Fall Into You (Morally Gray, #2)(47)

“The problem is your brother.”

I scoff. “What’s Callum done now? Hacked a government satellite to spy on his wife?”

“Not Callum. Carter.”

I frown. My younger brother isn’t involved in anything more problematic than throwing too many cocktail parties on his yacht and trying to write them off as company expenses.

“What’s happening with Carter?”

“He met with the executive team at TriCast.”

Killian might as well have kicked me in the stomach for how my body reacts to hearing that sentence. My breath is knocked out of me. I almost drop the spatula I’m holding from shock.

“TriCast? They’re our biggest competitor. We hate each other. Why the hell would he meet with them?”

“Because they’re tired of being in competition, mate. They made him an offer to acquire.”

“Acquire? As in us?”

“Aye.”

“Does my father know?”

“No. Nor Callum. Carter did this on his own.”

Infuriated that my brother would be so reckless, not to mention underhanded, I snap, “That little fucker. I’m gonna rip off his dumb Ken doll head.”

“It’s only a matter of time before it gets out. A McCord taking a meeting with the board of TriCast will get people thinking you’ve got problems internally. Financial problems at least. Thought you’d like to know so you can be ready to spin it in your favor.”

“I appreciate it. Out of curiosity, why didn’t you call Callum about this?”

He chuckles. “Don’t take this the wrong way, mate, but your older brother’s as likely to throw Carter off a roof as he is to have a heart-to-heart talk with him about loyalty. I didn’t want to be the cause of the lad’s premature death.”

“Good point. Thank you, Killian.”

“You’re welcome. And your new lass is a firecracker. Best of luck.”

He disconnects, leaving me standing there wondering if the last time I saw him, he implanted me with some kind of microscopic GPS device with an audio-video component.

I wouldn’t put it past him.

“Hi.”

Shay stands by the refrigerator, watching me. She changed out of her wrinkled work clothes and is wearing a short robe now, a black silk one that shows off her legs and bare feet to perfection, along with every beautiful curve.

I slip the phone back into my pocket and try to pretend the sight of her isn’t devastating. “Hi. What are you doing up?”

“I heard your voice, so then I missed you. I think the eggs are burning.”

Looking back at the saucepan, I flip the eggs over with the spatula and inspect the results. “Depends on your definition of burning.”

“I didn’t realize the word had multiple definitions.”

“Sure it does. Like girlfriend does. Could mean a friend who’s a female, could mean something else entirely.”

As I turn off the gas and move the pan to a cool burner, she walks closer, smiling.

“Hmm. Sounds complicated.”

“It is.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“It still is.”

“If I try to tuck myself under your arm, will you push me away? Just checking first to see how much resistance I’ll be met with so I can prepare a counteroffensive.”

When I sigh, she sneaks over and pulls my arm around her shoulders. Turning her face to my chest, she winds her arms around my waist and smiles wider.

“You’re trouble,” I murmur, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Says Mr. Trouble himself. By the way, I brushed my teeth.”

“Congratulations.”

“I’m only telling you that so you won’t be afraid to kiss me. I had dragon breath, but now it’s all sweet. Here, check.” She tilts her head back and purses her lips.

She’s so fucking cute, I just want to bite her.

“We can’t have a relationship, Shay.”

She stares up at me with soft eyes and lifts a hand to my cheek. “We already are. Now kiss me before I get irritated with you and the mood is ruined.”

“It’s so interesting to me how you always think you’re the one in charge.”

“And it’s so interesting to me how you think I won’t get what I want.”

She rises up on her tiptoes and presses her lips to mine. I gently push her back down, then grab a small chunk of warm eggs from the pan and hold it up to her mouth.

“Eat.”

Without breaking eye contact or objecting to me issuing orders, she opens her lips and allows me to feed her.

Her pink tongue, her sweet mouth, her teeth scraping my fingertips—fuck.

I’m getting hard.

She chews and swallows, then smiles up at me. “You should see your expression right now, handsome. It’s something else.”

I love how she calls me handsome. I love how she challenges me. I love how she’s not afraid of me, even though she should be, even though I’ve given her more than enough reason to.

I love everything I’ve seen about this strange, stubborn woman. And if I’m not careful, I’ll soon be in too deep to let her go.

Without consciously deciding to, I kiss her.

She presses her body against mine and kisses me back, matching my intensity, rubbing her breasts against my chest. I hold her head in my hands and feast on her mouth.