Her Playbook Read online

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Before You Go…

  About the Author

  How to find help?

  Introduction

  Her rules were simple:

  Trust no one.

  No repeats, no attachments.

  Just mind blowing orgasms.

  Harper O’Malley’s world wasn’t complicated. Her career came first. She didn’t want to get married, have kids, or any of that white-picket-fence-propaganda. Her favorite past time? Hooking up with different men every night. Her days were spent as a high profile attorney and Harper was good. She could fix anything.

  Until an encounter rocked her carefully constructed world…

  Enter Parker. He can’t deny his desire for the stunning and seductive Harper. He must confront a scandal that puts his career as a football player with the Miami Lightning in danger.

  Harper must represent him in a defamation case caused by a conniving woman claiming to be his ex-girlfriend.

  Will Harper trust the client she’s representing is telling the truth and give into her growing attraction? Or will this con artist ruin both his skyrocketing career and any chance at love?

  Reader Note: This book was previously published under Kindle Worlds with the title A Scandalous Dare.

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  Chapter One

  Harper O’Malley puffed a dark bang out of her eyes as she watched the clock. It was a quarter to five on a Friday, and she couldn’t wait to get out of the office. It’d been a grueling week filling in for her brother Brian, who was sailing off into the sunset with his new bride. Literally. Right now they were on his boat somewhere in the Caribbean, while she was handling the cases he’d left behind at O’Malley and Associates law firm. But she was happy for him, even though the idea of being in a committed relationship made her gag.

  She was about to shut down the computer when her email dinged with an incoming message. Usually she’d let it wait until Monday, but this was from her brother. He’d only use satellite Internet on his honeymoon if it was really important. So much for getting out of here. Harper dropped her purse next to the desk and opened her inbox with a sigh.

  From: Brian O’Malley

  To: Harper O’Malley

  Subject: New Client (Important)

  Jason Bold is referring a Miami Lightning player to us. I’m sketchy on the details, but from what I understand, his reputation is on the line. We need to avoid a full-fledged scandal. They’re gearing up for the Pro Bowl and this needs to be squashed ASAP. Jason is sending the client over to the office Monday morning at 10 AM. If you handle this case while I’m away, I’ll make you a partner.

  -Brian

  A huge grin spread across her face as she read the email. She’d badgered him to make her a partner for the past three years. Hell, she’d earned it a hundred times over, but Brian kept dragging his feet. She was one of the most prominent defense attorneys in Miami, and a renowned fixer. Harper was damn good at portraying controversial cases in a favorable light and keeping them out of court. This would have probably landed on her desk even if her brother wasn’t on a boat in the middle of the ocean. She wasn’t bragging…she was just that good at what she did, and she never backed down from a challenge. The player probably needed to be cleared of drug use allegations, or to smooth over a drunken bar brawl. Simple enough. She could do that in her sleep. She practically tasted victory.

  From: Harper O’Malley

  To: Brian O’Malley

  Subject: RE: New Client (Important)

  No worries. I’m on it. You’d better believe you’re going to make me full partner! I’m holding you to it. -H

  She clicked send and shut down her computer. She’d been waiting for this moment ever since she started working at her brother’s law firm. She’d followed in his footsteps and graduated from the University of Florida, then moved back to Miami when her brother offered her the job. He’d left a local law firm to open his own practice, and hiring her as an associate was his first move. Harper was adamant about proving her worth, and Brian expected nothing less. Although her summers had been spent in Georgia with family, they’d both grown up with Jason Bold. This was both a personal and professional favor to a long-time family friend.

  She bubbled with excitement. Next week she would be extraordinarily busy. Taking on this client could help her accomplish a professional goal she’d been dreaming of since the day she started law school. Of course, she was also meeting with her mother, and that always tied her into knots. Her mother had always confided in Harper, and they were more like friends than mother and daughter.

  Her parents still lived in her childhood home, not that it really meant much. Her father, an investment banker, ruled their house with an iron fist. Her mom sat the board of several charities, giving off the image of a perfectly happy housewife. Unfortunately, it was a nothing but a charade they put on for everyone, including her brother and sister. Their marriage had died a slow and painful death.

  Between her father’s stinginess with money and infidelity, she didn’t understand why her mom stuck it out. His affairs and attitude royally turned her off getting married or even having a committed relationship with a man. She could never envision herself putting up with the bullshit her mom did. As a child, she had envisioned having a family of her own, but finding out what her mom dealt with had turned her completely around. She valued being financially independent above having the stereotypical two kids, house, and dog to allow herself to ever become trapped in a living hell.

  Harper grabbed her purse and pushed those thoughts aside as she left the office.

  Employees Only–was a quaint little bar, formally known as a speakeasy. She was supposed to meet up with Maddie for drinks. More than anything, she wanted to blow off some steam this weekend.

