Taming the Moguls by Christy Hayes

into a smirk. “So turn
the tables and make him wait.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “He told you to unlock your window,
right?”
    “Yeah.”
    “So don’t unlock it. Let him climb up there
and then don’t let him in.”
    “But I want him to come in. I need him to come in.”
    “He needs to understand how unhappy you are.
What’s going to change if he’s making all the decisions and getting
some booty? He shouldn’t be able to have his cake and eat it
too.”
    Shiloh took a deep breath and let it out
slowly. She understood Melody’s logic, but she didn’t know if she
could go through with it. “But then I’m punishing myself.”
    “No pain,” Tanna said, “no gain.”
    Melody pointed at Shiloh. “I’d make him
suffer. Wear something sexy, get him all worked up, and then refuse
to let him in.”
    “If I wear something sexy and get us both
worked up, I’m going to want him to come in. I love Kevin. I want
to have sex with him. What good will it do if I turn him away?”
    “Do you want Kevin to let you live with him
at Lyle’s?” Melody asked.
    “Yes. I don’t care if we sleep on the floor.
I want to be with him.” Shiloh sat back against the cushion and
rapped her fingers on the table. “I’ll have to think about this.”
She looked around the dingy bar. “I’m happy we’re back home. I
didn’t like living in Denver.”
    “I thought you loved it,” Tanna said. “You
went on and on about your house and how great it was to be in a big
city.”
    “I wanted it to be great, but Kevin was gone
all the time. I didn’t know anybody.” She shrugged and looked at
the table. “I didn’t want everyone thinking I was miserable.”
    “We thought you were having the time of your
life.”
    “That’s what I wanted you to think. I guess
the joke’s on me because now we’re home, broke, and separated.”
    “None of that is your fault,” Melody
said.
    Shiloh was grateful for her friend’s support,
but she knew the truth. “It’s not all my fault, but I’m not
blameless. I wanted too much, too soon. I could always talk him
into anything, and I used that to get what I wanted. I hated living
in the apartment, so I thought we’d be happier in a house. I wasn’t
any happier, so I came up with decorating and remodeling plans. All
the while, Kevin was stressed out about work and paying for
everything I wanted.”
    “So you screwed up,” Tanna said. “I’m maxed
out on my credit card and working to pay it off. I learned my
lesson the hard way. Sounds like you’re in the same boat.”
    “I guess,” Shiloh said.
    “I still think you need to make him suffer.”
Melody hailed the waitress from the bar. “You can do this. All you
need is a little liquid fortification.”
     
    ***
     
    Kevin parked along the main road and walked
by the light of the moon toward Shiloh’s house. He could have cut
through the woods, like he used to when he was a teenager, but the
call of a coyote had sent him straight to his car. Or her car. It
smelled like her. Just as her scent had fused into his skin, it had
somehow penetrated the leather seats of her sedan, and it taunted
him whenever he got behind the wheel.
    With every step, he knew he should turn
around. He said no sex. Sex clouded his mind, made it impossible to
say no to whatever she wanted. But she hadn’t made any demands. She
hadn’t balked when he told her he’d been fired. She didn’t even
flinch when he said he’d put the house on the market. The only
thing she wanted was him. And by God, he wanted her too. He always
had.
    He remembered listening to his dad talk about
how one look at his mom was all it took. Your
mother had me, boys, hook, line, and sinker, from the moment I saw
her. Kevin chalked his attraction to Shi up the same way.
One look, one wink from those impossibly blue eyes, and he’d been a
goner, too.
    Shiloh’s dad’s truck was in the carport next
to her mom’s sedan. Kevin’s car sat off to the side. His stomach
tightened the