Page 84 of He's The Reason Why

“Oh, epic fail.” He lay back with his hands behind his head, looking unashamed and very full of himself.

She was dumbfounded. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before.

At least, she didn’t think it had.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that a problem?”

“I haven’t decided. Let me get this straight. You two talked about me behind my back, made a deal without asking me like I’m some sort of prize at a carnival.” She considered him. “I should be furious. No wonder you were acting funny all week. You were trying to avoid me on purpose.”

“It was hard as hell to keep my hands off you. That should be worth something, right?”

“I’m pretty sure there’s some sort of feminist code that’s just been trampled on. I should probably rant about it for a bit. You know, for women’s rights. Girl power. Whatever.”

“Okay. Go ahead.” His gaze lingered on her lips then dropped to her breasts. “Take your time.”

She lay back against the pillows. She was still riding an orgasm high, and she didn’t want to ruin it. “I’m too relaxed to rant.”

Besides, two fantastically hot Hollywood leading men were basically fighting over her. Della was absolutely going to die when she found out.

The giggles started slow then built until she clutched her stomach and howled with laughter.

Blake watched her with confused amusement. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just…” She wiped tears out of her eyes. “I can’t wait to see the look on my sister’s face when I tell her Marshall Weston and Blake Ryan are fighting over me.”

“We didn’t fight. No fists were thrown.” Blake relaxed back onto the pillows. “Yet.”

“Why’d you tell me?”

He shrugged. “You’d find out sooner or later. Marshall can’t keep his mouth shut, and I’d rather you heard it from me.”

“You’re an interesting bundle, aren’t you.” She traced her finger down his stomach. “You don’t really fit the whole actor stereotype of hidden agendas and backstabbing.”

“The problem with playing that game is sooner or later it always comes around to bite you in the ass. I’ve seen a lot of careers explode because someone tried to play checkers when someone else was playing chess. I decided the best move was notto play. Being upfront is a lot easier than remembering which lie you told to who.”

She sat up and looked around for her underwear. She found it under the knocked-over lamp. “You’re going to tell Marshall we did this? Why not just…keep it to ourselves?”

“I have to admit I’m not anxious to let him know about this, but I made a deal. I always honor my deals.”

“Impressive.”

“Thanks.” His proud grin told her exactly where his mind had taken that comment.

“I meant the moral code, silly.” She glanced down the length of his body. “But yes, that too.”

His stomach twitched. “Hey, watch that wandering gaze, Princess. I thought we agreed it was just one time.”

She pursed her lips. “Are you sure we didn’t mean one day?”

“If we didn’t, we should have.” He pulled her in for another kiss.

They took their time, the second time around. When they finished, they both needed a shower. As it turned out, Blake’s bathroom was like stepping into a hidden cove. The entire back wall was made of windows, on the other side of which was a formation of natural rocks covered in lush green growing things that kept prying her eyes away. The shower area included a soaker tub on one side and spray jets on the other, while two more shower heads descended from above to provide a waterfall effect.

They took their time in the shower, too.

The next morning, Piper lay curled on her side, sore in all sorts of places, but happy. She stretched and looked up.

Blake watched her with thoughtful eyes and a contented smile.

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