My Rival Darling Page 6

  Marian Lee… I thought about her name and her job. Women in the fashion industry liked to talk. They liked to gossip, especially about magazine editors. So what would it do to Riley if she heard a rumor that I was getting rough, hot, butch sex? Would it make her absolutely green with jealousy? I liked that idea.

  A smile curved my lips as I tossed my paper towel in the trash. “I’d rather not say,” I demurred in a soft voice. “However, I don’t mind telling you, if you can keep a secret.”

  “Uh huh!” She nodded eagerly. Of course she couldn’t and wouldn’t keep this “secret.” Bravo to me. This was another sucker hooked in my game.

  I leaned forward just a bit, as if telling her something I wanted to make sure no one else heard, and said, “Best sex ever, especially when she tosses me over her shoulder and carries me, well, wherever – not just the bed or the floor. Sometimes she likes to lay me on the kitchen table at eat me out. It’s pretty hot. She likes it when I wear a dress, so she can just pull it up and do whatever she wants.”

  “Wow. It’s like a romance novel,” she said, pressing her hands to her mouth. “That is the hottest thing I’ve heard.”

  “Right? I don’t know if I can ever go back to these city femmes with their big egos and tiny brains.” I shrugged and winked at her, then said, “It was so nice to see you, Marian. Have a fabulous evening.”

  “You too!” Her sugary-sweet enthusiasm and the assurance that she would spread the gossip like wildfire was just what I needed to get through the rest of my date with Krista, the woman every turbo femme, power lesbian apparently wanted.

  Every one of them, but me.

  Chapter 16

  “You really do know how to show a lady a lovely time,” Shane said as I took her hand and she exited the car. “I shouldn’t have underestimated you.”

  I shook my head and chuckled. “I know I have a reputation with the women, but there are reasons for that.”

  “Please, Cahill. Don’t you dare give me that ‘I just haven’t found the right one’ line.” She slanted a glare at me and I raised my hands in defeat.

  “Hey, I know you’re too intelligent to believe that bullshit and you’d be right not to. I admit I’ve done my share of bed-hopping and model-banging.” It was crude, but I was trying to get Shane to see that I might have been a player, but at least I was an honest player. “But when I’m with a woman who deserves to be treated a certain way, I make sure she gets that treatment.”

  “Don’t you think all women deserve to be treated with respect, though? You are one, after all.” Shane’s gaze held mine steadily. “Why do you think you get to decide which women get the nice Cahill and which ones get the Cahill who just wants to put another notch in her belt?”

  Ouch. That was a damn good question. Of course, the answer was there was only one woman I wanted as more than a notch and that was Alexis.

  With a shrug, I said, “I respond to my date the way she wants me to. If she lets me know she wants sex, she gets sex. That’s respecting a woman, because I’m following her cues.”

  “Is that how it goes?”

  “Of course it is. After all, who rules the world?”

  Shane arched an eyebrow. “Girls?”

  “To an extent, Woodward, but a girl who has come into her power is a woman. Women rule the world and that is as it should be.” I took her hand again and raised it to my lips. “You’re a woman who has made her expectations of another woman very clear, so I will treat you according to your preferences, not mine.”

  Her body went still and I realized her breath had caught when I brushed a gentle kiss over the back of her hand. What was it she wanted? Did she expect me to be chivalrous and gallant, or was she secretly hoping I would do the thing so many women wanted me to do – sweep her up into my arms, carry her up the stairs of her expensive home, burst through those doors, and then make passionate love to her in an unexpected place?

  I wouldn’t do any of that, of course, because there was only one woman I wanted. And I did not want to do anything romantic to Alexis. Not by a long shot. Yet, anyway. I wanted to claim her, not woo her. I wanted to make her mine, not win her.

  Shane was a woman to be wooed and won, but not by a woman like me.

  “Sleep well and I will see you on Friday.”

