Playing Hard to Get(87)

Does she see it? Does she know?

“I like it. Can I take one of you?”

“Are we making it official, Maguire?”

I swallow hard, staring at her. “I don’t know. Are we?”

“Have you seen anyone else?”

I shake my head. “No. Have you? When would we have the time?”

My voice is hoarse. She’s all I think about. All I want. Just the idea of her being with some other guy makes me want to murder him with my bare hands and the dude doesn’t even actually exist.

At least he better not.

“There’s no one else.” She tilts her head to the side, and I notice the thin gold hoops in her ears. Damn, those are sexy. “Only you.”

Only you. Those two words keep echoing in my head and I must admit…

I like the way they sound.

“Let’s take a photo together. After dinner,” I suggest. “And we can both post it at the same time.”

“Once we go social media official, that’s it. Your player status is over,” she reminds me.

“I don’t want to play with anyone else but you.” I am dead serious, and she can see it. Sense it.

Her nod is slow, those big brown eyes eating me up. “I’m freaking out right now.”

“Don’t freak out, Jo Jo.” I stretch my hand across the table, palm up and she places her hand in my own. “I like you. A lot.”

I’m falling for her. Probably have already fallen, if I’m being real with myself. And while that is scary and wild and I’m nervous about it, being with Joanna also feels so damn right. There’s nobody else for me.

She’s it.

Our appetizer arrives, breaking up the serious moment, and we don’t talk about it for the rest of dinner, but it’s there. Lingering just beneath the surface.

I can’t wait to get her alone. So I can show her how I really feel.

We’re leaving the restaurant, both of us stuffed, Joanna a little tipsy, thanks to the three raspberry lemon drops she consumed. She stops me in front of the building, her phone in her hand.

“Let’s take our picture.”

I stand as close to her as I can, my arm around her waist, holding her tight. She switches the camera, so it’s facing us, and holds it above her head, getting both of us in it.

“Are you ready?” she asks.

I nod. “Yeah.”

Goddamn, she smells good. Feels good too. I like how she’s leaning her head against mine, her eyes a little hazy, thanks to the alcohol, and I give her waist a squeeze, turning my head at the last second, so I can kiss her temple.

She captures the moment with a few presses of the button. “Oh, that turned out so cute!”

I study the photo, resting my head on top of hers as I do. I look like a lovesick fool and I don’t give a damn.

“Send it to me,” I tell her. “Let’s get in the car and we’ll post together.”

“We are so cheesy.” She laughs, taking my hand as I lead her toward the parking lot.

“I like our brand of cheese.” Joanna laughs even harder and I grab hold of her waist, pressing her against the side of my car. “You making fun of me?”

She slowly shakes her head, her fingers sliding over the buttons of my shirt. “Never.”

“Good.” I slip my fingers beneath her chin, tilting her face up. I drag my thumb across her bottom lip before I softly kiss her. “Are we really doing this?”

Her eyes sparkle with mischief. “If you’re talking about us being exclusive, then yes. We are totally doing this, Knox. You can’t back out now.”

“Good.” I grin, just before I take her lips in another breathless kiss. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”





I’m still thinking about Joanna days later, when the team and I are on the charter bus, heading back home after our away game. We crushed them, thirty-five to seven and I ran in two of the touchdowns like a fucking beast. Everyone says I’m on fire this season. My coaches, my teammates, my dad, my uncle Drew. They’re all texting or calling, letting me know how proud they are of me, which feels good. Better than good.

It feels fucking fantastic.

My opponents gripe about my solid gameplay, and the various media sites are raving over me too. Joanna keeps me on track by reminding me to go to physical therapy, which is doing wonders for my knee. It barely hurts at all now.

Just having her in my life helps. She’s like a balm to my fucking soul.

Leaning back in my seat, I open up the Audible app on my phone, my AirPods already in my ears, ready to listen to the latest book I’ve been assigned to read for English. I’m still not a huge fan of reading, but listening to the audio version is so much easier.

Not ready to listen just yet, I scroll through the books Jo already has listed on her account, something I haven’t really done before. Some of them look like scary thrillers—interesting—and there are a few with bare-chested dudes on the covers.

Hmm. Even more interesting.

One of the books is titled Make a Play and I open it up, the female narrator’s sultry voice immediately fills my ears, sounding as if it’s halfway through the story already. Like Joanna left off at this spot.



He pushed me down onto the bed and I went without protest, landing on my back, a puff of air leaving my lips. I eat him up with my greedy gaze while he tugs off his T-shirt, revealing his broad chest. His lean torso.