Page 34 of Playing the Player

“Come on.” I use my hand still clutched in Conor’s to drag us further into the room. We grab a glass of champagne each off one of the passing trays, and I gulp down most of it in one go.

“Easy there, tiger.” Conor's teasing smile warms something inside me.

That is until I hear a deep, male voice from behind me. “Sasha?” For fucks sake. Could I not even have had five minutes?

I spin around, plastering on my mastered fake smile. “Alex! It’s so good to see you.” He pulls me into a hug but we’re both tense, making the whole thing painfully awkward. “Where’s Rose?”

He pulls away and his eyes immediately drop to my cleavage. Perv. Scrap what I said before, some people never change. “She’s about. Probably talking someone’s ear off.” He laughs, that same booming laughter that always sounded forced.

“This is Conor, my boyfriend.” I step closer to him, and Conor wraps a possessive arm around my back, pulling me firmly against his side.

“Ahh yes, the boyfriend.” Alex scoffs, reaching his hand over for Conor to shake. He looks him up and down as if he’s sizing him up. “Heard a lot about you.” He’s coming across as an arrogant twat, but honestly, I didn’t expect anything else from him.

“All good things I hope.” Conor keeps his charming smile plastered on his face, seeming completely unbothered about Alex’s assholery. Alex merely shrugs in response before saying his goodbyes and moving on, disappearing into the crowd to mingle with other guests. “Dick.” Conor mutters under his breath, quiet enough that only I can hear it.

I bite back a laugh. “Good thing you have media training.” I step in front of him, reaching up to straighten his tie. “Although, watching you punch that asshat at his own engagement party would have been pretty entertaining.”

“If he comes around again, making it blatantly obvious that he wants to stick his head between your boobs, my media training might not be enough to stop me.”

A soft laugh escapes me as I look up into his deep blue eyes. And then I stop. There’s something different in his expression. Something possessive. It’s anger, mixed with something else. Something darker. Something that sends a rush of heat through my body.

The intensity in his eyes makes my breath catch and the butterflies that seem to permanently reside in my stomach erupt all over again.

A gentle tap on my shoulder interrupts our moment and I want to curse whoever it is. Rolling my eyes, I give Conor one last smile before turning around. Max stands in his signature grey suit, a gorgeous woman at his side. “Sash, hey.” He pulls me into a tight hug and somehow, it’s more awkward than the hug with Alex. Both his arms wrap around me while I awkwardly pat his back with one hand. The other is still firmly held in Conor’s tight grip. A tight grip that seems to get tighter the longer Max holds onto me. “How are you?” Max asks when he pulls away.

“I’m good, you?”

“Good.”

The four of us stand in an uncomfortable silence, and suddenly Conor’s hand in mine is the only thing keeping me grounded. “You remember Conor.” I blurt out, trying desperately to make this interaction less painful.

“Of course.” Max says, shaking Conor’s outstretched hand. “This is Jessica.” Oh. So that’s her name. It’s funny how much I’ve been obsessing over her and Max since I found out he cheated on me, and yet this is the first time I’m hearing her name. It’s also funny that this is the first time I'm seeing Max that my tummy hasn’t flipped. No butterflies, no nausea, just nothing. And it feels good.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Sasha.” Jessica says, her voice dripping with sickly sweetness.

Too bad I can’t say the same to her. I just give her a tight-lipped smile in response. No point in lying to the woman. At least she has the decency to look guilty after what she did to me.

After Max proposed to me, I had received a message from a woman saying that she slept with Max months before. Turns out they were sleeping together the whole time and once she found out we were engaged, she flipped. I don’t know if she knew about me the whole time, but right now, I don’t even care.

Part of me is glad that it happened. It’s been tough being on my own for the first time in my life, but I can’t deny that I have been happier. And a lot of that has to do with the man standing beside me.

What I do care about right now though, is that Jessica’s gaze keeps drifting towards Conor, lingering a lot longer than what’s necessary. I’m used to this, it happens everywhere we go, but if she thinks she’s gonna steal another man from me, she can get fucked.

I slide one arm around Conor’s waist, pressing the other on his chest, and stare up at him with the best bedroom eyes I can manage. “I wanna dance.”

“Lead the way.” Conor leans down, pressing a gentle kiss to my lips before we say a quick goodbye to Max and Jessica and make our way to the dance floor. The second we’re alone, Conor looks down at me with a smug grin. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“You were jealous.”

“What?” I ask incredulously. “I was not.”

“You so were.” He laughs and the sound buries itself deep in my soul. “She was eye fucking me that whole time and you were jealous.”

“I wasn’t jealous.” I try not to laugh, but the corners of my mouth betray me. “I was just making a show of how much I adore you.” He does not need to know that I was jealous. He’ll never let me hear the end of it.

Conor wraps his arms around my waist as mine come up around his neck. Thank God these heels give me the extra height needed for me to do this, otherwise Conor would have had to kneel on the floor. I laugh to myself at the image I’ve painted in my head.