Playing Dirty

This time, it was Kallie’s turn to be silent.

“So, should we come over?” Nick pressed.

Still, she didn’t respond.

“I’ll take that as a yes. We’re on our way.”

“No, don’t,” she finally managed. “I don’t want to see Marla right now.”

“Fine. I can call someone else, but you might have to wait half an hour. Think your man can last that long?” Nick taunted.

Kallie was speechless.

“Hello? Is that a yes?” he asked again.

She flung the phone aside, furious that she’d already lost this contest of shamelessness.

Seeing her distraction, Noah pulled her up, settling her onto his lap. He leaned against the headboard, lit a cigarette, and let his other hand trail over her flawless skin. “So, where do I rank?”

Kallie snapped back to the present. “What?”

“This is all about revenge, isn’t it? So how many of his friends and family have you fucked? Where do I rank in the lineup?”

Her eyes flickered. “Why are you asking?”

“No reason. Forget it if you don’t want to say.”

Her mind was a mess. She’d been raised to be a proper, well-behaved girl.

At Columbia, they’d even called her the “innocent girl next door.”

Nick had pursued her for four years in college. He’d driven across half of Manhattan at 6:30 every morning to wait for her outside her dorm. He’d sat beside her in the library, fanning her while she studied.

When she said she didn’t like guys with bad grades, he’d spent a semester pulling his GPA up to the top three in his department and landed a job at Goldman Sachs.

When her favorite limited-edition Godiva chocolates were discontinued, he’d rallied all his friends to buy out every last box in New York City.

How could the Nick who had loved her so fiercely turn into this?

“Why don’t you want to see Marla?” Noah asked after finishing his cigarette. He shifted his legs, a smile playing on his lips as he watched her body move with his. “Is he planning to marry her?”

“Just stop talking,” Kallie snapped, her irritation growing.

“Looks like I guessed right.”

Kallie didn’t answer.

“You never cared about his other flings,” Noah continued. “Marla is the only one who’s made you lose it.”

“Can you just shut up?”

“Hit a nerve?”

Kallie got up, gathered her clothes from the floor, and started to dress. “I’m leaving.”

When Kallie got back to her apartment, she was heading for the shower when she saw him sitting on the living room couch. She stopped in her tracks. “What are you doing here?”

Nick crossed his legs, looking up from his newspaper. “This is my home. Why can’t I be here?”

“Your home is with Marla. Not here.”

A wicked grin spread across his face. “Jealous?”

“Never!”

“Try a different tactic next time,” Nick said. “We’ve been together too long, Kallie. I know you. You’d rather kill yourself than have a one-night stand. You’re not that kind of woman.”

Lord knows she had tried to win him back. She’d cried, begged, even drank herself into a stupor. She’d pleaded with him to remember their ten years of history, promising to forgive everything if he just came back.

But he’d simply carried on a phone call with his mistress while telling her coldly, “In the animal kingdom, no capable male has only one mate. Demanding lifelong monogamy from a man goes against the laws of nature.”

So Kallie had compromised. She’d allowed his affairs, as long as he didn’t bring the women home. The final straw had been discovering he was serious about Marla.

She laughed, a bitter sound. “Then what kind of woman am I?”

“You can’t sleep with someone without feelings,” he said confidently.

“You’re a traditional housewife at heart. What kind of games can you play? You just want me to come home, right? There’s no need to lie like this.”

“What would you have done if I’d actually gone to the room next door yesterday? What if I wasn’t there?”

“Didn’t you hear us?”

“Hear what?”

“There was a man talking to me when we were on the phone last night.”

Nick looked at her, as if waiting to see how long she’d keep up the act. “You hired an actor? How much did that cost you?”

“Don’t assume you know me so well,” Kallie said. “It’s a lot easier to be a slut than a faithful wife.”

“You’re just putting on a brave face.”

That enraged her even more. “What gives you the right to say that? I can call him over right now.”

“Fine,” Nick said. “Noah’s on his way, too. He can listen in on your little escapades.”

“Who’s coming?”

“Noah. Did you forget? Noah Hayes, my cousin. He’s coming to talk about some investment opportunities.”