Because He Plays Me (Because He Owns Me, Book Seven) (14 page)

“
Y
ou look stunning
,” Madden said, watching me from over the rim of his glass.

He hadn’t stopped looking at me since we sat down. A permanent blush had taken up residence on my face.

“The dress is beautiful,” I told him. It had been one of the ones that he bought me at the resort and I didn’t have a chance to wear it. It was pale yellow with lace covering the chest and two layers of the softest cotton made up the knee length skirt. I’d tied a light silk scarf around my neck to hide the bruises and had pulled my hair back in a loose, messy ponytail that hung over one shoulder.

I felt like a princess in a twisted fairy tale. One who had no idea what was going on between her and her “Prince Charming.”

“I think we put on a good show, don’t you?” he said.

The flash of cameras as we stepped out of the limo had taken me by surprise. Madden swooped in and wrapped his arm around my waist and had kept his body between me and them as we went inside.

Without the threat of Jacob looming over me, though, it wasn’t so bad being in the spotlight. In fact, spending time with Madden was turning out to be amazing. And tonight, he’d told me that we were going back to his house. I wasn’t sure if this was part of our “engagement” story that was still all over the papers or not, but it felt so incredibly real.

This was only temporary, I kept telling myself. But lately, I was beginning to wonder if something that felt this incredible was meant to be only temporary.

We were soon seated at an elegant table away from everything else.

I glanced at Madden from under my eyelashes. I knew this couldn’t be anything permanent. He was Madden Cross. I was...nobody.

“Where did you go?” he asked, taking my hand and running his thumb over the outside of it.

A gave him a smile. “Just trying to process everything. The last four days have been sort of surreal. I’m not really sure if I’m sitting here with you or if it’s all in my imagination.”

“Judging by the noises you were making last night and again this morning, I’d say this is very real.” Something burned behind his eyes, something that made my pulse leap with a tiny bit of hope. Was it possible that he felt more than just an obligation based on a fake engagement?

“So what’s good to eat?” I asked, forcing air back into my lungs.

Madden’s gaze dropped to where my dress dipped down, revealing the tops of my breasts. When he looked back up, the hunger in his eyes sucked all the air from the room.

“You,” he said.

Desire coiled in my stomach. Eating dinner was pretty overrated. I pulled my hand free and picked the napkin off my lap.

“But the lobster crepes with lightly fried new potatoes is pretty good.” A smile lifted the corner of his lip up and I blinked. Was he teasing me? Okay then.

“Sounds perfect.” The waiter came and Madden ordered our meal. When he was gone, I picked up my mimosa. Apparently drinking in the daytime was acceptable if you had the money to excuse it. Growing up when my mother did it, everyone called her a drunk.

“So, real estate. Is that something your family does?” I realized that I knew nothing about Madden, aside from the fact that he owned a resort and an impressive building downtown. If we were going to be fake engaged, I should probably know a few things about him just in case.

His demeanor changed in an instant. Tension gripped his shoulders and his movements were stiff. All signs of the playful man from a minute ago disappeared. “It’s not important.”

“But what if a reporter asks? I know nothing about you.” I set my glass down and folded my hands on my lap. “I told you things about my past that no one else knows. I thought that’s what people do when they’re together. They share things about themselves.” My brow creased.

The temperature had dropped twenty degrees it seemed.

“You don’t need to know about my real estate business or my family.” Madden stared through me and then away from me.

“Okay. But I guess I’m just confused. Why do you need this elaborate scheme to overshadow some cheating rumor? College was years ago. Surely it’s not important now? You’re the Madden Cross. The one and only.”

Maybe I was poking at him a little, trying to get beneath the veneer, trying to pry beneath the shiny immaculate surface that was Madden Cross.

But I didn’t want to infuriate him.

“Don’t try and play games,” he warned, and the coldness in his voice told me I’d gone too far.

I held up my hands. Fine, if he didn’t want to talk, I wasn’t going to push. “Sorry. I was just trying to get to know you a little better.”

