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PLAY WITH ME 9
The structure gleamed beautifully against the rays of the sun. At night, Lights from within and those reflected from surrounding buildings bathed it in a stunning silhouette that drew awed gasps. But this morning, his pride and joy paled in comparison to his interest in the silver car idling in the designated parking space beneath the wide double portico of the building.Parked a dozen feet behind it, Timothy watched Chloe Gilbert step out, her long, shapely legs extending in that way that only models and trained dancers could execute without appearing pretentious or awkward. Her heels were a shiny rose-gold color that drew attention to her delicate ankles.He suddenly had this wild image of gripping those ankles, spreading her thighs and baring her wet pussy to his hungry gaze. Years ago when they were together, they had never gone past kissing and making out... Neither of them had been ready for more back then, but now.....His thoughts had taken a crazy turn, and he knew he should s
PLAY WITH ME 10
The doors opened and, relieved, Timothy stepped out and led her down the hallway and finally, to his office where he offered her a chair before walking to the other side of the office where he poured himself a cup of coffee."Coffee?" he asked her.“Yeah sure. We can drink and talk,” she said. “I’m not using props or anything, and I planned it to be more conversational than a formal presentation.”He nodded approvingly, and moved to his chair in front of her. “Great. Let's get started then.”There was a moment of transition where they sipped their coffee in silence before Chloe shut off everything but the task at hand. This was her career and she knew she was damn good at it. She hadn’t gotten to where she was and survived the pitfalls without the ability to put her game face on in the face of adversity.“I studied your last ad campaign, and I believe your company is missing a huge segment of its target audience.” she began.Timothy blinked, set his mug down and stared across at her.
PLAY WITH ME 11
“Then I’d say you’ve got your pitch appointment, Chloe. I’m very impressed with what you’ve had to say. If your presentation delivers on the promise of your ideas, it’s something our company will be very excited about.”Though she had every confidence in her ability to win him over, his enthusiasm gave her a wicked thrill. She was forced to play it cool and smile politely as she thanked him, but on the inside she was doing an insane victory dance. She had phone calls to make. Evan would need to know so they could start preparing. They’d want to do mock-ups of the advertising and have it prominently displayed on the television monitors in the Golden gates reception area. On the day she’d give Timothy her presentation, Golden gates would be all about Packard Enterprises. No one else would exist in the time frame Timothy was present in their offices.“You have to tell me how you managed to get Bryce Collins to agree to talk to us,” Timothy said as he sipped from his mug and then pushed i
PLAY WITH ME 12
It wasn't that he regretted staying, He didn't. He loved his family and just didn't want to go too far away from them, but there were times when his parents... Especially his mother, could be a bit meddlesome. Just like she was doing right now. This was like the hundredth time this evening, that she had mentioned how close he and Chloe used to be, and she wouldn't stop going on and on about it. Not that he was still upset with Chloe, he wasn't, but that didn't mean that he wanted to be reminded that once upon a time, he had loved her.The fact that it had happened a long time ago didn't change the fact that he had been terribly Hurt after their relationship had ended. Back then he had been naive, open, inexperienced and soft. Realizing that his high school sweetheart and best friend hadn't cared as much as he did about their relationship had been almost too much to take, and he sincerely wished his mother would stop talking about how cute they were together. Of course they were cute.
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Chloe rolled her eyes, still angry about what had happened inside the house. She knew she had to leave before she said something she would regret. The last thing she wanted was to lose the account she just got with Packard Enterprises because she lost her temper..... But hell, she had a lot to say and she would spill if she didn't leave now."I'm sorry" Timothy said again.She didn't reply. As far as she was concerned, he could take his apology and go straight to hell, but despite her ignoring him, he still didn't leave."I'm sorry" Timothy repeated. "That was way out of line and I shouldn't have said it."She turned to look at him, her face expressionless. She wouldn't let him know how much his actions affected her. She wasn't going to give him that satisfaction. "Apology accepted," she replied. "Can I leave now or do you have more hurtful things to say?"He didn't move. "You are still mad," he said softly. "I already apologized"This was the part where she was supposed to shut up, a
PLAY WITH ME 14
Evan Reese was tall and leanly built, though not scrawny. Rangy, that was the word. He had the look of a man who spent his life outdoors. A well-to-do man, though not born to money. He had met his wife, Christina when she used to own a food truck, and after two failed attempts, had finally found the guts to ask her out on a date.Christina had accepted to go out with him because she liked him. She liked his sense of humor and the way he looked too. A strong-featured face, the deep-set gray-blue eyes crinkled at the corners, framed by dark lashes. His hair was black, cut far too short to be fashionable. A practical style. What on earth did a man like him see in a woman like her? Christina had wondered. If any other stranger had tried to strike up a conversation with her and ask her out on any other day, she’d have spurned him. Maybe the fates had indeed intervened to bring two kindred spirits together, in which case it would be unwise of her not to follow their lead, so she had accepte
