Game's Over: A BWWM Romance (Game of Chance Book 3) Read online

  GAME’S OVER

  A BWWM Erotic Romance

  Book 3

  By Sasha

  My Books

  (also available in Kindle Unlimited)

  Foolish Games (book 1)

  Dirty Games (book 2)

  Dirty Games 2 (book 2.5)

  Game’s Over (book 3)

  Summer’s heating up in sunny Miami, and anyone who’s anyone is lining up outside of Casa Blanca’s to get tickets to the event of the season: the striptease contest. Gorgeous, sexy, glistening bodies on display—does it get any better than this?

  Grant Ross doesn’t think so. Proud of his collection of conquest, he enters the contest with no other goal than to add to his list and screw his way through the rest of the contestants. His game, however, comes to a quick end when he’s faced with his first rejection—Vivica Ashley. The sexy bombshell is simply not interested…

  Or so she says. Vivica wants something alright, but will Grant be the man to give it to her?

  Chapter 1

  “Do you know what day it is?”

  Zenobia didn’t know what day it was. Actually, she didn’t want to know what time it was. She didn’t care what day it was because, come to think of it, it couldn’t be any day because the day had not started.

  “Mmmm,” she muttered eloquently as bright, mean light was thrown in her face.

  “Zenobia! Come on, it’s nearly 8 AM.”

  Zenobia groaned and tried to shuffle deeper underneath the covers, clinging to the remains of sleep with all her stubbornness. The strong smell of coffee penetrated her sleep-addled brain. Zenobia sighed and rolled over, cracking one eye open and shooting the source of all the commotion a mean glare.

  “Morning, sunshine.”

  “Morning, asshole.”

  Zenobia fumbled with the covers and tried to pull them over her head, but Wes wouldn’t have any of it. He yanked the sheet back and grinned at Zenobia, thoroughly enjoying their little song and dance. Zenobia thoroughly hated it. She actually hated anyone that could spring out of bed like they hadn’t worked ten hours straight the previous night and look just as beautiful as they would’ve looked after a weekend in a spa resort. And, of course, Wes belonged to that category.

  Zenobia hated him so much. For real.

  “Come on,” Wes ruffled Zenobia’s hair and sat down on the bed, waving the hot coffee cup under her nose. “We have lots to do today.”

  “You should’ve thought of that before fucking me unconscious last night,” Zenobia shot back, but she did grudgingly accept the coffee, downing it in one go and nearly choking on it when it scorched her throat.

  “Complain, complain.” Wes waited patiently as Zenobia coughed and spluttered on her coffee. “That’s all you do.”

  “I don’t complain about the sex,” Zenobia clarified. “I do complain about being tossed out of bed before the sun rises.”

  Wes silently and eloquently pointed at the bright light shining in the sky. “It’s a figure of speech. Whatever. I’m too tired to argue.”

  Wes leaned in and kissed the frown off Zenobia’s face, his hand running down Zenobia’s cheek to her neck, thumb rubbing in the hollow of her throat. Zenobia sighed and parted his lips, allowing Wes’s tongue to sneak past. There was a slow, dreamlike quality to their kiss, as though all the urgency of Wes’s wake-up call had melted away.

  Zenobia sighed, struggling to keep her eyes open, drinking in the beauty of Wes’s face, the way his eyelashes fluttered on his high cheekbones, the pale tone of his skin, the gentle caress of his hair on the sides of his jaw. He was so stupidly handsome that Zenobia almost couldn’t bear to stare at him.

  Wes’s fingertips skimmed down the sides of Zenobia’s chest, dipping just below the waistband of her panties, finding warm skin. Zenobia looped her other arm around Wes’s neck. Zenobia tangled her hand in Wes’s hair, pulling him closer, suddenly much keener on being awake.

  “You taste like caramel,” Zenobia whispered, dazed, her grin lopsided and warm.

  “Pancakes.”

  Wes kissed her lips again, shifting on the bed so that he could throw one leg over Zenobia’s hips, straddling her -

  “Ahhh!”

  Hot, hot, hot!

