Page 109 of Tempting the Player
“The first time I saw you, you were unloading your car after the break. You had on this long, oversized black sweater that hung off one shoulder and your hair was pulled up out of your face.”
“You were out for a run. I remember. I almost tripped up the stairs watching you go by.”
He dips his chin in a small nod. “I knew what you looked like, of course. I’d done my research, but nothing prepared me for how gorgeous you were up close. Or how much I’d look forward to seeing you every day. There aren’t any scenarios in which I would have met you and not wanted you.”
“Same.” The word comes out a little breathless and my heart squeezes in my chest.
When he smiles like he is right now, all big and carefree, I don’t mind so much that I didn’t have those experiences. Whatever my life was or wasn’t before, it led me here with him. I can try on different characters like favorite dresses while I figure out exactly who I am, and yet he still seems to see through it to the very core ofme.
36
JANE
The next night,Dahlia summons me to the house after I’m done with rehearsal.
Hendrick pulls up out front and kills the engine.
“I don’t think it should take too long,” I say as I open the car door. “Dahlia said if I didn’t stop by to see them, they were going to report me missing.”
He laughs. She was serious.
As we walk up the stairs of the house I’ve barely stepped inside in the past month, I swing Hendrick’s and my joined hands. “Do you want to go back to your place, and I’ll get a ride later?”
“Nah, this is fine. I’ve barely seen you the past few weeks either. Except when you’re crawling into bed at night.”
“You didn’t seem to mind so much last night.”
He grins and then knocks on the front door, like I don’t live here, before pulling it open.
I step in before him and then freeze as I see my friends and their boyfriends all standing in the living room waiting for me.
“Surprise!” They yell in unison. Each one of them is wearing a little paper party hat and the house is decorated with balloons and streamers as far as I can see.
“What?” I look from smiling face to smiling face, then back at Hendrick.
“Happy birthday, Jane.” His knowing smirk sends a wave of realization over me.
“You knew?!”
“We had to guarantee you would show up,” Dahlia says, stepping forward. She places a party hat on my head and then hugs me.
“My birthday isn’t for another week.”
“If we had planned it for next week, you would have been suspicious.” Violet grins. “Plus, with everyone’s crazy schedules tonight was one of the few nights we were all free.”
I walk in and turn in a circle, taking in all the decorations. They even taped up pictures of the four of us on the wall above the TV. “You guys didn’t need to do this.”
“Of course, we did.” Daisy thrusts a plastic flute in my hand and then Jordan pops the cork on the champagne.
“Happy twenty-first!” Violet yells and holds up her glass.
Everyone joins in. My eyes are teary. I can’t believe they did this for me. I mean, I can because they’re the best, but still.
Hendrick’s hand comes to rest on my lower back. A silent comfort.
“To Jane,” Dahlia says. “The next twenty years are going to be twice as much fun as the first because now you know all of us.”
My laugh comes out in a half sob. I mouth “I love you” to her as everyone says, “To Jane!”
