Payback's a Bitch (Dangerous Game Series Book 1)

by Hannah Hilton

  “That would make it easier and I won’t have to charge you for the taxes. Give me a few minutes to write an estimate, unless you prefer an hourly rate. The one thing you can be assured of is that my work is guaranteed. I never go past a deadline. My portfolio is a mile long,” I said with my voice cracking until I had it on the kitchen counter.

  Constance was standing right next to me, with her heady perfume causing my head to swim. In this position, I was able to see the swell of her breasts. They were quite a handful and my mouth watered at the possibility of mixing business with pleasure.

  A certain part of me had taken notice of her feminine curves. Hiding it wasn’t easy when it was rather large and quite pronounced when excited. The heavy equipment I was carrying around was threatening to bust through the zipper of its denim prison.

  “You really do come prepared. This hardwood is exactly what I want to get my hands on. My best friend gave me an idea of where I can find it. It’s closer than you would think,” She replied with just the tip of her tongue moving around the oval of her mouth.

  It sounded like she was talking about something more than a business arrangement. Those lips were begging to be kissed. That mouth was the kind of temptation that could get a guy into trouble.

  “I’m not…I’m not sure what you mean by that,” I stammered with my body angled away from her to keep her from thinking I was only after one thing.

  “I apologize. I suppose it would sound a little strange out of context. There’s an old rundown barn down the street. I’m going to have a few words with the owner of the property and see what we can’t do about getting a deal for the barn beams and whatever other pieces we can get,” She said, while the temperature in the room kept rising.

  It had nothing to do with the weather outside.

  “That does seem to be the growing trend. I’m already envisioning where best to use that material. I would say this project is going to take no more than two months. I’ve gone over your list of requirements and I have a few suggestions to make,” I uttered with my mind overwhelmed by visions of doing obscene and nasty things to her body

  “Come up with some ideas and we can brainstorm in the morning. I know this might sound a little unorthodox but I think you should consider living here for the duration of the project. There is plenty of room. We will have to share a bathroom since there’s only one in the entire house that’s working at the moment,” Constance said while she was leaning forward with the tip of her finger in her mouth.

  “That works out great for me. I just moved here. I’m between places. This way I can get an early start and maybe shave off a couple of days on my estimate.” Most of my stuff was in storage. There was just one green duffel bag in the back of my truck that was sitting by the curb.

  “It’s getting a little late in the day to get started. You’re more than welcome to join me and Bethany for supper. I can sweeten the deal with something decadent to tantalize your palate. I make a mean English trifle. You’d think you’d died and gone to heaven,” she offered with her hand briefly touching my bare arm before shifting her weight and grazing my body when she squeezed by me to get into the kitchen.

  I wanted to see her on her back with her feet in the air, crying out with the kind of relief women only dreamed about in their wildest fantasies. It would’ve been easy to dominate her until she was submitting to every sexual whim.

  It wasn’t right to make her into a sex object.

  But my body was a work of art in desperate need of appreciation.

  I wanted to dive into the ocean of her womanly desires until she was satiated, unable to breathe. It was the first time I had designs on making her a pet project on the side. There had been other such instances, but they were just physical displays of passion in the heat of the moment.

  This was different.

  I wanted to take my time to get to know every single inch of her trembling flesh. There was a blueprint to her pleasure and I was going to map it out with my tongue trailing over her body to see what hot spots would make her rise with approving moans of desire.

  “I admire somebody who can cook. I can’t remember the last time I had a home-cooked meal. The food they served in the army wasn’t anything to write home about. I suppose it depends on who’s cooking, but my experience wasn’t gourmet. It might sound strange coming from somebody like me but I’m addicted to food,” I recalled with vivid clarity those times that I had indulged in the cuisine of other cultures.

  “The first thing I did before moving in was set up a barbecue on the deck. I’m going to be pretty busy from nine until noon every day during the week. We can discuss what needs to be done each day before I close my door. Don’t disturb me with trivial details when you can obviously be trusted to make the decision,” she added, as she walked ahead of me to the sliding balcony door.

  She grimaced slightly when the door wouldn’t budge. Her struggle resulted in her fingers slipping off the handle and losing her balance until she fell into my arms.

  I lost my breath having my hands on her, and she looked up at me with this doe-eyed innocence.

  The natural light from the kitchen window made her eyes sparkle and her hair shimmer. It was this golden-fleece perfect to wind around my fist in a moment of unrestrained passion.

  “I can pick up a couple of steaks from the market 20 minutes away. We can meet back here in about an hour. This has been a very productive meeting. You’re very easy to get along with, and not at all demanding,” I teased in my attempt to insert a little bit of humor into our working relationship.

  “You listen better than most men. That’s a rare trait. You will be working under me and following my directions to the letter. I hope you don’t mind being told what to do. It’s the only way I’m going to get what I want out of you. Is it hot in here?” She asked with her right hand pulling on the collar of the white T-shirt.

  She was moving it back and forth to circulate some air.

