Text Appeal (3 page)

Lacey’s jaw dropped. “Oh. My.
God.
This is so hot.” She laid it out on the back of the couch and looked at Riley. “Do I even
want
to know why my brother bought this for you?” She smiled. “Charlie’s always been sweet on you. If he weren’t my brother, I’d tell you to go act like the young woman you are and have a wild affair.”

Riley thumped her friend’s arm. “I’m with
Chaz
.”

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Lacey said with a shrug.

“Yeah, but I have to live here.” Riley looked at her watch. “
Listen,
speaking of
Chaz
, will you really program that for me? I’m going out with him tonight, and he gets irritated if I answer unimportant calls when we’re together.”

Lacey rolled her eyes. “What do you see in him, anyway?”

Riley shrugged, dropping the address book on the end table. “He’s a nice guy.” She headed for the bathroom to get ready.

Lacey scoffed. “Riley,
hon
, I love you, and if this is who you want to be with, I’ll shut my mouth, but you seem awfully serious about this guy and you’ve never even played the field.”

Riley plugged in her straightening iron to warm,
then
climbed into the shower. “What?”

“I’m afraid you’re with
Chaz
for the wrong reasons,” Lacey said over the sound of the spray.

Riley’s jaw dropped. “Like what?” She peeked around the shower curtain.

Lacey was sitting on the bathroom counter, address book on her lap, cell phone in her hand. Riley had known Lacey since after college when they’d both needed roommates to save a little cash. Shortly after they’d moved in together, Riley had gotten Lacey a job at the front desk of Grand Escape. Living and working together, the two bonded quickly, but never in all
that time
had Lacey said anything so blatantly disapproving of her relationship with
Chaz
. “How can you say that?”

Lacey shrugged. “Riley, he’s your dad’s favorite employee. Don’t you think that influences your feelings for him more than a little?”

She closed the curtain again and shampooed her hair. “That’s not fair. My father likes him, but that’s not why
I
like him.”

Riley could hear Lacey’s dramatic sigh over the shower. She thought she heard her mumble, “I don’t know why else you would.”

Riley closed her eyes under the pounding water and sighed.
Chaz
was a good guy. He would make a good husband. A good partner in the successful life they both wanted. “I think you just don’t know him as well as I do,” she muttered, trying—and failing—to keep the pout out of her voice.

“You’re probably right. Don’t be upset. The stuff with Charlie just…had me thinking.”

Riley turned off the water,
then
grabbed a towel. She wouldn’t be angry with Lacey because Lacey had no way of knowing
Chaz
was so good to her. If anything, this was Riley’s fault because when she did talk to Lacey about her love life, it was usually to complain about the sex—something it was time she took into her own hands. She’d been complaining that things between her and
Chaz
were a little bland, but she had a spice cabinet, didn’t she?

Chaz
was a great catch and she’d be foolish to let him slip by.

Wrapping the towel under her arms, Riley stepped out of the shower.

“I’ll get out of your way,” Lacey said, hopping off the counter.

“He’s good for me,” Riley whispered when she was alone.
But what about me?
her
Inner Naughty Girl asked. Riley sighed as she reached for her hairdryer and brush.

Her father was retiring at the end of the month. He would still be involved in making the major company decisions, but later this week he would announce whom he would leave in charge to be the General Manager of Grand Escape. Riley hoped he would name her, and with
Chaz
by her side, they would eventually run Carter Hotels and Entertainment in a way that made her father proud.

Chunk by chunk, she dried her hair with a round brush, taming the dark curls with each stroke.

“There!” Lacey called from the living room. “Your phone is all programmed, and in record time, too. God, I’m good!”

“Thanks, Lacey,” Riley said, taking the flat iron to her hair now. “I owe you one.”

Sure,
Chaz
didn’t make her heart pound like a certain poker player. But she didn’t feel safe with guys like Charlie Singleton. She never knew what would
happen next when she was around them. When she was with
Chaz
, she didn’t have to worry about life spinning out of her control. She always knew what would happen next.

“I’m sorry for what I said about
Chaz
,” Lacey said, strolling into the bathroom and placing Riley’s phone on the sink. “I guess I just worry because I know you’re not completely—” she smirked “—
satisfied
in that relationship.”

In the mirror, Riley watched the blush seep into her cheeks. “I’m going to work on that. Don’t worry about me.”

Lacey twisted a lock of her blond hair, studying Riley. “Maybe you should send him a suggestive text. That should be gas on the fire.”

Right.
Chaz
sexting
.
Riley couldn’t see it and raised an eyebrow to let Lacey know as much.

Lacey shrugged. “Just an idea,” she said, turning to leave.

