Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1)

by Becka Mack

“One day, some girl is gonna walk into your life and flip your whole world upside down and you’re not gonna know what the fuck to do with yourself except drop to your knees and beg her to never leave.”

Another sigh, like she’s resigning to the fact that I’m not going to get up and walk away simply because she doesn’t relent easily. I hate to tell her this, but I’ve never wanted to stay put so badly.

“Has anyone ever been able to tell you no?” she asks on a whisper. My chest puffs with pride. “Never.” A wide grin blooms on her face. “Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.” My forehead crumples as I blink down at her, her hand slipping from mine as she steps out of reach. “What?” “Enjoy the rest of your night,” she calls over her shoulder before she squeezes through the crowd, disappearing. Well, fuck me sideways. I don’t like this.

His grin is explosive, handsome, sexy, infuriating. Leaning over the boards, he stares down the length of his stick at me, the tip resting on top of the glass. “Hi.”

Carter hops over the boards, smiling at me before he turns and plops down on the bench. Two minutes later, he lines up for a face-off, bending over, stick across his knees, perfect hockey butt in the air. And he smiles at me. He skates by the bench. Smiling at me. Squirts water into his mouth. Smiling at me. All I can focus on is his tall, broad body moving fluidly across the ice, the quick, effortless cross of his feet, one over the other as he tears down the ice, his stick in front of him, puck on the tip. He’s constantly yelling, commanding attention, leading his team, cracking jokes with players on both sides. And when he’s not doing that, he’s looking at me.

“Liv’s gonna hollow your eyes out with a spork,” he says, toweling off in the change room. Seems like something she would do.

“I like when you smile,” he murmurs. “And laugh. It makes me want to smile too.”

I slip my hand into his. “You can say cock sock in front of me all you want.” Carter’s mouth dips to my shoulder. “Can I—” “No.” I cover his face with my hand and shove him away.

“C’mon, pip-squeak. Let’s go get our faces painted.” “I’m twenty-five. I’m not getting my face painted.” * * * I got my face painted. Honestly, I don’t want to talk about it.

Then he shuts the door, hits me with two finger guns, and yells, “It’s a date!”

Carter scoffs, sweeping his arms out. “You can’t kiss my date at midnight!” “For God’s sake, Carter, this isn’t a date.” “You can’t kiss my not-a-real-date-but-actually-is-a-real-date at midnight!”

With Olivia, the ache doesn’t feel so startlingly empty. I don’t know why, but I do know that much. I also know that the thought alone scares the shit out of me.

“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.”

Her wide eyes lock on mine, cheeks blazing, hand hanging there in midair, holding on to a… A goddamn Oreo. Woman’s my fucking soul mate.

She tilts her head down the street. “Um, I’m gonna go grab a tea at the coffee shop down the road.” “Oh. What a coincidence. I was also about to go there and get a tea. Guess we can walk together. Maybe grab a seat at the same table.” “You drink tea?” “Never.”

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

His own grin is detonating, exploding across his face as his hand skims my jaw, bringing my lips to his. “I think I love your smile more than anything in this world.”

“You’re my favorite everything, Ollie.”

“I’ve made so many mistakes in my life. So many. But you, Ollie? You’re the first thing I’ve done right.”

“Hey, Ollie!” I hear someone holler, and then Carter’s shrieking “No!” His face disappears, along with everything else, until all I see is black, and I hurry to pull on my dress and a pair of tights. “Cover yourself, Ollie!” Carter screams. “Incoming! Incoming!”

i’m dead. just imagine him yelling “NOOOOOO”

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

“New snow tires next winter.” I swap her keys for the truck keys on her ring. “Or an entirely new car.” Birthday present? Maybe. Seems like something she’d be likely to castrate me over, though.

“Careful’s my middle name, Ol.” “Careful is not your middle name. Careful’s not even in your vocabulary.”

“Can I help you, grumpy pants?” Carter pins his arms across his chest, scowling at me from across the room, where he looks anything but relaxed in the La-Z-Boy he’s lounging in. In fact, he looks quite grumpy, hence the nickname. “I’m not a grumpy pants.” “You’re being a grumpy pants.” “Obviously I’m being a grumpy pants!” He flails a flappy hand through the air.

“I think you look pretty,” Garrett says. I wonder if he realizes he’s halfway to yelling. Probably, because his ears burn red and he promptly strides away, sinking down to the couch.

love the Jennie and and Garrett snippets

Jennie sinks down between us, slinging one leg over the other, and Garrett’s turquoise eyes widen, staring at the strappy black heel bouncing next to his knee. “Hey. Hi.” He drags his palms down his thighs. “Do you have enough…do you want some more…Let me give you some space.” He rockets to his feet, knocking his hat off his head when he shoves his fingers through his hair. “Anybody want another beer?” I snicker-snort, nudging Jennie. “Garrett might be scared of you.”

