Page 31 of Dating the Rebel
Blair reached across the table and patted Miranda’s hand. “I’m worried about you.”
Miranda forced a wider smile. “Why?”
“You’ve been so busy lately, I’ve hardly seen you,” Blair said. “I was hoping that was because the business is going well, that Teo’s interview helped bring in new members, but that must not be the case at all.”
Miranda swallowed down the stress she’d been struggling with over her business. She didn’t want to dim her friend’s happiness, but she didn’t want to outright lie to her, either. They were too close friends for that. So she admitted, “Some women were upset that they didn’t get dates with Teo, too.”
Blair smiled. “I don’t blame them.”
Neither did Miranda—if they’d really been interested in the man and not his bank account. An image flashed through her mind of Grant looking at her check register. After seeing her dismal balance, it was no wonder he hadn’t tried to contact her again.
“Is that why you’re not happy?” Blair asked. “Taking some abuse for not spreading Teo around to more members?”
“Mostly just from Tabitha,” Miranda answered honestly and smiled again. “It’s nothing I can’t handle, though.” And she would.
She’d told her sisters to stop complaining about what was done and focus on what they could do to bring in new clients. They needed a new marketing hook—one that focused on what she wanted the business to be now—a place for people to date safely and with excitement.
Her sisters’ only suggestion had been to let Grant Snyder join Liaisons. Sure, Grant covered the excitement part, but he wasn’t safe—for her or for any of her members.
Grant had lost another hand of the game he’d been playing with Miranda. With her thinking that he’d been snooping in her purse, he wasn’t sure he would ever be invited back to her table to play again.
So he’d found another game. Actually, he’d set up this one himself. It would be played by his rules—which usually meant there were no rules.
For once he’d limited the stakes, though. He’d lost too much lately to risk financial loss as well. He’d lost something he’d never even realized he’d wanted: Miranda’s trust.
Which was stupid, since he’d been lying to her from the minute he’d showed up in her office, pretending he actually wanted to join her dating service. But he hadn’t cared then that he might destroy her trust; he hadn’t wanted it.
He’d only wanted her to leave Teo and Blair alone in their new love. But for some reason, every time he got near her, he’d forgotten his mission. Because she was so damn beautiful and sexy and passionate.
Maybe instead of a poker game, he should have arranged a hookup. A lot of his old lovers had expressed interest in seeing him again—if only in the bedroom. But there was only one old lover he wanted to see again.
His imagination must have conjured her up, because when he looked away from his cards, he saw her standing in the doorway to the suite. Had she come here to see him?
This was the room in which they’d spent that first night together.
Maybe he should have booked a different one—because he kept seeing her everywhere he looked in it. Because she really couldn’t be here...
Especially dressed like that, like the good girl going bad in that musical she and his sister had watched over and over again in the basement family room. The black leather pants and vestlike shirt were something his imagination would have conjured up to reveal her every tantalizing curve while making her look badass sexy.
Then she did something even sexier—something that had him smothering a groan and shifting in his chair. She slid her hand into the front of the black vest, into the cleavage the tight leather top had helped create, and she pulled out a wad of bills.
Where the hell had the money come from? Definitely not her bank account...
What was she up to? Or was she even real?
The hostess, to whom she’d handed the money, walked over to the table he’d set up in front of the windows. “Sir, Ms. Fox would like to join the game. Is that possible?”
“Hell, yes,” the player to his right answered before he could.
“Make sure she sits next to me,” another said.
“Fox is sure as hell the right name for her,” a third said with a low whistle of appreciation.
The hostess smiled and murmured, “That’s what I thought...”
He’d booked Alberta to host the game because she was good at handling unruly players and didn’t try flirting with any of them. But that was the first time he realized all the players were usually men...until now, until Miranda had showed up wanting to play.
Alberta was definitely flirting with her as she turned her smile toward the petite blonde. Alberta was tall with long, dark hair and a killer figure of her own, one showcased in the short skirt and low-cut top she wore.
