Mackenzie
We arrived in New York early. I had called Jake numerous times throughout the previous evening and during the flight, but he wasn’t answering. He was hurt. Or pissed at me. I got it. But we had to put our personal situation behind us if we wanted to get him back in the pros. I needed him to be ready to dazzle the eccentric billionaire who was his ticket back into the league.
While Johnny and his entourage took care of business on the other side of town, I took a cab to Jake’s loft. When I knocked no one answered but when I tried the door it was unlocked, so I walked in.
“What the hell?” I said when I saw the state of his apartment. It was like a keg party had exploded in the lounge room.
I called out Jake’s name but my voice was an unanswered echo.
I cast an eye around me, stunned by the empty bottles of champagne, wine and liquor, and the upturned chip bowls and crushed beer cups, and felt a growing unease unfurl in my stomach. Cheetos crunched beneath my feet as I walked through the kitchen toward the bedroom.
“Jesus Christ!” I barked when I almost went butt-over-head thanks to an ill-placed sex toy on the floor. I grabbed onto the doorframe to the bedroom to regain my balance. Farther down the hall, a naked sex doll lay on her back, her legs out wide and her fake mouth frozen in a permanent O. Someone had drawn a giant penis on the side of her face in permanent marker.
Seriously, what the hell had gone on here last night?
I shook my head, trying to dislodge my confusion as I turned the doorknob and opened Jake’s bedroom door.
I don’t know what I expected to find when I opened that door. But seeing Jake in bed with a naked woman wasn’t it. Not even close. And I likened it to being slammed in the stomach with the business end of a hockey stick.
Twice.
He was lying on his back, the sheet pulled down to his waist and revealing a perfect six-pack that rose and fell with every breath he took. The beautiful brunette next to him had a body to die for with killer legs and even more killer boobs—this I could tell because as she lay there unconscious everything was on display. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Girlfriend favored a wax of the Brazilian kind.
I tried not to notice just how hot and delicious she was, but it was kind of hard not to notice when everything was up in my face.
They must’ve really exhausted themselves the night before because neither of them moved when I yanked open the blinds. That thought alone was enough to make my stomach clench with raging jealousy.
Picking up a discarded pillow from the floor, I aimed it at Jake’s head.
“What the fuck—” He sat up abruptly, looking dazed, but then seeing me standing at the foot of his bed, the surprise on his face settled into a dark irritation.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his jawline tense.
“I’ve been trying to get ahold of you since yesterday afternoon and all morning,” I said accusingly. My eyes shifted to the brunette next to him. “But clearly you’ve been busy.”
He followed my gaze and almost jumped back in surprise when he saw the woman lying very naked in the bed next to him. For a moment I thought he didn’t expect to see her there, but then realized I was the one he didn’t expect to see in his bedroom. Obviously he knew she was there. He’d fucked her there.
Again my stomach clenched. This time more painful than the first.
The woman stirred and lifted her head. Seeing me in the room didn’t appear to concern her because she didn’t even bother to try and cover herself.
Why wouldn’t she cover herself? Girl, put it away.
But she didn’t. Instead she turned to Jake. “Is she your wife?”
Jake shook his head and without removing his eyes from me he replied, “Worse. She’s my agent.”
The resentment coming off him was like a furnace.
Right, asshole. Because I’m the one lying in bed with some naked girl I just stuck my dick into.
I matched his resentment because the jealousy lighting up my insides was raging out of control. But then I remembered why I was there and how I was indeed his agent and nothing more. So I buried my jealousy beneath a façade of professionalism, only too aware that it would return with a vengeance when I tried to drown it in red wine later.
“Can we talk?” I asked.
Jake seemed determined to keep hating on me. He folded his arms across his broad chest, making those biceps twice as big. “Talk away.”
My eyes shifted to his guest and then back to him. “Alone?”
The brunette didn’t need him to say anything. She climbed out of bed—doing nothing to cover her nakedness—and headed for the door. “I need to pee anyway.”
Silently I watched her leave the room, fully aware that Jake’s penetrating stare hadn’t left me. When she closed the door behind her I swallowed deeply trying to dislodge the hurt in my throat.
Alone with Jake, it was harder to keep my emotions in check.
“I suppose that was for my benefit,” I said, trying to sound professional. But it was damn near impossible to keep the hurt out of my voice. Especially under the scrutiny of Jake’s beautiful eyes. I could feel him still looking at me. Studying me. Watching me as I slowly unraveled in front of him.
Damn him.
Damn him for being such a beautiful, amazing jerk.
Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. Technically.
I was the one who had pulled away in some insane attempt to keep things professional between us. I was the one who had stopped this from going any further, even though my heart and soul was desperate for more.
But clearly I had been right in resuming a professional and not a personal relationship with Jake. And, apparently, he was happy with the arrangement, too, because two seconds away from the cabin and he had already stuck his dick in someone else.
I scurried to regain my composure in front of him.
No matter how I played this, it was going to suck.
* * *