The Hardest Fall

by Ella Maise

“You’re not angry at me, are you? I’m really hoping that smile on your face means you’re amused and not psychotic.”

“So the best thing you could come up with was telling her I was gay?”

“I think you get the picture.” “Maybe I do get the picture.” His lips tipped up.

“Getting in my push-ups.”

My body heated, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t because of my workout.

Eyes up, Dylan. Don’t look at her ass, man.

I’d met shy girls before, but none of them had the effect Zoe was having on me.

This weird thing I had going on with Zoe was new to me.

Yet, there I was, standing in a kitchen, staring at a girl’s feet and finding it extremely adorable

I was damn good at reading a player’s next move, but with the way Zoe was playing, I had a hard time guessing where the ball would come rushing toward me from.

I wasn’t a dumbass; I knew I was attracted to her—my

“If I don’t believe in myself, why would anybody else?

Her smile grew bigger, and I frowned at her lips.

“Do you wanna make a bet with me, Zoe?”

“Let’s bet on a kiss,” I said, deciding to end her misery. “I think we’re gonna end up kissing one of these days, and I bet you’ll be the first one to beg for it.”

I hadn’t, and I didn’t like it, but I was still unsure about her dating situation.

She’d said it was complicated, and complicated never boded well for a relationship. He was probably a douchebag anyway.

“You said it was complicated. Things change, and again, the worst that can happen is you’ll win the b...

“Scared to lose? If you’re so sure of yourself, why not just take the bet?”

“I’m not gonna fall at your feet”—she wildly swung her hand in my direction—“just because I saw you half naked. A lot of guys work out. I’ve watched a lot of guys work out.”

“If you think that’s what makes me special—the fact that I have muscles—you’re definitely in for a surprise. Come on, what do you have to lose? I’...

I promise I’m not even gonna mention this bet again. Just an innocent game between friends. We’ll sti...

“It’s okay. I understand if you don’t trust yourself around me.”

“If I win, I get to have a second kiss…and a third one. After all, three seems to be the magic number with us.”

If the color of her bra straps were anything to go by, she was wearing matching underwear, which was a thing that got me going. A sexy set of matching underwear kicked everything up a notch for me.

Again, as we seemed to do, we stood there staring at each other for a few seconds, both of us sporting a small smile. This time around she was the one to look away first, and I was nice enough not to point it out.

“You know this means if you beg me for a kiss, you’ll lose too, right?”

When I wasn’t fast enough because I was busy trying to figure out how she had come into my life out of nowhere and how I was going to survive her, she

On the field, I had to be their teammate, but as soon as we stepped off that green turf, I didn’t know them. I was getting better at compartmentalizing.

He looked like a warrior out on that field.

I laughed when all his teammates rushed over to him as he did a little dance with his hips and they bumped chests and fists—

At the very least, it always brought out my inner stripper. It was weirdly sexy, or maybe it was only sexy to me because I was weird?

Dylan Reed was staring at me upside down.

Watching his muscles ripple under that smooth skin that begged you to touch, lick, and slurp, to…do all the things you couldn’t and shouldn’t and wouldn’t do to a friend…

Could I never win with this guy?

“I think I heard…’pussy growl’ at one point? That stuck for some reason. Let’s say it was a little before that.”

“I’m just gonna go jump off the building now,”

I wasn’t mortified because he’d caught me singing, but singing that song?