The Player Next Door Quotes

“He shakes his head. “Look at me, standing out here in the rain, still trying to convince you that I’m not trying to use you,” he mutters more to himself. “You’re still so fucking complicated, Scarlet.”

“I guess you better get back inside to what’s easy.” My voice cracks as I turn to walk home.

He grabs my hand, stopping me in my tracks.

“Who says that’s what I want?” He tugs me gently toward him. Truthfully, it doesn’t take much—nothing at all—to lead me into his broad chest. “I’m not a seventeen-year-old kid anymore.” He leans in to press his forehead against mine. “And ever since you came back, I can’t get you out of my head.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“You are not hanging that up in my kitchen.” Curiosity begs me to flip through it to find Shane’s month, but I refrain. “Our kitchen.” “You’re a squatter!”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Wow.” “Is that a genuine wow or a ‘you’re a loser’ wow?”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“But, just in case, why don’t you leave your number so we can call you?” She opens the notebook that sits on my hallway console table and holds up a pen. I shoot her a glare behind his back as he bends over to jot down his number. “He’s the motherfucker. Literally!” I mouth. “I know,” she mouths back. “Prank-call later.” I press my lips together to keep from laughing. Justine would do that.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Friends don’t masturbate about friends!”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Is that hard to do?” “So hard, big daddy,” Justine answers. “Shut up!” I hiss into the phone, a giggle escaping before I stifle it.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you need to make sure you call him Daddy while you’re riding him. Repeatedly. Extra points if you scream it while you’re coming.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Plus you want my advice.” “I do?” “Yeah. On what it’s like to bang a dad.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Are you crazy?”

"In love with you?” The corner of his mouth curls.“Completely.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“But, that’s the thing about life—we each have our own to live, with all the regrets and mistakes that go along with it.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“I don’t believe it!” His shoulders sag with his deep exhale. “After all these years, Scarlet Reed has finally forgiven me.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“The truth is, I already know, deep down, that I want to give Shane another shot, no matter how dumb an idea that may be, no matter how much he might hurt me again. I’m just terrified I won’t survive getting played by him a second time.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Seriously, Shane, I can handle this. I don’t need help.”

“Were you always this stubborn?”

“Were you always this desperate for my attention?” I throw back but soften the cutting words with a smile. “Go and play with your son. I can handle carrying a few cans of paint on my own. I’m not one of your damsels in distress.” He watches me intently, as if he wants to say something more.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Yup. Still got it.” Shane caps it off with a playful grin. I can’t tell if he’s referring to football or his looks. Yes to both, but he doesn’t need his ego stroked.

“Eh.” I shrug, feigning indifference.

His jaw drops. “What do you mean, ‘eh’? You saw me play in high school.”

“A few times.”

He snorts. “Yeah, right. You went to all the games. You’d sit up on the right side, near the announcer booth. It was like it was your spot. For years.” I frown.

“You saw me there?” He never told me that. I assumed I didn’t exist to him before that summer we dated.

“Of course, I did. You wore this long, red-and-black sweater that you’d hug around your body like you were cold, even when it was seventy degrees out. I always felt like I should run up there and give you a hug.” I did always wear that sweater. It was old and ratty, and I loved it. And my fifteen- and sixteen-year-old self would have died from happiness had Shane Beckett run into the stands to even acknowledge me.
“You stopped coming senior year,” he murmurs, more to himself, his brow puckering.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“This is Shane Beckett I’m dealing with, I remind myself. My first love, my first heartbreak. Still the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid eyes on. Rationally, I can’t stop myself from being attracted to him. What I can—must—stop myself from doing is acting on it.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“I’d be willing to try to make friends work,” I offer. “But just know that I don’t trust you. I probably never will.”

“Never? Seriously?” He winces. “But it was so long ago.”

“It doesn’t matter how long ago it was.” I hesitate. “You hurt me.” It’s terrifying to declare that to him, as if I’m making myself vulnerable.

He licks his lips. “There’s not much I can say except that I’m sorry. If I could go back in time, I’d do a lot of things differently.” He adds that last part quietly, more to himself. It’s comforting to hear him apologize—again—but he’s right. We can’t change the past.

“Let’s just keep things as they are, okay? Simple.” And brimming with sexual tension.

His piercing eyes are locked on mine. “If that’s what you want.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“I steel my spine. “I told you, you can’t have me again.”

“Is it because you have a boyfriend?”

“I don’t have—” Oh, fuck. Joe. I keep forgetting about him. “No. Not because of him. We broke up anyway.” Why did I just say that? Joe was a solid alibi.

“You don’t seem too upset about that.”

I shrug. “It was inevitable. Long distance and all.” He seems to weigh that for a moment.

“So, you’re single again?” I’m struggling to suppress my smile. Shane so blatantly pursuing me isn’t as easy to shrug off as I expected.

“More like happily unattached.”

“Is it because you’re not attracted to me anymore?” He manages a straight face for all of two seconds before it splits into a smug grin. I can’t help my laugh, even as my cheeks flush. We both know damn well that I am; he’s caught me gawking too many times to argue otherwise.

“Someone came back from his brush with nature loving himself a bit too much.” I’m sure it serves him well when he’s posing for calendars and selling his wares on stage for charity come December.

“Nah.” He reaches out to snap a spent Shasta daisy off its stem. “I just had a lot of time to think about things while I was away. About things I want in life.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“I try to play it off with a derisive snort.
“You’re kidding, right?” He peers intently at me.
“What if I said I wasn’t?”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“He crouches opposite me, meeting me at eye level across my picket fence, his powerful, shapely shoulders within reach of my fingertips.
“What?” I ask warily.
He hesitates. “What if I said I wanted you?”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“He sighs heavily. “Do you think you can try to forgive me for the stupid, regrettable shit I did when I was seventeen, and give me a chance to at least be your friend?” He emphasizes the “at least,” as if he’s gunning for more. Or maybe that’s what I want to hear.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“That’s how serious I am.” His hard expression amplifies his words.

“The only thing I don’t regret about her is Cody. I’ll never regret him.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“You had your chance with me, Shane Beckett, and you blew it.” With that, I disappear into my house.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“You know, I missed you,” he calls out after me.

“Good.” My chest tightens. What I would have done to hear that, all those years ago. As far as I could tell, I no longer existed to him. But why is he telling me this now?

“Didn’t you miss me? Even a little bit?”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Shane has a son?
With Penelope Rhodes?
My stomach clenches as if it’s taken a hard punch.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“Because of Cody.” He lets a beat pass. “My son.” My mouth drops open. “I share custody with his mom. The Red Devil.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“And you’re really hard to read. I mean, not for me anymore, because I know you better than I know anyone else in the world, but you don’t let people get close to you. You don’t trust anyone. And I don’t blame you,”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“I was in love with you and you broke my heart!”

“That summer was thirteen fucking years ago,” he yells, his voice incredulous and a touch desperate.

“Why can’t you let it go?”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door

“We were all young and dumb once, right?” Young and dumb and in love.

“Some of us dumber than others,” Shane agrees. “I know I made some bad, wrong calls back then.”

“Yes, you did.” I smile sweetly. You were an idiot to leave me for her.

“I’m doing my best to fix one of them.” He watches me intently, as if trying to convey unspoken words through a look. I take a slow, calming breath. Shane is nothing if not determined.

“And maybe you can.”
― K.A. Tucker, The Player Next Door