Page 39 of Run the Play
He chuckles. “Bring it on, beautiful.”
My face heats. “Flattery won’t give you a better advantage,” I tell him. I’m talking shit, and we both know it. The only way we’re going to win is if they let us, but that’s not going to stop us from trying.
“Good stance, Corie girl,” Knox tells his wife.
“Hey!” Foster says. “Stop fraternizing with the enemy.”
Corie sticks her tongue out at him.
“Oh, come on, Vaughn. Are you worried the Lady Rampage are going to defeat you?” Sloane taunts.
“Lady Rampage! Yes!” Corie cheers. She holds her hand up for me for a high-five, and of course, I slap my palm against hers. She leans around me and does the same for Sloane.
“Now look what you’ve done,” Baker calls from the sideline.
“It’s going to go to their heads,” Reid whines.
“You hush,” Corie scolds. “You’re supposed to be neutral.”
“Switzerland,” Sloane adds.
“What they said,” I call out, and the three of us start to laugh.
Corie is on my left, and Sloane is on my right. We don’t know the rules or how to play three-on-three, but we’re going to give it a try. Corie has the ball and yells, "Hike!" I push forward to try and block Landry, but he lifts me off my feet and twirls me around. I’m laughing as we spin and brace my hands on his shoulders. When we stop spinning, I’m staring down at him, and he’s smiling up at me.
“Gotta be faster than that, Roe,” he teases.
“Interference!” Sloane yells.
Landry and I turn to look and see Foster lying on top of her on the ground. She’s laughing and slapping at his back to get him to move, and he’s just grinning while Knox has Corie tossed over his shoulder, the ball still in her hands.
“This is family day!” Reid calls out.
“What kind of game is this?” Baker adds.
Landry lowers me to the ground slowly. My body is aligned with his, and once my feet hit the ground, he keeps an arm wrapped around me, holding me close. He bends his head to whisper in my ear. “We have an audience.”
“Him?” I ask. I’m pretty sure Chaz is the only audience Landry would care about.
“Yeah.”
I don’t give myself time to second-guess. Instead, I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his chest. His other arm tightens around me as we share an embrace. Closing my eyes, I pretend that this is real. That the man I fell for so blindly was the one wrapped around me. I’m still hesitant, but I’m older now. Wiser. Stronger. And I’ve learned to trust my instincts, and my instincts are telling me that Landry Reynolds is one of thegood ones. He’s proof, along with his friends, that there are good men who respect women who still walk this earth.
It just took me a while to find them, and I’m so damn lucky I finally did. I don’t know if his plan will work, but knowing that he and all our friends are behind us helps ease some of my worries.
“Get a room!” I think it’s Reid who yells it, and I don’t know why, but I start laughing. Not just “haha,” he’s funny, but belly-shaking, uncontrollable laughter. Landry does, too, and it takes us a few minutes to get ourselves composed.
When we do, he lifts his hands, and both of them settle on my cheeks. “I like that sound,” Landry says, smiling down at me.
“What sound?” I furrow my brow. I’m so focused on us that I haven’t been paying attention to anything else going on around us. Even the fact that Chaz is nearby doesn’t seem to penetrate the bubble we’ve found ourselves in.
“Your laugh.” His tone is serious, and so is the look in his eyes when he drops his lips to my forehead before pulling away. “You’re just jealous of me and my girl!” Landry calls back to Reid. He looks down at me. “She’s mine.” Two words softly spoken so only I can hear him.
My heart races out of control.
“She was mine first, big brother.” Corie reaches for my hand and tugs me away from him. “You have to share.”
“Knox doesn’t share.”
