Spin the Bottle (4 page)

Mac stared at her. “You parade around half naked for the whole world to see for a job, but you’re worried about someone seeing us?”

“Of course I am.”

He surveyed the people near them before bringing his gaze back to hers. His lips curled in the smile Lil referred to as his deal-maker smile, the one he got when he knew the next words out of his mouth would be the final blow in the argument, leaving him on the winning side. “You had me there for a second, but we all know Lillian McDermott loves nothing more than to be the centre of attention, so the fact the crowd is focused on your brother is your real problem, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“You love the spotlight. I’d even go as far as saying you crave it. Why else would you flaunt yourself the way you do?”

She was dumbfounded. Did he honestly think she was the sum total of her model image? “That’s how you see me?”

“It’s hard to miss, Lilli. You spend your days in front of the camera. I think your image has well and truly been captured centre stage.”

Her heart ached. How could he not know her?
Easy when you’ve never let anyone but Cam know the real you.
Lillian ignored the voice of reason in her head and took a step away from Mac. “You know, for a highly intelligent man you’re rather stupid sometimes, Mac. What you see on billboards, in magazines and wherever else my picture appears is Lillian McDermott the model. She’s an image, a two-dimensional figure without substance. It’s a part I play, but it isn’t and never has been the
real
Lillian, and you of all people should know that.”

Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Lillian sucked in a breath and used the sudden movement of the crowd to make her escape. She lowered her gaze so as not to make eye contact with anyone and pushed her way from the room. A gasp emitted from the group behind her but she didn’t turn to see what had happened in the game. She didn’t care. The only thing on her mind was getting away from Mac and finding somewhere quiet to regroup. The house pulsed around her, the party in full swing, every room filled with the crush of bodies and loud music.

She turned towards the rear of the house, the laundry room off the kitchen her destination. Lil wasn’t sure what upset her more, the fact she’d been so successful in portraying a superficial image, or that Mac hadn’t been able to see through her disguise. Either way, the pain in her heart threatened to bring her undone. Her eyes and nose stung with unshed tears, and the sob building in her chest pressed against her rib cage, strangling her breath.

Lil stumbled through the kitchen and bumped into a waiter. The empty tray in his hands crashed to the floor, but she couldn’t stop. If she didn’t make it to the laundry room in the next few seconds, she’d lose it completely. Her fingers curled around the door handle, the metal cool beneath her skin as she turned the knob and pushed inside.

“Damn you, Mackenzie Harris.”

Leaning back against the closed door, Lillian did something she’d done a hundred times before. She cried over Mac.

Mac stared at the back of Lilli’s head as she ran from the room. From him. What the hell just happened? She’d been into what he was doing, there couldn’t be any doubt when the scent of her coated his fingers, but where it went wrong remained a mystery. He deserved more than the mini-lecture she’d given him. In his gut, he knew she wasn’t anything like what he’d said. Known the words were designed to hurt her as he’d said them. So why had he?

For the past few months he’d gone nearly insane trying to reach her. Each time he’d gotten close she’d slipped from his grasp. And she was still eluding him. At least now Mac could say he’d actually spoken to her, touched her. But it wasn’t enough. He needed to get her alone so they could talk. Really talk. He wanted to make up for his stupid comments and heaven knows there’d been plenty of them over the last year. He’d screwed up on multiple occasions, sabotaged any connection they may make with his own idiocy.

He could see some grovelling in his future. Mac had decided years ago that she was off-limits, but the explosive chemistry between them changed all that. Lachlan could be an issue, but Mac would worry about his best friend later. First, he needed to find Lilli and apologise for being a dumb-arse. Before he could take a step, the room erupted in a roar of cheers and stamping feet. The people in front of him moved and he could no longer see what was happening on the Twister mat.

“Everyone out.” Lachlan’s steely voice brokered no argument.

