Page 5 of One Night with the Player

Leo studied me. I still had on the blond wig and hadn’t wiped off my makeup yet. My disguise was intact, but I hadn’t bothered to try to change my voice. I wondered if he recognized me based on that. Fifteen years was a long time to remember, especially a voice that belonged to someone he didn’t care about.

“Will you send in a server so I can order Miss Legend a drink?” Leo asked right before Shiva closed the door.

“Don’t bother. I don’t need a drink and we shouldn’t waste any of your precious time.” I nodded to my friend, who pulled the door closed behind her.

Leo gestured to one of two chairs at a small round table. “A woman who likes to get right to the point. I like that about you.”

I tried to keep my cool as I took a seat and pulled the dressing robe tight around my shoulders. I’d pictured this moment so many times over the years, but I’d never envisioned it like this. I was supposed to storm into his office in some high-rise building in Chicago and demand to know why he left. Or wait until he came back to town and talk my way into his hotel room so I could confront him in private.

I’d never imagined I’d be meeting him in a dressing room at a strip club after I’d just performed my first pole dance on stage as Luscious Legend. A laugh of disbelief tried to bubble up through my chest. I disguised it as a cough.

Leo sat down across from me. “Do we know each other?”

“You could say that.”

A flash of frustration passed across his face before he recomposed himself. He’d always liked being in control. Knowing I had the upper hand gave me an immense sense of satisfaction.

“Care to enlighten me, Miss Legend?”

“I’ll answer your question if you promise to answer mine. Do we have a deal?” I held out my hand.

He slid his palm against mine. A jolt of awareness traveled up my arm, then sent heat radiating throughout the rest of my body. Damn him for still having the same effect on me. Fifteen years had changed a lot, but not the way my body responded to Leo.

“Who are you?” He reached up, his fingertips barely brushing my cheek.

I nuzzled into his touch before catching myself and pulling back. No. I wasn’t the same girl I used to be. I wouldn’t fall for him again. Wouldn’t let my heart get caught up in his web. This was my chance to break free. To finally get the answers that would cut all ties between me and Leo Steele.

With shaky hands, I reached for the wig Shiva had helped me pin to my head. Leo watched as I pulled it free and shook out my long, dark waves.

“Olivia.” My name rushed from his lips. Then his hands were on my cheeks, sandwiching them between his palms. “How?”

I covered his hands with mine and pulled them away from my face. As much as I’d wished for him to touch me like that, I couldn’t stand it now. Not if I wanted the answers I needed.

His eyes hardened. “What are you doing in a place like this? Does Ethan know you’re dancing? Do you need money? Come on, I’m getting you out of here.”

I pulled my hands out of his grip. Oh my god. He thought I was dancing because I needed cash? “No. First of all, you get no say in what I do with my time or my body. If I wanted to dance here seven nights a week, you’d have no right to tell me what I could or couldn’t do. I danced here tonight because I enjoy it. Because it gives me confidence and dancing makes me stronger.”

He put his hands up, palms out. “Okay. I’m sorry. I overreacted. Can we start over?”

“It’s way too late for that. But as long as we’re both here, and from my calculations, we’ve still got about twelve minutes together, you can tell me where you’ve been for the past fifteen years.”

His mouth opened like he was about to say something.

I put up my finger to stop him. “Before you do that, there’s one thing I’d like to know first.”

“What’s that, Olivia?”

Swallowing the apprehension working its way up my throat, I faced the man who was single-handedly responsible for splintering my heart. “I want to know why you turned me down all those years ago. Why did you leave me, Leo?”

5

LEO

Icouldn’t hold her gaze. Not when the amount of hurt in her eyes had the power to bury me alive.

“It’s not that easy to explain.” I was stalling, and she knew it. Olivia had always been able to read me. Besides Mama Mae, she was the only other person who could see into my soul. I’d been terrified of the demons who lived there, but Olivia had never seemed scared of what she saw. Until the night I left.

“You’ve obviously mastered the art of communication if you’ve been able to build your own business empire. Try.” Her lips pursed slightly, she clasped her hands together and waited.

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