The Player's Club: Lincoln (18 page)

She turned to Stephen, pleading. “Think about this. He’s coming up with a bunch of posers, trying to recapture some past glory. But I’ve got the real thing. If you came up with a reality-TV show that said ‘Become a Hell’s Angel’ and then had a bunch of soccer dads on Harleys, do you really think that people watching the show wouldn’t feel duped?”

“Okay, you two, break it up,” Stephen said sharply. “George, she’s got a point. They’re the real deal.” Then he looked crafty for a second. “If we show the real guys, like an underground documentary, then offer a contestant the chance to become one…
then,
we’ve got a show.” He smiled genially at both of them. “Which means I need the two of you to play nice and get me what I need, and I’ll make sure it gets picked up. You’ll both get paid plenty—I think I can work enough deals that there’ll be lots to go around. All right?”

George looked at her, obviously unhappy. “All right.”

Juliana shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Stephen, but…no.”

Stephen cursed. “I’m trying to be a nice guy here.”

“I know.” She glared at George. “But I don’t trust him. And I’ve been in the club long enough to know they wouldn’t go for this. They’re not in it for the glory. They’re in it…well, to become better people. Braver people. People who know how to live.” She thought of their faces, recalled the memory of her first meeting. “I admire them. And if I go through with this, not only will they hate me, I’ll hate myself.”

“Fine. I’m all for principles,” Stephen said. “But honey, I don’t pay for them.”

George’s smile was victorious. “Guess it’s back to my idea, huh?”

“Frankly, I’m sick of the whole prospect now,” Stephen retorted, and George’s smug grin fell. “George, unless you can get back in your club’s good graces, I think this project is dead in the water.”

George’s face turned an unattractive shade of red. “We’ll just see, won’t we?” he said, then stalked out. At least he didn’t slam the door behind him for effect.

She lingered for a moment. “I’m really sorry, Stephen.”

He shrugged. “It was a waste of my time, I’m not going to say it wasn’t,” he replied. “But hey, I always liked your dad’s movies. And your mom was a knockout…I had a poster of her.”

“Oh?” She squirmed in her seat.

“They must be proud that their little girl has so much backbone.”

Not really, she thought. But for the first time, it didn’t bother her.
She
was proud of herself. “You’re a good man, too, Stephen.”

“Don’t let it get around, not in this business. The wolves will start circling,” he said, and she was pretty sure he wasn’t kidding.

She got up, getting ready to go, then gave him a thoughtful look. “You have any downtime?”

He barked a laugh. “My doctor and my wife keep trying to convince me to learn how to relax. I’m still working on the downtime thing. Why? You have a time-share or something?”

“If you ever decide you want to be a player,” she said, “you call me.”

He seemed startled, but then grinned, boyishly for a sixty-year-old man. “No kidding?”

She leaned over, kissed his cheek. “Absolutely. And trust me, Stephen…it’s worth it.”

With one last grin, she left, stopping at Deanna’s desk. “Excuse me. I’m going to need my netbook back. You know, the little computer that had the footage on it.”

“Of course,” the efficient admin said, handing the computer over. “I made one copy of the footage on your computer, and I was going to make another copy for Stephen....”

“You don’t need to make any copies. The project isn’t moving forward.” Juliana stopped as she processed what the girl had said. “You already made the copy on a flash disk? If those things are copy protected, does that mean it’s impossible to erase, too?”

Which meant that they would have a copy of the footage just lying around.

Juliana felt fear stab at her. “I’ll buy it from you if that’s the case. I really don’t want that footage being seen by anyone else.” She stopped when she noticed Deanna’s anxious expression. “Is something wrong?”

Deanna visibly gulped. “I already gave the copy to Mr. Macalister.”

“What?” A wave of panic hit Juliana.
“Why?”

“Because he’s an executive producer. And he told me Stephen wanted him to have a copy…” Deanna’s sentence trailed off. She looked nauseous. “Did I do something wrong?”

Juliana felt as sick as Deanna looked.

“I think we both did.”

LINCOLN WAITED IN THE SUITE of the penthouse of the W hotel in San Francisco. The view was stellar, but he only had eyes for the door.

He was surprising Juliana. He hoped she would be pleased.

His cell phone rang, and he glanced at it. When he saw it wasn’t Juliana, he answered it a bit impatiently. “What’s up, Finn?”

“That’s what I was about to ask you,” Finn grumbled. “I haven’t heard from you in days, man. I was starting to think Terrence’s last stunt had put you off the Club for life.”

Lincoln grinned. “It’d take a hell of a lot more than some sirens to get me to quit the club. Although, we might want to rethink some of the rules of our challenges.”

“We’ve got enough rules as is,” Finn countered easily. “Did you see the press conference, though?”

“What press conference?”

Finn chuckled. “It’s safe to say we’ve got the chief of police’s panties in an official bunch.”

Lincoln winced. “Oh?”

“Based on ‘eyewitness reports,’ he’s pretty sure that it’s us,” Finn said, sounding completely unconcerned. “He’s also offering a fifty-thousand-dollar reward for anybody who can nail us with some proof.”

“Yikes.” Lincoln frowned. “Why’s he picking on us, specifically? Aren’t there murderers and thieves that he ought to be trying to arrest?”

“Slow news day?” Finn offered. “Trying to prove he’s a man of the people because it’s an election year? I don’t know. Still, I’m not worried, either.”