Instant silence descended and then as one the mass of bodies moved towards the door. When Lachlan McDermott gave an order, you followed—and everyone in the room knew it. Mac was swept up in the avalanche of retreating partygoers, and he only just managed to stop from being bowled over in the rush. Pausing at the door, Mac stopped to make sure the stragglers left.

“Come on, out we go,” he said.

Mac didn’t quite catch what the weather guy said, but he wasn’t all that pleased with the way the man kept looking back at Lachlan and Kole.

“Hey, you might want to mind your own business if you want to work in the industry ever again,” he warned. Mac turned to leave with the last of the crowd. Intent on getting out without injury and looking for Lilli, he was pulled up short when Lachlan spoke again.

“Mac?”

“Lachlan?” He had no clue what his friend could want.

“Lock it.”

Mac paused. Lock the door? Uh-oh, this didn’t bode well for one reclusive former supermodel, but he had other things to worry about besides what Lachlan would do. He waited until the last person cleared the doorway ahead of him before flicking the lock and closing the door behind him. For a moment, he stared at the closed door, wondered if maybe that was the way to get Lilli to stay put, lock them in a room together and not let her out until he’d had his say and she’d forgiven him.

He had to find her first. No easy task with the number of people in his house. And he was one hundred percent positive she’d be going out of her way to avoid him. More than she already had tonight and the past seven months. With a sigh, he turned towards the foyer but couldn’t see her anywhere. He glanced over his shoulder but there was no sign of her. There was no getting around it, he’d have to comb the house from top to bottom and back again until he found her. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Chapter Three

Mac had searched every room in the house twice and was on his third circuit when he finally spotted Lillian. His jaw clenched. Two brawny guys had her sandwiched between them, their sides pressed against hers. It was totally unnecessary as far as he was concerned as there was ample room around the table. They leaned towards her, crowding into her personal space as she laughed at something one of them said. He wanted to walk over, shove them both aside and pull her out of her seat, away from the game.

Spin the bottle.

His hands fisted, fingers curled into his palm until the sting of his nails gave him a focal point other than the murderous thoughts he currently had. Mac kept his distance. He didn’t want to tip Lilli off to his presence yet. Eight players circled the table, two of whom were at present engaged in a game of tonsil hockey. The bottle sat in a round container that had dividing lines dissecting the base in equal eighths. A pile of cards were passed from one of the tonsil-hockey participants to the guy on Lilli’s left. Mr. Muscles flipped over the top card and grinned. With a twist of his wrist, he sent the bottle spinning.

Everyone quietened down as the guy read out the card in his hand. “Round and round the bottle goes, where it stops nobody knows. When your turn is done it’s time for fun. Before it ends, kiss arse or you won’t be friends.”

What the fuck?
Mac remembered spin the bottle as a simple spin-and-kiss game, this adult adaptation didn’t remotely resemble anything in his memory. He stood straighter and angled himself for a better view of that spinning glass vial. Each rotation knotted his gut muscles tighter. The thought of it coming to a halt with the neck pointing in Lilli’s direction had him grinding his teeth. There was no way he would let that creep get his mouth anywhere near her rear end.

A gust of air burst from his lungs as the bottle slowed and finally came to a stop facing away from Lilli. The blonde woman across the table pushed back her chair and stood. With a grin that appeared alcohol assisted, she jumped up on the seat and thrust her miniskirt-covered arse out.

“Come on, Daryl, pucker up.” Giggling, she wobbled on the chair but gained her balance by grabbing the shoulders of the guy next to her.

“Careful, Jessica,” her rescuer said.

Mac was pretty sure it was Australia’s notoriously famous womanizing cricket star stopping Jessica from taking a tumble. He wasn’t at all surprised to see the athlete leaning over to get a good look up the woman’s super-short skirt, or that he managed to cop a feel of her boobs while holding her steady.

