Page 37 of Playing with Trouble

“Oh my God, could you at least keep it PG?”Liza quipped.

Violet jumped away from me like someone had shocked her, her face pink with embarrassment.I wanted to reel her back in and keep her close to me where she belonged, but I wasn’t sure how she’d respond to that, and I didn’t want Liza to get suspicious if Violet resisted.

So, instead, I smirked at my sister and attempted to divert the attention off Violet.“Just because you don’t have time for sex anymore because of the baby doesn’t mean the rest of us have to live like monks.”

“Speaking of baby,” Liza said, holding up the one-year-old, Dylan, who was fussing.“I came in here to change his diaper.Unless you’d like to volunteer, as my sweet and helpful big brother?”she batted her lashes at me.

I quickly shook my head.“No, no, I think it’s a really important bonding activity between parent and child.We’ll get out of your way.”I took Violet’s hand and tugged her out of the den with me to the kitchen.

“Maybe you should get a room,” Liza called after us, humor in her tone.

Violet covered her mouth, eyes wide, looking torn between amusement and mortification.“I haven’t felt this busted since I was sixteen, sneaking out past curfew.”

I chuckled, easily imagining a young teenage Violet, full of rebellion and hell bent on breaking rules.“I have no doubt that you were trouble, even back then.”

I glanced out the glass slider to the patio.Dusk was settling in, while the sounds of the kids’ playful screams and laughter could be heard out in the yard.We’d been here a few hours, and normally I’d have stayed until the very end.But Violet’s shoulders had that slight tension again, her smile just a touch too practiced, like she was preparing herself to face the masses again.

“Are you cutting the cake soon?”I called out to Liza, loud enough for her to hear me in the den.

My sister appeared, a much happier looking Dylan balanced on her hip.“Yes.It’s after six, and between the sun and playing in the pool, I think the kids are about at their limit.”

“Perfect.”I rested my hand on the small of Violet’s back, guiding her outside, my voice low enough for only her to hear.“We’ll stay for cake, then slip out.Sound good?”

She nodded, glancing up at me.“Thank you,” she said quietly.“I’m sorry, I really do like your family.I’m just not used to…all of this.”Her hand fluttered in the air, as though she couldn’t quite explain whatthismeant.

I leaned close.“We’ll go back to your place and put on a movie if you want and just relax.”

Violet shivered, her lashes lowering.After that heated kiss we’d just shared I dared to hope she was thinking of doing something other than relaxing and watching a movie.

We sang Happy Birthday to Kevin, cut the cake, and ate a piece while my nephew tore through his presents.Violet laughed at something my niece said, and for a moment it was too easy to picture her here, not as a temporary stand-in, but as part of this family.

When it was time to leave, I made my excuses for us.My sisters and especially my mom, looked genuinely disappointed, like they all hated to see Violet go.Guilt pricked at me.They liked her.Hell, theymorethan liked her.And I was lying to them.

I told myself they’d get over it once I explained we’d broken up, but the thought rang hollow.Because even as I led Violet out, another thought lodged in my mind and refused to budge.What if I didn’t have to?What if this could turn into something real?

For the first time in a long damn while, I found myself hoping.Hoping that maybe Violet—stubborn, sharp-tongued, impossible Violet—could be more than a beautiful lie I’d spun for my family’s sake.

That maybe, she could be mine.

CHAPTER16

Violet

Iwas tired and relieved when we finally said our goodbyes, but it wasn’t because I wanted to escape Ford’s family.It was because I was overwhelmed with how much I’d enjoyed them, and the day.

The guilt hit hard when they all hugged me and said how much they looked forward to seeing me again.Ford would eventually have to tell them we’d “broken up”, and I hated that all those kind smiles would turn into disappointment.

When he’d warned me about his meddling sisters, I’d pictured nosy, overbearing types I wouldn’t feel bad lying to.The kind of family where youhadto lie just to get any privacy.Instead, they’d been wonderful.Warm.Genuine.So welcoming, and I wasn’t used to that.

I wanted a distraction.Needed one.Ford was sitting beside me, quiet and solid at the wheel, but I could feel the sexual tension from that kiss still evident between us.He wanted me.I wanted him, too.Not necessarily as a dom, in a carefully constructed scene, but in the simplest, most basic way possible.

Straightforward sex.No games.No roles.Just him and me and the kind of fucking that blurred out everything else but the feel of him claiming me.

I glanced out the passenger window, thinking maybe I should ask him to take me to the club.Put us back in familiar territory, with the kind of expectations I understood.That kiss in his parent’s den, in front of all those family photos, hadn’t been casual at all.It had been intimate.Too intimate, and I knew I ought to put a stop to whatever was happening between us before my emotions got tangled up in feelings I couldn’t afford to have.

I chewed on my bottom lip.Tell him to go to the club, I ordered myself, but the words stuck in my throat.That would be the smart play.Keep things neat and compartmentalized.But after that kiss, it was difficult to pretend any of what was happening between us was neat.Or safe.

I glanced at Ford, taking in his handsome profile as he drove back toward my house.All I had to do was say the words and steer us back into the security of rules and boundaries, and keep the sex impersonal and transactional.