The Risque Contracts Series(38)

“I think I need some liquid courage,” I replied wryly as he helped me into my chair.

He signaled for the waiter before taking his seat. “Two glasses of Glenfiddich 50 on the rocks.”

“Fine choice, sir.” The waiter scurried off to do Brysen’s bidding.

“Elisa doesn’t like scotch.” Zach’s statement came out of nowhere. He didn’t have any way of knowing whether I liked it or not since I’d never tried it in front of him.

“Maybe she didn’t like the kind a guy like you would order, but I’m sure it wasn’t in the same class as what I drink. Only five hundred bottles of the Glenfiddich 50 were made. Elisa deserves the very best, after all.”

Zach’s attempt to imply he knew me better than Brysen backfired in a major way since he wasn’t about to fall for it. His years in the NFL and the many press interviews that went with it served him well in the dinner that followed. With each verbal attack Zach lobbed our way, Brysen countered it with one of his own—only he paired his with visible displays of affection. Zach’s eyes flashed each time Brysen played with my hair or lifted my hand to his mouth for a kiss. And Brittany continued to drink heavily while she stewed silently at Zach’s side and threw eye daggers my way until she finally exploded.

“I’ve had enough!” she shrieked. “I don’t know what either of you see in her, but it’s clear she’s really into this guy. I don’t know why you’re even paying her any attention. You picked me, Zach. Not her. And you’d better remember that before I decide I can do better.”

She gave Brysen a meaningful look and I finally got pissed off. I hadn’t confronted her when I’d caught her giving Zach a blowjob, but I wasn’t about to sit here while she implied she could steal Brysen away from me too. “You better keep your slutty eyes off my boyfriend because he isn’t interested.”

“Oh, please,” Brittany sputtered. “I’m sure it would be just as easy to turn his attention my way as it was Zach. I hate to break it to you, but real men like a warm body in their bed, not an ice queen who likes it missionary.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Brysen ordered, his voice low so it didn’t carry across the room but stern enough that we fell silent.

“He isn’t a real man,” he hissed, pointing at Zach before turning his attention to Brittany. “You sure as hell have no chance of ever knowing what I like in bed.”

His hand gripped mine tightly as he dug into his pocket, pulling a jewelry box out. He flipped the lid open, lifted the sparkling diamond solitaire out, and slid it on my ring finger—a perfect fit. “And Elisa was being polite when she called me her boyfriend, but her one downfall is she’s too damn polite. She didn’t want to rub our engagement in Zach’s face even after what he’d done to her.”





Chapter 7


Brysen


Elisa covered her shock like a pro, but her eyes were a little wild as she looked from me, to the ring, to Zach, and back.

“Um, yes. I was...” she trailed off, apparently at a loss for words. I gave the little devil inside my head a mental fist bump. I might have specifically pulled the ring out in this situation because she couldn’t protest. Fuck, that’s exactly why I did it.

“And while we’re at it, let’s clear up one more thing,” I grinned smugly at the dipshit across from me, who, by the looks of it, was about to lose his dinner. “Your knowledge of Elisa in any intimate capacity is sorely lacking and since I don’t share, it’s going to fucking stay that way. But rest assured, I’ll never have need of looking elsewhere for passion. Elisa is all one man could ever hope for.”

I stood and helped Elisa up, twining my fingers with the ones on her left hand. I lifted it to my lips and whispered a kiss across the soft skin and then on the twinkling diamond perched there. What’s-his-name and his date weren’t worth another glance, so I guided my woman out of the restaurant, intent on making it to our room before she freaked out.

She was silent all the way up and I was growing more concerned by the second, worried she was building toward an epic explosion. Not too worried, though. My powers of persuasion seemed to work with her and while giving her the ring at dinner had been a spur of the moment decision, I’d already prepared for a night of seduction.

We entered the room and Elisa silently wandered to the wall of windows, wrapping her arms around herself as she admired the view. I followed cautiously, unable to read her emotions.

“Baby?” I asked softly. “Where’s your head at?”