Playing Dirty

by Tiffany Snow

  “Leo, you’ve always been an asshole, but I’ve tolerated you in this city,” my dad interrupted. “But I’m afraid you’ve overstepped this time.” Dad motioned to a couple of the men with him. “Take him outside for now.” They immediately moved to do his bidding, dragging a babbling and pleading Leo up the stairs.

  The man who didn’t appear to be like the others made directly for Branna, and it suddenly struck me who he was. That senator Parker had introduced me to. He must be the guy Ryker had said Branna was working for.

  Though they looked far from an employer/employee relationship. He had an arm around her and was kissing her. Huh.

  My dad dug in his pocket to produce his pocketknife. A few quick slices and my arms were free. Dad took my hand and helped me to my feet, wrapping an arm around me.

  “How did you find me, Daddy?” I asked.

  “I had someone keeping an eye on your apartment ever since you told your mother what happened.”

  “She wasn’t supposed to tell you,” I said.

  “Your mother doesn’t keep secrets from me,” he said. “Especially secrets that concern the safety of my daughter.”

  “Who are all these men?” I asked. “Why is Leo so scared of you?”

  But my dad just smiled. “We’ll talk about it later, honey. For now, let’s get out of here. The smell is disgusting. I should’ve known Leo would pick a shithole like this.”

  I didn’t argue, letting him lead me up the stairs. We passed crumpled bodies on the way, but I kept my gaze straight ahead.

  When we got outside, I saw Leo standing with some of my dad’s men. He looked over at us.

  “What shall I do with him?” Dad asked me.

  Leo was the man who’d ordered Parker’s murder. I knew exactly what I wanted.

  “I don’t want him breathing,” I said, my voice flat. “Ever.”

  A ghost of a smile flitted across my dad’s face. “That’s my girl,” he said softly.

  My dad opened the door to a waiting limo and I slid inside.

  I felt numb. Parker was dead in my apartment, in my bed. My dad seemed to be exactly what Ryker had said he was, and I’d grown up blissfully oblivious. My body was broken and bruised, and my soul … my soul had died back in that apartment with Parker.

  “Take me to Ryker’s,” I said to my dad. Ryker needed to know what had happened … and that Parker was dead.

  I didn’t ask if Dad knew where Ryker lived. I had a feeling he did. And sure enough, forty minutes later, we were pulling up to Ryker’s house.

  The truck was in the driveway and the lights were on.

  My dad walked me to the door. It flew open almost immediately.

  “Sage,” Ryker said, looking surprised. Seeing my dad, his brow creased in confusion, then he got a good look at my face. His jaw tightened. “What happened?”

  “Your job happened,” my dad said. “Leo Shea thought he’d use Sage to get to you. Fortunately, I was keeping a closer eye on my daughter than you were.”

  Ryker said nothing, though a wince crossed his features.

  “Leo’s left town,” my dad said. “I trust the police won’t devote a tremendous amount of resources looking for him?”

  “No,” Ryker rasped, and I knew he understood what my dad wasn’t saying.

  “Excellent. Then we have an understanding. I’ll continue to allow you to see my daughter, against my better judgment, but she asked to come here. However, if you continue to take such poor care of her, you and I …”—he paused meaningfully—“will have a problem.”

  Ryker didn’t flinch at the threat, but I elbowed my dad.

  “Stop,” I chastised him. “Go on and go. I’m exhausted.”

  “All right, honey.” He brushed a kiss to my forehead. “Get something on that eye.”

  He walked away and I fell against Ryker, tired to the bone and too heartbroken to cry. He pulled me gently inside and closed the door behind me.

  I took a deep, steadying breath. “There’s something I have to tell you,” I began …

  Sage Reece almost lost the two men she loves:

  tough cop Ryker and sexy businessman Parker.

  But when a beautiful, cunning woman from their

  past returns, Sage must make the most

  dangerous play of her life …

  Please see the next page for a preview of

  Play To Win

  Available

  from Piatkus in Spring 2016

  PROLOGUE

  Parker and I have been sleeping together.”

  The words fell with the force of a bomb against Ryker’s ears as he stared at the woman he loved. Shock had turned his muscles to stone and he couldn’t move, could barely breathe.

