She ran her hand across his shoulders and down his arm as she sat in the chair beside him rather than the one across from him. “I’m, like, so glad you’re here. I hate to drink alone, you know?” She turned in her seat, snapping her fingers in Lainey’s direction. “Oh, my gawd. This waitress is, like, seriously the worst. Hello?” Janelle waved her hand around. “Hell-ooo!”
Lainey had just dropped off a round two tables away, and her gaze cut toward them like a razor.
“Okay. She’s finally coming over. Honestly, it’s like she was ignoring us on purpose or something.”
“Yeah,” Coop agreed, astounded by the complete obliviousness of his parasitic companion. “I wonder why that would be.”
Sarcasm was obviously lost on Janelle, as her response was a wide-eyed shrug.
“You beckoned?”
God, she was beautiful. His body stirred at the sight of her, and he had to squeeze his hand into a fist to keep from reaching for her. The fact she hadn’t made eye contact was not lost on him.
“It’s about time you got here. We’ve been waiting forever, haven’t we?” Janelle looked to him for confirmation.
Cooper shook his head, disavowing the statement, but there was acid in Lainey’s voice when she spoke. “What can I get you?”
Janelle wiggled in her seat, smacking her gum. “What’s the special tonight?”
“Beer.”
“Ew. Beer is like, so gross. What are you having?”
It was on the tip of Cooper’s tongue to say beer, but he didn’t want to encourage Janelle or piss off Golden, and Lone Wolf was the last thing he felt like drinking tonight. “Just water for me.”
Janelle’s pout was impressive. He figured she was probably the type who’d used her Instagram feed to perfect it.
“Playoffs start the day after tomorrow.”
Her eyes lit up, and she shot Lainey a smug smile. “Cooper plays hockey. Professionally.”
“You don’t say.”
The total lack of interest obviously disappointed Janelle, but she regrouped. “I want a fun drink. Do you have any fun drinks?”
Lainey looked pointedly around the bar, as if drawing attention to the beer-and-wings vibe. “You mean something with an umbrella in it?”
“Yes! What do you have that’s like that?”
“Nothing. We don’t serve drinks with umbrellas.”
“You’re, like, the worst waitress I’ve ever—”
“She’ll have a Black Widow.”
Lainey and Janelle both stared at him, but Cooper was so relieved to finally have Lainey’s attention, he didn’t even care that she was frowning at him.
“Ooh. That sounds delicious!”
“It’s a secret menu item. Fifty bucks a glass.” Coop pulled out his wallet, and when he handed over the bill, he brushed his fingers against Lainey’s. It felt good to touch her, even chastely, and when he cocked an eyebrow, gesturing subtly at his companion, he could have sworn he saw her stifle a smile.
Not one to be ignored, Janelle heaved a sigh that seemed designed to test the strength of the material keeping her breasts in check. “Isn’t it so super hot when your guy orders for you?”
“It’s the dreamiest,” Lainey agreed, tucking the money into her pocket. Cooper was sure that her demeanor had thawed now that she knew he didn’t welcome Janelle’s intrusion any more than she did.
“What’s her problem?”
A giant cheer in response to something that had happened in the basketball game saved Cooper from having to answer. He kept his eyes on the screen for a few minutes, relieved not to have to make small talk. But Janelle wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Oh! I didn’t get a chance to take a picture with you earlier. Do you mind?”
Since her phone was already locked and loaded in selfie position, he didn’t think his opinion mattered.
“Uh. Yeah. Okay.” He leaned in until he could see himself in the screen of her rhinestone-studded phone. As expected, her duck-face-game was strong.
“One more!” she insisted, before he could straighten up. “I think I blinked.”
She hadn’t, but Cooper knew how to read a play. Sometimes it was best to go with the flow. He pasted his media smile back on, but this time she turned her head at the last minute and kissed him, mostly on the cheek, but she’d caught the edge of his mouth.
She licked her lips, her eyes half-closed. “Just a little something to remember me by.”
“Here’s your drink.” Lainey slammed the water glass in front of him. And just like that, the rapport they’d established was gone. She put Janelle’s drink on the table with slightly less force and took off toward the back door of the bar.
“What a bitch. Hey, where are you going?”
Cooper didn’t answer as he pushed away from the table and followed in Lainey’s wake, but when he burst through the door and into the parking lot he couldn’t see her anywhere.
A metallic creak jerked his head to the right, and he found her, standing beside the Dumpster near the back entrance, one hand supporting the heavy lid so she could toss a garbage bag into its reeking depths. When she let go, the lid crashed down with a bang.
“I think I lost her,” he joked, thumbing behind him.
Lainey didn’t react, just turned her head to stare at the sky. Streaks of pink and yellow were starting to appear against the deepening blue. Cooper took a moment to soak in her profile, from the top of her head down the slope of her nose, but when he reached her lips, which she’d painted a glossy, deep red tonight, looking wasn’t enough anymore. He took a step toward her.
