When The Wrong One Loves You Right

Black Sheep

"I've got the whole weekend, Cameron," Phillip said with a grin that conveyed every evil thought he'd ever had. His eyes swept me up and down suggestively. "Let's go get a drink together tonight."

I stared at him coolly. "Why should a drink take the whole weekend, Phillip?" I asked crossing my arms.

He didn't even try to hide it. "If it's done right it can," he said winking cheekily.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "No dice, Phillip," I sighed. 

Phillip grinned, his eyes twinkling. "I like it when you talk like a pit boss."

I glanced down at his crotch. "I know. I can tell."

Phillip bit his lower lip and grinned, his dimples pressing in, those eyes dancing over my body in a way that made my belly clench. I turned away from him and opened the refrigerator door, examining the contents with a critical eye. If I was going to spend my vacation with my older brother, I'd have to go grocery shopping soon. Several bottles of beer, a jar of pearl onions, and some dubious-looking leftover Chinese takeout. I wrinkled my nose...and then wondered why the hell Aaron hadn't warned me Phillip would be here today. I felt a very keen set of eyes on my ass.

I slowly straightened and turned back around. Sure enough, he raised his eyes to mine from where he'd been studying my backside. And he was unashamed.

"Fuck, now I can see why the house always wins," he said, his eyes going to my breasts.

I slammed the refrigerator door shut behind me making the beer bottle rattle aggressively against each other.

A smirk slanted across my lips. "The house always wins because it has eye in the back of its head. Something you'd do well to remember."

"Touche," Phillip murmured. "When Aaron told me you were working at the Borgata in AC I thought he meant you were a stripper."

My eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you did. But no, I catch cheaters and crunch the numbers at the end of the day. So it's always best to not piss me off."

Phillip's eyes drifted lazily down my body. "Sounds even sexier. What do you do if you catch someone cheating?"

I lifted one shoulder. "Ask them to leave."

Phillip's mind was half on our conversation and half on my tits. "And if they refuse?"

I looked him straight in the eyes. "I have ways of persuading them to leave."

Phillip was eyeing me like a piece of steak. "I bet you do," he murmured in a sinful voice.  

What should have deterred any other man, had no affect whatsoever on Phillip Altman, consummate flirt and womanizer. I'd known him forever. He was my brother Aaron's best friend since Hebrew school. Together he and Aaron had managed to thoroughly humiliate me at my bat mitzvah fifteen years ago and I had never forgotten it. Least said about that the better. After that, Phillip seemed to make it his mission in life to make me as miserable and uncomfortable as possible whenever he was around. So I had made it my mission to avoid him whenever possible. 

It wasn't until my senior year of high school when Phillip had come home from college, that things took a new turn. For him, at least. I was no longer wearing the huge glasses of my middle school years, nor sporting braces and a mop of untamable mousey brown curls. I had gotten contacts in the interim and I now flat ironed my hair daily so that it hung in a long, smooth silky curtain of chestnut brown. I had also filled out. Considerably. 

He asked me out for the first time while I was sitting at the kitchen table studying for finals. He had come over to pick up my brother and the two of them were going out partying like the collage age primates they were. I spared Phillip a brief glance, then focused on the open text in front of me, frowning in concentration as I took notes. I ignored him until he leaned down onto his forearms and put himself directly into my line of vision.