My Rival Darling Page 4

  “And then you fucked me,” I continued. “How wrong was that – my best friend’s tongue inside of me and I loved it. Every minute of it.” Somehow I found the strength to bring my arms up around her neck and embrace her. Now my pussy was aching, tingling for her.

  Her hands tightened on me and I thought she would do it. It wouldn’t take much. All she had to do was lay me down on the sofa or bend me over it, lift my skirt, shove my panties aside, and then she could be tasting me.

  “You’re drunk, Alexis.”

  “Nuh-uh. I’m just a little buzzed.”

  “Either way, I don’t want you like this.”

  “Yes, you want me.” I lifted my hands to her face, feeling the smoothness of her perfect skin along her jaw. “You’ve always wanted me, haven’t you, Riley?” I wasn’t sure if I was asking her or trying to confirm it for myself, but I lifted myself up on my tiptoes and offered her a kiss.

  For a moment, I thought she would take it, thought she couldn’t possibly resist me. I felt something move against my pelvis – her grinding against me ever so slightly. She wanted me and her body was responding. Now she just needed to lower her head, press her lips to mine, and claim what I offered. Time stood still in my dimly-lit apartment, the only sound our mingled breaths and the evening traffic just beyond the walls, several stories below us.

  “No, Alexis. I think we need to put you to bed.” She supported me, our bodies still pressed together, and helped me into the bedroom.

  “That’s not fair,” I said and pouted up at her. “I’m prettier than Shane Woodward.”

  “I know you are.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment and I felt that grinding again, so I wriggled against her with a soft, “Please, Riley.”

  “No.” She opened her eyes and shook her head. “You are prettier than her. You’re prettier than every girl and woman in New York, but I can’t do this with you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s one thing to take advantage of Shane Woodward to win you. It’s another to take advantage of someone I actually care about. Get in bed.”

  With that, she pulled back the covers, sat me on the bed, took off my shoes, and pulled my dress over my head. As I let her lay me down on the mattress and cover me with blankets in nothing but my bra, panties, and stockings, I looked up at her. She might be a ruthless businesswoman and serial heartbreaker, but she cared about someone other than herself. She cared about me.

  “Riley,” I muttered as I curled my fingers into the blankets and pulled them up to my chin. “Riley, I think I love you.”

  Chapter 10

  She was drifting off to sleep, unaware of the words she had just muttered. I knew she had to be lost in La La Land, because she had just told me she thought she loved me. Alexis didn’t love anyone other than herself and I knew that.

  Just as I had cultivated that cold, hard exterior, so had she. Ever since high school, we had both been the rich, spoiled kids. The ones everyone wanted, but no one got unless we had a reason to use them to our advantage. Until college, when we didn’t have the time to see each other anymore, but we had plenty of time to bang other students.

  I left her apartment, mulling over this the entire way home. Why did any of it bother me? Wasn’t I happy in my role as the woman who got any other woman she wanted, when she wanted her? Of course I was. There was only one woman I had never thought I could always have, and that was Alexis. Her words stayed with me the rest of the night. Did she mean them or was she toying with me?

  Knowing the way Alexis’s devious mind worked, she was just playing with me, the way I played with other women. She was testing my resolve to see this wager through to the end and, damn, she’d been close to getting what she wanted.

  But I couldn’t focus on pursuing Shane if I gave in to Alexis. I just couldn’t, because once I had a taste of Alexis, I knew I would be a goner. Sure, I’d always wanted her, but I had been able to sublimate that urge. We worked together, after all, and she was a go-getter who wanted to earn her place in the industry. She wanted to command the respect of those around her and having an affair with one of the executives would compromise that. But what if I had known all this time that she might love me too?

  Those damn questions stuck with me all Saturday and time dragged as I waited to meet Shane. Even work couldn’t keep me from second-guessing Alexis’s words and intentions. She was gorgeous, but she was maddening as fuck. Maybe Shane was the distraction I needed. Once I had another person to talk to, I would be able to focus on them instead of Alexis.