  “It is a little warm,” I replied, with a bead of sweat running down my spine.

  “I will open some windows to get that cross breeze from the ocean. We should eat in the great outdoors. I brought some essentials with me, but you’re more than welcome to buy whatever you want to go with dinner. I’m partial to a nice thick piece of meat cooked to perfection with this slight pink in the middle,” she said with words that sounded wildly seductive.

  I was probably reading too much into it.

  This girl was a breath of fresh air, deserving of somebody better than me. It was wrong to covet the forbidden. To get involved would mean taking the risk of losing out on a lucrative payday if things got awkward in the cold light of reality. It would be better for everybody if we kept things platonic.

  But that was going to be easier said than done.

  It was a good thing her friend was going to be there as a buffer. I wasn’t sure I could be trusted alone with her.

  3

  Julie, AKA Constance

  There were boxes everywhere, courtesy of the movers who had shown up earlier than expected. I found the one that was marked “clothing” in bold indelible red ink. Rummaging around inside had me holding onto silky material. It was pure black. Every woman had a little black dress for those special occasions. I was no different.

  Putting it on gave me a rush of pure adrenaline when I stood in front of the mirror, admiring my form. The dress moved with me, sensuously touching my skin and driving me completely insane with wild thoughts of depravity.

  He was an honest-to-goodness hero in my eyes, but I couldn’t dispel that nagging doubt in the back of my mind. A lesson had to be learned the hard way. It didn’t matter how much my heart beat faster when he was next to me. I convinced myself this was strictly to get even.

  My body had other ideas.

  “Why are you dressing up for dinner? Could it be that you have eyes for a certain handyman with huge muscles and a disarming smile?” Bethany asked from where she was sitting on th
e floor in the Lotus position.

  “I don’t think it’s a crime to look good for my guest. Is it my fault that I’m going to turn him on? That sounds like his problem to deal with. I’m sure I’m not the only woman he has seen in a black dress like this one,” I deflected, in the hopes that she wasn’t going to ask too many questions.

  Playing this game was fun, but there was an underlying lust simmering just under the surface, waiting to come out of hiding. It had been almost a month since I had sent Bryan packing. He didn’t even know where I was, and I wanted to keep it that way. The last thing I wanted was the complication of him showing up and trying to win me back when I wanted nothing to do with him.

  “You don’t have to take my advice, but I think you should get back up on that horse and ride again. The best way to get over somebody is to get under somebody else. The heart heals faster when you have somebody to ignite that fire that’s temporarily been extinguished. Give me a sign after dinner and I’ll make myself scarce,” she announced while bouncing up and down on an exercise ball like a schoolgirl.

  It was nice that she could keep her childlike innocence intact.

  “What do you want me to do? I think a coat hanger on the door is a little too obvious. I’m only joking. I don’t see him like that. He’s here to do a job,” I countered with the dress sending a message that made it seem like I was easy.

  The hunt was delicious and I could almost taste victory on the tip of my tongue. Subtle overtures with words of encouragement had me noticing how he had risen to the occasion.

  It wasn’t like I had jumped to conclusions. The one thing a man couldn’t do was hide his rampant arousal when his excitement reached a boiling point. Stoking the fire was a good way to plant those seeds in the back of his mind.

  Every gesture had a purpose.

  I was not at liberty to tell her the unvarnished truth about the reason why I was considering using his body for my own selfish pleasure. He was merely a prop and a tool to use for my amusement. Timing was crucial. The work still had to be done.

  Stringing him along for the next two months wasn’t going to be easy. But the end result of seeing his downtrodden face and a solemn expression of disappointment would be worth it. If it came with some of the best sex of my life, I wasn’t going to shy away from letting him play with my body like it was a musical instrument.

  “You can’t stand there and tell me the idea hasn’t entered into that mind of yours. It’s healthy to have fantasies turn into reality. That man is a wet dream. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the way he was looking at you! I’m not going to judge you,” she counseled with words of wisdom.

  “I do have eyes. He would make for an interesting distraction from everything I have been going through. Why shouldn’t I have a little bit of fun? It’s not like I’m hurting anybody. You do make a valid point,” I relented with a little twirl to make that dress flow with the motion of my body.

  That dress was too much when I wanted him to work for it, thinking that he wasn’t going to get it. That perpetual case of blue balls was going to be something he was going to have to live with.

  “You are two consenting adults and what happens behind closed doors is nobody’s business. There’s something mysterious about him. It’s obvious he has been hurt in the past and isn’t looking for a long-term commitment,” said Bethany, pointing out something that I already knew.

  “This is a little too daring. Something a little more understated is in order,” I mused, until I found exactly what I was looking for.

  There was innocence with just a touch of shyness, but what I wanted most of all was to jump into his lap. I was reminded about something my mother said to me when I was younger: All good things come to those who wait. Who knew that it was going to take almost 10 years? It was better late than never.

  Revenge was a dish best served cold. The dessert was already chilling in the fridge. It took almost 20 minutes to make it. It was a labor of love.

