Page 7 of Games We Play

“I’m totally into it.”

Sloan didn’t often hear those words with such conviction. Either the woman had been telling the truth… or she was worth her weight in acting skills.Can a woman who’s acting fake an orgasm like that, though?Sloan had seen a lot of orgasms in her years of bringing women physical pleasure. The best ones came from the partners with submissive tendencies lurking within those heads and hearts.

Too bad that was a sure sign it would never work out between them. Not for more than a few nights of hot fun.

Those kinds of dynamics never ended well. Sloan would know. She had wasted years of her life indulging in Dom/sub relationships that always left her feeling less than fulfilled. Good in the moment… a travesty over a lifetime.

Her phone rang.

Or buzzed, really. Buzzed so hard that it traveled across the nightstand and threatened to plummet to her shoes on the floor. Sloan recognized the number on the screen and almost didn’t answer it, but she was always in the mood to talk to Aaron after conquering another one of the world’s ladies of the night. Or at least that’s the mindset she entered whenever she answered calls from Aaron Giles.

“How’s Portland?” his deep voice said the moment she answered with a grunt. “Raining enough for you, Maggie?”

She groaned to hear her least-favorite nickname.I’d rather be called Mags, and that says a million dollars’ worth of words, asshole.“It was clear and sunny today. Cold as shit, though.”

“Colder than home?”

“Nothing’s colder than Chicago at this time of year.” Sloan checked the time before continuing. “What do you want? You should be in bed.”

“I’m not in Chicago. I’m in Honolulu.”

“Of course you are. With your latest pet, I’m sure.”

“No. I’m alone. It’s business, not pleasure. Like you in Portland.”

“Who the fuck comes to Portland forpleasure?”

“You do. I’m assuming you made a friend there, anyway.”

Sloan would not discuss her love life with this man. She and Aaron had been in business together for over ten years. They had known each other for longer.No matter how much I want to punt him to Pluto, I’m stuck with this jerk.It was one of the things that made Sloan one of the hardest bitches in Chicago. She had to be hard around him. Hard exterior, hard interior. If she let him see a hint of softness in that ice-cold heart of hers…

“How’d it go with Bradley & Marcus?”

Sloan sighed. “Julian Marcus attempted to undermine my offer by giving me an insulting amount of money. If you can call it an amount.”

“You kicked his ass, right?”

“I’m not going to let some alpha fuckhead like him boss me around in the boardroom. You know that more than any man.”

“I love hearing this side to you.”

“I bet you do.” Sloan scoffed. “What do youwant?I’m trying to go to bed over here.”

“When will you be home?”

“You mean Chicago?”

“No, I mean Venus. Of course I mean Chicago. Did you move?”

“I’m flying back in three days.”

“What do you know? I’m flying back there around that time too.”

“Ibetyou are!” Stalker. Aaron was changing his schedule to intersect hers as they spoke. “If you don’t have anything else to say to me, I’m hanging up and taking a shower. See you in Chicago. We’ll go over the meetings I had here when I get back.”

She hung up before he could say anything else. Sure enough, texts started clogging up her phone as Sloan dragged her ass into the bathroom. Clothes came off. Showerheads turned on. Her phone continued to buzz on her nightstand, a constant reminder that she did a good job by going full-on lesbian so many years ago.

Men weren’t shit.