  I wasn’t sure what opera we were about to see and I didn’t really care. As I strode into the lobby of the Met in my fitted Dolce & Gabbana satin-trim jacket, matching pants, and white shirt with black floral lace overlay, the only thing that mattered was Shane was waiting for me. She hadn’t stood me up, which I half expected her to do. Instead, she stood tall and regal, her platinum blonde hair loose for once. It hung in perfect curls around her face and shoulders, softening her expression. She wasn’t wearing her glasses, either, which didn’t really do much for her face anyway. She looked much better with them on, in my opinion.

  But the long teal blue dress showed off a slender body, with a black wrap draped over her toned arms. She wasn’t a bad-looking woman, and while I would like nothing more than to bring her down from her high horse by using her for the bet, I almost considered sleeping with her, just so I could say that I had. After all, Shane probably had high standards and that competitive, serial heartbreaker part of me wanted to prove I met them.

  While the raw, emotional part of me didn’t want to touch her with a ten-foot pole, because she wasn’t Alexis.

  In fact, rejecting Shane after getting her to tell me she loved me would probably be more satisfying anyway, not just for me as a businesswoman, but for that spoiled brat that still lived inside of me somewhere.

  Trying to smile, rather than smirk, I approached her and extended my hand. “Woodward, you look lovely.”

  “Thanks, Cahill. You aren’t so bad, yourself.”

  Her response seemed nonchalant, but her hand trembled when she placed it in mine. So she was nervous, was she? Nice. Maybe I hadn’t lost my edge after all. I hadn’t really tested myself in the past few years and the idea that I was facing a challenge to get what I really wanted was invigorating.

  “Now that’s what I call a compliment. Shall we?” I took her hand and placed it on my forearm, so I could escort her through the theater. The crowd around us was a mixed demographic, though mostly older. I estimated Shane’s age to be somewhere around forty, about ten or fifteen years older than me. Perhaps that would work in my favor. Women of a certain age weren’t accustomed to getting attention from women like me.

  She pointed out the box where we would sit and I let her get seated before I sat next to her. It was an excellent view, but I wasn’t much for theater, even if it was the Met. At the moment, I would rather be lounging in my house in the Hamptons, in front of a roaring fire, with Alexis naked beside me.

  “Cahill? Are you in there?” Shane snapped her fingers in front of my face and I started.

  If it had been a business associate, especially a man, behaving so disrespectfully toward me, I would have knocked senseless for that maneuver, but I pasted a smile on my face and said, “Sorry, Woodward. I think I was a hundred miles away.”

  “I can tell. Somewhere warm, I hope.”

  “Somewhere very warm.” I leaned toward her just enough to ensure my body language indicated I was interested in her, but not so far that it would be considered romantic. “Do you ever get out of New York during the winter?”

  “As much as I’d like to, the only place I go is Paris and that’s for work.” She shrugged and pulled the wrap tighter around herself. “Sometimes I wouldn’t mind taking a vacation somewhere tropical, but I know the magazine would suffer without me.”

  “Tell me about it. There are days I wonder how anything gets done without me to manage all the contracts.”r />
  She let out a low chuckle, but it wasn’t filled with mirth. Instead, I heard mingled understanding and frustration. “Right? You do your best to hire competent people, but trusting others is…” She sighed and tilted her head. “It’s fruitless, when you realize the best ones are usually the least loyal. They have no reason to stay once they get what they came for.”

  “Which is?”

  “Experience. Growth. Eighteen months or so on their resume, just so they can take their talents elsewhere. It’s distressing.” She looked down at her hands, hands that were still smooth despite her probable age.

  “So, in other words, you agree that good help isn’t hard to find, but it is hard to retain?”

  “Oh yes, Cahill. Absolutely.” She lifted her gaze to me, her expression still humorless. “Much like a good lover, in fact. What do you think?”

