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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
Seduce the Playboy 102
Well, I had feelings I’d been holding on to for a while as well. “You’re the one who talked me into coming!”“You know why I did that,” she seethed, her eyes narrow. “And I shouldn’t have. I should have realized that nothing’s changed, that you’ll always come between me and whoever I love.”“Wait… what? When have I ever…?” The only other man who’d been an issue had been the one who’d raped me. “You said that you knew I didn’t go after Bridge.”She shook her head dramatically. “It doesn’t matter if you went after them or not,” she said, heading into my closet. “They always wanted you more. You were always the prize.”I followed after her. “What the hell are you talking about? That was you. Which one of any of the men that we’ve been with didn’t want you the more?”She spun toward me. “Oh, let’s see. Bridge, Rob, Liam, Bryan.” She ticked the names on her fingers as she named them. “Reeve.” She turned back to her task, jerking sundresses off hangers and piling them over her arm.I was fl
Seduce the Playboy 103
“It was both,” she admitted. “You can’t tell me there aren’t things you’ve done for me that didn’t have a benefit for you as well.”Reeve. I’d gotten involved with him because of her, but also because of me. “No, I can’t.” It wasn’t enough of an apology. I just didn’t know what exactly to apologize for.I tried to imagine what it must have been like for her, to feel like I’d always been between her and the various men she loved. “You should have gotten rid of me earlier.”“Emily,” the word was thick. “I never wanted to get rid of you at all. You were my touchstone. I kept hoping that somehow, someday it would work out, and we’d both find whatever happy ending we were looking for. But then Bridge… not only was I not enough for him – not good enough for that fucking useless asshole – but he also ended up hurting my best friend. So bad.” Her voice cracked, and my gaze followed a tear dropping down her nose.“You pushing me away hurt almost just as bad.” My eyes were dry, but my chest ach
Seduce the Playboy 104
We were quiet as I walked her down the hall, past the room that I now knew was Reeve’s, to the courtyard.“Good evening, ladies,” said Tabor, one of the security guards. “Headed to your room, Ms. Pries? I’ll escort you.”“I’ll watch you from here,” I said, even though it wasn’t necessary with Tabor there. “I’ll stay until your light goes on so I know you’re okay.”Amber turned to me, her expression soft and grateful. “Thank you, Em. For everything.” She leaned in and pressed her lips to my cheek.And I smiled tightly and tried not to compare it to the kiss Judas had given Jesus that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, a kiss of betrayal. Tried not to focus on the sacrifice that she had forced upon me. Tried to pretend that this last kiss of hers was not one that brought quite so much pain.Then she and Tabor were walking away, and her light went on, and the guard took his post in the courtyard, and I wondered if instead it were I who was Judas and she the betrayed. Because, as soon as
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