  “Sorry, I’m busy on Friday,” she said, slowly withdrawing her hand from mine. I held onto her fingers and allowed her a moment of reluctance before she finally liberated her hand.

  “I know,” I said. “I’ll be at the Buff launch too.”

  “Ah. Of course you will. Did you hack into my social calendar or something?”

  “Woodward, what do you take me for – an amateur?” I pressed my hand to my chest and shook my head. “Of course not. I had my assistant do it.”

  An expression I had never seen before crossed her face and I took a step back. She was smiling. A real, true smile that curved her lips and reached her eyes. “So you aren’t utterly useless after all, Cahill.”

  “I’m flattered by the compliment.”

  And then she let out a laugh and I thought my head would explode. It was still a low, ladylike sound, but as true as the smile. Not such a tough nut to crack, after all. It just took persistence.

  “So,” I said, “would you care to attend the launch together on Friday or shall I meet you there?”

  She tilted her head and looked at me, this time with an expression of actual interest instead of mere curiosity. I no longer felt like an insect she regarded with disdain, but a human being in her presence.

  Not that there was much to be said for that. Still, rising in her estimation wasn’t a bad thing. Especially if it won me the bet and the girl I dreamed of having in my bed.

  “Considering the crowd who saw us together at Glow tonight, I think it’s safe to attend the Buff launch together. Just don’t get cocky, Cahill.” She extended her hand for a handshake and smiled again when our fingers touched. “Pick me up at seven.”

  “I’ll be here.” I let her hand slip from my grasp and watched her walk up the stairs, into her gorgeous, classic brownstone. Glancing up, I saw soft light emanating from a couple of the windows. It must be nice to have a three-story home in a peaceful neighborhood, but I still preferred to walk on the wild side.

  So off I went to my own home – my sleek, modern apartment in a noisier part of the city, where I could lie in bed and imagine how much noisier it would be when I won the bet and could do whatever I wanted there with Alexis, once she was mine.

  Chapter 17

  I looked at the text from Riley. She wanted to talk about our dates the previous night and the game plan for Friday. The Buff launch. Of course I would be there, because it was a beauty product, and as a beauty editor it was part of my job to stay on top of trends and products.

  Friday was the second of February, which meant we were that much closer to Valentine’s Day. Well, crap. I didn’t think I was very close at all to getting Krista to tell me she loved me. Of course, I wasn’t doing my best, either. My entire strategy had turned into trying to get Riley to notice me, to turn into a bit of a jealous monster.

  I felt that it wasn’t working as well as I’d hoped, though, so I jumped at the chance to have lunch with Riley. It would be a good opportunity to feel her out and see how far she was getting with Shane.

  Of course, I wanted to win the bet. I was too competitive not to want that. But the idea of another woman saying “I love you” to Riley made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t want Shane to fall in love with her, any more than I wanted Krista to fall in love with me.

  It was Riley who was supposed to come to me, realizing I was the woman she had wanted all along. Sure, she had set the terms of the bet with me as her prize, but that didn’t indicate love. It just told me she still lusted after me. Then again, what man or woman wouldn’t? I knew I was hot enough to merit those kinds of stares, that kind of desire.

  But I wanted something more. Something lasting and I wanted it with Riley.


  With a sigh, I tapped my thumbs over the screen of my smart phone and sent Riley my answer. Yes, I would be at lunch, waiting for her at noon and very interested to trade news on our progress. Though it looked like she was making better progress than me. I had a feeling I was going to have to up my game if I was going to win that house, even though part of me would be happy to lose the bet – and myself – to her.

  Riley didn’t want an easy fuck, though. If she did, she wouldn’t have accepted the bet. Sure, maybe she saw it as her opening to get back into my bed for the moment, but I couldn’t make it that simple for her. After all, she screwed more women than any other person alive and she didn’t stay with them. One and done, one and done, one and done. Her list of conquests was longer than mine. And why were they merely conquests who didn’t last more than the night or even a few hours?

