The Player's Club: Finn
The Pledge: Diana Song, steely legal counsel and all-around fixer for Macalister Enterprises.
The Goal: Same as always: do her job.
The Conditions: Complete the Player’s Club initiation challenges...then shut it down.
The Complication: Finn Macalister, the boss’s son, sexy daredevil and club stalwart.
Finn has always loved living on the edge...and what’s more exciting than seducing the famously frosty (yet incredibly hot) family lawyer? He knows Diana’s been tasked with getting him to quit the Player’s Club: that makes her the enemy. And you know the old saying: keep your friends close, your enemies closer!
Diana thinks she’s got this assignment in the bag, but she’s unprepared for Finn—he’s charming, smart and frankly...hot! Still, she won’t be tempted—her job, her reputation are on the line. That is, until Finn makes her the one offer she can’t refuse....
Nothing made any sense anymore, Finn thought
Finn had ridden twenty-story roller coasters that threw him around less than the emotional ride he was currently experiencing with one Diana Song.
At the moment, with her full, pillow-soft lips pressing against his, her leanly curved body molding to him with only a thin silk robe as a barrier…well, he wasn’t complaining.
He had been furious at her, ready to yell at her until she saw reason, when he got to her door. The thought of her betrayal and her cold-blooded handling of his friend Lincoln was still enough to keep him at least a little sane. But there was something about her that had him addicted to her like something chemical, illegal, totally uncontrollable.
Add to that the fact that she was now kissing him as if her life depended on it and it pretty much wiped away everything else he’d been feeling, except for the confusion and pure, primal heat.
Diana was probably still gunning for him, for Lincoln and the Club, so why, when she’d reached for him, had his body so enthusiastically answered the call?
How could he be so hot for a woman who was his worst enemy?
Dear Reader,
I have to say…Finn is my favorite.
There is just something so fun about a “wardrobe-challenged” billionaire with a wicked sense of humor who wants to live as if he’s dying. Life’s a game, and he’s the ultimate Player.
Of course, now he’s up against Diana “The Hammer” Song, his father’s determined legal counsel. She doesn’t believe in games, but she does play to win.
This book concludes the Player’s Club trilogy, finally revealing the origins of the secret society and bringing us full circle. This series has been a complete blast to write, and I hope it’s been just as fun to read!
Enjoy!
Cathy Yardley
Cathy Yardley
The Player’s Club: Finn
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
People think Cathy Yardley was crazy to trade sunny Southern California for the rainy Pacific Northwest. Fortunately, she firmly believes that writing isn’t a job for sane people. Now happily writing in the wilds of Seattle, she loves hearing from readers. To do so, email her at [email protected].
Books by Cathy Yardley
HARLEQUIN BLAZE
14—THE DRIVEN SNOWE
59—GUILTY PLEASURES
89—WORKING IT
300—JACK & JILTED
332—ONE NIGHT STANDARDS
366—BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
662—THE PLAYER’S CLUB: SCOTT*
668—THE PLAYER’S CLUB: LINCOLN*
*The Player’s Club
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To Kathryn Lye, Annelise Robey and Christina Hogerbe, for acting as midwives to this trilogy. You guys made this possible.
Thanks for being there for me.
Contents
1
FINN MACALISTER LEANED BACK and took in paradise.
The sky was an impossible blue, the water a silky turquoise rushing back to a stretch of white sand, dotted with jade-green palm trees. He’d been to Oahu several times, but it was as if he’d never seen it before in his life.
“Paddle!” Benji, the twenty-two-year-old next to him, yelled like a drill sergeant.
“Paddle your ass off, damn it!”
Without thinking, Finn cut into the water with his hands and…well, paddled his ass off.
The wave was bearing down on him like a freight train. Making it worse, it was a ten-foot-tall freight train, roaring at him, eager to pummel him against the hidden coral reefs somewhere down in that beautiful water he’d been waxing rhapsodic about. He paddled and cursed and finally managed to get his ass, and his board, over the ridge as Benji signaled his intent…and headed right for the danger zone.
Benji was paddling like a champion swimmer, attacking the wave like an ant attacking a tank. He got on, starting the ride, hitting it like a champ. Finn found himself holding his breath as he watched Benji go…watched him hit the sweet spot like something out of
The
Endless Summer
as he shot the curl, the translucent sheet of water closing behind him as he shot forward like a bullet out of a Colt 45. And he caught a glimpse of the broad, absolutely foolish smile that plastered the kid’s face. He let out a primal scream of joy.
Finn let out a breath.
There you go, kid.
“Welcome to the Player’s Club,” Finn said to no one in particular. Then he glanced back at the next wave. It was rising like a monster.
His heart kicked up a little, and a small smile sneaked onto his face.
He’d surfed plenty of times. He wasn’t a pro or anything, but he wasn’t a rank amateur. And sure, Finn had told Lincoln he was only going to be there to make sure nothing happened to their latest pledge, Benji. Of course, Benji was a semipro surfer, base jumper and all-around badass. Pretty good for a kid.
But Finn wasn’t doing what he was doing because he was jealous, or even because he wanted to show he could still do everything he could do before he’d turned thirty.
He felt his nerves tingle, his body almost shiver with the excitement of anticipation. The delicious, almost narcotic feeling of thrill danced along his skin.
This,
he thought.
This is what I need.
And he signaled, moving on the wave.
He thought he heard some yelling in the distance. The lifeguards he’d hired specifically were probably plenty pissed at him. Benji seemed to be cheering him, though, and that was encouraging, especially as he almost bobbled getting onto the surfboard.
It was…well, he hadn’t ever ridden a dragon, but if he ever found himself accidentally leashing and then riding a dragon in some weird dragon-rodeo, it would feel exactly like this. The water was screaming past him, and he saw the crest of it, curving over him, like the center of a cyclone, trying to swallow him up.
His entire life focused like a laser point. In that moment, he wasn’t the only son and heir to the multibillion-dollar Macalister candy fortune. He wasn’t the cofounder of the supersecret Players’ Club. He wasn’t the scared and spindly six-year-old with the illness that made his family treat him so strangely.
He was just Finn.
He broke through, shooting out, watching the beauty of the curl, feeling triumphant. He shouted, pumping his fist in the air.
Then, there was a loud, cracking sound and a violent jolt as his board snapped. The wave let loose its own triumphant roar, grabbing a hold of him, tight as a fist. Suddenly, the beautiful blue water was surrounding him, choking off all his air and spinning him like a washing machine. He felt a panic, felt the hard slice of something against his head.
He had two thoughts in the space of a millisecond.
One, that as Lincoln had warned this had been one of his stupider ideas…one that might very well kill him.
And two, that even now, he probably would have made the very same choice.
Better to die feeling alive than live feeling dead.
And with that cheerful thought, everything went black.
“DID YOU ENJOY DINNER tonight, Diana?”
“It was lovely,” Diana Song said, smiling with encouragement as she accepted the paper-thin glass of Pinot Noir. Truthfully, she barely remembered the place: some Thai restaurant, artsy and secluded. Her mind hadn’t been on the food.
