Breathe With Me (Playing For Keeps #5)

by Becka Mack

Do I immediately like him because we’re alike, or do I hate him because nobody outshines Cara Nicole Hunter? Only time will tell.

Listen, I don’t sport.

“I don’t get on my knees for no⁠—” Oh. Oh, Jesus. Jesus fucking fuckballs.

“You see, you forgot to get my name.” There go his eyes, roaming the length of me again, like he’s committing it to memory. He lays a hand over his heart like the saint he is. “And it would be heartless of me to let you walk away without it.”

“C’mon, Mrs. Brodie. The quicker we get through the formalities, the quicker we get to the fun stuff, like my ring on your finger and you in my bed for the rest of our lives.”

I, Cara Nicole Hunter, have failed. I’m no longer a confident queen.

“Good girl. That certainly wasn’t an I’m taken, though.”

“I was worried my cock wouldn’t fit in there, but now I see. Perfect mouth, just like the rest of you. You’ll have no trouble, will you?”

“Now, I know what you’re thinking.” He shifts me up onto the edge of the counter, hand slipping from my jaw down to the base of my throat where he grips me gently. “But one look is all it took to know you had to be mine. I don’t deserve you now, but I’m gonna spend the rest of my life making up for that, and when I die, I’ll be a worthy man.” He tilts my head back, mouth hovering a breath from mine. “Tell me I can have you, gorgeous. Because it’s you or no one.”

I was unstoppable before Emmett. With him, I’m indestructible.

“That what you want, gorgeous?” “No.” My head shakes desperately. “God, no.” “Then lose the fucking attitude and ask me nicely.”

Emmett Brodie fucks like a criminal on the run. One who knows he’s going down, who’s given in to the depravity, deciding to savor every last bit of his final meal. Emmett Brodie fucks me like a goddamn animal.

He tosses his Vipers ball cap on his head and spins it backward. That may be his only saving grace, because I cannot fucking resist Emmett Brodie in a backward baseball hat and an arrogant grin.

“Obsessed boy falls first and harder,” I murmur into the safety of Emmett’s chest. “I love this trope.”

“Yeah, I never cry either. One thing about me? I’m totally in control of my emotions at all times.”

“The world is cruel to moms. You get crucified for going back to work too early and sending your kids to daycare, because it’s such a crucial time in their lives, or you get crucified for staying home with them because then you’re raising spoiled kids and not contributing to household finances. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

I’d happily spend my days worshipping one of the finest creations this world has ever seen: Emmett Brodie.

Obsessed with him? As fucking if.

“It’s been six days,” I croak. “I know. And I know that scares you. Scares me too, because I know this feeling is only gonna grow. Keeps me up at night, just staring at you, because suddenly it feels like my world is centered around a single person, and I am terrified that without you … everything collapses.”

“Emmett, your girlfriend hurt my feelings.” “She hurt your ego,” he corrects, stuffing a tortilla in his mouth. “’Bout time someone did.”

“I’m going to marry you, Cara. I see my future as clear as day.” “Yeah? What’s it look like?” Emmett cups my cheek, resting his forehead against mine. “It looks like you.”

“It’s, like, an inch.” “You would know, shrimp dick.”

“You’re my landslide, Emmett. Everything I thought I knew fell to my feet when our worlds collided. Then we rebuilt a world together, and I finally understood why good things needed to end so something so much more beautiful could be built in their place.”

Cara is all the best parts of me. I know she’ll be all the best parts of our child too. And I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that.

But now … now I feel like I’m standing on the shoreline, watching her drown, and I don’t know how to swim. I don’t know how to save her. I’ll try anyway. Throw myself headfirst into the water and figure it the fuck out. Because I’m not letting her go down.

Sometimes I think seeing me brings her back to life, the same way it does for me when I see her. I can’t look at her without being reminded that my heart continues to pound in my chest for her and her alone.

“There is almost never a good reason for a man to be talking. Not when there are much better uses for their big mouths.”

There are four things I love to do with my mouth, in no particular order: Talk, eat, drink, and suck cock.

And I have never, ever loved anything the way I love my husband.

“Do you hear me, Cara? I was existing before you. But since you? Since you, I’ve been living.”

“I know, baby. I know. So let me do it for you. Let me be the strong one. Let me be brave. Let me fight, Cara. I’ll fight for you every damn day, until I take my last breath, and after that? After that I’ll find a way to keep fighting. You’re not alone, Cara.”

“Your heart is a mosaic,” he tells me softly, my face in his warm, capable hands. “Thousands of pieces woven together, each one with its own story. Your heart is beautiful and kind, and it loves the way it does not in spite of all its pieces, but because of them.”

You aren’t whole, but you aren’t meant to be. You’re broken. And the beautiful thing about being broken? There’s so much more space for the light to shine in. And in that light, you get to rebuild yourself however the fuck you want to.”

“Breathe, baby. Breathe with me. Because I can’t breathe without you.”

“There isn’t a world out there, a lifetime that exists from now until forever, where I’m not yours and you’re not mine. I don’t need to dream about a brighter future, because wherever life takes me, I’ll be standing next to you. You’re my life, Cara. My yesterday, my today, and my tomorrow. And I’m going to love you right for every one of those days.”

It’s wild how you can be surrounded by people your entire life, only to meet a single person and suddenly realize you’ve gone all those years never knowing what true friendship feels like.

“I will not cry over Taco Bell and ice cream.”

“Because that’s what true friends do. That’s what healthy, safe relationships look like. Showing up in whatever capacity you can without fear that you’ll be punished for it, because at the end of the day, your relationship is rooted in empathy, respect, and love.”

There is something about big, strong men holding teensy babies that I will simply never, ever get over.

Imagine thinking liking pineapple on pizza means you have a wide palate? Garrett That’s fucking crazy LOL

Love yourself enough to know that the only person who determines your worth is you. Love yourself enough, value yourself so much, that giving up? It’s no longer an option. Sometimes the only voice cheering you on is your own, so it should always be the loudest.”

I’m gonna ruin that fucking pussy tonight. Why do you think I’m one goal shy of a hat trick? I’m cashing in.

She glows from the inside out as a mother.

My name is Cara Nicole Brodie, and I am proud to be a puck slut.

apparently the internet really likes me. I mean, I knew that, but it’s nice that everyone else knows, too, ya know?