Playing Hard to Get (The Players, #1)

by Monica Murphy

To those who live for the hope of it all This one is for you

TAYLOR

I shove a book onto the shelf, a little more aggressively than necessary, and then turn and run straight into someone. A very solid, extremely tall someone. It felt like I ran into a brick wall, I hit him so hard. “Oh hey.” A deep, rumbling voice says as he reaches out, grabbing hold of my elbows, steadying me after the blow. “You okay? Sorry about that.”

“You promise?” He smiles. Oh. Shit. He has a nice smile. Straight, white teeth. The faintest dimple denting his right cheek.

This one is the scariest of them all. He’s large and intimidating and handsome and good lord, who allowed a man to smell this good?

I’m sitting on Knox Maguire’s lap, his eyes going wide when he registers who I am. “Wait a sec. Do I know you?” he asks.

“She’s kind of hot.” “Jesus, you think so?” Jealousy floods my veins. “Don’t even look at her, you hear me?”

“I’ve been wanting to do that since I walked into the room,” he murmurs, his deep voice making me shiver.

“Why would I be jealous of her?”

“Not sure.”

“Considering I followed you into the bathroom and left Daphne out there.”

At the same exact time, he quietly confesses, “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

“Kissing you, Jo Jo. I can get kind of fixated sometimes.” He kisses me like he can’t help it. “Pretty sure I’m completely obsessed with you.”

Vanilla lattes and Taylor Swift and soft blankets she can snuggle under.

She hands her phone over to me so I can look at it and I can immediately see it in my eyes, how gone I am over her. Does she see it? Does she know?

“You make it easy for me. I just want to see you happy. That’s my end goal.” He leans in and kisses the tip of my nose. “You are my end goal, Jo Jo.”