Page 45 of Playing a Player (Sweet Cravings 1)

"I'm actually a really good dancer. I was just helping out a friend." I used my beer to point at the blonde girl grinding against Rory. Slut. I downed the rest of my beer.

"Two more beers over here," he said.

"Thanks." I smiled at him. He reminded me a lot of my most recent ex. The same ex who got engaged several months after he dumped me, even though he had said he just wasn't ready to settle down. I hated men.

"Cheers to a fun night," the stranger said and held up his beer.

I picked up the beer that the bartender had just given me. Now it was time for phase two. "Cheers," I said and clinked my bottle against his. "So, what's your name?"

"Brian."

"It is nice to meet you, Brian. I'm Keira."

"So, Keira, do you usually wingman for your friend? What's her name?"

Of course he thought I was wingmanning for one of my girlfriends, not Rory. I didn't feel like explaining the awkward situation. I looked over at Rory and the blonde girl. "Jessica," I lied. "And no, I don't usually. But she's been having a rough couple days. Her boyfriend just broke up with her and she's desperate." Her hands were all over Rory. It was hard to watch.

Brian laughed. "She does look kind of desperate."

I smiled and peeled my eyes away from them. "So how about I prove to you that I'm actually a good dancer?"

"Sounds good to me." He put his hand on the small of my back and escorted me to the dance floor.

When he stopped, I grabbed his arm and pulled him over closer to Rory. I needed Rory to notice me ignoring him. I quickly turned around and wrapped my hands around the back of Brian's neck. He smiled down at me.

"So what do you think?" I said as he spun me around and grabbed my waist with one hand.

"You're right, you're not so bad."

"Not so bad?" I spun around again and let myself get lost in the music. It felt good to have someone's sole attention.

"You're so good that you're even stealing the attention from the guy you set your friend up with."

"Really?" I looked over at Rory. If he had been looking at me, he wasn't anymore. He was making out with the blonde girl. Fuck you, Jessica! I couldn't help but laugh at myself. I began to wonder what the odds were that her name actually was Jessica.

"Are you okay?" Brian asked.

I realized I had stopped dancing and was staring at them. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. You know what though? I forgot that I have an important meeting tomorrow morning and I have to wake up really early, so I'm going to get going." I couldn't watch them kissing in the middle of the dance floor. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked as we both got off the dance floor.

Walk me home? I didn't usually hang out in bars. But it seemed like a walk home was synonymous with a one night stand. And I never wanted to have another one of those again. All I wanted was Rory. Over and over and over again. But part of my master plan to win Rory over was to go on a date with another man. I needed to make Rory jealous. But I definitely didn't want to lead Brian on. It would be better if I went on a date with a pretend man. "No, that's okay. It was really nice meeting you, though, Brian."

"You too, Keira. Hopefully I'll see you here again one night."

I smiled at him and disappeared through the crowd. The fresh air immediately calmed me down. When I was walking with Rory, I hadn't noticed how far away the bar was. But now that I was alone the walk seemed endless. My heels clicking on the sidewalk was starting to drive me crazy.

I wasn't sure how long I could play it cool around Rory. Seeing him with that girl was really hard. Two days into my plan and I was already feeling desperate again.

Chapter 20

Ouch. I had fallen asleep at my desk writing and my back was killing me. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. The paper in front of me was filled with notes about what I had tried so far. At the top was written, "How to Play with a Player." Ever since Rory had moved in, I hadn't been able to write. Until now. I had a feeling my editor was going to love it.

I opened up my laptop and typed up my idea for the article. The only problem was that my editor was going to expect me to follow through, and I wasn't sure if I could. Rory had made it clear that the one night we had spent together was all we'd ever have. I was quickly running out of ideas on how to be sexy and fun, yet unattached. All I wanted was for him to ask me out for a romantic dinner and sweep me off my feet.

I hesitated when I finished writing my pitch. The main point of the article would be about how dating was turning into meaningless hookups. And how I thought that maybe that could change, and my attempts to figure out how. I needed to believe that it could change. But Rory being a part of my story, even if he wasn't the focus, was a problem. It wouldn't really be about him, though. And I'd use a different name. I just wanted to see if it was possible to turn a one night stand into more. Because it should be more. Maybe this is a bad idea.

The sound of the front door opening pulled me away from the computer. Part of the reason I had fallen asleep while writing was because I had been waiting for Rory to get home. He was only just coming home now. Which meant he had slept over at the blonde girl's place. Gross. I sighed and sent over the email. A go-ahead and a deadline would surely motivate me. And maybe getting published would make me feel better about everything.

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