Page 12 of In a Bind

Chapter Ten

Zane

Ignoring her. I'd finally found a tactic that had thrown Raini off her game. It wasn't as much fun as fighting back with biting sarcasm and shocking retorts, but it sure deflated her enthusiasm for the game. She had spent the remainder of the dinner pretending I was invisible, not even casting a flirty glance or smile my direction. I'd won the dinner round, only I was feeling anything but a winner. I realized I didn't like to see Raini pout. I much preferred the twinkly eyed brat who had been baiting me since we met in her Dad's sitting room. I'd thought a lot about what Trey had mentioned about how Carter didn't think any man would ever be able to tame his daughter while at the same time letting her wild spirit remain free. That statement had somehow become a challenge to me. I wanted to be that person. I just had no fucking clue how to do it.

After dinner, I had gone with Trey, Georgie and Aidan to the patio bar to get a drink before we were herded into the bottom floor sitting room to watch a sixty-year-old man open birthday gifts like a ten-year-old kid. Finding just the right gift for the man who has everything and who can buy anything he doesn't have was close to impossible. At Plaything, we'd decided to buy him a bottle of his favorite scotch and Cuban cigars, which was exactly what half of the other party attendees brought too.

Trey, Georgie and I were hovering near the doorway, deciding it would be easier to get back to the patio bar if we were near an exit. Aidan was sitting on the arm of the couch with Carolyn, the woman he'd been hanging out with during dinner. I assumed Carolyn was the woman who’d been in bed with him when I walked into the cottage, but you never knew with Aidan. He might have already moved on to an entirely new interest. All I knew was that he was having a way better time than me this weekend.

The rest of the guests had pulled up chairs or found spots on the luxurious carpet to get a better view of the gift opening. Mindy was playing birthday elf, bringing her dad the gifts and keeping control of the wrapping paper.

I'd told myself that I wasn't the least bit interested in seeing Raini until she walked in wearing that blue dress that should have had the words "totally fuckable" printed across her ass because that was what the dress screamed. Especially on her pert and curvy little body. She slipped past us and with a small, flat package under her arm. She took the time to brush my arm with her free hand as she walked by. She added in a quick glimpse my direction before walking across the room to her dad.

Carter was in too jovial of a mood to look askance at her short dress, but Mindy made her disapproval clear with a glower. That didn't affect Raini in the least. In fact, I was pretty sure she considered a disapproving glower from her older sister a small victory.

I could feel Trey staring at the side of my face. I tried to ignore him. He cleared his throat to get my attention.

"What?" I asked curtly because I knew what was coming next.

"What? That's exactly right. Just what the hell is going on between you and our super investor's youngest daughter?"

I shrugged. "Nothing of interest," I muttered out of the side of my mouth. Everyone in the room had turned their attention to Carter and to the wrapped package Raini had handed him. It didn't look like scotch or cigars.

"Bullshit," Trey countered.

I looked over at him. Georgie's attention had been pulled away along with everyone elses. I leaned in toward Trey and lowered my voice. "She's been playing me all day. Trying to get a rise out of me in the literal sense. And she's managed it about half a dozen times."

Trey cut short his laugh by turning it into a short cough.

"Oh, Rainsford." The unexpected hitch in Carter's deep baritone voice pulled our attention to the front of the room where the birthday man sat holding what looked like a picture frame. Carter Bonneville was one of those old big guys who was raised back in the day when boys learned not to show emotion. He was the last person you would expect to see choked up by a gift, but this one had him twisting his mouth in a knot.

He looked up at his daughter with wet eyes. "Raini, it's so perfect." He held the picture up for all to see, only it wasn't a picture. It was an intricate, lifelike painting of a woman sitting on a horse. She was wearing a straw cowboy hat, a red bandana and a smile that looked exactly like Raini's.

"It's a picture of my beautiful Janice sitting on her favorite horse." Carter's words seemed to stick in his throat.

"She's an amazing artist," Georgie whispered our direction.

Trey watched me for my reaction.

"Stop staring at me. You're creeping me out. Yeah, she's amazing."

"So that sweet little thing who just reduced Carter Bonneville to tears has been playing you all day and she's winning?" Trey asked.

"Shit, when you say it like that."

"Should I remind you that you are Zane Bostwick, one of the Plaything four?"

I lowered my voice. "Said the man whose balls are sitting neatly in the tiny handbag under that woman's arm." I motioned with my head toward Georgie. It caught her attention.

"What are you two talking about?" she asked.

"Games and balls," Trey responded.

Georgie bunched her brows together in confusion. "That makes sense coming from you two." She lifted her empty glass. "I need some more of this wine. It is delicious." Trey followed her out to the bar, but I stayed behind.

Carter moved onto the last gift, a bottle of scotch was my guess. I waited for Raini to walk by. I had planned to let her know that the painting was great. But she never walked over. She never approached me. She made a point of talking to anyone else in the room who was curious about the artwork, but her blue eyes never flashed my direction. She was using my own strategy against me, and damn, if it wasn't effective as hell. I wanted nothing more than for her to at least favor me with a glance, even a fleeting one. But she looked in every direction except toward the door where I was standing.

I decided to head out to the bar and get another beer. The bartender had filled a lot of fluted glasses with champagne, signaling an end to the long hours of celebration. Most of the guests were still mingling inside. Trey and Georgie had slipped off to the pool side to finish their drinks. As I stood waiting for the bartender to dig through the ice chest for a beer, footsteps sounded next to me. I looked over just as Raini reached the bar.

"Excuse me," she said in a cold tone as if we were strangers. She squeezed between me and the bar and reached for a glass of champagne. As she leaned forward, she nestled her bottom squarely against my fly, instantly causing my cock to stand at attention. Her fingers wrapped around the stem of the glass. She took a sip, then walked away, leaving me once again with an erection that was stiff enough to drill through granite.

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