Play With Me (Playing For Keeps Book 2)

GARRETT

I cannot believe Jennie grew up with this.

I’ve underestimated her strength, her resilience. What a grueling life she’s led. It’s as sad as it is admirable.

“Time for another classic, this one by Elton John and Kiki Dee.” Carter whirls around, cocking one ridiculous eyebrow as he stares out at his six-person audience, microphone at his mouth. “With a one-of-a-kind Carter Beckett twist that, arguably, makes it better than the original.” Music roars from the speakers, lyrics starting to roll across the TV, and Carter stares Olivia dead in the eye. “Don’t Go Bacon My Heart.” He points at his wife. “This one’s for you, Ollie girl!”

“Jesus Christ,” I mutter from behind the palm I’ve buried my face in as Carter explodes into song and dance. It’s not so much dance as it is…gyrating? I don’t fucking know, but Olivia looks like she’s gonna cry. I give her knee a shake. “You okay?”

“Of course she’s not okay,” Emmett retorts. “She’s about to bring a baby into this world that’s gonna be a carbon copy of her husband.”

Adam jogs over, handing her a frosty pint of beer. “Here. It’s nonalcoholic.” Olivia pulls an unimpressed face, and Adam offers her a pitying, gritty grin. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“The worst part is it’s supposed to be a duet,” Cara murmurs, watching Carter spin around, “but he’s singing both parts.”

“So, oooh, oooh!” He twirls, stopping in front of his wife—who looks oddly unfazed—and points at her. “Don’t go bacon my heart!”

“I’m so in love with him it’s unbelievable,” is I think what Olivia mutters beside me.

“What?”

“Oh nothing.” She smiles like she forgot I was here, then pats my thigh. “So, Garrett. How’s…everything?”

“Everything? G-good. Really good.” Why is she grinning like that, all devious and shit? Short, pregnant women shouldn’t be allowed to be devious. They’re scary enough as it is. “Yeah, everything is…so good.”

“I haven’t seen you since the restaurant on Valentine’s Day. You took off in a hurry.”

“Well, we’ve been traveling for the last three days,” I remind her.

“Uh-huh, and you were holed up the entire five-day home stretch before that.”

“Yeah, I…” I run a hand through my hair. “Busy.”

She cocks her head. “I busy?”

“Is that a hickey?” It’s Carter this time, breathless as he collapses between us. He prods my collarbone. “Yeah, it is.”

I slap his hand away. “No, it’s not.” It totally fucking is. I told Jennie not to, but does she ever listen to me? No, of fucking course she doesn’t. She’s so difficult to rein in, and I don’t really want to anyway.

Carter wags his brows. “Things goin’ good with Susie, eh?”

Cara snorts. Adam promptly leaps to his feet, heading into the kitchen. Olivia turns away, and Jaxon busies himself in his phone. Carter and Emmett are…oblivious.

It’s Emmett I’m most surprised about. Cara promised not to tell, but I guess I wasn’t expecting her to be this loyal to us. I think it’s Jennie she’s being loyal to, really.

And Olivia? She’s just perceptive, I guess. Plus, she came back from dropping Jennie off on Valentine’s Day and “accidentally” elbowed me really fucking hard in the shoulder when she sat down, so I was pretty sure she knew before Jennie even told me she knew.

Cara stands. “I’ve gotta jet. I have to meet with some clients about a charity event.”

I pull out my phone to distract from the fierce battle of tonsil hockey her and Emmett start right here in the living room.

“Is Jennie coming over?” Olivia asks.

“No,” I answer on autopilot, scrolling through the sports updates on my phone. My fingers pause for only a second before I force them to keep moving, while I tell myself to act cool. “’Cause she’s got classes, right? Hey, Jaxon, Nashville’s one and four out of their last five games. Looks like they need you back there guarding their goalie.”

The name of the game is deflection, and Jaxon plays along just fine, engaging me in a mindless conversation about hockey stats, but Carter’s not paying us any attention anyway.

No, he’s got his face pressed to Olivia’s belly, his hands cupped around his mouth as he makes these weird, deep, staticky breathing noises.

“What the fuck are you doing, dude?” Jaxon finally asks.

“Luke,” Carter speaks into Olivia’s stomach. Two more raspy noises. “I am your father.”

“Holy fuck.” I scrub my tired eyes. “Not Darth Vader.”

