Playing for Kicks (Play Makers Book 5) (8 page)

“Oh.” She exhaled in relief. “No worries on
that score. The question is, did your roof survive the storm?”

“Yeah, no damage.” He glanced over her
shoulder. “If you’re busy . . .”

“Oh, not at all. Come on in.” She stood aside
sheepishly. “Can I get you something?”

“Are
you
having something?”

“I’m working on a root beer, but I’m a
bartender and Mr. Murphy’s cabinet is fully stocked, so name your
poison.”

He flashed a white-hot smile. “Root beer
sounds good, thanks.”

Flustered again, she motioned for him to take
a seat, then dashed to the kitchen. What was she thinking? He had
an unofficial fiancée for crap’s sake.

Which means he shouldn’t be here in the
first place,
she reminded herself as she poured his soda.

The thought empowered her as she walked into
the living room, where he still hadn’t taken a seat. Handing him
the drink she said lightly, “Erica tells me you’re engaged.
Congratulations.”

“Yeah,” he said, his cheeks flushing
slightly. “That’s one reason I’m here.”

“Oh?”

He started to respond, then motioned to the
sofa. “Can we sit?”

“Of course. You sit there and I’ll bring my
favorite chair over from the table.”

“You have a favorite?” He glanced at the four
identical seats. “Which one is it? I’ll get it.”

She laughed at herself, then assured him, “I
love them all equally so take your pick.”

He dragged one over, then suggested, “You
take the couch. I’ll take the chair. How’s that?”

“It’s good.” She settled down, then smiled in
apology. “Did you want to discuss the article, Sean? If you’ve
changed your mind, that’s fine. I know we sprung it on you without
warning.”

He eyed her intently. “The article sounds
cool. Like I said, I just wanted to apologize for last night.”

She wanted to assure him it was fine with her
that he left abruptly, but instinct told her he was referring to
the other thing. Assuming the other thing had actually happened,
and assuming further he
knew
it happened. In which case, she
wished he’d put a label on it so she’d know what he was apologizing
for. Otherwise,
she
might put a label on it, and her only
workable theory was some ancient Tantric sex technique that had
been lost to the ages then resurrected via his hot green eyes.

Luckily, he started talking again about
completely normal things. “So you mentioned my girlfriend. Her name
is Kerrie. I’ve been seeing her for a while, and lately, it hasn’t
been going well. To the point where I’ve been trying to break it
off. So yes, I’m technically involved. But actually, not so
much.”

“The rumor is you’re engaged.”

“Kerrie’s in the process of getting a
divorce,” he explained, “so technically, we
can’t
be
engaged. Plus, we’re breaking up. Like I said. I keep trying, but
she sabotages it.”

“Or maybe you
both
sabotage it,” she
suggested, drawing on her experience with lovelorn guys who came
into the bar for advice.

“The first time, maybe. But the next time,
she knew I wanted to talk so she brought her parents in for
reinforcements. Then last week, she told me she’s having her
virginity restored—”

“
What?”

He seemed encouraged. “That’s bizarre, right?
And trust me, I handled it badly.”

“I’m not sure there’s a
good
way to
handle it.”

His green eyes warmed. “Thanks for saying
that. But the point is, I should have just gone through with the
breakup. But she was so upset already, I didn’t have the
heart.”

Tess felt a dangerous tingle of sympathetic
attraction, which she countered by saying bluntly, “And meanwhile
you kissed Erica on the mouth. So there’s that.”

“Did that bother you?”

She glared. “Why would it
bother
me? I
mean, I was a bit flummoxed, but not bothered.”

“Flummoxed, huh? I don’t think I ever did
that to a girl before.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t sell yourself
short.”

He chuckled, then leaned forward, serious
again. “So the thing with Erica is just an extremely close
friendship. She’s married to my best friend—my QB—so obviously it’s
platonic.”

“Except your
real
girlfriend is
married too.”

“No, Tess,” he protested. “I didn’t know
Kerrie was married when I got involved with her. That’s basically
what I wanted to tell you.”

Relieved, she nodded. “You don’t seem like
the kind of guy who would date a married woman.”