“I got your message.” His voice was deep, almost hoarse, with restrained passion. Being alone with her for the first time since he’d watched the video had sparked a need in his belly that was proving difficult to ignore.
She lifted her chin, and the stubborn set of her jaw struck a discordant note in his lust-muddled brain.
“That offer expired. You should probably get back inside before you miss your date’s inevitable nip slip.”
Cooper frowned. “You know I’m not with her, right?”
Lainey sent him a withering look. “Why would I care if you were? We barely know each other.”
She pulled a set of keys from the pocket of her apron and stepped past him, unlocking the door they’d just come through.
“Come on. Lainey...”
She paused for a second in the doorway, but when she raised her eyes, there was hurt in them.
“Wipe the lipstick off your face.”
Cooper lifted his hand to the side of his mouth as the door slammed shut behind her.
7
SHE’D MADE GOOD TIPS.
That was the one bright spot in an otherwise vomit-inducing night. Lainey sighed, flicking on her left turn signal as she pulled to a stop at the last light on her way home. She could see the prestigious logo of Hotel Burke in the middle distance, and she couldn’t wait to crawl into bed and put the evening behind her. Little Miss Black Widow had hung around for a whole hour before she took the hint that Cooper wasn’t coming back, and Cooper, well...
The light changed to green and Lainey accelerated through the left turn, clearing the deserted intersection. When she took the final right turn into the parking lot, her only thought was, oh, shit.
Because standing there, leaning against his sleek black sports car like a bad boy from an old movie, was Cooper Mead. And just like she’d predicted, he looked damn good doing it.
His T-shirt was black rather than white, and she used the small deviation from her fantasy to steel herself against the fact that he’d ditched what’s-her-face to stand in a hotel lot and wait for her. She never should have texted him the address, let alone that video.
She parked her car next to
his, and made sure to slam the door when she got out, so he knew she was pissed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Did you honestly think I could stay away after that video?”
Lainey hiked her purse up her shoulder, crossed her arms and looked away in self-preservation. She wasn’t going to fall for his pretty words, no matter how earnestly he delivered them. “Do me a favor and save the shitty romantic comedy lines for your bar floozy.”
He shot her a pointed look, and she rewarded his attempt at humor with a scowl. “In case you’re in the habit of accosting so many women in bars that you can’t keep us all straight, I wasn’t talking about me.”
Cooper pushed away from his car, raising his hands in surrender. “No more jokes. But I think we need to talk about this.”
“Maybe I haven’t made it clear enough, but I’m not interested.” She strode to the door of her hotel and into the lobby, well aware he was only a step behind. The well-trained desk clerk made a move to save her from her stalker, but Lainey waved him off. She could deal with Cooper Mead on her own. Still, she made a mental note to raise the percentage on the “Anticipates Guests’ Needs” portion of her report before she sent it in.
Cooper waited until she’d stopped at the elevator and turned to face him before speaking.
“You were interested last night.”
The look on his face was so damn sexy that she spared a moment to mourn what could have been if he’d just shown up when he’d been damn well supposed to.
She pressed the button a few times in quick succession. “Like I said, limited time offer. You missed out. I took care of things.”
“You sure as hell did.”
The growl in his voice made her knees weak as she stepped into the elevator.
“I didn’t make that video for you. I made it for me.”
He nodded, joining her. “I know.”
A flicker of surprise lifted her brows as the elevator doors closed, and she cursed herself even as she schooled her face into a haughty but neutral expression and pressed the button for the third floor.
“I’ve watched that video a hundred times, Lainey. Watched you touch yourself with one hand and give me a figurative middle finger with the other. That’s what made it so goddamn sexy—you were so focused on yourself, on your own pleasure. Letting me know with every stroke what an asshole I was for not texting you back. Showing me what I was missing without giving a fuck about me watching you... I get hard just thinking about how hot it was to see you like that. You were so beautiful.”
Her scoff was full of bravado, and she had the disconcerting feeling that he knew it. That she’d somehow given herself away by the quick dart of her eyes and the heat in her cheeks. She took a step back, but only one, before raising her chin. “Please. You think you can come in here and smooth-talk your way back into my life? You missed your chance, Slick. The clock ran out before you took your shot. That’s how it goes sometimes.” It bothered her that she didn’t mean a single word of it.
“You know what turned me on the most? The sounds you made. Every whimper, every sigh, every moan—I can still hear them. I want to hear them again.”
She was this close to letting him, to shoving him up against the wall and allowing him to make good on all his pretty words. The door slid open, but since her room was directly across from the elevator, it wasn’t much of a reprieve.
“I’m kicking myself for missing those texts, Lainey. But let me give you what you asked for last night.”
She reached into her purse, liberating the key card. “It’s not going to be easy to make it up to me.”
“I’m up for the challenge.”
“That’s a lame, overplayed joke.” She swiped the card and stepped inside, but to her surprise, he didn’t follow her in. He just left her holding the door as he propped one broad shoulder against the jamb.
“It’s not a joke. It’s the truth. In every way. Invite me in.”
