Playing with Fire

by J. S. Cooper

  “You’re the new girl in the house?” An older lady with dark hair stared at me from under her hat as I looked at the fruit in the stall in front of her. “You should leave.”

  “Sorry, what?” I frowned at her, wondering what she was talking about.

  “You’re the new girl up at Slate Manor?” Her eyes narrowed as she surveyed me. “That’s a scary place. It’s almost like it’s haunted.” Her eyes never left my face.

  “Um yeah, but Grant Slate is no longer there,” I almost whispered. “It’s just me and Tyler now.” As I spoke to her, I realized I didn’t even know his last name.

  “Tyler is a Slate as well.” She paused. “They were brothers.”

  “I know.” I stared back at her fearlessly.

  “I knew their parents and their sister. Very sad family. Very sad.” She grabbed my hand. “Stand still, let me read your palms.”

  “Uh, okay.” I gazed at her and looked around, hoping Tyler would hurry up in the shop and come back and get me. I was uncomfortable being with this lady.

  “The game has begun again.” She dropped my hand and looked up at me, her eyes alert. “Grant and Tyler have been playing this game for a long time now.”

  “They did.” I sighed, not wanting to explain myself to her. “But it’s over now. Grant is gone. And the last girl, Eugenie, well she’s gone to safety now. Grant and her have both left.” I paused as I realized that this lady knew a lot more than she should have. How did she know so much information?

  “I know that. She’s safe now. She’s in rehab. She’ll be okay.” She nodded her head. “I warned her as well in the very beginning. She didn’t want to listen.” She sighed. “You girls never want to listen. You always want to think you’re special.”

  “You warned her of what?” My voice rose now. “Who are you exactly?”

  “They’ll tell you anything, those guys will. They’ll do anything. Each new girl is the key to their salvation. They let their sister down. She succumbed to drugs. Now they save women, but they can’t save women when they’re screwed up themselves.”

  “What?” I frowned. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “The Slate boys, well, the Slate boys have more games and problems than they do condoms.”

  “What?” My jaw dropped open. “What are you talking about?”

  “The apples are two for a dollar,” she said sweetly, and I frowned at the change of subject.

  “Are you ready, Evie?” I felt Tyler’s arm on my back, and I looked up at his beaming face and nodded.

  “Yes, I don’t think I’ll get any fruit today.” I looked back at the lady, but she was staring at Tyler strangely.

  “You’ve changed.” Her eyes narrowed as she suddenly grasped his hands and looked down at his palms. “You’re different.” She shook her head. “It’s not possible. How?”

  “It’s all her.” He pointed at me. “She came into my life. She saved me. She saved me when I didn’t even know I needed saving.”

  “Your destiny has changed.” She beamed suddenly. “It will be alright. You will be alright.” She let go of his hand and then looked at me. “It will be hard, but you will make it through. You will be alright. Love has broken the Slate spell.”

  “I have some presents for you.” Tyler grinned as he led me into the master bedroom after we got home.

  “You didn’t have to get me anything.” I shook my head and squeezed his hand. “Just being with you is enough.”

  “I’m so lucky to have you, Evie. I never thought I’d meet someone like you.”

  “Neither did I.” I leaned forward and kissed him softly.

  “Come.” He grabbed my hand. “Sit on the bed.”

  “What did you get me?” I asked, eagerly awaiting my presents.

  “Roses for my rose.” He handed me a bouquet of red roses. “To represent my love and passion for you.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled. “How sweet of you.”

  “That’s not all.” He handed me a small box, and my heart started racing.

  “What’s this?”

  “Open it.” He sat next to me and watched my face.

  “A ring?” I gasped at the platinum band with the huge carat diamond.

  “It’s a promise ring.” He rubbed my back. “I promise to take care of you and all of your needs. I promise to always be the man you need me to be. I promise to always take care of you.”

  “Oh Tyler.” I took the ring out of the box. “Thank you.”

