Play With Me (Playing for Keeps, #2)

by Becka Mack

“You can be independent and still share a life with someone.

It’s not that I don’t crave intimacy, the person who’s always in your corner, who sees you with all your walls down and still likes you. God, how I wouldn’t love to find someone who saw everything, accepted it all. Someone all my own to share the hard things with. Maybe then all those hard things would feel manageable.

Besides, who needs a boyfriend when you’ve got a drawer full of battery-powered ones? Men don’t vibrate, but dildos do.

🤣🤣🤣

“Thanks for the second most awkward night of my life.” “What was the most awkward?” “The day you found my box of dildos.” Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen his face so red.

Jaxon Riley is our brand-new trade, straight from Nashville, and he’s starting tonight.

I love Jaxon

“Yeah, said you ate good. Something about the dessert you brought being, and I quote, orgasmic.” He rolls his eyes. “She’s so dramatic.”

Lmao

“Are you having fun playing this little game?” “Funny you should ask. That’s exactly what I wanna do.” I capture her hands in mine, pinning them on either side of her head. “I want to play.”

With my hand on her throat, I haul her into me. Breathless, she clings to me as I whisper my next words. “C’mon, Jennie. Play with me.”

“This sudden confidence of mine? That’s courtesy of you, Jennie. Knowing you want me as much as I want you makes me feel like I’m on top of the world.”

Every compliment is backhanded, every conversation a secret I’m not in on. And yet all these years I’ve struggled with envy for the relationship they share. Because they have each other, and I have no one.

I’ve never been on a real date. The idea is as thrilling as it is scary.

The older I get, the more prominent my status as a loner becomes. But the thing is, I don’t want to be alone.

felt this too much

I hate this the urge to fit in when I don’t really want to. I want to be unapologetically me, and what I wouldn’t give for people to love those parts. More than that, I want to believe they do.

I’m tired of the doubt, of tucking pieces of myself away in hopes that someone might take me in. No matter how much I starve it, the fear grows like weeds. I’m a tangled web of uncertainties and insecurities, and I don’t recognize myself.

“I need to meet someone who’s never watched hockey,” he grumbles. “Knows nothing about the sport and doesn’t have a single clue who I am. Maybe then I’ll know if they actually like me for me.”

In time Adam

“C’mon, Jennie. Dance with me.” Her grin is a slow explosion, lighting her whole face as all that apprehension fades away. “You’ll dance for me?” “I’ll do anything for you.”

Sometimes the silence is louder than the laughter, an ear-piercing roar that has you begging for it to end.

What you need is a partner, a best friend. Someone who’s patient with you, who waits for you to open up when you’re ready and wants to walk through all your battles with you. Someone who makes you laugh, who complements your incredible qualities.

I know you’re afraid. But life is too short to be afraid.”