Blaine, Destiny - Lying Eyes (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Lying Eyes

  Chapter Seven

  After the break, they were still at the same table. She didn’t play a single hand while she remained there but Max racked up and he was definitely on the rise—in more ways than one, if she cared to wager on it.

  His chips continued to stack up nicely to further indicate the predicted outcome by the end of the day. If someone somewhere didn’t put a stop to his gigantic lead, Max was going to soar straight for the final table and after today’s run, he didn’t have to try too hard to secure his seat.

  She was glad when she moved because the way the cards fell again and again, if she stayed there, she wouldn’t have faired much better than she had earlier in the day. Plus, he’d already undressed her with his eyes to the point she felt completely exposed. Since she imagined them both in the nude one too many times, it was a kiss of relief when she moved across the room.

  He finished the day out as the chip leader and his arrogance proved he secured it when she first spotted him. She’d gone to the bathroom before it was announced and came out right after the tally.

  “Congratulations. You’re still in the top five.” He smugly informed her of her standing. She didn’t need to ask him his but he offered anyway.

  “Want to know who the new leader is today?”

  “Hmmm. Let me guess. Brunson?”

  “Nope.”

  “Hmmm…let’s see. Harman? Gordon?”

  In an open display of affection, he wrapped his arms around her and tickled her all over as they attempted to walk through the lobby. “No. Guess again.” His lips brushed over her neck in a few strategic spots.

  Other players damn near tripped over themselves to watch the two of them act like children. Someone called out a hello to Max and another player smacked his back in passing. He never paused to see who.

  “I guess it’s you since you’re in such a jovial mood.” She caught her breath then and looked at her watch.

  “Going somewhere?” He sounded disappointed.

  “Yep, I am.” She kissed him on the cheek. “And you are, too.”

  * * * *

  He liked the way she planned ahead. Tee-time never sounded better until it fell from his woman’s lips. Yeah, he quickly decided to quit fighting the attraction and everything that went along with it once he heard the most beautiful four-letter word in the world.

  G-O-L-F.

  After such a wonderful surprise, she was all but tagged and branded as his. One way or another, he’d just have to learn to like the idea. He didn’t see where it presented any real problems now, until she beat him at another man’s sport. Then, he saw the potential for several of them. It was possible, not probable of course, but possible—she was better at some things, okay most things, than he was.

  They played a round of golf and he felt confident after the first two holes so he made a cocky suggestion of placing a bet on the outcome. He shot a forty-three. She shot a forty-two. The immediate blow job she promised him if he won all but disintegrated into the early evening but they both came out as winners, in a sense.

  She earned a sensual back massage and he gave her the best a man with a skilled hand, mouth, lips and tongue, knew how to give. And he didn’t keep his focus on her back. He was just getting started and after everything he left unfinished the night before, he wasn’t going to face the consequences for the wrongful act of not doing downright deplorable things to her once they locked the doors tonight.

  The limo came to a halt in front of The Rio and they both stepped out. She shot him a knowing glance and he all but dropped his pants. He should’ve just whipped it out right then and forced her to stay in the car. The way he was acting, he would follow her anywhere. Yes, others in his species had names for men like him. He had one or two for himself, none of which he considered as complimentary.

  Damnation, the woman must have cast some kind of lover’s spell over him and he didn’t think anything at all would break it until he finally held her in his arms. Even then, he didn’t know if he’d find an instant cure. He felt pretty confident he was going to spend the rest of the tournament sprinting to the room for short breaks alone with her. Yeah, pussy-whipped didn’t cover it, and that was quite disturbing because he felt this way without the sex. Ah, shit…I’ve got it bad. The best he could hope for now was that she liked the word yes far more than n-o because he knew precisely where they were headed and he refused to tap the brakes.

