Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1)

by Becka Mack

I wink, and she fucking snorts. Worse, I fucking like it.

Well, fuck me sideways and call me Sally. This is a first. She sure knows how to pump my ego when it doesn’t need pumping.

“I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Never, Ollie. I just want you to consider … consider giving me a shot. Consider me. That’s all I want, Ol. A chance with you.”

“You’re so ridiculously full of yourself it’s ridiculous, Beckett.” The tip of my finger dances up her thigh. “You can be full of me too if you play your cards right.”

Either way, I’m thankful for his warning, because the second we sit, a girl throws herself in my lap. I’m not sure my reaction is the best. I throw my hands in the air and scream, accidentally shoving her off my lap and to the ground when I rocket to my feet and yell out, “I have a girlfriend!”

“What if I fall in love with you?” “Then I’ll fall with you, too, Ollie girl.”

Twat-waffle Simon

“You wanna fight, get your self-doubt out, that’s fine. But you’re gonna do it with me, at my house, together.” His searing stare swings my way. “I refuse to let you push me away again.”

“I know I flip your world upside down. You fucking demolish mine. Please, let me in. Let me see you. Let me have you. All of you.”

“If you want obsession, fierce appreciation, wild, unrestrained passion … If you want fucking magic, Ollie, then it’s me. Let it be me.”

Hustle hard, hip check harder. Carter Beckett.”

“Carter’s still coming to terms with the fact that he loves someone more than himself and Oreos. Ollie’s struggling to admit to herself that she’s in love with the world’s most arrogant, controlling, annoying man. It would be impossible for anybody to wrap their head around such a mind-blowing scenario.”

Every part of me knows that this moment right here, right now, is where I’m meant to be.

“If you want me to fuck you like I love you, that’s a forever kinda thing.” “I like forevers.”

All I want to do is thank him. Thank him for letting me know him, the real him. Thank him for choosing me to be the person he does this with. Thank him for loving me, for opening up to me, for being everything I need and then some.

“You know what I think? I think we’re afraid of the things that have the power to change our lives. My life changed for the better that day I locked eyes with you. So much for the better, Ollie. I’m better when I’m with you.”

“I’m gonna love you the way you deserve to be loved every single day for the rest of your life and my life. I promise.”

It’s a mariachi band. A fucking mariachi band. Carter hired a fucking mariachi band to serenade me at school.

Running my finger along the edge of the pink envelope, I pull the card out. There’s a picture of a smiling octopus on the front, and it says I wish I were an octopus so I had eight hands to touch your butt with. The inside of the card? Way better than the outside. Ollie Girl, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, lived my life a little too carelessly, in ways that people didn’t approve of. But I wouldn’t change a thing. Because I was waiting for you. Waiting for a love that would walk into my life and blow my whole world up. I want to celebrate every Valentine’s Day & birthday with you. Love, Carter

“Congratulations, baby,” I whisper, grinning down at him and smacking my tears away. He crooks a finger at me. “Come here.” He brackets my chin in his hand. “Thank you.” “For what?” “For making me feel like everything is within my reach if I work hard enough. This is amazing. Everything I dreamed of as a kid. But it’s you who makes my world complete.” He touches his lips to mine. “I love you.” With a wink and a smile, Carter steps back onto the ice. My heart bursts in my chest as he lifts that cup above his head, letting out a wild, unrestrained scream that the entire arena echoes back at him.

“Before, nothing scared me more than the idea that I might fall in love. But nothing has ever scared me more than the thought that I might lose you. I know you like to say that I’m ostentatious, that I like to flaunt what I have, that I do everything with flair. And you’re right. Because why wouldn’t I? I’m proud of every damn thing I have, and at the forefront of things I’m smug as hell about having earned is you and your love.”

There is no other option for me than a life with you. I know it’s soon, but I don’t need time to tell me what I already know, that a forever with you can’t come soon enough. Be my forever. Officially, because forever is all you’ve ever been to me. So … marry me, Ollie girl. Say yes.”

“I love you through the perfect moments, and there are so many, but I will always love you through the imperfect ones too.”

Everything begins and ends with you and me and the way you make my heart pump wildly and my stomach do flippy-floppies.”

“Millionaire” by Chris Stapleton. Olivia thinks I picked it because I’m a millionaire. I picked it because if all I had was her and her love, I’d still feel like the richest damn man in the world.

“Describe her to me,” Hank whispers. “She’s … she …” I squeeze my eyes shut for the briefest moment, because I don’t wanna miss a second of this. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” There are no words. She’s like … waking up on Christmas morning when you’re three years old and you finally understand what it’s all about. She’s the moment the rain stops and the sun comes out, lighting up the sky with color, and everything smells new and fresh. She’s the first skate on a frozen lake, surrounded by snowy mountains and pine trees and the freshest breath of air. She’s rolling over in the middle of the night, pulling that warm body into yours and curling around it, and everything’s just right. “She’s just … she’s just …” “Perfection,” Hank finishes quietly.

“Oops.”