  “Just say you’ll never leave me.” His eyebrows furrowed. “I couldn’t stand it if you left me.”

  “Oh Tyler, I’ll never leave you.”

  “Good.” He smiled. “Two more presents.”

  “You’re spoiling me.” I laughed.

  “Good, you deserve to be spoiled.” He grinned and reached into a bag on the stand. “This is for you.” He handed me another jewelry case. I opened it slowly and saw a beautiful silver ROLEX watch.

  “Oh my God, Tyler. This is too much.”

  “Nothing is too much for you.” He took the watch and placed it on my wrist. “Perfect, it fits perfectly.”

  “You’re too generous.”

  “Nothing is too much for the lady I love.” He kissed me hard and then jumped up. “One final gift.”

  “Ooh, what is it?” I giggled.

  “This one is the most special.” His blue eyes were warm as he handed me a larger box.

  “What is this? Sexy underwear?” I laughed and opened the box eagerly. Inside the large box was a smaller box and I opened it eagerly. There in a small velvet case sat a large diamond.

  “This is a ring for you. Because I want you to be mine forever. I want you to always chose me and only me. And I want to say sorry. I want to make it up to you. I’m so sorry about the games Grant and I played with you. I’ve been in a daze for years and only since meeting you have I realized that I wasn’t really living. The games weren’t for me. They were for Grant. He had a spell over me. He manipulated me because he knew how guilty I felt about everything. I’m not that man anymore. And I promise to always love and protect you. I promise to take care of you. Will you marry me? Will you make me the happiest man in the world?”

  And because I’d already defied every brain cell in my head in the last week, I said, “yes,” and then fell into his arms and held him tightly. Because at the end of the day, we’re all a little bit crazy. At least that’s what I tell myself.

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  Exclusive Dante Excerpt

  My next book is Dante.

  Prologue

  “Tonight is the night.” Dante’s voice was husky as he unbuttoned his crisp white shirt, slowly. Holy damn, he was hot! “I’m going to do things to you that you’ve only dreamed of.”

  “How do you know I’ve dreamed of them?” I said as I stared at his long lithe fingers. “And how do you know I haven’t done them all already?” I winked at him and smiled to myself as he paused with his buttons and gave me a sultry look. I couldn’t help but stare at his tongue as he licked his lips like some hungry wolf that wanted to devour me. I swallowed hard and blushed as I thought about the things his tongue had done to me just a couple of nights before. It was if he knew just where every sensitive spot in my body was. It had been torture stopping him from actual intercourse, but I’d still orgasmed. I couldn’t imagine what he could do with other parts of his body if he could take me on the rollercoaster ride of all roller coaster rides with just his tongue.

  “Well, I’ll just have to make sure I find something that is new to you.” He growled and I watched as he threw his shirt on the ground, like some sort of expensive hot male stripper in Vegas. Not some Channing Tatum look alike either (though I wasn’t sure if he had been an expensive stripper or not in the movie; I could just remember him swinging his hips). Dante was
way hotter than Channing Tatum; though I would never tell him that. He was perfection in every way. Tall, handsome, sexy, eyes that seemed to pierce into my soul when he gazed at me, a smile that said I want to eat you up, a touch that made promises to my body that I didn’t know if he could deliver. To sum it up, when you looked at him, Dante Vanderbilt was like some sort of Sex God. It almost wasn’t fair. When I looked at him, I thought of rolling around in bed, sheets and legs entwined together. I imagined him gazing at me, like he was now, like I was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen in his life. But I knew for Dante, this was all a game and I knew that I had to take him down a couple of notches.

  Don’t get me wrong, I am just like you. I’m the girl that wants love. The girl that enjoys sex. The girl that wants hot sex with a man she loves. That loves her back. I don’t like games. I don’t like drama. I’ve never had a one-night stand. I’ve never done anything like this before. That might be hard to believe. I don’t even really know how I got into this situation. Well, I know, but I don’t know how I let it go this far. This was the rollercoaster ride that was never-ending and the ride was really only just beginning.

