Secrets to Hide 2: Naughty Little Christmas by Ella Sheridan Page A

reach for his phone. As he drew it from his pocket, he turned his back on her, clearing his throat before speaking.
    “Hello?”
    Harley’s pleasure backlashed, cramping her muscles so that she curled onto her side, hugging her knees to her chest, trying to breathe her way through the agony of denial. She’d spent hours kissing boys as a teenager without the buildup of need Damien had inflicted in a few short minutes. Her body protested the absence of fulfillment, knotting her belly, lashing her sensitive nipples until she wanted to cry. At the sound of Damien’s returning footsteps, a tear slipped her control, sizzling down her hot cheek despite her best efforts. She hurt, and the man who’d driven her to such need was barely breathing heavy as he came to stand next to the desk.
    “I have to go.”
    The words switched her brain online. “What?”
    Damien avoided her gaze. “I have to go. My sister’s at the hospital.”
    As she sat up gingerly, she vaguely remembered him telling her his family lived here in LA. “Oh, Damien, I’m sorry. Is she okay?”
    He flashed her a quick, uneasy grin before returning his gaze to his phone. “She’s having a baby.”
    “Ah.”
    Damien fidgeted, actually fidgeted, with the device in his hand. “So…can you make it back to your hotel?”
    Not Do you need anything? Not Can I drop you off on my way? She could feel his regret from three feet away, his tense need to escape, and somehow she didn’t think it had anything whatsoever to do with his sister. “Sure.”
    He nodded, but he was already at the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” The doorknob turned under his hand, and he was in the hall before she had a chance to respond.
    “Sure,” she whispered again, knowing he was too far away to hear.

Chapter Five
    Outside the door to the L&D waiting room, Damien took a deep breath and held it until he felt the pressure in his head approach the about-to-pop stage. Then he blew the air out, letting the memory of Harley’s face as he’d left her on the desk in his office go with it. Telling himself he could worry about it later, he squared his shoulders, firmed his jaw, and stepped through the door.
    “It’s about time you made it here, Brother. Shaw could’ve had ten babies in the time you took to get here.”
    “Given the way she seems to pop them out, you’re right,” Damien said as he caught his brother Garrett up in a surprise-attack bear hug. The man winced, either at Damien’s rough hold or his reference to actual childbirth, Damien didn’t know or care. That he’d gotten in some retaliation from his brother’s opening salvo made the moment sweet either way. Anything to crawl up his stuffy brother’s ass. “Traffic’s a bitch tonight.” He’d actually made better time than he’d expected to, in fact.
    His oldest brother, Leo, walked up in time to hear that last bit. He slapped Damien between his shoulder blades, hard enough Damien had to take a step forward to keep from popping a vertebra. “Tell the truth, D. You were having difficulty untangling yourself from a bevy of young, sexy women, weren’t you? Were they blondes or brunettes? Maybe a redhead or two? Come on, share with your less lucky brothers.”
    Damien gritted his teeth, refusing to let his brother bait him. “Hello, Leo. I missed you too; thanks for asking.”
    “But the girls—”
    Garrett elbowed Leo to silence as Damien’s dad walked over to greet his youngest son’s arrival. Curtis Adams would never tolerate commonplace bickering among his boys. That said “bickering” had been a part of their relationship for decades was a fact he remained oblivious to, just as he had when Damien was a child. It helped that his brothers had been smart and sneaky even then.
    Curtis stepped around Leo to shake Damien’s hand. “I’m glad you managed to be in town for the little one’s arrival, Son. You know how much it means to Shaw.”
    “Of course he does,” Damien’s mom said, joining