Worn Me Down (Playing With Fire, #3) by T.E. Sivec, Tara Sivec Page A

charity function my mother was hosting. He had just finished his medical residency and secured a full time position with Mount Sinai hospital. He was the most charming man I had ever met and the first man to make me laugh since my brother left for the Navy when I was sixteen. At twenty-two years old, my parents were starting to pressure me more and more about finding a husband and settling down. Not that I was a wild child or anything like that, but in their eyes, it was high time I find someone so they could impress their friends with a lavish wedding and give them grandchildren they could brag about. Over the years, they tried setting me up with some of their friend’s sons and each one was worse than the last. They were all too much like my shallow parents and I wanted more. I wanted a man who would let me be who I wanted to be and not who my parent’s thought I should be.
    I still remember the night I met him like it was yesterday. I was standing at the bar with a full glass of champagne in my hand wishing I were anywhere but there.
    “Don’t slouch, Gwendolyn,” my mother scolded out of the corner of her mouth as she smiled and waved at someone she knew across the room.
    I sighed and stood up taller, taking a small sip of my champagne. I wished Brady were here. He would be standing off in the corner making fun of all the pretentious people in the room, our parents included and making me laugh. It’s sad that I can’t even remember the last time I laughed. My life has turned into the movie Groundhog Day – one day bleeds into the next, the same things over and over until I’m so bored I could cry.
    “I’m going to go find your father and start making the rounds to all the tables. Make sure you smile and thank people for coming,” she told me distractedly as she wandered away.
    It took everything in me not to roll my eyes at her retreating back. I should have told her that I didn’t feel well and stayed home tonight, but then she wouldn’t have been able to parade me around to all of her friends bragging about how I just graduated at the top of my class with a degree in business. A degree I didn’t want, but the only one that would make my parents happy and keep them off my back. I wanted to study social work, but my parents thought it was a frivolous waste and one that wouldn’t make me any money in the future. Just like always, I did as they instructed.
    “Is this the most boring party you’ve ever been to or is it just me?”
    A voice next to me at the bar brought me out of my thoughts. I turned to see a man in a black tux smiling down at me, dimples in each of his cheeks giving him a boyish look. He could be a few years older than me, but his friendly smile and the sparkle in his green eyes made him look younger.
    “Well, my parents are the ones hosting the party, so I think I’m required to say that I’m having a wonderful time,” I replied to him with a smile of my own.
    “You’re Beth and Karl’s daughter?” he asked in shock.
    I nodded, taking another sip of my drink.
    “Forgive me if this is a little forward, but I had no idea their daughter was so shockingly beautiful,” he told me softly.
    Over the years, I had heard enough trite compliments and pick-up lines from men in my parent’s social circle that I could fill an entire book. But the way this man said it, so honestly and quietly, it didn’t come off as anything but genuine.
    “My name’s William Stratford the third. I realize that makes me sound like a pompous asshole and I apologize for that. If I don’t tell people I’m the third William Stratford, my father will tell me I’m ungrateful and I’ll have to hang my head in shame. So really, you should just blame him for it,” William said with a laugh.
    He held out his hand for me to shake and when our palms touched, I wanted nothing more than to hold on to him for the rest of the evening. His large, soft hand wrapped around my own small one and my heart skipped a