Play With Me (Playing For Keeps Book 2)

GARRETT

“That’s game, boys.” I sweep my hand over the table, gathering the cards.

Carter flips his upside down and crosses his arms, scowling. “It’s fucking bullshit is what it is.”

“You know what they say,” I murmur. “You have to learn to lose before you can—”

“If you tell me I need to learn how to lose in order to appreciate winning, I’ll toss you off this fucking airplane.”

“Oh, so Olivia can say it, but I can’t? Double fucking standards.”

“Olivia can say anything she wants! She’s growing my baby and sucking my dick!”

“Carter,” Adam mumbles around his sandwich, not looking up from the book in his other hand. “Stop being a sore loser.”

“I’m not a sore loser,” he grumbles, slumping in his seat.

“You are.” Jaxon and I just smoked Carter and Emmett in euchre three times in a row. It was only supposed to be one game, and then two, and, well…you know Carter. “You can’t be the best at everything.”

Carter toes at the bottom of my seat. “Emmett’s playing like shit.”

“Hey!” Emmett glances up from his phone. This might be the first time he’s realized the game has ended. “I haven’t seen my wife in five days and she’s sending me very detailed texts about how she’s going to welcome me home tonight.” His phone dings, his eyes turn feral, and he stands abruptly. “I, uh…I gotta…go. Take a leak.”

Carter stands next, stretching his arms overhead with a yawn. “I’m gonna go too. Wanna sext Ollie before I crash for the rest of this flight. Need some energy so I can rock her world when I get home. Pregnancy’s making her super horny. She’s hard to keep up with some days.” He chuckles quietly, a far-off look in his eyes. “The other day she woke me up by s—”

“Stop.” Adam holds his sandwich up like a shield. “For fuck’s sake, Carter, just stop. We don’t wanna know, and Olivia doesn’t want us to know; trust me on that.”

Carter pulls a face, gathering up the wrappers from his stress-eating when he was losing. He jabs Adam’s book. “You need to get laid. If you need some tips—”

“I don’t.”

“You sure? Word on the street is I know how to talk to the ladies.”

Adam flips a page in his book. “And how Ollie got so lucky, we’ll never know.”

“What book you reading today?” I ask as Carter disappears.

Adam flashes me the cover, and Jaxon and I laugh. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.

“What do you wanna not give a fuck about anymore?”

“I donno. Nothing. Everything. I donno.” He drops the book to his chest and sighs. “Should I say fuck it to dating? Should I just take what all the girls seem to be offering?”

I shake my head, shuffling the cards. “Nah, you don’t wanna do that. It’s not you.”

“Maybe it should be. I’m not looking to fuck around and hurt anyone’s feelings. But none of them give a fuck about me, so why do I give so many?”

“’Cause you’re a good guy,” Jaxon says. “And you’re not the no-strings-attached-fucking kinda guy. That’s me, and while I do enjoy it and normally highly recommend it, I don’t think it’d be your scene.”

Adam’s fingers plunge into his curls. “I don’t really think it is either.”

I chuckle. “Then why are you considering it?”

He pulls his dark-framed reading glasses off and rubs his eyes. “I guess I’m not really. Maybe I’m just giving up the dating fight. All it’s doing is making me feel lonelier.”

“So take a break. You’re filling your spare time with the kids at the home, and you’re enjoying that, right?”

His smile is instantaneous. “I really am. It’s so cool to be part of the reason some of these kids are coming out of their shells.”

“Then focus on that for a while. Spend time doing what makes you happy. I know you want to meet someone, but you’re not having fun doing it right now. Revisit in a couple months.”

Adam rolls his bottom lip, then nods. “When did you get so wise?”

The truth is, talking to Jennie helps. I’m always trying to show her that I understand, and I like helping her find her way through to the other side of her problems. But I can’t tell Adam that, so I tell him the other truth.

“I have three highly emotional little sisters who fight over everything. Sometimes I need to be wise.” And sometimes I’m clueless when I should be wise, like last week when I think Jennie was trying to ask me to stay over.

Thinking about her lately has been hard. Between hockey and recital rehearsals, our schedules have been clashing. Late-night chats aren’t an option with Adam as my roommate. I’m lucky to get five minutes to see her face or hear her voice.

She’s the only person I want to spend my one night home with, so I shoot off a quick text.

Me: Home in an hour. Come over?

Sunshine: Because you miss me?

Me: Because I want a blowjob.

Sunshine: Tell the truth, Gare-Bear. I don’t hang with liars. I only hang with grool boys.

She’s not letting that whole grool incident go, but the joke’s on her. My favorite jokes are the ones we share together.

Me: Fine. I miss u & I want a blowjob. Please come over.

Sunshine: And?

Me: And I’d like to hug u because it’s been 5 days. Please come over.

