Page 42 of Playing to Win
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe there’s the fact that you have an entire fan club at your whim whenever you want them?”
He presses his thumb to the corner of my mouth, his gaze hot as it lingers on my lips. I wish he wouldn’t stare at them.
Fine, I like it when he looks at me. But this is nothing! It means nothing.
“Can I confess something?” he murmurs.
“Okay,” I say, suddenly breathless.
“Can’t stop thinking about you since our last encounter, Red. I missed having you on the sidelines.” He pauses for a second. “You didn’t come to the game.”
“We were supposed to be there. There were—paperwork issues.”
“Uh huh.”
“I’m serious.”
“Okay, well, you need to come to Saturday’s game.” His voice is firm and he releases his hold on my chin.
“We’ll be there,” I reassure him, wondering if he’s for real.
How much does it really matter that I’m not on the sidelines? I think he’s just saying this.
“And you need to come to Logan’s. It’s half-off night. Everyone comes to Logan’s on half-off night.”
“Really?”
Ace nods, his gaze locked on my mouth. As if he’s thinking of the many things he can stuff in it. Or maybe that’s me having those filthy thoughts. “Definitely.”
“Do you go out and drink every night or what?”
“No.” He frowns. “I’m not a total party animal—not anymore. In fact, I’ve been drinking less this season. Treating my body like a temple.”
Ace waves a hand at his body for emphasis.
I roll my eyes. “My brother used to say the same exact thing.”
“Really?” He actually seems pleased by this. “Love that.”
“You would,” I mutter, glancing around, noting how Gwen is watching us.
I look away from her, not wanting to see the suspicion in her gaze. She’s already mentioned that she thinks Ace likes me, which I firmly believe is a stretch. He might want tofuckme, butlikeme?
I’m not buying it.
“Say yes that you’ll come to Logan’s tonight.” Mattson blows his whistle and Ace starts backing away from me. “Come on, Red. You know you want to hang out, at least for a little bit. Nine o’clock? I’ll save you a seat.”
“I have homework.” I always have homework, but I can work on it when I get home. There are still hours to go until nine o’clock…
Seriously though? I shouldn’t do it. I absolutely can’t meet up with this guy. I’m not interested in him like that. A casual thing. He’s the type who chews up a woman and immediately spits her out. And besides…
I get caught with him? I’m out of a job.
“Just say yes, Ruby Red. You’ll make my day. Oh, and stick around, will you? Pretty sure I’ll have a better practice today thanks to you.”
I don’t answer him, but we do stick around for the remainder of practice and he was right.
