Page 147 of Play the Game

She opens her mouth to argue.

“No.” I tighten my grip on her, and she peers up at me with so much hidden hope that I almost choke. “Do you remember when I told you I take care of the people I love?”

She nods slowly.

“I loveyou, Scottie.”

Her chin wobbles, and I fucking hate to see her cry. I’ve never hated anything more in my life.

“Nothing else matters unless I have you. Not the game. Not the team. Not my fucking reputation.” I shrug. “My agent could call me right now to tell me that the league is suspending me indefinitely for admitting that I exploited some poor innocent woman, and I wouldn’t care.”

“Yes, you would.”

“If it proved to you that you’re the most important thing in my life? No, I wouldn’t.”

She looks away before swinging her eyes back to mine. “I have nothing to offer you,” she admits.

“All I need is you,” I say.

A breathy sigh slips from her lips, and I fall for her all over again.

It’s just the two of us, standing in an empty parking lot, exactly like it was when we started this entire thing.

“For better, for worse,” I whisper, moving closer to her mouth. “For richer, for poorer.” A tear slips down her cheek. “In sickness and in health.” I brush the tear away.

She moves closer to me. “To love and to cherish.”

I pull her mouth to mine and whisper against her lips. “Until death do us part, baby.”

Scottie reaches up on her tiptoes to seal our kiss, and my knees go weak.Thank God.

When we break apart, my voice is more of a rasp. “Let’s go home.”

I stare at her pretty mouth when a tiny smile appears. She peeks around me. “Did you hear that, Shutter? Let's gohome.”

Fifty-Nine

SCOTTIE

He wantsto take all my burdens away, but the best I can do is introduce him to my brother.

“Take it or leave it, Olson.” I raise my eyebrow from the passenger seat with the barbed-wire fence looming behind him through the window.

“Why won’t you let me take care of you?” he asks.

I flatten my lips and almost get lost in his dreamy eyes before snapping out of it and giving him my reasons—again. “You do take care of me.”Every single time you look at me.“It is not your responsibility to take care of William, though.”

Days after the news leaked and Emory ushered Shutter and me back home, we had a long talk.

And by long talk, I mean I sat Emory down, slapped his hand five hundred times while he tried to distract me by touching me all over, and filled him in on my plans for the future. I thought it showed great growth, considering I aminfuriatinglyindependent according to him, but he still fought me tooth and nail.

I explained that I no longer wanted him to pay me the $100,000, which naturally, he argued with right away. He wentas far as pulling out the contract and threatened to get his lawyer involved.

So, we compromised.

He pays the remainder of what I owe the lawyer to get me caught up on the past dues, and I will cover the new legal fees to appeal William’s case from whatever I make from taking photos. Despite all the drama that was stirred up when the news leaked, it took a dramatic turn after Emory made his statement during the post-game conference.

He was labeled as a romantic, and I was labeled as the league's sweetheart.

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