Page 151 of Succumbed

“Why do you look so pissed?” Linc asks, turning to Shane. “He’s seriously mad right now?”

“He’s guilty.”

If he sounded smug, I would completely lose my temper. He knows it, too, and his voice is flat, matter-of-fact.

“Ohhh.” Linc slumps back into the couch. “Sure, yeah. That tracks.”

“Did you tell her to do this?”

Shane snorts. “Right, because that would work with Lex.”

“She listens to you.” I protest.

“Oh, come off it, Dec.” Linc rolls his eyes. “No one told her what to say.”

Stopping in the middle of the room, I plant my hands on my hips. “What was the look you two kept making eyes at each other over?”

They lock gazes, Linc grinning as Shane blows out a breath.

“It’s her Declan smile,” Shane says.

My whole body stills. “Her what?”

“The smile she gets when she talks about you,” Linc explains.

“What do you–”

“When we were in meetings with her and the team, and she’d talk about you, or when she was introducing us to people in Paris. It’s this warm, proud, kind of sultry look she gets when her focus is on you.”

I gape at my brother. “She doesn’t have a Declan smile.”

“She does,” Shane cuts in. “You were always too busy scowling at the table, or your laptop, or one of us to notice.”

“I wasn’t scowling at the Summit!”

“You were also meeting people and shaking hands, bro. You weren’t watching Lex introduce you to people like we were.”

“You’re telling me she’s been looking at me in a specific way for weeks?”

“Try months,” Shane cuts in.

I lower myself to the ottoman, jaw slack.

“Holy shit,” I breathe, dropping my head into my hands. “Oh god, what have I done?”

Linc launches forward, arms spread wide. “Fucking finally!”

I can only gape at him. Shane’s look is knowing as he leans his elbows on his knees, hands clasped.

“How do I fix this?”

“You ready to keep listening?” he retorts, lips quirking.

“Yeah,” I rasp. “Yeah, I’m ready. I can’t believe…that was real, right? She just said all that shit about me on public television.”

“Yeah, Dec.” Linc grins. “You going to tell her you don’t deserve her after that?”

Nodding slowly, I start to plan. “Actually, yeah, Linc. I just might.”

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