Page 109 of He's The Reason Why

Marshall rolled his eyes.

“You were great last night, Blake.” Piper gave Blake a soft kiss on the cheek. “Really,reallygreat.”

“Too much information,” Marshall said.

“I’ll call you later,” he murmured in her ear. His warm breath sent shivers all down her back.

“Dammit, this isn’t fair. I never even got a kiss,” Marshall complained.

Piper smiled at Marshall. If she hadn’t met Blake first, maybe she would have been giving Marshall a goodbye kiss instead.

Nah.

Still.

She slid over to Marshall with a sexy little strut. “I can’t leave my favorite movie star out in the cold, now can I?”

He looked so pleased, it almost made her laugh. She put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down for a long, thorough kiss. He froze for a second, then returned the kiss with interest.

It was good. He tasted like minty mouthwash, and he explored her in a soft, tentative way that would melt a lot of women’s libidos. But his arms didn’t hold her with warm, firm strength, and he didn’t make her feel like she was the oxygen he needed in order to breathe.

It wasn’t a bad kiss, but he didn’t make her knees weak or stir up her internal motors like Blake.

Blake cleared his throat. “That’ll do.”

Marshall lifted his head. “Huh?”

Piper smiled sweetly at him. “Deals have two sides, don’t they?”

Marshall looked dazed and confused for a second, and then he started to put the pieces together. He stepped out of arm’s reach, shaking his head. “Oh no you didn’t.”

“You shouldn’t make deals about other people. They might behave in unpredictable ways. Besides…” She pointed at him. “You kissed me back.”

“Somebody’s getting naked,” Blake singsonged.

“No, no, no, no, no.” Marshall made a crossing motion with his arms. “No way. No. That didn’t count.”

“You know it counts,” Blake said. “You set up the rules.”

“I don’t get it,” Piper said. She leaned to get a look at Marshall’s backside. “It’s a perfectly fine ass. Why wouldn’t you want to show it off?”

“That’s sowrong!” Marshall said, looking stunned. “You told her about the deal? You can’t do that. That’s collusion!”

“If only you’d thought to put that in the rules,” Blake said with a smug grin of satisfaction.

“This is such bullshit!” Marshall sounded horrified. “You got laid and all I got was one lousy kiss and now I have to bare my butt for the world to see?”

Piper giggled. “I’ll bring you back a T-shirt from the Belhurst.”

“I can’t believe this,” Marshall grumbled.

“Thanks for the jersey, Blake.” She gave him another quick kiss and left laughing.

Chapter Eighteen

Christmas Eve, Blake stared out the window of the Bellagio’s presidential suite at the glittering lights of the Las Vegas Strip without really seeing them. He should have looked at the caller ID before he answered the phone. He’d thought it would be Piper, but it wasn’t.

It was his dad with the annual awkward holiday call.

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