Page 100 of Dirty Rival

“While using it to talk,” she retorts without missing a beat and then tries to dart forward.

I hold onto her, but I walk us both into the hallway and pull her to me as we start down the long hall. “You aren’t going to ask what I want to trade for those cuffs?”

“Not until you’re naked and I’m holding the cuffs.”

“Those negotiation terms could work for me if you’re naked as well.”

And there it is. Exactly what I have to do to keep this woman: bare it all. She told me just last night she wants no secrets and lies between us, and the problem is that there will always be a secret between us.

If I don’t deal with that, it will destroy us. The hammer will not fall without me in control. I won’t let it.

Chapter forty-nine

Reid

We stop at Cat and Reese’s door and right after I ring the bell, Carrie says, “She’ll believe you if you tell her.”

I don’t have to ask what she means. She’s talking about me reading Cat’s column. She’s talking about me pulling the walls down with Cat the way I am with her. She’s pushing me to forget all the reasons I have lived alone and kept everyone, including Cat, at a distance. “It’s complicated, Carrie. Really fucking complicated.”

“And regret is unforgiving.”

Now she’s talking about my mother and the regret I have for not seeing all there was to see with her and my father, but I’m thinking about the regret I already have with her. The door opens and Carrie whirls around as Gabe appears in the doorway. And damn it, he’s paired his black jeans with a black T-shirt that reads Maxwell, Maxwell, and Maxwell, which drives home the connection between us and our father.

I pull Carrie close, holding on, rejecting regret. Gabe looks at me, narrowing his eyes at me, understanding in their depths that his words don’t match. “Holy hell,” he says. “You came.” He glances at Carrie. “And you came.” He winks, acting like the player he pretends to be, his way of keeping everyone at a distance. He’s a loner, just like me, and no one ever knows the real him any more than they know me. Until Carrie.

He backs up and motions us forward. “This way to the party.”

My hand settles at Carrie’s back and I urge her forward, resisting the urge to leave, and reminding myself that the best way for Carrie to see the disconnect between us and my father is to get to know my family, Cat especially. Of course, Cat hating me doesn’t exactly help my case, but I’ll make it work.

We cut right into another hallway and voices sound ahead and to the right, which is where we travel. Just before we clear the archway leading to the living area where the party is taking place, I lean in close to Carrie and whisper, “Food, drink, cake, my bed.”

She gives me one of her beautiful smiles, and a moment later we’re in a room wrapped in windows with a high ceiling that encases a good twenty people, more no doubt, just beyond the open patio door. Gabe is instantly engaged with some blonde while I scan the crowd filled with familiar faces, but Cat and Reese are nowhere to be found. “Let’s look for my sister,” I say, taking Carrie’s hand and leading her forward, only to have us run smack into Lauren, Royce’s wife, and one of Cat’s closest friends.

“Reid,” she says with obvious shock. “You’re here.”

“I am here,” I say. “And so is Carrie.” I introduce the two women, hoping to talk to Royce as well, with no luck.

“Royce has his hands full at the moment,” Lauren comments. “I doubt he’ll make it tonight.” She gives me a coy look. “Cat will be happy that you came. She and Reese just walked to the kitchen right behind us, if you were trying to find her. They didn’t see you.”

“We’ll go find her there,” I say, giving her a nod, and guiding Carrie in that direction.

We enter the room to find my sister, looking as blonde and beautiful as ever, standing next to Reese behind the granite island, a chocolate cake in front of them. “I say we cut it now,” Cat says. “Don’t you want cake?”

“I’d rather have you,” he says, at the same moment he looks up to find us entering. He clears his throat, alerting Cat to our company. “Reid,” he greets.

“Reid?” Cat asks, blinking as if she can’t believe she really sees me.

I urge Carrie forward again, my hand on her back as we step to the island. I’m across from Cat, and Carrie is across from Reese, who I look at now. “Happy birthday, man.”

“Thanks,” Reese says. “Glad to have you here and with a date.”

“This is—” I begin but Cat cuts me off.

“Carrie West,” she supplies.

“I told them about Carrie,” Gabe says, entering the kitchen and walking to the fridge.

“I’m a huge fan, Cat,” Carrie says. “And Reese. I’m following your case through her column. I missed today’s.”