Playing the Player(39)

“Is that all?” Slade asked, his arm tightening around me. “We were going for twenty.”

“Out!” the manager boomed, pointing toward the door.

Slade laughed and pulled me closer. “We’re leaving already. Besides, this place obviously isn’t challenging enough for these girls.”

The manager glowered at us as we walked away. Gillian and Max skipped ahead of us, laughing. Slade kept his arm around my shoulders, so now I couldn’t tell if I was shaking from residual climbing wall freak-out or because of his touch.

Once outside under the bright sun, he finally stopped holding me.

“You two,” Slade commanded the kids. “Go sit on that bench. Now. Or else no ice cream.” I’d never heard him sound so stern, but he bit back a smile as the pair ran for the bench.

I desperately wanted to sniff my wrist again but didn’t dare.

“You sure you’re all right?” he finally asked. “You were shaking like crazy.”

Embarrassed, I stared down at my sandals.

“Trina?”

Ugh. Why did his voice have to go all soft and…and…

“Maybe we should call it a day,” he said. “I could take you home and—”

My head snapped up. “No.” The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was so pathetic that I couldn’t recover from a quick trip up a climbing wall.

He raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

I nodded.

“I think we all deserve some ice cream,” he announced loudly, and the kids whooped in response.



Slade and I sat under a shade tree in a park, eating popsicles. Max and Gilly chased each other around a nearby playground.

“I’ve never been kicked out of anywhere before,” I told Slade.

He smirked at me. “Of course you haven’t.”

“Is that an insult?” I tried to look offended.

He tilted his head and his smirk widened into a grin. “Not an insult. Just a fact.”

I needed to focus his attention away from me.

“Look.” I pointed at Max, who’d scrambled up the ladder of a very tall slide.

Slade watched Max with a satisfied smile. “He learns fast.” He shot me a glance. “He didn’t even ask you for more magic.”

I felt myself blush. “I gave him enough to last all day.”

Slade laughed, then stretched out in the grass, shading his eyes from the sun. “So what was that magic secret you two had going on, anyway?”

I was so distracted by all six foot whatever of him sprawled out like a beautiful, lazy cat that I didn’t respond.

“So you’re keeping it a secret?” he prompted, turning on his side to look at me with those glittering topaz eyes.

I plucked a few strands of grass to braid. “It’s not really a secret. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

I concentrated on the grass, because I knew if I met his gaze, I wouldn’t be able to form a coherent reply. “You’ll think it’s silly.”

“No I won’t. If it got Max to climb that wall today, it’s not silly.”

I sighed deeply and finally looked at him. He already thought I was a Bird Brain. What did it matter if he added wacko to my nickname?

“It’s lavender oil,” I said quietly. “It’s supposed to relieve stress. Some people use it to help them sleep. I use it when I’m nervous.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Use it how? Do you drink it?”

I laughed and tossed my grass braid at him. “No, of course not. You rub a little on your skin.” I hesitated then plunged ahead. “Then you smell it when you get anxious.”

He raised himself to a sitting position and scooted closer to me. “So Max smelled you, and that was the magic?”

My heart raced wildly, and I tried to distract myself by focusing on the kids, who swung next to each other, pumping their legs and singing some made-up song.

“It worked for him,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound as wobbly to Slade as it did to me.

“Hmm.” Slade’s responding hum was close—so close it made me shiver—but I still wouldn’t look at him. “Better let me try it. Where should I sniff? Your neck?”

Startled, I turned toward him, and I froze at the look in his eyes. I must be imagining… He couldn’t be thinking of…

“Well?”

“Well, what?” I sounded croaky.

“Should I just sniff randomly?”

I knew that my face was on fire. Every part of me wanted to jump up and take off running. Well, not every part. One part of me had this crazy desire to lean into him and see if what I hoped I’d seen in the way he looked at me was true. To see if he really did want to kiss me.

Instead I held out my arm, while simultaneously scooting away from him. “My wrist. I put it on my wrist.”

He locked eyes with me for an eon before his gaze shifted. Then he cupped the back of my hand and gently raised my arm, then closed his eyes and sniffed. I wondered if my pulse would burst right through my skin. I was pretty sure this was what it felt like to swoon. I’d always thought it was some made-up word in old romance novels, but now I had proof it was real.

“I can see why it worked,” he said, his voice husky. “It does smell like magic.” He lowered our hands, and I pulled mine out of his, reaching for new blades of grass to braid.