Page 11 of Sensual Games

Insecurity was not something I was familiar with, and I hated her for introducing me to it. I hated myself even more for being so fucking weak. I didn’t do weakness.

“I say fuck her again,” Colton advised with a sage nod. “Make her remember what brought you two together. She’ll cave.”

They weren’t getting it, none of them, probably because I couldn’t find a way to express myself clearly. “I don’t need her to cave. I need her to get out of my way,” I reminded them.

“Why?” Noah laughed. “You said it yourself. Redundancies. You should be more worried about proving you know your shit better than she knows hers. That’s the only way you’re going to win whatever this is the two of you have going on. Make it so she is totally forgotten and unnecessary.”

“That’s the way,” Miles agreed. “Instead of trying to make her look bad, make yourself look better.”

Evan snickered. “Or you could do something to sabotage the retreat,” he suggested, chuckling. “Throw her off her game.”

“Just when I think we’ve left playground bullshit behind, he comes up with an idea like that.” Noah gave him a friendly shove, which Evan returned.

“I’m just fucking around,” Evan insisted, laughing. “Obviously, you know better than to do something like that.”

Did I?

I made a big deal of laughing it off the way everybody else did, though my thoughts were another story. Was there a way I could interfere? Nothing extreme, and definitely nothing that would point back at me.

As we were parting ways, Colton pulled me aside. “Listen. You have nothing to worry about. Learn what you can from this girl, okay? Your dad is like mine, and he wants the company to be in good hands. He won’t drop you to keep her on the payroll. Trust me.”

Trust him. Easy to say.

It was Noah’s advice that bounced around inside my skull as I stepped out of the bar and into a muggy night. The sidewalks were cramped, and the air reeked of cologne, perfume, and sweat, but not much of it registered on my awareness as I cut through the crowd and climbed into the back seat of my town car. I didn’t normally use my driver on an average Friday night, but I’d expected to be blackout drunk by the time we wrapped things up. Unlike my friends, I didn’t consider a last-minute Uber a viable option.

I was entirely too sober by the time I settled in against the supple leather. “Where to?” the driver asked from behind the wheel.

If I were going to make Ivy look obsolete, I had to outsmart her. That meant bringing home the files and analytics reports I left on my desk before heading to the bar. “The office,” I decided. The last thing I felt like doing over the weekend or, frankly, ever, was analyzing reports.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, such as taking the elevator up to the top floor once we arrived. There was something almost eerie about the profound quiet once the doors opened onto an empty reception desk. It wasn’t silence, exactly. The low hum of vacuums and rustling of waste baskets prevented that. Still, it was a far cry from the usual noise audible during the workday.

I laughed off the impulse to walk quietly, slowly, like this was some sacred space I didn’t want to disturb. Too many of my thoughts lately were childish ones like that. I had to move past the way Ivy set my teeth on the edge. Colton was right, even if his big cousin bullshit tended to get on my nerves. We weren’t kids anymore. I didn’t look at him adoringly just because he was a few years older than me.

Once I rounded the corner past the bank of elevators, I stopped short at the sight of a familiar blonde head. She had to be kidding, right? A check of my watch confirmed it was well past eight o’clock and on a Friday, no less. Who the hell stuck around this late on a Friday night?

She cradled the phone receiver between her ear and her shoulder and was so absorbed in her conversation that she didn’t notice my slow approach. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t make it over tonight. I know. I’m trying.” She spoke loudly enough that I heard her plainly, and her obvious strain shone through. This wasn’t a side of her she had ever revealed during our interactions. “Remember what I told you. Everything hinges on this. It’s important to both of us.”

Something hot and bitter raced through me when she said it. Did she have a boyfriend? And why would it matter if she did? Why was there a burning sensation in my chest now that I’d heard her speak those words?

She caught me out of the corner of her eye, and all at once, a change came over her. Her posture improved, and her tone brightened. “I’ll give you a call in the morning, all right? I love you.”

I love you…

What the fuck was it about her that turned me into this unrecognizable version of myself? There I stood, biting my tongue when the impulse to ask who she was talking to almost became reality.

“Good evening,” she murmured once she’d set the receiver in its cradle. “I didn’t expect to see you again until Monday.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Poison,” I offered, making her frown. Sure, let her pretend to take the high ground. Let her pretend she had no idea why I would have animosity against her. “I left something in my office.”

Why did she have to stare at me that way? With those big, shining eyes that tried to convince me it would be a good idea to make things right with her somehow. To start from scratch and work as a team.

I knew damn well where that would get me. Out on my ass, a confirmed loser who couldn’t hack it in a company run by his father. No, thanks. This was the enemy. She didn’t need or deserve my empathy.

“Don’t let me stop you,” she finally muttered, her eyes shifting to the right and landing on my office door. “I’m sure you have better things to do than hang out here.”

“You don’t?”Just go, you fucking idiot.Why would I do things the smart way?

One of her delicate brows arched. “Sure, but I have a ton to do between getting ready for Monday’s meeting and prepping for the retreat.”

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