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Seduce the Playboy 32
Joe leaned back in his chair and crossed his ankle over his opposite knee. “Nah. That guy’s a people doctor. He might do animal medicine, but he knows what he’s doing with her. Leads you to wonder why a ranch would have a full-time doctor on staff posing as a vet. What kind of regular injuries go on around here that they’d need that?”I looked up, surprised at the implication. Then, as always when it came to anything to do with Reeve, defensive. “There could be any number of reasons.”“Guess that’s just part of the Sallis mystery, isn’t it?”He was prodding me, trying to get me worked up, but I didn’t have the strength. I pulled my feet up underneath me and studied his profile, his strong jawline, the tattoos that snaked out under the sleeve of his T-shirt, the same one he wore yesterday. He was scruffier than usual, his buzz haircut grown out and his face hidden behind a week-old beard. He was sexy, I noted, in a bad boy kind of way. Which should have done it for me.Except Joe was o
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Joe saved me from having to stretch my three sentences into more substantial material. “Hey, I hate to intrude on your reunion, but do you mind if I ask you some questions now that you’re back in the land of the living?”In other words, Joe wanted to get intel before Reeve showed up. As much as it irked me that Joe was always on his case, there were things I wanted to hear as well.She pulled her blood-matted hair to one side, and I silently made a note to help her bathe later. “I guess I owe you at least that much. After you rescued me and all. He’s a hero, you know,” she said, winking at me. “You should be proud of him.”“He knows I appreciate him.” I narrowed my eyes in Joe’s direction, wondering exactly what he’d told Amber about our relationship on their drive together from Chicago. Maybe she’d made her own assumptions. Whichever, I didn’t correct her. That could easily lead to having to admit my relationship with Reeve, and I wasn’t ready to do that. Yet.If ever.Joe ignored my
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I’d asked Reeve once if he was still close to his former lovers. He’d dodged the question. Now I saw the answer firsthand, and whether he was like this with all of them or just Amber didn’t matter. That he was like this with her was bad enough. In fact, it was the worst.“Before you get ahead on your revenge scheming, Sallis, let’s get the girl well.” Jeb’s arrival was like a token sent from heaven. It broke the trance that Reeve and Amber had me in.I stepped backward, into the shadows, barely aware of the conversation that continued.“Please tell me it’s time for more painkillers,” Amber said, almost begging.“We’ll talk about that.” Jeb scanned his audience. “Can we maybe have the room cleared so the patient and I can have some privacy?”Thank God. Because I couldn’t be there a moment longer.Unfortunately, Reeve was escorted out with us, and in the hallway he stopped me before I could escape into my own room. “Jeb got ahold of some methadone. He’s going to start a treatment plan t
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Joe surprised me with his next words. “Where I need to go for that is nowhere.” He paused at the gate, not saying anything while the guard was at the window clearing us for entrance.When we were in, I turned to him. “You don’t think Reeve is still connected to that slave ring, do you?”“I don’t have a strong reason to believe he is, no. Especially not if that’s why he thinks you need protection. But he and Amber know more about Vilanakis than anyone else I’ve come in contact with. I don’t think I can get a better lead than through them.”I chewed another finger as he parked the car, trying to decide if I wanted to share what I knew with Joe, and if so, how much. I didn’t want to betray Reeve but Joe had rescued Amber. I owed him, didn’t I?Grabbing his arm, I stopped him before he got out of the car. “I’ll tell you this, Joe – there are cameras in every room of that ranch. So be careful what you say or do.”“I’ve seen them. But thanks for the heads-up.”“Also” – I took a deep breath,
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Even the reminder of the cruel way he’d treated me after I’d been with Chris didn’t cause him to flinch. “You’d like that too much. Answer the question.”“No.” I raised my chin defiantly. “I won’t give you anything else until you give me something.”He let out a patronizing chuckle. “That’s not how this works, Emily.”“Maybe it’s not how it worked before, but it’s how it’s working now.” Somewhat stunned by my own bravado, I barreled on before I had a chance to second-guess myself. “How long did you know that I knew Amber?”He ticked his head dismissively. “It doesn’t matter. Did you fuck Joe Cook?”Exasperated, I dropped my hands to my side. “It doesn’t matter to you, but it matters a whole hell of a lot to me. And, frankly, my question is much more relevant than whether or not I’ve gotten naked with Joe.”“It’s relevant if I say it’s relevant.”I rolled my eyes and started to stand, but Reeve sprang forward and stopped me. His hands gripped on both arms of the chair, he caged me in.
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“I did spoon you. You hated that.”“I did not. I liked it.”She shrugged her shoulder as though she knew full well that I’d liked it and had just wanted to hear me say it. “You liked it until I’d throw my leg over you, and then you’d bitch about feeling crowded, and somehow you’d always end up on the floor.”Actually, I’d liked it when she’d done that too. Liked how it had made me feel owned. I’d only ever moved out of the bed for her – because she was a restless sleeper, and I’d always ended up feeling like I was in her way.Those weren’t things I needed to admit though. Not now. “So, I’ll take the couch.”She laughed. “When I’m better though,” she said, her expression suddenly serious, “I’d really like to talk to you. When I’m sure I won’t fall asleep halfway through the conversation.”“I’d really like that too.”I slept fitfully on the love seat, and when Brent came to relieve me at a quarter to four, I didn’t feel the least bit ready for bed. My head was too buzzed and my emotions
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“But you still didn’t trust me.”But I loved you.I still loved him.And I still couldn’t say it. So I said the next best thing instead. “I trust you more than I’ve trusted almost anyone.”“I guess that’s something.”It was so much more than just something. It was everything to me. The only other person I’d ever trusted had been Amber, and, in the end, even she’d betrayed my trust.Maybe my statement had been wrong. Maybe I trusted Reeve more than everyone.But I didn’t correct myself because it didn’t matter. What he really wanted to hear were the other words, the words I couldn’t give. He’d danced around it, too, though. He’d suggested he loved me, but he’d never told me outright. Those words stood so prominently that they’d become a barrier between us. Either they’d been a lie, a cruel response to my scheming, or they’d been truthful – a possible doorway leading to something else. Something more.Damn, how I wanted the more. Wanted it enough to brave broaching the subject. “You sai
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I fell back against his chest and succumbed to the onslaught of sensation. Every nerve in my body was alight. The blanket had been abandoned in the shift of positions and the cold air felt sharp against my hot skin. My nipples burned, goose bumps covered every square inch of my exposed limbs, and the sweat on my forehead felt like melted ice.Reeve was lost to his own lust. With a hand over my mouth and another on my hip, he pounded into me with a relentless drive. I felt his mouth on my neck, felt his thighs tighten under mine, felt the tip of his cock reach so deep inside me that I thought he’d tear me apart.And then he did – he hit me in a spot that sent the second orgasm ripping through me, shredding me into so many pieces that I was sure there were parts of me I’d never recover.“You feel me,” he said while my cunt clenched around him like a vice-grip. “Right now you feel me, Emily. That’s where I am – inside you. All the time, I’m there. No matter whose bed you sleep in.”I let
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