Page 29 of Filthy Player

“Do you want to tell me where you’re taking me?”

“Nope, but it’s not far.” I switched off my rap playlist so it wasn’t blaring through the speakers. “How was work tonight. Seemed busy.”

“Slammed. I haven’t worked there during a football season yet but if tonight’s any indication of how the next few months are going to go, I can’t complain. Tips are amazing.”

I understood that. My mom had loved waitressing jobs when she could get them and she never worked at a place as busy as Ride’Em. I still didn’t like that this girl was working just as hard as my mom used to.

If I thought she wouldn’t cut off my dick if I offered her money, I’d give her millions so she and her dad could rest easy.

“I bet,” I said instead. “Do you like working there? Or have you thought about looking for jobs in your field?”

As an athlete, and someone frequently in the media, I had a love-hate relationship with people who chose that as their line of work. The line between news and gossip was easily blurred.

“No.” She wiped her hands down her jeans, something she’d changed into before coming out. Now dressed in white jeans with small patches of frayed material and a navy blue tank top, she looked not only ready for a date but much classier than her typical Ride’Em Rough uniform. “I’ve thought about it, but it’s a tough field to get into unless you have contacts and if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to help my dad at the garage.”

“What about Mike? He seems capable.”

“Yeah,” she laughed, “at fixing cars, but he’d lose it if I asked him to do the ordering or payroll. Besides, that’s my family’s garage. It’s not only my responsibility, I like being there, sitting in an office my dad has used since before I was born, and my granddad used before him.” She shrugged, head falling to the headrest and turned to me. “It’s just a car garage, but we do a lot of great work with custom vintage cars. I grew up with that and it’s hard to let it go.”

“Then I hope you can figure out how to keep it all without having that happen.”

I could give her anything she asked for and financially, it’d mean nothing to me. Hell, I wouldn’t even feel it in my bank balance. I also knew I’d barely been able to get her to go out with me. Offering to help wouldn’t go over well.

There was punching through a brick wall and there was going full speed ahead like a man on a death mission.

I wasn’t ready to burn into a ball of flames quite yet.

Besides, my mom always said you had to pick your battles and this one could wait for another day.

I guided us to safer topics, mostly talking about practice when she asked and some of the guys on the team as I drove us through Raleigh to a little park near my house. I didn’t go there often, but it was quiet and dark. It also was sort of romantic, but that wasn’t what I was aiming for totally.

I just wanted to give Paige some peace and quiet for a while.

***

It didn’t take long to get to the park and when I pulled into the parking lot, car lights shining toward the pond out in the distance, Paige turned to me with sleepy eyes.

Damn. She’d worked a long, hard shift and she was tired. Yet she still came with me. That meant something good, right?

“Are we parking?” she asked, a glimmer in her hazel eyes.

“Well, you did make me give up the truck I lost my virginity in and I haven’t christened this one yet.”

Her eyes popped wide open, cheeks flushing. “Are you…what…no…”

“Relax.” I laughed and grabbed her hand. She tried to pull away but I yanked her closer, moving in until I was bent over the armrest. “I’m messing with you. I like this place and I come here when I need quiet. That’s all I wanted to share with you tonight.”

“Okay.” The breathiness of her voice shot straight to my dick.

“Besides, the first time I have your sweet little naked body in my hands it’s going to be in my bed, not straddling me over this seat.”

Her jaw dropped and I turned, hopping out of the car before she could protest. I’d play it slow and easy while keeping her on edge at the same time. This girl would never doubt how much I wanted her, or how good I’d be for her if she gave me an honest chance to show her.

Out of the truck, I flung open the back door and grabbed the cooler filled with wine and snacks. When I decided to surprise her at work, this was the first place that came to mind, and I figured she’d like a glass of wine after a long night of work. Inside the cab, Paige was still sitting there. Eyes wide open, lips still parted, a furious blush staining her cheeks.

“Paige?”

“Uh, yeah?” She shook her head. Hot damn. She wanted what I was offering up.

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