Page 1 of Play On

Chapter One

Cupid

It’s my last night with Noah.

We’re all sitting in the garden here at my family home, Wintersmith Hall, in Dorset. It’s a beautiful Saturday evening in June and we’re gathered around the firepit, drinking, talking rubbish, and winding down the weekend. Tomorrow, my friends will go home. I’ll say goodbye to Colin. To Bella and Camden.

And to Noah Darby.

My gaze travels across the garden to find him. Noah is talking with Colin Bennick and my twin, Nicholas. Nicholas hands him a bottle of wine, and Noah looks across the lawn towards me, causing my stomach to flip upside down in excitement.

“Violet, is syrah okay? The cab is finished,” Noah calls out.

“That’s fine,” I answer.

I watch as he pours it into a plastic cup for me. I take in everything about him that is illuminated by the flickering flames from the fire. I feel my throat grow dry as I study the curve of his full mouth and how it’s drawing up into a smile. I take in his dark brown hair and espresso-coloured eyes, and the way his five o’clock shadow is shading his jawline. He’s wearing a T-shirt, and grey ink covers both his arms with lifelike 3D tattoos of Greek gods that travel from his wrists and disappear under his shirtsleeves.

I recognised his tattoos instantly when he sat next to me today at the beach, and I was fascinated with his choice of having Achilles on one arm and Apollo on the other. We talked about mythology, and how his love of it led to his decision to use the Greek gods for his tattoos.

It’s something I want to know more about.

Along with a thousand other things.

I hear his deep laugh float across the garden, sending goosebumps sweeping over my skin. How did I not notice him when I first met him at Wisteria House in the spring? I didn’t see anything other than a good-looking man who played football. Of course, I noticed he was gorgeous, I’m not blind.

But he was quiet and didn’t say much, so I really didn’t give him a second thought.

There’s a shyness to him, despite the fact that he’s a major celebrity. But when Noah jumped into the conversation last night—talking about the sweets he liked to get when going to the cinema—it was like someone threw a brick that hit me right in the head. This sexy footballer got me. He could talk to me about the pick and mix at the cinema, and it was as if my blinders were taken off and I was seeing this man for the first time.

When I shared how my dream date was someone who would get the pick and mix with me when seeing a film, he said a man wasn’t worth knowing if he didn’t pick up a stretchy snake or milk teeth.

I swear to God, it was as if Cupid struck an arrow to my heart.

That’s exactly the kind of goofy playfulness I’ve been looking for in a man, but never found.

Until last night.

Noah comes back towards me, and I try to ignore how my heart is practically skipping at the prospect of spending more time with him.

He hands me my cup of wine. “For you.”

“Thank you,” I say.

Noah reaches up and runs a hand through his dark brown locks. “Would you want to show me more of the gardens? We could continue talking with a change of scenery.”

Oh my God. He wants to be alone with me.

My instinct to leap up out of the chair and yell “YES!” is quelled by the fact that I don’t want to send him running into the gardens to escape the crazy redhead who is WAY too eager and has ZERO game.

“I’d love to. In fact, I have something to show you that you might find interesting,” I say.

I rise from my chair, ignore the way my twin is smirking at me, and walk away from the group with Noah by my side.

“I hope you don’t mind that I’m taking you away from everyone,” he says, his voice quiet. “I’d just like the chance to spend some time alone with you before I head home tomorrow.”

The crickets and frogs serenade us from all directions, and because we’re in the country, a million stars dazzle overhead like diamonds in the velvety black sky.

“Where is home in the off-season?” I ask. I let my fingers trail along the boxwoods as we walk, and I can hear the fountain bubbling as we draw closer to it.

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