Playing His Game

by Tunstall, Kit

  Once in the passenger seat, she fidgeted with her purse strap, chewed on her thumbnail, and stole peeks at the radio’s clock. The yellow-orange numbers seemed to glow brighter with each passing minute. “He’s going to be so angry.”

  “He’ll understand.” Bobby must be very understanding if he’d let Maya enter this ridiculous game. Roarke’smouth twisted. Or he was a selfish pig. How could he stand by and let Roarke coerce Maya into bed? If she was his fiancée, no man would ever touch her again. He would give up anything and everything for her. His career wouldn’t have meant anything next to Maya. “Why are you with that bastard?” Roarke silently cursed himself when he blurted out the question.

  Maya’s attention had been focused on rehearsing what she would say to Bobby when she got home, so it took her a moment for his words to sink in. “What?”

  He shook his head, deciding discretion was the better part of valor. “Never mind.”

  She frowned at him and wondered why he had abandoned the question. She chose to answer anyway. “I love him.”

  Her voice lacked conviction. He had no trouble detecting the note of uncertainty in her tone. “Why?”

  Maya’s reaction surprised her. Whenever her sister asked questions like that, she fervidly defended Bobby. Her hackles rose whenever her family criticized him. Now she found herself at a loss and searched for an answer that wasn’t trite. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t find the right words. She breathed a sigh of relief when the Lotus turned onto her street. “It’s the pink stucco building.”

  Roarke stopped in front of the building. “Do you want me to walk you up?”

  Her eyes widened. “No.” She quieted her strident tone to a normal decibel. “This neighborhood is safe.”

  He wanted to protest, but Roarke knew she would have a hard enough time when she faced Bobby without him appearing on the doorstep. He could only imagine Bobby’s reaction. “You don’t have to go up.”

  His urgent words surprised her. Maya’s brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “He won’t get violent, will he?”

  She bit her lip. Bobby might get violent, but not with her. When they argued, which was infrequently, he had sometimes thrown things, or yelled and cursed, but he wouldn’t hurt her. “I’ll be fine.”

  It wasn’t the answer he wanted, but Roarke settled for it. He took his wallet from his pants and flipped it open. He rifled through the contents for a moment, and then handed her a card. “That’s my private phone number and home address. If things don’t go well, you can call me.”

  The moment struck Maya as surreal. The man who had forced her into a sexual relationship now offered to protect her from her fiancé. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? She slid the card in her purse before she lifted the door handle. There didn’t seem to be anything else to say, so she opened the door.

  He put his hand on her arm. “When are your parents leaving?”

  “Friday.”

  “Did you take vacation?”

  “Yes.” Would he ask for an extra day? Would she object? The ambiguousness of her feelings gave her an answer, but it wasn’t one she wanted to examine.

  “Let’s skip this week.” He gritted his teeth as he made the offer. “You obviously miss them, and you can’t see them enough with them living in Washington. You’ll want to spend this week with them, focused on them—not thinking about…other things.”

  She refused to acknowledge the dart of disappointment. “Okay. I’ll see you next Tuesday.”

  He almost blurted out that he would be counting the days, but Roarke restrained himself. She didn’t want to hear that. “Goodnight.”

  Maya surprised them both when she leaned over to kiss him. She pressed her lips to his for a brief moment, and then scurried from the car. She rushed up the walkway, idly noting her knees trembled, although it wasn’t strictly nerves about the confrontation with Bobby that made her legs weak. She could still feel Roarke’s lips against hers.

  As she unlocked the entrance, Maya turned around in time to see Roarke pull away. She touched her lips and stared after him until his Lotus turned a corner. With a sigh, she entered the apartment building and trudged up the stairs.

  Chapter Twelve

  Confrontation

  Bobby sprawled on the leather sofa, snoring loudly. Maya let herself in and quietly lowered her keys and purse to the table. She was almost tempted to just let him sleep until four-thirty, when they would leave for the airport. There would be no opportunity for him to yell at her for the time being. With a sigh, Maya walked over to the couch to wake him, because she knew it was better to get the discussion out of the way. Bobby wouldn’t forget it. He would just get angrier as time passed, until he eventually exploded. The last thing she wanted was a serious fight in front of her family.

