Scored(12)

Sam: We had a great time. Thanks for introducing us.

Excellent.

Me: Glad to hear it. Later.

Sam: Yup

Shoving my phone into my back pocket, I open the door with my free hand and step inside. The library is unlike any I’ve ever seen. Based on the bit of research I did, I know it used to be a mansion and the event space is on the third floor, where the ballroom used to be. It’s privately owned by an anonymous, but prominent family living in the eastern part of North Carolina. That’s as far as I got before the theme of Sports Center filled the speakers and I put away the laptop.

Right away, I spot Paige, her honey-colored hair like a beacon in the softly lit room. Today, she’s wearing a dress with a thin belt around her waist. It makes her tits look great and her hips look like they need to be grabbed… by me.

Even better, she’s climbing on a short ladder to put up books. It gives me a magnificent view of her amazing legs. The heels aren’t too bad either, although I prefer them a little higher.

She turns slightly, hair sliding over her shoulder to cascade down her back. The first time we met, she wore her hair up, exposing her neck and making me wonder what she’d taste like if I nibbled on her. But this time… all that hair makes me think of dirty, sweaty sex while I grip those long strands in my fist.

I move cautiously closer, keeping my eyes peeled for any of her coworkers. Sam’s not here to run interference, so I have to be extra-vigilant. The kid in me wonders if I have to use my spidey-senses to creep up on her while the adult in me is urging me to walk up to her like a man and ask her out again. I think the adult me is right. The kid in me might be mistaken for a straight-up pervy stalker.

“Fancy meeting you here,” I say as soon as I get behind her.

Paige screams, releases the shelf, and falls backward, arms flailing.

I surge forward. Instead of executing the perfect catch, like in a Hollywood movie, her elbow nails me in the kisser, one of her heels just misses puncturing my junk, and the back of her head slams against my windpipe.

Wheezing for air, I stagger back. It’s by sheer force of will alone that I don’t drop Paige on her head. I’ve been hit by harder but then again, I had safety gear on and I was expecting it. Libraries aren’t exactly known for contact sports.

My body connects with the hardwood and my head cracks against the floor.

“Fuuuuck,” I groan as stars burst behind my eyes.

Paige starts to shake.

Oh, shit. She’s hurt. “Tell me where it hurts, sweetheart,” I urge, rolling her so I’m on top but my weight is on my forearms. Doesn’t matter that she’s soft and firm in all the right places, or that her dress is hiked up to almost her waist. It sure as hell doesn’t matter that my lip, head, and thigh throb like hell… all that matters is that Paige is okay. That I didn’t somehow hurt her by accident.

I scan her face, just as tears start to run down her cheeks. Her eyes are squeezed shut, and she looks like she’s going to…

Laughter bursts from Paige’s mouth. “That was the funniest thing ever.”

“You got to be kidding me,” I rasp.





CHAPTER 5




Paige


The one good piece of advice my mom gave me concerning men is that their egos are huge yet fragile and it takes the delicate, yet strong touch of a woman to handle them.

Leave it to a man I know only by reputation to drive that point home.

Dallas sits in my office, an ice pack on his lip and the back of his head. To be nice, and since it was my fault he’s in pain in the first place, I’m holding the one on his head, so he can have at least one hand free.

“Sorry,” I say for what has to be the tenth time in the past twenty minutes. “I didn’t get to explain myself before, but I wasn’t laughing at you…well, it was at you, but not your pain. Pain is not funny. When I fell out of a tree and broke my wrist at the growth plate, I laughed the whole way to the emergency room because that’s the only way I could deal with the pain. Finley didn’t order me to stop either.”

Dallas glances at me, his normally warm eyes icy. “Not sure how that helps.”

“Hopefully, it lets you know that I’m not laughing all willy-nilly.”

“Willy-nilly,” he mutters. “Who says willy-nilly?”

“I do, and to be honest, you’re not that soft. It actually hurt to fall on you.”

He arches a brow. “You weren’t exactly a pile of feathers.”

“Yeah… that’s not helping either.” I take the ice pack away and gently inspect the back of his head. “There’s a tiny,” he hisses, “bump here, but um, I’m sure if you go to the doctor that you’ll get fixed up in time for your next game.”

“You do realize that if I have a concussion, I can’t play this week.”

Slowly, I shake my head. “I didn’t know that.” Now I feel even worse for freaking out when I fell off the ladder. The dang thing is only three feet off the ground. I wasn’t falling to my death or into a pit of snakes.

I shiver.

Pushing away the thoughts of snakes and pits, I focus on Dallas. Although, I plan on making it up to him, I do need to say something about his sneaky ways.

“This could have been avoided altogether if you hadn’t sneaked up on me.”