  “That’s not fair. Teasing him is going to make him lose his mind. If that is your intention then starting slow and escalating from there is going to have him wrapped around your little finger. I like the way you think three steps ahead,” Bethany admitted while at the same time getting on her feet and landing silent as a cat.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said defensively while thinking about how things could have been different, had we been able to make a connection back in the day.

  Watching the calories and eating healthy had given me a new lease on life. I’d lost a lot of weight since then.

  “You act so innocent, but there’s something evil behind those blue eyes. This feels like a page out of my book. I’m proud of you for taking a leap of faith. I’m going to help you. There are some things in my closet that will have his tongue dragging on the floor. It takes somebody with confidence to take a risk. I see the little twinkle in your eye,” she remarked while standing behind me until she was on her knees with a pair of scissors, altering the white summer dress.

  I was about to stop her, but she was already making the dress into something that it wasn’t supposed to be. The subtle cuts here and there revealed a little more of my body when I moved in certain directions.

  She grabbed a bottle of perfume and lightly dabbed it on the back of my ears and the nape of my neck. The same thing was done to my wrists. The sexual pheromones were enhanced with the aroma of an impulse buy. It surrounded me in a heavy halo of delightful incentive.

  “I almost forgot one important detail,” I mentioned before hanging the locket of my family around my neck, with the light catching it in just the right way.

  “Let me do one last thing. You don’t have to be out in the cold looking in. He’s going to be here any second. This will make him lose focus during dinner. Being a little bold and brazen doesn’t hurt anybody,” she said. She took the scissors and cut a deep V neckline, leaving nothing underneath to obscure his view of my mountainous terrain.

  “This is ridiculous. I just got out of a nasty relationship. I’m not ready for anything at the moment. The same thing can’t be said for my body. It craves his touch and the feel of his hot breath on the back of my neck. I can’t do this,” I protested. But there was very little conviction behind my words.

  It was wrong to make her think I was vulnerable. Everything I had gone through made me stronger. I wanted her to convince me. The only way to save face was to make her think she was the catalyst for me moving on. It had to appear to be her idea.

  “There’s no reason why you can’t have your cake and eat it too. I seriously doubt that he’s going to complain if you throw yourself at him. Some guys like a forceful attitude and a woman who knows what she wants,” Bethany said over her shoulder. She left the room with a big smile on her face for a job well done.

  She snipped the scissors in the air several times with this guilty look of a friend who was trying to push me out of my comfort zone. If only she knew that this was part of my plan to get her to work with me, not against me.

  Manipulation came easy to most women, but it was a foreign concept to me. It felt nice to turn the tables and give Cameron a taste of his own medicine.

  A pair of open-toed sandals accompanied the outfit. The black dress was put away for a rainy day when he wouldn’t see it coming. Bethany was unaware of my discreet trips to a shop that catered to those who had sexually discriminate tastes. A few implements of satisfaction were in my toy chest under the bed.

  There were also pieces of lingerie that would have any man willing to do practically anything to please me. There were some that were a little more scandalous and revealing than others. Leather in a variety of colors was just one of many weapons in my arsenal of sexual tricks.

  It was time to fake it to make it. He did make me nervous, but that was the little girl 10 years ago trying to raise her ugly head. She was still there begging for acceptance in his eyes. I wasn’t going to waste any more tears on him. Get
ting over the worst humiliation of my life turned me into a bitter woman who was barely able to make that connection with the opposite sex.

  Nobody knew of my secret shame and I was going to keep it that way for as long as possible. He had caused me heartache.

  Two months of teasing him mercilessly was nothing in the grand scheme of things.

  Making my way down the stair, I touched the banister with some concern for my safety. It was wobbly and falling apart, piece by piece. The roof was foremost on my mind. It was all about priorities. The place was livable, but I still had to watch my step or risk tumbling to certain injury at the bottom of the stairs.

  The paint was peeling but the design of the banister was something that I wanted to bring back to its former glory.

  Something smelled delicious.

  I was able to spy Cameron on the deck with a cold beer in his hands. He was flipping the meat, searing both sides with char marks. He had a huge smile of on his face.

  Bethany was out there with him, but there was no way to know what they were talking about with the balcony door closed. It made my heart skip a beat when I saw him with his shirt open, in an attempt to cool himself off in the unseasonably warm fall weather.

  This was an Indian summer.

  Some of the leaves surrounding the property had changed color. The fall foliage was threatening to overshadow what was left of summer. The one thing I hated was that divide between fall and winter. That smell of decay, when things were dying, gave birth to my seasonal affective disorder.

  Getting out and enjoying winter activities was my answer to the crippling depression that could easily have me bundled up, hibernating inside for the next few months. A pair of skis was sitting at the door; ski boots were on the floor.

  Everything was now ready for dinner, with fresh seasonal vegetables simmering on low heat on the stainless steel stove. Fresh corn on the cob had that familiar scent of summer. Scallops and a medley of other seafood, including lobster tails, were basting in spices and garlic butter in a frying pan.