“You don’t need to know me,” he said matter-of-factly. “All you need to remember is that I’m paying you good money to do a job. Forty-eight extra hours is what I asked you for. That’s all.”

I couldn’t believe he’d so quickly turned on me.

I wanted to ask him about his promises to protect me, to make sure that Jacob would never hurt me again. If this was just a job and I was nothing but his employee, why did he promise me those things? Why did he toy with me?

The waiter arrived with our food and I kept my gaze on the table. I clenched my hands into fists to stop the shaking. Everything I thought was happening between us was not. It had been the thinking of a very naive and very stupid woman.

I was nothing more than a high-class hooker as far as he was concerned, even now. Even after everything that had gone on between us.

The waiter slipped away silently and I sat without moving. Madden picked up his fork and took a bite of his eggs benedict as if nothing were wrong. After his third bite he finally noticed I wasn’t eating.

“I thought you were hungry.”

Red-hot anger burst apart inside me. More at myself for thinking such foolish thoughts, but at Madden too, who made it seem like her really cared about me.

“You’re paying me for my presence, not to eat. Tomorrow I want my money first thing and then I never want to see you again.”

He sighed and set his fork down. “It’s ridiculous not to eat when there is food right in front of you, Skylar.”

He sounded like he was chastising a child and I wanted to grab my crepes and throw them at his head.

“It’s equally ridiculous to treat someone like they’re disposable trash,” I snapped back. How had I ever thought that he was a caring human being?

A deep growl of dissatisfaction came from him and he narrowed his eyes on me. “I have never treated you like garbage. Didn’t I buy you expensive clothes…didn’t I make sure that every need of yours was taken care of before you even asked?” he said through a clenched jaw.

I lifted one eyebrow. Fury boiled in my veins at how dismissive he was being. “You had to create a fake engagement because you are so afraid that some stupid rumor is somehow going to tarnish your sterling image. God, are you really that arrogant to think anyone cares if you copied some paper in college? No one cares, Madden, so get over yourself.”

“Enough.” Steely undertones wrapped around Madden’s command and I hesitated. His eyes had gone black, but not from desire. “If you’re not hungry then we’re leaving.”

With barely restrained tension rolling off him, he stood and held out a stiff hand. I pushed back my chair and got to my feet without touching him. No way was I going to pretend that everything was okay. His jaw clenched. “Put your hand on my arm and walk out with a smile on your face or your not getting a damned cent, Skylar.”

I sucked in a breath. He was blackmailing me now? I laid my hand on the crook of his arm. “You’re an asshole.”

To my surprise, he laughed but the sound held no humor. “When I need to be, Skylar. When I need to be.”

We left the restaurant together and when we stepped outside, the cameras started clicking. I smiled until my cheeks hurt, and when the car arrived, I smiled until I climbed inside. As soon as the door shut, I yanked my hand away from Madden and pushed myself as far away from him as possible.

“Home Jeff,” Madden said.

I sat up straight. Did he actually think that we were going back to his place and do everything he’d whispered in my ear this morning? “No.”

Madden pinched the bridge of his nose and then exhaled. “I’ll give you your money tonight. There is no reason to draw this out until tomorrow. You’ve fulfilled your side of the bargain and you’re free to go or do whatever you want now. I’ve had your car brought there as well as your things from the hotel.” He turned so that he was looking right at me. The anger was gone, replaced by his usual mask of control. “I meant what I said earlier. You are free. I’ve put measures into place to assure that Jacob will never come near you again. I hope that at least, offers you a measure of comfort wherever you go.”

Emotion clogged my throat and my tongue felt thick. How could he be such an ass one minute and the next, act like a decent human being?

I hated the constant back and forth. I wanted to hate him, but he didn’t owe me anything. I pushed him at the restaurant because I thought there was a connection between us. A chance at something.

But whatever had been there between us last night—even this morning—had been an illusion created by a master magician.

It seemed a lifetime ago already.