Me: And I’ll tickle ur back. Please come over.

Me: And I’ll feed u. Please come over.

Me: Please. Please. Please.

Sunshine: OMG no need to be so desperate. I’m already here anyway.

I’m about to ask her what she means, when a photo of her snuggled in my bed comes through. She’s got a Pop-Tart between her teeth and she’s making the peace sign with her free hand, chestnut hair splayed over my pillow. I can’t wait to join her there, and if I’m really lucky, I’ll get to keep her all night long.

Sunshine: Your sheets are magical and you’ve got better snacks. I came to eat and nap. Was gonna surprise you at your door wearing nothing but my hair ribbon tied around my neck like the gift I am.

Jesus Christ, I’m never letting her go.

“Who are you texting?”

“J—” My fingers halt. My gaze slowly rises, finding Adam with one brow arched while he waits for me to finish that J name. “—axon. Jaxon.” I clear my throat. “Riley. Jaxon Riley.” Shut. Up. Garrett.

“You’re texting Jaxon while he’s sitting across from you?”

My gaze slides to Jaxon. He waits, hands folded on the table between us, phone nowhere in sight. Fuck it, it’s worth a shot. “Yes?”

“Garrett,” Adam warns under his breath. “I swear to God, if that’s Jennie—”

“She just—she just—she-she-she…no, she just needs a ride to…I’m not…it’s not…” I give up, raking my hands up and down my face. “Aaah.”

“Aw, c’mon!” Adam tosses his book to the seat next to him, burying his face in his hands. “Garrett, no! You promised it was only the one time!”

“Well, Adam, I lied!”

He gasps, expression holding all the betrayal I expected.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to lie to you, but I couldn’t tell you. You would’ve made me stop.”

“Because I don’t want to lose my best friends!” he whisper-yells, checking that no one is listening other than Jaxon, who’s snickering like a fucking donkey. “You’d be six feet deep, and Carter would be in jail for putting you there!”

“Stop yelling at me!” I shout back under my breath. “I don’t like it!”

“Fuck me. I don’t even know what to…to…fuck.” He gestures at Jaxon. “You knew about this?”

Jaxon holds his hands up. “Hey, I accidentally saw something I never wanted to see. And then she cried and—”

“Oh c’mon,” Adam scoffs. “She cried? No, she played you like a damn fiddle, that’s what she did. She’s a goddamn Beckett, Riley. Get your head in the game.”

“Damn, he’s harsh when he’s mad. But I think I know when a girl is fake crying.” When I grin, he balks. “Fuck, she’s good.”

“You can’t tell Carter,” I plead with them. “Please.”

“Tell him what?” Jaxon glances over his shoulder. Carter’s eight rows ahead of us, seat reclined, headphones on, Olivia’s face on his iPad screen. “That you’re fucking his baby sister?”

“No, it’s not like that anymore. I mean, it was.” I squeeze my eyes shut, head wagging. “No, we’re…we haven’t, uh…”

Jaxon’s brows skyrocket. “You haven’t fucked her?”

“We do…other stuff.” What am I doing? This doesn’t feel right.

“Right. For fun?”

Adam’s jaw drops. “Friends with benefits? No. Not with her of all people, Garrett.”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I donno?” I rub the back of my neck. “It started that way, just fun, with rules so it didn’t get serious…”

Jaxon hums. “And now you wanna fuck the rules.”

I don’t want what I wanted before. The limited time, the lack of strings, the freedom to leave whenever it suited either of us, the fucking rules. And I hate that I’m telling someone else before I tell Jennie.

“I really like her,” I whisper. The words taste funny, not because it’s a new revelation, because it’s not. But because it’s the first time I’m saying them out loud, getting to be honest with somebody other than myself. Out of fear of losing what we have, I’ve had to swallow the words day after day, bury them right along with my intentions, all my hopes.

But now it doesn’t feel so hopeless.

“I asked her out on a proper date after her show on the fourteenth. She said yes, so…I think she likes me too. Plus, she’s…” My eyes drift to Adam’s. The hardness wanes, compassion returning. “She’s my best friend.”

Adam stares for a long moment. I know why the fear is there. The same reason it’s there for me. He sighs, scrubbing his face. “I want you to be happy. So long as you know Carter’s going to lose his shit.”

The last thing I ever want to do is hurt Jennie. I’m just not sure that will be enough for Carter.

Jaxon must sense my defeat, because he interjects. “Well, you said you haven’t had a real date yet. See how that goes first. You know, make sure you’re on the same page and everything. When you know it’s going somewhere, then you can talk to Carter. Is he really going to hold it against you if you make his sister happy?”

