A Game Of Temptation

LAURA

Balery’s eyes were wide as saucers by the time I was done. “Oh my God.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, leaning back on the sink.

“I’m so sorry.” She whispered, her eyes sad and filled with remorse.

I frowned, confused. “Why would you be?”-because seriously, why would she be?-“It’s not like I told you. You had absolutely no way of knowing what happened and even if you did, stopping Jack’s friend from coming just because of me wouldn’t be fair.”

Her shoulders dropped and she puffed out a breath, causing a tendril of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail to float around. “So what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t even know.”

Honestly, the situation was kind of funny. How could I not have guessed that he’d attended the party? I mean, there had been so many clues. For one, he’d been dressed in a tux, which hinted that he’d just attended a formal event. Then, he’d gotten a room at the exact same hotel.

Really, how could I not have known?

Maybe because all I’d been thinking about at the time was the quickest way to get his clothes off him so that I could find out what he looked like under them.

I wish I could say that I regretted it.

Blinking, I turned back to Balery. “There’s nothing I can do. I mean, he’s already here and…” I shrugged, giving off a nonchalant vibe that I didn’t feel. “Like you said, it’s a big house. Maybe we won’t bump into each other that much-” At Balery’s resigned sigh, I said, “Or even if we do, it’s not a big deal, right?”

It wasn’t. He was simply the best lay I’d ever had.

I snorted. The fact that he was the best lay I’d ever had, was a big deal and it was only going to make ignoring him that much harder. Forgetting about him wasn’t even an option at this point-I couldn’t. Not couldn’t like it was up to me and I just wasn’t going to let myself forget him. I meant couldn’t like how my knees couldn’t bend backwards. It just wasn’t possible.

Fuck.

“Oh, Laura,” Balery sighed, pushing away from the door and walking over to me. She gripped my hands in hers and stared into my eyes. “What are we going to do?”

“I’ve told you.” I paused. “Nothing.”

“But it’s obviously making you uncomfortable, having him here. I-”

“Bales,” I cut her off, chuckling. “Stop acting like this is a big deal. It’s not.”

From the look in her eyes, it was glaringly obvious that she didn’t believe me. And why would she when she’d clearly seen how freaked out I was when I ran out of there like my ass was on fire?

“Trust me,” I pressed, keeping my eyes level on hers, unblinking. If I wanted to convince her that it really wasn’t a big deal, then she had to see it for herself.

I could see the moment when the fight left her body and she decided to trust me. Thank fuck. I loved Bailey, but I didn’t want to keep talking about Alex be because it only meant that I was thinking about him and I didn’t like that.

“Okay.” She blew out a breath. “Okay. So we’ll just… Can we go back out now or do you need a moment?”

I rolled my eyes. Okay, Balery really was taking it a bit far now.

“Now. Else, it’s going to be suspicious.”

“True,” She nodded and held onto my hand as we walked out of the restroom, only letting it go when we reached them.

Despite how confident I’d sounded, I didn’t really feel that confident inside. It was going to be hard sitting beside him all through the flight and even going to be harder not to think about that night/morning. It truly had been the best night of my life and he’d ticked all my boxes.

It really really wasn’t going to be an easy task to ignore him.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Putting my big girl pants on, I squared my shoulders and marched right to him like a woman headed for war. “Please let me through.”

Yeah, that was right. I was going to be as polite with him as I could-just like I was going to be with Jack’s other friends that were sitting right beside us on the other side of the aisle. I didn’t have to do anything that would give away the fact that we’d met before. Such as, making small talk.

Which was why when he scooted back in his chair to enable me pass-but not before roving those two balls of heat over my form hungrily-and I dropped in my seat, I angled my body away from him as much as the seat would allow and fished for my phone in my bag, intent on pretending he wasn’t there.

I could feel the heat of his eyes on me as I brought my phone and headphones out, plugging them in.

“Do you plan on ignoring me?” His voice drifted over my ears like smoke, eliciting an involuntary shiver from my body.

I cursed silently, knowing that he must have seen that. But I still didn’t answer him, which was an answer to his question in itself.

“I see.” He sounded a touch amused this time, “Laura, I-”

I jammed the headphones into my ears so violently, I was surprised that they didn’t meet halfway somewhere in my head-or whatever the hell the space between my ears was called.

His resigned sigh was the last thing I heard before I started playing my music. I amped up the volume just incase he tried to talk to me and I managed to hear it over the music. Childish, I know, but right now, my options were limited and I would do anything I could to not have the conversation he obviously wanted us to have right now.

When it was time to get off the jet, I waited until they’d all left before walking out. Alex stayed back and insisted on helping me with my bag, but I was not done ignoring him, so I gripped my bag tighter and walked out. He was the last person to leave.

The house really was huge. It was a beautiful white two-storey building that directly faced the beach. By the time we reached, the sun was just starting to go down and the view was so beautiful, it took my breath away.

I found myself wanting to know what the view would be like when the sun was just setting.

My flats sank into the sand with every step I took as we made our way to the house, Balery and I walking in front with Jack and his friends following behind us.

“Oh my God, Bales,” I gasped. “It’s so beautiful.”

“I know, right?” She turned to me with a smile. “When we came here last summer, I almost didn’t want to leave. Almost. But then I remembered that I had to go back to work.”

I coughed out a laugh. I’d almost forgotten that Balery was a workaholic.

“I can see why.” I told her, then I turned to holler at Jack, “Jack, this place is fire!”

“I’m glad you think so!” He hollered back, a grin stamped on his face. “Please convince your friend to let us come here more often.”

A smile stayed on my lips as I turned back around, catching Alex’s intense gaze focused solely on me even though his friend was talking to him. Ignoring the weird flip my stomach made, I faced the house and continued walking, with Balery chattering happily beside me.

We’d all been shown our rooms on the second floor-mine was the second door on the left-and I was just about to go in when a strong hand wrapped around mine, stopping me.

My breath hitched when I followed the thick hand, corded with veins, up until my eyes landed on piercing green ones.