My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 26

Then the color drained out of her face like someone had flipped a switch.

There it was.

That flash of panic.

Did she just give herself away?

"N-no," she said quickly. "I… I don't think so."

The stutter slipped out before she could stop it. Her fingers tightened on the front of my suit jacket, wrinkling the expensive fabric like she needed something solid to hold onto.

That was a lie.

I tilted my head slightly, watching her the same way I watched a man during an interrogation.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

The music moved around us, forcing our bodies to stay close as the dancers shifted in a lazy circle. She had no choice but to follow my lead.

She swallowed hard. I saw the movement in her throat. Then she nodded quickly, "Positive."

I hummed softly under my breath, sliding one hand a little higher along her waist to guide her into the next step of the dance. Her back went stiff immediately.

"I just feel like I’ve seen you somewhere," I said slowly, "I just… can't place it."

She shrugged, but the motion looked forced, like her shoulders had turned into stone, "You probably saw someone else," she said quickly, "Not me."

The way she said it was defensive. My hand tightened slightly on her waist when she tried to lean away, not enough to hurt her, but just enough to remind her she wasn’t going anywhere.

Vincenzo’s voice echoed in the back of my head. He never said I couldn’t make her talk.

I leaned down a little, lowering my voice so only she could hear me. The scent of her perfume drifted up.

"You’re nervous," I said quietly.

Her eyes flashed with irritation, but the nerves were still there, sitting just under the surface.

"I'm not nervous."

A glimpse of that same face somewhere it shouldn’t have been.

Finally I exhaled slowly and straightened up again. My hand stayed on her waist, holding her in place as the music carried us through another slow turn.

“Maybe,” I murmured, my voice low enough that only she could hear it, the words brushing against her ear, “But if you’re lying to me…” I let the sentence hang there for a second, my gaze dropping slowly to her mouth before lifting back to those sharp green eyes, “I will find out, step-sister.”

My hands lingered on her waist a moment longer than they needed to, the heat of her body still burning through the thin silk under my palms. Then, slowly, I loosened my grip and let her slip away with the moving circle of dancers.

But I didn’t step back.

I just stood there, watching her as the next person moved between us.

A slow smile crept across my face, dark and patient.

Because the truth was a lot like prey.

You didn’t chase it blindly. You tracked it. You watched it. You waited for it to slip.

And hunting had always been my favorite thing.