Page 41 of Hunt Me

Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap!

“Wow. You’re pissed.”

Cringing, I caught the bag in my hands before it pummeled either me or my sister to the mat. “Yeah, maybe so.”

“An everyday occurrence. You’ve been in a bad mood since you came back home.” Callie peered at me, her nose wrinkled. I was a sweaty mess with my hair in a ponytail while she was dressed to the nines in a crimson mini-dress, her hair perfectly coiffed and smelling like a thousand bucks. I adored my sister, but we were exact opposites.

“Not an everyday occurrence.” Although she was right.

“You need to get laid. You’ve been on a year-long dry spell.”

My laugh sounded entirely different than a few days before. “Not necessarily.” I flashed her a grin.

“Oh, my God. You met someone at the wedding. Didn’t you?” Callie squealed, clapping her hands.

Shrugging, I pulled one of the laces on my glove with my teeth and she gave me a stern look. “I can do it myself. I’ve learned to be very self-sufficient.”

“You’ll break your teeth that way. Who did you meet? Come on. Fess up.” She unlaced both gloves, jerking them off and tumbling backwards as she did. She laughed. “Maybe I need to take up kickboxing.”

“Maybe you should.”

With her arms folded, she tapped her foot on the floor. “Come on. You can’t hide anything from me.”

She was right about that. In fact, she’d been the little tattletale when we were kids, using the four-year difference between us to her advantage. She had our father wrapped around her little finger.

“Fine. I did meet someone. He was… The moment was… Incredible.”

“Wow. I’ve never seen you like this.” She studied me and inched closer. “Did you hook up with one of the Dmitriyev brothers?”

“How do you know about them?”

“I have eyes. Did you see thePeoplemagazine article on Mikhail? Holy hell in a handbasket.”

“You’re incorrigible and I’m not saying anything.” I mimed zipping my lips.

Her eyes flew open wide. “You did hook up with one of them. Wow. That’s incredible. Hell, I’d tried to cozy up to one of them a couple years ago and struck out.”

“Callie! You’re the regular Miss Goody Two-Shoes. They play rough and dirty.” I couldn’t help teasing her.

“Very funny. I’m not that naïve little girl any longer. Just exactly how do you know they play rough and dirty?”

Shrugging, all I could do was wink.

“You’re so bad and I’m so glad you came back home,” Callie admitted. “So who was it?”

“I’m not telling you because if I do, you’ll blast the news all over the city. Just do me a favor and don’t tell Mom or Dad a thing.”

Callie gave me a hard look. “Let me guess. Dad mentioned his great commission. Right?”

“How do you know about it?”

“He even tried to get me to work for him as the marketing guru of the platform, including social media. Oh, hell, no.”

“Why does he have it out for the Dmitriyev family?”

“I don’t know. Who hasn’t heard the rumors, but they have the entire state in the palms of their hands. Every successful business is due in part to something they did, or an investment of cold, hard cash.” Callie flicked her long hair behind her ear. “Plus, they’re hot.”

“You have a boyfriend.”