Page 2 of The Drag Race Debutante & the Detectives
“That doesn’t explain why you’re here with someone else.”
“Or where this Romeo is,” Dane added, looking around them.
Emily shot Eric a furious look, and he didn’t doubt for one second she would have scowled at both him and Dane if she’d been able, but he held her fast, focussed all of her attention on him alone. “He went to find his brother,” she snapped. “And why shouldn’t I be here with someone else? It’s not as if we’re dating. And how am I the one at fault here when you two have made it perfectly clear you’re no longer interested?”
Eric’s brow scrunched as he continued staring down at her. “What do you mean ‘no longer interested’?”
Dane wedged her tighter between them. “Does this feel like we’re not interested?”
Emily rolled her eyes. “Wow. Is that a gear shift in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
Eric smirked at her dry tone and Dane shrugged. “Hey, you try being pressed up against this sweet arse and not getting hard.”
A blush bloomed on Emily’s cheeks and she squirmed between them, making his brother groan. As crass as Dane’s comment was, she clearly enjoyed his attention. But what Eric didn’t enjoy was her thinking they weren’t interested in her anymore. Enough that she’d gone on a date with someone else.
Fuck.
And even though they had much more important things to discuss—like taking Emily home so she was nowhere near the illegal drag racing and drug deals they’d been tasked with investigating—he was finding it difficult to think about anything other than her warmth pressed against him, especially while she was wearing skin-tight jeans and a curve-hugging T-shirt that showed off every inch of her delectable body. Including a strip of bare flesh between said jeans and T-shirt that begged for his caress.
Closing his eyes, he took a breath and refocussed his attention to where it was needed. “I feel like we’ve gotten off track here.” He stared at her again, a frown pinching his brow. “So, I will ask you one more time. Whose idea was it to come here tonight? Give me his name.”
Lifting her chin, she glared up at him, her eyes sparking with bright blue fire. Stubborn kitten. “Dane, will you please tell Robo?—”
Eric slammed his mouth down on hers. He told himself it was just to ensure her silence, to make sure she didn’t utter the word ‘cop’ within earshot of the two drug dealers they’d already clocked, and blow their cover. But the longer he felt her soft lips under his, the more he wanted to kiss her properly, wanted to taste her, to feel her tongue lash against his. Wanted to run his fingertips over that bare patch of flesh at her waist and drown himself in her sweet scent.
Slipping his hand free from her throat, he slid it down her body, brushed the side of her breast, her ribs, felt her softness give under his possessive touch. And when he reached that sexy little strip of naked skin, he slid his hand to the small of her back and tugged her close, let her feel the evidence of how interested he truly was. Pressed his aching cock against her belly and swallowed her needy little moan.
It only took a moment for Emily to soften in his grasp, to wrap her arms around his back and scrunch her hands in his shirt, press her breasts against his chest. She gave him permission to push for more. So he did. He crushed her against him and kissed the ever-loving fuck out of her.
“That’s our girl,” Dane murmured against her neck.
When Eric finally eased back, he whispered against her lips, “Don’t say the C-word, don’t call us by name, and whatever you hear us say from here on out, just go with it. Do you understand?” Then he pulled back so he could stare down at her, ensure she did indeed understand his meaning.
Intelligent woman that she was, Emily’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open on a gasp, then quickly snapped shut again. Her gaze darted around them, took in the various groups of people surrounding them, the money and the booze and the drugs they openly passed to one another, and she swallowed hard. When she looked back at him, he recognised the undercurrent of fear he saw in her eyes, the realisation of the danger she had put herself in by being there. And he hated that he and Dane and their carelessness were the cause of her recklessness.
“Oh. I see.” She nodded, the fear dissipating from her gaze as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a glint of determination. “Understood.”
Eric released the breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding and relaxed his grip on her, shifting his hands to her shoulders and gently rubbing them. “Good girl. Now, we obviously have a lot to talk about, but now is not the time and here is not the place. We’re taking you home.”
Emily moistened her lips. “But don’t you have to,”—she looked around them again—“you know? Do your thing?”
“Your safety is more important,” Dane said, then looked over her head at Eric. “Let’s get her out of here.”
“Agreed,” Eric said, then wrapped an arm around Emily’s waist and turned her towards where their car was parked.
“Emily?” All three of them turned back to face a very confused looking young man carrying an open bottle of beer. “What the fuck?”
Emily stiffened in his embrace. “Oh. Matthew…. Hi.”
Chapter Two
Dane stared at the beer carrying deadbeat before them and sniffed, unimpressed. “Is this the little twat who brought you here?”
He’d recognised the kid instantly as Matthew Spencer, the younger brother of the sadistic fuck in charge of the drag races, but he couldn’t acknowledge that fact without tipping their hand. Undercover work was not his and Eric’s usual purview, but they’d been tapped by their boss to lend a hand to the investigation, their in-depth knowledge of engines and their passion for racing cars in their free time making them ideal candidates for the job.
Personally, Dane couldn’t wait to get back to their usual job of everyday policing. The Walker family had been Queensland police officers for four generations, and he and his brother were proud to wear the blues and continue that tradition. Undercover work required a certain amount of deceit that didn’t sit well with either of them. Especially when it meant deceiving the people closest to them, and distancing themselves from the one person they’d hoped to become very close to.
Even if it had been unintentional.