  “No strings attached, right?” His voice was smooth as he stood there and I watched as he took his jeans off. I couldn’t stop myself from gawking at his body. He was now naked from the waist up. He had a smattering of dark chest hair that covered his muscular pecs and ran down to his perfect abs. His skin was a golden olive tan and his hazel eyes shone like devious emeralds in the candle-light. I still couldn’t get over how sometimes his eyes looked so green and at other times looked so brown. He was wearing a pair of white boxer briefs that left nothing to the imagination. He had a huge grin on his face and his teeth looked unnaturally white in the darkness of his room.

  I stared at him wondering if I had the guts to go ahead with my plan. It was tricky because while I wanted to bring him down, I was also attracted to him. Very very attracted to him. And I was worried that I would be the one that would pay if everything went wrong. They always say that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. And I had a feeling that I could definitely be the one that would get burned in this situation. Even though I had planned everything out to go as smoothly as possible. Only I wasn’t quite sure I really had the perfect plan. But right now it didn’t matter. This was a risk I was willing to take.

  “Right.” I nodded as I licked my lips slowly, hoping desperately that I looked sexy as I did so. I walked towards him slowly, enjoying the feel of my flowy red dress brushing against my legs as I moved towards him seductively. “No strings attached.” My voice sounded strange to my own ears. I’d never said anything like that before in my life. Had never even thought that I would ever be okay with it. However somehow I had convinced myself that this was the way to go.

  “Take your dress off.” He said, his eyes looking darker now as he took a step towards me. His gaze was intense and he suddenly seemed taller, more muscular, more dangerous than he had before. A thrilling exhilarating feeling washed over me. This was the hottest situation that I’d ever been in. “I said now, Sadie.” His voice got deeper and he moved even closer. I stood there feeling like a statue as he leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear, “Take off your dress sexy or I’ll do it for you.” And then I felt his teeth on my earlobe nibbling and pulling it gently, before his lips fell to my neck and he kissed down my neck to my collarbone. My body was on fire and every limb was trembling in sweet anticipation. I could think of nothing, but having him then. Absolutely nothing.

  I stood there for a few seconds, unable to move, and then his hand reached up cradle my breast and I felt like I was on fire. “Take off your dress, Sadie.”

  He said again and then he whispered the words that made me freeze. “I know your secret.”

  “What?” I blinked at him, my heart freezing. He couldn’t possibly know, could he?

  “I know your secret.” He said again with a smirk. “But what you don’t know is that I have one as well.”

  Chapter One

  One Month Ago

  “Sadie, I’ve got you a date for Saturday.” My grandma exclaimed dramatically as soon as I answered the phone.

  “Hello Grandma Louise, and no thank you.” I sighed into the phone in exasperation. “I have no time for a date on Saturday.”

  “Sadie Johnson, I’ve gone out of my way to get you this date, so you don’t wind up...”

  “Alone and childless, I know, I know.” I groaned into the phone. “Grandma, I’m twenty-eight, I’ve got plenty of time.”

  “That’s what you young ladies think nowadays. In my day, if you weren’t betrothed by 17, there was a problem.”

  “Grandma, I thought you and grandpops met when you were 22?”

  “Well, you know...” her voice trailed off. “Anyways, my best friend Addie set it up. You’ll be going on a date with one of her grandsons.”

  “Addie?” I said in a confused voice. “Who’s Addie? I’ve never even heard of her before.”

  “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten my best friend Addie?” Grandma sounded appalled and mumbled on about something else, but I was no longer paying attention because the kids from downstairs were throwing water balloons through my open kitchen window.

  “I’ve never heard of her before Grandma.”

  “Well you must have forgotten. Anyway, her grandson Dante is a very eligible bachelor. And quite the looker as well.”

  “Grandma Louise, I’m not interested.” I sighed. “If he’s so great, why is he single?”

  “You know someone could say that about you as well, Sadie.” Her voice was stern. “Now, one little date is not going to hurt you, is it?”

