Playing the Game

by L. M. Reid

  I hadn’t realized how tense I had become with her sitting next to me. Even now, with her threat hanging over my head, I can’t fully relax. For the moment, she knows nothing. Just a suspicion that I’m hiding something, which in fact I am. And if Hunter finds out what I’m hiding, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that would be the end of us. While that is probably for the best, I’m not ready to let go yet. I’m not ready for my first glimpse at real happiness to disappear right before my eyes.

  “You okay?” Ivy asks.

  I plaster a fake smile on my face hoping she doesn’t notice that it’s not genuine. “I’m fine. She just… I can’t stand her.”

  “No one can. I think the only reason she’s even here is because her and Hayley grew up together. More out of obligation than anything,” Ivy tells me. “I wouldn’t worry about her. Now that Hunter smartened up, I’m sure she’s just scrambling.”

  “I’m not so much worried about her as I am sick of her,” I lie. Because I am a hell of a lot more worried about what she might uncover and what she would do with that information.

  There’s nothing in my record on why I transferred schools, I just… transferred. Unless you look at the records from Columbia. The grades, the professors, the note in my file on why it was suggested that I leave the school and find somewhere else to attend. Add in the rumors that ran amuck around campus and she would piece together quite a story. But that information, none of that would be easy to come by. Right?

  Chapter 30

  Hunter

  Quinn stands in the doorway to our room looking like she’s ready to fight.

  “Uh-oh, am I in trouble?” I ask.

  “So. Much. Trouble.”

  “Can I ask what I’m being charged with?”

  A smile breaks through. “Rescuing me without me asking. Assuming that I needed saving when I didn’t. How do you plead?”

  “Guilty. So guilty. And I am ready to take my punishment. Whatever you want to do to me, I’m ready.”

  She raises an eyebrow at me. “You sure about that?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “Thank you. I didn’t need it, but Ivy did make the day less dreadful.”

  “Everyone needs an ally sometimes. And since I couldn’t be there for you…” I shrug.

  Quinn walks further into the room, straight to the bed that I’m sitting on and straddles me. My erection is almost instantaneous. “You are making things very hard, Ms. Ford.”

  “I see that. Or I guess, I feel it?” She looks past me to the clock. “But if we don’t hurry, we’re going to be late. And you cannot be late, Mister Best Man.”

  “I suppose not. But there should be plenty of time between the ceremony and the reception to find a quiet closet somewhere.”

  “Oh no,” she says. “You are just going to have to behave today. This is about Hudson and Hayley and…”

  “Trust me, Hudson would be in complete agreement with my suggestion. In fact, we might have to fight him for that closet.”

  She shoves off me. “That’s what I’ve heard. Seems both of you are incorrigible.” Finally, she notices the garment bag hanging on the bathroom door. “What’s this?”

  “A little surprise,” I say grinning broadly. “Open it.”

  She pulls the zipper down and opens the bag. Her hand comes to her mouth. “Hunter.”

  “Do you like it?”

  “Like it? It’s… it’s…. you didn’t have to do this.”

  Her hand runs over the soft blue fabric. The shade matching the streaks her in hair perfectly. Streaks that she thought I would want her to change when all I want is to embrace her just the way she is. I hope this gesture goes a small way in proving that.

  “I saw it and the color blue reminded me of your hair.” She hangs her head but lets out a small chuckle. “And I thought you would look amazing in it. Put it on.”

  “Words I never thought I would hear you say.”

  “Believe me, words I never thought I would say when it came to you.”

  She slides the jean shorts she’s wearing down her thighs before tugging the camisole over her head. How I’m supposed to wait until tonight, I don’t know. And the moment she slips into the dress, it actually becomes harder to resist her. Who knew more could actually be so damn sexy?

  My eyes are glued to her as she twirls around. “So?”

  “You. Look. Breathtaking.”

  “Thank you, so much for this.” She runs her hands down her body in admiration of the dress causing me to groan. Looking at Quinn is enough of a turn on. Watching her touch herself, even if she is dressed is fucking lethal.

  “It’s my pleasure, really,” I say watching her in it. Knowing that I’m going to be holding her in that dress as we dance the night away. And then, tonight as I take it off of her. I reach for the tux hanging next to where the dress had been. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner I get you out of that dress, the happier we both will be.”

  I move to head to the bathroom. “Uh-uh,” she says. She sits in the chair near the window and seductively crosses her legs. “My turn.” I look at her confused, unsure what exactly it’s her turn for. “Strip, Hunter.”

  Her tongue sweeps across her bottom lip before she pulls it in and takes it between her teeth. If Quinn wants a show, I’ll give her a show.

  My hands grip the material at the bottom of my shirt, slowly pulling it up, inch by inch. My eyes are locked on her, taking in every breath, every shift of her body in her seat, and every emotion that flickers in her eyes.

  “Are you trying to torture me here?” she says.

  “Payback.”

  When I finally pull my t-shirt over my head, I toss it at her. She catches it, bringing the material up to her nose and inhaling my scent. My hands move to my board shorts, the ones I’ve been wearing since Hudson, Mason, and I decided to try surfing this morning. A last minute guy’s thing since all the women were occupied. When I slide them down revealing nothing underneath, Quinn smiles.

