Page 62 of Scoring His Obsession

“I’m nervous about them locking up by themselves.”

“Katya seems pretty smart.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she says. “Should I tell Joey you’re having second thoughts about his ability to hire good people?”

“You wouldn’t do that to me. I need someone who matches my energy and won’t quit every time I go beyond the line.”

“I don’t know. I could just pop him a message.”

She takes her phone out and side-eyes me.

I narrow my gaze at her. “Are you telling me you have Joey’s contact info?”

“Well, yeah,” she says, lip quirking into a teasing grin. This girl knows exactly what she’s doing. It’s like she wants me to show my crazy.

Kind of refreshing, actually.

“Delete it.”

Her eyes sparkle. “He thought you would say that, so he texts me every day to make sure I still have it.”

“I’ll delete it off his.”

She sucks in a breath, grimacing for show. “Don’t think that’s going to work with how good of a memory he has.”

“I’ll throw his goddamned phone into the Cumberland.”

“Believe it or not, he can go buy another one.”

I cage her against the car. “I see what you’re doing.”

“Me?” she asks innocently.

“You’re trying to get me all riled up.”

She bites her lip around a smile. “Would I do that?”

“It would work, too, if we didn’t have to be somewhere.” Leaning over, I give her an urgent kiss that’s just enough to make me want to do more, but not long enough that I get lost in her.

“You didn’t tell me where we’re going.”

I have a tease of my own. I help her get Athena into the back seat and then open her car door for her before sitting in the driver’s seat and pulling away from the curb.

“Well?”

I peer over at her, taking cues from her body as to whether she can handle the element of surprise or if it’s best to tell her now. “You’ll enjoy it. Trust me.”

She spends the next fifteen minutes trying to guess. I’m pleased with how relaxed she is. Athena never shows any signs of worry, and a deep-seated feeling of accomplishment comes over me. Finally, Raeann trusts me. She’s comfortable around me, and that’s the greatest gift I could’ve asked for.

I pull into another luxury area known as Brentwood and stop in front of Reid Parker’s house. Ever since he joined the team, he’s acted like our leader both on and off the field. People gravitate toward him, and he never hesitates to welcome us into his circle. The more the merrier.

“Where are we?” Raeann asks, staring up at the house.

“This is Reid Parker’s place.”

“Get out of here!”

I chuckle. At this point, a part of me might have wanted to classify him with Jace considering her excitement, but the fact that Reid is head over heels for his high school sweetheart means I have nothing to worry about. “A few of us were invited for a barbecue.”

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