  * * * *

  “Audra? Is that you?” The masculine voice of a man truly excited to see her lingered too long in the open space of the lobby. Max stopped in his tracks. His immediate plans, as he perceived them, suddenly dampened with a familiar tempo of an inevitable interruption. Someone always stepped in to stop the pending goals of a nice little romp. Only this time, he didn’t get to stall their agenda, someone else was going to do it.

  “Oh my gosh! Franco! How are you?” She ran into his open arms and squealed out her excitement. “Let me look at you!” She held his forearms and looked him up and down. “If you’re not a sight for sore eyes.”

  Max resisted the urge to huff out his frustrations. He felt sure his nostrils flared and hoped like hell he didn’t throw a leg with a hoof attached or something. When he heard the phrase ‘sore eyes’ he damn near choked. Most women found him fairly gentle on the eyes. Apparently with Franco the Italian stallion showing his pretty face, things changed in an instant.

  “Franco, I want you to meet a friend of mine.”

  Max felt his body go rigid. Damn. A minute before this young gun showed up, he was beginning to think three-car garage, a couple of kids and a nice white picket fence in the suburbs. Now he’d regressed to good pals and slaps on the back.

  Introductions were made and he barely heard anything beyond the enthusiastic way she said the younger man’s name. Franco seemed all too willing to shake his hand. He must’ve underestimated his new competition. Max casually draped his arm over her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.

  Franco winked at Audra and then addressed Max. “So, why don’t you join us for dinner.”

  Assumptive motherfucker too. Now, he was quite perturbed.

  Max saw his own head spin. He literally had to stop and take a double take. “Actually, Audra and I have plans for the evening.”

  “We do?” She shot him a grin.

  She knew damn well they did. “Yes, babe. Maybe you forgot. Me and you and…”

  “Max! Franco is my first cousin for crying out loud.”

  “Well, why the hell didn’t you say so?” He felt a surge of relief and almost kissed Franco’s olive cheeks too. Condensation allowed the beads of sweat to disintegrate with the new discovery. Jealousy was never attractive.

  “She did but I don’t think you were capable of hearing it yet.” Franco patted her hand. “Okay, I know when I’m imposing.” He turned to Max and apologized. “Sorry for the assumption.” He laughed it off. “I’m so used to bumping into her and just changing up her plans that it never dawned on me that she’d met someone and had her own ideas for the night. Forgive me for imposing.”

  Max saw the disappointment in her eyes so he stepped in right away. “No need to apologize. In fact, why don’t the two of you go to dinner and then I’ll meet you later for drinks?” The disappointment didn’t go away with the offer. “Or, I could go with you and—”

  “Sounds perfect, doesn’t it Franco?” She jumped at the idea of a trio.

  “Indeed,” he agreed. “Let’s just keep it simple and meet here at Antonio’s. How about I meet you in say an hour and a half? I’ll make the reservations.”

  “Sounds great.” She nearly purred out the words.

  Max hoped he didn’t groan. Ninety minutes sure as hell wouldn’t allow him time to do all the things he was dying to do to her.

  “Don’t be late.” He shot Max a disapproving look and kissed his cousin’s cheek.

  They quickly said their good-byes and Max and Audra rushed to their respective rooms. Only, they didn’t have the first
motivation to stay there long.

  * * * *

  “We’re really going to have to do something about this door thing.” She acknowledged the fact housekeeping failed to do what they both forgot to do as well. The connecting doors were only pushed up but not locked.

  “I won the bet,” she reminded him.

  “I paid up.” He tugged his shoes off and moved from his seated position on the sofa.

  “I said back massage and I ended up with something closer to a breast evaluation.”

  “You didn’t complain in the car.”

  “I’m not complaining now.” She slowly stalked forward. Her forefinger damn near made him crazy when it bent forward and back in a come-on-over-here gesture.

  “You’re whining.”

  “Am I?” She grinned. “I hate it when I do that.”

  She took his hand and steered him back to her room and holy sweet hell, if he was a betting man, he’d be willing to bet she was going to fuck him fast, right before dinner. He slapped his forehead, well not really, but in his mind he had time to think about it. “I am a betting man.” He spoke his inner thoughts.