  Because they weren’t exciting to her. They weren’t interesting. They were women who thought they could win the rich, unobtainable butch bachelorette by giving her fast, easy pussy. They didn’t lead her on a chase or give her what women like her craved – the thrill of the hunt. The few who did didn’t make her wait long enough and she got bored with them, too.

  I could only remember one woman who lasted a couple of weeks, and that was just because she held out on Riley. It probably helped that she was also quite famous and Riley enjoyed being seen around the city with her, until she had to return to L.A. After that, I didn’t hear about her again. If Riley wasn’t one for relationships, she really wasn’t one for long distance relationships, no matter how hot, sexy, or famous the woman was.

  Yup, if anyone knew my best friend well, it was me. I knew what turned her on, what turned her off, what made her horny, what made her laugh…

  I set my phone on my desk and turned to the next issue’s layout, while I pondered the notion. That was another problem with the women she “dated.” They didn’t take the time to get to know her. They knew who she was and what she did at one of the largest media companies in the United States. Yet they never looked beyond that.

  So perhaps it wasn’t that Riley was a confirmed bachelorette because it was fun and exciting to get laid by a different woman every night. Perhaps it was because of them. Maybe Riley didn’t seek actual love, because none of the women had any interest in giving it.

  I rested my chin on my hand and looked at the articles I was supposed to proofread, but my eyes glazed over. Love was, of course, an important component of any lasting relationship. Love, respect, caring about the person in your life, knowing them and understanding them… Really getting them.

  I got Riley. After all, we had bonded as teenagers over mutual rebellion, a shared love for the magazine industry, and more. We had been thrown together in that “My parents don’t understand me!” phase of our lives and found understanding together. With each other.

  My lips pursed in a slight pout.

  Fuck it. I could lay my cards on the table at lunch and tell her the bet was off, tell her I wanted her, or I could continue to push her to the edge of jealousy in hopes that she would confess her feelings first.

  There was always that rumor I’d tried to start. Had it sunk its claws into anyone yet? Had it made the rounds from Calvin Klein, down to our offices? The timing of gossip could be very tricky, but if Marian Lee had immediately shared my juicy tidbit of news with her companions at the restaurant, then the rumor should have multiplied exponentially by now, especially buoyed by the power of media.

  So I would have to go into this lunch date ready to listen and learn. It wasn’t time to show my hand just yet…

  Chapter 18

  “I heard a rumor,” I told Alexis as I looked at my menu.

  “We hear rumors every day.” She looked and sounded nonchalant, but I wondered if she was aware of what people were saying about her.

  That she was getting it on with the artsy furniture-maker babe. That she was giving her the best sex of her life. That they were having wild sex in some cabin in the woods, country girl eating her out on top of a kitchen table.

  As far as I knew, she hadn’t left the city all weekend, but the rumors still made me burn with rage. There was only supposed to be one person getting Alexis in all sorts of compromising positions: me.

  And not in some dirty cabin in the middle of nowhere. No. It needed to be in a fine hotel with room service. In my house in the Hamptons, where I could give her a new fur coat for the winter. In my apartment, where she could stay forever instead of going home to her own place.

  “Well, it’s about you and Paula Bunyan. People are talking about how hot and heavy you two are.”

  “Paula Bunyan? Cute.” She shrugged and set her menu on the table. “A Cobb salad sounds really good today, even though it’s cold outside. I must not be eating enough vegetables or something.”

  “Alexis.” I said her name in a low firm voice and waited for her to look at me. “They’re talking about it in detail.”

  “Because they’re bored with their own pathetic lives? Nice.”

  I leaned forward and grasped her hand, then managed to lock my fingers higher, around her wrist. Her eyes widened and her lips parted as she stared at me. Then and there, I wanted to kiss those beautiful lips and I didn’t care who was watching.

  “Alexis, you don’t want people talking about you like that,” I warned.

  Her eyes narrowed. “And why’s that? Because I’m such a delicate woman? It’s perfectly acceptable when people talk about you like that. Why not me?”