  She pulled into the crowded parking lot, not seeing Maddie’s car, but it was a popular spot for casual drinks after work and on the weekends. She walked into the semi-retro bar and grabbed the last two empty chairs at the bar. Harper slid onto a mahogany barstool and placed her purse on the empty chair next to her, discreetly saving the seat for Maddie. She waved to the bartender.

  “Gray Goose martini, two olives, dirty, right?”

  Harper laughed. “You know how I love extra olives, Matt.”

  The good-looking bartender turned with a grin and went to get her drink. A vibrating buzz told her someone had sent her a text message. She checked her cell.

  Maddie: I can’t make it tonight. Sorry for the change of plans.

  Harper: It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.

  Maddie: Ugh, I’ll tell you all about it later. I’m buying. Rain check? :)

  Harper: Yeah, I’ll call you next week if work doesn’t bury me.

  Maddie: kk… lol

  Matt placed a martini in front of her and headed toward the other end of the bar, where someone was flagging him down. This was her normal Friday night routine. She loved the casual, unpretentious atmosphere at Employees Only. It was the perfect place to unwind from the tight focus of her career. And it was a great place to get hammered and take home a random stranger for a night of fuck-me-hard sex. She could handle that, even if the idea of connecting beyond a one-time hook-up scared her shitless.

  Harper took a sip of her martini, appreciating the way it eased her nerves. She looked around the bar for
viable suspects to fulfill her quest for a quick and dirty romp. Her gaze skated across a handsome man with blond hair, but then his date returned to the seat next to him. Harper forked a vodka-soaked olive into her mouth just as someone bumped the chair next to her and her handbag crashed to the ground, its contents spilling across the floor.

  “Hey, I’m really sorry. Let me get that for you.”

  The man braced his hand on the back of her chair and bent to pick up her purse. At the same time, Harper stooped to pick up her wallet, keys, and cosmetics case, which had fallen out. Her pulse hitched up a notch as she noted the sexy smile twisting his lips.

  “It’s okay. I’ve got it,” she said, rising from the floor and tossing her belongings back into her bag, which he was still holding.

  His hand brushed hers as he handed the purse back. Awareness shot across her skin. The sexy scent of his cologne and his undeniable masculinity hit her, spreading heat throughout her body. It could have been the vodka, but she was sure the smoking-hot man, built like a linebacker, looming over her was the reason for the warmth. She swallowed away the sandpaper dryness in her mouth.

  “Thanks.”

  “I’m Parker, and I’d like to buy you a drink. Mind if I join you?”

  It wasn’t original or clever. It wasn’t even what he said, but the way it rolled off his tongue without sounding too smooth, that made her decide to take him home tonight. Just the right amount of coolness. And his air of confidence was such a turn-on.

  Parker still had one hand on the back of her chair as he gazed down at her. He wore a gray t-shirt that rippled across his pecs when he moved. His abs seemed just as hard, and she had to hold back the urge to roam her hands across the cotton and test whether his muscles were as ripped as they appeared. It was hard to concentrate when he stood that close and smelled so deliciously, panty-dropping good. His dark blue jeans hugged muscular thighs and accentuated a bulge in between that sent her mind fast-forwarding to fucking him senseless.

  She’d probably have been a little embarrassed about openly admiring him if he wasn’t doing the same. Her nipples grew taut, brushing against her lace bra under the intensity of his gaze, which raked over every inch of her body as if he wanted to devour her.

  She pulled out her sexy signature smile, moving her purse to a hook beneath the bar. “I’m Harper.”

  Parker sat on the chair next to her, moving it a little closer to hers as he took a seat. “I hope I’m not intruding. You looked like you were waiting for someone.”

  Although it didn’t really sound like he particularly cared whether he was ruining her plans or not, and ironically, she found that sexy. Harper had always liked to control the situation, but for the moment, she enjoyed letting someone else take the lead.

  “Well, I was, but my plans changed.” She eyed him suggestively.

  His hand on the back of her chair brushed her shoulder, sending a shiver down her back. “His loss, my gain.”

  “Her loss.”

  Parker’s faltering expression was priceless, and it dawned on her what he must have thought she meant.

  Harper laughed. “Not like that. I was meeting a friend for drinks, but she canceled on me. Something came up at last minute.”

  He leaned toward her, his breath brushing her ear as he whispered, “I’m glad something came up. You’re stunning.”

  She was a reasonably well-balanced, self-assured person, but his mouth next to her ear was making it difficult to form a coherent thought, much less an appropriate response to his compliment. Oh, man—he was fuck-me hot. Her breath hitched. She hoped they could get out of there soon.

  “So are you,” she whispered back.

  Parker laughed as she gulped down the rest of her martini. Then he waved over the bartender, ordered a beer for himself and another martini for her.

  Harper could feel her strength, intellect, power, and control slowly slipping away. It was an entirely new experience, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it. He invaded her senses. His knuckles grazed across her arm, and heat shot straight to her thighs.

  “You’re so tense. Rough day at work?”

