Rookie Move (Playing for Keeps #1)(22)

And now the offer was on the table again. Fuck my life. “Oh yeah. Okay. Remind me again which one of us said the other is ridiculously hot? It was me who won the genetic lottery, I believe. Your words not mine.”

He literally growled at me, giving me an adorable as fuck pouty face. Lucky for me, I didn’t let those words out the way he did.

“I will regret that night for as long as I live. It was the alcohol speaking.”

“Sure it was, Baby G.” Getting back to the point, I added, “I have no problem getting my dick wet. I might not have fucked a guy—”

“Because you need my help.”

“Why are you obsessed with my sex life?”

“Who’s in whose bed right now? Awfully close too.” Our arms brushed. He cocked a brow, and fuck if he didn’t have me there.

“Just trying to help a rookie out.” I scooted a little farther away but didn’t get up. I could smell the soap on his skin. It was different from the hotel stuff I’d used. His had an outdoorsy scent to it, like we were lying under a canopy of trees instead of in a room off the Vegas strip that thankfully didn’t stink like cigarette smoke. I hated that in the casinos.

“You download a gay hookup app yet?”

“We back on my sex life again?” Though I’d thought about it. My attraction to Garrett made me want to explore my sexuality more and more, but, as I’d told him, it was harder when you weren’t out. If someone talked about sleeping with him, it wouldn’t matter as much as it did if someone had a big mouth about me. I just wasn’t ready for it to be public knowledge. I didn’t figure I needed a reason not to be.

“We never got off the subject, and sorry for looking out. Just hoping your lack of an orgasm doesn’t fuck up our game.”

“Dude, I came less than an hour ago.”

Garrett’s brown eyes darkened, heat whooshing off him and wrapping around me, making us feel even closer, before settling in my balls.

“You…in there…just now?” I shrugged at his question. “Fuuuuuck…”

I laughed. “What?”

“Nothing. Fucking Warner goddamned Ramsey,” he mumbled, then a few more things even lower that I couldn’t make out. “I still think we should consider water conservation when we’re rooming together, that’s all I’m sayin’.”

“You wish, Rookie.”

What he didn’t know was I wished too.

Before he could respond, my phone buzzed on the table between our beds. Garrett reached over and grabbed it, then handed it over.

“Fuck,” I gritted, seeing the name on the screen.

Garrett peeked because that’s the way he was. He had no shame. “I didn’t know you and your dad still spoke.”

“We don’t. It’s usually just him telling me how ungrateful I am because I wouldn’t be where I am without him, how I ruined his life, and oh, that he’s a better player than I ever could be, followed by, You got some cash I can borrow, you ungrateful little shit?”

Garrett stared at me, his eyes slightly squinty like he was searching for something. Then he plucked my phone out of my hand and powered it down. “You gonna go over these plays with me or not, Cap?”

I grinned. “Yeah, yeah I am.” And that’s what we did for the rest of the night, before I climbed out of his bed and went to my own.

“’Night, Ramsey.”

“’Night, G.”





“White 80! White 80. Set hut!” I called out just before Tucker snapped the ball. Our tight end ran forward, the rest of our offensive line blocking the Vegas defensive players coming for me or trying to defend all my offensive options. They’d been all over Garrett’s ass most of the game. He hadn’t gotten the yardage I knew he would have wanted his first time on the field, but they knew he would be our guy, and they weren’t having it.

I tried to tell myself it wasn’t my fault and that I hadn’t jinxed us last night. It wasn’t working.

My eyes scanned the field—left, right, the play I’d called not happening, just before I saw Ward, our running back, and handed it off to him. He dived into the center line and managed to get us two yards.

We had five minutes left in the fourth quarter, and we were down one touchdown. I called the guys in for a quick huddle, checking the plays attached to the cuff on my wrist.

“Your call,” Coach said in my earbud, letting me judge what was best instead of calling something himself.

We didn’t quite need a hurry-up offense yet, but if we didn’t get our shit together, we would. Third and five, but we weren’t even within field goal range yet. We just needed five more yards to get the first down.

I looked at Garrett. “You’re faster than these guys, better than them.” He was faster than he was running tonight. He didn’t have his legs beneath him, which I understood. It was his first game, but I wanted this to go well for him for more reasons than just winning. It would inflate his already big ego, but damned if I cared. Nance huffed, but I ignored him. “Get open,” I said, before calling out a play for him. I was hoping this would work. I’d backed off trying to get the ball to Garrett since they’d had their defense on point, but Nance, who clearly had something up his ass, wasn’t on point tonight either.