Page 118 of Playing to Win
“I think a little longer,” Natalie corrects him. “Six weeks?”
So basically as long as Ace and I have been seeing each other. This is…
This is wild.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask Nat, kind of hurt, though I have no right to be.
After all, I haven’t told her much about me and Ace beyond that one initial hookup. I declared I was on a man ban and never brought him up again.
“I don’t know. I was a little embarrassed. Not of you, babe.” She pats Derek’s meaty bicep. “Just of our situation. We both have reputations we’re not exactly proud of. Plus, we tried the fuck buddies thing last year and it sort of fell apart.”
“Okayyyyyy.”
“We wanted to take this slow and make sure it would actually work before we made any big announcements,” Natalie explains. “I just—I didn’t expect to tell you like this. When you catch us kissing in the living room.”
“I didn’t know what was happening,” I admit. “I was just coming out here to get a snack.”
Her smile is rueful. “Sorry.”
“Hope it wasn’t the bag of potato chips you wanted to snack on,” Derek says.
I groan. “You ate them?”
He nods, looking guilty. “Sorry. Nat brought me over here to feed me. There’s no food in our house.”
“That’s not true.” Natalie nudges him in the ribs. “Well, he’s right about the lack of food at his place but we came over here because I forgot my laptop and I have a paper due in the morning.”
“And you got distracted enough to start making out on our couch?”
“After I caught him eating our chips.” She indicates the crumpled bag I didn’t notice before that’s discarded on our coffee table.
“Derek, you owe me a bag of Lay’s Potato Chips,” I demand.
“Yes, ma’am.” He salutes me, jumping to his feet and offering his hand to Natalie. “Ready to go, babe?”
She takes his hand and he pulls her up, hauling her into his arms, kissing her right in front of me. All lovey dovey and sweet and my goodness, my brain is confused by all of this.
It’s Big D we’re talking about here. And Natalie. The two people I never believed could be serious are…
Serious.
Who knew?
I watch them leave, trying to shove aside the weird emotions swirling inside me while they blatantly touch and flirt with each other right in front of me. What they have is what I want. What I wish I had.
With Ace.
The moment they’re gone, I’m grabbing my phone and sending Ace a text.
Me:You awake?
He answers almost immediately.
Acey Baby:Yep. You okay?
I smile, touched by his concern. I love that’s the first thing he asks. He really is sweet.
And a complete savage in bed.