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” she says. “You know, at the spa today, I was getting grilled about what it was like to be with the one and only Hunter Adams.”

  Completely naked, dick standing at attention, I stand before her. “And what did you tell them?”

  “Not much. I didn’t want you to get attacked by women, so I kept it simple. Said that I could barely walk straight after all of our extracurricular activities.”

  “Barely huh?” I laugh. “Going to have to make sure I turn that into a full I can’t walk at all tonight.”

  “Bring it on.”

  God, how I want to do just that.

  But the clock is ticking and if I don’t get to the beach soon, Hudson is going to have my head. He might be a pain in the ass, but he’s no fool. Keeping Hayley happy is top priority. And now, I understand that concept more than ever.

  “Clothes. You need clothes,” Quinn says as she gets out of the chair and walks over to my suitcase. “Here.” She hands me a pair of boxers, her eyes drifting down my body. “Put them on. Now.”

  “And you say I’m the insatiable one.”

  “You have a problem with how much I want you?” she says as she turns away again.

  “Not at all. Quite the opposite actually.”

  When I’m fully dressed Quinn faces me. “Yep, still not helping.”

  My hands drop to her waist and pull her against me. “The clothes don’t matter. It’s what’s in here that makes all the difference,” I say as I press my hand to where her heart is.

  “You and your swoony lines. Let’s go before my panties melt into a puddle on the floor.”

  “You first. I want to take in the view.”

  With an exaggerated sashay of her hips, Quinn walks to the door. “Coming?”

  I think of the beach, her naked body standing before me asking that same question. The automatic response in my head, and my dick, still the same – damn close to doing just that.

  Chapter 31

  Quinn


  “Absolutely not,” I laugh.

  Still, here he is, hands on me tugging at my waist, my hands, anywhere he can touch pleading with me to sneak off with him.

  “Your whole family has eyes on us considering the bride and groom have gone missing. We are not doing this,” I giggle.

  The way he looks, eyes filled with desire and a bit of sadness at my rejection. The puppy dog look if you will. While I can’t typically resist him, nor do I want to, this isn’t happening. Not today. Not when all eyes are on us.

  Or at least were until the bride and groom return looking completely disheveled.

  “Let’s do this,” Hudson shouts.

  “Pretty sure you already did,” someone shouts back.

  I stifle my laughter as I see the flush to Hayley’s cheeks. But the rest of the crowd doesn’t seem to have the same couth that I do. “That could be us right now. No way.”

  “I don’t know,” Hunter says. “Hudson looks pretty pleased. Pretty sure I would, too.”

  I slap his arm. “You would look more than just look pleased.”

  Hunter’s mother is flagging him over. Now that the bride and groom decided to show, it’s time to get the show on the road. Step one – the receiving line. “Go. You’re needed,” I say, giving him a slight shove.

  His playful attitude changes and he stops dead in his tracks. I look in the direction where his gaze has fallen. Maddox. “Go. I’ll be fine. He isn’t going to try anything in front of all these people. Besides… they saw their plan failed. I’m sure they’ll come up with something new next time.”

  The moment I say the words, dread falls over me. Because while I don’t have any knowledge of the what or the how of it, I am certain there will be a next time. Layla, for whatever reason, will always try to interfere.

  “Stay where I can see you,” Hunter tells me. I raise my eyebrows in response. “Please?”

  I press a kiss to his lips before instructing him to go fulfill his best man duties. I take a seat on a nearby couch, far enough away, but still within his eyesight.

  Mason takes a seat next to me. “So, this is really a thing huh? I’m going to have to get used to this.”

  “You always said I should give him a chance,” I say with a shrug. “It’s kind of your fault.”

  “Not exactly what I had in mind, but… you look happy.”

  Happy. It’s exactly what I am and such a foreign concept to me. Struggling as we were children, a rash of bad boyfriends, followed by one experience where I thought I may have found my happiness only for it to implode and come crashing down on me.

  “I’m scared,” I admit.

  “That’s normal,” Mason says. Not that he and his bachelor for life ways would know.

  “What if it doesn’t work out? What if I screw this up somehow? What if…” What if he finds out about Shane and ends up hating me?

  “That’s a lot of ‘what ifs’, Sis.”

  If only he knew the half of it. “I guess I’m just afraid that it’s going to come crashing down on me.”

  “Pretty sure everyone’s afraid of that. And you have more reason to than most. But, Q, Hunt’s a good guy. He’s going to do everything in his power to make you happy, to be there for you. You just have to let him.”

  “Easier said than done,” I tell him.

  As I watch him though, I realize, I already have. In more ways than I have ever let anyone before. Shane knew nothing of my past. All I told him was that my parents weren’t in the picture. He never asked for an explanation, so I never gave him one. Hunter didn’t have to ask. He already had an idea. Maybe that’s what made it easier for me to open up to him. Or maybe it was just the kindness in his eyes.

