troom. He slipped out the b

. Something in her, the part that had spent three years reading his tells, knew

and followed him in

m climb into a black Cadillac Escalade. The vehicle was the a

corner. She flagged it down

" she told the driver.

ury SUV downtown. It finally pulled up in front of an unmarked

llar of her trench coat up to obscure h

hand, stopping her.

It was a universal membership card for the exclusive clubs owned by her maternal grand

ly from dismissive to deferential. He pu

ather, and glittering crystal chandeliers. The

th with a group of young men, all of them dressed in the casual, expensive uniform of the w

far end of the bar, partially hidden by a large pot

ght. The bartender raised an

of the club. "You should have seen it! She actually got on

nd to pull a stunt like that. So, Julian, does this mean the bet is settled? Three years, and

ened around her glass, he

years of he

ng if there was still something wor

e strategy around that knowledge. But knowing something in your head and hearing it confirmed

he bet was to make her fall in love with me, to make her so dependent

w, man. You turned her down. What

with me. And without me, her position in that snake pit of a family i

Besides, I haven't even tasted her yet. Women who act that innocen

s laughter erupt

or it. But the casual brutality of it-the way he said "she wouldn't dare," as

ng silence, like the moment after a bel

equila. It burned, b

ering across the crowded room. The bar's noise gradually faded into a muffled

had only approached her as a youthful, arrogant prank-a bet among friends. She had been the fool, forgetting her mother's warning, and now she was reduced to this pathetic stat

and her head grow hazy. The pain didn't disappear, but it see

anymore. She knew that. Sh

, as a wild, desperate, yet brilliant idea

lian? Do you think I'm someo

prude? Do you think

just how imp