  His eyes snapped open when she touched his shoulder. Maya held her breath as she waited for his reaction. He yawned and stretched. “What time is it?”

  She glanced at the clock on the VCR. “Three fifty-seven.”

  Bobby swung his legs off the sofa as he sat up. “What’s going on?”

  “Huh?”

  “What were you doing all night?”

  “I fell asleep.”

  He looked skeptical. “For twelve hours?”

  She shrugged and dropped into the loveseat. “It’s been a long week.”

  “I’ll bet your afternoon with Thomas was exhausting.”

  Maya closed her eyes and let his bitter words wash over her. She knew if she retorted it would only prolong the argument. “I’m sorry I was gone so long.”

  “Sorry? You were gone all day and most of the night, and that’s all you can say?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You owe me an explanation.”

  “I fell asleep,” she said again, this time with a hint of anger in her voice.

  “That’s not all. We both know it wasn’t anything as innocent as sleeping.”

  “Whatever I was doing, it was for you. I can’t leave until he tells me to.” She felt a flush of guilt creep up her neck as she said the words. It wasn’t just for Bobby anymore, and Roarke hadn’t kept her prisoner. She had fallen asleep in his bed and slept in complete peace in his arms. She had even imagined him in the shower with her. Maya felt her face get hot as the blush crept upwards, and she tried to redirect her thoughts back to Bobby.

  “You had better be home when I get here from now on.”

  “Or what?”

  He glowered at her. “You won’t like it.”

  Maya’s lips thinned. “Here’s the solution to me being gone. Grow some balls and stand up to Roarke.”

  His eyes turned glacial, and he lunged from the sofa. Maya cringed away from his quick movements, but he hurried past her. He was completely dressed and stopped only to grab a jacket from the closet as he strode to the door.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going out. Maybe I’ll stay gone twelve hours, and you can see how you like it.”

  Maya rolled her eyes at his petulance until she realized he had scooped up the car keys from the table. “You can’t take the SRX.”

  Bobby turned to frown at her. “Why not?”

  “My family will be here soon. We need to pick them up.”

  “You can do it. Or maybe Roarke will help you.” With a twist of his lips, Bobby tossed the keys at her before he opened the door and walked out. He made sure to slam it behind him.

  Maya ducked as the keys flew through the air, aimed at her. They careened into the black lamp on the table and sent it crashing to the floor. A bubble of hysterical laughter welled up in her, which begged for release. The confrontation hadn’t been as bad as she had expected.

  Maya forced down the laughter and the tears that tried to follow. She got up from the loveseat to clean up the debris left from the lamp. She fished the keys from the ceramic shards, and then got the dust pan and whiskbroom from the kitchen. After she cleaned the mess, Maya went into the bedroom to change into jeans and a warmer sh
irt.

  As she brushed out her hair, she met her eyes in the mirror. They sparkled with unshed tears and repressed anger. Her skin was pale, and her mouth trembled. Her parents would surely notice how upset she was. As usual, they would attribute it to Bobby, and she would have to let them. She couldn’t explain the situation with Roarke. They would never understand why she let herself be used for Bobby’s benefit.

  Her parents wouldn’t understand that his success was their success. As she laid the brush down on the counter, an uncomfortable thought popped into her head. She averted her eyes from the glint of knowledge in the mirror image’s eyes, but the thought wouldn’t go away.

  Was she really doing it for Bobby, or had she become a willing participant in Roarke’s game?

  She tried to push the thought aside as she left the apartment and headed for the airport. She made good time through the moderate traffic and arrived a little after four-twenty. She stood in line for a while before she finally got back to the gate where their flight would arrive.

