Page 36 of Playing to Win
“Ace fucking Townsend! What’s up man!” A short, stocky guy approaches on the pathway I’m standing in the middle of, holding his hand out for me to slap.
“Hey.” I give him a high five, and I can already feel Ruby’s gaze on me. I’m sure she heard this dude call out my name, and I hope like hell she didn’t catch me staring at her like some sort of stalker.
The guy passes and I chance a look at her to find she’s already watching me, the glasses gone, discarded on top of her textbook. I can’t read her expression. Meaning I can’t tell if she’s annoyed by me or not and I stand there for one excruciatingly indecisive moment, trying to decide if I should approach her or not.
Fuck it.
I make my way toward her, walking up the gentle grassy slope and stopping right next to her table.
“Hey, Red.” I grin, knowing my nickname irritates her.
She rolls her eyes, stretching her arms above her head, which makes her tits pop forward in that cropped white T-shirt she’s wearing. Fuck me running, I can’t get over what a great rack she has. “Ace.”
“Homework?” I gesture toward the open book, dying to say something about the glasses, but I keep my mouth shut.
“Always.” She drops her arms at her sides, glancing up so our gazes meet. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much.” I incline my head toward the empty bench across from her. “Can I join you?”
“Where’s your fan club?” The pointed look is a reminder that she saw me with those two girls and she’s calling me out on it.
“Left them back in the student center.” I jerk my thumb over my shoulder.
“Uh huh.”
I gesture toward the park bench again. “Mind if I sit?”
“Sure.” She sounds a little reluctant but I ignore her tone and settle in across from her, dropping my backpack on the bench beside me.
“Nice glasses.” I nod toward them. “Yours?”
“Oh. Yeah.” Her cheeks turn the faintest pink and she grabs them, slipping them on her face. “I always feel a little silly wearing them.”
Silly? They make her green eyes pop and she’s got a sexy smart girl thing going on that’s making my dick hard. Not even that girl earlier actually touching my dick managed that.
I decide though, that my response needs to be restrained. Telling Ruby her glasses give me a boner isn’t the right move.
“You look—good in them.” I smile and so does she and damn it’s like a zinger straight to my dick, making it twitch, and just like that, my mouth gets away from me. “Hot nerd vibes.”
Her smile transforms into a scowl. “Did you just call me a nerd?”
“Ahotnerd,” I clarify and she snorts.
“Like that makes it so much better.” She shakes her head, but she’s still smiling so I take that as a good sign.
“Saw the video you posted.” I keep my tone casual. “That you and Gwen made yesterday.”
She squirms a little, a laugh escaping her. “It’s done really well so far.”
“I noticed.” I pause. “Must be the subject matter.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” She smirks.
“Guess it’s cool, though you objectified us.”
“With your blessing,” she reminds me. “And trust me. We have a feeling all of that objectifying is going to bring the team a lot more followers on social media, which is always the goal.”
“Right. Gotta get those followers.” I’m teasing her but she doesn’t seem to mind.