Daryl made it around the table in an instant and wasted no time with the arse kissing. Mac’s mouth dropped open when Daryl grabbed the hem of Jessica’s skirt and pushed it up to reveal bare skin. Shocked to find himself unable to turn away, he watched as Daryl did far more than kiss arse. Jesus, the guy buried his face in the woman’s crotch and proceeded to eat her out with everyone looking on. Neither of them seemed to recall where they were as they became engrossed in their foreplay. And that’s what it was. Mac had watched plenty of porn in his life, even been to a sex show or two, but this wasn’t about the audience, it was about the participants. He’d never been so turned on and disgusted at the same time in his life.

Mac jerked his gaze away from the carnal display and focused on Lilli. She looked everywhere but at the couple across the table. Somehow the fact she wasn’t watching like the rest of the partygoers unfurled a few of the ribbons of tension in his gut. Cheers and whistles filled the air, the roar of approval competing with the music pounding through the speakers placed in each corner of the room. In his peripheral vision, Mac saw the couple break apart and Daryl help the woman retake her seat before coming back to reclaim the one next to Lilli. Mac was pleased to see Lilli shift her chair away as the guy sat beside her.

Damn. Lilli was up next.

She pulled a card from the deck and turned it over. The men on either side of her leaned closer and Mac’s chest rumbled with a growl. He wanted to rip their heads off and shove them up their arses. Wanted to unleash this irrational urge for violence on the two hapless men daring to be near his woman.
Shit. His woman?
When the fuck had she become his? Mac took a deep breath and drew on some of his legendary lawyer control. Acting like a Neanderthal wouldn’t impress Lillian or help win her forgiveness. Then again, dragging her off by the hair would certainly make it clear to all he’d staked a claim.

Was he staking a claim? Or was he pissed off she’d rejected him. Again. He knew he wanted her, had for years, but he’d spent so long stamping on the feelings she evoked he couldn’t be sure this wasn’t just some macho attempt to salvage his ego—to save face. He’d like to think he was above that kind of behaviour. It didn’t matter. Mackenzie Harris never lost a battle. Whether it be in the courtroom, boardroom or bedroom, he was king of his world and Lillian McDermott would soon know that what Mac wanted, Mac got.

Lillian fingered the card in her hand and thought about her options. She could pull out of the game before spinning the bottle or she could spin and wait to see who her partner would be before she chickened out. Her gaze flicked back to the words printed in bold red ink on the glossy white background. After the last spin-card, she’d hoped for something less adventurous. A simple kiss would have been her preferred choice. Instead, Lil was stuck with the one in her hand, and she either took one shot now or spun the bottle and, depending on the targeted player, downed four shots as her penalty.

The men on either side of her jostled closer, each trying to get a look at what was written on her card. But she wasn’t about to give anything away before making her decision, so she tucked it close to her chest. If she forfeited before the spin, her card got shuffled back into the deck without anyone ever knowing what her challenge had been. She just needed to decide if she wanted everyone to know what could make Lillian McDermott yellow-bellied. Another glance at her card, a quick scan of the rhyme and Lil made up her mind.

Her fingers trembled as she leaned over and grabbed hold of the bottle. Taking a deep breath, she tightened her grip and, with a turn of her wrist, sent the glass spinning. Lil sat back and raised the card to eye level, effectively blocking her view of the rotating cylinder.

“Round and round the bottle goes, where it stops nobody knows. There is no work in a game of chance, but your partner has earned themselves a lap dance.”

All the men around the table sat up straight, their gaze’s glued to the spinning bottle as it slowed. Even the women seemed eager for the turn to end. Lil held her breath, mentally ticking off the table’s occupants one by one, deciding who she might or might not be willing to give a lap dance. The chair next to her jerked to the side, bumping into hers, but Lillian had her full attention on that rapidly slowing bottle and ignored the disruption. She forced herself to suck in a long drawn-out breath through her mouth as each turn brought her closer to her final decision. A recognizable scent tickled her memories but she was too engrossed in the game to think of its origin.