“There’s a secret?”
She rolled and moved her piece, sitting pretty and safe as a jail visitor. They’d bought up all the land over an hour ago, and were now building property and trading cards. He controlled most of the board. She had two monopolies and a single utility she was stubbornly refusing to trade him.
“There are a few. I researched this a long time ago.”
“You researched the secret to cracking Monopoly?” That distracted him from the bra. “What is it?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret.”
“Let’s trade. You can ask me something.” He paused. “Unless it’s about my parents or birth. Any of my parents,” he tacked on hastily.
Her eyes were deep, dark pools of melted chocolate. They were really pretty. Big, innocent, framed by long lashes. “What was your major in college?”
His shoulders relaxed. Safe enough. “Art history.”
“That makes sense.”
“What about you?” That was cheating, asking her more questions in addition to the silly Monopoly one, but he couldn’t squelch his curiosity.
“I majored in business.”
“Did you plan to go into Chandler’s?”
“No. My father made it clear there was no place for me at Chandler’s.”
There was no inflection in her voice, but he couldn’t prevent his immediate desire to plant his fist in Brendan’s face.
That asshole.
“I wouldn’t want to work there anyway.” She looked down at the board. “I actually want to start my own company.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Your own empire, huh?”
“If I’m lucky. Some day.”
“What kind of business?”
She shrugged. “Still chewing on it.”
“When are you going to open it?”
“I want to tell my brother first.”
“That’s the only thing stopping you?”
“Well, yes.”
“You should tell him. Or not. You’re a grown-ass woman. You don’t need his permission.”
Her lips parted. “What did you call me?”
Had she taken offense to the grown-ass part? He cleared his throat. “A woman. An adult.”
“Oh.”
Had it gotten warmer in here? Or was it just the way she was suddenly looking at him? He tapped the blue cards he held. “Back to the game. I know the secret, by the way.”
Her lashes lowered. “No, you don’t. Or you wouldn’t be losing.”
