Playing Dirty (Leighton U, #4)

by C.E. Ricci

Sometimes it’s nice to just exist in the quiet.

smallest thread of hope imaginable, praying to any deity in existence,

“Play with fire, and you’re gonna get burned, Teddy Bear,” I utter, the warning coming out barely more than a gruff whisper. “Especially if you keep looking at me like that.”

“When it’s your forever on the line—” “—all the codes and rules go right out the damn window,” I finish for him, somehow pulling the advice from the recesses of my memory.

“Because I love you, okay? God, I thought that’d be fucking obvious.” A soft, exasperated laugh leaves him, and he shakes his head. “I love you so much, sometimes I fucking hate you for it—for making me fall to the point where I’d abandon everything else for you. Because I would. I’d sell my team out and give you the pennant. I’d hand my soul over to Hades himself if it made you smile.” He licks his lips and releases a resounding sigh. “You’re the one I’d turn around for, Theo. Over and over again.”