  “Yeah, I know.” She laughed. “Are you making a wager on me? If so, what are the odds? Talk dirty to me.”

  “Audra…” He wanted to stop her. Damn if he could, he would but he only claimed to be a betting man and not a better one. A better man would’ve stopped walking and parked his feet with an adamant refusal to move the hell forward.

  “Yes Max?” She sang out her laughter. Her arms crossed in front of her and she tugged her lime green golf shirt over her head before she quickly unsnapped and unzipped her shorts.

  He didn’t know what or how to say it. They both had already agreed. He was a prick to turn her down the night before and now, damn it, he was going to do it again. “Cousin Vinny?”

  “Franco!” She released her clip and her hair fell in one sweep over her sexy shoulders and breasts. Now, all she had to do was lose the bra, step out of that thong and then, oh hell, it was all over. The flames of passion between them wouldn’t stop a man in true fucking heat. Dinner plans would most definitely be over.

  “I can’t do this.” He walked out.

  “Max!” she called out after him. “What is your problem?”

  She caught him somewhere in between her room and his. “I need to know why you have turned down sex with me not once but twice! I think you need to start talking now, or else have one of the hosts in player development move you to another room. I swear, you’re driving me crazy!”

  She was mad. Hell, why in the devil did she have to act so pissed now?

  “I’m driving you nuts?” He felt his breathing pick up and his temper, he reminded himself, needed to stay in check. His eyes fell to her chest and it was enough to serve as a friendly reminder.

  “Yeah, you are!” She sounded like a yelper. He couldn’t wait to make her sound off in an echoing squeal, the kind that would ring through the hallways and shock them both into the sweetest of stupors. Yes, noise, he wanted it coming from her, soon.

  He pressed into her then and without a second to spare or the first intention to stop then, his mouth worked down to the valley in between her breasts. His fingers quickly unhooked her bra and as the material fell to the side, his hands rotated over her hips with a startling yank, jarring threads from her body. He snapped her thong and left it in shreds.

  “Dinner is canceled,” he warned, totally convinced.

  Before she protested then, he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom and stepped into the shower with her. In mere seconds, he had the water streaming over them. Yeah, like a crazy lunatic. That’s what the nuts do when they’ve totally lost it—bathe with their clothes on—and laughter nearly undid them both when she noted it.

  “I am driving you crazy.” She looked pleased to see it.

  “In the worst possible ways.” He kissed her so hard he swore his lips must’ve stayed on hers even after he backed away. His hand trailed up and down her inner thigh debating if he wanted to finger away her doubt or just lick her senseless. He opted for the second choice because he needed to taste her then. Right then. He wanted to have her pussy on his lips and feel her squirm under each rich swipe.

  He cupped her neck and mused how he somehow kept it together enough to show her the courtesy of a slow hand. Before he could congratulate himself, she pulled him closer and if he didn’t know better, the little woman tried to rip his shirt from him. He stopped her while he still could.

  “Audra, look at me.” He held her hands tightly in his. “I want you to look at me and tell me the truth.”

  “About?” Smack, smack, smack. Her lips covered his cheeks and chin while making the sweetest snapping noise he’d ever heard.

  “Are you a virgin?” He felt more possessive than he ever felt in his life. “I want to know.” He needed to know, it made a difference to him. He wanted to know if she was a woman he needed to shower with cherished consideration, at least this first time.

  “What the hell?”

  “Hell is what you’re putting me through but heaven is what I’m going to show you if you’ll just give me a chance to do it on my terms—and make it perfect for you.” His hand cupped the side of her face and her cheek fit into the palm of his hand for a split second before her lips and teeth moved over the well defined lines.

