Page 53 of Billionaire Daddies Next Door

“Joanie. Left hand red.” Coco sounded all too pleased as she gave the instruction that made me twist around so I was bent like a crab with my front now brushing against Smith’s.

Smith looked at me and his cheeks were pink. “Sorry.”

I didn’t know what he was apologizing for until I realized there was something hard pressing into my hip. I closed my eyes as a wave of arousal hit me hard. It seemed like my body refused to get the hint that we didn’t like the guys anymore. “Um… Yeah.”

“Chase, put your right hand on blue.” Coco laughed but tried covering it with a cough.

Chase shifted and I grunted when his arm landed between my spread legs. His forearm was hot against my center and I regretted wearing thin leggings.

I blushed as our positions grew even more provocative. “Great game choice.”

“Just give up, Joanie. It’s three against one.” He lifted his eyes to look at me and the angle of him looking up at me from between my legs just made me blush harder.

Smith grunted and twisted himself away from me so he didn’t knock me down. He sank into the grass next to the mat and groaned. “Cramp.”

Bear sighed and just stood up. “Yeah. Same. Cramp.”

Chase growled at his teammates clearly giving up by choice. “That’s fine. I can beat you by myself.”

I growled back at him. “Bullshit.”

“Joanie. Left foot all the way on green.”

I looked down my body at the mat and squeezed my eyes shut. Green was so far away. I slowly worked my foot closer and let out a string of curses when the motion forced my core down on Chase’s arm even harder.

Chase groaned. “This has to be some form of cheating.”

“Right hand on red, Chase.”

He shifted and ended up nearly completely on top of me. Looking down at me, his anger faded for a moment and he just stared at me. His attention only waned when the sound of Smith and Bear cheering for me reached both of us. Chase rolled his eyes. “They’re stupid for you. Yet, you still don’t see them as worthy.”

I tipped my head back and saw the two men smiling at me. I didn’t understand it. They were on the opposing team. “What are you two doing?”

Mayor Stevens and Margaret were oddly silent. Coco seemed pleased with herself. The crowd around us were excited as they watched me and Chase. I didn’t get it.

“We’re cheering for the woman we care about. Even if we don’t work all of our shit out, we want to see you win, Joanie.” Smith shrugged. “Call us romantics.”

I looked back at Chase and saw he was struggling with what they were saying. “You think they’re stupid, don’t you. You think I’m terrible.”

He bared his teeth. “I think you’re infuriating. You have us in the palm of your hand but you would still rather abandon everything you love than accept that we’re not the enemy. You dropped us for something we didn’t do. You’re so ready and eager to hate us that you don’t even care about how we feel, Joanie!”

I felt my arms weaken. “I don’t hate you!”

“Bullshit. You’ve done nothing but judge me and hate me since the day I arrived. Because I came from that old world of yours, you wrote me off and never gave me another chance. Even when you pretended to give me a chance, you didn’t. Not really. If you did, you wouldn’t have run away at the first sign of trouble. You wouldn’t have assumed the worst about me.”

“You kept pushing me!”

Chase pushed away from me and stood up. “At work. I pushed you at work because I care about you and worry. You never let me out of the box you put me in, Joanie, and that’s not fair. I just want to love you and be a part of your life. I can only get told to fuck myself so many times before I give up, though.”

I fell flat on my back and tried to scurry to my feet. “Wait, Chase, I…”

“What? Why should I wait? You’re just going to keep seeing me as the bad guy and never give me a chance to prove you wrong. I don’t like those odds. You’re not the only one who can get their feelings hurt.”

“You don’t get it. Seeing those people here… Knowing the things they were saying about me… Part of them being here was your fault, Chase. Because you couldn’t just accept me the way I am.”

He threw his hands up. “You don’t think I get it? They weren’t just throwing jabs at you, Joanie! There were just as many articles printed about me. They didn’t skip Bear or Smith, either. We were all going through the same thing but you refuse to see that. I accepted you just the way you were, Joanie. You are not your business. I’ve been happy with you since the day I got here. I’ve waited for you to accept me since the day I got here. You made me think I could try again.”

I wiped my eyes and realized everyone around us was watching. My heart thudded painfully and I started shutting down. Before I could, though, Chase grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. “What are you doing?” I asked him.

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