Page 66 of Well Played

“I’m serious, Presley.”

My heart squeezed. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Why not?”

“You know why not.”

“You want to know what I was thinking about while you were getting dressed?”

I buttoned my shorts closed. “Nope.”

“I was imagining you pregnant with a big belly. I bet you’d look fucking amazing.”

My mouth hung open. That might’ve been the sweetest thing a man had ever said to me. But I had no idea how to respond. So I decided not to. “I have to go to the lighting store to pick up the fixtures I ordered. The electrician is coming to install them tomorrow.”

“I also want to fuck you in my old bedroom at my mom’s house.”

My nose wrinkled. “Really?”

“I was thinking last night that there are two types of women—ones you bring home to your mom, and ones you want to fuck. But you, I want to take you to my mom’s for dinner and then sneak you into my old bedroom and fuck you while she loads the dishwasher.”

I frowned. “I have to run up to camp. I rushed out of the house so fast this morning that I forgot to give Alex lunch.”

Levi was quiet as I picked up my phone and looked around for anything else I might’ve forgotten. But when I got to the door, he stopped me.

“Tomorrow afternoon, I have to go to the high school. It’s their first day of tryouts for next season’s team. The coach asked me to stop by and say a few words and sign autographs after.”

“Oh, that’s nice.”

“Yeah, well…it was supposed to be nice. But I made the mistake of mentioning it to my agent when we were on the phone last night, and now he wants to turn it into a PR stunt. He asked me if he could arrange a photographer to come by and take some pics. I told him I might have someone who could do it. If you’re not busy, they’ll pay you to take some photographs.”

“I’d be happy to take some photos. They don’t even have to pay me. Lord knows I owe you a thousand favors.”

Levi smiled and looked down at my knees. One of them was pretty red. “I think you paid them all back an hour ago, and then some. Sorry about the rug burn on that knee, by the way. I guess I got a little carried away.”

I chuckled. “What time tomorrow?”

“Three. Maybe we can bring Alex? He’ll probably be playing on that field someday.”

“I’m sure he’d love that. Thanks.” I smiled and put my hand on the doorknob. “I’ll see you later.”

“Hang on. Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“The only time you ever kiss me is when we’re in bed. Doesn’t it feel weird to leave this room right now without kissing me goodbye?”

It absolutely did. And each time I left him it got harder and felt less natural to just walk out the door. But I forced myself to do it because it also felt like something I needed to do to protect my heart. Though explaining that to Levi would be admitting I had feelings for him out loud, which would only make things worse. So instead, I ignored his question and waved. “I’ll see you around.”

***

Later that afternoon at football camp, the boys were taking a water break when Coach Jeremy broke away from the pack to come talk to me.

I’d been sort of keeping a low profile, standing under a shady tree when he approached. I’d ended up canceling our last date, so I’d been avoiding initiating conversation with him.

“Hey, Presley. Long time no speak.”

Clearing my throat, I said, “Yeah. How have you been, Jeremy?”

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