  This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t possibly have understood her correctly. She was lying, or this was a really bad joke—

  “I’ve been in love with him for a while,” she continued as though completely unaware of the stake each word was driving into his chest. “And he loves me, too. We were going to tell you before, but …” Her words trailed away and she shrugged.

  “But what?” he asked, his voice like a rake on gravel.

  “But I love you, too,” she said, tears filling her eyes but not yet spilling over. They clung to her lashes like diamonds sparkling in the sun. “And I don’t want to lose you.”

  She moved closer until she stood within a hairbreadth of her abdomen touching his. Lifting her hands, she placed her palms on the bare skin of his chest. Ryker squeezed his eyes shut, his senses assaulted by her—the heat of her touch, the smell of her skin, the brush of her hair against him as it stirred in the breeze.

  “We can be happy, the three of us,” Natalie said, her voice a soft murmur of sound. She pressed her lips to his skin, and against his will Ryker’s cock twitched, hardening from her mere touch.

  “Parker put you up to this, didn’t he,” Ryker said. That was the only explanation. The woman he knew was sweet and trusting. She’d believe anything Parker told her. God only knew what he’d said to seduce her and make her think they were in love.

  “Parker’s your best friend,” she said, her lips moving against his skin. “The three of us together … just think about it.”

  But Ryker had stopped listening. Grasping her upper arms so tightly she gasped, he pushed her back so he could see her eyes.

  “Tell me the truth,” he growled, trying to keep his temper in check. “Parker filled your head with all this crap about the three of us, didn’t he? He said whatever he had to in order to get you into bed. You love me. You want to be with me. Right?” He shook her slightly before he stopped himself. “Tell me!”

  “Y-yes,” Natalie stammered, her eyes wide. “It was Parker. I-I didn’t know what to do. And he said we could be happy, the three of us, wanted to show me what it would be—”

  “He wants you for himself,” Ryker interrupted, abruptly releasing her. Turning away, he shoved a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe it. My best friend, stabbing me in the back.”

  It was unreal. Incomprehensible. Parker and he went back—way back—and had looked out for each other through street gangs, schoolyard bullies, drill sergeants, and enemy fire. Parker knew how much Ryker loved Natalie. He’d even talked with Parker about how he was thinking of proposing, once Natalie had gotten over the loss of her husband, missing in action and presumed dead.

  And he’d thought she was there or, at least, almost. She’d told him she loved him. They’d made love …

  Then Parker had seduced her. To do something like that to someone as trusting and vulnerable as Natalie made his blood boil. Parker had finally shown his true colors. It had just taken a woman to bring out what Ryker had always suspected was there—a narcissistic asshole blinded by his own wealth and privilege. It must’ve amused him, all these years, playing the savior for the charity case kid from the shitty part of town.

  He felt Natalie’s hands on his back, lightly stroking his skin, gentling him.

  �
��I love you,” she said, “and only you. I don’t know why I let him get inside my head like that. Forgive me? Please? You’re the one I want.”

  The words were a balm to his fractured soul, though nothing could heal the searing pain of Parker’s betrayal. The thought of Parker with Natalie—

  No. He couldn’t think about it, wouldn’t think about it. It didn’t matter what she’d done or been coerced into doing, Ryker couldn’t live without her. His every breath was for her. If she left him … he’d have nothing and no one. He needed her more than he cared about his broken pride or wounded psyche.

  “Of course I forgive you,” he rasped. “It’s you and me. Together. Nothing will come between us. Especially not Parker.”

  Taking a deep breath, he turned around and took her in his arms, his lips finding hers in a searing kiss that melted his anger and turned his guts into a molten river of want.

  She let him make love to her, their joining more desperate on his side than it had been before. As though his soul knew he was losing her, inch by inch.

  * * *

  It was only a week later that his worst fears were realized.

  Ryker didn’t announce his presence when he walked into Parker’s place. He hadn’t been able to reach Natalie for the past hour, though they were supposed to meet for dinner after he got off work. On a suspicion he didn’t want to dwell on, Ryker had come here.

  He hadn’t spoken to Parker since Natalie had confessed. Unable to know for certain what he’d do if he saw Parker, Ryker had avoided him all week.

  Now he stood, frozen in Parker’s bedroom doorway, aghast at the tableau in front of him.

