Page 12 of The Player's Club

Todd was quiet for a long moment, but then he just sighed and rolled away from me. He grabbed his iPad and started reading without another word.

I felt guilty. But not guilty enough to have sex with Todd.My mind was too far away.

I apologized and turned onto my side, my back to Todd, but my thoughts kept finding their way to Mac again. I decided right then and there that I’d accept Mac’s invitation to attend The Scarlet Rope a second time.

It’s for research, I reassured myself. No other reason.

ELODIE

My best friend Hannah wrinkled her pert, perfectly sloped nose. “You look like you’re going to a PTA meeting.” She laughed.

I looked down at my outfit: a black skirt, tight blouse, and heels. “What kind of PTA meeting are you going to wearing skirts this short and painted-on tops?”

“Dearest, that is not short. That’s just . . . normal.” Hannah unceremoniously pulled up my skirt so it was a centimeter from covering my crotch. “Now, that’s short. Much hotter.”

I batted her hands away, rolling my eyes. “Okay, okay, fine. What are your suggestions?”

“It’s a sex club. Are you supposed to wear anything at all?”

I shot her a look, but Hannah just laughed at me again.

Hannah was LA gorgeous—auburn hair, tall, leggy, with big boobs, and tan. She always had men looking at her, and I couldn’t remember the last time we were out at a bar when some guy didn’t try to hit on her.So it was pretty shocking that she worked as a nanny. What sane woman would let someone as beautiful as Hannah near her husband, I didn’t know. But Hannah’s current family adored her.

“How are the kids?” I asked Hannah, wanting to get the attention off my sartorial confusion. “Is Maverick still trying to get himself killed?”

Hannah lounged across my sofa. I’d invited her over to help me figure out what the hell I was going to wear to my second visit to The Scarlet Rope. Strangely, I didn’t want to wear just lingerie this time. Maybe I wanted to be subtler. Or it could be that my one set of sexy lingerie was the one I’d already worn.

“Did I not tell you that Maverick tried to climb off the balcony yesterday?” Hannah asked.

As Hannah liked to say, Maverick was the family’s completely insane two-year-old son. The kid had already broken both arms, given himself multiple black eyes, and had just recently bashed his forehead against the family cat. I couldn’t fathom how the kid had managed that last one.

I whirled around, aghast. “Seriously?”

“He somehow got around not one, not two, but THREE baby gates.” Hannah slapped her forehead. “I went to go pee—seriously, it was all of thirty seconds—and he was playing downstairs. Then I hear a shout, and he’s about to get over the second-floor balcony.”

“I guess you caught him in time?”

Hannah gave me a look. “Duh. And he screamed in my ear so loudly I think I have permanent damage.” She rubbed the ear in question. “Anyway, he has to sit in the bathroom with me from now on whenever I go. I’d rather he ripped open a box of tampons than break another arm or leg. Or his head. Plus, the hospital asked a lot of questions last time I brought in the little maniac. It’s not a good look when a nanny gets investigated by CPS.”

Hannah went on to tell me all about the older daughter—Stella—who was an angel who could do no wrong. Hannah groused that she’d had a false sense of security since she’d started nannying when it was only Stella. Hannah had made the mistake of thinking the second born would be just as easy a child as the first.

“I saw that Emma and Ryan went to Aruba for their anniversary,” I said, reaching for another appalling bright orange top.

“If you’re sniffing for intel,” said Hannah, “you’ll get nothing from me.” But her eyes still sparkled as she said the words. “And yeah, they did. They were hella drunk when they got back home. I heard the bed creaking even before I left the house.”

Emma Terrance and Ryan Foster were among the most prominent celeb couples and #couplesgoals on social media. Three years ago, Roy had given me an assignment to find any dirt on the two, which was how I ended up meeting Hannah.

When Emma and Ryan hired Hannah as Stella’s nanny, the Internet was agog, assuming there was no way Ryan would stay faithful to Emma with a gorgeous woman like Hannah around.

So I’d started researching, getting to know Hannah in the process. I talked to multiple members of their household, including both Emma and Ryan’s chef and personal trainer. I’d watched the family’s comings and goings for weeks.

And guess what? That assignment had been a miserable failure because there was no dirt on Emma and Ryan. They were shockingly boring—and stupidly in love with each other. And Hannah was just their employee who they paid well and respected. She just happened to be beautiful, a fact that didn’t bother Emma since she was so confident in her marriage.

Roy had been pissed at the lack of dirt, but I’d found a new friend in Hannah. She’d quickly become my bestie.

“I wish I could go with you,” Hannah lamented, tossing me a dress she’d brought from home. “I’ve always wanted to go to a sex club.”

I shimmied into the dress, wishing I had Hannah’s curves. Where she was an hourglass, I was just a rectangle. I also had tiny boobs. But when I was about to take the dress right off, Hannah made me stand in front of the mirror for a moment.

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