Page 35 of The Playbook

“Um, yeah, come on,” she agreed, a slight shake to her delicate voice.

Grinning inwardly, I dashed up the stairs, following her to her room. The moment we were inside, she shut the door and shoved me against it, her pretty face screwed up in irritation.

“Whatthe hellare you doing here, Logan?” she demanded. She was standing so close to me I could feel the heat come off her small body.

“Damn, baby girl, I didn’t know you liked it rough.” I smirked as her face reddened.

“Call me that one more time and I’ll—”

“You’ll what? Make good on your promise? I’m not scared of you, Grace Matthews.” My voice wavered as we stared at one another. OK. I was alittlescared. Maybe not of her, but definitely of the butterflies flapping wildly in my gut.

“Why are you here?” she asked again, moving away from me, breaking the spell.

I shook my head as I followed her to her bed and sat beside her.

“You said you were grounded, which sucks. It’s partly my fault, and I felt bad. I wanted to apologize for it, make it up to you. Besides, I was really looking forward to hanging out with you.”

“I don’t know,” she sighed.

“What can I did to fix it?” I lunged at the opportunity to get on her good side.

“You could start by going away. And if you could make the week end quickly so I cannotbe grounded that’d be great. But you coming to my house and lying to my dad—your coach—doesn’t seem like a good way to get me out of trouble and fix this. If my dad finds out—”

“He won’t,” I broke in. “I promise. I won’t stay long. Just long enough to convince you to forgive me.”

“Ugh,” she scoffed. “I hope not. That could take a while.”

“Good thing I'm a patient guy.” I grinned at her. I couldn’t be certain, but I was pretty sure a flush crossed her pale cheeks.

She ducked her head, her dark hair cascading forward before I could know without a doubt.

It didn’t matter. I counted it as a small victory.

CHAPTER19

Grace

Logan had been in my bedroom for an hour, attempting small talk with me and examining the cork board of photos on my wall of me, Lana, and Noah.

“Where was this one taken?” He pointed to one of the three of us wearing big grins on our faces.

“Thrillers,” I said, glancing at the photo. “It’s an arcade on the edge of town. They have laser tag and escape rooms. We went to the grand opening over the summer.”

“I’ve never heard of it,” Logan murmured. “It sounds awesome.”

“It is,” I replied. “You should check it out. They have outdoor stuff like mini golf, batting cages, bumper cars, and go-karts.”

“Are you asking me out on a date?” His lips turned up into a smile.

“Hell, no.” I shook my head at him. “I just thought you might like that sort of thing.”

“Idolike that sort of thing. I like it even more when there’s a pretty girl on my arm.”

“What’s the matter with you?” I huffed.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re incapable of holding a conversation without you trying to fucking hit on me. It’s annoying. I told you already, I’mnotinterested.”

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