  Natalie, naked, her limbs entwined around Parker’s hips. The sounds of her gasps and moans filled the air, pouring into his ears like acid. The sheets tangled around their legs and the sight of Parker pumping between her thighs sent fury raging through him.

  With a roar, he attacked, grabbing Parker and hauling him off Natalie. He tossed him, and Parker hit the wall with a thud and grunt before falling to the floor.

  Parker’s gaze met Ryker’s, shock and confusion followed quickly by horror.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Parker asked.

  “Besides watching you fuck my girlfriend,” Ryker spat. “I’m here to kill you, asshole.”

  He went for him, but Parker fought back, blocking Ryker’s right hook and retreating.

  “It’s over between you two,” Parker said. “You’ve got to accept that.”

  “Fuck you,” Ryker growled, going after him again. This time he landed a good hit to Parker’s jaw and gut before Parker was able to retaliate, the blows to Ryker’s solar plexus making him lose his breath, forcing him to pause.

  “You’ve gotta stop,” Parker said, breathing hard. “She’s not worth this.”

  Nothing Parker said could have enraged Ryker more and he yelled as he attacked again, this time his fury such that Parker’s blows didn’t stop him. Blood flowed and his knuckles ached, but all he saw through the haze of red in his vision was Natalie’s body being desecrated by Parker.

  “Stop! You’re going to kill him! Stop!”

  Natalie’s words broke through the rage at last and Ryker went still, his chest heaving from exertion. Parker lay on the floor, blood staining the skin around his mouth and nose. His eyes were closed and he didn’t move.

  “Oh God oh God oh God …” Natalie was murmuring over and over. She’d dropped to her knees, her hand tenderly brushing back the hair from his face. “I think he’s just unconscious,” she said at last.

  Lifting her gaze to Ryker’s, he was stunned to see the tears streaking her face.

  “I can’t do this. I can’t watch you two tear each other apart,” she said.

  “You have to choose,” Ryker said, his voice flat. “Him or me. You can’t have both.” Because now he knew. He knew by the look in her eyes that she hadn’t told him the truth.

  “I told you I wanted you,” she said. “But I want him, too.” Her gaze was unflinching.

  “I can’t live like that.”

  Slowly, she got to her feet. “You can,” she said. “For me, you can.” Her eyes were mesmerizing. Her hold over him utter and complete. “Or else you’ll lose me. And him. Forever.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t push me, Ryker,” she said. “You won’t like what happens.”

  The look in her eye sent a chill through him, and Ryker was suddenly struck at how she stood over Parker’s unconscious and bleeding body, naked but without any apparent self-consciousness.

  “This ends now,” he said. “You choose. Him or me.”

  She didn’t answer, just silently gathered her clothes and dressed. When she was done, she stood in front of him.

  “Kiss me,” she ordered.

  Hesitant relief flowed through him, but he was too cautious to believe she’d chosen him. Still, he couldn’t resist her. Hope was too strong a pull and he leaned down, sealing her lips with his.

  At last he lifted his head, his eyes too lazy to open. When they did, he stumbled back in shock.

  For it wasn’t Natalie in his arms, staring at him with a look of utter satisfaction on her face. It was Sage.

  * * *

  Ryker woke up with a start, sitting straight up in bed. A sheen of cold sweat covered him, but he didn’t notice. All he could see inside his head was Natalie and Sage, the thin, sharp blade of betrayal cutting him deep.

  Getting up, he went into the kitchen, forgoing any lights. He knew his way in the dark. McClane padded beside him, his nails clicking on the floor as he trailed his owner.

  Ryker absently filled a glass with water and took a deep swallow, letting the night air cool his sweat-slicked skin. Even now, years later, he remembered the horror of that night and the morning that had followed. The police had called with news that her car had been found in the river and they had sent in a recovery team to find the body.

  He hadn’t spoken to Parker since that night until four months ago, when he’d walked into Parker’s office … and laid eyes on Sage.

  Now he was on the brink of losing the woman he loved, again, to the same man who’d betrayed him all those years ago.

  Ryker wasn’t going let that happen. He wouldn’t lose Sage to Parker, and he’d do anything to keep history from repeating itself.

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  Tiffany Snow, Playing Dirty