I can’t say I ever saw myself getting advice from Jaxon, or better yet, liking it, but it does make sense. I don’t feel like I need to wait and see if things between us will work, but I do need to make sure it’s a step she’s ready for. Plus, it gives me a little more time, rather than trying to get Carter’s permission to date his sister in the next week.

After all, I’d like to see Jennie’s recital, not livestream it from a hospital bed.

The door’s not even closed behind me and Jennie’s already dancing down the hallway, bounding into my arms.

“You clearly missed me way more than I missed you,” I mumble into her hair. She’s soft and warm as she clings to me, smelling like cinnamon and coffee, and a little like my laundry. She’s all my favorite things rolled into one.

“Pfft. That’s not even possible. You’re obsessed with me.” She slides down my body and spins, popping a hip. “Besides, I’m too grool to miss you that much.”

“Not gonna let that go, huh,” I murmur, watching as she sashays into my kitchen. “What are you wearing?”

She glances over her shoulder. “Are you having trouble with your vision?”

“I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the idea of you lounging around my apartment in just your panties and my T-shirt while I’m not here to enjoy it.” She presents a pizza box. “And you ordered dinner?”

“You’re always hungry when you get home. It got here ten minutes ago, so it’s still hot, and—” her lids flutter closed as she inhales, “—it smells so good.”

I am hungry. But not for the pizza.

I amble toward Jennie as she drops a bite into her mouth, humming happily. She swallows, smiles, and I grip her hips.

“Hi,” I whisper, touching a kiss to her lips. “I missed you. Way more than you missed me.”

She sets the slice down, draping her arms over my shoulders as I start walking us down the hall. Her smile is so happy tonight, eyes so light, tiny flecks of gold swimming in a pool of blue.

“I did miss you. The back tickler you got me for Christmas is great, but nothing beats your fingers.”

“Mmm. You do like my fingers.”

I pull her shirt—my shirt—off, ditching it on my bedroom floor. She’s not wearing a bra, and her nipples pebble under the heat of my gaze.

Her fingertips dance up my tie, finding the knot at my neck, playing with it as she peers at me from beneath dark, sinful lashes. “This thing is never straight, Garrett,” she murmurs, slowly pulling the red silk free. She winds both ends around her fists and guides my face down to hers. “Kiss me.”

Caging her in against the wall, I bracket her chin with my fingers, tipping her face to mine. Her cheeks are alive with color, warm brown waves framing her face.

Pretty bowed lips part, breathless. “What are you waiting for?”

I drag my thumb across her lower lip. “Just looking at you. Sometimes I can’t believe you exist.”

Right before our lips can meet, I spot something blue on my bed.

“What the fuck is that?” I turn her head toward the sleek dildo, the piece that juts out near the base that does to her clit what my mouth likes to do. “Where you masturbating in my bed?”

Her lashes flutter, dimples pulling in a cheeky grin as she tugs on the tie wrapped around her fists. “What are you gonna do about it, big guy?”

I answer her with that kiss she was begging for a moment ago, then gently pry her fingers from the tie, letting the silk slip through her hand as I pull it away.

Taking her hands in one of mine, I wind the silk around her wrists. “Do you trust me, Jennie?”

“Yes,” she answers without hesitation.

“Good.” I yank on the ends of the tie, instantly tightening it around her wrists, bringing them together between us. She gasps.

“What are you doing?” The words are thick with wonder, desire. She wants this—her, helpless; me, in control—as much as I do.

“At the moment? Nothing.” I force her to the bed and spread her legs wide. She takes her bottom lip between her teeth as I loop the silk through the headboard, securing her hands above her head. “In a minute? Fucking your pussy however I please, until you scream my name loud enough for the neighbors to hear.”

Her skin dots with goose bumps as she quivers, my name barely a breath when it leaves her mouth.

“Mmm, something like that.” I drag the pad of my thumb up the seam of her legs, where a dark, wet spot decorates the pale pink cotton. Heat pours out, and she lifts her hips off the bed, desperate for more. “But a whole fuckload louder.”

A gasp pierces the air when I dip my hand inside, swiping my fingers through her slit. Jennie jerks forward, struggling against the tie.

“Does it hurt?” I ask. She shakes her head, panting as I drag her panties down her legs. I bend her knee, trailing kisses up the inside of her thigh. “Are you okay? With this? Or would you feel more comfortable if I stopped?”

“Oh,” she cries, back arching when I nip at the junction of her thigh. “More, please.”

I flick the tip of my tongue over her swollen clit and tug it gently between my teeth. “Answer the question, Jennie.”

“God, please don’t stop, Garrett,” she begs when I pull away. “Please.”

Slowly, I push two fingers inside her, reveling in the way she squeezes around me. I suck my fingers into my mouth, and Jennie’s eyes hood as she squirms, searching for my touch, begging for it without words.