  Great – another woman’s statement to leave me wondering. Was she calling me a good potential lover or saying she’d exhausted her options, and I was what remained? I slid my gaze to the stage and watched the opera begin, the only way to distract myself from her question.

  Holy shit, I hated opera.

  Chapter 11

  Krista called to check on me in the morning and I declined a date, even though it was Saturday night. Instead, I looked at the columns I had to edit for the next issue of the magazine. By dinner time, I decided I was ready for some human company. I tried texting Riley, but when she didn’t answer right away, I ordered some Chinese take-out and turned on the television.

  An hour later, I still hadn’t heard from Riley. Where the heck could she be?

  Oh. Right. She was probably out with her.

  I grimaced and looked at the time. Was I missing out on my opportunity to win the bet if I didn’t invite Krista over for an intimate evening at my apartment? Did I even care anymore? Last night was still hazy in my mind, but I certainly hadn’t forgotten the sensation of being in Riley’s arms, drunk and relaxed against her.

  Putting my feet up on the sofa, I curled into a ball and held my cell phone in both hands. I could certainly call Krista and get her to come over for a visit. Heck, I could get her into bed easily enough. But I didn’t want to. I was already regretting the bet, badly. Sure, the spirit of competition got my blood pumping, but so what? At the time, I’d been feeling frisky and confident. Now I just felt defeated and hungover.

  The phone finally pinged and I looked at it.

  At the Met. Intermission.

  Riley? At the Met? But she hated opera. She must have really been taking the bet seriously. Too damn seriously.

  I slid my finger over the screen as I pondered her message. From the look of it, I was falling way behind in our little competition. Was that such a bad thing, though? After all, if I lost – if I just stopped even making the effort with Krista – I would have Riley.

  Or, rather, she would have me. And then after that? I would have nothing, because she’d get bored and move on to the next conquest.

  I sighed and looked out the window. With a blink, I realized fresh snow was falling. So much for wanting to do anything tonight or tomorrow. All I wanted to do was stay curled up on the sofa, watch bad reality TV and try to figure out what I was going to do to get what I wanted.

  Riley. I wanted Riley, damn it.

  Should I call off the bet? Should I let her win it? Either way, once she had her fun with me, wouldn’t she run along to the next available pussy?

  I frowned down at my phone as I remembered that first time – her sneaking into my room during a sleepover and leaning over my bed. I was mostly asleep, but her low “Psst” woke me. That was when I blinked blearily up at her and whispered, “Riley? What do you want?”

  The next thing I knew, her hand was caressing my cheek and she was between my legs, saying, “You.”

  We’d been at the beach earlier that day, frolicking in the sun alone at my mother’s house in the Hamptons. We’d fooled around as the surf threw us together and the only thing that stopped us was realizing the gardener or maid might see us entangled in a forbidden embrace. It was only eight years ago, but being gay wasn’t exactly something we could flaunt. So we’d carried on with our day, greeted my parents when they arrived for dinner, and managed to make it through the meal with straight faces. But once the servants were gone for the night and my parents were in bed, all bets were off.

  Neither of us were virgins after that and we were glad not to be, anyway. We were sixteen and well aware of what we were doing. I’d opened my legs all the way to her and let her do whatever she wanted, and it was wonderful. We kept up our sneaking around for two years and the best part of it was how forbidden it was.

  It was still forbidden, even now. I was her subordinate at work and we were best friends. Any people with an axe to grind would use a romantic relationship against us. It would be like a weird kind of nepotism in their minds.

  But I wanted it. No other conquest had ever made me feel as alive or excited as Riley, especially when we were teenagers. Back then, she hadn’t been able to get enough of me and I loved it. We exchanged touches, kisses, and more every chance we got. There were less chances in college, where our schedules diverged completely, which meant we had to look for our good times elsewhere in an effort to fill the void.

  With a sigh, I rolled over so I was facing the back of the couch, still staring down at my phone. I was on the verge of calling off the bet and telling Riley to get over here now, to collect her winnings. My panties were wet with remembered arousal and if I didn’t do something about it, I’d spend the night driving myself crazy.