“Are you ever?”

“Not really,” Finn said, and Lincoln could picture him smiling. “But this time I’m really not, because nobody can identify us.”

“We really need to start getting more careful, though. It’s not worth risking the club over.”

“Whatever. So, how’re things with Juliana?”

“Well,” Lincoln said slowly, then smiled. “Really well.”

Finn went silent for a second, then burst out laughing. “She seduced you, didn’t she? Man! Of all the men in the world who I thought would be able to resist her, I thought you’d be the one who could manage it. But she’s unstoppable.”

“She didn’t seduce me, I seduced her,” Lincoln corrected, grimacing when Finn’s laughter grew even louder. “Okay, it wasn’t so much a seduction as I finally… Would you quit it? I’m trying to talk here.”

“Sorry.” It took Finn a few seconds to settle down. “Please continue.”

The doorknob started to turn. Lincoln shot to his feet. “I can’t talk right now. I’ll call you later.” And without another word he hung up on Finn, who was laughing again.

Juliana walked in slowly. “Lincoln?”

He swept her up in his arms, kissing her sumptuously. She chuckled, blinking.

“Why are we meeting here?”

“Because my place is too damned far away,” he said, kissing her neck, stroking her back. “And because I wanted to surprise you with something spontaneous. Do you like it?”

“Love it,” she breathed, glancing around, guilt warring with suspicion. “You know you don’t need to spend a lot of money on me, right? I’m not that mercenary.”

“Sure, I know that,” he said, meaning every word. “But I have money, and I wanted to do something nice for you.”

She smiled weakly, and he knew immediately that something was wrong. “What? What is it?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” she said, giving in to her fear. “Actually, I don’t want to talk about it ever, but…”

“Then we won’t talk about it,” he said. “Are you hungry? It’s early yet for supper, but I could get room service, or if you want to go out somewhere, anywhere, we could…”

“No, I’m not hungry.” She leaned up on tiptoe, and pressed her lips to his. Then did the same with her hips.

His body got ready to launch in a nanosecond. “Or we could always put off dinner,” he joked, tugging her against him. As he kissed her, he noticed she was tense, so tense that it seemed to hum through her from head to toe. “You need to relax, love.”

“You always call me by these endearments,” she said. “Ordinarily, I don’t like them, but when you say them, they’re sweet. They make me nervous, for God’s sake.” She sounded baffled, disconcerted. “Why do you affect me so much?”

He smiled, kissing her. He knew what she meant, exactly.

“Why don’t we take a bath,” he said. “Loosen some of these muscles up. Then you can tell me about your day.”

She nodded, and he led her toward the bathroom. There was a deep tub, complete with whirlpool jets…lavish, luxurious and built for two. He filled it with warm water and some kind of bath salts and suds. The scene was ridiculous, but the pile of bubbles made her smile, which was what he wanted.

She stripped out of her summery dress, eyeing him beneath the fringe of her lashes. “You joining me? This thing looks like it needs a lifeguard.”

“I’m happy to volunteer,” he said, peeling off his own clothes and getting into the water. Their bodies were slick as otters, and he pulled her next to him, kissing her with a slow, thorough quality that was as luxurious as the bath. “Feeling better?”

She nodded. Then she reached beneath the surface of the water, obscured by bubbles. She took his cock in her hand, the water making it slick as she stroked with firm deliberation. Groaning, he tilted his head back until it rested on cold granite.

“I’d like to make you feel better,” she said, biting his neck softly before swirling around him in the water, straddling his waist. He sighed as she impaled herself on his hardness, taking him almost before he could really process what she was about. She arched her back, her glorious, generous breasts right in front of his face when he opened his eyes, her beautiful eyes closed, her expression one of passionate abandon.

He suckled her breasts, stroking his soapy, slippery hands over her back, her hips, the delicious curve of her full ass as she moved slowly up and down his rock-hard shaft. The combination of her tight, hot passage and the warm waves of water lapping at him was mind-blowing. The taste of her was incredible. The feel of her, unforgettable.

“Juliana,” he moaned. She was moving with increasing speed, the gyration of her hips adding a delicious twist to the gripping pressure of her cunt on his cock. He wanted her. He wanted her forever.

He held on to her tightly as she picked up the tempo, moving up and down, her chest sliding against his as she kissed him fiercely, her tongue mating with his just as their sexes were beneath the water. He wanted to sink into her, melt into her, become one in every way possible.

Without warning, the orgasm roared through him, and he bucked, emptied himself into her even as he swallowed her scream of release. The milking contractions of her climax drained him, every shivering, shuddering clench.

She rested her head against his shoulder.

She was everything he didn’t know he wanted. She knew about his past—he trusted her with it. She was strong, and sexy, and surprisingly sensitive.

She was perfect. Or at least, perfectly imperfect. And right now, he wanted nothing more than to spend a long, long time showing her exactly how much she meant to him.

So why don’t you tell her?

“You know,” he murmured, pushing a sweaty lock of hair away from her eyes, “if I didn’t know better, I’d think I was falling in love with you.”

She glanced at him coquettishly. “Good thing you know better.”

He sighed. It had been a clumsy attempt to remain detached…to say what he was feeling without being open to rejection. She was right to mock it. He tried again, kissing her softly, and swallowed against the sudden knot in his throat.

“Juliana, I do love you.”