“Fuckin’ delicious, sunshine.”

I reach across the rumpled sheets, wrapping my fingers around my replacement. The little wand whirs to life when I hit the power button. Jennie once told me this was one of her favorites, right up there with Indiana Bones. Dual stimulation, she said; you can’t beat it.

“How many times did you use this?” I ask, dragging the head of the toy up her slit, swirling it around her clit, watching her shake.

“Once.”

I pull it away.

“Three times,” she cries desperately, and when I push it slowly inside her, she moans, tossing her head back in the pillows. “It wasn’t enough. Nothing’s ever enough when it’s not you.”

I like those words more than I care to admit, and when I push the toy a little farther, when that curved head hits that spot she likes, she gasps, yanking at the tie. My thumb covers the small addition to the toy, feeling the power of the suction. When I fix it over her clit, Jennie’s eyes roll, words lost in a garbled cry.

She writhes and moans, rocking with the toy, pushing herself into me as I pull one rosy nipple into my mouth.

“What were you thinking about? While you were fucking yourself?”

“You,” she sobs, hips bucking, back arching. She pulls on the headboard, trying to free herself. “Oh God, Garrett.”

“What about me?”

Her head falls backward, eyes closing as a sound rips up her throat when I slowly remove the toy, then plunge it back inside. “I was thinking about…you fucking me.”

“With my tongue? Or my fingers?”

Her teeth clamp down on her lower lip as she rocks herself into the toy.

“Be specific, Jennie.”

“With your cock,” she yelps. “I wished it was you inside me.”

Angling my body over hers, I wrap my fingers around her throat, watching her face as she climbs toward that peak. It’s getting harder to be gentle with her. Lately, all I want to do is bend her over, fuck her so hard she forgets her own name. Rip her to pieces then put her back together. I want her to scream that she’s mine, and I want her to mean it.

But I want to be hers too.

“How do you think you’ll like it?” My mouth hovers above hers as I thrust harder, hitting that spot that leaves her breathless. “When I take you, do you want me to do it slowly? Do you want me to be gentle? Sweet?” I press my lips to the corner of her mouth as she pants. “Or do you want me to fuck you hard? Rough? Do you want me to show you how badly I want you? How I’ve wanted you for fucking ages? How I’ve dreamt about it every fucking night?”

My gaze coasts her face, all the soft edges I love, and when I follow the line of her arms up to her wrists above her head, I find her hands reaching for me.

“Garrett,” she whimpers, trembling when I release her throat and lace my fingers through hers, watching as she teeters along the edge.

“Don’t worry. We can take our time, do it all. I have no plans of letting you walk out that door once I have you.”

I pull the toy from between her legs before driving it back inside her, and when her toes curl and her back arches, I take her mouth with mine, swallowing my name as she screams it.

With a swift tug of the tie, I free her from the headboard and flip her over, jerking her hips off the bed, her perfect, round ass in the air.

“I’m so fucking far from done with you, sunshine.”

I’ve had this body wrapped around mine too many times to count. Watched her thick lashes rest against her cheekbones, her chest rise and fall steadily as she sleeps. I’ve felt the way her hold on me tightens when I shift, and I’ve smiled at the frown that pulls at the corners of her mouth when she’s dreaming, the way it quirks upward when I brush the pad of my thumb across the swell of her bottom lip, stroke a finger down the side of her face, or touch my lips to her forehead.

And still, I have no idea what it’s like to fall asleep with her in my arms. To sleep soundly with her legs tangled with mine. To wake in the morning with her warm body still tucked into mine and see the way the sunshine makes her face glow as it bathes her from the window.

I’m tired of not knowing what it’s like. I don’t want to dream about it anymore; I want to live it.

I turn the TV off and tuck the remote away. Jennie stirs, lashes fluttering, blue eyes peering up at me. Heat rushes to her cheeks when she finds me watching her.

“What are you looking at?”

I brush her hair off her forehead, tucking it behind her ear. “You.”

“Why?”

Why? Why the fuck not? She’s beautiful, my best friend. She makes me smile when she’s not even doing a damn thing, and she lives rent-free in my head twenty-four seven. Who had any right making her this magnificent?

When I look at her, a thousand emotions swirl inside me, and it’s hard to choose just one to focus on. I wish I could put it into words, but I don’t know how.

But there’s one thing I can do.

I cup her face, coaxing her gaze back to mine. She’s nervous, more nervous than me. But I don’t want her to be nervous; I want her to be sure.

“Stay,” I whisper. “Right here, with me. Please, Jennie. Stay with me.”

Her wide eyes move cautiously between mine. That fear begins to dissipate, leaving me with a devastating smile that shatters her face, ignites a fire inside my chest, and warms me from the inside out.

“Okay,” Jennie says. “I’ll stay.”