Olivia pushes Carter off her lap and stands. “Garrett, the things I deal with on a regular basis would bring you to tears.” Taking Carter’s frowning face in her hands, she kisses him. “I couldn’t love you more.” She starts hobbling away, one hand on her lower back. “But if Jennie’s not coming over, mama’s gonna go take a bath.” Her footsteps sound on the staircase before she calls, “Carter! Can you make sure they make the kung pao chicken extra spicy?”

“Yes, pumpkin!”

“I thought we were getting dinner from Amy’s Wok?” Adam asks, taking Olivia’s spot on the couch. Along with his tea, he’s returned with an entire box of Oreos. “Amy’s Wok doesn’t have kung pao chicken.”

“I know. Gotta order separately from Golden Village.”

“Why don’t you just tell Ollie they don’t have it instead of ordering from two places?”

Carter pulls a face, setting up the Xbox. “Have you met her? She’s scary as fuck right now.”

“She’s five feet tall!”

Carter jabs his shoulder. “Five foot one.”

I snicker, tossing a cookie into my mouth. “I agwee. Aw-wie is pwetty scawy wight now.” I take the controller passed to me and swallow. “I wouldn’t wanna mess with her.”

“She’s got these wild cravings, and nothing is ever exactly what she wants. I’ll gladly order from two different places if it means keeping her happy.”

We flip-flop between Call of Duty and NHL for an hour, and I suppress a groan when I realize I still have another ninety minutes to go before picking up Jennie from school. I haven’t seen her in three days, which isn’t a whole lot and definitely not the longest we’ve gone, but when you spent the five days before that fucking like wild animals, it feels like a goddamn eternity.

I’m not surprised Jennie’s got her kinks, given the variety and quantity of her toy collection, but I was a little surprised she was ready to jump right into the rough, wild stuff the next day. Blame my unbelievably good looks and adorable ramblings. Jennie says I’m endearing.

Plus, every time we fuck like animals, we follow it up with a round of soft and sweet. I think that might be my favorite. While I love pulling her hair and slapping her ass, I really love looking into her eyes when I tell her I love her, kissing her while we come together. Holding her is my second favorite thing to do, right after loving her.

I glance at Carter before pulling out my phone to text Jennie, but I’ve already got one waiting for me.

Sunshine: Can’t wait to see you, big guy *tongue emoji* *eggplant emoji* *water droplets emoji*

The second one rolls in before I can acknowledge how truly alike the Beckett siblings are, which is for the best.

Sunshine: Missed you *heart emoji*

“Carterrr,” Olivia’s voice calls from upstairs.

“Yeah, pumpkin?” he hollers back.

“I’m hungry!”

He pulls his phone out, frantically tapping at his screen. “Ordering right now!”

“I want something sweet! Can you make me an ice cream sundae?”

Carter looks up, blinking. “Ice cream sun—” He jogs to the bottom of the staircase, and I lean over the back of the couch, watching him. “With Oreo ice cream?”

“And brownies, please!”

“Brownies,” he murmurs, hands on his hips. “What kinda brownies, Ollie girl?”

“The ones you make with the brownie batter and the Oreos and the cookie dough!”

“Oooh.” I rub my belly. “I could fuck with those.”

Carter glances at me, frowning. “We don’t—we don’t have any. I can go get the ingredients.”

“It’ll take too long,” Olivia wails. “I want it now!”

He runs an agitated hand through his hair. “Babe, we don’t have them right now! Let me go to the store!”

“No!”

“Ruh-roh,” I murmur in my best Scooby-Doo, snickering, picking another cookie out.

Adam smacks it out of my hand. “Don’t eat all of Ollie’s cookies. I’m scared.”

“We have regular Oreos and birthday cake Oreos,” Carter calls. “I can make you a sundae with those!”

“It’s not the same,” Olivia cries.

Carter drags two hands down his face. “I don’t know what to do! What do you want me to do?” His arms flail above his head, gesturing up the staircase. “Tell me what you want me to do!”

“Just forget it! I’ll starve!”

Emmett’s face pales. “Oh fuck. If Olivia is this scary, what’s Cara gonna be like when she’s pregnant?” He wipes his damp forehead. “I don’t know if I can handle it if she ups the scare factor.”

Jaxon shakes his head. “Fuck that. I’ll be on a nine-month Cara fast. Nope. That woman terrifies me in a way I never thought possible.”