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"Are you hungry?" he asked, trying to change the topic. "I noticed we didn't have anything to warm up in the fridge and we're out of a lot of things. I wanted to go shopping but I got stuck at work. I can do that tomorrow, but what matters is now. Do you want to go out and grab something to eat? I know it's a bit late but maybe if we look around we might find a place that's still open""No" came Christina's curt reply.Evan nodded his head. "Okay," he said, dragging the word. "Should I go get something for the both of us then? I can be fast so we can have dinner together before we go to bed""I said no!" Christina said, this time her voice was harsh. "I just told you no. What part of 'no' do you not understand? If you wanna go out, then please just do so and go away. I want to be alone"She pushed the clothes on her lap onto the bed and stood up, murmuring some words he couldn't understand. She brushed past him towards her wardrobe, withdrew a suitcase which she took back to the bed,
PLAY WITH ME 16
Her phone vibrated across the surface of her nightstand, and a groan slipped out of Chloe's mouth. She ran her hand over her head, mussing her long dark hair.The phone continued to vibrate, drawing her attention back to it and another groan from her throat. She knew that he would want to talk about their previous discussion and she wasn't ready for it. She liked him all right, and he didn't live too far away from her, so she wouldn't even have to worry about distance being a problem in their relationship. She wasn't dating or involved with anyone, so why the hell was she hesitating? She groaned again into the phone as she finally picked it up and swiped her hand across the screen.“Are you okay?” Matthew asked her, his voice gruff with concern.Chloe instantly felt guilty. “Yeah, I'm fine,” she said.“But you’re groaning,” he said. “And you don't sound fine. Is something bothering you?”Chloe almost said 'the only thing bothering me is someone interrupting my sleep', but that would b
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PLAY WITH ME 81
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh. I don’t want to hear that word cross your lips. It’s me who is sorry. I was an ass. I said despicable things to you.”Her eyes widened, and she felt the ridiculous urge to cry again, as if she hadn’t done enough of that in the last few days.“First, I want to talk about this,” he said as he drew out the dreaded newspaper clipping from his pocket. She froze, her stomach seizing with dread.“Don’t look like that. I don’t believe a word of it. But it’s obviously an important part of your past. It hurt you and it’s affected a good portion of our relationship. I want you to tell me what really happened.”Her lips trembled and she twisted her hands nervously in her lap. “I got out of college, intending to rule the world. I loved it…I loved my job. I was in a big, busy city, and I was away from home, away from my family. At the time that was important to me. I was stupid.”“I think we all go through the desperate need to get away from our family,” Timot
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It was written in the guise of an article announcing the deal brokered between Packard Enterprises and Golden Gates promotions. It detailed her job history, colorful as it was, to the present and hinted broadly about there being a relationship between her and Timothy. Nothing was left to the imagination. Everything she’d worked so hard to overcome had been splashed in excruciating detail.She should be angry. Furious even. But what she felt was…..resignation.She looked up into the worried eyes of Bryce as the realization hit her. It would always be something. Timothy was right to be angry that she’d placed more importance on what others thought of her than she did what he thought of her. As long as the people she loved knew the truth, it shouldn’t matter what some stranger thought. Evan believed in her and her abilities. She had the backing of her agency. She had people who loved her unconditionally. Timothy evidently didn’t care who knew they were involved, so why should she?For th
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Love was such a messy emotion. It was bound to be inconvenient. You sure couldn’t put it on a schedule and love never played by the rules. He liked rules. And schedules.. Ah, hell, he was absolutely in love with her.It was why he was sitting here in such a terrible mood that his usually easygoing office staff wouldn’t come near him for fear of being decapitated.He looked again at the article, and his chest utterly caved in. Chloe. God, he’d been such an idiot. A complete and utter, madly-in-love moron. He’d reacted just like a petulant child, furious that his favorite toy was being taken away. In this case, Chloe had wanted to put their relationship on hold and all he could see was that she was pushing him away, and sacred that she'd leave him again, he had panicked. He’d been a total ass.She needed him. Needed his support. And he’d told her to take a hike. Worse, he’d arrogantly told her not to bother changing her mind and come crawling back. He winced. Holy hell in a bucket but
PLAY WITH ME 78
