Playing for Hearts (33 page)

“Please.” She pushed against him.

He let her go, chilled from the loss of her heat and her regression. She wasn't stopping because of something he'd done or didn't do. They were having fun, getting to know each other, and she was right there with him when they danced. Whatever kept her from him came from something inside her.

“Can you tell me why?”

She slipped on his jacket, wrapping the front around her and hugging her middle. She appeared so uncertain and wary, he wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let go.

“It's … not important. I just can't.” She shook her head, regret burning in her eyes.

He slipped his hands deep into his front pockets and rocked back on the heels of his shoes. Failure sat heavy on his shoulders. “It's late. We should probably go home.”

She nodded. He held out his hand. Her attempt at a smile as she slipped her fingers between his broke his heart.

“I'm not going to let you run away from me without explaining. I will find out why you won't allow yourself to get closer to me before our time is up. That's a promise.”

“Let it go,” she said.

“I can't do that,” he muttered. “For a change, I'm the one who seems to be out of control when it comes to you.”

Together, they unlocked the door, walked down the stairs, and exited the empty downstairs. As the left through the back door, a flash exploded. He pulled Diana into his side, and curled her away from the paparazzi.

“Enough. You've got your picture, leave us alone.” He held his hand in front of the camera and ushered Diana across the parking lot. “I hadn't realized how late we'd stayed. I think we closed the club.” He held the door open as she slid into the passenger seat. “At least we got our picture taken, so we accomplished our goal.”

She smiled sadly at him without answering.

He stroked her cheek. “It'll be okay.”

“Will it?” she whispered.

“Yeah.” He kissed her forehead. “I promise. You just have to trust me.”

Rounding the back of the Porsche, he cussed under his breath. Frustrated with the inability to move things forward with Diana, he didn't have a clue what he was supposed to do to fix the situation. Couldn't she tell he liked her?

Hell, he was a walking hard-on since he'd met her. He paused outside his door, and laid his hands on the top of the car. They were both grown adults. What caused her to pull away from him?

What did she see in him that other women were blind to? It was as if life was playing a joke on him, and he couldn't have the one person he wanted. He wasn't learning a damn thing about how to fix his life, and he was taking penalty hit after hit with Diana. Life sucked.

After a silent ride home, Diana mumbled good night to Dominic and closed herself into her room. Exhausted and emotionally drained, she took off Dominic's jacket, stripped out of her dress, and stood naked, eyeing his blazer.

Without letting herself think about what she was doing, she slipped his jacket back on, covering her nakedness, and lay down on the bed. She closed her eyes, wanting to forget the fact that Dominic was close enough for her to kiss.

He'd wanted her. The hungry glaze over his eyes showed her how much he wanted to kiss her. She wanted it too, but she couldn't allow herself to go that far. She knew deep down if she kissed him, she wouldn't want to stop.

Besides, he could have anyone he wanted. All he had to do is pick one woman from the club, and he'd be having sex in his bed right now. No one ever told him no. He was a player, and he'd played her right into his arms. The whole night while they danced, she'd let herself pretend they were on a real date. She'd let herself believe that something was happening between them, that his attempt at asking her out on a date all the time and not giving up, meant something.

Everything he'd done gave her a secure feeling that he only had eyes for her tonight. Even when the other women were dressed more scantily and more beautiful than she was, he'd focused on her. She sighed. He'd done everything right. There was not one thing she could cling to that proved Dominic as a player off the rink.

God, she was in trouble.

Once she'd stopped thinking about him as a big jock, she'd seen a side of him that she found impossible to ignore. He was down to earth, easygoing, and he had an almost innocent quality about him that mystified her. A man who had women fighting over him could not possibly come away without a long track record with the ladies. All jocks were the same, and she'd been made a fool of before. Even though she'd never loved her college boyfriend in the true-adult sense, his betrayal stung her self-esteem. She rather not put herself in that same position again.

She must be missing something.