“Hey, Ollie, look.” I hold the canister between my legs and aim the hose outward. When she meets my gaze, I squeeze the handle, a stream of water spraying out in a fine mist as I swivel my hips. “It looks like I’m jiz—” “Yes, Carter, I know what it looks like.”

Olivia’s my vulnerability. As strong as I am, loving her makes me weak too.

For fuck’s sake, for a blind man with an injured knee, the guy sure can move.

I reach under the table, slipping my hand beneath her skirt, petting her thigh. “Keep talking, Ollie girl.” I keep on my path but stop and make a face when I can’t get to where I’m going. “What the fuck is this?” She shifts back, flashing me her toned legs beneath the army green skirt she’s sporting. “It’s a skort.” “A skort? What the fuck is a skort?”

Carter’s digging into his second helping when he asks me a question, looking down at his plate. Actually, it’s several questions, spilled out in the form of word vomit, which is usually my forte, not his. “Do you wanna get married? What kinda wedding do you want? Big? Small? Chocolate cake or vanilla?” He makes a noise, like he can’t believe he asked that. “That’s a stupid question.” He twirls his hand, laying his palm faceup in the air. “Chocolate, obviously. Maybe decorated with those tiny Oreos. Or big ones. Double stuffed.” He raises his head to peer at me only after silence has stretched between us for a good ten seconds. It’s a slow raise, too, tentative, maybe a little nervous, and I watch pink splotch up his neck and pool in his cheeks, which, again, is usually common for me, not him.

Cara looks around the room while Alannah frowns at her hands. “Jennie.” She snaps her fingers. “You’ve got dainty, nimble fingers. Lord knows how; your brother’s got damn sausage fingers. You’ll do.” “Oh, goodie,” Jennie mutters, planting herself on the floor around the coffee table, grabbing a stack of card stock. “Just what I was hoping for.”

We’ve grown so much together, learned what the other needed, so maybe we weren’t perfect, but the way she’s loved me has always been perfect. And that’s how I’ve always known: my forever is a person. It’s wide chocolate eyes that peer up at mine, and dark, silky curls that slip through my fingers. It’s a small hand in mine that warms my entire body, a smile that gets my heart thudding a little bit harder, a little bit faster. It’s the ears that hear all my dreams and the arms that hold me up when I’m tired, when I forget how to stand. It’s the lips on my jaw, my cheek, my hand, the ones that whisper my favorite I love you, that promise me a lifetime against my skin.

Never in my life has somebody looked at me the way that man looks at me, like I’m the only thing he sees, like someone seeing in color for the first time.

I knock again, over and over again, and my phone keeps buzzing, the video doorbell telling me there’s someone at the front door. I know there’s someone at the front door; the someone is me.

Cara blinks at Olivia. Six times. She approaches the window, gazing out, like she’s seeing what Olivia sees. Then she throws her arms around her bestie. “Oh, you’re right! Thank God.” She giggles like a hyena. “Kinda lost my head there for a minute.” “Yeah, a minute,” Emmett mumbles, and immediately cowers back into the wall at the glare Cara shoots him.

“Do I trust you?” Drumming her fingers on her chin, Cara hums. “No, not really. But I’ll still love you after my wedding, so it’s best it’s you guys.” She grins, but it’s one of the scary ones, the kind that has us inching backward. “Plus, how hard can it be to set the chairs up perfectly? Just make me happy, that’s all I ask.” She pats our shoulders and dances away, giggling. “I want to go home,” Adam whispers. “I’m scared.” I clap a hand to his back. “We all are, buddy.”

“They say there comes a time in everybody’s life when you meet your soul mate, the person who will love and cherish you for the rest of your life, hold you close and never let you go.” The women in the crowd all aww and Emmett grins at Cara. “For Cara, that day happened at seventeen when she met me.”

She’s beautiful, my perfect companion, like we were made at the same time, two halves of a whole meant to find and complete each other one day.

“I’m so happy to have control of the only five minutes Cara couldn’t plan tonight. She tried, obviously. I was given a very specific set of rules that detailed what I was and wasn’t allowed to say. But I accidentally lost that list.”

“You can have it. This tradition is ridiculous.” Cara gasps, spinning back to me. “I know you didn’t just call anything at my wedding ridiculous, Parker.” I slam my lips together, shaking my head. “No. Nope.”

“You’ve been sleeping for four hours.” “Four hours?” I flop onto my back, spreading my arms out wide. “Well, if I’ve been sleeping for four hours, surely it must be time to wake up.”

My world only spins so beautifully because of the way you’ve opened my heart and made me feel like myself again.

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.