The Striker (Gods of the Game, #1)

by Ana Huang

Moments like this meant I’d made it and proved my critics wrong—which I had, many times over. After all, I was Asher Fucking Donovan.

“However, I have to commend you on achieving something that I thought was impossible.” “What’s that?” “Making me like someone with the last name DuBois.” I rolled my eyes even as I fought an exasperated laugh. “You are an incorrigible flirt.” “Flirt? Yes. Incorrigible? That’s a matter of opinion.”

“Before you say anything else, this…” I gestured between us. “Ends now.” Amusement slid across his infuriatingly perfect face. “What’s this?” “The flirting. It’s unprofessional.” “I’m afraid flirting is part of my nature, darling.”

“I’m just that type of student.” “You mean a teacher’s pet?” “Darling, if you want to call me pet, I won’t stop you.”

“Do you have many of those?” “What?” “Rules.” “I’m a ballerina. I live by rules.” “That’s too bad.” The light finally turned green, and I broke eye contact to focus on the road. “You’d have more fun without them.”

“I have other things I could do,” he said. “I wouldn’t say they’re better.”

If her smile was a burglar, her laugh was a fucking thief because I was pretty sure she just stole a piece of my heart from right out under me.

“I think you’re capable of more than you give yourself credit for,” I said. “But at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself what you’d regret more—trying and failing, or not trying at all?”

Look at Eldorra’s royal couple. They overcame a centuries-old law to be together.

“We all have ugly feelings sometimes. It’s a part of human nature. But it’s what we do with them that counts.”