Page 68 of Playmaker

Her eyes grow wide. “No way. You’re bullshitting.”

“Am I?” I ask with a teasing grin. Leaning over to grab the remote and the popcorn bowl, I place both between us and point to the television screen. “Enough about dick sizes. Pick the next movie.”

“I’msorry I’m enjoying my nonexistent sex life through you. I haven’t gotten laid in months. I’m in a dry spell that’s never going to end, I swear.”

A laugh bubbles up my throat at the image I have of my brother seeing her in the neon-green bikini. “Something tells me aviciousstorm is coming your way this weekend, Maya. I suggest you prepare yourself.”

Twenty-eight

Cameron

After an entire hour of sweating my ass off on my run, the sun is beginning to set in the distance as I wind my way around the familiar sidewalks that lead back to the house. Living in Arizona, there are tons of incredible views, but the sunsets would make the top of my list if I had one. Swirls of oranges, reds, and pinks paint the sky like a glorious canvas, and if I look hard enough, Shadow Mountain looms in the distance.

I used to love looking at the sunsets with my mom. We’d make a habit of coming out on the porch swing with blankets and mugs of hot chocolate, and she’d ask me about my day or we’d discuss trivial things that didn’t matter.

Now, looking at the porch swing feels lonely. The wood is splintered and cracked, and the chains are rusting. It’s been a long time since anyone last sat on it.

Ignoring the heart-wrenching twist of pain, I push through the front door and head upstairs before I let a wave of despair consume me. My T-shirt is damp with sweat and my curls are stuck to my forehead and the back of my neck. All I want to do is shower, but when I open my bedroom doorMaddieis standing in front of my mirror.

Oh hell.

She jumps when she sees me in the reflection, spinning around while attempting to tug the shirt past her thighs. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I took Ethan’s spare key and thought I’d surprise you, but I got bored, so I snooped in your closet, and—” She cringes. “I’m sorry. This is stupid.”

I put my hand up to stop her, letting my eyes trail over her body in my jersey. The shirt with my number from high school has never looked so right. It grazes her thighs, and I’m more than curious to know if there’s anything underneath it.

I tilt my head to the side and lean against the doorway. “I’d prefer you leave it on.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” I can’t look away from her curvy frame wrapped in navy-blue fabric when I add, “Keep it.”

“Keep it?Cameron, this is your jersey. I can’t—”

“You can.” I take two steps closer, not trusting myself to get within arm’s reach. “It’s my old jersey, anyway. One from high school.”

A faint blush creeps onto her cheeks. “I know. It’s going to sound ridiculous, but I always got jealous of whatever cheerleader wore your jersey for homecoming, and I wondered what I’d look like in it, so I tried it on. I didn’t think you’d be back so soon. Normally your workouts take longer.”

“It was cardio tonight,” I explain, but despite the steadiness of my tone, my heart skips a beat at her words. Maddie has always had a thing for me, and while I already had an inkling about it, it’s completely different to hear it from her lips. It makes me wish I had kissed her a long time ago. Maybe I could have told Ethan about us and he wouldn’t have wanted to pummel me, and maybe then I could have played those games withherwearing my jersey every weekend.

My eyes soften at how beautiful she looks in my number, and if I could go back in time, if I hadknownI could be this happy, I would have changed everything. “Keep it,” I repeat. “It looks better on you.”

“But it’s a keepsake,” she whispers, twirling the edge of the jersey with her fingers. My eyes are drawn there next, but I force myself to break away from staring at her thighs and give her the honest truth.

“So are you.”

Three words.

Threewordshave the power to shift the energy in the room.

Maddie’s eyes glaze over with desire, and then before I can evenblinkshe’s launching herself into my arms with her lips crashing against mine.

I catch her with ease and stride toward my bed, damn near falling on top of her from lack of control. She rips her lips away from mine and attaches them to my neck instead, and the feeling of her tongue swirling different patterns on my skin is enough to make me combust before we even get started.

Sliding my jersey up around her waist, I’m greeted with bare, smooth skin. The sight has me groaning before I begin to sink between her thighs, but then she shakes her head, panting and breathless as she props herself on her elbows. “Tonight was supposed to be about pleasingyou,” she says. “I surprised you for a reason.”

I kiss her shoulder, then her collarbone. “Pleasing youdoesplease me, Mads. That’s what you don’t get.”

Taking me by surprise, she flips us over so that she’s on top ofmenow, and the expression on her face is breathtaking. “And pleasing you”—she runs her hands down my chest until she finds my cock hard and waiting against my shorts—“pleasesme.”

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