Page 143 of Play Along

“I’d like to knock off another one of those firsts if you don’t mind.”

He tosses his head back and forth in faux contemplation. “I don’t know.”

“C’mon, Rhodes.” My tone is teasing. “Play along.”

His head falls back in a laugh before he jogs towards me. I meet him partway, abandoning my suitcase for him.

Hands cupping my jaw, his lips crash down on mine in a slow, all-encompassing kiss. Soft lips, but firm and commanding. I’m entirely under his spell when my mouth parts, allowing his tongue to slide against mine.

That’s when I moan against him. In public. I lean into him. In public. I’m arching and bending as if there were a way I could get closer to him. My hands bracket his face, pulling him into me.

One of his arms snakes down to my neck, wrapping around, while his other hand glides down to cup my ass. Right there in front of the airport.

And with full control of my body, he leans down, dipping me like we’re in some kind of goddamn Lifetime movie, and still his mouth never leaves mine.

We straighten, never losing contact, and when my arms are around his shoulders, he arches back, lifting me right off my feet. When my fingers slide up into his hair, Isaiah’s hat falls to the ground, but still that doesn’t stop us.

I think someone whistles next to us, but I’m not paying much mind. My main focus is on this man that I’m going to miss more than a healthy amount in the next forty-eight hours. The man I thought I couldn’t stand for most of the time I’ve known him.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I’m possessed by him. I had barely touched Connor when we were together, and never in public. And here I am, going at it like some uncontrollable horny teenager with the guy I drunkenly married in Vegas.

“Goddamn,” someone says next to us.

That finally breaks the moment, our mouths separating. We’re both short of breath and trying to catch it when our attention shifts to the side, finding that same security guard watching us.

“Let me guess,” he says. “Newlyweds?”

“Yeah.” Isaiah laughs. “Something like that.”

He sets me back on my feet. Back on my platform Vans, and when he bends down to retrieve his discarded hat from the ground, he taps them, silently teasing me for constantly wearing the shoes we got married in.

“You’re going to be great, Kenny. Don’t miss your flight.” He positions his team hat on my head. “This is so you don’t forget me.”

I secure it so it doesn’t fall off. “Couldn’t if I tried.”

“And this is the weight room.”

Immaculate, state-of-the-art equipment lines the wall. Towels are neatly folded and ready for tomorrow. San Francisco’s logo paints every free surface, making it impossible not to know whose team this room belongs to.

“There’s a sauna and a steam room attached back there,” Josh says. “Everything we have is for both the team and staff to use, so when you officially get out here, make yourself at home. Upper management is good to their employees here.”

Josh was a travel coordinator with Dean’s team in Atlanta, but now works for San Francisco. I remember Dean mentioning that he’d be happy to show me around, but I didn’t plan for my stepbrother to coordinate him also picking me up from the airport.

“Everything is so... beautiful. Is that a weird word to use when talking about gym equipment?”

He chuckles. “Not at all. I fully agree. The owners built this arena less than five years ago, so everything is practically brand new. Anything you need, they’ll get it for you. If a piece of your equipment goes out, they’ll have a replacement for you the next day. It really is a top franchise to work for. People leave other teams and take demotions just to work here.”

Josh leads us out of the weight room and into the medical training room.

It’s utter perfection. A medical staffer’s wet dream. Organized and clean, stocked with anything I could possibly need. My eye snags on the office in the corner. Dr. Tran is printed on a nameplate attached to the door, with his title—Head of Health and Wellness—below it.

“And that’ll be your new office,” Josh states.

He doesn’t say, “it might be.”

He doesn’t add on, “if you get the job.”

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