Page 136 of Play Along

“Did you...”

“Come?” he finishes the sentence for me. “Yeah.”

“From...”

This confident man holds no apology in his gaze when he looks up at me, devilish smirk tilted on his lips.

“From eating you out. Watching you come. Hearing my name as you did. I couldn’t help it. You turn me on, Kenny. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I came in my fucking pants like some inexperienced dork seeing as you know exactly how obsessed I am with you.”

He might not blush, but I do.

He crawls over my body, draping himself over me on the couch, and with a heavy, exhausted sigh, he melts into my shoulder.

“We should get you home and into bed,” I whisper.

“I know. I should get going. It’s not like I can go back out there like this anyway.”

I hold him there, my arms wrapped around him. There’s a moment of hesitation before I ask, “Can I stay with you tonight?”

“Yes.” He lifts to look at me, quickly agreeing as if I were going to change my mind. “Of course you can.”

He bends to kiss me before resting his head on my shoulder once again, too exhausted from everything that happened tonight.

My fingers twirl the ends of his hair. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to be comfortable with someone the way I am with you.”

Fuck, that didn’t come out right.

A heavy pause lingers between us.

“I’m sure you’ll get there,” he eventually says. “I know that’s what you want.”

It’s supposed to be said in an encouraging way, but his voice is full of defeat.

But what if I don’t? The question is on the tip of my tongue because that’s what I meant.

I don’t think there’s any part of me that wants to be this comfortable with someone else.

Chapter 24

Isaiah

The ride to my apartment is silent.

I offered to swing by her place tonight, let her change and grab her suitcase for tomorrow, but she assured me she would have time before her flight and would rather we just get home.

Yes, home. As if it were both of ours and not just mine. As if she doesn’t have her own penthouse apartment eight blocks away. Ridiculous fantasies were playing on a loop after she threw that word out, and I had to quickly shut them down.

I’m driving with my left hand on the wheel, my right one resting on her thigh, stroking a repeated pattern with my thumb. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Like a silent apology she says she doesn’t need.

I hated every word that came out of my mouth in that hallway, regardless that they were true. I never wanted to admit to her that I knew she wasn’t interested, simply because I wasn’t ready for her to agree.

If it were any other day, maybe I could’ve laughed it off, let her explain to me how some guy hit on her while I held in my bitterness towards our fucked-up situation. Maybe I wouldn’t have shown how much it hurts to not only know she’s going to move on after me but have to physically see it happen before my eyes.

She barely entertained him, simply spoke to him enough to not be rude. But he looked like he could’ve been another rich asshole her parents would’ve forced her to marry, and I snapped.

Today I’m fucking wrecked, emotionally wrung out from the realization that next season, I will once again be alone. Kennedy flies out for her interview tomorrow, and sure, Kai will still be living in Chicago, but it’s different knowing that he won’t be on the field with me ever again. I didn’t expect his retirement to come so soon.

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