Play With Me (10 page)

I considered
telling him that I got a ticket for speeding not long ago. But then I decided, why
should my first bit of fun be cut short after such a horrid day?

Since he assured
me the car would stick to the asphalt, no matter how fast I went, I pushed down
on the accelerator. It was amazing. The power, the speed, the purr of the engine.
I laughed as I took a curve on a speed that would have carried my parents’ car
off the road. Hunter’s Audi didn’t budge an inch.

“Have you ever
been to Club Tuscany?”

I cut him the
briefest sideways glance, concentrating on that small part of the road that was
brightened by the headlights at this killer speed. “I’m sixteen for another few
weeks. Of course not.”

“Ah, right.”

That he sounded
surprised made me a little uncomfortable. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Since when?” I
blurted out.

“Last month.”

Yeah, it would
fit. Ryan was now a senior at High School. “But that’s still not old enough to
go clubbing.”

“It is when your
brother in law owns the club.” He smirked at me then pulled his ball cap lower
down his forehead and scooted deeper into the seat. “Follow that road for
another ten miles.”

I did, feeling
the rush of adrenaline streaming through my system. Everything was so dangerous
about him. And I happened to just enjoy that. Especially tonight.

A few minutes
later, he gave me directions which road to take and where to park the car. I
climbed out to stand face to face with a bald bouncer who blocked the entrance
to a square building painted dark red. ‘Club Tuscany’ spelled in huge beaming
letters across the second floor level.

“You need to
wait till you turn twenty-one to get in, sweetness,” the burly man said. I
backed off instantly.

Ryan came around
the car, caught me, and with his arm draped around my shoulders he moved me
forward again. “Hi Paul. She’s with me. Is Rachel in tonight?”

“Hey, Ryan.
Didn’t know you were coming. Rachel won’t be in until later, but Philip’s
here.”

“Cool.” He gave
the bouncer a knuckle-pound then led me through the heavy, gray metal door Paul
held open for us.

“Is Rachel your
sister?” I whispered.

“Yeah. Philip is
her husband. He’s cool. You will like him.”

Thumps of a
stomping beat drifted to us, growing louder with each step we walked down the
narrow aisle. I became hesitant, pulling on Ryan’s arm to stop him. “I don’t
think I should be here. On second thought, you shouldn’t be here either.”

“You worry too
much. I’m here most every weekend. Everyone knows me. And no one will bother,”
he added as he dragged me with him.

Another door
opened at his push. We entered a huge place tainted in blue light, brimming
with people and smelling of dry smoke. Strobe-light on the dance floor created
a robotic atmosphere as people jumped to the music and bodies ground against
each other.

Ryan rolled up
the sleeves of his white shirt, then took my hand, and pulled me toward the bumping
mass. “C’mon, let’s dance.”

Heck, I wasn’t a
dancer. Protest was useless, because he wouldn’t hear me shout in this club
unless I plastered myself against him and yelled in his ear. I followed. He
didn’t stop until we stood in the middle of the dancing crowd.

My hand was
captured in his, maybe because he knew I would have fled otherwise. Ryan moved
closer, his free hand planted in the small of my back. “Loosen up, Matthews.
You’re supposed to have fun.” He pressed his lips to my ear to speak. “Or at
least look like you do.”

He gave me a
soft push and made me twirl under his arm. Ryan did things so nonchalantly. The
lightness of his demeanor, his unconcern, rubbed off on me at this moment. I laughed
as he caught me again in an easy hug and swayed with me to the music. The dry
smoke troubled my breathing a little, but this close to Ryan, all I smelled was
him. And he smelled fantastic. Just like the other morning when I woke up next
to him.

I didn’t know
what brought him to my house tonight. Could be he just felt pity for me for
what had happened with Tony, and as the captain of our team he made it his
solitary duty to cheer me up. Or he simply liked me. Whichever, I was thankful
he didn’t give up when I told him no in the text message. Because he was a
wonderful lift for my mood. He made me forget. He made me smile.

And right now he
made me a little nervous.

I felt this
tingle in my stomach every time I was close to him. Especially as he twirled me
around and caught my back against his chest. His hand splayed on my belly, he
pushed me against him, performing a body wave with me.

I laughed out
loud, maybe to cover my shyness. “What are you doing?” I shouted over my
shoulder and found his face very close to mine.

“Distracting
you.” He rolled again, and I felt each of his hard muscles grinding against my
back. “Does it work?”

Unbelievably
so.
I didn’t reply but let Ryan move me. With all
the dancing, my tee got a mess, and the hem traveled a few inches up. Half of
Ryan’s hand lay on my naked stomach. It sent a shiver down my spine. One of the
good ones.

As the song
ended, he released me and shouted next to my ear. “Phil has just come in. Let’s
say hello.”

I smoothed my clothes
out on the way to the oblong bar. The music wasn’t as loud back there. Leaning
over the metal top, Ryan introduced me to a man with shoulder long hair and
black muscle shirt. He looked mid-thirty, maybe a bit younger. Phil set two cans
of Coke in front of us.

After the hot
dance with Ryan, this was more than welcome.

Perched on a bar
stool, I listened while the two talked about Ryan’s last year in High School
and the new soccer team. Phil asked me if I liked it.

I lied. “Yeah,
it’s great. Love the training.”

The slanted look
from Ryan promised he didn’t buy one word of it.

“What?” I
mouthed at him with a half smile.

He leaned in
closer and brushed my hair behind my ear. “I still have the text where you say
you’re done with soccer,
Liza.”

The taunt in his
voice as he said my name prickled my skin. I leaned back an inch so I could
gaze at his face. “Did you really not know my name before I sent you that
message?”

He laughed and
shrugged one shoulder. “Why, Matthews? You were devoted to Mitchell. What would
I care?”

