Page 73 of Playing Hard to Hate
What does he have against Tate?
Graham
She’s going to take you away from us.
Griffin
She’d never do that.
Graham
It won’t be on purpose. You’ll want to get a place with her, and we’ll lose our best friend. He’s not handling his emotions very well.
Griffin
You’re more than just my friends. You’re my brothers.
Graham
I know that, but he doesn’t seem to grasp it.
I’ll talk to him. Don’t say anything to him. It will only make things worse.
If you need us, we’re a call away.
Griffin
I know. Hopefully, I don’t have to ever make that call.
The next morningshe was back to being the ice queen. The one who still hated my guts and couldn’t let go of how much I hurt her years ago. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. But there was no point. I wouldn’t be getting through her thick skull this morning.
“You should probably go,” she said, arms crossed over her chest, naturally lifting her already big breasts and making them more noticeable. I wanted to tell her to stop. It was not fair to use her body against me, but I didn’t think she knew that was what she was doing.
She’d never had a boyfriend. I was her first kiss, a fact I was very happy about.
“And why is that?” I asked her, standing up and stretching. My body ached in so many places. It probably wasn’t wise to sleep on the couch before a game, but I wasn’t missing out on the opportunity to be with her like I had last night.
“You have a game today.” Her brown hair was messy, a few pieces stuck up in the wrong direction, and I found it pretty damn cute, especially when she went to rub her eye. I saw the little girl who’d been my best friend standing before me, not the stone-cold woman she’d turned into.
“You want to come? I can get you and Millie seats. Perks of being on the team, you know.” I wiggled my brows causing her to giggle and her cheeks to flame.
“We’re okay watching from home,” she admitted, and then the little girl was gone, and the ice queen was back. “I have some things I need to do today. If you could get going, that would be great. Thank you for last night. It, uh…won’t happen again.” She tucked a piece of her crazy hair behind her ear.
I closed the space between us and rested my hands on her hips. Her hands fell to my shoulders, and her lips looked so fucking kissable.
“I told you once, and I’m going to tell you again. You call me whenever you need me. I’ll drop everything to be here for you.”
“You sound like the boy I used to know,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “I’ve missed him so much.”
“I’m still here, Tate. I never left,” I murmured, my voice raw with truth. “I’m still here, baby.”
Her lashes fluttered open, revealing those big green eyes I’ve never been able to resist. “I can’t fall for you, Fin. I can’t let myself fall,” she said, shaking her head, her voice barely holding steady.
I stepped even closer, our chests brushing and my heart pounding. “You can, baby. I’ll catch you.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, hesitation flashing across her face. “I don’t want to be another number.”
“You could never be.”
