Game for Anything (4 page)

How could she possibly keep her panties on around him?

He pulled his senselessly expensive car into one of the slots in a six-car garage of one of the most stunning houses she'd ever set eyes on, and she whispered to herself, "You've got to be kidding me."

Julie had grown up with money. Lots of money. Yet she'd never seen anything quite as impressive as Ty's estate, smack-dab on the water in the Seacliff district of San Francisco. Over the past few decades, houses here were selling for $15 to $20 million, only to be torn down for sprawling McMansions to be built in their place. The glass-and-steel structures often looked out of place in the once architecturally rich neighborhood.

Surprisingly, Ty's house looked to be original— albeit updated—1920's architecture. Julie would much rather have had their first planning meeting at her office, with her staff nearby to protect her from his charm. A crowded restaurant would have been even better. Anything other than Ty's personal kingdom. But he'd insisted.

"Now that I'm your top client, don't you need to get to know me?" he'd said. She'd been so upset with his easy maneuvering of her and the situation that her reply had been cutting. "I suppose I do need to see everything that's wrong before I can begin to start making changes. What better place than your house? I'm sure it's a treasure trove of surprises." Again, pain flashed in his eyes too quickly for him to shutter it. How was he managing to make her feel like the bad guy? He'd been the one who'd hurt her. Not the other way around. She sat behind the wheel of her car a moment too long and he opened the door for her and held his hand out. She didn't want his help, even if it was a surprisingly gentlemanly thing to be doing.

"Maybe I won't have to teach you absolutely everything about proper behavior," she said as she placed her hand in his in place of a thank-you.

As she stood in his driveway, she felt like she'd lost her entire foundation. She'd never wanted to be this close to Ty again or have him look at her like that—like he wanted her to kiss him, just like he had when they were eighteen and she'd been so delighted by his attention.

And now here they were and it was as if the past ten years had never happened. Because she was still consumed with the same pathetic lust and desperation.

She quickly pulled her hand back and he put his up in a gesture of surrender.

" I know this is a pretty rough surprise, having to work with me. If you'd rather not take me on, Julie, just say the word. I'm sure the team can find someone else to clean up my act." She stared at him, hearing the challenge beneath his words.

"Oh no, I'm definitely up to the test," she said, suddenly remembering that she was supposed to be the one in control here, not him. Still, as she walked up his beautifully paved driveway, knowing his eyes were trained on the sway of her hips, the curve of her calves in her heels, she gave quiet thanks for the angel that helped her choose one of her sexiest business outfits to wear this morning. Just think if she'd been PMSing and had put on that frumpy brown-pant suit that she'd been meaning to give away for the past few months. God, that would have been embarrassing. His front door was open and she wondered if he had trained his servants to open the door, put the champagne on ice, and turn down his silk sheets the moment they saw him coming home with a woman.

Julie knew she didn't measure up to the hot babes he normally dated, but some twisted part of her actually hoped that his staff would think that she
could
get Ty, rather than just be a paid business associate.

Nonetheless, she couldn't fail to be impressed by his house and property. The foyer alone had one of the most beautiful views in all of San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge glittered red in the sunlight to her right, the surf and the Farallon Islands directly in front of the house. He'd certainly come a long way. And even though their past was messy she admired all he'd achieved. From life in a trailer park to all this. While she worked for what she had, she'd never had to struggle for money or respect. Not like he had.

A large yacht motored past his house just as she felt him move behind her. Suddenly she was eighteen again, standing at the rail of the marina in Sau-salito, knowing the boy she adored was close enough to touch.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"More beautiful than I ever imagined," was his slightly gruff reply near her left ear. She didn't think he was talking about the view from his house. Julie could feel his breath on her skin, his heat at her back. She wanted nothing more than to turn to him, to give herself up to the incredible pleasure of his touch.

Just when she didn't think she could hold out another second from doing the second stupidest thing in her entire life, shouts rang out from the large room off of the foyer. Taking it as her cue to get away from Ty, she dashed into the impressive kitchen. Just beyond the enormous granite-topped island, she saw three large men in various states of disrepair dancing on colorful plastic floor mats in the family room.

