Page 51 of Play to Win

“No shit.”He drops his fork onto his plate and stares at me.“You ...told her?”

“Yep.She got a little ...upset.”I eye him warily.“I think she wanted to be at your wedding.Of course, doesn’t every mom?So I totally understand.”

“Shit.”

“But it’s okay,” I continue quickly.“I think she was coming around to the idea.”

“Shit.”

“I know.”I sigh.“She seems really nice.”

“Yeah.”

“I apologized.”I fill him in on the conversation in detail.

“I’ll call her tomorrow.”

“And she said to come at seven o’clock on Saturday.”

“Perfect.”His tone is dry.“I wonder if she’s telling everyone else or waiting to surprise them too.”

I set my fork down and drop my head.“You regret this, don’t you?”

He doesn’t reply right away, and I peek up at him.

He moves his head side to side.“No.”

Our eyes meet and that smoldering heat is back, burning over my skin, settling low inside me.My short breaths lift my breasts and Théo’s gaze slowly drops there, lingers, then glides back up and lands on my mouth.My lungs burn and my lips part.

“I don’t regret it,” he says gruffly, breaking eye contact and staring at his plate.“But it’s probably a bad idea for us to actually get involved.”

I blink.Then I frown.“What?”

“I know there’s this”—he waves a hand back and forth—“attraction between us, but I’ve got a lot on my plate right now.I’ve got a family that’s nuttier than squirrel shit.I’ve got a new job where people are already talking about how I only got the job because I’m the owner’s grandson.I’ve got a million things to learn and just about as many decisions to make.Ihaveto do this.”His hands curl into fists and his voice is fierce.“I can’t get distracted from what I need to do.”

The heat scorching my body intensifies to mortification.I told him I wanted to sleep with him.Jesus.Why did I say that?But then, he’d asked if it would be okay to act on the lust we were both clearly feeling.“You’ve changed your mind,” I say coolly.“When we were driving here yesterday, you seemed pretty into it.”

If we both wanted it...would it be okay to act on that?

Well, I already said I’m not opposed to sleeping with you.

Oh my Gaga.I close my eyes.Why did I say that?

“That was a mistake.”He rubs the back of his neck and looks away.“You make me do crazy things.”

My eyes fly open wide.“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

His head snaps back around, eyebrows pulling down over his nose.“What?”

“You can’t do that.”I slide off my stool and stand, planting my hands on my hips and glaring at him.“Shifting blame like that.Be a man, for God’s sake.Take responsibility for your own actions.I haven’t made you doanything.”

His eyebrows fly up into his hairline.“No!That’s not what I meant.”

“So this is a business deal after all.”Bitterness edges my voice.

“No.I told you.We’re friends helping each other out.”

“Friends.”My throat squeezes up.I shake my head.He wants to be friends.How can he ignore this growing, sizzling lust?Or maybe itisjust me.

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