Playing For Her Heart - Megan Erickson Page 0,23

for cleaning,” he said.

When she’d showed up, he hadn’t been home, so she’d busied herself, even though his kitchen was damn near spotless. As she walked down the hallway, she glanced over her shoulder. Ethan’s back was to her as he put away groceries and Grant stood watching her, a look of longing on his face that socked her in the gut.

She quickly turned around, and left the house, jogging to her car parked at the curb.

But when she got inside, she didn’t start it. Instead she gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles.

Grant was charming, and funny, and when he was around, when his lips were whispering dirty words in her ear, she forgot about everything but the pleasure they could wring from each other.

So far, he was willing to play her game, let her act a role, and for that she was grateful. Because Chloe? Chloe didn’t bite her lip coyly, or react like a wanton when her ass was slapped.

No, he didn’t want Chloe. He wanted Sari. And Sara.

She could give him that.

And really, after all she’d been through, didn’t she deserve that escape? They could keep it from Ethan. Just a couple more times. Surely, she’d start craving Grant less eventually, right?

Without thinking too much about it, she grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen, scribbling some words on it, her cheeks heating as she thought about what he’d think when he read it.

Then she glanced quickly at Ethan’s house. Seeing no movement in the front windows, she jumped out of her car and dashed to Grant’s. After a moment of hesitation, she slipped the piece of paper under his windshield wiper and then ran back to her car. When she was safely behind her wheel, turning the ignition, she had a moment of indecision. She should run back, take out that piece of paper, and forget all about Grant.

And she thought about it, but then she saw the curtain move in Ethan’s front window. So she slammed the car into gear and sped off.

She was still breathing hard when she parked in front of her apartment complex. She glanced at her dashboard clock. Approximately ten hours until she asked Grant to meet her. Ten hours to agonize over her decision with no way to tell him she was backing out. The thought of standing him up sat like lead in her stomach. He didn’t deserve that. He’d done everything she asked of him—and then some. He’d given her a role to play, enabling her to give in to her desire. And he still wanted her, despite the way she’d spurned him afterward.

When she was safely in her house, she thought about cooking one of several new dishes she’d been meaning to try, something to take her mind off what was to come. But the last time she’d cooked distracted, she’d melted a plastic spoon, so maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

Her eyes strayed to the lone picture she’d taped on her refrigerator. Chloe, Samantha, and Ethan stood, arms around each other, grinning like fools in front of Lake Erie, where they’d taken a vacation on Ethan’s dime. The three of them, along with their parents, rented a house and spent an entire week together.

It’d been the last time they’d been a family of five. Because a week later, Samantha was dead and Ethan was in the hospital suffering from third-degree burns to his chest and neck.

She closed her eyes and turned away from the picture, thinking she should take it down rather than be reminded of when smiles had come easy.

That was in the past, and tonight, she had a role to play. One she’d been dying to play for a while. And she had the perfect dress for it.

Chapter Six

This was insanity.

Grant ran his hand over the pocket of his pants, comforted in the crinkle of paper he felt there. The club music was loud, the base pounding the floor beneath his shoes. The crowd was drunk already at ten at night. He couldn’t imagine what this placed looked like at last call.

The lights were so dim, he could barely see his hands in front of his face, but he figured that was the idea. No one did the things people were doing on the dance floor with all the lights on.

He shifted uncomfortably, checking his watch. Chloe was half an hour late, and he was starting to wonder if she’d changed her mind, or if this was all a joke.

He fished