  Harper couldn’t help but groan. “Can we make a deal? Let’s not talk about work.”

  “Fair enough, gorgeous. It’s been a tough week for me too.”

  She watched his mouth curve with another playful smile, and licked her lips. Now that Harper had made him agree not to talk about the one thing that defined her, that she was good at talking about, she wasn’t sure what to say without coming across as needy and demanding. All she wanted was a few dozen mind-numbing orgasms. She bit her lip to keep from blurting that out.

  Thankfully, Matt returned with their drinks, and she covered being tongue-tied by taking a calculated sip and deciding her next move.

  “So if we’re not going to talk about work, do you have a better suggestion?” Parker teased.

  Actually, she had several, and all of them involved licking every inch of him.

  Harper swiveled in her seat, leaning toward him, and ran her hand up his back. Her nails scraped along each vertebrae through the thin material of his t-shirt. “I might have a few.”

  “I’m trying really hard to get to know you, gorgeous. But when you purr at me like a fucking kitten, it makes it damn hard not to take you somewhere private, so I can get to know every sexy curve of your body on a first-name basis.”

  She sucked in a breath. “What are you waiting for?”

  Parker arched an eyebrow and threw more money onto the bar than was necessary to pay for their drinks. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter Two

  Parker had noticed the anxious brunette with the long legs and bright green eyes almost as soon as she’d sat down. Her long, dark hair was piled high in a messy bun, and he was dying to pull it down and weave his fingers through it.

  On his way home, he’d stopped off to drown his misery with a beer or two, and had no intention of hooking up. As he was about to leave, she’d walked in looking like a woman on a mission. Her presence had grabbed his attention from the opposite side of the bar, even if she wasn’t the type of woman he’d been drawn to before.

  Not that he was opposed to sophisticated and professional—it was actually really fucking hot—but that wasn’t the kind of woman who usually flocked to him. Maybe it was the way her eyes glittered as she looked around the bar, like she was trying to find a way to get into trouble. That underlying mischief and sexiness contradicted her aloof exterior and made him want to get to know her in every possible way.

  As they headed for the door, he would’ve liked to spend the night talking about anything and everything with her. Now that was a first. It wasn’t like him to open up, let alone so quickly, or to a total stranger, but there was an undeniable connection between them. Did she feel it too? It went beyond the chemistry flowing between them. Although he was acutely aware of how she affected him in that area. The faint floral scent of her perfume aroused him, and he adjusted himself discreetly.

  “After you, gorgeous.” He held the door open for her as they stepped into the humid evening air.

  Harper awarded him another heart-stopping smile. “So, your place or mine?”

  He was no stranger to sexually confident women trying to win him over, but she was a hundred times sexier, with those jade green eyes searing him as if she were searching for a missing puzzle piece. The way she stared straight at him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that she wanted him, was so incredibly hot. But he wanted her to be aware of what she was doing and feel good about her decision to sleep with him.

  “It’s your choice, gorgeous. I want to make sure you’re comfortable and have no regrets about where this is going.”

  Maybe that was the wrong thing to say, because her megawatt smile wavered for a moment, but he needed to know she was in this all the way.

  “Is it okay if we have another drink at my place before we…?”

  That was fine by him. He wanted to do more than taste, touch, a
nd lick every inch of her. He’d get to that part soon enough.

  “We can do that.”

  “Okay. Want to follow me?”

  He was actually thrilled she’d picked her turf over his place on Star Island. He wouldn’t have to explain anything, and for once, it was nice to be wanted him for himself and not his status. But he was a little amused, and surprised she hadn’t recognized him. He also respected that she’d thought ahead to not having to call him a cab when she kicked him out.

  “You got it.”

  Parker walked Harper to her car and slid into his Porsche 918 Spyder, waiting until she pulled out of the parking lot to follow her. They drove through the heart of downtown Miami and stopped at a gatehouse, marking the entrance to a condominium complex on Blue Lagoon Lake. She said something to the guard and gestured to his car. He followed her through the gate and pulled into an empty space next to her.

  He slid out of his car and watched her mouth gape open as she stepped onto the sidewalk beside him.

  “Wow,” she said, waving to his Porsche. “Nice.”

  Parker grinned. “It’s a lot of fun.”

  “I’ll bet. You never told me what you do.”

  “Remember, we agreed not to talk about work.”

  “Fair enough. You won’t hear any arguments from me,” she said, her sexy smile making a comeback.

  They made their way to one of the buildings. Her heels clicked across the tile as he followed her onto an elevator. As the elevator doors closed behind them, he became increasingly aware of her scent filling every square inch of space with sensuality. She wasn’t even moving in a way designed to excite him, but it didn’t matter. Harper was the most intoxicating woman he’d ever met. She had an immediate and intense effect on him without even trying.

  “I can’t handle myself around you. I want you so fucking bad, gorgeous. You have no idea how crazy you make me,” he said.