  Maya sat in a chair and thumbed through a magazine without reading it. Instead, she found her thoughts once again on Roarke. Not Bobby, as they should be. She wanted to think of the perfect apology to smooth things over with her fiancé, but all her mind conjured were images of Roarke. His gentle hands as they moved over her body, or the way his muscles moved when he had walked naked from the bedroom to the bathroom. His taut buttocks…

  Maya suppressed a groan, forcing her attention back to the magazine. The headline of the open page screamed 10 Easy Ways to Seduce Your Lover. She scanned the article almost automatically. Sexy lingerie: Check. Flirting: Uh… Touching him without a reason: Good idea. When Maya realized she was mentally listing what she had done as opposed to what she hadn’t, she closed the magazine with a snap and tossed it back on the small table beside her chair at the end of the row.

  She got up for a juice from the machine and paced around the lounge for a while. When the plane finally landed, she walked over to the window to watch the ground crew direct it in. When the first passengers poured in, she dropped the empty juice bottle in a trashcan and turned her attention to the line.

  Solidly in the middle of the crush were a tall man, plump woman, and beautiful girl. Maya raised her arm and waved to them wildly. Carly caught sight of her first and waved just as enthusiastically. Maya worked her way through the crowd as her family did the same.

  Then she was standing before them, and they were all talking at once. She was swept up into three sets of arms, and did her fair share of hugging. “I missed you,” she said over and over. The tears in her mother’s eyes brought tears streaming down her cheeks too. It wasn’t long before Carly was joining in.

  Only Frank’s eyes didn’t tear, but his lips were trembling.

  After the initial rush of greetings, everyone caught their breath, and they turned toward the exit and joined the crowd that struggled to get through LAX as quickly as possible. “Where’s Bobby?” Patty’s tone was polite, but lacked any warmth.

  Maya shrugged. “He couldn’t make it.”

  Frank grunted, but didn’t say anything. Patty nodded, and Carly looked relieved. Contrary to her usual reaction, Maya found herself too apathetic to answer their unspoken criticisms. “Let’s go back to the apartment and drop off the bags. After, we’ll go have breakfast.” Her stomach rumbled and Maya realized she hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday. With the upheaval of the last few hours, she shouldn’t be able to even think about food.

  “I’m starving.” Carly rubbed her stomach. “That airline food’s a killer.”

  Maya chuckled. “I remember a time when you scarfed it down.”

  Her sister shuddered. “Don’t remind me.”

  They stopped at the baggage carousel before they made their way to short-term parking. Maya opened the rear door of the Cadillac SRX so Frank could load their luggage.

  “Nice.” Carly caressed the deep purple paint. “Spendy?”

  Maya nodded, more than a little sick at the amount of money Bobby had put down on the vehicle. There had been no choice with his bad credit, and he had been determined to have it. When she had protested at the extra two grand for a custom paint job, he had assured her there was more money where that came from. As always, he had been confident of his prospects. That was before Roarke and his ultimatum.

  Maya’s lip curled. His future was secure, for only the bargain price of her body.

  “I hope you put some back.”

  “We did, Dad.” She avoided his eyes when she thought of the small amount left in the checkbook.

  “That boy will drain you dry.”

  “Dad, don’t start.”

  Frank slammed the back. “I’m just saying you have to be sensible about money when you’re with a man like Bobby.”

  “Frank.” Patty touched his arm while she shot him a look. “Remember what we talked about on the plane?”

  “She needs to realize what she’s getting into. And when they have kids…”

  “Frank.”

  He snorted as he walked around to the back passenger side.

  Maya sighed as she walked to the driver’s side and unlocked the door. She disengaged the other locks and slid inside. As she left the lot, she wondered at her lack of anger with her father’s words. Maybe she had missed them too much to pay attention to the same old criticisms. Maybe she was finally mature enough to overlook their poor opinion of Bobby. Maybe Dad’s right. Maya forced a smile for her sister when Carly handed her the parking slip, while trying to brush aside that thought. So what if Bobby was a little careless with money? It was part of his personality, and she loved him—warts and all.

