Free Playing With Seduction by Erika Wilde

that’s what you deserve from a man. To feel nothing less than sexy and seductive, and to know that you have the power to bring him to his knees, just like you brought me to mine only minutes ago.”
    By the time he was finished, moisture and regret shimmered in her eyes. “Jase…” Her voice was an aching whisper. “I can’t do this with you.”
    “Yes, you can. Trust me.”
    She shook her head and bit her bottom lip before speaking again. “I’m…I’m seeing someone,” she blurted out.
    A chill coursed through Jase’s veins, as if he’d just been doused with ice water. Swearing beneath his breath, he stood up as his brain tried to process what she’d just said. She slowly sat up on the bed, eyeing him hesitantly after dropping that bombshell.
    I’m seeing someone . He shoved his hand through his hair as his stomach churned. She was seeing someone . Another man. What the hell was there to fucking process?
    He jammed his hands on his hips and narrowed his gaze. “If you’re seeing someone , then why the hell are you here, at The Players Club?” Anger sharpened his tone.
    She flinched at his harsh voice as she pushed the hem of her dress back down her legs. “Grant and I aren’t exclusive,” she said, mollifying him somewhat with her reply. “We met on an online dating site, and we’ve only been out together twice, but he’s a good match.” She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself of that fact.
    A good match sounded so impersonal, so analytical. “If he was that great of a match, you wouldn’t be here with me,” he pointed out.
    “I wasn’t supposed to be here with you,” she said quietly as she stood and put her panties back on again. “It was supposed to be a stranger. Someone who I didn’t know, who I could have an anonymous fling with before things got serious with Grant.”
    Before things got serious, which meant that Jase still had a chance with her. “Stop seeing him.”
    He caught a flicker of anguish in her gaze before she looked away. “This—you and I—it’s not going to work.”
    She attempted to walk around him to leave, and, feeling an odd sense of panic, he caught her arm to stop her. “You don’t know that.”
    She looked up at him, her expression direct. “Are you at a point in your life where you’re ready to get married?” she asked bluntly. “To settle down and have a family?”
    Her unexpected questions took him aback, forcing him to switch mental gears so he could think about his answers. He definitely intended to get married someday and have kids, always had, but he’d only been out of the Air Force for a short time and was just starting to build his career with Noble and Associates as a security analyst.
    He’d been an “accident” baby to his much-older parents, an unplanned child who they didn’t know what to do with since they’d believed they were done raising kids. At the time, his two older sisters had been in their twenties, already graduated college, out on their own, and building their adult lives. Jase’s parents had downsized to a much smaller house and had been enjoying the freedom to travel when they wanted, to do things spontaneously, and not be tied to any set schedule. His mother, who’d always been a full-time housewife, had just graduated from culinary school as a pastry chef, which had always been a dream of hers.
    And then he’d happened, and his parents’ lives had been turned upside down by the unexpected pregnancy. Their newfound freedom hadn’t accounted for the responsibilities and burdens of another child, and he’d felt the painful effects of that resentment growing up. Most of the time, he’d felt like a nuisance, an inconvenience, and was, essentially, an afterthought in his parents’ lives and plans.
    Knowing what it felt like to be an outcast as a child, he’d always had a certain vision for his future, a plan and strategy for his own life, including when and how children would fit in. He’d joined