Page 3 of Play to Win
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Desire shot like an arrow and landed straight at its mark—between her legs. Portia shifted slightly, hoping the pressure her clenched thighs created would staunch the pulsating need that Ethan inspired.
“Private sessions aren’t available.” She’d tutored Ethan in Algebra when they were in high school. Math had been her favorite subject and even though he was two grades above her, she’d been taking advanced classes while Ethan struggled with the classes on his general curriculum. Without her helping him to pass every quiz in that class, he wouldn’t have been allowed to suit up and play most of the games of his senior year and he’d thanked her for that profusely at the time, only to let her down when it really mattered. “And after this conference, I won’t be conducting any workshops for the next six months.”
He was still touching her. She never allowed anyone to touch her, but this was Ethan. There’d been a time when she’d craved his touch more than living. For three years all she’d wanted was to be Ethan’s girl. Now, twelve years after she’d considered herself over that childish crush, his thumb had moved from her lip but still rubbed along the line of her jaw as he watched her intently. Too intently. Almost as if he were in awe that he was actually touching her. Well, that made two of them, but she had no intention of letting him know that. She cleared her throat and arched a brow seconds before he spoke.
“Are you quitting?” he asked with a raised brow.
Why was that so sexy? She was an adult now and she’d seen her fair share of men smiling, smirking, blinking their eyes or licking their lips to get her attention. Ethan had never needed to do any of those things, her teenage heart had been like putty in his hands. Why did he still have this effect on her?
And why was she letting him touch her when she knew he didn’t like her. Or he pitied her as most of the older kids had during high school. Plain Portia who wore braces and plain dresses for two years straight. While her parents hadn’t been poor in the financial sense, Wayne and Judy Merin didn’t mingle with many people in Providence. Her father’s job as a lobbyist and her mother’s as her father’s twenty-four-seven assistant, kept them terribly busy. Sometimes even too busy for their only child.
“I’m not a quitter.” Those words had become her mantra over the years, now she said them with a sense of pride. She hadn’t stopped tutoring Ethan when Cassidy Lewis approached her in the bathroom and told her she was making a fool of herself gawking over a guy that would never want someone like her. Cassidy had then gone a step further to emphasize what type of girl she’d thought Portia was by tugging on one of the stray strings from Portia’s sweater until it made a big hole on her shoulder, an impossible spot to cover for the rest of the day. She’d had a tutoring session with Ethan that afternoon and he’d pretended not to notice the hole, just as he always acted as if he hadn’t notice her other worn and dated clothes.
With memories from her past bombarding her, Portia turned her face so that his hand fell away. She took a casual step back from him and then moved to the other side of the table where her props and notes were. “I’m actually on a book tour and I have many stops to make in the coming months. So I won’t have time for my usual classes.”
She reached under the table and pulled out the bin she used to store her items.
“You wrote a book?” The incredulous tone in his voice was so familiar and she bristled with offense.
Pulling a wet wipe from the container she’d kept in the bin, she began cleaning her props, acting as unaffected as possible. Seconds later she glanced up at him. “Yes, I wrote a book. Is that so hard to believe?”
“No. No, it’s not.” He shook his head as if to emphasize his denial. “I always knew you were smart.”
Everybody knew she was smart. That was one of the biggest reasons the kids tortured her so much. For the life of her, Portia would never understand why children thought being smart was akin to having an incurable disease.
“And talented,” he added when she couldn’t find the words to respond to him. “You’ve got a really…ah…enticing talent.”
That wasn’t the worst a guy had said to her after one of her sessions. Her publicist had suggested the publisher hire a bodyguard to travel with her during the tour just in case someone got out of hand or wanted more than the lesson she offered for the entire class. Portia had declined. She could take care of herself. After all, defending herself against a guy who’d thought he could take something from her was exactly how she’d ended up with this career in the first place.
“I’m really good at what I do.” While becoming an intimacy instructor was far from her parents’ dream of her going into politics, Portia was in no way ashamed of the multi-million-dollar empire she’d built within the sex entertainment industry. In fact, outside of the money she’d earned, shedding the shy awkward smart girl persona she’d been flanked with throughout her childhood, after that fateful incident her senior year in college, the sex entertainment industry with its uninhibited nature had empowered her in ways she’d never imagined.
“I have to agree with you there.” He cleared his throat and gave a little chuckle before coming around the table and taking her wrists in his hands.
Why did he keep touching her? And after all that had happened between them, why did she keep letting him?
“I was very…uh, intrigued by your little demonstration,” he said.
Portia didn’t want to intrigue Ethan Henley. Not anymore. “I have to pack up so I can head back to the hotel.”
“I can drive you to your hotel.” He offered and stepped even closer.
Ethan could drive her absolutely crazy if she let him! But that’s not what Portia was here to do. She was promoting her book and just passing through Alexandria. When the conference was over, she would stop in Providence to put her godmother’s house on the market and then she would be moving on. Again. Nowhere in those plans had she anticipated seeing Ethan Henley. “No, thanks. My publisher arranged a car service for me.”
“I could follow the car to your hotel and we can have a drink.” If this wasn’t someone she’d shared many memories with, his offer would be creepy and she’d be doing everything in her power to get the hell away from him, but again, this was Ethan.
His eyes had grown darker, his voice huskier and his thumbs were now circling over her racing pulse. No other guy had ever come close to comparing to Ethan in Portia’s mind. Even when she’d gone off to college and had allowed herself to be with other men, somewhere in the back of her mind Ethan still lingered. Now he was here, standing so close and looking as if he wanted to devour her. She could barely breathe with the weight of that thought. The girl that had left Providence when she was seventeen and a half would’ve thought Ethan was playing a cruel trick on her, much like the one he’d pulled when she was in the tenth grade. The woman and professional that she was now, recognized the look in his eyes, his posture, and the tone of his voice. He was aroused. She’d allow herself to bask in that truth later, but for now, she had to stand her ground.
“Are you suggesting a drink or sex, Ethan?” She was pretty sure he was suggesting the latter and even surer that she wasn’t interested. She couldn’t be. Not again.
He looked surprised at her words, but that didn’t slow his roll at all. Ethan pressed closer to her, so close she could feel his thick erection. That was really all the answer she needed, but of course Ethan had to speak.
“We can have both.” The offer of a lifetime, or it had been once upon a time.
By way of her tingling nipples and the dampness she now felt as the thin material of her panties pressed against her throbbing skin, her body screamed, “Yes! We certainly can!”But her brain insisted,“Hell to the no!”
She swallowed hard a few times and then finally replied, “I don’t think so.”
