Playing For Her Heart - Megan Erickson Page 0,54

hair was long—fake this time—and her eyes were rimmed with a thick layer of eyeliner.

Except…he didn’t want Sari.

He wanted Chloe.

“Can I come in?” she asked.

His heart hurt. She didn’t get it. She still wanted games, but he was tired of them. After all they’d said to each other, after he’d chased her three hours to her parents’ house, she still showed up at his hotel dressed like someone else.

He thought about closing the door in her face. He almost did. But instead he hung his head and stepped back, letting her pass.

When she walked by him into the room, he smelled strawberries. And that hurt even more.

He closed the door behind her and rested his hand against it, head bowed. This wasn’t what he wanted, not at all.

There was a thump and he looked up. She dropped a leather bag on the bed and looked at him, twisting her hands nervously. “Hello.”

“Hi,” his voice cracked. “Look, I—”

“So I’m Sari,” she said.

He swallowed, clenching his fists at his sides. He wanted to yell, to kick her out. But there was something in her voice…something he couldn’t place, which made him do nothing but nod.

“This is Sari,” she said again, gesturing to her clothes.

He nodded again.

And that’s when she reached up and took her wig off.

He couldn’t breathe; he couldn’t do anything but stand there as that black mop of hair fell to the floor at her feet. Then she took off her boots, slowly, unlacing them until they lay slumped under the desk and she stood in bare feet. The corset came off next, which she did herself this time, reaching behind her back, her brow furrowed as she unlaced it. That went on the desk carefully.

She was topless now, those breasts he loved on full display. But he wasn’t fully hard, not at all. Because this…this wasn’t sexual, he realized. She was doing something, making some sort of statement so he said nothing as she slipped off the skirt and stood before him in nothing but a small pair of panties.

She bent and unzipped the bag at the end of the bed. Her hands were shaking, the zipper clicking as she wet a cotton ball with some sort of liquid and rubbed it over her face. The makeup, the heavy black on her eyes, the red lips, the rouged cheeks. It all came off on a couple of cotton balls, which she tossed into the small trash can beside the desk.

She swallowed, staring at him, her eyes red and shining. Her lips trembled and he wanted to reach out to her but her body language was telling him to stay back, so he did.

She took a deep breath, pulled out a pair of loose cotton pants, slid them on, and then tugged a large black T-shirt over her head that said in white lettering, There’s no place like 127.0.0.1.

Her shoulders shook now, her eyes brimming over with tears. Her lips formed an O, as she took a couple of breaths to settle herself. And then she looked him right in the eye and said, “Hi, Grant Osprey. I’m Chloe Talley. Nice to meet you.”

…

She was fully clothed. In fact, this was one of the few times she’d been fully clothed in front of Grant. And yet, she’d never felt so naked. Not ever.

There was no costume. No persona. No attitude. This was Chloe. As Grant should have met her the first time.

Her hands shook, and she couldn’t stop worrying the inside of her cheek but despite all of that, she knew she was in the right place.

Her nerves meant she realized how important this was.

Grant hadn’t moved yet. He stared at her, that blue stare the most intense she’d ever seen. His usual humor was nonexistent on his face. This was serious. This meant something.

Last time they were in a hotel room, she’d walked toward him, while he stood taking her with undisguised lust. That was all it had been then.

Now, there was a whole lot more to the look in Grant’s eyes.

This time, when she took a step forward, he took one, too, and they both kept walking until they met in the middle at the foot of the king-size bed.

Grant was smiling down at her while he cupped her cheek and she hadn’t realized it was possible for someone to look at her like that. The way he drank her in, soaked her up, well, she wasn’t sure how she’d lived without all this time.

She reached up and