  If anyone would have asked me two weeks ago, hell, ten days ago, if I thought there was a chance in hell that Hunter and I would end up here, I would have laughed in their face and my answer would have been a resounding no. All because I never gave him a chance. Because I judged him rather than got to know him.

  If they asked me now if I could ever see my life without him. The answer would be the same. No.

  “Dance with me?” Hunter asks as he comes up from behind him. His lips are near my ear, his hands resting on my hips.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” I reply as I rest my head back against his shoulder.

  “Really? I kind of thought I was a sure thing.”

  “For some things, yes,” I tease.

  He leads me to the dance floor. With finesse, he twirls me around before pulling me to him. We sway to the music, his arms holding me tightly. The fact that today is our last day in paradise, that tomorrow we head home to reality – to our real lives - is more than weighing down on me. Fear that once we aren’t here, away from everything that life really has to throw at us, that maybe, just maybe we won’t work.

  Sensing the tension in my body, Hunter asks, “Penny for your thoughts?”

  I rest my head against his chest, “Just thinking about tomorrow.”

  “Sudden fear of flying?” he asks. The tone in his voice leads me to believe that there is more to his words than what they are actually saying.

  “Sudden fear of crashing is more like it.”

  “The plane? Or us?” He asks even though he already knows the answer. He rests his lips against the top of my head as he speaks. “It’s not going to happen.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  As much as I want Hunter, I still can’t be certain. Not in the unwavering sense that he is.

  “Because I won’t let it. I care about you too much, Quinn, to let anything get between us. You trust me, don’t you?”

  “Of course, I do.” More than anyone or anything.

  “Then believe me when I say that we are going to be fine. In fact, we might even be better than we are now.”

  I pull back at look up at him. “How is that possible?”

  His smile meets his eyes, and it’s filled with love. “Because we’re only just beginning.”

  Our lips meet as the song ends and we are left standing in the center of the floor, the beat of the music turning to something with a quicker pace.

  “I’m going to head to the restroom, I’ll be right back,” I say.

  “I’ll get us some drinks and think of an excuse to leave early.”

  I step out of the bathroom stall and head to the sink. I touch up my make-up and smile when I see the glow on my skin. It’s not from the make-up or even the sun. It’s happiness. It’s Hunter. It’s the crazy amazing effect he has on me. When I step back to leave, Layla enters.

  “What now?” I groan as she does her best to corner me in the bathroom by blocking the door, removing any chance I have for escape.

  Unless, of course, I fight her. Which I would love to do but I’m fairly sure that Hunter would frown upon it. And nothing, especially not Layla, is worth ruining what I have with Hunter.

  “I finally figured it out. I thought I wouldn’t, but I did.”

  “This again?” I laugh. “You’re pathetic.” As I head toward the door, Layla steps to the side. That was easy. Too easy. Something isn’t right. No sooner does my hand grab the handle do I know just how true that is.

  “I know about Shane.” My head whips in her direction. “Or is it Professor Shane? Or Professor Powell?” She cackles like a damn witch as she spills the truth that I swore she couldn’t have possibly known. “Did you moan out “Oh Professor” when you fucked him?”

  “You don’t…”

  “Oh, but I do.”

  I let the door shut.

  “I know that he’s married. I know that you seduced him. I. Know. Everything.”

  She knows everything and nothing at the same time. The story she has, inaccurate, but there is still truth behind it. The truth that I had an affair with my very married professor. It doesn’t matter how it happened, or who did what. It just matters that it happened. And there isn’t a doubt in my mind that she’s biding her time, dying to tell Hunter. There’s an ache in my chest. That fear of
crashing becoming more of a reality than I ever thought possible.

  There’s a reason she’s doing this. Something that she wants. Whatever it is, it’s the same damn reason she tried to trip me up by throwing Maddox at me. It didn’t work then, but she’s not leaving me a whole lot of choice here. If Hunter finds out the truth, we’re as good as over anyway.

  “What do you want?” I ask. This little encounter is so much more than just two girls sharing secrets in the bathroom. No, this is blackmail, pure and simple. I have a feeling that I know what she wants and I’m already dreading having to do it.

  “You and I both know that you don’t deserve, Hunter. And this little secret you’ve been keeping…” she shakes her head and does a little tsk tsk, “it could destroy him.” I’m about to protest, to argue how and why my life will in no way impact his – not the way she did. She holds up her hand to stop me before she speaks again. “Think what you want about me, Quinn, but I am looking out for Hunter. For his best interest.”

  “And you’re in his best interest, right?”

  A slight shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe, maybe not. But you? You most definitely are not. Do you have any idea what your little scandal could do to his reputation? To his endorsements? His charity? Not to mention that since you’ve walked into the picture the man has been involved in two bar fights? What next? What do you think it’s going to look like when he’s seen with a homewrecking party girl?”

  “And let me guess, you would have no problem letting all of that just slip out?”

  Her hand flies to her chest. Every motion exaggerated. “I would never.”

  “Just say what you have to say so we can get this over with.” My patience for her threats is wearing thin. I just want to hear her say it. I want to know what I’m dealing with so I can figure out how the hell I am going to break Hunter’s heart when it’s the last thing that I want to do.