Playing for Keeps Read Online Free PDF Page B

now? “I don’t have any clothes. I can’t very well walk out of here in my borrowed, virgin-slut nightie.”
    His expression softened slightly. “I threw some stuff together for you at the airport. I figured you’d need clothes at some point.”
    When did her Jon take notice of such things? But he wasn’t her Jon. Not anymore. “You did?” She stood unsteadily.
    “Yeah,” he said gruffly, stuffing his fingers into the front pockets of his jeans when she shot him a back-off look. “Doing laps?” he inquired mildly. “Or are you heading for the chair over there?”
    “Right now I just need to stand. Right here.” She wanted to pace off the rest of the lethargy, because Jon was right. She needed to get her brain clear and her stiff and sore muscles working again before she tried boarding another plane. If she could board another plane.
    The thought made her press a hand to her midriff. Of course, she could, she told herself firmly. Law of averages. . . She absently straightened the crisp, Egyptian cotton sheets and pulled up the coral and cream silk comforter. She smoothed the wrinkles out of a pillowcase edged with lace, then placed the pillow precisely back on the bed. She turned to look at him.
    Oh, God. What a sight he was. A navy MIAMI DOLPHINS T-shirt, a size too small-which looked perfect on him-hugged his broad shoulders, fit snug across his chest, and was tucked into new jeans. His hair needed combing, and dark circles smudged his blue eyes. The sharp planes of his cheekbones showed pale under his tan. He looked like hell.
    He looked like heaven.
    “I can’t just leave, Jon. The man is the president.”
    “He’s not your president. Tell him you’re wiped. Tell him your twelve children, two cats and a dog need you at home. Hell, tell him anything.”
    Stubbornly, carefully, she shook her head. He was the one who’d taken the twelve children, two cats and a damned dog off the table. The house, God only knew, was freaking big enough. But that kind of menagerie required two responsible adults to care for them. He’d never been home.
    “Dani, think, for God’s sake. These guys took you off American soil, without notifying anyone. They kept me out there for hours while they fed you some sort of narcotic, and you want to stay here?”
    Yeah. That pissed the hell out of her. A lot. However, she wasn’t about to roll over and let Jon dictate her life just because he’d shown up in the nick of time. Yes. She needed help-his help and expertise-to figure out what was going on. But she didn’t have to like depending on him. Most of the time if she needed saving she could do it herself, thank you very much. Unfortunately, here and now she needed him. Damn it.
    “First,” she told him firmly, “whether I want to stay here or not isn’t the point. The point is I’m twenty-seven years old. And single. I make my own decisions. And no, I don’t particularly want to stay, but I’m going to anyway because it’s the right thing to do. I refused the money, but I can’t just blow off the president, Jon. It would be rude. I’ll leave after the ceremony on Saturday. You, however, can take your bossy self back to DC and remember we’re divorced.”
    “Almost.”
    She shot him a level look filled with meaning. “Almost is good enough for me.”
    “For God’s sake, Danica-”
    “Don’t Danica me. I’m leaving on Saturday and that’s that.” Unfortunately, the more insistent he became that she leave, the more insistent she would be to stay. Perverse. But there you go. Her typical, if not always logical, knee-jerk reaction when Jon pushed was to shoved back. But the reality was she wanted to get the hell out of Dodge. She was scared because he was scared.
    She had to get over this reaction to his action cycle if she ever hoped to live peacefully without him. She thought she’d mastered that little personality quirk but apparently not. Of course, her willpower and resolve worked just fine when they were