  Her stomach cramped. She frowned at her reflection in the mirror on the visor. She was just hungry. That was all. It had been hours since she had eaten.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Gym

  Bobby spent the first two days of her family’s visit in near silence, when he was home at all. This seemed to suit Frank, and he was more cheerful than usual around her fiancé. By Monday, Maya was relieved when he went back to work. To her surprise, Patty and Frank decided to spend the day sightseeing alone and left the two sisters on their own.

  Around six in the evening, Carly threw herself down on the couch. “I’m bored.”

  “We could go to a movie.”

  “Eh.” Carly shrugged. “What do you normally do?”

  Maya scrunched her brows together as she tried to remember the last time she had done anything on a Monday. “Well, I normally work until nine-thirty. When I get home, Bobby and I go to the gym.”

  Carly’s blue eyes sparkled, and she leaned forward so quickly her short, auburn, pixie-cut flipped up.

  “Cool. Let’s go.”

  “You don’t have a membership.”

  She lifted a shoulder. “I’ll pay for a guest pass. I’ve been dying to work out.”

  “There’s a small gym downstairs.”

  “No pool, and the machines suck.”

  “That’s why we pay for a membership.” She got up from her perch on the loveseat. “All right. I am stiff.”

  She stretched reflexively. “I remember when I couldn’t drag you away from your computer or video games.”

  A rueful smile curved Carly’s lips. “That was me. No argument there.”

  “Did you bring you workout clothes?”

  She shook her head. “Can I borrow something?”

  “I don’t know if I have anything that will fit you since you’ve gotten so skinny.” Maya bit back a grin at her sister’s blissful smile. She liked to praise Carly’s accomplishment whenever the opportunity arose.

  They rummaged through the closet, and then took a taxi to the gym since Bobby had the SRX. Once inside, Maya watched with amusement as her sister flirted shamelessly. She left Carly to her activities to do her workout. When Carly finally joined her, she made Maya exhausted as she watched. It was a relief when they were finally on their way out.

  Until they ran in
to Roarke. Carly had her head turned to watch a guy as he pumped iron, and she ran right into a solid male body. She turned with a giggle. “I’m so sorry.”

  “No problem. Maya?” Roarke’s eyes scanned her body in the form-fitting Lycra pants and bra-top. Why was she even sexier in the workout clothes than the teddy he had bought her?

  She tried to suppress the excited quiver in her stomach as she smiled at Roarke. “Hi.”

  Carly’s man-eater grin was in full force as she batted her eyelashes up at Roarke—not too far, Maya noted with a grimace. Unlike her, Carly was tall. Her head came to his shoulder. The perfect level for them to kiss. Her mouth twisted at the thought, and she tried to ignore the twinge of jealousy while she watched her sister focus her charms on Roarke.

  “You know each other?” Carly had positioned herself just a few inches from Roarke after they collided.

  “Roarke owns the studio shooting Bobby’s movie.”

  Roarke held out his hand. “You must be Maya’s sister.”

  Carly grasped his hand. “I’m Carly, the baby of the family.”

  He cleared his throat as she stroked her fingers across his palm. Roarke’s eyes skimmed over her lithe figure in the shorty-shorts and t-shirt, knotted under her full breasts. “Could have fooled me.” He disentangled his hand while he looked at Maya from the corner of his eyes just in time to catch her pouty frown.

  Maya winced at her sister’s girlish giggle. She sounded so fake and idiotic. Surely, men didn’t really fall for that routine. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Roarke’s smile widen.

  “You’re so sweet.” Carly angled a bit closer to him. “Your wife must just adore you.”

  A blush crept into Roarke’s cheeks, and his eyes locked with Maya’s. “I’m not married.”

  “Your girlfriend…” Carly trailed off and blinked rapidly at him as she twined a short auburn strand around her long finger.

  Maya glowered at the two of them as they made themselves spectacles. Roarke was much too old for her sister, and Carly shouldn’t flirt with every man she met.