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Title: Play Me (Take a Chance #3)
Author: Diane Albers
Publisher, Publication Date: Entangled Publishing, July 29, 2013 |
BOOK
SUMMARY
Even the best-laid
plans can go awry.
Single-mom Kiersten
Worth knows a bottle of champagne and night of hot, no-strings-attached sex is
the perfect solution to her jilted bride blues…and Garrett Kelly, long-time
friend and her teenaged son’s sexy basketball coach, is just the stud for the
job.
Garrett wants more
from the elusive temptress than a casual affair, but he never expects it to
come in the form of an unexpected pregnancy. When he proposes an unorthodox
solution—move in and raise their baby together—Kiersten has to decide whether
to let down her guard and open her heart to the man who secretly loved her for
years, or risk losing his tender embrace for good.
EXCERPT
Three months, two weeks, one
day, and nineteen hours.
That’s how long it had been
since Garrett walked away from Kiersten. She barely even spoke to him anymore,
other than a soft hello as they passed on the court after practices. It was
probably better that way. Anything more than a brief encounter hurt too much.
He’d spent most of his life pretending not to care about her. Pretending he was
fine without her. But now that he’d had one night in her arms, he knew he
wasn’t.
And he wanted her more than
he could ever possibly describe.
Oh well. Tough shit. He
wasn’t going to get her on his terms. And he wouldn’t accept hers.
He needed a drink. Or three.
He unlocked the door to his
apartment and froze. Pots clanged in the kitchen. Dropping his gym bag to the
carpet, he walked around the corner. Only his buddy Mike had a copy of his key,
and that was just in case of an emergency or if he somehow lost his own set. But
why would Mike let himself in and then cook? To the best of his knowledge, Mike
didn’t even know how to cook.
“Mike?” he called out.
“Uh, no,” Kiersten replied.
“It’s me.”
He tensed and walked slowly
into his kitchen, his heart beating rapidly in his ears. “How did you get in
here?”
She flushed. “I asked Mike
for the key. Told him I needed something for Chris to practice at home.” She
waved a hand. “He didn’t question me, thank God. My story was weak.”
He studied her. “Why are you
here? You could have just knocked.”
“I was worried you wouldn’t
let me in,” she said softly, averting her eyes. “So I took matters into my own
hands.”
“And the dinner?”
“A way to try to make up for
what I did. It’s pathetic and not big enough, I know, but I had to do something.”
He raised his brows. “You
could give me space, like I asked. Why cook for me? What do you want?”
She looked at him. “I
thought you might like to eat some food. Last time I checked, you were human.”
“It’s been over three months
since we talked or hung out.” He crossed his arms over his chest, not sure what
her sudden reemergence in his life meant. What game did she play? “And last
time I checked, we weren’t really on speaking terms. Yet here you are. Cooking
me dinner.”
“Yep.” She set down the
spoon she was stirring the sauce with, shoulders tight as she leaned on the counter.
“Pretty much.”
He looked away from her and
swallowed hard. Did she realize how much it hurt him just to see her face or to
hear her voice? Probably not, since he’d been the only idiot who had wanted
more. Every woman paled in comparison to her. No matter how hard he tried to
move on, to be attracted to another woman, there was only one person on his
mind. Kiersten. But if she was here…
He shoved his hands into his
pockets. “Have you changed your mind about us?”
She paled and he cursed
himself for jumping to foolish, optimistic conclusions. “I—no, not yet. But—”
“Then you need to leave,” he
said. He raised his head and met her eyes, unwilling to back down. “I haven’t
changed my mind, either. I need space.”
“It’s been three months. Isn’t that enough space?”
“No.” He drew in a ragged
breath. “It’s not. Now please leave.”
She bit her lip. “No.”
“Yes.” He stalked toward
her, picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and headed for the door. He
tired not to remember that the last time he’d carried her like this, they’d
been going up to her bedroom. “If you won’t walk out on your own, then I’ll
carry you out.”
She punched his back and
squirmed. “Let me down. We need to talk.”
“The time for talking is
over. I need distance right now. Eventually we can be friends again. But for
now?” He opened the door, set her in the hallway, and closed the door in her
face. “Please go home.”
He turned away and stomped
into the kitchen. Damn it, he wasn’t doing this anymore. He may have played the
part of the lovesick friend for months—hell, years—now, but he was done with being a benchwarmer she pulled out
when it suited her mood.
From now on, it needed to be
a starting position for him…or nothing at all.
Shutting off the stove, he
picked up the pot and peeked inside. She’d made his favorite meal. Cheese
ravioli. Vodka sauce bubbled away in a different pot and he could smell the
garlic bread in the oven.
“Listen, Garrett, we need to
talk,” Kiersten said.
Garrett jumped and faced her
with a glare. “What are you doing in here—again?”
“I have a key.” She waved a
gold key under his nose, her nose tilted up in the air stubbornly. “And I know
how to open a door on my own. I’ve been doing it since I was three.”
“Congratulations.” He
snatched the key out of her hand and reached for her, determined to put her
right back where he had left her. “But you need to go. I’m serious.”
She jumped out of his reach
and sprinted behind the relative safety of his favorite chair. “Not until you
listen to me. Sit down and shut up for a second, will you?”
He pursued her, ready to
stick her back out in the hallway, sans key this time. “All I asked for was a
break. Can’t you respect that?”
He bolted around the chair,
reaching for her arm. Her eyes widened and she darted to the side when he
feinted left and ran right, hoping to fool her into his arms. “I can’t leave
until we talk,” she replied.
“Why not?” he asked in
exasperation, holding his hands up. “What could possibly be so damn important?”
She blinked at him, wringing her hands. “I’m
pregnant.”
AUTHOR INFORMATION
GIVEAWAY
Diane is offering up a $10 Gift Card to Amazon or B&N for one lucky reader.