“Thanks. The trouble is, she has a twin
sister named Melody. And the night I got involved with her, I
thought she was the twin—Melody—who’s single. I didn’t realize the
truth until we had already gone so far, I couldn’t just walk away.
There were feelings there. Especially because she—Kerrie—was so
unhappy in her marriage and wanted out. So it didn’t feel right
just to desert her. She’s a nice person,” he added wistfully. “So
it got complicated fast.”

Warning bells were making her head hurt, so
she said with finality, “Thanks for telling me, Sean. But it wasn’t
necessary.”

“We both know it was.”

“Stop saying that.” She sighed. “Twins? I can
see how that would get complicated.”

“Yeah.” His jaw tightened. “And last night it
got even worse. Because Melody showed up at my house, and I thought
it was Kerrie, so I broke up with
her
. Crazy, right?”

Tess stared. “Are you serious? Didn’t she
tell you she was Melody?”

“She had an agenda. Because years ago, Kerrie
stole her fiancé, so Melody got the idea of paying her back by
sleeping with
me.”

“Wow.” Tess couldn’t help being drawn in.
“But instead of having sex with her, you broke up with her?”

“It’s worse than that. I broke up with her,
then we had breakup sex.
Then
she tells me she’s Melody. So
suddenly, I’ve cheated on Kerrie with her twin, and the breakup
didn’t even count.”

This was too much, so Tess demanded weakly,
“Did Johnny put you up to this? To pay me back for the Gator Guy
story?”

“What?” His eyes took on a teasing sparkle.
“What’s the Gator Guy story?”

“Never mind. Just
please
tell me you
didn’t have sex with your married girlfriend’s twin.”

“I wish I could. So the point is, I’ve got to
do it all over again tomorrow. And on top of breaking up, I’ve got
to explain that I slept with her sister. Talk about a clusterfuck.
But after that, I’ll be legitimately single.”

“Or dead.”

He laughed. “Good point. So anyway .
. .” He stood and waited for her to do the same, then stepped
close to her. “I just wanted to get you up to speed.”

“Why? No, wait! I don’t want to know.”

He flashed a teasing smile. “Which is
it?”

“Just go away, Sean,” she advised him as she
edged away. “And FYI, there’s no such thing as breakup sex. So bear
that in mind when you break up with one or both twins
tomorrow.”

“What do you mean? Breakup sex is a real
thing.”

“You’re thinking of
make
-up sex.
Breakup sex basically cancels out the breakup. Lucky for you, the
breakup wasn’t real in the first place so it didn’t matter. But
someday it might. I mean, seriously, Sean.” She started laughing in
spite of herself. “
Breakup
sex? What were you thinking?”

He laughed too. “Thanks for being so cool
about it, Tess.”

“Did I have a choice?” She eyed him
teasingly. “Can we be done now?
Please?”

He surprised her by taking her hand and
leading her to the door. “Thanks for listening. It really helped to
talk to someone.”

“You’re welcome,” she murmured, trying not to
notice how good his flesh felt against hers.

Then to her amazement, he moved in, pulled
her close, and lowered his mouth. Like he was going to kiss her.
Which seemed impossible, but apparently not, because it was
happening. And she wasn’t stopping him because he had caught her by
surprise, plus it was a truly mesmerizing kiss. Warm and relaxing.
Like it could go on forever.

Then it ended and he said cheerfully, “Thanks
again.”

“You need to go,” she stammered. “Now.”

“Yeah, I’ll go. But I’ll be back.” His eyes
sparkled as he took a final look at her, then he opened the door
and ambled into the hall like the whole visit had been the most
normal thing in the world.

I’ll go but I’ll be back . . .

It was outrageous, but apparently everything
about him was. Dating married twins? One of whom was having her
hymen re-hymened? Having breakup sex? Platonically kissing his best
friend’s wife on the freaking
mouth?

She wondered if he would actually have the
nerve to come back after the breakup. Assuming he could even get
through
the breakup.

“Let’s hope he asks her for two forms of ID,”
she decided with a laugh.

Inspired by the thought, she went to the
table and flipped open her sketchbook. First she admired the
Tantric sex drawing. Then she found a fresh spot and drew
stick-figure Sean between two identical babes with wild hair and
exaggerated breasts. The twins played tug-of-war with his hands
and, while
their
expressions showed jealousy,
he
was
clearly enjoying himself.

