Page 1 of The Drag Race Debutante & the Detectives
Chapter One
“What in the actual fuck?”
“We good?” Eric Walker responded quietly and calmly, knowing his younger brother would hear him through the listening devices they wore, despite the chatter of the crowd or the rumbling of engines.
“No, we are not,” Dane replied, then sighed heavily. “You need to get over here. Now. We have a situation.”
“Shit. Where are you?”
“Neon green Subaru, north of your position.”
Eric turned and saw the neon coloured monstrosity, then did a double-take when a familiar brunette smiled and waved at him. “Fuck,” he ground out between gritted teeth. “I’m on my way.”
Eric made his way through the crowd, his bad mood worsening with every step. Of all the places to be on a Friday night, what the fuck was she doing here? Did her parents know what she was getting up to while they were away?
More to the point, did her brother?
“Convict will fucking kill us for this,” he murmured, stopping beside Dane as the pair of them scowled at Emily Berringer, their future brother-in-law’s little sister.
They’d met Emily a little over a year ago, at a roller derby event their sister was competing in, and upon seeing her bright smile, expressive eyes and curvy body, it had taken them approximately 0.3 seconds to fall head over heels in lust with her. As the older brother, Eric had quickly called dibs on her, a childish act that Dane had ignored just as fast. Then they’d sat on either side of her and flirted hard, causing her to smile and blush and tuck her long, dark hair behind her ears.
She was cute as fuck.
But then the convict who thought he was good enough to marry their little sister had ruined their fun, his constant stream of questions about the rules of roller derby causing Emily to switch seats with her younger brother and placing her out of their reach.
Since then, they’d bumped into Emily in a variety of places. Family barbeques, the book shop their sister managed, the car dealership her father owned, and the vintage auto garage her older brother ran. In the year since meeting her, they’d made the effort to get to know her as well as people could know each other with their clothes still on, even stealing kisses from her here and there—sometimes a little more than kisses—and rejoicing in the fact she seemed to enjoy their attention as much as they liked hers.
And somewhere in amongst all of that, Eric and Dane had made the decision that one way or another, Emily Berringer was going to be theirs. A simple goal that had become much more difficult since their secondment to the joint task force in charge of this shit show. And now she was here.
At an illegal street race.
The very last place she should be.
Eric folded his arms across his chest and stared down at her. “What are you doing here?”
Emily’s smile faded at his harsh tone, and she mimicked his stance, folding her arms across her chest and drawing his attention to the distracting view of her ample cleavage. “And hello to you too, hot stuff.”
His mouth twitched with both irritation and the urge to smile. One of the many things this woman excelled at—and one he appreciated more than he wanted to admit—was her sass. The smile won out, and Eric sighed in defeat. “Hello, Emily. But seriously, what are you doing here?”
She pursed her lips and tapped one perfectly manicured fingernail against her chin as she pretended to mull over her answer, then pointed a finger pistol at him and said, “Babysitting.”
Dane chuckled and shook his head. “Babysitting? That’s the best excuse you could come up with?”
She gave a one-sided shrug and looked away. “I wasn’t sure you’d like the real answer, and at this point I’m not sure I care. Besides, I didn’t know you’d be here.”
Eric looked at Dane, then they both turned their best interrogation stares on her. “And what exactly is the real answer?”
Emily shifted her feet and fidgeted with the ends of her hair. She was nervous. She half shrugged again and refused to meet their eyes. “I might be here… on a date.”
Eric’s jaw tightened and the bottom fell out of his gut. “You’re on a date?” he snarled.
“Who with?” Dane stepped closer, grabbed Emily’s hips and crowded her from behind, practically sandwiching her between them.
The feel of her soft body, her thighs, her stomach, her breasts pressed fully against Eric made his cock jump to attention and his hands itch with the need to touch her, to pull her even closer. He slid one hand into her loose hair and made a fist at the base of her skull, then slid his other hand around her throat, holding her with just enough force to let her know exactly how much trouble she was in.
“And who’s idea was it to bring you to an illegal drag race?”
She swallowed, her throat moving against his palm. “I didn’t know it was illegal,” she said, her words punctuated by the revving of an engine. “He told me we were going to watch the supercars. I thought he meant at the Raceway in Willowbank.” She gritted her teeth. “Obviously I was wrong.”
