Page 35 of Worth Every Game
“Let’s scrap the clothes rules. You don’t have to wear the slippers, and I don’t have to wear a shirt. Wear whatever the hell you want. Let’s turn this into a game. A competition, if you will. And then we can see which of us breaks first.”
Her brow crinkles as though I’ve said something incomprehensible. “Breaks?” She breathes the word like it’s a dirty secret.
“Yeah. Breaks. Which of us gives in first.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You want me, and I want you.” Her pretty pink lips part, but either she doesn’t know what to say or she’s lost the ability to formulate words because she doesn't object, so I keep talking. “The fact that we’re going to end up in bed together is as inevitable as the sunrise. So let’s make it fun. Who’s going to be the last one standing? Who can resist the longest? Who can—”
“No.” She rears back, holding both hands up as though she expects me to rush her. “No, no, no. Absolutely not.” She clenches her teeth and an aggravated groan escapes between them. “I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to live with you.”
I assess her annoyance, weighing it up.Is there still room to play?“I’ll make it worth your while.” She halts at this, and I know there’s definitely room. “If you can get me to break first, I’ll refund all your rental payments. You can live here for free. In fact, I’ll reimburse you for all of last year too, at market value. So what’s that? Twenty-five thousand?”
A look crosses her face as though she’s checking it adds up. “Twenty-five thousand?” she repeats.
Got her.“Yup.”
“And all I have to do is resist your advances?”
“You resistandseduce. I’ll do the same. Whoever caves and begs for sex first, loses. Whoever can hold out, wins.”
“That’s perverse. I don’t want to sleep with you.”
I shrug. “Okay, so you’ll definitely win. What do you have to lose? If there’s really no hope that I can seduce you—”
“There isn’t.”
“I disagree, but whatever. Let’s play the game.”
She draws her chin right in, staring at me like I’m a madman. “If I get free rent, what do you win?” She waves her hand at me. “What do you get out of it?”
A smile threatens to break across my face. “I get to see you beg.”
She begins to laugh, not in amusement, but in disbelief. “Wow. You’re unbelievably arrogant. And fucking crazy.”
“Not at all. I’ve always found that when I want something, the getting of it is that much sweeter if I’ve had to wait. When we fuck, it’ll be better because of the game. It’s going to be so good it’ll blow your mind.”
Elly splutters, her mouth wide, before she collects herself enough to say, “We aren’t going to fuck.”
“Yeah, we are.”
A mask of fury comes down like a shutter. “You are a total arsehole. You know that?”
She backs off into the kitchen, leaving me chuckling to myself in the utility room.
She is definitely going to break. And she definitely wants to fuck me.
“It’s a win-win, El,” I shout after her. “Even if you lose, you get to have sex with me, because when you beg, I’ll say yes.”
A crash, as though pots are being slammed together, sounds from the other room, and Elly shouts, “Does your sister know what a douchebag you are?”
“I think she has a fair idea,” I shout back.
Elly’s clattering noises continue with renewed vigor, and I picture her out there washing up, all worked up and furious. It has me laughing to myself. I’m far more amused by this whole thing than I should be, which is a good result, seeing as I was pretty worked up earlier. I put my shirt in the sink to soak and fill the basin with warm water. When I’m finished, I come back out into the kitchen but Elly is gone, and everything is clean.
In the silence, my phone buzzes against the kitchen counter, Elly’s name flashing up.
Elly: 25k is not enough to engage in this dumbass game with you.