Page 19 of The Skeikh's Games

Thing was, it all started to blend together. Now he just saw another hotel room. More girls to sleep with and to then kick out. It just wasn’t worth anything, he realized. People weren’t worth anything. There was him, and then the rest of the world. Sighing to himself, he showered, dressed, and caught a limo to go meet his publicist for lunch.

When he arrived at the restaurant, hungover and groggy he was surprised to not see his publicist sitting at the table. Instead, it was a young, curvy woman. She was beautiful in her uniqueness with striking eyes, wavy flowing hair, and incredible features. He was instantly intrigued by her.

When she looked up and saw him approaching she put on a smile and stood from her seat. “Hello,” she said holding out a hand to him.

“Where’s Rachel?” he asked, shaking the new woman’s hand.

“She was unable to attend and sent me in her place. I’m Maggie, her assistant. We’re just meeting to give you a quick rundown on what we’ve been working on, and I’m very familiar with your profile so I’ll be going over it with you.”

“Well, I can tell I’m in good hands,” he said, bringing her hand up to his mouth and kissing the back of her hand sweetly. The unimpressed smile she gave him said she was a professional, but not dense like the chicks that left his hotel room this morning.

The pleasantries out of the way, they sat at the table and ordered drinks and lunch. She did just as she promised and gave him the quick readouts of the publicity campaigns they currently had going as well as a couple of sponsorship deals in play they were going to take up with his agent.

As she went through each piece he did his best to put on his charm, flashing his watches casually so she could see. If she did see, she gave no indication at all. Didn’t she get how rich he was? It was like she wasn’t interested at all, which was impossible. They always were, especially chicks in her position.

After they were done, he leaned back in his chair and sipped at his water, wishing it was some liquor. “You’re really giving me the brush off right now, aren’t you?”

She put on that plastic smile again as she put the papers away in her briefcase. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh,” he said with a laugh, “I’m pretty sure you do. You don’t like me?”

“You’re our client. I like you as much as I need to in order to get my job done.”

“What if I was to ask you out to dinner?”

“I’d have to decline.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, tilting his head.

She gave him a genuine smile this time and folded her hands on the table. “Because I don’t like you.”

Bryan burst out laughing and slapped the table. Others seated around them looked over, but he ignored them. Let them look. It’s not like they didn’t know who was sitting next to them. They were welcome.

“Well I like you. If you don’t come to dinner, come to one of my games, huh? Like a thank you. Bring a friend. I’ll get you a couple tickets.”

“Sure,” she said. “I have a friend that would like that.”

A friend. Bryan chuckled and sipped his drink. Oh yeah, this one was going to be fun to crack. A challenge. He’d have her by tomorrow.

“You’re lying!” Maggie’s friend Stacy nearly shouted the words at her. “You actually met him? Like met him met him? You talked, and he talked back and everything?”

Maggie waggled her brows mischievously and took a sip of her coffee. They sat in Stacy’s kitchen, nearly huddled over their coffee cups as they chatted about their day. “Get this,” Maggie said, knowing she had Stacy on the hook, “he was actually flirting with me.”

Stacy slapped her hand on the counter. “Get out! No! Are you serious right now? Bryan Stappler hit on you?”

“Right?” Maggie said, warming her hands around the cup. “That’s weird, right?”

Stacy tilted her head and stopped herself from sipping her coffee to ask, “Why would that be weird?”

“Well I mean, c’mon.” Maggie waved a hand down her side as if she was on display on some gameshow. “This? He could have anyone. No one chooses this when they could have anyone.”

Stacy leaned in conspiratorially. “Maybe that’s why he wants it?”

Maggie looked at her as though she couldn’t have been more bored with the conversation. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Hey, you tell me. You said he was flirting with you. Guys love a challenge.”

Suddenly Stacy gasped. “Did you give in? Did you have sex with him?”

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