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.

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“No, we are not,” Dane replied, then sighed heavily. “You need to get over here. Now. We have a situation.”

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“Shit. Where are you?”

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“Neon green Subaru, north of your position.”

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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.”

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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?

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“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.

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They’d met Emmy 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.

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She was cute as fuck.

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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.

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Since then, they’d bumped into Emmy 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, and rejoicing in the fact she seemed to enjoy their attention as much as they liked hers.

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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 fact aided by the knowledge that lately, she seemed to be everywhere they looked.

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Even at an illegal street race.

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The very last place she should be.

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Eric folded his arms across his chest and stared down at her. “What are you doing here?”

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Emmy’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 to, hot stuff.”

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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, Emmy. But seriously, what are you doing here?”

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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 took a shot. “Babysitting.”

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Dane chuckled and shook his head. “Babysitting? That’s the best excuse you could come up with?”

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She gave a one-sided shrug and looked away. “I wasn’t sure you’d like the real answer. Besides, I didn’t know you’d be here.”

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Eric looked at Dane, then they both turned their best interrogation stares on her. “And what exactly is the real answer?”

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Emmy 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.”

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Eric’s jaw tightened and the bottom fell out of his gut. “You’re on a date?” he snarled.

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“Who with?” Dane stepped closer, grabbed Emmy’s hips and crowded her from behind, practically sandwiching her between them.

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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.

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“And who’s idea was it to bring you to an illegal drag race?”

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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 though he meant at the Raceway in Willowbank.” She gritted her teeth. “Obviously I was wrong.”

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“That doesn’t explain why you’re here with someone else.”

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“Or where this Romeo is,” Dane added, looking around them.

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Emmy 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?”

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Eric’s brow scrunched as he continued staring down at her. “What do you mean ‘no longer interested’?”

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Dane wedged her tighter between them. “Does this feel like we’re not interested?”

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Emmy rolled her eyes. “Wow. Is that a gear shift in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

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Eric smirked at her dry tone and Dane shrugged. “Hey, you try being pressed up against this sweet arse and not getting hard.”

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A blush bloomed on Emmy’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.

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Where exactly had they gone wrong?

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And even though they had much more important things to discuss—like taking Emmy 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.

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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?”

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Lifting her chin, she glared up at him, her eyes sparking with bright blue fire. Stubborn kitten. “Dane, will you please tell Robo—”

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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.

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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.

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It only took a moment for Emmy 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.

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“That’s our girl,” Dane murmured against her neck.

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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.

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Intelligent woman that she was, Emmy’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.

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“Oh. I see.” She nodded, the fear disappating from her gaze as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a glint of determination. “Understood.”

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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.”

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Emmy moistened her lips. “But don’t you have to,”—she looked around them again—“you know? Do your thing?”

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“Your safety is more important,” Dane said, then looked over her head at Eric. “Let’s get her out of here.”

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“Agreed,” Eric said, then wrapped an arm around Emmy’s waist and turned her towards where their car was parked.

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“Emily?” All three of them turned back to face a very confused looking young man carrying an open bottle of beer. “What the fuck?”

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Emmy stiffened in his embrace. “Oh. Matthew…. Hi.”

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The Drag Race Debutante and The Detectives: Coming 2025

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