  Coffee sprayed on the sheets, on Zenobia’s breast and thighs.

  “Oh, fuck. I’m so sorry, I’m…shit, that hurts. I’m sorry…”

  Wes jumped on the spot, getting out of his stained boxers and trying to work in some damage control. Zenobia merely sat with her face between her hands and slowly died of embarrassment. It had to be said—anyone who thought she was the cool, collected type never met Zenobia. She had a knack for working herself into embarrassing corners, and even after over a year and a half spent living with Wes, her boyfriend’s cool did not rub off on her.

  Even if technically it had been Wes knocking into the coffee, it was Zenobia’s cup, and it was Zenobia who hadn’t put it down or bothered to finished it when she could have. She was hot all over, and when she felt the bed sink down with Wes’s weight, she barely dared to peer between her fingers to where Wes was sitting, smiling at her.

  “I’m such an idiot.”

  “No, you’re not. And it was my fault in the first place.”

  Zenobia sighed. “You know you don’t have to say it—”

  “I’m not just saying it. I mean it. I knocked the cup over. I was swept up in the moment, one might say.”

  Wes pried Zenobia’s hands off her face and kissed the joined fingertips with a smirk. Zenobia felt her heart trip and fall all over, for the beautiful man in bed with her. She coughed and sort of looked down at their coffee-stained sheets, then back up in Wes’s still grinning face.

  “So. Um. What’s up? I mean, not…you know, not… in a double entendre meaning or anything like that. I mean, just…uh…why did you wake me up?”

  “Hm? Oh, yes.” Wes bounced excitedly on the bed like a toddler, his grin widening. “Well, do you know what day it is today?”

  “Uhhh…” Zenobia racked her brains for a couple of seconds but came up with nothing. “Friday?”

  “Wrong! I mean, yes. It’s Friday. But that’s not what I was asking.” He bounced again. “It’s the first day of summer!”

  Well, fuck. She had completely forgotten. “Oh,” was all she could say.

  “Yes, oh!” Wes rolled his eyes at her. “Come on. Grab a shower and get dressed. We’re gonna be leaving in five.”

  “Leaving? What? Where to?”

  “To the club, of course,” Wes quickly stole a kiss from her lips and bounced off the bed. “We have tons of shit to get ready.”

  Zenobia stared at the spot from where Wes had disappeared for a moment before shrugging and finally getting out of bed. After the coffee incident, the least she could do was go with the flow on this one. Something told her she would’ve known a lot more than she needed to know by the end of the morning anyway. Pointless to worry about that now.

  ****

  Zenobia had always liked going to Casa Blanca’s when the club was closed and no one else was around. In a way, it reminded her of Wes himself, the way only Zenobia got to see him. Without the glitter and the antics and the charming persona he put on to keep the club running at nights, just the bare bones Zenobia loved. The club itself was very similar. Without the flurry of patrons and the thumping of music and flashing lights and everything that went with it, Casa Blanca’s was solid walls and hard work.

  “You two pull over for a quickie?”

  Zenobia groaned and glared at Wes accusingly. Wes merely laughed and stepped up to hug Tasha, Zenobia’s very vocal, tyrannical big sister.

  “Hey, beaut
iful. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

  “What do you have to be sorry for? Although I have to say, I don’t think you did a very thorough job on her. She still seems kinda testy.”

  “Why do we keep her around again?”

  “Because, dear sister, I am the marketing mind behind all of this shit.” Tasha threw her hair back and held a diva pose for a split second before turning back to Wes, all business. “Do you want to start the sign up today? It might be a good idea. We should do a direct elimination round like we did last year, so we weed out those who are just in for a dare and not for the real deal.”

  “Sounds good. Did you call travel agency yet?”

  “Yes and we will have the tickets in a week, just in time for the finale.”

  “Do either of you care to fill me in on the details?” Zenobia asked after a moment, feeling completely bemused at the words that kept flying over her head.

  “Sorry.” Wes looked properly chastised. “It’s something we do every year when summer begins. It’s a contest. Casa Blanca's Summer Bombshell contest.”

  “Oh.” And now that Wes had said it, Zenobia suddenly remembered.

