Page 23 of The Skeikh's Games

“Right,” he said, “sorry about that.” This time she heard real regret in his voice. “How about,” he said, “we start over?” He held a hand out to her. “Hi, I’m Bryan.”

“Maggie,” she said, and though apprehensive, she shook his hand.

“Maggie,” he said. “Pretty name.”

“Liar,” she said, but gave him a smile.

They started talking. For the first time, it was real conversation. As they chatted, drinking and ordering their lunch, she saw the layers of bull peel away from him like dead skin. The smug, arrogant persona she’d gotten to know all too well fell away like dead skin. They were able to talk about living in the city, all the traveling he did, and even who he was before all of this.

He got to telling her stories of his childhood, and something changed. His eyes became softer, and he grew more animated when he spoke. He told her embarrassing stories of his youth, and she actually saw him blush. Him!

It was only natural for her to share stories of her life with him, and he listened. She never would’ve figured him for it, but here was a man with proper manners and listening skills. After lunch, they discussed his contract. She helped him pick out a few things he could ask for and ways to improve what he had going on, that way she could go back with something to show for her afternoon.

After lunch, he walked her out to her car, but they decided to go use some of those ice-cream gift certificates he’d sent her. They had a good laugh about it, and continued talking. She had no idea how he did it, but talking to him quickly felt like one of the most natural things in the world. She told him about her siblings, their strained relationship, and even about her past relationships. When she became reluctant to share details, instead of forcing the issue, he instead started offering stories of his own.

He talked candidly about how he’d been treating women, how it had started, and how it all just escalated so quickly into the life he had now. Here she thought he enjoyed being such a ladies man, but truth was it was killing him inside. After hearing about all of that, it became easy to tell him about her past boyfriends. She told him about how they all ridiculed her for her weight. Each one of them, in their own special little ways, made sure she knew she wasn’t good enough for them, that their attention was the best she could hope for.

That was why she’d become so hard lately. She just wasn’t going to let anyone treat her like that again.

Then, while she was staring into her cup of rocky road ice-cream, playing around with a chunk in it with her spoon, she felt him lift her chin. She looked up at him, expecting him to give her some half-hearted compliment.

Instead, his lips met hers. The soft warmth of his lips contrasted against the cold ice-cream she’d been eating, and it felt like her mouth was on fire. After the initial shock passed, she suddenly couldn’t get his lips closer. She put her hand on the back of his head and pulled him against her.

He’d finished his ice-cream a bit ago, and wrapped his arms around her. She just dropped hers to the ground and grabbed him by his jacket. Time became lost on her. She was sure, somewhere, people were passing them by on the sidewalk, but she couldn’t be bothered by any of it. All that mattered was him, right then, right there. When he pulled back, he looked at her. She could see it in his face, and she was surprised to find she felt it too.

“Let’s go to your place,” she said.

He raised his brows at her, surprised, but he sure didn’t argue.

Walking hand in hand they went back to the parking garage near the restaurant. A city that big there was only ever parking vertically, especially near the posh place he picked twenty storeys up.

She followed him through the traffic, her heart hammering in her chest. Was she really going to do this? She knew his reputation just as well as anyone. This whole thing had been a game just to get her to sleep with him in the first place. How could she trust that all of this wasn’t just more gaming, more lies? Her phone blinked with a new text. At the stoplight she quickly checked it. Bryan had texted her his room number and said to wait before following him up. He didn’t want her being tied to him for the fear of his reputation giving her a bad one.

She wiped a hand over her mouth as though she could clean the kisses off of it. She would go back to his hotel room and tell him face to face that she wasn’t interested in him, that she wasn’t going to fall for this stupid game of his. Somehow this made her even more nervous.

To counteract it, she thought of all the stupid things he’d done so far to her, nearly losing her her job. It worked to artificially turn all of her nervousness and lust into anger. By the time they reached the hotel, she was fuming. She couldn’t remember having ever been so worked up in her life. Bryan had already reached the hotel ahead of her, so she didn’t bother with waiting.

She didn’t wait! She wasn’t one of his sluts!

Maggie practically jumped out of her car, slamming the door behind her and marched all the way through the parking garage, lobby, all the way to the elevator. When it reached his floor, her feet stomped and pounded along the carpeted hallway to his room. She knocked, practically panting through her flared nostrils.

He opened the door, his cheeks flushed, his shirt halfway unbuttoned. She did her best to ignore it and walked into the room.

“All right, look—“ she started.

He had her in his arms before she could say more and kissed her. In that kiss, all of the fake anger she’d worked up melted, and she went weak in his arms. “Damn you,” she whispered, then kissed him again.

“What?”

“I really wanted to be mad at you.”

“Mad? Why?”

She put a hand flat against his chest, her anxiety overtaking her again. “Because this is all just another trick. A game to get me to sleep with you.”

“But it isn’t.”

“How can I know that, though?” She looked up into his eyes, searching them for any hint that her fears were well-founded.

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