Page 49 of Playing to Win
“I agree. Lord knows your ugly mug wouldn’t get them any other way.”
Trevin gave a half-hearted punch to Kyle’s arm. “Shoot. My face is a lot prettier than yours. I just don’t have the dimples to go along with it. Dimples do it every time.”
With a shrug, Kyle picked up his phone to call Cassie. “There’s only one girl I care about that likes my dimples now. And I’m about to give her the best birthday party ever.”
“That’s such an amazing idea!” Cassie squealed into the phone. Kyle pulled the phone away from his ear before she busted his eardrum with her screaming. “I’ll call everyone and let them know. You’re awesome, Kyle!”
Kyle smiled. “So they tell me.”
“I’ve gotta go. I see Callie coming up the walkway. You’re the best!”
Kyle put his phone down and resisted patting himself on the back. Now he just had to devise a grand scheme to get Callie to the party without suspecting anything was amiss.
“Who toldyou it was my birthday?” Callie looked at Kyle with murder in her eyes. Tomorrow was her birthday and she was still wary that her family and friends were trying to secretly plan something that would end in catastrophe.
“Calm down, killer. A little birdie, that’s all,” he said, eyes wide. “I was just wondering if you wanted to do anything.”
“No. I don’t want to do anything. All I want to do is pretend like it is any normal day. Go eat. Go home. Eat cake. End of story.”
“All right, Curly. Simmer down. Just thought I’d ask.”
Kyle pulled Callie in for a hug and planted a kiss on the top of her head. Immediately, she felt like a big, fat jerk. He didn’t know she hated all her previous birthday parties. Feeling contrite, she leaned into his chest, smelling that wonderful scent of cologne and all-male yummy goodness that was quickly becoming associated with Kyle in her brain.
“Are you sniffing me, Curly?”
Embarrassed to be caught, she buried her head deeper in his chest. “You just always smell so good. What do you wear, anyway? I want to buy stock in it so if it ever quits being produced I’ll have a way to get it and spray it on my pillow.”
“Aw, Curly, I missed you, too,” he said, leaning Callie back so he could look into her eyes, a dimpled grin on his face. “And it’s Eau de Kyle. You can’t manufacture this deliciousness. It’s just my essence.”
Callie rolled her eyes. “You are ridiculous.”
“Okay, okay, fine. Polo Blue. Happy now?”
She smiled. “Maybe there’s a bit of Kyle deliciousness thrown in there, too.”
“You really did miss me. Did you watch me on TV?”
“I always watch you on TV.”
“Even before when you thought I was an arse?”
“Yes, even then. Although a part of me always kind of wished you would mess up and make that big head of yours deflate a little.”
“Ouch.”
“But that was before, when I thought you were like all the other macho, egotistical athletes who think they’re God’s gift to mere mortals.”
“Do you still think that, Curly?”
“Not you.”
“One day you’re going to tell me what happened that made you think that. Then, I’m going to find the ass, I mean arse, and throat punch him.”
“That’s a story for another day,” she said, standing on her tiptoes and planting a kiss on his lips. “Now, all this studying has made me hungry and all we have in the pantry is sugar-laden cereal of Cassie’s, which I refuse to eat.”
“What’s wrong with sugar-laden cereal? Lucky Charms is my favorite.”
“Not you, too!” Callie wailed. “Cassie and my dad love all that diabetes in a box.”
