Page 114 of Force Play

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Goddammit.

“Fine,” I breathe.

“I’ll tell Dr. Coltrain tomorrow. We’ll tell Skip to leave you out for a couple of days. If you actually take my advice, you should be back on the field by Thursday.”

“I guess it’ll give me time to catch up on my reading.”

Lucia looks over at me in surprise. “You read?”

“I read,” I laugh.

“What do you read?”

I sigh and grab my Kindle from beside me. “Take a look.”

She brings the screen back to life and swipes to see what book I’m reading.

Now, she looks even more confused.

“This is… a romance book.” Her voice is full of disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s a romance book.”

“I’ve read this one, Ari.”

“What do you think about it?”

Lucia smiles. “I love this one. The woman is such a badass that doesn’t put up with anything.”

“She reminds me of you,” I snicker, and she playfully pushes my side.

“I’m taking that as a compliment.”

“It wasn’t meant as anything else, sweetheart.”

Our eyes meet now, and I swear my heart skips a beat.

That’s weird.

“Why did you never tell me you read romance books?” Lucia asks. “They’re my favorite. I could’ve been giving you suggestions since we met.”

I laugh lightly. “Men don’t really read them, so I kept it more to myself. The guys know, but that’s it.”

“Well, now that I know, you’re kinda fucked, Morgan. The Ari & Lucia Book Club will be meeting every Monday night from now on.”

“You know what?” I smile. “I like the sound of that. Pick a book for us to read this week, and we’ll discuss it next week.”

“Done,” she says before her face falls slightly. “You know, Matt hated that I read romance books.”

Of course, he did. Probably saw them as competition.

“Why?”

Lucia sighs. “Said they give women unrealistic expectations when it comes to sex.”

“I see them more as a manual that tells you what your partner actually wants,” I shrug. “Only pricks with small dicks think of them as anything but helpful. But take men out of it. Women should be able to express their sexuality however they want, and I think romance books help give an outlet for that.”

She smiles softly before resting her head on my shoulder. “Part of me wondered if that’s why he cheated on me. That my expectations were too high.”