We’d driven out of the city and I realized that I didn’t even know where we were going.

“You live outside the city?” Somehow I figured that he would be at the top of some high-rise in the penthouse apartment lording over the city.

“I have a place in town that I stay at during the week unless I’m traveling, but I have a place in Weston where my CO’s and their families come to spend the weekends quite often.”

“Why are we going there now?” The buildings grew further and further apart until we were on a long stretch of highway.

“I told you. So you can pick up your car and I can give you our agreed upon payment.”

“So that’s it, then. As simple as one, two…”

“Three,” he finished, his voice flat. He said it so matter of fact, like we were discussing matching Gucci luggage and not the end of everything we’d shared in this short amount of time.

The air inside the car grew thick.

“Well at least you’ll be rid of me very soon. I’m sure that will make you happy.”

Madden sighed. When he opened his eyes, they were softer. “Skylar…”

Before he could finish the car stopped in front of a pair of enormous iron gates. I wanted to tell Jeff to wait, to let me know what Madden was going to say, but the gates swung open and the car move forward.

Madden sat up straighter and I knew that he wasn’t going to finish what he’d been about to say.

Tall oak trees lined the driveway and when we rounded a bend, the house came into view. No, not a house, a mansion. The place was as big as the state house in Augusta.

“You live here alone?” I gasped.

The main building was three stories with huge pillars on either side of the front door. Two wings spread out from either side, both two stories and as big as their own house. It looked like it was right out of a southern living magazine.

“There is a full staff, but yes, this is my home.” He sounded so disinterested that my mouth fell open. How could anyone not be awestruck driving up to
this
every day?

The car rounded the circular driveway and stopped in front of the path leading to the front door. Jeff was out and had the door open before I could force my mouth closed. It would take me a month to learn my way around a place this large.

A good thing then, that I wasn’t staying longer than I needed to collect my money.

My stomach ached with raw disappointment.

Madden stepped out of the car, then offered his hand to me. I took it, basking in the warmth from his skin. This infuriating man had me running hot and cold and hot again with just a touch. I hated that I had no control of my emotions around him. He pissed me off in one breath, then made me breathless the next.

The door closed and Jeff climbed back behind the wheel. The car rolled down yet another driveway to the right and disappeared.

“My things?” I asked.

“He’ll bring them in through the back entrance. Are you ready?”

I nodded and we started toward the door. A shadow moved off to the left and then another. Two men stepped out from behind one of the pillars. Madden stiffened and moved between them and me.

“Go inside,” he said to me, his body suddenly tense and his voice strained. Even last night in a fight that could have ended with someone dead, he’d never looked like this.

One of the men laughed. “Oh come on now, we don’t get to meet your new fiancé? Hello love, let me get a good look at you.” I peeked around Madden and saw a short man in a black suit staring at me. There was a scar running along one side of his face and he had on a hat that was pulled halfway down over his eyes. The air around him vibrated with danger.

The other man stood silent. He was taller, thinner than his pudgy companion, but I got the immediate impression that he was the one to be afraid of. His dark hair was combed neatly back and he had on sunglasses so I couldn't see his eyes, but I had the skin crawling feeling that he was looking at me too.

Madden had to know them. Everything about how he behaved told me that he knew them very well, somehow.

“Hello,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

Madden shot me a glare then swung back around. His body was stiff and I saw his hands clenching at his side. “What are you doing here?”

“How’s that any kind of welcome. We thought we ought to drop by and see an old friend, after all it’s not everyday that you get engaged,” the short man said. He was grinning like there was some kind of inside joke going on and I shifted uncomfortably.

“We should celebrate,” the other one said.

“Get off my property,” Madden growled. He took a step forward and the tall man held up his hand.

“Your property, Alex?” he said.

Madden froze.

My gaze shot to him.

Alex? Had I heard that right?

Except I knew that I had heard the man right. And he wasn’t denying it.

“Madden?” I asked through a slowly constricting throat.