Read Online Wicked Game by Mercy Celeste - Free Book Online Page A

she hated, sort of a half-smile in which he looked smug and condescending all at once. It was his debate smile when he thought he’d won.
    “Wait a minute. You didn’t actually hire me to do anything for you but liaison between you and your overfilled schedule. I volunteered out of the goodness of my heart to take care of your other needs. Wait, that sounds dirty. Oh wait, wait, I’m not taking care of any needs at all. Not even basic needs, and if you’re thinking of anything else, I’m definitely not taking care of any of those needs, period.”
    “And out of the goodness of your heart, I’d like you to make breakfast. You at least make decent eggs.” Did he really just order her to do something with a smile on his face?
    “Uh, let me think about it for a moment.” She plucked a packet of yogurt from the dairy drawer, and grabbing a spoon, she leaned on the counter to eat her breakfast. “That would be a no. I’ll toss you a thingy of yogurt if you’d like; there’s cereal in the pantry if you don’t. Or, I don’t know … cook your own damn eggs.”
    “That’s my food you’re eating. And you sleep in the room I provide and the clothes you wear … okay, I don’t think I paid for that ugly thing.”
    “Okay, fine.” She dropped the yogurt in the trash. “You want to play that game? Fine, then I’ll go to the store and buy my own food with the money you were supposed to put in my account for the work I did last month. Oh yeah, that check doesn’t seem to be in the system yet. And I’ll drive the car that you contractually are obligated to provide me until my services are terminated, in case you decide I can’t even have that little luxury. And I will move out just as soon as that aforementioned paycheck for the last five weeks actually turns up.”
    His eyes narrowed, he pressed his lips into a thin line that sent shivers down her spine. Golden light sparked from behind lashes that were only a slightly darker shade. He looked like the devil incarnate, and her blood began to boil. Whether with fear or excitement she didn’t know.
    “Do you know what your problem is, Miss Pendleton?”
    “So it’s back to Miss Pendleton, then. What happened to Pepper? And Lord forbid you actually call me by my real name,” she taunted him, watching in fascination as he leaned forward on one elbow and placed his chin in his hand. Did he know that he looked like a rippling, glowing, golden god when he moved like that?
    Of course, he knew. Otherwise, he wouldn’t move like that.
    “You need a good spanking. That mouth of yours is out of control.” His lips stretched into that sinful grin that reminded her of an animal on the prowl. He was toying with her, she knew that, biding his time before he went for the kill. Jamison Dalton was a master tormentor. She’d fallen into his trap too many times to count. One wrong move and she was toast, she knew that from experience.
    “You aren’t man enough to try that, Mr. Dalton .” Wrong move. Oh Jesus Christ, she knew to the very millisecond when Jaime Dalton decided to accept her challenge. All she could hope for now was to make it up the stairs and into her room before he could … “Oh, fuck.”
    * * * *
    Jaime smiled. Her vain attempt at evading him was amusing. She had the deer-in-the-headlights look as he lunged from the chair at her taunt. Then she ran, at least she tried to run for the hall, but he zigged that way first, cutting her off. She stood staring at him, her chest heaving, her eyes wild but calculating. She looked from left to right just before she started for the other side of the island. Again, he anticipated her move, cutting off her escape.
    “Nice try, babe, but remember, I play what amounts to a very violent game of tag for a living. I’m bigger than you, faster than you, and I have the home-field advantage.”
    “But I’m smarter than you,” she shot back as she eased toward the patio doors, then feinted back to the island once she drew