Play With Me (Playing for Keeps, #2)

by Becka Mack

To everyone who has ever felt ready to fold themselves in half to fit somebody else’s idea of who they should be… Don’t dull your shine for anyone. The right people will want to bask in your sunshine, not steal it. Until then, soak it all in. You, exactly as you are, are enough.

Poor guy hasn’t figured out that I’m caviar; he can’t afford me no matter how hard he tries.

“I know there’s something extra special waiting for you, Jennie. A love above all the rest. That’s what a soul mate is. Someone with smooth edges to soften our sharp ones. Someone who fits us so perfectly, vibrates on the same frequency, makes all our best parts shine. And together? Together, everything is exactly the way it’s meant to be.”

I hate him. I hate him so much. Him and his lopsided, happy smile, and his stupid blond hair, always a beautiful disaster.

I changed my mind. I want her, and I’m gonna have her.

“That’s you, sunshine. You’re my favorite dessert.” 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.”

“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.”

“Please don’t brush off whatever happened because he didn’t leave bruises on your body. Bruises you can’t see can hurt just as much as the ones you can.” Her eyes lift cautiously to mine, showing me unshed tears. “They hurt a little less when I’m with you,” she whispers. “Thank you for being my friend, Garrett. I think I really needed you.”

“I’m no one’s sunshine.” “Fuck, I love when you’re wrong.” My mouth covers hers, coaxing it open, and her tongue meets mine for a slow, sweeping kiss. “You’re my sunshine.”

“You’re my favorite secret.” She graces me with a detonating grin before pulling my face down to hers. “And you’re mine.”

Because with him, I’m safe. Safe to be myself, safe to feel, safe to want, safe to be. If this is love, I’m in it. If this is love, I never want to let go.

“I’m so fucking tired of pretending.” “Pretending what?” It’s nothing but a breathy whisper as he prowls toward me, matching each of my steps backward. His strong hands cup my face, piercing gaze locked on mine as he looms above me. My heart slams in my chest as his thumb sweeps across my lower lip, and his eyes dip, watching as my lips part on a jagged inhale, before flipping back up to mine. “I’m so fucking tired of pretending I’m not in love with you.”

“This is the kindest, most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me.” “Yeah, well …” He rubs the back of his neck. “I’d do anything for you, Jennie.” “’Cause I’m your sunshine?” He nods. “The brightest.” “And you love me?” “I do. Wild, huh?”

“All mine?” he asks on a whisper. “All yours.”

“You are enough, Jennie. I used to be scared of how enough you were, unattainable almost. I wasn’t sure I could stack up. But I know now. Everything I was missing was something you brought with you, evening me out. I realized I was never not enough; I was waiting for you so we could be whole together.”

I can’t think straight when he watches me like that, like he’s seeing in color for the first time.

“You are everything.” “You’re my everything.”

Jennie’s always been like the sun rising after a black but starless night spent driving alone. You’re a little lost, a little off track, but you keep going, searching for that light, and when you find it, it shines so bright, guiding you home.

One day Garrett was a stranger, a man who blushed every time I spoke to him, who couldn’t string a handful of words together to form a response. And then suddenly, he was everywhere, everything, opening up to me, showing me the man beneath the shy exterior, the incredible friend, the compassionate brother and son. He drew me in, and with each bit he gave me, he showed me a place he had to hold parts of me too.

Garrett looks at me like I’m the best thing in his world. He’s the best thing in mine.

“Every bit of you fits every piece of me, and that’s how I know. We bring out the parts of each other we’ve spent so much of our lives being too scared to show. You’re my best friend, and we found everything we needed when we found each other. Falling in love with you is like checking the very last thing off my bucket list.”

“My best friend, my sunshine, and my whole heart.”

He says I’m his sunshine, but I think he’s mine. I shine a whole lot brighter with that man igniting my sky.