Sinful Rewards 2 by Cynthia Sax

Author:Cynthia Sax
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins

Chapter Five

WHEN I WALK into the condo, Cyndi is standing with her back facing the door, her hands on her hips. She’s wearing a bright yellow blouse and a black skirt, her queen-bee-of-the-office outfit.

“I can’t decide what to wear,” my friend laments. Every club outfit she has ever worn is spread out on the purple leather couch. Gold silk shimmers. Black lace beckons. Scooped collars, short hemlines, and fitted corsets jumble together in a tornado of designer fashions.

“Normally, I wouldn’t care.” She stares at her collection. “But I’ve been denied entrance to R for months, and I now feel it’s an event. I’m finally getting in.” My best buddy bounces on the balls of her bare feet, a hint of a squeal to her voice. “And I want to make a statement. Plus, oh my God, Bee, Cole Travers might be there. Can you imagine?”

I can imagine, but unfortunately that’s all either of us can do. “Cyndi.”

“I know. I know.” She waves her hands. I’ve never seen my friend this excited about anything. “It’s your night, your celebration. It isn’t all about me.”

This isn’t true. This is all about her. I don’t care about going to clubs, getting drunk, flirting with guys interested only in one-night stands. I certainly don’t care about seeing the inside of Nicolas’s club or impressing women like Angel.

“But I can’t bear to be turned away at the door because I’m inappropriately dressed,” my best friend explains. “I’ll die if I’m rejected by Rainer and his damn doormen again.”

“Cyndi, look at me.” I set my purse on the hardwood and grab her shoulders, forcing her to face me. “Rainer didn’t reject you this time,” I lie. I can’t tell Cyndi the truth. It would hurt her too much. “He rejected me. He won’t put us on the guest list.”

“What?” Her bottom lip quivers. “He said no?”

I hug her to me, folding her into my smaller body. “He said no.” I rub her back, trying to comfort her, knowing nothing I can say or do will make her feel better. “He doesn’t want me in his club either.” My lies are multiplying. “I don’t know why.”

“Because he’s a prig.” Cyndi’s voice is watery. “He’s a mean, selfish prig. We ought to send him a memo.” She raises her chin and meets my gaze, her eyes wide. “Do you think that’s it? He doesn’t want any of his condo residents going to his club?”

“I don’t know.” I eye her warily, worried about what she’ll do with this new theory. “I think maybe he’s just a prig. Maybe he knows how much we want to go to his club, so he’s denying us that joy, getting his jollies from making us unhappy.”

These maybes are torturous to recite. Nicolas is my friend and he could be my future husband. He might never hear of my disloyalty to him, but I’ll always know I said these words. I’ll always know I betrayed him.

“Denying our happiness is something Rainer would do.” Cyndi presses her lips together.

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