Play With Me (Playing for Keeps, #2)

by Becka Mack

Because Carter Beckett is good at two things: playing hockey and loving on his new wife, Olivia. Something he’s terrible at? Keeping secrets.

“Honestly, Jennie, I just solved the problem that I affectionately call my son. Please don’t turn into him.”

Olivia gives him a reassuring pat while my mom swoons and I gag. “Trust me, baby. Nobody loves as loud as you do.”

“Living without your soul mate is something no one should ever have to do,” Hank murmurs. He pats my hand. “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.”

Even Adam has a swollen cheekbone. He looks happiest of all. “I never get in fights! My dad’s so proud of me for plowing the other goalie into the boards!” He runs a palm down his puffed chest. “Says he recorded it to show all his friends.”

“But I didn’t mean … it wouldn’t be gross. It would be great. No. That came out wrong too.” He squeezes his eyes shut, then finally spits, “I have a concussion,” and holds his hand out.

the Disney obsession is real with you Becketts.”

He looks like he’s about to make me his snack, and I’m not sure I’ll put up a fight.

Well, that won’t work. Absolutely not. If I can’t have her, nobody else on this team gets her.

This man right here is all devil as he slowly crowds me, gaze locked on mine as he pins my hips to the wall. “Now tell me about that huge mistake you wanna make.”

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.”

“Eyes on me, sunshine. Always on me.”

But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna sit by and let someone disrespect you or your boundaries just because we aren’t dating. I’m still gonna have your back.”

“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.”

I push the thought from my head, focusing on my favorite person

I don’t know when she became my favorite person to hang out with, but she is. I find myself thinking about her when I’m out with the guys after a game, or warming up on the ice. I text her for no reason at all, simply because I like talking to her.

Her first instinct is always to run, and mine is to hug. All I want to do is wrap her in my arms and promise her there’s another side to whatever happened, an ending where she’s able to move past it and stop letting it impact her life the way it does.

“I think we share a connection that goes beyond your brother. With or without him, I wouldn’t hesitate to place you in my life and keep you there.”

“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.”

“Thank you for being my friend, Garrett. I think I really needed you.”

I keep waiting for Christmases without him to get easier, but I’m learning that’s not how grief works.

“You hockey players are all the same: cocky little shits.”

Garrett’s nothing like the players you see in the news. He’s like a soft, gooey cinnamon roll.

I’d prefer to remain oblivious to the eventual goodbye I’ll have to say to the only meaningful relationship I’ve ever had, the deepest, most genuine connection I’ve found with a person. Goodbyes suck, and no part of me is ready for the one with Garrett that looms somewhere in the future.

His laugh is my favorite sound, his smile my favorite sight.

He breaks a wall off one house and looks Olivia dead in the eye as he stuffs the entire thing in his mouth. “Wha’ now, pwincess?” he mumbles, then dashes away with a squeal when she lunges for him.

Christmas snuggles are the best snuggles,

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. You have such a big heart, Jennie, and I wish you’d open up a space in it for someone. I know you’re afraid. But life is too short to be afraid.”

I soak it all in, because the truth is, I feel a little bit more me when I’m with this man. He sees past all the bravado, sees both the bold and the quiet, the gentle that simmers below the fierce, and instead of turning away, he takes my hand and walks with me.

“Best friends don’t lose each other, Jennie. I’ll be right here, always. I promise you that.”

I wonder if I make her feel warm the same way she does me, like a mug of hot chocolate after coming in from the cold, or stepping outside in the spring and feeling the sunshine on your face after a long winter.

“Have some candy. You look like you’re plotting a murder.”

Palming the back of her head, I haul her forward and kiss her forehead. “I’m sorry. I was just worried. I’m glad you’re safe.”

Worried doesn’t begin to describe how I was feeling twenty minutes ago. I flew home, blowing through two stop signs at empty intersections, and when I found her crying on the curb in the parking garage, I nearly suffocated her in my arms.

She averts her eyes. “I don’t want to drive anymore, not in the snow.” “And you don’t have to. I’ll pick you up whenever I’m in town.”

“You weren’t made to fit in, Jennie. You stand out way too much to hide in the shadows.”

“I’m sorry, Garrett.” The words are fractured and hoarse, and when my arms open, she falls into them, burying her face in my shoulder as she trembles in my hold, and I know: My heart hasn’t ever beat so hard for another person.

Garrett’s my solid and my steady. He’s the constant in my life, the smile always waiting for me, the friendship that never wanes, the connection that grows stronger each day. He’s the warm arms that hug me, the fingers that drift down my back, the quiet voice that eases my worries at the end of the day and promises to be my safe place to land.

“You have the effect on me,” he murmurs. “Making me want to be better.” “You don’t need to be better. You’re already the best person I know.”

Carter was born a protector. It’s part of what makes him a good leader, an amazing captain. His team is his family, and he won’t let anybody touch them. It also makes him an incredible brother, even if a little—or a lot—overbearing at times.

But now, as I meet Garrett’s stare over Carter’s shoulder, I’m painfully aware that there’s one heartbreak I never want to experience, one person I never want to lose, and right now, he’s wearing a gentle, patient smile all for me.

She’s beautiful, my best friend. She makes me smile when she’s not even doing a damn thing, and she lives rent-free in my head twenty-four seven.

But I’ve come to realize I’m tired of hiding; nobody is worth disappearing for.

“You’re worth a second chance, Garrett.”

“If I were to have seen anything tonight, it would have been a man who had his eyes on you every single time you looked away, someone who’s as equally obsessed as my husband. If you jump, Jennie, I think he’s going to be waiting there to catch you.”

“I’m not crying,” I cry. “Just in case you were wondering.” I choke out a pathetic sob. “It’s allergy season.” “It’s February.”

“I love when you wear my sweater,” he murmurs. “Everything in me screams mine.”

My mind is a wonderful mess, where all I know is every single part of me lights up with his touch, lets me know that right here with him is exactly where I was always meant to be.

“How do you like your eggs?” I must be some kind of stupid to consider answering fertilized.

I believe life puts us in the path of those people we need, that we’re going to stumble across each other one way or another.