Page 2 of Play It Off

I can feel his presence looming directly behind me, the heat of his body seeping into mine and making me shiver. He braces one hand on the counter, caging me in on the left side, and I can’t look at him. Staring into his eyes is dangerous, and I’m trying to keep my composure.

“Oh shit.” The bartender’s face actually pales. “Coop’s sister?”

I sip as much of the drink as I possibly can because if Gavin Maddox blows my cover, I’m done for.

“Yeah. Stop flirting with her. Coop will murder you with his bare hands if you so much as touch her.” Gavin pauses. “And I’ll help him.”

Despite his ruining my flirtation with the bartender—which I wasn’t taking seriously, anyway, because the only person I want to flirt with is Gavin—I can’t deny it’s kind of exciting that he ran to my rescue like this.

The bartender doesn’t say another word. Just switches his attention to the next customer, pasting on that faintly smarmy smile as he asks her what she wants.

“Um.” I finally dare to look in Gavin’s direction to find he’s already watching me, his blue eyes blazing with anger. “Thanks?”

“That guy is an asshole,” Gavin mutters, his frown deepening. He is so incredibly handsome that the scowl does nothing to mar his male perfection. And just like I knew would happen, I immediately become entranced with every little thing about him. “He hits on girls all the time.”

“He’s harmless.” I say it to provoke Gavin on purpose, and it works.

“He’s a slimeball. You’ll end up crying your eyes out after he fucks you once and leaves you high and dry the next day, never to be heard from again. Next time you come here, he’ll pretend he doesn’t recognize you.” Gavin scoots closer, his big, muscular body bumping into mine. “And what the hell are you doing here, anyway, Sienna? You’re under—”

I rise on tiptoe and slap my hand over his mouth, silencing him. His eyes go wide, and it’s almost comical, how he looks at the moment. Then I remember I’m touching him, my hand covering his beautiful mouth before he could call me out, and I can’t believe I just did that.

“Don’t blow my cover,” I murmur, and when he nods, I reluctantly remove my hand from his face. “And how do you know so much about the sexual habits of the bartender at Charley’s?”

“I might know a girl or two who had an encounter with him.” He shrugs, his hand going for my arm, long fingers curling around my elbow. “Come on.”

He steers me away from the bar, and we make our way through the crowd, which parts like the Red Sea because their hero, their god, is walking among them.

Gavin Maddox is the quarterback for the Santa Mira Dolphins. Halfway through his first season, the starting quarterback had a season-ending injury, and Gavin stepped in.

And he never looked back. He took them all through the playoffs—they lost the final game, never making it to the championships, but that was enough. He’s been deemed the golden-boy QB of the Dolphins football team, and everyone loves him.

Even me.

It’s wild to think he’s only a sophomore and this season he’s going to start. Wait a minute ...

I jerk my arm out of his hold, and he reaches for me at the same time I turn around to face him.

“Hey. You’re not even twenty-one,” I start, and it’s his turn to slap his hand over my mouth, silencing me.

I almost moan from him touching my face, it feels so good. And fills my head with all sorts of dirty fantasies of him having to keep me quiet while he fucks me into oblivion. Oh, my imagination runs wild when it comes to this man, and he doesn’t even know it.

He presses his palm firmly against my lips, still not removing it, and I fleetingly wonder if he’s enjoying it as much as I am. That stern expression on his face is nothing short of pure hotness, and all I can do is helplessly stare at him, getting lost in his deep-blue eyes.

“I have a fake ID,” he murmurs. “Though pretty much everyone who works here knows I’m not twenty-one yet. They just choose to look the other way.”

He drops his hand from my face but doesn’t wait for me to answer. Just grabs hold of my hand and interlocks our fingers together as he leads me toward the edge of the bar where there are a bunch of tables and chairs. Booths line the walls, and one at the very end of the row sits empty with a little folded sign on the table that saysReserved. Without hesitation he slides into the booth and drags me along with him, then lets go of my hand to rest both of his on top of the table.

“That sign says reserved,” I point out, glancing around. I don’t want to steal someone’s table, because they’re a hot commodity here. Every other one in this bar is already full of people.

“Yeah, because it’s reserved for us. The football team.” He lifts his arm and waves, and within seconds, a server appears. She’s blond and tiny and adorable and nothing like me. I don’t like how Gavin looks at her, his expression open and friendly.

I’m jealous and I hate it.

“What can I get you?” the cute server asks, her attention only for him.

“Sierra Nevada on tap.” He sends me a look. “What do you want, Sienna?”

I like how he says my name. Ugh, I like every single thing this man does. “A rum and Coke, please,” I tell the server.

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