Wicked Game Read Online Free Page B

ass, not a god.”
    “Are you quite done with your little hissy fit?”
    “That tears it. I’m going home.” She took her bag off the sofa in the private fitting area and started for the door, but before she made it two steps, he stopped her with the grin she remembered so well from school. His take-no-prisoners grin that said he held all the cards. Which he did. This time.
    “How are you getting there? I thought you were broke.” That’s what made him a great quarterback. He always found his opponent’s weakness and used it against him.
    “I’ll file kidnapping charges.”
    “Go ahead—no one will believe you.”
    “And why is that, do you think?
    “For one you’re short, pear-shaped with no breasts to speak of, frumpy, and old.”
    “I’m the exact same age as you.” She couldn’t dispute the short and pear-shaped part. “And my breasts are real, unlike the silicone bimbos you usually date.”
    “Cass, be reasonable.” He sighed almost as if defeated, but she knew better. He was just changing tactics. Now came the cajoling, wheedling portion of the program, where he pretended to be her best friend and have her best interests at heart.
    “And that tactic won’t work either. I took debate with you, in case you’ve forgotten. I know all of your tricks, Jaime. Just play straight with me; that’s all you have to do. I don’t like being lied to and I don’t like being played. You play nice and I’ll play nice. Deal?” She waited while he seemed to think it over. Of course, he could just be plotting a different line of offense; she really couldn’t be sure.
    “Okay, fine. Cass, you win. If you pick a few things, nice things, I’ll butt out. My lawyer is going to meet us this evening to go over the contract I asked him to draw up last night, and if you don’t like it, we’ll rewrite it or I’ll send you home.”
    “And that bullshit about being your bodyguard against loose women?”
    “Well, you are a ball-buster. You’d be great at it.” He grinned again, one of his sweet little-boy grins that melted hearts and butter. “Anyway, I’m going to leave my card. Get what you need for a summer in Miami, and I’ll pick you up later. All right?”
    “All right.” Cass waited for the other shoe to be thrown at her. He left the boutique without another word. Too bad the sales help at the boutique didn’t follow his lead.
    * * * *
    From the little coffee shop across the street from the boutique, Jaime was able to watch Cass’s progress without anyone thinking he was a pervert. The small table by the front window faced the only unobstructed window of the boutique, and the hustle inside was reassuring. The guilt he felt for bullying her was fleeting, as was deserting her to a bunch of she-cats.
    Though an obvious fish out of water, Cass could handle herself, and the ladies in the shop would respect his money even if they didn’t respect the woman spending it. She would emerge a butterfly from a drab gray pencil-skirt cocoon.
    Two hours and three coffees later, Cass did emerge, but not as a butterfly. She was the same drab caterpillar he’d left behind. If the bulging bags she balanced were any indication, though, there was bound to be at least one butterfly packed in there somewhere.
    Jaime pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and hit the button for her number, already programmed in the number three spot. He watched as she struggled to find her own, hidden deep in her purse, a smile playing at his lips. She mouthed the word Fuck when she saw his name, but she answered anyway.
    “I saw that,” he smirked into his phone, meaning her lack of grace. “Coffee shop across the street.” He hung up, but not before he caught her one-finger salute.
    “Your girlfriend?” A passing barista joined him as he watched her cross the street and head his direction.
    “Personal assistant, actually, and bound to be a pissed-off one too. Got anything sweet and strong to make up for leaving her to the