A Very Dirty Christmas Read online

  "It's darlin', not darling, first of all. And second of all, it's a term of endearment," I say, shrugging. "You've been in New York too long. This is me being polite, showing my Texan roots."

  Delaney puts her hands on her hips and looks at me with her eyes narrowed. "It's condescending," she says. "And you're not even from Texas."

  I step inside her room, looking around. "I'm hurt that you'd say that, Delaney," I say. "What would you like me to call you? You hate Delamey, and now you don't like darlin', either? And living in Texas the past few years makes me practically a Texan. In fact, I should have your father take me shopping for cowboy boots."

  "You can call me by my name like a normal person," she says. "And you never answered my question. Don't you have a flight to catch?"

  "Shit, what crawled up your ass tonight?" I walk past the photos she's already hung on her wall, her and her friends in various touristy places -- in front of the National Monument in Washington DC, the Lincoln Center, standing outside of a bar in New York City. "Can't I check in on my stepsister before I jet out for this business bullshit?"

  Delaney crosses to the other side of the room, standing in front of one of the photos protectively, her arms over her chest. I really should tell her that the gesture does absolutely nothing to hide those tits. In fact, it only pushes them up higher, giving me an even better view. "Nothing crawled up my ass."

  "You could have fooled me," I say. "You were practically a ray of sunshine this morning, and now you're, well...not."

  She gives me a look. I know that look. It's the one she used to give me when I'd rile her up and make her crazy. It's the one that says she might be close to murdering me. "I'm trying to make sure you're not late," she says. "Remember, my new job involves managing you. Why aren't you at the airport already?"

  "I'm on my way," I say. "The driver is waiting for me downstairs."

  "So you thought you'd stop by and try to get under my skin before you left me in peace for the weekend?"

  "I need to leave you something to remember me by," I say.

  "I think you already did that."

  "I know," I say. "I'm disappointed. I gave you the best first-day-of-work present ever and you have no reaction at all?"

  "It was exceptionally mature." She rolls her eyes.

  "If you'd have used it, you might be less grouchy," I say. "You haven't used it, have you?"

  "No, I haven't used it," she says. "How totally..."

  "Filthy?" I ask.

  "Disgusting," she says.

  "Because it's my cock, or because we're family?"

  "Do I have to choose one option?" she asks. "And don't try to pass it off as if it was really made from your cock."

  "It's mine," I say, reaching for my belt buckle. "You can compare it to the real thing, if you want."

  "Oh my God, no," she protests. "Stop."

  "That's just sad," I say.

  "What?"

  "That you've lost your sense of humor. Old Delaney would have laughed at something like that."

  "New Delaney is just as likely to laugh at your cock," she says, looking at me with one eyebrow raised.

  "Then why all the hate?"

  Delaney exhales heavily. "Maybe it would have been a better present for Chelsea," she says.

  "Ah, so that's it," I say. I turn and squint at the photos on the wall, trying to see if there are any boyfriends I should be aware of. Not that I want to be Delaney's boyfriend. That's not my fucking style. I like my women boyfriendless. I brush aside the brief realization that I just thought of Delaney as "my woman."

  "What's it?" Delaney tilts her head up. She's wearing makeup -- eyeliner and lip gloss, her cheeks a rosy red that gives her a flush that reminds me of sex.

  "You really do have quite a jealous streak, don't you," I notice.

  "I'm not jealous in the least," she says. "I just think you should be directing your little cock jokes toward someone who's more interested in them than I am."

  "Sure you're not jealous, darlin'," I say, looking at her lips. Those soft, plump, lying-ass lips. "And I've never heard my cock described as little."

  Delaney runs her tongue over her lower lip and I want to take it between my teeth. Her lip-gloss gives it a sheen that makes it even more irresistible. I bring my hands to the wall over her head, pressing them flat there so that I can't possibly grab her in my arms the way I want to and crush my mouth down on hers. Instead, I just stand there, pushing my hands into the wall and looking into those bright green eyes.

  "I don't care what you do," Delaney says, looking up at me. "With Chelsea or otherwise. So have fun on your Vegas trip."

  "You should just admit you're jealous," I advise. "It's not good to keep all that pent up anger inside, you know. It leads to all kinds of problems." I don't mention that this Vegas trip with Chelsea is exactly the last thing I'd ever want to do. It was booked before Beau had assigned Delaney to me, and it's going to be a fan event. I'd been hoping that if I swung by Delaney's room, I might be able to talk her into going and being a fucking buffer between me and Chelsea. But it doesn't look like that's going to go the way I pictured.

  Delaney groans. "I'm not jealous."

  "Liar." I whisper the word, looking into Delaney's eyes. Her pupils are as large as saucers, her own body betraying her.

  She laughs. "You're one to talk," she says.

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Nothing." She shakes her head.

  "It's not nothing," I say. "I might be a lot of things, but I'm sure as hell honest."

  Delaney raises her eyebrows. "Never mind. It was a long time ago, Gaige," she says. "It's all water under the bridge."

  "Darlin', nothing about us is water under the bridge," I say.

  "I didn't come back here to restart something with you, Gaige."

  "You and I are the fucking definition of unfinished." I want to pull that skirt of hers up over that curvy ass and show her exactly how I want to restart things between us.

  "It was finished that night," she says, finally looking away.

  Now I slide my fingers under the edge of her chin and tilt it up at me. Touching her sends a jolt of electricity ricocheting through my body. I run my thumb along the other side of her jaw, trying to keep my desire for her under control. I'm trying to be reasonable. "The night you never showed up?"

  She pulls away from me and steps back, crossing her arms over her chest. "You mean the night I ran into -- what was her name, Bambi or something?"

  "What the hell are you talking about?"

  "I was on my way to meet you in the guest house that night," she says. "Until I ran into one of your bimbos on the way."

  "I didn't fucking have any bimbos," I say.

  "Some girl," she says. "She knew you." The way she says the last three words, practically spitting them out, tells me everything I need to know. Whatever the hell she misunderstood about whatever girl showed up back then, she's been sitting on that for the past four fucking years.

  I hear my voice soften, despite my annoyance at her for being so easily dissuaded back then. "There were no other girls, Delaney."

  She rolls her eyes. "Sure, Gaige," she says. "You're as pure as the driven snow."

  "Exactly the opposite," I say. Before Delaney, there were lots of girls, a parade of girls I displayed partially to make her jealous. But the moment she kissed me that summer, it ruined me for anyone else. There wasn't anyone, as long as she was there. When she left, well, that was a different story. Post-Delaney, I was sure as hell the opposite of pure. I fucked every chick I could find who might possibly erase Delaney from my head. "But when you and I were together back then, there were no other girls. I might be a lot of things, but I'm no cheater."

  "So some chick just shows up at your house, her panties in hand, ready to party?" she asks. She shakes her head again, purses her lips. She doesn't believe me. "Anyway, the entire thing is irrelevant. We weren't together; there was nothing between us. You might not think it's water under the bridge,