  There were posters of past years’ winners lining up the walls to the upstairs bedrooms. Zenobia had never spared it much thought, but then again her joining up Wes in the partnership at the club had been a fairly recent thing. She wasn’t expected to know everything yet, was she?

  “We run the contest for a week,” Wes explained as they walked toward the stage that was set up in the ballroom, the one usually used by the cage dancers. “Everyone can join up - both men and women - there’s a popular vote for each, pretty much by every single patron, and we eliminate a bunch of them every night.”

  “So wait…this goes on every night?”

  “All other events get put on hold. There’s enough activity with the Summer Bombshell contest. We can’t run anything else.”

  “The club will be packed,” Tasha grinned, “And all the rooms are booked. Would make no sense to have a blind date night when everyone is perfectly happy to do that by themselves.”

  “I get it.” Zenobia turned around and grinned at Wes. “So what? They get to stand on stage and take off their clothes for fun?”

  Tasha giggled. “Not only fun.”

  “Okay, besides getting laid. What do they get?”

  “Each gets a weekend for two at the Exclusive Resort,” Wes put in helpfully. “We’ve done other packages during past years, but this one seems to get the best response.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Zenobia had heard of that resort. It was a beautiful hotel in Key West with a personal spa set on the ocean. She’d never been there, but the venue was known to be both exclusive and luxurious.

  Maybe she and Wes could go there at some point. Maybe when the contest was over, they could leave Rose to take care of the club and just relax a little. They’d been running on near empty for the past…well, for a while now. Zenobia couldn’t even remember the last time they’d had done something fun, just the two of them. Outside the bedroom, that is. Maybe it was time for a vacation…

  She realized she’d spaced out when Tasha snapped her fingers in front of her. “Earth to Zenobia. Still with us?”

  “Yeah. Yes. I mean, I’m here.”

  Tasha shook her head with an amused grin. “Doesn’t look like it. In fact, it looks like you’re miles away from here. Maybe San Francisco?”

  Wes smiled at her and threw one arm over her shoulder. “Maybe we should make a trip down there, hmm? Test it out, just to be sure we’re not handing our contestants any bullshit?”

  “Uh… well… I wasn’t going to suggest it. But if you think—”

  “Absolutely,” Wes smacked his lips on Zenobia’s cheek. “We can’t stay the whole weekend, but we can surely make it a one-day trip.”

  “But…the contest?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Tasha cut in, a devilish look in her eye, “I’ll take care of ‘em.”

  Zenobia shared a private look with Wes. A couple of days away to an A-list Spa sounded wonderful, but she knew how much Wes cared for the good of the club. And to be perfectly honest, she had no intention of leaving Tasha, ahem, “testing” the contestants without their supervision.

  “We could leave tomorrow.” Zenobia looped her arms around Wes’s waist, a gleam in her eyes. “See who gets in tonight, and get back here to watch the second round of the contest.”

  Wes nodded, and he looked almost relieved. Zenobia knew he would’ve put them before the club if push came to shove, but they were partners in more ways than one. She knew Wes and his OCD needed to be present at every major event. Despite his good intentions, Zenobia had an inkling there wouldn’t be much relaxing if the contest were happening without them.

  “Well then, you can pick up the tickets yourselves, save them the trouble of posting,” Tasha said, taking out her cell phone. “I’m going to call them now and let them know you’ll need a full one-day treatment, okay?”

  “Sounds great.” Zenobia turned in Wes’s arms and kissed him, lips moving slowly against one another. “Sounds fabulous.”

  Wes giggled, an honest-to-God giggle, and they kissed again. They kept kissing even when Tasha cleared her throat, and throughout the phone call she put into the resort. Zenobia broke the kiss and smiled. Suddenly, she was very glad Wes had woken her up that morning.

  Chapter 2

  Grant stubbed out his cigarette on the ground, locked his car behind him and smiled at the queue of people lining up at Casa Blanca’s. He hadn’t been back to the club in a while. The one time he had gone back, he’d seen Zenobia behind the bar, laughing, low and intimate, with Wes himself, and the scene sort of lost its attraction for him.

