The Playboy’s Dangerous Bet의 모든 챕터: 챕터 21 - 챕터 30

LIV"Fall!" I blurt out, ripping my eyes away from the corner window and forcing them onto my sister's face. "Fall maybe?""Fall?" Claire groans, slumping back against the side of the booth. "Liv, it’s the middle of winter! Do you really expect me to wait nine months before I get to put on a bridesmaid dress?""It gives us time to plan properly," Ben says, his fingers giving my shoulder a warm squeeze."I vote for summer." Claire says. "We will definitely give it a proper thought." Ben replies. "Besides, your sister has a book deadline in ninety days. The last thing I want is to stress her out while she's finishing her manuscript.""See?" Claire sighs dreamily, looking at Ben like he just hung the moon. "Considerate. Patient. I’m sure Gia is probably already planning how to get Liv arrested at the bachelorette party."Gia turns her head back toward the table, flashing a sharp grin over the rim of her iced coffee. "Please. If it’s not going to be fun, count me out."Ben lets out a low

KLAUSThe brass doorknob jiggles six inches from my ribs."Liv?" Ben’s voice filters through the thin wooden door, sounding like a golden retriever who just lost his favorite tennis ball. "Baby, you still in there? You've been gone a while. Are you feeling okay?"Baby.I almost roll my eyes hard enough to pull a muscle.Inside the cramped restroom, Olivia goes rigid against my chest.Every drop of color vanishes from her face.Her wide, terrified brown eyes snap up to mine, her small hands curling tightly into the lapels of my black wool coat as if she can hold me still.She doesn't breathe.She doesn't blink.For the first time since I cornered her in here, the sharp-tongued little writer has nothing to say.Now this is more like it.I don't move a muscle.I keep one forearm braced against the wood beside her head and my other hand locked firmly around the curve of her hip, pinning her soft, trembling frame flush against the front of my body.If someone had told me on Thursday that I

LIVThe private elevator at the Sovereign Tower doesn't chime when it reaches the top floor.The brushed-steel doors simply glide open in dead silence, revealing a cavernous, dimly lit penthouse that smells of aged cedar, cold glass, and dark sandalwood.Floor-to-ceiling windows wrap around the living space, framing the Chicago skyline like a portrait hung in a gallery.I step off the elevator.My heels click sharply against the heated black slate floor.Over the emerald silk dress, I’m wearing my wool coat unbuttoned and my hands are steady at my sides.Klaus is standing near the far window beside a low-slung charcoal sofa, two fingers of bourbon resting in a crystal tumbler in his hand.He’s wearing a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his scarred forearms, the top buttons undone at his throat.As I walk into the room, his piercing blue eyes drop immediately to the hem of my coat, catching the flash of the emerald silk, before flicking to my bare left hand.A slow, dark

LIVThe glass behind my bare shoulder is freezing.The man pressed against the front of my body is a furnace.With both of my wrists locked in Klaus’s scarred hand above my head and his rough voice vibrating against the skin of my throat, my brain stops working."Or admit who you really dressed up for tonight."My heart slams against my ribs so hard it hurts to breathe.His palm is burning straight into the bare skin of my hip where the slit of the emerald dress parted. There is no wool coat between us now.No thick ribbed turtleneck.No denim.Just a thin layer of green silk and nothing else.I didn't think he would notice.God, how could I be so stupid?When I walked into my bedroom tonight after leaving Davis’s office, I was thinking in a state of cold, hollow shock.I tore off the clothes I wore to dinner with Ben because they felt like a costume for a woman who didn't exist anymore.When I pulled the emerald silk dress over my head, the plunging open back and the illegal hip hig

LIVGia sets her wineglass down on the marble counter so hard I’m surprised the stem doesn't snap."Have you lost your mind?!" she demands.She stares at me like the Pinot Grigio just gave me brain damage."Liv, the man is engaged to a Manhattan billionaire and trying to rob you blind! What do you mean, play along?!""Think about what happens if I dump him tomorrow morning. If I text him that it’s over and block his number, what does Ben actually lose?"Gia opens her mouth, then hesitates."Nothing," I answer for her, the bitter truth burning the back of my throat. "He shrugs, flies back to New York, lets Roxy Laurent pay off his debts, and laughs with her over champagne about how he almost pulled it off. Meanwhile, I’m left sitting in my apartment with two wasted years, a humiliating engagement my whole family just found out about, and zero leverage.""Wait," Gia says slowly, her eyes narrowing. "What about your book contract?"My stomach drops.In the chaos of leaving Davis’s office