"Dude," one of them said without looking over his shoulder at Julie and Ty, "I just totally trumped Alex. I toldyou guys I was a Dance Dance Revolution king!"

Ty grinned and leaned against a sink. "Now that's something to be proud of, my friend." Ignoring the silly part of her that wanted to kick off her shoes and dance to the music pumping out of Ty's enormous flatscreen TV, she coolly said, "I'd love to meet your friends."

"Guys, this is Julie."

All three men—if you could call shirtless guys who hadn't shaved in well over twenty-four hours playing a kid's video game men—spun around to meet Ty's groupie of the hour. The Dance King's eyes lit up and he whistled as he looked her up and down and then back up to her breasts. "Well, hello there, pretty lady," he finally said as he managed to tear his gaze away from her chest and make eye contact.

She gave him her primmest smile in return. "It's so nice to meet you." Ty's incredible estate was nothing more than a glorified frat house. They wouldn't get any work done in this kind of environment. Besides, didn't he care that his friends were eating his food, messing up his house, and playing with his toys, but didn't respect him enough to keep the front door shut or throw away their pizza boxes when they were through?

Without bothering to confer with Ty—after all, he was her client and her word was law from here on out—she walked over to the couch and began picking up shirts and socks and shoes between her thumb and forefinger.

"And who does this belong to?" and "Is this yours?" mingled with the electronic beats playing on the enormous TV.

As the three very confused men dutifully dressed themselves, she found the remote control under a discarded sweatshirt and hit the Power button.

She assumed the guys who now stood before her in wrinkled clothes were also football players. But even though they had bulging muscles and the letter O was shaved into the side of one man's head, they seemed no more fearsome than little boys.

"Why don't you head home, take a shower, eat something, and get some rest," she suggested to them.

"Who are you?" asked one man.

She smiled. "Ty and I go way back."

Everyone in the room simultaneously smirked so she said, "He asked me to clean up some messes for him," then looked pointedly at their collective untidiness. She caught Ty's shrug from the corner of her eye and had to hold back a giggle when the biggest, brawniest, meanest-looking guy said, "I don't know who you're calling a mess, dude, but I'm outta here."

"Me too," said the others, but not before they helped themselves to a couple of sodas and doughnuts on their way out.

"Close the door behind you, please," she called out, feeling deliciously puritanical. Unfortunately, Ty knew exactly how to keep her from enjoying her newfound pleasure in kicking butt. "You've got to check out my pool," he said, just as a stunning young woman unfurled herself—all long arms, legs, enormous naked breasts, and tiny waist—from his hot tub. And there wasn't just one Amazon lounging in perfect near-nakedness beside his pool, but two.

Julie knew she was attractive, but in a beauty competition with women like these, she was the sure loser.

Her second thought was even odder. For the first time, it occurred to her that it must be quite a burden on Ty to be so good looking. And so rich and successful too. How could he know if any of these people were true friends? If they really liked him, or found his jokes funny?

Incredible. All the bronzed, toned flesh and silicone was making her so loopy, she'd actually spent five seconds feeling empathy for a man who had it all.

But why did everything in his life have to be so senselessly over the top? Yes, he was trailer park boy done good, but couldn't he do good for other people as well, rather than just himself and his equally pretty friends?

And then, she smiled. Because she'd just figured out how she was going to reform Ty: not only in the public eye, but for his own good too. He was going to spend the summer doing good things for other people. Even if it went against the natural inclination of every bone in his body. The first stop on that train was pulling the rest of the leeches off and throwing them back into the water. Bye-bye, girls!

With unmitigated glee, Julie said, "Hi, ladies, I'm the new cruise director. It's nice to meet you." The topless redhead scrunched her nose. "Urn, we're not on a cruise." Julie didn't laugh; that would be downright cruel. "Nope, just a figure of speech." She clapped her hands together. "In any case, your friend Ty has a lot of important things he needs to take care of, so I'm afraid you'll have to be on your way."