  “Grandma, we’ll talk later. I have to go.” I hung up the phone quickly, before she could protest and spend the next thirty minutes trying to guilt me into going on the date with this random guy like some loser. “Brandon, Dylan and Brody.” I screamed as I ran to the window and looked down to the garden. “Stop it.”

  “Stop what?” Brody’s muddy face gazed up at me innocently, his bright blue eyes gleaming, as he held a red balloon in his wet hand. His little five year old face was adorable, but I was no longer deceived by his childish wiles. He was a terror through and through, along with his brothers.

  “You know what.” I growled and shook my head at him. “I’m coming down to talk to your mom.”

  “No, we’ll stop.” Dylan exclaimed panicked. He was smart enough to know that getting his mom involved wouldn’t be a good thing. At six years old, he was the oldest of the brothers, but he was definitely not the boss.

  “Too late.” I exclaimed as I backed away from the window with a hidden grin. I grabbed my keys and headed out the door to the downstairs apartment so I could speak to the boys mom, Cara, who happened to be my best friend. I had no intention on complaining about the boys though; I wanted to bitch about Grandma Louise and my new job instead. I didn’t bother locking the door because we lived in the same house and everyone in the house was welcome up to my upstairs apartment. It was a unique housing situation, but one that worked well for us. Cara’s dad had bought the house for her, when her childhood boyfriend had left her and the three kids. She rented out the top floor to me and I got a bit of a discount in the rent for babysitting the kids every now and again.

  “Cara, where are you?” I said as I walked down the stairs and into her living room. It was full of toys and I trod carefully across the floor, making sure to pay attention to the junk in front of me because I didn’t want to trip up and twist my ankle like I’d done the last time I’d been down there.

  “In the kitchen.” She called out and I hurried to the kitchen hoping that she was baking cookies. I was in the mood for chocolate chip cookies and milk or a shot of whiskey. Even one would do. “How’s it going, doll?” She grinned at me as I walked into the room. Her long frizzy red hair was a mess and she had a streak of something on her face, but she looked as happy as ever.

  “I’m good.” I said and looked ar
ound to see what I could grab to snack on. “But do you know what your brats are up to?” I mumbled before I remembered that I wasn’t going to tell on them. I really was the worst aunt.

  “Water balloons?” She nodded and then groaned as she looked at me. “Oh shit, did they get you with them?”

  “Well they tried.” I said with a small smile. “They threw them through the window and missed me, so I guess I’m the winner.”

  “Want a glass of wine?”

  “Do you have red?”

  “What sort of question is that?” She walked over to the corner of the kitchen and opened a cupboard and before I could blink she was pulling out a bottle of wine. “Merlot good?”

  “Beggars can’t be choosers.” I said and I walked over to grab two wine glasses while she opened the bottle. Merlot wasn’t my favorite, but at the end of the day wine was wine. “So guess what?” I said dramatically as I turned to her.

  “Uhm,” she groaned as she shook her head, ever the exasperate mom. “If it has anything to do with Brandon, Dylan or Brody, I don’t want to know right now.”

  “It has nothing to do with them.” I said, already having conveniently forgotten the water balloon incident. “Grandma Louise called me.”

  “Oh Lord, what has she done now?” She handed me a glass and grinned widely. She knew Grandma Louise well. “Has she started another sex line or selling bingo tickets to her local ladies club?”

  “Don’t.” I shook my head as I gulped down a huge sip of wine. Grandma Louise always had some scheme going on and I wasn’t sure if she actually knew what she was doing or not. Last year, she’d gotten the idea to start a party-line with her friends. She claimed she didn’t understand what it meant and thought she was just offering phone calls to military men who were lonely and stationed overseas and just wanted someone to talk to. I asked her why she had a late-night ad on the local TV station if she thought the guys were overseas and then she started talking about how dementia ran in the family. “I still can’t believe she was rigging the weekly bingo sessions by creating winning cards and selling them at a discount to members of the club.”