I laugh as I pull my vibrating phone from my pocket. It’s Jennie, and when I’m with Carter, she only calls if something is wrong. For instance, sometimes she accidentally hits stop signs. So I race to the bathroom and greet her with a breathless noise.

“Can you pick me up early, please?”

“Sure, sunshine. Everything okay?”

There’s the hesitation I was looking for, the one that tells me no, not really, without outwardly admitting it.

“I’m leaving now,” I tell her. “But don’t forget: you kick ass and take names. Don’t let anyone walk all over you.”

I’m out the door two minutes later without a word from Carter. He was too busy ripping apart his pantry and having a breakdown about ice cream sundaes and brownies to care.

When I pull up out front of SFU, Jennie comes flying out, Simon hot on her heels as he yells after her. She whips open the door and slides in, and I really wanna kiss her, but I also want to keep my balls attached to my body.

“Hey.” I tap her thigh, drawing her gaze to mine, then tug her into me, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Hang on a sec, ’kay, sunshine?”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be right back,” I promise, shutting the door behind me.

It’s cold as balls and I can’t wait for winter to end. I have this vision of spending my summer by a pool where Jennie is scantily clad the entire time.

“Mmm, mmm,” I hum to myself as I stalk toward Simon, that damn song stuck in my head. “Don’t go bacon my heart.”

His eyes zero in on me, angry, confused, before an infuriating smile spreads across his face.

“She really sent you over here to yell at me? Pathetic. I’m not scared of you. Jennie’s so fucking dramatic. If she wasn’t flirting with me all the time, I wouldn’t have kissed her.”

When I stop in front of him, he flinches back, just an inch, before quickly recovering.

Chuckling lowly, he looks me over. “Fucking her brother’s friend and teammate. Classic. Is Jennie as boring in bed as she is the rest of the time? Vanilla sex to go with her vanilla pers—”

The sound of my fist slamming into the flesh of his cheek ends his words prematurely, and fuck, that felt good.

Simon brings a trembling hand to his shocked face. “You—”

My fist connects with his nose this time, blood spattering my knuckles. I grip the collar of his coat and yank him into me.

“Say her name one more time,” I whisper. “I fucking dare you.”

Blood seeps from his nose, gathering on his top lip. His arms come up in surrender.

“I told you not to touch her again without her consent. What does no mean, Simon?”

His lips part, but all that comes out is a croak.

“What does no mean?” I urge again.

“No,” he sputters. “No means no.”

“That’s fucking right, Simon. No means no.” I release his collar and wipe my knuckles on my hoodie. I liked this one, and I especially liked watching Jennie wander around my apartment wearing nothing but it and her panties. Now I have to replace it. “Speak to her again and I’ll put you through the pavement.”

I’m oddly calm as I head to the car, hands tucked in my pockets. I should probably formulate some sort of apology to Jennie for punching Simon on school property or something.

“Hey, so, about that…” I meet her gaze when I slide into my seat. She’s just staring at me, mouth gaped, hazy blue eyes dazed. I slip my fingers beneath my toque, scratching my head. “Are you mad at me? Because I—”

“I didn’t think I was attracted to caveman,” she murmurs, “but I am. I’m attracted to caveman.”

I note the way she’s inching toward me, bottom lip sliding between her teeth, and Lieutenant Johnson stirs in my pants, letting me know he’s ready for duty.

“You want me to take you home and go caveman on you?”

“Yes, I want you to take me home and exert all force necessary.”

“Mmm…” My hand slides along her jaw, angling her face toward mine. “Show you how much stronger I am than you?”

Her fingers glide up my forearms, gripping my biceps. “So strong.”

My lips skim hers. “You want me to tie you up?”

“I want you to strip me down, render me powerless, and fuck me so hard, until I can’t walk and the shape of your cock is imprinted inside me.”

I stare at her, unblinking, for a solid twenty seconds, before finally muttering, “Jesus fucking Christ.”

She grins, giggles, then pops a kiss on my mouth. “I love you. Oh, one sec.” She hits the power button on the window, letting the cold air in as she leans out. “Fuck you, Steve,” she screams at Simon, flipping him the double bird. She turns back around, sinking into her seat with a happy sigh.

“I am so ready to get fucked straight to heaven. Let’s go home, Garrett.”