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Seduce the Playboy 94
“Actually, he sent something just this morning.” He closed Joe’s e-mail and clicked on the top line in his inbox. The message opened and Reeve gestured toward the screen for me to read.I peeked at it somewhat thrilled he’d chosen to share it with me. Until I realized it had been written in Greek. “I can’t read it. What does it say?”“Oh. Right.” He chuckled at himself as he tilted the screen where we could both see it. “Basically, I have not done these things of which you accuse me. I have alibis for all events. One alibi even your own beautiful Emily.”Your own beautiful Emily.I snuck a peek at him after he said my name, wondering how he felt when he called me his, if it felt anything like how I felt when I heard it.He swallowed, suggesting that it at least made him feel something. But that something could have been irritation, because then he launched into a rant about what he’d read so far. “It’s ridiculous. Alibis prove nothing, and he knows that. He never does his own dirty wo
Seduce the Playboy 95
“True.” Besides the one I had for Joe, I had an e-mail for junk, an e-mail for publicity, an e-mail for personal. But I tended to keep all my correspondence organized. If I e-mailed someone from a certain account, I didn’t later e-mail that person from another account.There was another thing that was odd. “Why is this one written in Greek when the others were in English? What’s his language preference with you?”“Greek.” He lifted a brow, catching my drift. “Do you think they’ve been sent by different people?”“Probably not. The ones before could have been sent by an assistant or something.” That was a comical idea – having some hired goon send your threat letters. But maybe it hadn’t been someone he’d hired at all. What if Petros had sent the previous e-mails? Maybe it hadn’t even been malicious. Petros could have simply wanted Reeve to know what was going on with Amber.Whether Reeve was thinking along the same lines I was or not, I couldn’t tell. But he was obviously thinking some
Seduce the Playboy 96
Joe misread my silence. “I should have waited until you got back to me before doing anything. I’m sorry.”“No, no,” I assured him. “It’s fine. It’s necessary. I just need a minute to get used to the idea.” At least I didn’t have to worry about the mechanics of the transfer. “Thanks for doing that for me, Joe. Thanks for all of it. You’ve been a really great friend.” One of the only ones I had at the moment.My gratitude seemed to fluster him. “It’s my job,” he said after a few seconds.It was more than that, but I didn’t need to argue with him about it. He knew I appreciated him. “Anyway. I’ll let you know when my flight is arranged.”Saying it out loud like that made my leaving a reality. It felt like I kept coming back to this same place. Kept making the decision to go and yet never ended up seeing it through. This time would be different. It had to be.I couldn’t bring myself to talk to Reeve a second time in one day so I pushed off asking him to make my travel arrangements. I didn
Seduce the Playboy 97
“It’s not?” Reeve left the question open and crossed to the liquor cart to pour himself a drink.Amber ran her hand absentmindedly across the base of her neck. “He’ll still come after me, Reeve. He’s afraid I’ll tell people what he did with my father. He’ll silence me the way he silenced that friend of Missy’s.”“Every one of his ex-girlfriends could testify to his criminal involvement. He’s hung up on you for some reason.” He sank into a chair and slipped his feet into his sandals.Amber rose and moved over to him. “Bourbon?” she asked, eyeing his drink. “You really must be stressed. We won’t talk about it anymore. Let me help you relax.” She circled around behind his chair and began kneading his shoulders.The scene that had been beautiful before she’d arrived had turned dismal. I’d been breathless watching Reeve in the water, so taken with his presence, but now the tight feeling in my lungs felt more like suffocation. I willed myself to close my eyes, but I wasn’t that strong.“Oh,
Seduce the Playboy 98
He sat forward, his legs tensing as if he were ready to pounce. Ready to chase me. My heart knocked louder against my rib cage. So loud I was certain that any second she’d hear it and discover me.But she remained oblivious, while, in my periphery, I was aware of her still – of her hands sliding down his chest, of her voice when she exclaimed, “Looks like you’re interested now.”So he was hard. And his eyes were still fastened stubbornly on mine.It was less decision and more primal instinct that knocked me from my stupor. I leapt from my chair and darted noiselessly through the closest door of the building behind me.He would follow – I practically felt him bound out of his chair after me. But he had to make his excuses to Amber then he had a pool to circle around and I had a head start. Once I was through this hallway, it was only a quick diagonal sprint across the common area before I’d be safe in my room. Not that a locked door could stop Reeve if he were determined.I emerged fro
Seduce the Playboy 99
“You swim a lot,” she’d said to me one June day the summer after my junior year. She’d been sitting on Doug’s front porch steps, smoking when I’d gotten home from practice. Of course she’d be there when I had forgotten to bring my bag with my towel and change of clothes. I’d dripped for most of the six-block walk.As always, her hair and clothing had been perfect. I’d been mortified to be seen in my still-wet ratty one-piece. “I’m on a team,” I’d said, covering myself by hugging my arms across my chest.I’d hurried on, hoping to get in my front door before she talked to me again.But she’d called after me. “Any good?”I’d stopped and turned back to her. “Our team? Not really.”It was a neighborhood league. Our coach was the mother of one of the team members. I’d only been invited because they’d needed another swimmer to have enough members for relay competitions.Amber had smiled, her glossy lips shining in the afternoon sun. “I bet you’re being too hard on yourself.” She picked up th
Seduce the Playboy 100
“But I don’t own any other kinds of bras.” I hurried to put my shirt back on, in case she got the idea to toss it as well.“I’ll take you shopping. I have an open account at Nordstrom’s. I’ll buy you something sexy.”I hugged my knees to my chest, strangely bashful after I’d put my clothes back on. “You have an open account? How the hell do you have that?”“My uncle. He’s rich.”“Nice uncle.” I’d been tentative about asking Amber questions, afraid I’d say something wrong and piss her off, but my curiosity got the better of me. “Why isn’t this rich uncle putting you up somewhere better than Doug’s house?”She leaned back on her elbows and gave me an even look. “Good question. I guess I haven’t earned it yet.” It had been an interesting response, one that raised more questions than it answered.I didn’t get a chance to find out if I was brave enough to ask anything further, though. Because apparently Amber had questions of her own, and she launched into a series of them, shooting them o
Seduce the Playboy 101
“I don’t know. It’s sexy, I guess.” I hadn’t known how to articulate the appeal. My entire life, I’d felt powerless. With my mother and her drinking. With my body and its abundant curves. With the swim coach who considered me a team filler and never bothered to time any of my laps or check out my form. Power was an enigma to me. I was fascinated by it – by what it could do, by what it could inspire, by what it could create.“Personally, I like a guy with money,” Amber had said. “Which is a lot like power, but not really. I want the guy to have the money and me to have the power.”“Yes. That’s what I mean,” I’d said, wanting to be liked more than to be understood.But Amber had already understood me more than I’d realized. Propping herself up on her side, she’d said, incredulously, “You wouldn’t know what to do with power if you had it. You don’t know what to do with the power you do have.”“I don’t have any power.”“Those knockers!”I shook my head. “You’re funny.”“You’re naïve.”It
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