She hesitated at the switch in tactics. His full-court press had worked. The second they’d stepped into the elevator together, she’d known she was going to take what she’d wanted so desperately last night. What she still wanted. But this? What the hell was he doing? By her calculations, she should already have her legs wrapped around his waist, the path to the bed strewn with clothes. Lainey hated that he could throw her off balance so easily.
“What, you’re a vampire now? Can’t come in without permission?”
Her taunting didn’t faze him. What made him a great defenseman was that he’d learned to read the game and not fall for the deke. Damn him.
“Invite me in, Lainey.”
Something in the tone of his voice made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It wasn’t fear that trickled down her spine, though. It was a sense of danger, pure and simple. The kind that kicked up a girl’s heartbeat and made her knees spongy. It was the good kind.
Lainey swallowed. Cooper took up the whole doorway, all broad shoulders and brooding sensuality.
“Why should I?” Her breath might be shaky, but her words weren’t, and she was thankful for that.
“Because I want to touch you. I want to figure out every dirty thing you did to yourself under that sheet. I’m going to learn what I need to do to get you to make each and every one of those noises. Every moan, every gasp, every stuttered breath. I want to figure out your body. I’m going to make you say my name again.”
It was suddenly very hard to breathe. “I didn’t say your name.”
The rapacious glint in his eye made her doubt her statement.
“I want to make you scream with pleasure, and I want you to invite me in so you know that you want that, too.”
Oh, God. “I want that, too.” Did she ever.
She’d expected him to pounce, slam her up against the wall, but he just stepped over the threshold, closed the door behind him. There was a finality as the dead bolt slammed into place, and the scrape as he slid the chain home sent nervous energy skidding down her arms. She hugged herself against the sensations churning in her gut.
Then he turned and fixed her with a predatory look, and her arms fell to her sides. What had she done?
His gait was slow and purposeful. Coop had a loose-hipped, athletic swagger that was sexy as hell. He stepped closer—close enough for her to catch his warm, male scent, close enough to feel the heat radiating from his large, muscled frame. So close that if she took a deep breath, their chests would touch.
“Those were some pretty big promises you made back there.”
He tipped his head forward, his lips a hair’s breadth from hers, but not making contact. She swayed toward him involuntarily, unable to resist their magnetic pull. “I’m a man of my word,” he said softly, before finally, finally, giving her what he’d made her admit she’d been waiting for.
The fleeting brush of his lips stopped her breath. He did it again, and once more, as though he liked wielding that power.
“Lainey?” He ran his fingers up her arms slowly enough to leave a trail of goose bumps.
“Mmm-hmm?”
“I want you to take off your pants now.”
She stiffened at his imperious tone, but he swooped in and kissed her before she could argue.
“I told you what I was doing here and you invited me in. That means that tonight we’re playing by my rules. Now take off your pants.”
Lainey shivered at the command. There was a part of her that was galled by his autocratic demeanor and smug orders. But there was another part of her, too...the part that was tired of making decisions, tired of being strong all the time. And that part was desperate to play along, to take the pleasure he offered, and to let him take control. It was just for one night, she assured herself, as she reached for the button on her jeans.
Her wrist cooperated, and she kept her gaze on
his beautiful, rugged face as she slid the zipper down, slowly, seductively, she hoped. She might be playing by his rules, but that didn’t mean he held all the power, as evidenced by the way he clenched his jaw as she shimmied her jeans down her hips.
Cooper tugged the black satin panties down her thighs and pushed her onto the mattress. Lainey found herself lying back against the pillows with her unbuttoned shirt hanging open to reveal her matching black satin bra and a dangerously intent Cooper Mead between her legs.
Her pulse beat an elemental rhythm and he hadn’t even touched her yet.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” he confessed. The soft, low timbre of his voice set off a tremor in her belly. Without conscious volition, she drew her knees up, further exposing her to his gaze, and the way his eyes darkened as he moved closer increased the thrum of excitement coursing through her veins.
She was wet for him. Desperate for his touch. His words built a hunger in her so fierce that her world had narrowed to a pinpoint of pleasure.
He stroked his thumb across her most sensitive flesh, and the shock of pleasure was so good, so sweet, that she cried out.
He rocked his fingers inside her, applying the most delicious pressure to her G-spot at an angle she couldn’t match on her own. Her breath came faster as the pressure built.
“Jesus, Lainey. You’re so fucking sexy.”
She rewarded him with a moan as she fisted the sheets on either side of her hips. God, he was good at this.
And then Cooper’s other hand brushed her clit and Lainey’s hips bucked off the bed at the current of electricity that jolted through her. “Oh, fuck. Coop.”
“Come for me, baby.”
She wanted to—goddamn, she wanted to—but even in the midst of the deep, curling pleasure, the sexy command made her question giving him everything. She didn’t want to need him. Not even for this.
“Seriously, Lainey?” Cooper read the tiny change in her body and slowed the pace of his fingers. “Take what I’m trying to give you. Let me make you feel even half of what watching you in that video made me feel.”
Playing Dirty Page 8