At odds with her feelings, she leaned over and picked her purse off the floor. Finding her phone, she called Shauna. If anyone could talk some sense into her, it was someone who'd loved someone famous for her whole life.

“Diana?” Shauna mumbled on the other end of the phone. “What's wrong?”

“Hey. I need your help.” She rolled over on her back and sighed. “Sorry to call at this hour. I don't want you to panic, but I think I'm in trouble.”

Without stopping, she quickly filled Shauna in on what happened. She even explained why she took the job and swore her to secrecy. She had no doubt her plan to buy the Ferriday house would remain between them. She could ask for no better friends than Shauna and Kate.

“Then he asked me to kiss him.” She lifted the collar of Dom's jacket and sniffed. “I can't do that, although I want to. God, I want him in the worst way and it's driving me insane. I'm freaking losing my mind. I swear, you wouldn't even recognize me and the way I'm acting.”

“Why?” Shauna asked. “What's stopping you from going for it with Dominic? He's a good guy, babe.”

“I refuse to be another conquest in his life.” She lowered her voice. “I thought this whole thing of hiring me to play his girlfriend and discovering why I wasn't attracted to him was his way of convincing me to sleep with him. I had no idea he was serious. I really thought I'd play him in his own game, but everything backfired on me. Do you know a woman tonight even pulled his hair, and we think she was hired by the cologne company that's after him?”

“That's sick.” Shauna paused. “Then why did you go with him tonight if you think he's playing you?”

She snorted. “Honestly, I wanted the cash. I figured if he was stupid enough to offer, I'd be smart enough to take it.”

“Oh, Diana … that's so wrong.”

“I know, and I feel awful.” She swallowed. “He's a professional athlete. I'm … only beginning to figure out what I want in life. The truth is, he only asked me to stay with him, because I wouldn't agree to go out with him all the other times he asked and we haven't figured out why he attracts women the way he does. I have a feeling I'm going to get my heart broken whether I make it the two weeks without having sex with him or not.”

“Wait a sec. I want to ask Grayson something … ”

Diana rolled over on her side, and pulled her pillow to her chest, hugging the silk pillowcase. In the background, she could hear Grayson speaking to Diana.

“Did you get that?”

“Not all of it.” She sat up and crossed her bare legs.

“Long story short, Grayson said that Dominic never dates. Ever.”

“No way.” Diana propped her head in her hand. “He can't go anywhere without women giving him their phone number or falling over him. No man can refuse women who are openly willing to conceive his first born child in every position possible while stroking his ego.”

“It's true. Grayson wouldn't lie about something like that. He goes out with women, but never has a relationship with them. Even Grayson thinks it's weird how Dominic refuses to take advantage of the women … which I'm going to punch Grayson when I get off the phone for even admitting that to me.”

A man in complete control? She groaned. He was making her life crazy.

The sound of his voice, that deep timbre that left her trembling in his arms in the VIP room, rasping over her senses, had nearly been her undoing tonight. Was she wrong about Dominic?

“What am I supposed to do now?” she whispered into the phone.

Shauna laughed. “Go get laid. Isn't that what you always told me?”

“Look how that worked. You still waited to give yourself to Grayson. You were the only virgin all the way through college and even after.”

“Listen. Dominic isn't like Grayson. You're not competing with anyone. There's no hurry to make up your mind tonight. You still have a couple of weeks with him. Get to know him.” A slap came over the phone. “Grayson, stop.”

“You two make me sick, you know that right?” Diana smiled. “I'm sorry for waking you up, go back to sleep, or back to whatever you and Grayson were doing before I called and interrupted.”

“What are you going to do about Dominic?”

“Hell if I know.” Diana blew her hair out of her eyes. “I'll talk to you later.”

She tossed the phone to the end of the bed and flopped back on the mattress. There was nothing she could do about Dominic tonight that couldn't wait until the morning. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand and groaned.
Make that this morning.

