Page 4 of Broken Mercy
I’m flush with orgasm endorphins as he helps me get dressed again. I have no idea what we do from here—shake hands, thank each other for the fun, and go our separate ways?—but there’s something comfortable about the way he gives me space to button my blouse.
“I came up here to cool off, not to do—“ I gesture at myself. “Now I’m even more of a mess.”
“You look incredible. I mean it too.”
“Tell that to my father and my sister. Oh my god, they’d kill me.” A laugh bubbles up from my stomach. “They’d kill you too.”
If that bothers him, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he bends down and starts picking up a few items we knocked from the desk, and at one point a fancy watch seems to disappear somewhere in his sleeve or his pocket, like it was never there to begin with.
“I’ll head back first,” he says, lingering near the door and giving me one more look. “It was a pleasure. And make sure you keep the lighter.”
“I don’t think?—“
“Consider it a gift.” He raps a knuckle on the frame.
Then he’s gone, leaving me alone.
I stare into the emptiness he left behind.
What the hell just happened?
One second, I’m fanning myself, the next I’ve got a handsome stranger between my legs. I adjust my chest, sliding the lighter from my cup to between my breasts so it’s hidden better, and make sure my blouse is fully buttoned. I find a mirror, adjust my hair the best I can, and shimmy my hips to get my pants settled.
I should return the lighter. The Davis’s are nasty people, but stealing’s still wrong.
Instead, I head back to the party, footsteps creaking over old floorboards. Brenden didn’t make a sound when he left, but it’s like I’m a herd of hippos stomping along.
I’m stunned by what happened, enough that I don’t question some lingering until I’m midway down the steps, when I realize?—
How did he know to call meTallie?
CHAPTER 2
TALIN
“Tallie! Where have you been?”
Annie appears in the sea of people, drifting gracefully through them like a high-end catamaran. Her smile’s plastered on, teeth straight and white, her blond hair in a braid with a few artful strays framing her elfish features. Where I’m broad and dark, she’s smaller and softer and lighter all around. Her hand slips through my arm and tugs me down the last step, leaning closer.
“Don’t disappear on me again or I swear I’m going to stab someone in the throat with a fork.” Her smile never wavers.
“Wouldn’t want to get your dress bloody.” I lean in conspiratorially. Can I tell her what happened upstairs? Me and Annie have our differences, but we were raised almost like twins; we’re one year and one month apart and were inseparable when we were younger.
“Some of these people would deserve it.” Her nose wrinkles. “Did you see Muffy Pendleton-Whatever over there? She’swearing actual fur in this heat. I swear that woman is dedicated to killing animals with a disturbing passion.”
“That’s a rich lady serial killer if I’ve ever seen one.”
“And that nasty Ashley Reeve Sutton? She was flirting with Adrian Routh for a half hour and it was shameless. Seriously, where have you been? You disappeared for a while.”
I scan the crowded house searching for a glimpse of Brenden. “I had to get some air.”
“Can’t blame you. Dimitri Sokolov and Lukas Reinhardt have been giving each other death glares. Papa tried to mediate, but you know him.”
“I don’t think Papa’s ever deescalated anything in his life.”
“He’s got two volumes: loud and screaming.” Annie reaches up and touches my hair. “What’d you do to this? I spent a half hour on you earlier and it’s already coming undone. I swear Tallie, you love being a mess.”
My smile fades. I love Annie to pieces, but she knows exactly where to jab the knife and the right way to twist.
