Code of Control by Jevenna Willow

get the heat, but gain the
goods in the end.
    “Don’t you dare
work your way into this,” he warned his twin, his smarting jaw clenched, pain
shooting through his head.
    “Work my what ?”
Devon asked, halting mid-stride. “My way?” He turned and they faced each other
like raging bulls.
    “Don’t you dare come
here thinking you can take another woman away from me. This isn’t high school,
Dev. Besides, it did not work the last time you tried, and it won’t work to
your favor this time.”
    “I did not
take—” His head turned to the sound of the water shutting off.
    In the interim, Nolan
stood and slammed his fist on the table. “Yes, you did!” His face tight, he
avoided eye contact for as long as he could, the anguish of his memories still
raw.
    “She came to me
freely. Same as this one will, if you keep up a bitter attitude that all women God
created evil and intent only on shooting you in the back. Charlotte is not
Charity, Nolan.”
    “But she is my
partner, so leave her be,” he forced out.
    “Then act like
she’s your partner, goddammit. Stop blaming others for your mistakes. I should not
have to be the one to remind you of this.”
    “I’m not bla—”
    Nolan stopped
dead in his tracks, Charlotte’s eyes suddenly glued on him. She was standing in
the doorway, her head wrapped in a towel, another around her body and neither
man had even heard or noticed her entrance.
    He cleared his
throat, lowering a one-eyed gaze, since his left eye was swollen shut in spite of
the ice.
    “I’m not a toy, Nolan,”
she warned hotly. “Didn’t you hear me clear enough when I told you this?”
    He groaned as the
agony in his face increased. “I never said you were.”
    “I won’t be
bullied into easing your conscience about what you did to me. No sane person
pushes someone down a hole and then says ‘trust me’. Claustrophobia is not
something to take lightly, asshole.”
    Devon cleared
his throat, holding back a grin. When Nolan glared at him any potential for
amusement collapsed, tenfold.
    “And I won’t be
shared by two men who can’t hide their hatred for each other,” she said.
    Devon looked at Nolan,
shrugging his shoulders. They did not hate each other. Their opinions clashed,
nothing more. All twins had this affliction.
    “I know about
men like you,” she challenged both.
    Nolan was too
startled to respond. Men like him? What the hell kind of man did she see him as
being?
    “One twin pisses
me off, the other takes up the slack. Seen it before, done it before.” She stepped
into the kitchen, grabbed the second can of beer out of Devon’s hand, and then
stormed toward the back porch, slamming the door in her wake; her words loud
and clear through the screen. “And I bloody hell won’t do it again!”
    She must have
forgotten she was wearing only a bath towel, but Nolan could not get it out of
his head, his pulse quickening.
    “That went
well,” Devon said, foolishly poking the bear with a cattle prod. “Did I at all
say I was going to share her with you?”
    Nolan growled at
his twin then headed out after her. He had to make amends for his earlier poor
choice. Yes, dropping her down the mineshaft to get her over fear of buried
alive was a dumbass move, but Charlotte survived the ordeal—even got out
without too much help. He’d do it again if needed. The real test would come
tomorrow, putting any potential partnership on the line. Tomorrow she would
have to shoot him. He wasn’t at all looking forward to it.
    He stepped
outside, looking for a woman worthy of a prized fighter title. His jaw hurt
like hell, her balled knuckles still felt against bone and flesh, his eye
socket in utter agony. He found her sitting at the end of the porch, beer can
in hand, head turned away from him.
    “Leave me alone,
Nolan,” she said, never turning around to see who it was.
    “How did you even
know it was me? I could have been Devon.”
    “I smelled you,”
she said waspishly.
    His soft