“You’d better hope I don’t write about this,
Sean Decker,” she warned him playfully. Then she sighed. This
wasn’t getting her anywhere with the article. And while she
considered just cutting Sean out of it completely, since he hadn’t
been on Murf’s list to begin with, she had a feeling his story—as
told by Erica—would help maintain a light tone when things with
Noah Cunningham got too serious.

As long as he didn’t make good on his threat
to come back. Because even Tess had her limits. Or at least, she
was pretty sure she did.

• • •

Reminding himself for a final time that the
breakup talk had gone well with Melody—at least to a point—Sean
checked in with security in Kerrie’s building on Sunday morning,
then rode the elevator to her penthouse apartment.

Just keep it short, dude. You’re almost
free, so don’t screw it up.

It was tempting to use Melody’s suggested
script:
Tell her she’s a beautiful woman and the best lay you
ever had. You just don’t love her anymore.

Short and sweet. And wouldn’t the end result
be the same?

When her door opened and she stepped into the
hall in a black lace nightie that barely covered her ass, he knew
he was doomed. Not because it aroused him, but because she was
bringing her A-game. Using her body as a weapon.

Who could blame her?

Dashing over to him, she leapt into his arms
and covered his face with kisses. “You’re here! After the way we
left things, I wasn’t sure you’d come back.”

He gave her a gentle embrace then moved her a
few inches away. “I’m here to
talk,
honey. So I hope you’re
okay with that.”

“I want to talk too,” she said, her eyes wide
with trust. “You’ve been so patient.” She led him through the
entryway and into her fancy living room, then continued toward the
bedroom.

“Hey,” he said. “Let’s do it here, okay? Not
in bed.”

She flashed a frustrated smile. “You’re such
a rock sometimes. It’s been
three whole weeks,
Sean. Haven’t
you been climbing the walls? I know
I
have.”

It probably wasn’t the right moment to
mention he’d had sex less than forty-eight hours ago, so he just
shrugged. “There’s a reason we haven’t been sleeping together,
remember? Because this relationship isn’t working—”

“I agree.”

“You do?”

She nodded as she plopped down on the sofa
and arranged her nonexistent skirt around her bare thighs. When he
sat in a chair across from her, she continued. “That’s what I want
to talk about. You’ve told me what you need. Now I’m ready to do
it.
All
of it. I’ll move to your house in Portland and we
can go to bars and restaurants in public. I don’t care who sees us.
And we’ll hang out with your friends as much as you want.”

“Kerrie—”

“I know I disappointed you about Sophie’s
wedding. And even though it wasn’t fair to ask in the first place,
since we
knew
it would be crawling with people who hate me,
I should have gone. I see that now.”

“They don’t hate you,” he began, then he
reminded himself not to fall into this trap. Debating particular
events rather than acknowledging that their lifestyles as a whole
could never mesh was a lose-lose proposition. So he settled for
assuring her, “Rachel and Darcie were there, ready to keep you
company. And
I
was there, which is obviously the point.”

“From now on, I’ll go anywhere you ask. Even
if it’s crawling with Spurlings. Including your precious Erica. All
I’m asking in return is a second chance.” She scooted into his lap.
“Didn’t you miss me? Just a little?”

“No,” he admitted. “I feel like we’re beating
a dead horse. I know that sounds harsh—”

“It’s
mean,”
she retorted, jumping to
her feet and glaring down from her petite height. “I’m telling you
I’ll do everything you’ve asked me to do. I’m already divorcing my
rich husband for you, aren’t I? And I’ll do more, Sean. I’m
humiliating myself at your feet. And you just sit there?” Tears
spilled down her cheeks. “Don’t you love me anymore?”

Melody’s suggestion loomed large again, but
he forced himself to stand and touch her cheek. “It’s not about
love, Kerrie. We had a strong attraction. Strong feelings. And I’ll
always care about you. But love is about shared experiences. Shared
hopes. Shared interests. And we don’t have any of those.”

“How can you say that?”

His voice grew hoarse. “It’s true I asked you
to live with me. Hang with me and my friends. Go on dates. But
you’re forgetting
why
. So we could get to know each other.
Figure out if our feelings were real. Find out if we were
compatible. If there was more to us than quickies in a motel
room.”