Playing Hard to Get (The Players, #1)

by Monica Murphy

PLAYLIST “august” - Taylor Swift “Come Kick It” - Tesia “Falling in Loves too Mean” - Hether “laugh with me” - Korantemaa “I Don’t Really Know” - FLOOR CRY “Bad Habit” - Steve Lacy “Aloha” - Valley Boy “You&I.” - milk. “The Boat I Row” - Tame Impala “In The Strangest Way” - The Hails Find the rest of the Playing Hard to Get playlist on Spotify: http://bit.ly/3A4XyA8

Athletes. They kind of…scare me. Specifically football players.

I don’t care about sports. And I really don’t like football.

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.

Remember how athletes kind of scare me? 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?

My father told me he wasn’t much good at English either and needed a tutor when he was in college. His tutor just so happened to be my mother. That’s how they met.

I make sure and take home the various playbooks every season, so I can pore over them. Memorize them. That way, no one on the team can figure out that I’m not good at this reading thing.

“Sorry. I get defensive about Blair. None of you deserve to breathe the same air as she does,” I mutter.

“Tell me how you really feel,” Cam says sarcastically.

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.

“The next girl who walks past our table alone,” Cam says, sending us a lopsided smile.

Finally. I spot the shadow of a lone female approaching our table. She’s walking briskly, her head down, fingers clutched tight around the straps of her backpack. Her long dark brown hair streams behind her, floating on the warm breeze. She’s in cropped jeans and a black T-shirt, a cream cardigan tossed over it, and all I can think is damn, she must be hot. In the literal sense. Then I glance up and see her face, immediately recognizing her. It’s the girl from the bookstore. I don’t even know her name.

“Uh huh. Mister Tight End with the nice tight end is flirting with you, Joanna.”

I spent so much time flirting with my bookstore girl, I ended up coming to class late.

“I don’t know.” It’s hard to admit to people—strangers—that I don’t always catch on as quickly as others do. That I need help.

I shrug one shoulder. “He was cheating on me.” His expression turns ferocious. “What an asshole.” “Yep.” I enthusiastically nod my agreement. “Where is he? I can kick his ass if you want me to.”

“I think I’m hot for my tutor.” I drop onto the couch right next to Cam.

Cam hits pause so he can focus on me. “Hot for who?”

“My tutor. Joanna. The girl at the bookstore.”

“The girl we saw at lunch last week?” Cam asks, pulling me from my dirty thoughts. I nod. “She’s kind of hot.” “Jesus, you think so?” Jealousy floods my veins. “Don’t even look at her, you hear me?”

He slips one hand under my jaw, angling my head just so, nipping at my lower lip with his teeth. “I’ve been wanting to do that since I walked into the room,” he murmurs, his deep voice making me shiver.

I’m eager to see her again. Maybe even desperate. And I never feel desperate over a woman. Ever.

“He didn’t take the celibacy vow?” “I’m the only idiot who did that.” His expression turns sheepish. “Regret it yet?”

His gaze holds mine steadily. “You don’t even know how much.”

I chased after her. I don’t do that. Ever.

“How’s that going anyway? The tutoring?” Fucking fantastic. A few sessions in and I know what she sounds like when she moans while I kiss her. I’m learning a lot.

Just like I used to. But I don’t want that anymore. All I want now is… Joanna.

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

“I don’t want you coming over. I’m not your secret hook-up. I’m not…anything like that. I’ve been lied to by a guy before. And I’m pretty sure I’ve been kept a secret. I refuse to ever let that happen again.” Grabbing my coffee and my book bag, I start to walk away from him. “See you Thursday!”

She’s hot. And interesting. I want to know more. I want to learn about her. What she likes and hates. Her favorite colors and movies and food. What she looks like in the morning when she first wakes up.

“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.”

“This isn’t about me, Jo. This is about you. And how beautiful you are, even though you can’t see it.”

“Hi.” Her smile is confident, her gaze sending me a secret message that says, I know I’m destroying you with this dress and that was my plan all along because I’m an evil queen.

“And what did I do to deserve this?” Her eyes are dancing and I can’t help myself—I kiss her again. She exists. That’s why she deserves it. She makes my life a lot brighter, and I’m pretty sure she’s completely unaware of how much she matters to me. I need to show her. Tell her.

She’s so adorable. And sweet. Beautiful. Sexy. I’ve got it so bad.

I’m in love with Knox Maguire.

“Is that what you want from me? Something like what’s in that book?” This man. Can he not see he gives me everything I want every time we’re together?

“You already give me that.” I decide to be one hundred percent truthful. “You are like my own personal book boyfriend.”

I’m totally in love with Joanna Sutton.

“It’s going to work for Jo Jo and me, no matter what changes.” The words fall from my lips as if I have no control over myself. “It’s the real deal, huh?” “She is the real deal.”

He called her a good girl. The kind you marry. That fucker was right. Joanna is a good girl. She’s mine.

There’s no way in hell I’m going t...

“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.”

“My dad told me at dinner, when you know, you know.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “And with you, baby, I know. I’m in love with you, Joanna Sutton. And I’m so fucking glad you feel the same way because, if you didn’t, I would’ve done everything in my power to convince you that you should love me. I would’ve worn you down until you would’ve been like, fine. Jesus, I love you.”

“And more. Because that’s how much I love you. You’re the first thing I think of when I wake up, and the last thing I remember before I fall asleep. Something will happen during my day and I’ll think, ‘I need to tell Jo Jo about this.’ Everything in my life begins and ends with you.” I cup her cheeks with both hands, tipping her face up, so I can kiss her. “I love you.” She closes her eyes, nuzzling her cheek against my palm. “I love you, too.”