  It’s not like he was in love with Zenobia or anything. Grant didn’t do love. But he did attraction, and he did sex. He didn’t like to be scorned in anything, and for a few months, he had avoided Wes’s club.

  Not for long, however. Turned out, there were very few places he could go to if he wanted the same kind of action he used to get at Casa Blanca’s. Grant had been most dismayed. He tried everything, but in the end, he had to admit it. There was a reason why people queued in front of the place from six in the evening.

  So here he was. The Casa Blanca's Summer Bombshell was the event of the year, according to pretty much every alpha male with a heartbeat, and Grant wasn’t going to let it pass by. Especially not for a woman who had rejected him. Grinning to himself, he shrugged on his leather jacket and stalked toward the entrance.

  ****

  “Whoa.”

  There weren’t many other words Zenobia could use to describe the turnout. People of all shapes flooded through the doors to sign up for the striptease contest, and even more were crowding around tables and barstools, ready to enjoy the show.

  “It’s great, isn’t it?” Tasha nearly yelled in her ear. Zenobia grimaced and Rose laughed as she twirled a bottle of vodka in the air before filling up a set of shot glasses in front of her.

  “It’s crazy,” Zenobia admitted, eyes scanning the crowd. “I didn’t even know the club could hold this many people.”

  “It can’t.” Wes had sneaked past Zenobia without her noticing, and he put his arm on her hips with a cheeky smile. “We have, um, enhanced it for the week.”

  “Clever bit of magic, too, if I say so myself.” Tasha waved her arm around at the lights shining from every angle.

  “I don’t know how you always get away with it,” Zenobia told her sister. “It’s a wonder we’re still at large.”

  “I know nothing.” Rose shook her head with a blinding grin as she passed the customers their one-shots. “I’m merely an employee.”

  “If we go down for improper use of magic, we all go down together.”

  “It’s not magic,” Tasha retorted, “It’s merely an extension of our culture. We have every right to express our deepest roots and if they fine us for that, we’ll just open a lawsuit.”

 
“A lawsuit?”

  “Racism against curvy girls, Burke versus State. Look it up.”

  Wes roared with laughter. “Sometimes, I can’t believe you two are related.”

  “Tell me about it.” Zenobia groaned and hid her face in Wes’s chest, shoulders shaking with silent giggles.

  After about an hour or so, Tasha let them go behind the scenes to organize those who had signed up for the first eliminatory round of the contest. Zenobia wasn’t all that sure about leaving her sister alone with so many willing men, but Wes was incredibly persuasive, and when the kiss ended, Tasha was nowhere to be seen. Zenobia sighed at the light in Wes’s eyes.

  “You really trust her with this, don’t you?”

  “She’s a good promoter,” Wes repeated for the umpteenth time. “And besides, it’s more fun if we just watch it happen.”

  “Fun as in ‘oh this is awesome’ fun, or as in ‘oh this is the train wreck I can’t stop’ fun?”

  Wes laughed again. “Relax, baby. She’s got it under control. It’s not the first time she’s done it.”

  Zenobia rolled her eyes. She loved her sister, she really did, but she also knew her better than anyone. If it came to a choice between her getting laid and the contest running smoothly, well, it was a no-brainer.

  “A bourbon. Straight.”

  The voice stirred something funny in her stomach, and Zenobia turned around to see who Wes was serving -

  And nearly had a heart attack right then and there.

  Zenobia couldn’t mistake those eyes, or the cut of that jaw. She remembered the carpet burns on her knees as those teeth sank into her shoulder, his body blanketing her from behind as he fucked Zenobia across her own doorstep.

  “Zenobia?”

  Shit. “Um, nothing.” Way to be lame, honey.

  Wes gave her the concerned look, but before she could excuse herself, Grant had turned around and fixed her with a predatory grin.

  “Hey, Zenobia.”

  Wes frowned. “You know him?”

  “Uh, yeah. Sort of. I mean, I knew him. I mean, we’ve met.” When Wes kept staring at him, nonplussed, Zenobia sighed and elaborated. “Here. I met him here.”