Page 58 of Play for Keeps

She sent him a look so wide-eyed and guileless he momentarily doubted his skepticism. “Did I not get it right? I get this one mixed up with the kicking one all the time.”

But he wasn’t buying. “The game with you and me, Millie. I don’t get this…whatever we’re doing.”

She took the time to uncross her legs, wiggle her shoe back onto her foot, then restart the entire process with the other leg topping and the other shoe dangling. “We’re having a torrid affair,” she whispered in a conspiratorial tone. “Complete with hot sex and various forms of takeout foods.”

“Yeah, well, not tonight. I have a headache.” No lie. The pounding was back with a vengeance. And so was the need to finish taking his foul shots.

He’d lined up number forty-six and chanted through two rounds of “smooth as silk” before he heard the click of her heels again. But instead of retreating, she was coming closer. Gripping the ball so hard, his fingers dimpled the rubber, he glanced over his shoulder to find her standing on the three-point line.

“No hard-soled shoes on the court,” he snapped.

Without taking her eyes off him, Millie stepped out of the sky-high heels. Her toes were polished the purple of grape jelly. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, then covered the insole of her left foot with her right. He met her disconcertingly direct gaze and blew out a long breath. She obviously wasn’t going anywhere until she was damn good and ready. “What?” he prompted.

“I like my life, Ty. I live exactly the way I want to.”

“Good for you.”

She ignored his snide commentary. “I like my house, my stuff, my friends, my time.” She paused, searching for words. “I have no plans to change anytime soon.”

“Did I ask you to change anything?”

Millie gave him a small, sad smile. “No, you’d never ask me to, but they would change. I’m not sure I want them to.”

“So…” He groped for comprehension, but it remained inches out of reach. Giving his head a shake, he held up a hand in defeat. “Yeah, I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I’m saying I need to do this in my own way. In my own time,” she said quietly. “But I like you. Did I mention that?”

The weight inside him lifted, but he approached her confession with caution. “No. I don’t think you did.”

“I do.” She spoke firmly enough to chase his doubts away. At least for the moment.

“I’m glad. I like you too.”

She smiled, then bent to scoop up her shoes. “I’m happy we got that settled.” Jerking her head toward the bleachers, she quirked an eyebrow. “Mind if I watch? I’m kind of a team sports voyeur.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I don’t really have a team out here.”

Her smile spread wide enough to light her eyes with mischief. “I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re really the only one I like watching.”

* * *

She woke up in his bed. Millie tried not to think of her presence there as anything more than an inevitable outcome fulfilled. As she suspected, once she got comfortable in his place, she didn’t want to leave. After the night they spent tearing up the sheets, she’d claimed she was too exhausted to be roused for breakfast. He’d insisted they share the most important meal of the day. They compromised by eating in bed. She knew she would spend the rest of the day thinking about how incredibly hot Ty Ransom looked when he was hand-feeding her bits of buttered toast.

They’d lolled around naked all morning, leaving a sprinkle of crumbs to add to the torn condom wrappers on his nightstand. Three wrappers. By her calculations, he had maybe five or six. That is if he’d started off with a new box. A half dozen in his arsenal, exactly eleven in hers. She figured at this rate of consumption, they had approximately five more nights together. Longer, if she could come up with more creative delay tactics. Or if Avery happened to make another commando run on health services.

Minutes before noon, he’d kissed her on the mouth, slapped her on the ass, and rolled out of bed. “Up. Up.”

Millie sighed and groaned, muscles she’d forgotten she had protesting as she flipped over. “Smack my ass again, and I might bite you.”

“Gotta get up,” he said, leveling a stern look at her. “We’ll play your kinky games later.”

She snorted. “If you’re lucky.”

“Gotten lucky once already this morning. If you hurry, we can take an extra lucky shower together.”

Millie bit her lip, genuinely torn. She wanted nothing more than to slip into his big glassed-in shower and lather him up, but water play might lead to the use of condom number four, and she wasn’t sure about stretching her game plan yet.

“You go ahead. I’ll laze around here, then shower when I get home.”

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