  “Max…”

  “It’s not my business. Heaven help me, I know it’s not. I don’t have any right to ask you but I just want things to be right for you…for us.” Remember, burnt toast. He reminded himself of the weakness she brought out in him. Sure, he could’ve been persuaded to forget everything and just fuck her, if for no other reason but to prove he was first and foremost a man with needs of his own.

  “You think I can’t handle you because I must’ve shown my inexperience when I…”

  “You showed skill lady, and that’s why I’m asking you now. If you’re ready to handle a fast fuck in the middle of this shower then I can’t wait to bend your little ass over, but if I’m going to be your first time, then I’m not about to disappoint you just because we’re meeting Vinny.”

  “Franco!” She sounded pissed. “Forget about it, Max.” She pushed him hard and he backed out of the shower drenched in heavy clothes weighted down by a little too much H2O. “I can promise you I don’t have to coax a man into having sex with me.”

  “Audra, you don’t have to beg me!” He tugged at his golf shirt until he was finally able to slap the wet and confining material across the top of the marble countertops. “Damn it.” He took a deep breath and turned back to watch her.

  “Oh, dear God….”

  Beautiful didn’t cut it. Fantasies realized were one thing but this…this was impossible to describe. Her sleek curves were more than a man his age would ever be able to handle. A bikini tan line stood out, only on the bottom, and he was immediately angry because he realized right then she sunbathed topless which meant other men somewhere on this planet had watched her as he did now—in awe.

  “Don’t you even think about it.” She opened the shower door and slammed it back again.

  “Okay, I won’t.” Oh, but he did.

  He heard her humming right as he left her.

  It pissed him off so he went right back for more word wars. “Okay, you know what?” He glared back at her. “I don’t need this shit. You’re right. You begged. I tried to explain to you like a rational adult, a concept I don’t think you can possibly wrap your mind around, all the reasons why I couldn’t just fuck you but you can’t, no wait—you won’t—hear me or try to understand why I haven’t just slammed into you like a man with no reason but a hard-on giving him at least one or two. Hell, three or four actually. But no, you don’t want to hear anything more about it.”

  He marched out, and back again.

  “So here’s some advice for you until you come to your senses or decide to tell Vinny tomorrow would be better—get yourself off because I just don’t think I can do th
is anymore.” He almost made it out of the bathroom but apparently, the lady in the shower wanted his full-blown attention.

  And she got it.

  She stepped out with a bounce of full breasts and round perfect nipples. The way the water dripped from her long hair before trailing down her body made him hard all over and he quickly forgot just how pissed he was, at least for a minute.

  It only took her a moment to snatch two towels from a nearby shelf. She bent over at the waist and wrapped her long hair tightly and the vantage point he first had made him weak in the knees, but the bounce motion he witnessed when she stood back up nearly made him apologize. At best, he tried to swallow his pride. Certain parts of his body argued boldly in favor of it.

  Audra moved by him as she wrapped herself and he watched without saying one word. She defiantly went into the bedroom in a prissy little gait, but she wanted him to have a piece of her mind too, and eagerness drove her to do it fast

  “This thing we have—it’s only going to get worse between us. And when it finally reaches a point where we can’t keep our hands off each other, it’s not going to matter which tournament is waiting on us or who says we need to be somewhere, it’s just not going to matter, because the kind of thing we have…”

  Approaching her then was harder than he expected but he did it in spite of his temper and better judgment. “Call your cousin. Tell him you’re sick. Tell him you’re playing a tournament across town in a private suite. Tell him—”

  “How about I tell him the truth?”

  “Which is?”

  “You’re going to love me—and you’re going to love me in more ways than one.” She dropped the towel. “And I’m going to make sure it starts right now.”

  Chapter Eight

  “You can’t be serious?” Max stared at her. His hands had been all over her and his cock wasn’t going to go down now without a true fight for the finish.

  “It’s something important and I have to go. He sounded distraught. I’m sorry but I have to go meet him.” She quickly moved around the room grabbing a blouse first and then a skirt, or maybe it was pants, he just saw the color—black pinstripe.