Game For Love: Gridiron Heartbreaker (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Gridiron Bad Boys Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

asked as though he wasn't the most ridiculous man to walk the planet.
    “Will you put me down?” She tried to say in a serious tone but the laugh refused to die.
    He brought his gaze down to meet hers. “If only you'll stop lying to me. I liked your honesty. This little fluttery act is not the woman I met in your kitchen.”
    Her hand, with its own mind, reached up to cup his cheek. Stubble tickled her palm. A frisson at the simple touch kicked her heart into a solo race. A second later she dropped her hand down to press against her stomach—butterflies. When was the last time a man had created that kind of reaction? Her teens? She sighed, and knew there was only one real answer. Fighting it was pointless, but she tried.
    “You don't know me,” she said.
    “I've become a pretty good judge of character over the years.”
    She believed him. He probably met more people in a year than she would in her entire lifetime. Probably had to make tough judgment calls on every single one. She couldn't imagine living like that. What could living like that could do to a person? She looked at him. The smile was gone replaced by a somber expression.
    “So you want me to be honest?” she asked.
    “Even when it hurts.”
    “Why?”
    “I'm bored.”
    She tilted her head and fought the urge to cuss. “I'm entertainment for you?”
    He shifted her in his arms but otherwise seemed un-bothered by holding her and all her considerable taste-testing weight.
    “You've barreled into my life and I find you interesting.” He was quiet for a moment. “Or I've barreled into yours. Can't quite decide yet. Either way, everything else but you, right now, bores the fuck out of me. And it makes sense to not let you walk out of my life yet.”
    She couldn't decide if that was a compliment or not. “You burst into mine and now I'm being held like a cranky baby. Put me down.”
    “Are you sure? I can get used to this. My forearm is very close...”
    His arm cradled right under her ass. “Put. Me. Down.”
    There was his laugh again, so fluid and masculine, but he slowly lowered her so she could stand. The shoes and socks she wore seemed to scrape along the bottoms of her feet. There would be blisters if she didn't shuck them off and elevate her ankles. The slacks and the starch white shirt seemed tighter and more uncomfortable than they had been hours ago when she'd first put them on.
    The thought of waiting another hour, if not more, before she could fall face first into her bed, made tears of exhaustion and frustration spring to her eyes. She'd worked doubly hard to impress her boss and to make the night seamless. It was both a point of pride and a necessity to make the move from Florida work.
    Her options were simple—let him take her home or let him take her home and invite him to stay for a while—and neither choice made her happy. Nervous, yes. Desperate for more...maybe.
    Knowing more or less about him could help.... maybe . “What else happens with the easy way?” she asked.
    “I take you home. You thank me like you mean it and in the morning your car is in your driveway. Your fixed car.”
    The proposition sounded too simple for a man who could smile and make a woman's panties disappear. “Straight home?”
    “If that's what you want.”
    There it was—the unspoken but oh-so-tempting invitation. She almost swayed from the seduction of the offer. But she'd been swayed before, had listened to her head instead of her heart. By the time her gut had offered an opinion it was too late. Getting into a car, with a cute guy who had an easy, playful manner could spell disaster—again.
    “Do you really want honesty?” she asked.
    “Yes.”
    “My feet hurt. I smell weird. My car's busted. My boss is probably doing unspeakable things with her fiancé—which makes knocking on the door a problem, but the thing you should really listen to is that I'm not looking for a relationship, much less a hook-up.”
    A shadow passed over his gaze, and