Page 64 of The Trouble with Players

I smirked. He’d made good on spending all of his free time with me.

“What’d Gina want?”

“She and Cody are going on a picnic.”

“A picnic? That guy’s good.”

“He really likes her, doesn’t he?”

He shrugged. “He’s going on a damn picnic. I’d say he feels something for her.”

“If I wanted to go on a picnic, wouldn’t you take me?”

“I’d take you. Then I’d take you.”

“Uuuuugh,” I groaned.

He laughed.

I ducked out from beneath his arms and swam toward the steps in the low end of the pool.

Before I could even get one step out of the pool, he hooked his arm around my stomach and pulled me back into him. “Don’t,” he said.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t be mad. I was joking. If you want a picnic, I’ll give you a picnic.”

“I don’t want a picnic,” I grumbled.

“Then what do you want?” he asked, his lips brushing my ear from behind sending tingles scampering over my neck.

This to last. You to never look at another girl. You to never cheat. Us to be happy together. “I don’t know.”

“I think you do,” he said, before peppering my wet neck with soft kisses.

“Did my father leave yet?” I asked as my head dropped back to give him better access.

“Sure did,” he murmured against my skin.

“What would you say if he caught us out here like this?” I asked.

“I’d say,” he said between kisses, “your daughter’s amazing…And you’re an asshole for hurting her.”

I remained silent. It hurt to hear the words leave his lips, but it was the truth.

“But,” he continued, “she’s a survivor. And she takes no shit from anyone. She’s tough but thoughtful, feisty yet sensitive.”

“Thoughtful?” I asked, calling his bluff.

“The way you do things for Gina. Come on, you’ve got to know you’re thoughtful like that.”

“Sensitive?”

“Even when you’re pissed, there’s still a vulnerability behind your words. Things affect you whether you show it or not.”

“Sounds like you’ve been paying attention,” I said.

“Since the first minute.”

---