The Perfect Play (Southern U O'Brien Brothers)

by Cookie O'Gorman

  My eyeroll did nothing but make her smile widen.

  "I'll send your server over," she said. "You two have fun."

  "Yeah, yeah," I said, waving her away.

  Chase sat back with a grin. "She's nice."

  "You're only saying that because she thought you were hot and gave you free stuff," I said.

  "Nah, Delia was cool—not to mention informative," he said. "What's the deal with not bringing guys here?"

  "I like to keep certain places I love for myself."

  Our server came over to take our drink order then walked away. We studied the menu for a bit, and when he came back, I ordered a small salad and a slice with spinach, mushrooms and four cheeses. Chase got two slices with extra pepperoni. Once the server was gone again, Chase eyed me speculatively.

  "I get that," he said.

  "What?" I asked.

  "What you said about keeping some things just for you and sharing them only with the people you love. I understand."

  I took a sip of my water then said, "My relationships with men have always been brief, Chase. I don't get attached, and neither do they. Plus, I turn down a lot of men, and some of them don't like that. I just don't want anything to taint my safe spaces."

  Chase's gaze was shrewd. "Ah, so that's why no guys are allowed in Magnolia House."

  "Can you blame me? Men can cause a lot of trouble."

  "So can women," he said.

  His words brought a smile to my face. "Speaking of which, I thought we were here for a reason—besides the awesome food."

  Chase sat forward, leaning his elbows against the table.

  "Yeah, about that…" he said. "I know what foreplay is in theory. But I've never actually done it before."

  "I'm shocked," I said.

  "Ha ha, very funny. But seriously, what is it?"

  He couldn't have given me a better opening if he tried.

  I thought about it for a second before responding. "Foreplay can be a lot of things," I said finally. "It can include touching, sexy talk, kisses. Even a look can convey a heaping dose of meaning."

  Chase nodded.

  "Honestly, sometimes foreplay can be better than sex."

  Our server chose that moment to deliver our food. I couldn’t be sure if he'd heard us, but his ears were red, and he kept throwing weird glances at me and Chase. After straightening, he just stood by the booth.

  "Is there a problem?" I asked.

  "No," he said suddenly. "I just wanted to make sure...uh, do you guys need anything?"

  "Not right now," Chase said, "but thanks."

  The guy beat a hasty retreat.

  "I think he was waiting to hear more. I know I am."

  I rolled my eyes at the grin Chase threw me and the amusement in his voice.

  "Foreplay is like a big tease," I said. "The point of it is to let your person know you desire them. To make them feel good."

  "Okay," Chase said. "I think I've got it."

  I lifted a brow. "Alright."

  He reached across the table and took my hand in his.

  A spark raced up my arm—my body was always doing strange things like that when Chase touched me.

  "Is this okay?" he asked.

  I nodded. "It's fine. Hand-holding is a little grade school. But everyone has to start somewhere."

  Chase raised a brow. "I thought most women considered it one of the most romantic gestures. Right next to being a good listener and doing surprising, thoughtful things."

  "We're talking about foreplay here," I said. "Not romance."

  "Aren't they connected?"

  Yes, I thought. But romance was so much more personal, and it would be a lot easier if Chase just stuck to the sexy, no-strings script.

  His fingers tightened on mine as I sighed.

  "How about this then," he said.

  He kept his eyes on mine, bringing my hand to his lips.

  The way he kissed each one of my knuckles before laying a last lingering kiss right in the center of my palm sent shivers down my spine.

  "That's…really good. Where'd you learn how to do that?" I asked, trying my best to keep my voice steady.

  "Read it in a book," Chase said.

  He kissed my palm again, this time with a light sweep of his tongue, and my heart skipped a beat.

  "It was one of the naughty ones."

  He threw me a wink before placing my hand back on the table.

  I swallowed, wondering if that would satisfy my bet with Emmy. Probably not. But I wondered if there was anything that could be hotter than Chase putting the moves on my hand.

  "Okay," I said. "Moving on, let's see if you can talk the talk."

  Chase gave me a challenging look. "I'm ready whenever you are."

  "Do you have any experience with dirty talk?"

  "No, but I'm a fast learner."

  Well then.

  Sexy banter was a difficult thing for most people. And Chase had such little experience with women, that I immediately decided to lower my expectations. He'd probably be terrible. No one was ever good on their first time. But I had no intention of making him feel bad about it.

  "Okay, pretending I'm the one," I said, "tell me what you'd do to me if we were alone."

  Chase slowly shook his head. I took that as a sign that he was having trouble and tried to encourage him.

  "Just try it, Chase," I said. "I'm sure you'll be fine."

  "I don't think I should," he said.

  "Ah, come on, it's easy. Just pretend like you want to get me into bed." I nodded to him. "What would you say?"

  He frowned. "I'm not sure where to start."

  "It's okay," I said. "A lot of guy's minds would go blank when asked a question like that. Take your time. I'm sure you'll come up with something."

  "That's not it," Chase said and met my gaze. "Charlie, I'm not having trouble thinking of things I want to do to you. I'm trying to settle on just one."

  I pulled in a deep breath. "Oh?"

