Playing Hard to Get (The Players, #1)

by Monica Murphy

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.

It’s not that I hate my job. I love working here, but sometimes, I hate peopling. Peopling is the worst.

“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.

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.”

“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.”