Page 3 of Playing By His Rules

Thank fucking God.“As well you should.”

Just as the slow song ended, Mac magically appeared at the reception again. He slid his arms around Stephanie’s waist from behind, pulled her body against his, and nuzzled her neck with a possessive sounding growl.

“Well, well, well,” Stephanie drawled as she tipped her head back so she could meet Mac’s gaze. “Look at whofinallyshowed up. Your timing is impeccable.”

He blinked at her with feigned guile. “I didn’t miss anything important, did I?”

A daring, deliberately provoking smile tipped the corner of Stephanie’s mouth. “I should have danced with Rick while you were gone.”

Mac scowled at her, and a threatening sound rumbled in his throat. “Only if you want to be responsible for his slow, torturous death for putting his hands on you and having his dick that close to my wife.”

Rick took a safe step away, even though he knew Mac was joking. Sort of. “I value my dick and I swear itwithersin the vicinity of your wife.”

Mac smirked at him. “Good to hear. The last thing I’d want to have to do is castrate you.”

Stephanie turned in her husband’s arms and playfully smacked his chest. “Jesus, Mac, you’re so crude and barbaric.”

“When it comes to you, damn straight I am,” he growled as his slid a hand down her back and squeezed her ass, uncaring of who witnessed the salacious action. “Speaking of getting crude and barbaric, how much longer do we have to stick around before we can politely slip out so I can punish you for even thinking about dancing with another man?”

She rolled her eyes at his playful threat. “I know it’s not your strongest trait but try to be patient. The guests don’t leave until the bride and groom take off. Otherwise, it’s rude.”

“Hey, Declan,” Mac yelled out without missing a beat. “Isn’t it time for you to consummate your marriage with your bride?”

Across the way, a huge, indecent grin split Declan’s face. “I do believe it is.” Without hesitating, he swept Summer into his arms, who let out a squeak of surprise as he carried her across the yard. “Goodnight everyone!”

The guests followed them through the house and out to the front, where Declan’s truck was waiting to take them to a nearby hotel for the night before they flew out in the morning for a weeklong honeymoon in Hawaii. Their bags were already packed, and at some point, the girls had snuck out to decorate Declan’s vehicle with a “Just Married” sign in the back window, a multitude of colorful streamers trailing from the back bumper, and a few tin cans to add some obnoxious noise as they drove away.

A cleaning crew had been hired to take care of everything in the back yard, from breaking down tables and chairs and hauling them off, to handling the trash and left-over food items. With the bride and groom gone, and nothing for any of them to worry about, there was no reason to stay after a full evening of celebrating.

Everyone said their goodbyes, then Rick’s co-workers and friends went home with their wives.

And he went home alone.

Chapter 2

Three weeks later.

Summonedby Dean on a late Friday afternoon, Rick strolled down to his boss’s office, who’d caught him just before he left for the day. Not that Rick had any plans for the evening to kick off the weekend, so delaying his departure certainly wasn’t putting a crimp in his boring, mundane idea to head home, order a pizza, and binge watch episodes of Criminal Minds.

Yeah, he was such a fucking party animal these days.

Since it was almost seven pm, the trek down the hallway was met with silence. Normally, during business hours, the place was noisy and filled with their top security specialists who gathered in the conference rooms to discuss strategies, contracts, and upcoming assignments with the men on their teams. Noble and Associates provided all areas of security expertise—including counterterrorism with government contracts, executive protection services, private security consulting, and Rick’s position as head of the Cybersecurity Division—so coordinating all the various moving parts of an assignment, along with the men, was essential.

Hours ago, everyone had dispersed, though Rick had remained behind to finalize the presentation he would be proposing to the CEO and board of directors of an upscale hotel and casino in Vegas next week, on behalf of the firm. Reign, an exclusive member’s only establishment, was in the market for a major upgrade to their computer and security systems to protect against electronic theft, misdirection of funds, and malicious cyber-attacks that could potentially wipe out their entire network and cost them billions of dollars in losses.

The contract was in upwards of a ten-million-dollar commitment, and Dean and Mac had made the joint decision to send Rick to schmooze with their potential client. While at Reign, he planned to scrutinize all levels of the hotel and casino and what current security measures they had in place with their computer system. Mid-week, a meeting was scheduled with the higher-ups, where Rick would ultimately pitch all the reasons why Noble and Associates was the superior firm to execute the work involved.

No pressure, Rick thought wryly, considering it was the biggest deal he’d ever handled for the firm, but he appreciated that both Mac and Dean had faith in him and his abilities to impress and persuade the board with his knowledge. If all went well, his week would conclude with a request for the firm to submit a formal proposal and contract for the full scope of work. Rick planned to do everything in his power to make that happen.

Reaching Dean’s office, Rick rapped his knuckles on the open door to announce his arrival before walking inside, where Dean sat behind his desk and Mac occupied one of the other two chairs in the room.

“Thanks for stopping by,” Dean said. “Have a seat. Mac and I wanted to talk to you about your trip to Vegas for the Reign presentation.”

Rick settled into the leather chair next to Mac’s and gave the two men his initial game plan. “I have an informal lunch meeting with the CEO, Charles Coleman, and a few of the board members on Monday, so I thought I’d drive out to Vegas Sunday evening to get settled in at the hotel.”

Dean absently tapped the end of his Mont Blanc pen on the surface of his desk, a sly grin tipping the corner of his mouth. “Actually, Mac and I took the liberty of booking your hotel room starting tomorrow, not Sunday.”

Rick frowned. “Why do I need to be there Saturday? Did something in the schedule change?”

---