Tangled (Playing With Fire)

Scarlett played it cool during the rest of dinner. She polished off two margaritas. She ate a delicious shrimp salad and loaded up on too many chips covered in guacamole and salsa. She laughed. She joked. She committed to dinner with the girls next week, same night and place, and she walked out of the restaurant and into the warm early fall night with a smile on her face.

But inside, she hurt. She raged.

She hurt more.

Men sucked. The heels of her sandals clicked on the sidewalk as she headed toward her parked car, her keys clutched in her hand. This was why she didn’t indulge in any sort of relationship, just got a thrill off the chase instead. Because they couldn’t be trusted, they were disloyal and they couldn’t keep their dicks in their pants.

I told him to go be with someone else. I deserve this.

With a sigh, she unlocked her car and climbed in, settled behind the steering wheel. Her cell phone rang, and she grabbed it, answering it without checking the caller ID.

“What are you doing?” Trevor’s voice purred directly in her ear.

Her body went liquid at his sexy voice, and she momentarily forgot that she was angry with him.

But then it all rushed back with a vengeance, and her mouth tightened. “Getting ready to hang up on you.”

She withdrew the phone, her finger poised over the end button when she heard Trevor’s shouted protests. Slowly she brought the phone back to her ear. “What?”

“I should be asking you that.”

“Men suck.” She voiced her earlier opinion, not ashamed one bit that she said it out loud.

Trevor actually had the nerve to chuckle. “They do. But sometimes they change. For the right woman.”

“Please.” Scarlett snorted, not caring that it was unladylike. “You wouldn’t know the right woman if she smacked you in the ass.”

“Is that an offer?”

What, he wanted to be spanked? She doubted that. “Give me a break.”

“How about I spank you? Tonight? Want to come over?”

“No.” She said it immediately, not wanting to change her mind.

He sighed, the sound filled with frustration. “Did I do something to offend you?”

“You always do something to offend me.” She sunk the key into the ignition and started the car, flicking on the air conditioning so it blasted directly on her face. Cooling her down while listening to the man who heated her up.

Hang up the damn phone.

She couldn’t do it.

“I can’t win, can I?” He sounded genuinely confused, and her first instinct was to feel sorry for him.

Her second instinct? Attack.

“No you can’t so why don’t you call your boyfriend and invite him over? He might like to get spanked.” The sneer in her voice was hard to contain.

Trevor was silent for a solid thirty seconds. So long, she thought they lost their connection or at the very least, he hung up on her. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play stupid with me, Trevor. Your new boyfriend Drake. You know the guy I’ve been interested in for months. God, I’m the one who’s stupid, not you.” She leaned her head against the steering wheel, feeling like an absolute idiot.

Hang up the phone.

“Drake is not my boyfriend. Who told you that?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters are the rumors going around that Drake hooked up with someone at Tom’s. And, hmm, what a coincidence that we were there last week, and that when I left you, you said you could find someone else to satisfy you. Sounds like you did.”