  "The truth is I've been thinking about you every hour of every day."

  He bit his lip, shook his head once before continuing.

  "My mind is full of you," he said. "I want to run my fingers through your hair …to know what that feels like. I want to talk to you for hours until we're both too tired to move, and we fall asleep right next to each other. I want to feel you in my arms. And if that sounds too romantic, well, I have other thoughts, too."

  "Do you?" I breathed.

  Chase nodded, his eyes moving over me with clear intent. "I can't stop wondering if your lips really taste as good as I remember. I want to run my hands over every inch of your body, use my mouth to make you feel good. It keeps me up some nights, thinking about what you'd sound like, moaning my name. I want that. All of it."

  My breath caught as he shook his head again.

  "I want all of you," he said.

  I wasn't sure I was still breathing.

  My head felt light.

  If this was a test, he'd just passed with flying colors.

  "Where did you learn that?" I asked when I could speak again.

  Chase cocked his head. "Learn what?"

  How to give me hot flashes while making love to me with your voice?

  I shook my head. If he didn't know about his sexy-talking superpower, I wasn't about to tell him. He could do major damage with that kind of knowledge.

  "Tell the truth, Chase," I said. "Did you come up with that beforehand?"

  "I don't know whether to be flattered or offended," he said on a laugh. "No, Charlie. I was just being honest. But it must've been pretty good if you think I rehearsed."

  I scoffed.

  "You seemed to like it," he said.

  "I guess you were okay."

  "Just okay?"

  I sighed then gave him the truth. "Fine, Chase. You were incredible. To put it in terms you baseball players understand, I think you'd call it 'knocking one out of the pa
rk.'"

  His smile ate up his entire face, and I gestured to our cold pizza.

  "I think maybe we should bag that up and take it to go," I said.

  "Sounds good to me," he said.

  We didn't talk much on the drive back to Magnolia House, but once we got there, Chase turned off the engine and turned to me.

  "Charlie, thank you so much again," he said. "You helped me with my arm and inspired me to talk dirty. It's been a productive day."

  I couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, it has. Even if we didn't get to everything."

  He tilted his head. "Was there something else you wanted to do?"

  "Yeah, but it's okay."

  "No, what is it?"

  Now or never, I thought.

  "We didn't get to the kissing," I said.

  Chase looked like he was trying not to smile.

  "Well, I already told you how I feel about that," he said.

  "But you were just pretending. For the foreplay exercise."

  "Was I?"

  For some reason, even though I knew this wasn't for real, my heart started beating faster.

  "Weren't you?" I asked.

  Chase shook his head as he leaned across the center console. His hand came up to rest against my cheek, and my eyes nearly fluttered closed at the contact.

  "You really couldn't tell?" His voice had lowered to a whisper. "I thought you were supposed to be an expert at this."

  "I can be dense sometimes," I said, my eyes moving from his eyes down to his lips. "Maybe you should show me this time, instead of telling me."

  "As you wish," Chase said.

  He leaned in closer, his hands caressing both sides of my face in this soft, hypnotic rhythm. Jeez, he smelled good. My hands, having a mind of their own, ended up on his chest, clutching his t-shirt between my fingers. When he was only inches away, I felt him stop, and I looked up to meet his gaze.

  "Charlie," he said, "I really want to kiss you right now."

  "Yeah," I said. "I want that, too."

  "Seriously, I feel like I might die if this doesn't happen."

  "Same here."

  Instead of closing those last few inches, though, Chase paused again to lick his lips.

  "The thing is…" he said.

  I waited.

  "This isn't just about that bet you made with Emmy, right?"

  I blinked, thinking I must've misheard. "What?"

  "The bet," Chase said again. "I don't care if it is about that. I mean, that's a lie because I do. Still, it wouldn't stop me from kissing you. I'm not sure if anything could do that, but I'd like to know."

  Leaning back, the moment completely gone, I sat there stunned.

  Chase knew all about the bet.

  Emmy had told him.

  After taking a moment, I said the only thing running through my mind.

  "That little cheater!" I said. "I can't believe this. When did she tell you?"

  He shrugged. "The night that we went upstairs together at Omega Beta."

  "Ugh!"

  "I think it made her nervous." Chase laughed. "Don't be mad at her, okay. She was trying to look out for me."

  "Yeah, and win the bet," Charlie said. "Answer me this. Did Emmy tell you not to kiss me?"

  The look in his eyes was as much of a confirmation as I needed.

  "Not in those exact words. She said it would be good if I could hold back a few more days," he said. "I told her I wasn't sure I could do it."

  "Unbelievable," I muttered. "Well, O'Brien, the moment has definitely passed and the bet's off. So you don't have to worry about kissing or not kissing."

  "Sorry to hear that."

  "If you'll excuse me, I need to go inside and kill your little sis aka the cheater," I said. "Thanks again for the pizza. Also, congrats Chase, you're a natural at foreplay."

  "Charlie," he said.

  Stopping with my fingers on the handle of the door, I looked at him over my shoulder.

  "Yes?" I said.

  Chase leaned forward.

  "Just so we're clear, I will be kissing you again."