  “Because there are different standards –”

  As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I was full of shit. Sure, there were different standards, but normally I wouldn’t care. Normally I would figure she had just as much of a right to sleep around as me.

  But not Alexis. Anyone but Alexis. And what made it worse wasn’t that she was sleeping around – it was that she was sleeping with just one woman. And it wasn’t me.

  “Riley, will you get a hold of yourself?” Her eyes darted back and forth, and she spoke through gritted teeth. “We’re in public.”

  “Well, the public is talking in very specific detail about your sex life. I don’t know if I want you dating a girl who thinks it’s acceptable to tell people what she’s doing with you. It’s not…”

  When I hesitated, she smiled. “Chivalrous – is that what you were going to say? That it’s not chivalrous?” I nodded and she continued. “Well, that’s just rich coming from you, isn’t it?”

  “I sleep with plenty of women, but at least I don’t blab about it,” I pointed out. “It’s the people around me who imply what they choose from seeing me with those women.”

  “Oh, so what does that mean to your precious Shane?”

  “Excuse me?”

  She dragged her arm back across the table, twisting it out of my grip and said, “You heard me. People see you with her. What do you think they’ll say now that you’ve been to the Met with her or attended a restaurant opening together?”

  Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. Screwing with Shane’s reputation was the last thing I wanted to do, considering the terms of the bet had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with affection. Shane would be hard enough to elicit an “I love you” from as it was, but once people started talking about the two of us – and it was stupid of me not to realize they would – she would probably get angry; angry that the rumor would be that I was sleeping with her.

  So much for winning the bet. So much for winning Alexis.

  I could still win her, though. All I had to do was tell her the truth.

  Before I could open my mouth, her phone buzzed and she looked down at it with a muttered, “Shit. I have to take this.” She pushed away from the table and crossed the room, pressing the phone to her ear.

  I sat back and waved off the waiter when he came to take our order. I’d lost my appetite. With a grumble, I also rose from the table, waved at Alexis, and walked out the door. She didn’t seem concerned – just waved me away and turned to f
ace the wall.

  What a selfish little brat. She was so wrapped up in her own life and in dating that bumpkin, that she couldn’t see what was right in front of her.

  But I would show her on Friday night at the launch party exactly what she was missing.

  Exactly what – and who – she needed in her life.

  Chapter 19

  It didn’t matter that Riley walked out on our lunch, because I had the last laugh. It also didn’t matter that the person who was calling me was Krista.

  Well, it kind of mattered. It was an opportunity to make the call sound more important than it actually was and get out of the conversation. It was also a chance to make a date with Krista. I didn’t plan to take her to the Buff launch, but I did want to see her before that and see if I could make some headway to the “I love you” I needed to get out of her by Valentine’s Day.

  So we scheduled a date for tomorrow night and I grabbed my Cobb salad to go, satisfied with the way the day had already turned out. Our date wouldn’t be too formal. I had gone so far as to invite her to my place for a quiet night in, which meant take-out, low lights, and maybe a movie.

  The next two days flew by, because I was finally able to get my head back in the game. The non-lunch with Riley had confirmed it – the rumors were making the rounds and Riley was jealous. That was exactly what I wanted.

  By the time Krista arrived at my apartment the next night, it was spotlessly clean, with mildly-spiced Indian take-out waiting on the table and soft music playing. I loved that all of my lights were on dimmers, so I could set them to whatever level I chose. Since we weren’t going out, I had dressed comfortably, but certainly not casually. It wouldn’t do to have Krista see me in yoga pants and a t-shirt. So I stood there in a skirt and long-sleeved, lace top, gesturing for her to come into my apartment.

  “You look so pretty,” she said, though she didn’t make a move to do anything other than hold my hand. I hadn’t given her an opening to kiss me and I didn’t plan to. After all, it wasn’t her I was after. It was an “I love you,” so I could dump her, tell Riley I’d won, and then collect on the wager.