Chapter Twenty-Three
The Game Ends
Roarke ignored Maya’s protests and carried her into his house from the car. He lowered her onto the leather sofa and winced once again at the white bandages on her forehead and across her cheek. Both covered stitches, but Bobby hadn’t broken any bones. “Do you want more pillows?”
She was propped against two of the throw pillows on the couch. “Less, please.” After he removed one, she touched his hand. “I haven’t had a chance to say thank you.”
“You don’t have to.”
She yawned, winced at the pain in her face, and tried to fight off the effects of the pain medication for a while longer. “I do. You rescued me.” A small smile formed across her lips, which made her wince as the abraded spot at the corner of her mouth stung with the movement. “And you haven’t yet demanded an explanation for why I was squatting in your apartment.”
Roarke grinned at her. “Squatting? What a charming phrase.”
Her eyes turned serious. “I should have asked you, but I was afraid you’d say no. I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“We can do this later.”
“No. I need to tell you now.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Did you call my family for me?”
“You only asked four times.” He squeezed her hand. “Yes. I told them you would call tomorrow.”
She bit her lip, and then winced as her teeth raked across the split area. “I hope I can get my flight changed.”
“You’re in no shape to leave yet.” He let go of her hand and moved to the loveseat. “If you must go, at least wait a few days.”
She swallowed back tears, because she knew if she started to cry she wouldn’t be able to stop. “I have to go.”
“Why?”
“My reason for being here is gone.” She dropped her head. “It probably never existed.”
He frowned. “You must have a life here outside of the one you shared with Bobby.”
“Not really. He didn’t like me to make friends.” She grimaced. “Oh, he always found something wrong with anyone I introduced him to, but I knew he was just too insecure for me to have friends that weren’t part of his life.”
“Your job?”
She shrugged and felt a sharp pain shoot down her spine. “I can do that anywhere. I think I want to go back to school. I never got a chance to go to college because I was supporting Bobby’s career.”
“Go to UCLA.”
A sharp laugh escaped her lips. “I can’t afford that.”
He raked a hand through his already mussed hair. “I’ll pay for your tuition.”
Maya studied him intently. “Why would you do that?”
He slid his eyes from her piercing gaze. “It’s the least I can do after ruining your life.”
“You didn’t ruin anything. You freed me from my own stupidity.”
Roarke’s eyes widened, and he met her gaze once more. “What?”
“I would have stayed with Bobby, forcing myself to ignore his faults, because I thought I loved him.” She bowed her head so that her hair covered her face. “It wasn’t until I met you that I realized what love really is.”
His throat grew tight, and Roarke’s voice emerged as a squeak. “Huh?”
She trembled with vulnerability. Once she said it, the words couldn’t be withdrawn. “You never meant for me to, but I fell in love with you.” A rueful grin tugged at her mouth, but she forced it away because she didn’t want the flash of pain that accompanied it. “How could I not when you so enthusiastically set about seducing me?”
“Do you mean that?” His heart pounded in his chest, and Roarke struggled to breathe.
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “You can’t know for sure. We know so little about each other.”
Maya lifted her head. “We know so much about each other,” she corrected. “The rest will come in time. I know I love you.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“I’ve never felt this way before. My heart races when I’m with you, and I think about you all the time when I’m not. I can’t wait to see you…”
“…and hate leaving you when our time ends,” he said.
Her eyes widened, and she held her breath. Did his words mean he felt the same? “How do you feel about me?”
Roarke stood up. He came closer and knelt on the floor beside the sofa so he could put his arms around her. He didn’t squeeze her into a hug because of the bruised ribs, but he pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “I love you.”
She threw her arms around him, and then stiffened at the pain that shot through her. “How long have you loved me?”
“I’m not a romantic fool—”
Maya snorted.
He gave her a repressive look before continuing. “But I think I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you. I didn’t admit that romantic notion to myself, at first. It took me a while to realize that it wasn’t just lust, and by then I couldn’t live without you.” He frowned. “When did you realize you loved me?”
“The first time we made love. You were so gentle, and you cared so much about pleasing me. I think I recognized your love, and it forced me to acknowledge my own. I just didn’t realize it at first.” She touched his face and smoothed her finger across his mustache. “I was terrified.”
“Why?” He shook his head. “Dumb question. You were engaged to Bobby, and I had forced you into my stupid game.”
She shook her head. “Mostly it was because I didn’t know how you would react. Obviously falling in love wasn’t part of your game.” Maya’s frowned at him. “Exactly how long have you been playing this idiotic game anyway?”
Roarke held up one finger. “Just with you.”
Her mouth fell open, and then closed with a snap. “But you seemed to know exactly what you were doing.” She glared at him. “Like you’d done it many times before.”
He laughed. “I got the inspiration from a screenplay on my desk. The playboy seduces a naïve innocent. He ends up falling for her. Hard.”
Maya didn’t know whether to laugh or hit him. “You started all this because of a script?”
He nodded.
She shook her head. “What if the author had never written it?”
His stomach clenched at the thought, but he tried to smile. “I still would have stolen you from Bobby.”
She smoothed a hand through his hair. “You didn’t steal anything, Roarke. You didn’t sneak your way into my heart or bed through seduction or coercion. What I gave to you was given freely.”
“What’s that?”
“My heart.”
He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers, careful to avoid the bandage. “Will you stay here in L.A.?”
“Do you want me to move in with you?”
Roarke shook his head, and then nodded. “Yes, but I want you to marry me too.”
“Really?” Her eyes sparkled. It was more than she had dared to hope. Maya had vaguely thought he might keep her around as his mistress, but she had never expected a proposal. “I’ll probably say yes.”
His eyes darkened. “Probably?”
She grinned at him. “As long as my family likes you. They hated Bobby, so they must be excellent judges of character.” She giggled at his pained expression and brushed her lips against his. “My sister likes you. That’s good enough for me.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes.”
Epilogue
Happily Ever After
Several months later, Maya entered Roarke’s home office to find him deeply engrossed in a dog-eared script. She plopped her robe-covered fanny onto the corner of his desk. “Whatcha doing?” She twisted the gold bands on her finger absently. It was still difficult at times to believe she was his wife. Some days, she still couldn’t believe she had married him a little over a month ago. The new definitely hadn’t worn off.
He lifted “Playing His Game” to show her the title. “Debating about whether to option this.
I don’t want my secret weapon to leak out.”
“I think you should. It could be a very romantic movie.”
He frowned. “The ending is unrealistic.”
Maya nodded sympathetically as she scooted her bottom to move closer to him. “Who would believe something like that could have a happy ending?”
Roarke dropped the script onto the desk and slid her in front of him to wrap his arms around her waist. “You don’t think anyone would believe that?”
“Nah. You should probably ask the writer to change the ending.”
“It is for Hollywood. People are a sucker for love stories with a happy ending.”
Maya giggled as he moved his hand from her waist to venture under the white silk robe she wore. She could tell the exact instant when he realized she wore nothing under it by the way his eyes widened and his breath grew ragged. “You should leave it as it is. I know I’m a sucker for a happy ending.”
******
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Author’s Note
This was the first book I ever sold or had published. I recently reacquired the rights, and as I polished it for re-release, I realized it definitely reflects my lack of experience when I wrote this in 2000. I considered changing it to remove some of the more obvious issues, like head-hopping in the same scene, but that would mean removing both characters’ points-of-view at critical points. In the end, I decided to leave it mostly as it was in its original state, aside from some minor edits. We’ll just call it vintage. *wink*
Playing His Game Page 14