Page 31 of The Player

He laughed and nudged her with his elbow, the slightest contact making her body tingle with awareness. ‘Never say never, I reckon.’

‘We are so not going there.’ She glared as if she meant business.

By his answering wink, he was thinking monkey business.

‘I’ll let you in on a secret,’ he said, leaning so close his breath fanned her ear, pebbling her skin in the process. ‘It’s okay to flirt outside the office. Especially after we’ve already—’

‘No flirting,’ she said, unable to suppress a smile when he blew on her ear for good measure.

‘That’s better.’ He touched a fingertip to the corner of her mouth. ‘First time I’ve seen you lighten up all day.’

He traced her lower lip, lingering in the middle, and she couldn’t have formulated a coherent answer if she tried.

‘Don’t get me wrong, I like how focused you are on helping us meet this all-important deadline, but today?’ He pulled a funny face, complete with crossed eyes. ‘You were seriously scary.’

‘Was not,’ she said, enjoying his antics despite her vow to keep things purely platonic from now on.

She liked that he could switch from mega-powerful corporate CEO to teasing. It was one of the things that had attracted her that first night, the way he lightened up when they started talking.

‘Yeah, you were.’ He bumped her gently with his shoulder. ‘But not to worry. I’ve got all night to get you to loosen up.’

‘All night?’ She wished.

‘Figure of speech.’ His wicked grin implied otherwise. ‘Though I have to tell you, I was blown away when you barged into my office yesterday. It was like all my prayers had been answered.’

Liza didn’t want to go there. She should change the subject, fake an emergency trip to the loo, anything to quell the irrational surge of jubilation that he’d been happy to see her.

‘We really shouldn’t talk about that night. It’s unprofessional—’

‘Why did you bolt without leaving contact details?’

A host of callous retorts designed to maintain distance between them sprang to her lips, but Liza settled for the simple truth.

‘Because I didn’t think you wanted more than one night.’

She put the onus back on him. No way could he admit to wanting more without appearing a little needy.

‘Considering we’d only just met, I don’t think either of us knew what we wanted beyond the amazing connection we shared. But later…’ he shrugged and turned toward the bar, but not before she’d seen a flicker of something akin to regret darken his eyes ‘let’s just say I was disappointed to find you gone.’

Liza admired his honesty. He sounded so genuine she could almost believe he hadn’t known her identity when they slept together.

It made her curious. What would’ve happened if they’d had more than one night?

‘For argument’s sake, let’s say I left my number.’

The waiter deposited their drinks and he took a sip of whiskey before turning back to face her. ‘I would’ve called you. Asked you for a date.’

‘Before or after offering me a publishing contract?’

He grimaced. ‘Got to admit, that does complicate matters now I know.’

There he went again, reiterating he’d had no idea of her real identity that night at the party. Maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt?

When it came to liars, she had a pretty good radar. She could tell when someone was uncomfortable with Cindy from ten paces and hated when people acted as if cerebral palsy were contagious. It had driven a wedge between her and Jimmy, between most of her friends too. Which suited her fine, because most of them had drifted away as Jimmy became more famous and their lives changed.

It had started with her school friends pulling away, girls she’d grown up with and who she assumed she could always count on. But the more fancy events she attended with Jimmy, the faster the snide remarks started, and she found herself not invited to their parties or dinners or girls’ nights out.

Being abandoned by her friends had sucked and she’d learned to cultivate light-hearted friendships with acquaintances, fellow WAGs who stuck together out of necessity. But they’d pretty much abandoned her too once she broke up with Jimmy, and later Henri, and she missed her old friendships more than ever.

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