R. Mathewson - Playing for Keeps

From that moment on she'd been royally pissed at him. She'd ordered the last four apple fritters knowing he looked forward to his apple fritters every Friday and didn't offer him one. Even worse, she gave away his delicious treats during the morning meeting. He spent the entire meeting glaring at the bastards who ate his fritters.

It only got worse after that.

During their lunch break not only did she refuse to eat with him, but she somehow managed to steal his lunch and toss it in the trash and made sure there were no delectable treats in the staff refrigerator for him to steal. When he went to buy lunch in the student cafeteria he discovered another lovely surprise.

She'd somehow lifted his wallet.

By the end of the day he'd been so pissed and hungry that he decided she was damn well going tonight whether she wanted to or not. When he arrived home he wasn't too surprised to discover that Haley had barricaded herself in her room. That was more than fine with him. It gave him plenty of time to recoup his strength. After devouring everything in her fridge he broke into her room.

She'd put up a good fight, but eventually he managed to drag her into the living room where she pretended to hurt her ankle. When he released her to check she shoved him, knocking him flat on his ass, and took off for the backdoor. She made it as far as the kitchen sink before he was on top of her.

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked as he turned into the parking lot of Harrington's, the five star restaurant her family was dining at tonight. He was glad he finally found his wallet during their little wrestling match since this meal was most likely going to give his credit card a workout.

Haley sighed heavily, shifting to look at him. "No, I just don't want to do this."

"Really? I couldn't tell," he said drily.

"I'm really sorry," she said, as he pulled up behind a short line of luxury cars.

He shrugged, thinking she was apologizing for starving him. That reminded him that they'd need to stop by the grocery store after this to refill her fridge otherwise she might be pissed to discover that he left her with only three eggs, a jar of olives and some expired girly yogurt that he wouldn't touch with a ten foot spoon.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," she said, sounding serious.

He had to bite back a smile at the thought of his little grasshopper kicking his ass. "I'll, ah," he just barely stopped himself from laughing, "I'll survive."

She nodded regally. "I know. I held back."

"And I really appreciate that."

* * *

"You know you're going to starve here, right? Even I have to hit the drive thru at Burger King after coming here," Haley pointed out desperately as Jason dragged her from the safety of the car.

Jason simply sighed, wondering if she really knew him at all. As if the prospect of eating two dinners would upset him. Puhlease.

"Fine," Haley said, giving him a sly little smile as she stood up, straightening her lavender shirt and dark skirt. "If you take me home right now I promise," she said in a sultry tone, reaching up to run her fingertips down his tie, "that I will fulfill every single sexual fantasy you've ever had and some you didn't know were possible."

With a bored sigh he simply grabbed her arm and gently tugged her towards the front entrance, ignoring the valets as they choked on their tongues. If he thought for one second that she was serious he would have hauled her ass back into the car and been going ninety to the nearest pharmacy all while he had his hand shoved up her skirt.

Not that he really wanted to do that.

Much.

"B-but I'm offering you sex! Lot's and lot's of sex!" Haley hissed urgently as they stepped into a lush foyer.

"You would have had more luck offering me meatloaf, my little grasshopper," he informed her, catching her arm as she tried to make another escape.

Haley exhaled heavily as she pushed her glasses back up her nose. "I was going to offer that, too." She gave him a hopeful smile. "What if we go home and I cook-"

"Too little too late, my little grasshopper. Besides, there's nothing in your fridge to cook anyway."

She frowned up at him. "But I just went shopping the other day."

"I got hungry," he simply said, ignoring her adorable little glare.

"You better not have touched the last piece of pumpkin pie," she warned.

He had to laugh at that. "It was the first thing to go," he informed her as they stepped up to the maître d's podium. She sent him a glare that promised all kinds of retribution. Where Jason could eat just about anything, and often did, his little grasshopper was a pumpkin pie junkie.

"Welcome to Harrington's. My name is Elizabeth, how can I help you?" the woman asked them both as she sent Jason an inviting look that let him know he'd be getting offered more than just appetizers tonight.

He looked down at Haley, wondering if she caught the look and what she thought, not that he wanted her to be jealous or anything. He had to smile when he caught Haley gazing longingly at the exit sign.

"It won't be that bad," he said, taking her hand into his, mostly to keep her from bolting again.

"Yes, it will," she sighed pathetically.

Jason turned his attention back to the woman who was now frowning unhappily at their entwined hands.

"We're joining the Blaine party for reservations at six," he said, tightening his grip on Haley's hand when he felt her trying to pull away.

"Right this way," the woman said with a tight smile.

As they followed the woman through a richly furnished sitting room Jason couldn't help but wonder why Haley settled on the losers that she did when she was clearly used to so much better. He'd seen some of the losers she'd dated over the years and doubted they'd pulled out their wallet for much more than Denny's and even then only if they had a coupon.

She should be dating someone who was willing to bust his ass to show her how much she meant to him. He'd have to work on it with her, but that was for later. Right now he had to focus on dragging her alongside him.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Jason asked, smirking as he glanced down at her.