From the way he
averted his eyes for a second, and the sly grin that remained on his lips, I
wasn’t sure if I should believe him.

“You’re such an
ass, you know.” I shoved his shoulder, grinning at him.

The roguish
gleam in his eyes captured me. “I’ve been told girls go for that.” He winked
then drank from his Coke, but his gaze held mine all that time.

Heat rush to my
cheeks, because, hands down, he was right. It was all too easy to fall for him.
Not only because he looked illegally good in a white shirt, or because of his
amazing smell. It was the attention he gave me that made me feel good around
him. Special. Desired, even.

And for the
weirdest moment, I wanted him to desire me.

Letting my gaze
slide to a few kids who’d started singing karaoke on a small stage across the
room, I hoped I could flush that idea with a long drink from my soda, deeming
it a side effect of the pain Tony caused me today. I wanted to stay faithful to
my love for him, even if he made it clear that he’d rather kiss the Barbie
Clone than me. But with Hunter standing between my legs, his hand placed
casually just above my right knee, it was no use denying the attraction. His
charm had worked on me for days now, and it was different to anything I had
experienced so far. Fresh, exciting, dangerous. Nothing compared to good old
safe
Tony.

I wouldn’t want
them to switch places right now. And that was the scariest thought of all.

A tall,
dark-haired beauty came up behind Ryan and dragged me out of my musing. She
wrapped one arm around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. “Hi, little
brother.”

“Hey, Rach.” He
let her come around and introduced us.

As he called me
Matthews
and
the friend of a friend
, my heart sank. I reached out to shake
Rachel’s hand. “My name is Liza.”

“Don’t mind him.
The oaf was never comfortable with first names.” The tall girl laughed and
shoved her brother playfully. “I’m lucky—I’m his sister.”

“That doesn’t
mean a thing,
Carter,”
he teased her and popped another soda then
clinked cans with Philip.

“So, the friend
of a friend, huh?” Rachel’s tone was light but curious. “Where is that friend?”

“Not here.” Ryan
grinned at her. It was hard to miss the certain glint of mischief in his eyes.
The glint that didn’t fail to make me nervous again as his gaze met mine.

Rachel sighed
with a roll of her eyes. “Just when will you grow up and settle for
one?”

“He’s young,
baby.” Phil leaned over the counter to kiss his wife. “He has time.”

“I know.” She
pulled away and snorted as she cast her brother a grin. “I’m just waiting for
the day that a girl sees through you…and decides to like you anyway.”

Ryan laughed.
“Yep, me too.”

After hiding
from his mom in his parents’ beach house yesterday, it was odd to see him
banter with his family like that. Free, uncomplicated. Funny.

“That shouts for
a drink.” Philip fetched two small glassed from behind the bar, placed one in
front of himself and the other in front of Ryan, and started filling them with
Tequila.

“You can have
your drink with Rach. I’ll skip tonight.” Ryan shoved the glass toward his
sister, his lips suddenly getting a little too tight.

“You pass? With
that beautiful drinking partner?” Philip’s beam my way confused me. I didn’t
intend to drink a teeny tiny drop of that shit, but he hadn’t given me a glass
anyway, so what did he mean?

“I’m not having
this drink with
her.”

Okay, now Ryan’s
implications hurt. He would drink with other girls, but not with me?

“Why? Is she
shy?” Phil demanded.

“She’s too
nice.”

“Ah, she’s a prude
then.”

What bullcrap
was that? “I’m not a prude! And I’m standing right beside you, so I would
appreciate it if you told me what the hell you’re talking about.”

Ryan turned a
sheepish grin on me. He brushed his knuckle across my cheek. “She’s decent,” he
told Phil.

“Yeah, and
decent is a shit word for niminy-piminy,” I muttered. “So why don’t you want to
do with me whatever you use to do with others when you come here?” Somehow I
felt that my hurt pride would land me in trouble. Still, I couldn’t let them
get away with calling me a prude. After all I slipped out of my room twice for
this guy while being grounded. And currently I sat on a barstool in a club that
opened its doors only for people at age twenty-one and over.

“You don’t know
what you’re asking for, Matthews.”

“Well, it won’t
kill me to find out, right?” God, I should bite off my tongue.

“Okay,” Ryan drawled.
“Remember, I gave you fair warning.”

CHAPTER

11

LIPS PRESSED
TOGETHER, I gave Hunter a determined stare, but with his last words he had me practically
wetting my pants.

Philip seemed
pleased with the situation as he filled the two glasses; Ryan’s only half full
on his sister’s demand. He placed one half of a lemon-slice on either glass.

Ryan grinned at
me. “You still game?”

“I don’t have to
drink this, do I?” Shit. My voice almost cracked with my rising unease.

“No, you don’t.
That’s for me. You only assist with the lemon.”

Assist with the
lemon…meant to do what? Feed it to him? Okay. I could do that. “Game on.”

Ryan cast me a
smirk that made me wonder if I was in the right place at the right time. But it
was too late to cop out. He took the lemon off the Tequila and clinked his glass
to Philip’s. At the same time he held the slice out to me. “Bite.”

“What?”

“
Bite
,”
he repeated.

He dragged the
brim of his cap around to the back of his head then knocked the shot down. I
leaned forward and bit into the fruit he held out, my eyes trained on his face.
Yuck, the sour taste made me grimace. I pulled back. Ryan tossed the slice away
and cupped my neck, yanking me toward him. Everything happened so fast, I
couldn’t even lick the lemon juice from my lips.

But he did. And
my heart stopped beating.

He traced my
bottom lip with his tongue, catching the juice there, and gave it a gentle nip.
His tongue then delved in between my parted lips and slid against mine with a
sensual slowness that sent little electric shockwaves of pleasure to the very
tips of my fingers and toes.