Down and Dirty by Christine Bell Page B

not baiting her with sexual innuendos as she’d suspected. Until he winked. Or blinked? She was directly to his left, so she could only see his one eye. Son of a bitch, he was driving her nuts.
    She popped a handful of cashews in her mouth and crunched them harder than necessary.
    “Anyway,” Galen continued, “I think it’s good to have more than one secret weapon in your arsenal, you know. And speaking of secrets. Shane.” The intensity of her brother’s expression belied his casual tone. “Got anything you want to tell me?”
    Terror hit harder than Holyfield, and Cat sucked in a panicked breath. Along with it came a wayward cashew, which lodged itself neatly in her windpipe. A little nugget of doom. Her mind reeled, the fear of being found out oddly no less potent for a moment than the fear of choking to death, and how sad was that? She tried to cough, but nothing happened. And that’s when it really hit her. She was actually in trouble here. She clutched at her throat, Shane’s voice dimly penetrating the sound of blood pounding in her ears.
    “What do you mean, bro?”
    They had no idea. She was dying and they had no clue. She wanted to scream, but no sound would come. Instead, she shot up, waving her arms, frantically pointing to her neck.
    “Cat! Oh my God, she’s choking!” Lacey screamed.
    Shane was on his feet in an instant and behind her in less, with his firm thigh planted between her legs. His strong arms wrapped around her without hesitation, his cupped fist just above her belly.
    “It’s going to be okay,” he murmured, his voice almost unnaturally calm. “Ready? Here we go.” He thrust up and in once, hard, sending the cashew along with some other nutty shrapnel flying out of out of her mouth at breakneck speeds.
    She gulped at the air, desperate for oxygen like she’d never known it, despite having only been without for a short time. She’d held her breath under water far longer, but the forced deprivation had made even these twenty seconds feel like an eternity.
    “Are you okay? Should we call 911?” Galen asked, his eyes on Shane.
    “I don’t think that’s necessary. Give her a minute, and I think she’ll be fine.” Shane turned her to face him, his perceptive eyes searching her face. “You good?”
    She nodded, swiping a trembling hand over her mouth. “Scared the shit out of me, but I’m okay.”
    The eerie calm seemed to falter as fear flickered in his eyes and his jaw tensed. “Maybe try chewing those next time.”
    Charming. Before she could shoot off a response, Lacey had grabbed her and was shaking her by the shoulders. “Oh my God, Cat. That was awful. Are you sure you shouldn’t go to the ER?”
    Cat managed a weak laugh and shook her head. “I’m just a little freaked out. Let me sit for a minute and I’ll be like new.”
    She sank back into the recliner and closed her eyes for a second. Shane was right. Aside from the jittery adrenaline dump and a bit of an ache where Shane had Heimlich-ed her, she felt like nothing had happened. She tuned back into the conversation and caught the tail end of Lacey and Galen praising Shane on his quick response. She hadn’t even thanked him.
    “You were great,” Cat chimed in. “Thanks for…uh…” What? Saving my ass? Bailing me out of trouble, just like old times? Instead she waved her hands around in the general direction of where they’d been standing, “You know, that . I really appreciate it.”
    “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
    Lacey insisted on getting Cat a bottle of water and taking the cashews from her, which was fine by Cat. Cashews were officially right up there with sushi and liver now. Never to pass her lips again.
    A few minutes later, everyone had settled back in and Cat’s hopes for a reprieve started to build when Galen turned to Shane.
    “So before Cat decided to steal your thunder, you were about to tell us something.”
    It wasn’t a question.
    Cat’s throat closed up again, but this time