some of the biggest philanthropists and gossips in Harbor City. A word here or there from any of them could devastate her reputation and ability to—eventually—start her own charitable-giving consulting firm. He knew it. She knew it. They were both playing their parts while seething on the inside.
“I went to the rugby game so I could cheer on Web.” It was the same answer she’d given him a million times already. What was it with this guy that he couldn’t accept that she and his brother were besties?
“When he hasn’t even played for the last few games because his ankle was acting up? How very”—he paused, clinking his glass against hers—“friendly of you.”
She sputtered something that barely even qualified as syllables, heat smacking against her cheeks. It was their standing weekly friend date. She and Web always had brunch after. She liked watching rugby. It was interesting. That’s it. There was no other reason for her to go watch the games, definitely not the fact that Will played on the team, too.
Why does he always make me feel like I’m doing something wrong?
“You,” she said, about a million epithets for “him” running through her head, “are the worst.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders and looked totally unconcerned. “Just because I don’t fall for your country-bumpkin, sweet-as-pie con job like everyone else?” He set his untouched glass of champagne down on the nearest flat surface. “I know exactly what you’re doing with Web, and you won’t get away with it.”
Then, without even bothering to wait for her response—because why would the big jerk?—he strode off, disappearing into the coat closet that was packed full because of an unexpected summer downpour. No one wanted their black-tie finery to get drizzled on, so it was wall-to-wall raincoats and dripping umbrellas.
If he thought disappearing into there was going to stop her, he had another think coming.
Pinched toes protesting, pulse rocketing, and ire stoked to Mt. Vesuvius levels, Hadley marched in there and flung the door shut behind her. He stopped and did a slow-motion turn that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the movies—except Will was anything but hero material. He crossed his arms over his chest, the move only emphasizing his thick biceps even in a hoodie—and raised an eyebrow in question.
The unmitigated cocky gall of this guy. Ugh.
It was beyond past time for this confrontation. After nearly a year of having to deal with his bad attitude, she was more than ready to have it out.
“What. Is. Your. Problem?” She bit each word out as her stride ate up the space between them, until she was mere inches from him, finger jabbing him in his obnoxiously hard chest. She ignored the heat coming off him in waves and jabbed him in the chest again for good measure. “You have got to—”
The rest of that sentence was supposed to be “stop showing up unannounced” but he’d reached down and wrapped his warm, strong hand around hers, presumably to make her stop poking him, and the words froze in her throat as electricity zinged along her skin at the contact.
She tilted her chin upward, her lips parted in shock, and her breath caught—because Will fucking Holt suddenly looked like he wanted to kiss her until they both self-combusted.
And damn her mutinous body, at that moment she knew exactly how he felt.
…
The world froze for Will, shrinking down to the four walls of the tiny coat closet lit only by the dim light of a single wall sconce and Hadley Donavan. He’d meant to stop her from jabbing him again with her finger, but the second their skin connected, his entire brain short-circuited.
He didn’t like her.
Hell, he couldn’t stand her.
And yet…here he was, holding on by a thread—a worn, raggedy, barely-keeping-it-together thread that was milliseconds from snapping. The last thing in the world he should do is kiss the woman angling to take his brother for every million she could.
His muscles tense, his lungs burning from holding his breath, he stayed immobile. One breath, one blink, one brush of her body against his, and he’d give up his half of the several-billion-dollar Holt family fortune to finish what they’d start with a kiss. Then she let out a shaky sigh and used the tip of her tongue to wet her lips before looking up at him with a lust-hazy gaze as she lifted herself up on her toes, and he was a fucking goner.
In a heartbeat, he went from fighting her every step of the