“Hey, Lace, do you know any reason Charlie would have been served with court papers?”

***

Charlie watched his sister take a long drink of her red wine and ignored the pap member snapping pictures from the corner of the dimly lit restaurant. As soon as the asshole did a little fact-checking and discovered the long-legged blonde across the table was Charlie’s sister, not his latest love interest, the pictures would go in the trash and Charlie would be old news again.

“What are you going to do?” Lacey asked.

“Call my lawyer?” The manila envelope had held a subpoena for paternity testing.
Paternity testing
.
The words still made him flinch.

After sixteen years, Angela wanted to prove her child was Charlie’s. Charlie didn’t need to ask, “Why now?” He knew. Charlie had been
a nobody
when he and Angela had been fooling around.
A nobody
with no connections and no future. Apparently, winning a handful of national poker tourneys made him a
somebody
in Angela’s eyes, and now—like everybody else he’d ever shared a meal with—she wanted a piece of his checking account. Would she have bothered if she’d known that checking account was rapidly dwindling, right alongside Charlie’s future in professional poker?

“I don’t really see what other options I have.”

Lacey swatted his hand, making his beer slosh out of his glass. “Don’t be a jerk, Charlie.”

He slid his sunglasses down his nose and narrowed his eyes at her. “Excuse me?”

Lacey rolled her eyes. “Just because Angela wants to pull out the big guns doesn’t mean you have to. What about the kid? What does he think about all this?”

“Hell if I know. Angela wasn’t exactly forthcoming with information.”

Lacey nodded. “Yeah, I remember her from high school. I never did know what you saw in her.”

Charlie chuckled.
“Long legs and sexual aptitude.”

“Jesus.
Real mature.”

He lifted his hands. “What do you want? I was sixteen years old. I hadn’t developed the depth of character I have today.”

She snorted. “Speaking of your ‘depth,’ I saw what you bought my roommate. That was about as subtle as skywriting, Smooth. I suppose just asking her to dinner hadn’t occurred to you?”

Charlie’s lip twitched. “That stuff’s for amateurs. I have skills that are much more effective than that old fashioned crap.”

Lacey didn’t look convinced. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, giving him a visual once-over. “Well, the outfit’s hot, I’ll give you that, but she still went out with her boy
Chaz
right after she got home, so I wouldn’t be so sure of your ‘skills.’”

“Yeah, she mentioned him. What’s his story, anyway?”

“He’s her daddy’s Golden Boy. Like Riley, he assists Carter with running the hotels, but mostly he manages the string of sleazy clubs Carter owns.”

Charlie raised a brow. “I heard the Black Diamond clubs were some of the classier in town.”

Lacey snorted. “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a strip club.”

“So, this guy, he has Daddy’s approval. How serious are they?”

“They’re not engaged yet, but Riley’s been seeing him for a couple years now. Personally, I think the only reason he hasn’t popped the question is that he wants to fuck around, and that will be more difficult with a ring on his finger. Sooner or later, though, he’s
gonna
ask. He’s a lot less interested in Riley than he is in her trust fund.”

Charlie shook his head. “I don’t trust any man who doesn’t like lingerie.”

Lacey was silent for a beat, her attention on Tall, Dark, and Handsome at the bar. “So, what are you going to do?”

“It’s too early to show my hand, but I’ll pay to see the flop.”

Lacey rolled her eyes. “In English, please?”

“Riley’s cute, and if this guy hasn’t made things official—especially if he’s screwing around—”

“I don’t know that for a fact.”

Charlie shrugged. Lacey wasn’t the type to indulge in idle gossip. If she suspected something, there was probably some truth to it—truth Charlie just might be able to bring to the surface. “I see no reason why I should back down,” he said.

It’d be different if Riley weren’t attracted to Charlie, but he knew that look she got in her eyes when he was around. He wasn’t sure what kind of hand
Chaz
was holding, but if Riley’s eyes on his body were any indication,
Charlie
was the one with pocket aces.

“Interesting.
What about the kid?”

Shit. He didn’t know.

A sour taste filled his mouth. He wouldn’t let the kid be used as a pawn in some scheme. “I have money.”
Some.
For now.
“If I’m really the kid’s father, she can have it.”

Lacey leaned forward and glared at him. “Aren’t you missing a possibility here?”

He frowned. “What’s that?”

“You could be more than a sperm donor. You could be the boy’s
dad
.”

***

“I had a fantastic time tonight,”
Chaz
said, brushing a lock of hair from Riley’s face.

She leaned against the stairwell wall outside her apartment, and his dark eyes met hers. Nice eyes—warm and comforting. But her mind drifted to a different set of eyes.
Icy blue and dangerous eyes.