Despite going to bed two hours ago, Diana woke early. Biding her time, she took a bath, performed twenty minutes of yoga, and paced her room before finally opening the door and taking the chances of facing Dominic.

She peered into his open bedroom on the way down the hall, not expecting to see him lounging atop his bed in a pair of boxers reading the newspaper. Realizing she was staring, she turned to go to the kitchen when Dominic called her name.

“Yes?” She looked everywhere but at him.

“I thought you'd sleep in later after we got home so late last night.”

“Habit.” She shrugged. “You're up early too.”

The newspaper crinkled and she snapped around to look at him. Big mistake. He'd rolled over onto his back, stretched out, and clasped his hands behind his head.
Oh. My. God.

She couldn't help gaping at his muscular chest, the broad shoulders narrowing slightly at his waist where his boxers hung low. She gave a fleeting glance at the black boxers, and zoomed in on his thighs.
Oh, save me.

Relaxed and looking perfectly composed, he said, “We made the paper. Someone caught us dancing in the VIP section after all. From the angle, they must've had a powerful camera and taken the shot from downstairs. Plus, they have a shot of me holding you to my chest when we exited the club.”

“That's good. Your plan worked. I'm glad it wasn't a wasted evening, and you got everything you wished for.”

He cleared his throat. “About last night … ”

She shook her head, blinking rapidly to focus. His voice made it difficult to concentrate when he still had the rough, low timbre of sleep evident in his tone. “Yes?”

He came off the bed in one smooth move. “I wanted to apologize.”

“About what?” She walked backward into the door and stopped.

“I think you're under the impression that I asked you here to get you into bed with me.” He scratched his bare chest. “That you think I'm a joke … a … ” He looked confused for a split second. “A player.”

The tightness in her chest eased, and a dawning took shape in her mind. “Dammit. You talked to Shauna, didn't you?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Grayson?”

He grimaced. “Yeah.”

“I can't believe this.” She glared at him. “I suppose he told you how I hate the fact that I'm falling for your stupid charm and I worry about being just another woman in your fan club. Don't think that's gonna let you get out of paying me, because the stress alone is worth more money than you're offering me.”

“He — ”

“No!” She covered her ears. “I don't want to hear it. God, how embarrassing. I thought I could trust Shauna, but she's got a big mouth now that Grayson is back in her life. She shares everything with him. I'm going to kill her when I get home.”

She whirled around and marched out of his room, down the hallway, and into the kitchen. First chance she got, she'd call Grayson and lecture him on the unspoken trust between girlfriends and girlfriend's fiancée. What was it with jocks? Did they have a union, swearing to tell all secrets?

Dominic followed her into the kitchen. She grabbed a mug, thankful he'd made coffee already. Ignoring him, she carried her drink into the living room and curled in the corner of the couch.

He entered the room wearing a pair of jeans only, with his own cup of coffee in hand, and sat down in the leather chair by the window. Her skin prickled, her lungs constricted, her vision blurred as she stared at the coffee table. He was like a cake in an otherwise empty house, and she was starving.

“I emailed the rep at Nomora. He'll be here in an hour.” He drank his coffee as if she hadn't just made a fool of herself.

If he was willing to ignore her bout of insanity, then so could she. “Why?”

“I'm giving them their samples they need to make cologne.” He managed to give her that information without giving anything away.

“I thought your point of hiring me was to keep Nomora away from you. That kind of defeats the purpose.” She sagged against the couch. “Oh, I get it.”

“No, I don't think you do.”

She put her feet on the floor. “Hey, if you want to call this job off, fine. Give me a plane ticket, and I'm outta here.”

“Stop. I don't want you going anywhere.” He scooted forward and leaned over, bracing his elbows on his knees. “I thought a lot about my situation last night. If I give Nomora what they want, I'm done with them. They'll leave me alone. That's half the battle. Only the women remain, and with you being seen with me every day it's getting easier.”