The blonde slipped her sunglasses off. "Anything I can help with?" Ty smiled at Julie. "Cindy here is real good at following directions." The fact that fire didn't shoot out of Julie's ears was a miracle. A vivid image of this girl touching Ty, doing all the things to him that she'd done so many years ago, that she'd helplessly dreamed of doing again and again for a decade, nearly did her in. Julie wanted to take the blonde down, rip the silicone out of her breasts, and make sure she never came within a mile of Ty. Instead, Julie smiled and said, "Don't worry. I'll give you a call if we need you for anything."
Likewhen he needs his toilet cleaned.

Surreptitiously, she watched Ty to see if he was drooling as the girls put their very skimpy clothes back on. Strangely, he didn't seem to be all that interested in the show they were putting on for him. Instead he pulled out his BlackBerry and checked his email, typing in a quick message. Even when each girl pressed against his arm and gave him a peck on the cheek, he barely looked up. She'd never met anyone who appreciated a woman's curves as thoroughly as he did, so what could be the explanation for his diffidence with these women? What man on earth wouldn't be dying to have immediate sex with them?

Ty slipped his BlackBerry into his back pocket and grinned at her. "Good work. I couldn't have cleared the place better myself."

She frowned. He wasn't supposed to be happy with her kicking his friends out. She'd been trying to get under his skin, piss him off a little.

And he definitely wasn't supposed to focus his attention on her and say, "Looks like it's just the two of us now."

What have I done?
It was her own damn fault for thinking she was smarter than Ty. Or that she had a prayer of a chance of resisting him.

CHAPTER FIVE

It was a turn-on to watch Julie be such a ballbuster, even though he was pretty sure that wasn't the intended effect. He knew she wanted him to think she was in charge of the game, and he was perfectly happy to let her act like she was leading him around on a short chain. But he was glad she'd kicked his friends out of his house. Sure, he enjoyed the constant party, the sense that he lived in a resort with bikini-clad girls by the pool and an endless supply of good food and drink at hand. But sometimes it did get a little old.

Sometimes he wanted to be alone for a little while. To turn off his smile, drop the banter, escape the pressure to be playful and sexy with the ladies. If he were a nice guy, he'd tell Julie that he hadn't slept with Cindy or her friend. But he liked seeing Julie jealous. Even more he enjoyed watching her work to tamp it down, to pretend that she didn't care who he slept with or how big the woman's breasts were.

Oh yes, Julie cared. And Ty was extremely glad that she did.

He hadn't spent a lot of time feeling bad about himself or wishing he could be a different person. He'd grown immune to insults long ago. Growing up with a drunk in the house did that to a guy. But somehow, when she said he was worthless, it kind of grated. Just enough that he noticed. Sure, she was only a youthful infatuation made more important by the fact that he hadn't seen her again after their one rocking night together. But he still wanted to impress her. And not just with his car and his house and his bank account. That wasn't enough.

He was going to take her into his private sanctum beneath his house. No one, except the men who'd built it, had ever been below his garage. Ty had designed and furnished the space himself, to suit his needs on the days when he wasn't up for the party.

"So," she said, "where should we sit down to start ironing out your new schedule? We'll need to get your agent on the line, as well."

She was eyeing the large dining table, probably hoping she could sit at one end while he sat at the other.

Not a chance.

"I've got the perfect spot." He nearly laughed when she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She always was a sharp one, and a babe with brains was a helluva combination.

"Follow me."

They wound through the house and into his spacious garage. He touched a button on the wall and a five-foot section of the floor slid open to reveal a marble staircase.

"Are you kidding?" she said, backing away in horror. "I'm not going to follow you down there." He laughed. "What do you think I'm going to do? Cut you up and store you in my freezer?"

"Of course not. But—"

Her cheeks grew pink and Ty filled in the blanks himself in his head.
But you might kiss me and I
might like it. And then we might end up with our clothes off. Again.