The Player's Club: Lincoln Read Online Free Page A

apologetic shoulder squeeze, he darted out, catching up with Lincoln’s retreating frame.
    Juliana stood, cold in her tarted-up garb.
    “That merry widow is gorgeous, such a lovely color on you! Will you be buying that?” the saleswoman asked, gliding up to her smoothly.
    “No,” Juliana answered, a chill in her voice to match Lincoln’s stare. “It obviously doesn’t work.”
     
     
    “NO WAY, FINN.”
    Lincoln stalked from the store, heading blindly toward Union Square. Only after he’d gotten a block did he realize he couldn’t remember where he’d parked his car. He felt dizzy, almost drunk.
    Finn grabbed his arm. “You said I could bring anybody in that I wanted,” he growled. “Well, Jules has been a friend of mine for a few years.”
    “You could’ve warned me about her,” Lincoln said, shaking off his hand and contemplating, briefly, taking a swing at him. What the hell had Finn been thinking? Or rather, what body part had he been thinking with? “But, no. Instead, you decide to have me meet her, without a single clue as to who she was, or what she was. All at a damned lingerie store!”
    As if the sight of her wasn’t going to be burned on his brain forever. Just thinking about her, even tangentially, brought the image to mind in IMAX 3D, clear and mouthwatering and sensually overwhelming. His mouth went dry as he thought about her standing there, curvaceous and sexy and utterly seductive, wearing the hell out of that merry widow, her eyes gleaming with laughter as she knew, knew every man who looked at her would want to have her....
    He growled impatiently at himself now.
    “What is your problem?” Finn snapped. “You’re completely overreacting. So she’s been in the tabloids, maybe a few magazines—”
    “She’s a media whore,” Lincoln growled. “Do you really think that she’s joining up because she’s bored and merely looking for a few kicks?”
    “Yes, actually, I do,” Finn answered. Then he looked around. “Let’s not have this conversation in the middle of the street, shall we?”
    Lincoln realized that he’d actually been making a scene, blocking pedestrian traffic, and grimaced. Only one brief meeting with the woman and already she was shaking his usually unflappable composure. What would happen if he wound up spending any sort of time with her? He shuddered at the thought.
    “Right.” They headed for Union Square. It was the middle of the day: tourists were wandering around, gawking and window-shopping. There were some people dotting the grass, some eating lunch at the benches. The sun was shining, so there were even some sunbathers. The walk helped him settle his frayed nerves. It wasn’t complete privacy, but it was a nice, quiet public spot where they wouldn’t be overheard, or even noticed. “I know she’s your friend, Finn, and I know I said you could bring on any pledge you wanted…”
    “Okay, let’s just stop right there.” The steel in Finn’s voice surprised Lincoln, and Lincoln halted and stared at him. “You’re acting like you’re the king and God of the Player’s Club, rolled into one. I don’t need to ask your permission, Lincoln. We started this together. I’m not your little brother or your damned employee.”
    Lincoln frowned. Juliana had scored a direct hit with that one. “You’re right,” he said, and meant it.
    “Good. Since we’ve got that straight, you have been squirrelly—more so than usual—ever since we kicked George out.” Finn crossed his arms. “What gives, man? Why are you being so weird? You’re acting like frickin’ McCarthy—like every new pledge is out to get us, and we’ve got to protect ourselves. What are you so afraid of?”
    Lincoln took a deep breath. “I hadn’t figured I’d been so, ah, squirrelly,” he said carefully. And he hadn’t. The fact that he hadn’t noticed his increased vigilance about the club was a little more disturbing. “I just… The Club means a lot to me.”
    “Like it