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Seduce the Playboy 82
I shrugged. I was more surprised at my reaction but wasn’t about to admit that.“Let me rephrase then – does it disappoint you?” He seemed more than just curious about my answer. He seemed desperate.No. I’m not disappointed. I’m still very much interested.But I couldn’t tell him that either.I redirected, instead. “What did the letter say? It had to reveal something significant.”“Yes. And no. She told me everything. Her life story, how she’d fallen for my father, why she’d left Athens. Everything. I already knew all of it now, but not from her point of view. Before that, I hadn’t gotten a clear picture of why she’d left. It was biased information, pieced together from her family, and I didn’t have any understanding of all the trouble my father had gone to in order to change her life. Or why. Until I read that letter.”I nodded, trying not to think about how charming he must have been. This young mobster with a natural knack for danger and lawlessness and, also, a sentimental streak
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The warmth that had bloomed during the last hour of conversation began to fade away, and my body stepped back into familiar heartache.“Who have you told about all of this?” I asked, a bitter edge to my question.“Almost no one.” He wanted me to realize his candidness was a gift.I wouldn’t accept it. “Did you tell Amber? Did she know all of this before she went to him?”A beat passed. “Yes.”“Why didn’t you just tell me too?” My pain was apparent and raw. If he’d just told me the truth from the beginning…“Do you think it’s some sort of validation of my affection? To have heard this story?” He kept his voice low, but it was thick and full of emotion. “Every time I’ve brought someone into that part of my life, things have ended badly. Look at Amber. Missy. Chris!”“We can’t be sure about Chris.” It was a lie – we were sure. But I was looking to poke holes in his excuses, because there was no excuse he could give for why he hadn’t told me things he’d told Amber that would satisfy me. “
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I didn’t think it was an accident the way his arm grazed against my breast as he leaned across me to point it out. I held my breath, pissed at how aroused I was and how he had to know by the way my nipples stood up, reaching for the brush of his limb. And if I hadn’t been sure before, I was certain now that we might be in paradise, but being here with Reeve, whose touch was torturous and hot – was the closest thing to hell I’d ever known.Reeve’s private compound wasn’t beachfront property as I’d imagined it would be. Instead, it was on the mountain, inaccessible except through a secured gate and a tree-lined driveway that wound up the cliffside. At the top, the canopy broke into a clearing with the house on one side of us, and on the other side, a view so spectacular I couldn’t believe that there were any more incredible on the island.The positioning of the house was brilliant as well. It had been built on an outcrop of land so the ocean could be seen on three sides. It was grander
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We spent the rest of the day settling in. Reeve was absent for both lunch and dinner, but with the four security guards, Filip, Alex, and two women house servants, the house didn’t feel lonely. While everyone else dined inside, Amber and I took our supper on the lanai off the kitchen, and, when the sweet Polynesian girl left the bottle after pouring my glass of merlot, I passed it to Amber.“You’re very naughty,” she said with a wink. She dumped the water from her glass on the stone ground and replaced it with wine. “Reeve would not approve.”“I’m sure he wouldn’t.” I knew she assumed that my disregard for his rules meant that she still held the highest position of authority over me, and I let her believe that.In truth, I wasn’t sure what my motive was. It might have had more to do with Reeve than with Amber. There was a stab of satisfaction at the idea of riling him up, even if he didn’t ever find out.After dinner, we hung out in Amber’s room like old girlfriends at a sleepover. I’
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My breath slid out in a slow sigh. Just the sight of him, naked and hard in front of me, and I was instantly aroused. My nipples tightened and rose into sharp peaks, and the thin cloth at my crotch felt damp and oppressive. And the night that had felt almost too cool just a moment before was suddenly hot and stifling.Reeve brought his hand down and slid it down his length before circling it at the base of his cock. “Watch me,” he said in that tone that forced me to comply. That voice that wasn’t even necessary because I was already glued, my focus cemented to his rhythmic stroke.“Should I tell you what I’m imagining while I do this?” His voice was like an intruder, an unwanted narrator in an already hard-to-watch scene.I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t move. But I could manage one faint word. “No.”“I think I should.” His teasing had an edge of cruelty that ratcheted up my desire another ten degrees. “Don’t you want to know what gets me this hard? What kind of thoughts?”“No. I don’
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“Reeve…” I wasn’t pleading anymore. I was his to keep or discard as he chose, and he’d decided to keep me.Except then he went on. “I can’t let you go, but I can continue to give you space. If that’s what you need.”“And you won’t do this anymore? You won’t come on to me?” I wasn’t sure if I felt optimistic or destroyed.“I won’t come on to you.” He sounded as ruined as I felt. “Until you say I can.”“But what if that’s never?”He met my eyes, and with all the solemnness of a vow, he said, “It won’t be.”He held my gaze for a moment longer, then turned his back to me and walked toward the bathroom, stooping to pick up the towel he’d discarded on his way.I didn’t wait a second longer before swiping the bottles off the floor and darting out the door.My legs shook the entire way to my room. I dumped the pills in the bottom of my suitcase, turned off the light, and climbed into bed fully dressed. A second later, I jumped up and locked my door. Reeve had let me go tonight, but I didn’t t
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And she did. “Can I have them back?”I considered telling her I’d dumped them already. The lie would be easier. But, instead, I just said, “No.”“Ha ha. Funny.”I let her laugh. Because why wouldn’t she? I’d never stood up to her like this before. In fact, I wasn’t sure I’d stood up to her ever.But when she’d finished her chuckle, I made sure I was completely somber when I said, “I’m not joking. I mean no. You can’t have them.”She pulled her hand from my lap. “You can’t keep them. They’re mine.”“No. Actually, they’re not. And if you want to refute this with a third party, we can take this up with Reeve.” I was surprised at the confident sound of authority in my tone. And proud.Amber twisted and sat back in her lounger, her knees up and her arms crossed over her chest. “You’re on his side. Typical.”Maybe I’d given her too much credit when I’d thought of her as a teenager. This behavior was much less mature. “I’m not on his side, Amber. I’m on your side.”“I don’t know what the hel
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I stood back up. Being there where she’d been and feeling the way I’d imagined Amber felt, I wondered for the first time if Missy’s death had been a suicide. Jumping off the side into nothing would be a very thrilling and tragic way to end things. Like flying.Maybe that was too dramatic. She could have just as easily fallen. If the railing hadn’t been there, in the dark and if she’d been drunk or high or upset or all of the above.Or someone could have pushed her, relying on the probability that her death would be ruled an accident.Reeve had told me he hadn’t been anywhere near her when it happened. He’d been on the beach, making sex tapes. There was proof that that was where he’d been. But there were still pieces of Missy’s death that felt unsettled. Things Chris Blakely had mentioned that didn’t have an answer in the story Reeve had told me.Rustling leaves interrupted my reverie and drew my focus to the path behind me. The glimpse of white moving through the trees told me someone
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