She sighed. “I’m in love with him. And now he hates me.”All four men’s mouths rounded into Os. There was marked silence, and she regretted having blurted out that fact. Love was girly stuff, and none of the men looked like they had a clue what to say or do next.“Look, I appreciate you guys. I love you all to pieces. I don’t know what I would do without you. I don’t expect you to fix this for me. I’m not a little girl anymore. I’ll figure out something. I just needed a place to lick my wounds and regroup.”Peter frowned. “Now, you wait just one damn minute. You’re family, Chloe. I don’t care how old or how big you are.”Even Darell scowled and nodded his agreement. Bryce merely squeezed her hand and told her bluntly to shut up.“You can always come to us when you need us and we'll be here for you,” Darell said in his soft, gravelly voice. “That doesn't and will never change. We love you and we’ll always be here for you to come running to. You got that?”“Yeah, I do.”“Now come here
PLAY WITH ME 77
"Maybe you did… or maybe not," Chloe replied. "I think I did the same with Timothy, and I understand how you feel. But you and Tina are soul mates. You have been married for years. You have been been through so much together, and I believe that if any couple can pull through this, then the both of you can… just like you did before" "How is that supposed to happen when she won't even let me see her or speak to her? She fucking hates me" "I don't think she does. As a woman, I understand her perfectly. You screwed up, don't pressure her into forgiving you. That will only make her resent you even more. Give her some space. The truth is that you can't make her forgive you, so what you have to do now is stay away… even if it's for a while and let her decide if she wants you back""And if she doesn't?" Evan asked, dreading the reply. "Then you have to live with it. It's hard, but it's the consequences of your actions. That's life…" Evan felt dejected and stared at the closed door for a w
PLAY WITH ME 76
There was a wary look in his eye that warned her this wouldn’t be easy. But then he didn’t give a damn about what people thought. He wasn’t ruled by the opinions of others. As she had so many times before, she wished she could be like him. Instead of answering him, she rummaged in her bag for the stupid gossip rag and then she thrust it at him as if it was self-explanatory. And it was in a way. He glanced over the paper and then looked back up at her. “So? What’s the problem?” he asked. She knew he’d react that way. Positively knew it, and it drove her crazy. She wanted to scream and rail at him, but she’d come across as some hysterical banshee, and then he’d never take her concerns seriously.“That’s not all,” she said stiffly. “It’s all over the Internet. An advertising community site has it on their blog along with some snotty little line about how I got the account after the announcement of you signing with golden gates.”He looked blankly at her. “I fail to see what the big dea
PLAY WITH ME 75
With a sigh, she explained the whole sorry tale about her her history with Timothy, their reunion and their trip to the beach house. She left out the mushy details she’d shared with Ann. Evan was, after all, A. her boss and B. a man. He didn’t need to know that she’d stupidly fallen in love with a man she’d be working with for a long time to come. It made things entirely too messy. What if they broke up? Would Evan feel weird about continuing the relationship with Packard enterprises or would he take his business elsewhere?There were a million reasons why she should have never ever gotten involved with Timothy , and yet, she hadn’t heeded any of the warning signs.“I overheard what Ann said about how it shouldn’t matter to me how you got the account. I won’t lie. It doesn’t. Furthermore, it’s none of my business unless you broke the law or did something to damage the reputation of Golden Gates. I don’t think this qualifies. My concern is for you. I know how devastated you were by wha
PLAY WITH ME 74
Chloe and Timothy returned from their trip as a couple, but he had to go back to his home and so did she. After a Sunday of fielding curious questions from Bryce and his brothers about where she had been the past week, Chloe was relieved to go into work on Monday. She wasn’t ready to admit to them that she and Timothy were anything more than business associates. She loved them for their undying loyalty and their absolute faith in her. But for some reason she was reluctant to confess to a relationship with Timothy.She was late, thanks to a traffic snarl that lasted an entire hour and an already late start from her apartment. By the time she made it off the elevator, it was closing in on noon, and her mood was in the toilet.When she saw Caroline, she knew something was wrong. The usually cheerful receptionist eyed Chloe with something that looked suspiciously like pity, and she refused to hold her gaze for long. Not even wanting to know what that was all about, Chloe bypassed her usua
PLAY WITH ME 73
Evan Reese opened the front door of his house and headed straight to the kitchen. His wife, Christina stood at a table, frosting a cake. She looked up in surprise to see her husband and dropped the piping bag. "You are back, " she said. "Is something wrong? Did you forget something?" Evan shook his head. "No… I mean… yes." He scratched his head and then buried his face in his hands and sighed deeply, which made Christina even more concerned. She immediately washed her hands in the sink and came towards him, but when she reached out to touch him, he pulled away. "Please don't. Not right now please." said Evan. He was afraid that if he let her touch him, he would change his mind about doing the right thing. He wanted to keep his marriage, but he knew that secrets like this were of no use. They usually ended up coming to light, and he feared that the damage it might cause would be even worse. It was best to rip out the bad aid and face the consequences of his actions. "Tina, there's s