  I opened my mouth, but he held up a hand.

  "It's going to happen. Bet or no bet."

  "You sound sure of yourself," I said, giving him my best haughty sniff.

  Reaching forward to take my hand in his again, Chase dropped a kiss there then looked up at me from beneath his lashes. Every word he spoke left a little puff of air against my palm.

  "That's because I am," he said. "Will you come to team practice tomorrow? I understand if you can't. But I think I'll do better if you're there."

  "Sure," I said, having a hard time forming words, still reeling from what he'd said.

  Chase didn't seem to have that problem, though.

  "You and I are going to happen," he said. "It's not a question of if but when."

  My steps were unsteady as I left the car. I almost forgot how mad at Emmy I was on my way to the house, Chase's words ringing in my ears. Once I got the door open, I looked back over my shoulder and yeah. He was still there, waiting to make sure I got inside.

  No matter how hard I tried—and believe me, I did—I couldn't stop thinking about him for the rest of the day.

  CHAPTER 15: Chase

  "What's up with you and Charlie?"

  The question came from Archer as we were walking out to the field. His voice sounded genuinely curious.

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  He shot me a look. "You spent the day with her yesterday. Honor told me you picked her up. Now, she's here to watch practice. What gives?"

  Archer nodded to the stands where Charlie was sitting.

  I shrugged. "Maybe baseball is growing on her."

  "Somehow, I doubt it."

  At that moment, she lifted a hand to swat at something flying around her head. The gnat or whatever-it-was must've been persistent because the battle lasted a few minutes. By the end, Charlie's hair was mussed, her sunglasses sitting crooked on her face before she straightened them. I chuckled to myself.

  "Okay," I said. "I asked her to come. She really helped me the other day. Was hoping she could do it again."

  "So, things went well?" he said.

  Baylor joined us then, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

  "Do you even have to ask?" my twin said. "He left crazy early and didn't come home for hours."

  "I'd say it went good," Dex put in. "He couldn't stop smiling afterwards."

  "Yeah, it was kind of annoying," Baylor added. "When he started whistling, I was done. No one should be that cheerful."

  I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.

  "Does my happiness offend you?" I asked.

  "Depends on whether or not you took my advice."

  I shot him a questioning look.

  "I told you not to do anything I wouldn't do," he said.

  The team started stretching, loosening up our muscles before we started practice. After my injury, I didn't take the importance of this part for granted. Arms, legs, neck, back, it all needed to be limber and ready to go.

  "Hey, I meant to tell you," I said. "That's crap advice, especially when it comes to women. You've never been able to stay away."

  Baylor scoffed. "Have you seen me with anyone lately?"

  Now that he mentioned it…no, I hadn't. The revelation was such a surprise I froze in the middle of my stretches.

  "Wow, you're right," I said. "The last time I saw you with anyone was…a while ago."

  "Before you got hurt," he said. "That's right."

  "But why?"

  He waved me off. "Doesn't matter. Let's just say my priorities changed after that night. Not like I haven't had opportunities. Girls are still throwing themselves at me, left, right and center. It's kind of irritating."

  "Wow," I said again. "But wait, my injury happened months ago. Does that mean you haven't—"

  "I'm going to stop you right there, brother," he s
aid. "How much action I'm getting or not getting is none of your business."

  The news was absolutely shocking.

  They should print an announcement in the college paper.

  Baylor hadn't been with a girl in months.

  He'd basically admitted as much to me.

  I went back to my stretches, my mouth agape and mind blown. We were far enough away, and Bay was talking low enough, that no one else would hear. But I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before.

  "We're talking about you, not me," he went on. "So, did you take my advice or not?"

  I shrugged. "I told her my intentions. Made sure Charlie knows I'm serious about her."

  Baylor ran a hand down his face and groaned. "Chase, no. That's exactly what you weren't supposed to do."

  "I thought you were telling me to do whatever I wanted," I said.

  He shook his head. "Not give your heart away."

  I stared at him.

  "Don't you get it? That is the one thing I'll never do," he said. "You've got to protect yourself. If you let them in, people can hurt you."

  "That's a sad way to look at the world, Bay."

  He cracked his neck from one side to the other.

  "Yeah, but it's accurate."

  "Just because they can doesn't mean they will," I said. "It's like what Dad used to say. Love is the only thing in life worth risking everything for."

  Baylor shrugged. "You've always been a romantic like him. I'm not like that."

  Not anymore, I thought. But you used to be.

  Coach blew the whistle, and we all piled into the dugout. I was disturbed by what Baylor had said, but it wasn't something I could get into right now. We'd have this discussion again. I had no doubt. But it was time to focus on ball and getting through this practice.

  "Guys," Coach said, "I don't have to tell you this next game is important. There's only three left in the regular season, and right after those, we've got the conference tournament. I'm not going to lie. It's going to be hard."

  She nodded, her gaze traveling from one face to the next.

  "This season has been one of the most difficult we've faced by far, both as a team and individually."

  I swallowed as her eyes caught mine and softened for a moment.

  "The good news is we got through all that," she said. "And we're about to come out the other side, better, stronger, and more motivated to win than ever."