was just so shocked. He’d never spoken of them before.

“Yeah, a car accident six years ago,” Lexi answered. “He never talks about it, so I’m not really surprised you didn’t know.”

Polly’s expression was solemn. “He lost them both at the same time, and it has tortured him ever since, so don’t bring it up to him. When he’s ready, he’ll tell you himself, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” I suddenly missed my own parents.

Lexi opened up a stall door and ushered me inside. “Hurry your ass up. I need to get my drink on. God, I love an open bar.”

I took care of my business while Lexi and Polly got caught up. Having babies was their topic of choice: Polly wanted one, but Mason wasn’t quite ready; Brad wanted one, but Lexi refused to be barefoot and pregnant while putting her career on the line.

“What about you and Noah, Delaine?” Lexi asked when I opened the stall door.

“Um …” I hesitated and walked over to the sinks to wash my hands. How was I supposed to answer that?

“Lanie,” Polly interrupted. “She likes to be called Lanie, isn’t that right?”

“Yeah, just Lanie,” I said with an uneasy smile. “And, um, Noah and I haven’t talked about babies. I mean, we’re not really there in our relationship … yet.”

“Mmm-hmm, I see,” Lexi said and then she sighed in dramatic fashion. “Well, let’s go ahead and get this out of the way, shall we?”

I turned the faucet off and dried my hands. “What exactly is this?”

“Look, Lanie. Noah has no mother, no father, and no siblings. So the whole overprotective warning bullshit falls on my shoulders,” she started. “I don’t really know you, but from first impressions, I like you. Regardless, I’ve gotta put you on notice. If you hurt my cousin, I’m going to kick your ass. And when I say I’m going to kick your ass, I mean you’ll need an ass transplant by the time I’m done with you. We clear?”

I really admired her brass ovaries, but as the woman who everyone thought was truly dating Noah, I had to counter or else I’d look disingenuous. I threw my used paper towel in the trash receptacle and put my hands on my hips, facing off with her. Polly took a step back because she was a smart kid.