Page 1 of Playing to Win
ONE
RUBY
New Year’sEve
“Ooh, who’s that?”My gaze lands on the tall, built guy standing dead center in the living room, surrounded by girls, all of them watching him with adoring eyes and wide smiles. He grabs hold of two of them, inserting one under each of his thick with muscle arms, that grin on his face telling me he’s enjoying every minute of their attention.
His confidence practically resonates throughout the room and it doesn’t hurt that he’s gorgeous. His best feature is his beautiful smile—it’s broad and friendly and slightly mischievous. From where I’m standing, he appears to have a beautiful everything.
I’m in Colorado for the holidays to both visit my family and spend time with my brother and sister along with their friends and significant others. They all came back to campus early, specifically to attend this party, and I tagged along. I’ve had the time of my life in the span of only a few days, which is more than enough confirmation that I need to come back here to finish my degree. I went to the East Coast to college my freshman year thinking I needed something different. An escape from my supposed mundane life. I was craving a new adventure, and when I got into a university on the East Coast, I believed I would party my life away and have a great time. I firmly believed a different environment meant my life would change for the best.
None of that happened. Classes are boring. The campus life—boring. I haven’t made any solid connections with fellow students. Definitely not with my roommate freshman year, who bailed out and wasn’t in our room for the entire second semester. This year, I’m sharing an on-campus apartment with another girl, and while we’re friendly and I think she’s okay, I definitely don’t feel…connected to her. And that’s all I’m looking for.
A connection.
Someone whogetsme.
Right now, that feels like an impossible feat.
“That, my friend, is Ace Townsend. Second-string quarterback on the football team and hopefully our starting quarterback next season,” my new friend Natalie informs me. She’s my brother’s new girlfriend’s best friend—whew, that was complicated—and guess what?
The moment we met, we instantlyconnected.We’ve been having fun hanging out together ever since. Natalie is down for anything. She likes to party and she’s blessedly single. Everyone else that currently surrounds me while I’m here is attached to someone else, with the exception of Natalie.
Which makes her the perfect friend to crash holiday parties with.
Not that we’re crashing this particular one. We were both invited, thank you very much.
“Ace? That’s his actual name?” I blatantly stare at him, not that he notices. He’s too busy putting on the charm and chatting up his fan club. “Not a nickname?”
I’ve never heard of him. Knox has never mentioned him to me before, and neither has Blair, but that doesn’t mean anything.
“Maybe it’s a nickname? I’m not sure.” When I glance over at Natalie, she’s already shrugging. “I don’t know him that well.”
“He’s hot.” I can’t help but smile when he laughs, the pleasant rumbling sound drifting over to where we stand, and I’m suddenly compelled to walk over to him and introduce myself.
But would he care? Maybe not. He seems preoccupied enough. What’s one more girl in the mix?
“He is, huh?” Natalie grabs my arm and hooks it around hers, dragging me over to where my sister Blair is with her boyfriend, Camden. He’s the current quarterback for their college football team, though can I call him current? He’s basically finished with his college football career and hopefully about to embark on an NFL career next. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“We need to talk to Cam. He can give us the scoop on Ace,” Natalie says as we head toward them.
We stop in front of the newly, publicly launched couple, a pang in my heart when I see the way Cam looks at my sister. As if the sun rises and sets on her head. Like she’s the only person he sees.
That’s another thing I want…eventually. Maybe sooner than later, though I guess it depends on who I meet. But yeah.
I want a man who’s totally into me. All the guys I manage to try to get to know either lose interest fast, or they’re not serious. That’s the biggest issue. They are never serious. Though am I ever serious? Not really. But also, when it comes to men…
I always pick the wrong one.
I like the good-time guy. The fun guy. The oneallthe ladies love, which always ends up being a giant problem. From what I see happening around Ace, I’d guess he’s the same type, so it makes sense that I’m drawn to him.
Which means he’s probably all wrong for me. I need to be a little choosier in my man crushes and not fall for the hot guy with the lazy smile and buzzing sexual energy.
Blair finally glances over at me, a faint smile on her face. “What’s going on?”
“I want to talk to that one.” I incline my head in Ace’s direction, who isn’t paying us the least bit of attention.