  I restrained myself, though.

  Why?

  Because I knew I wanted Riley to want to win me. I wanted the prize to tempt her enough, that she broke Shane’s heart in two in her desire to have me.

  With a grin, I rolled back over and set the phone on the coffee table. No sense in responding right away. Let her think I was doing something incredibly exciting with my country girl. After all, we had almost two more weeks until Valentine’s Day.

  Chapter 12

  “You didn’t enjoy that, did you?” Her gaze held mine as we stood in the lobby.

  “No, I didn’t, but I enjoyed your company,” I told her. It was only a semi-lie. What I had enjoyed was the distraction from Alexis. Yes, this game could be much more interesting then I’d expected. Now that I was in the spirit of it, I was ready to play. There was a prize worth winning. All I had to do was play by my own rules to get it.

  Shane looked at me for a long moment, her lips pursed. “I enjoyed your company too, Cahill. Do me a favor and don’t sleep with any of my models. We’re working on photo shoots next week and I don’t need them weepy from getting dumped by you.”

  “I have no intention of sleeping with anyone this week or next week,” I told her. “But I have high hopes for Valentine’s Day.”

  “Valentine’s Day. Why that of all days?”

  “It’s romantic?” I hedged.

  She let out a chuckle. “It’s trite and clichéd, but I suppose that’s just years of experience talking. I think the last time I got excited about Valentine’s Day was when I was twelve-years-old. And then Jenny Ryan stomped my heart and I never wanted to think about the day ever again.”

  “What a bitch. I hope she got what she deserved for that.”

  “Life as a CPA? I imagine so.” Now there was a playful twinkle in her eyes and she actually looked happier than when she smiled. “I can’t think of a more boring job.”

  “Neither can I. Well, let’s say we remedy the Valentine’s Day issue together and plan for it right now.”

  “Hmm.” Her gaze flicked to the doors as people flooded out of the opera house and onto the sidewalk, and then she looked back at me. “I don’t know what you’re asking for, Cahill, so clarify it for me.”

  I put my hands up and said, “Not a date, first of all. I wouldn’t presume. But maybe we could just go somewhere together and mock the entire thing. What do you think?”
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  The longer she watched me, the more confident I felt that she wanted to accept, but didn’t want to seem too eager. I was starting to really understand her. Inside that ball-busting career woman who put on a ladylike façade in public, but was known as a dragon lady in the office, was a feminine woman who just wanted what every other woman around her wanted: to be desired.

  “If you say no, then you’ll just do a Jenny Ryan on me,” I added.

  The tension left her shoulders and she nodded, relenting. “Fine, Cahill. I’ll let you organize a proper Valentine’s Day date for us.”

  “Good, but that’s not all.” I wagged my finger at her as she tried to step past me. “We aren’t going to go two weeks without seeing each other. Are you going to the Glow opening on Tuesday?” Of course, I knew she was, since I’d already had my assistant put all the events Shane had RSVPed for on my calendar as well.

  “I am,” she said.

  “So shall we go together or just pretend to bump into each other there?”

  “Let’s bump,” she answered, without hesitation. “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”

  “What idea would that be – that you’re canoodling with the enemy?”

  When Shane winked at me, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, Cahill, but I think if we’re a little friendly in public, they’ll excuse me.”

  “Who knows, though? Maybe they’ll think the prey is me and not you.” I returned the wink and she let out another low chuckle.

  “Maybe. Watch out – I might be after your secrets.”

  “I might give them to you, if you promise to wear those lovely glasses of yours.”

  She drew back a little and blinked. I had finally caught her off-guard. Perfect. “You like my glasses?”

  “I do. I think you should always wear them except in the obvious places, like the shower. That would be a little much.”

  She laughed again and I realized I enjoyed the delightful sound – a bell-like sort of tinkling that wasn’t loud or obnoxious. “I will wear the glasses, because you asked so nicely.”