"Nothing," she said quickly as she tried to discretely shift so that Jason was blocking her from the left side.

"Doesn't look like nothing," Jason noted, quickening his pace, probably to annoy the hell out of her.

"It is nothing," she bit out between clenched teeth even as she hurried to keep up with Jason again, angling a little to the right so that her entire body was blocked by Jason's massive body.

She dared a peek behind Jason's back and nearly cried in frustration when a pair of smoky gray eyes that she was all too familiar with met hers. She sent him a polite smile and did her best to ignore the determined glare he sent her way.

"Who's that?" Jason asked as they continued to follow the hostess through the spacious aisles and around larger tables that surrounded the small dance floor.

"No one," she lied. Tonight was going to be difficult enough. She didn't want to get into the drama of ex-boyfriends who still took her refusal to sleep with them as a challenge, one that Robert seemed hell bent on winning no matter how many years passed.

The man was a self-professed playboy and truly believed he could have any woman he wanted. He hadn't always been like that. When they started dating at fifteen he'd been shy, sweet, and down to earth. It wasn't until their senior year when his skin cleared up, he put on some muscle and of course he inherited about thirty million dollars from his grandmother that he started to change.

He went from the sweet guy she could watch Indiana Jones movies with to the guy screwing around on her with every bimbo he could find. When she confronted him about it he denied it left and right until finally he broke down and placed all the blame at her feet. They parted as friends, well sort of, and since then every time he saw her he did his best to get her in his bed. Last time they ran into each other he'd ditched his fiancé two days before the wedding to pursue her.

His desperation to get her in his bed had nothing to do with love. It had to do with the fact that she was, according to him, the only woman who had ever said no to him. He'd do just about anything to get her into his bed. She really did not need this tonight. She had enough to deal with.

She was not looking forward to being embarrassed and belittled in front of Jason. Although it wouldn't be on her top ten favorite things to do on a Friday night, Haley would have gladly come tonight to keep her grandmother company and done her best to ignore all their subtle putdowns, but she couldn't stomach the idea of Jason witnessing how little she really meant to her family.

"Mr. Blaine, the rest of your party has arrived," Elizabeth said, smiling politely as she stopped in front of the large round table where her parents, sisters and their husbands sat. Haley frowned when she didn't see her grandmother.

"Thank you," Jason said, ignoring the inviting look the woman was sending him, surprising Haley. His disinterest in all the women who practically threw themselves at him when they were out always surprised her. He wasn't much of a playboy, she thought as she forced a smile for her family.

"Haley, sweetheart," her father said as he stood up. His eyes shifted to Jason before he pulled her into a hug and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "It's been too long, sweetheart. I've missed you."

She just barely stopped herself from suggesting that he could pick up the telephone if he missed her so much, but she bit it back. She would not let him know that he'd hurt her when he hadn't called like he promised. It was her fault anyway. She should have known better.

"This is my friend, Jason Bradford," she said, gesturing to Jason who extended his hand to her father.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Jason said, politely.

Her father shook his hand, giving her a curious look. "It's a pleasure to meet one of Haley's friends."

Haley just barely stopped herself from wincing when she realized Jason was the first friend she'd ever invited to meet her family since she was in school. The fact that Jason was a man was going to be a problem, especially if they thought they were dating.

"Dad?" Haley said, drawing his attention before he sat down.

"Yes, dear?" he asked, throwing Jason another curious look.

"Where's Grandma?"

He frowned down at her. "Didn't she call you?"

"No, why?" she asked, already having a bad feeling where this was going.

"She called earlier to say that you and your friend," he said, giving Jason another one of those curious looks that Haley knew all too well, "were going to join us tonight, but that she remembered she already had plans for this evening."

Haley just bet she did.

"Jason, this is my sister Rose," Haley said, gesturing to the woman with her hair pulled back into a severely tight bun that looked like it hurt. She daintily offered her hand to him.

He took it gently, not because he was honored or overwhelmed to make her acquaintance, no he was simply afraid of breaking her long thin hand. As discretely as he could, he quickly looked over the other two women in the group and quickly noted that all three of them were tall, skinny, too skinny, and flatter than a ten year old boy. Although they were attractive women in their own right, they didn't have a thing on his little grasshopper.

A few minutes later when he met Haley's other sister Martha, and both women's husbands John and Edward, he was introduced to Haley's mother who looked upset. It took a minute to realize that she was trying to smile.

Botox.

He should have known, he thought as he reached over and shook the woman's hand just as gently as he had her daughters' hands. He'd come across this expression countless times during parent-teacher conferences.

As he sat down next to Haley, who was fuming adorably, he couldn't help but notice John, Rose's husband's eyes land on the ass of a waitress and stay there as the woman moved around the table next to them. Rose seemed to be oblivious as she frowned in Haley's direction. Jason's eyes shifted to the other two women to find them doing the same thing. Her father was glaring in his direction, which was understandable, and Edward was sipping his wine while he stared at Haley's very generous cleavage. Haley seemed to be oblivious to her brother-in-law's perusal of the breasts as she toyed with a dinner roll.