Playing to Win: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by Romi Hart

  “Vince Gibson. On the playground.” Alex looked confused, so I went on, “When we were ten.”

  He laughed and gave me a squeeze. “A beautiful girl like you? I’m shocked.” He paused before carefully asking, “Does that mean you’re virgin?”

  I fidgeted with a loose string on my T-shirt, nodding my head. “Uh, huh.”

  “Okay. There’s nothing wrong with that. We were all virgins once.” Pulling me closer to him, he gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “I have a game on Sunday at one in the afternoon. I was hoping you’d be able to make it. Are you free?”

  “I’d love to see you play,” I answered then gave him a kiss on his cheek. “And thank you for not thinking I’m some kind of freak for still being a virgin at 21.”

  He took my hands in both of his. Genuinely, he looked into my eyes and said softly, "There's nothing weird about that. You're the greatest woman I've ever met in my life. There's absolutely nothing weird about you."

  Suddenly, we heard a splash in the middle of the lake. I screamed when I saw the eyes of an alligator skimming right above the water. I jumped up ready to run for my life, but the alligator floated along, minding his own business.

  Alex pulled me down back on the blanket, laughing. “I told you. The alligators are harmless.”

  Unlike anything I’ve ever done before in my life, I lunged down and kissed Alex full on the mouth. I felt like I was the luckiest girl in the world at that moment.

  6

  Alex

  Sunday's game was against number 1 ranked Stanford. The game was a big deal because we were ranked number 2. 82 minutes into the game, we were tied 2-2. There were only 8 minutes left. With so much riding on the game, I had to do something.

  Jasmine was there cheering me on. My energy was fueled by seeing her pretty face in the crowd. It was the very first game she’d seen me play. How could I let the Gators lose?

  Ronnie sent me the ball straight down the center of the box. I followed it, battling with Stanford player, Hamilton Monroe. Hamilton was a great player. I’d played against him many times before. We battled fiercely for possession of the ball. Hamilton stuck to me like crazy glue. Whatever I tried to do, he was right there challenging me.

  I could feel the clock ticking in my ears. Taking a big chance, I touched right vying for a sliver of space away from Hamilton. Of course, he was right on me, but I went for it. I banged in a right-footed ten yard shot off the post and right into the goal. The crowd erupted with cheer. Jasmine jumped up with her arms raised and a huge smile on her face.

  We were leading 3-2 with only 2 minutes left of the game. Hamilton attempted a shot for a tie, but our goalie, Phineas, jumped up high and blocked the ball with his head.

  The team and I took victory laps around the field. The win meant we toppled Stanford from the number one spot!

  Afterward, Hamilton came up to me. “Good shot, Alex.” He extended a hand.

  Hamilton and I used to play at the highly selective Elite Residential Soccer Camp every summer when we were kids. I shooed away his hand and gave him a big bear hug. “Thanks, Ham. Means a lot.”

  After the game, I climbed up into the stands to where Jasmine sat, talking with Dr. Dupree’s daughter, Laney. I gave Jasmine a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for coming.” I grabbed her hand as I took a seat next to her as I looked at Laney. She’d been going to school here but transferred to Berkeley a while back. “Hey, Laney. How’s Berkeley?”

  Laney smiled happily. “It’s fantastic. I got an internship at Google.”

  Jasmine exclaimed, “That’s exciting, Laney!”

  “Thank you!” Laney pointed to the tall, muscular guy sitting next to her. “This is my fiancée, Jett. We met at Cal.”

  Jett and I shook hands. “Nice to meet you, Jett.”

  Jett said excitedly, "Dude, killer winning shot against Stanford!" Turning his thumb down, Jett blew a raspberry in disdain for the school.

  Jasmine squeezed my hand. “That shot was amazing!” I squeezed her hand back, happy she thought so too.

  Leaning in close, I kissed the soft spot just behind her ear. “Thanks, babe.” Turning to Laney and Jett, I asked, “What are you two doing in town?”

  Jett answered, “I’m the quarterback at Cal. The Miami Dolphins invited me to come check the facilities out.”

  Laney nodded eagerly in agreement. “While we’re out here, we thought we’d visit Mom.” Laney smiled at Dr. Dupree.

  Dr. Dupree exclaimed happily, “If Jett plays for Miami, they’ll be moving back to Florida.”

  “That would great. I know you two must miss each other,” Jasmine said to Laney and Dr. Dupree. Her eyes looked wistful as she spoke to them.

  Laney hugged her mom. “I miss her so much, but I’m happy to hear Alex is working in her lab. You know, keeping an eye on her for me.”

  Dr. Dupree and Laney had a really tight mother-daughter bond. I wondered if seeing their close relationship bothered Jasmine. She rarely talked about her mother, but I wrapped my arm around her waist, just in case she needed some extra support.

  Jett said, “Nice to meet you, man. We’re flying down to Miami in about an hour. We gotta hit the road.”

  We shook hands again. “Thanks for coming. Good luck with the recruitment process.”

  Laney hugged Jasmine. “I’m glad you’re at UF. You look so happy. I’d tell you to say hi to your dad for me, but I’m pretty sure he’d just grunt, but tell Joseph, I said hey.” Jasmine and Laney shared a laugh.

  When they were gone, I asked Jasmine, “Do you have a little more time to spare this afternoon? I have a surprise for you at my apartment.”

  Jasmine’s green eyes lit up like glorious emeralds. “I have all the time in the world today. My dad is out of town, and Joseph can handle the restaurant without me.”

  All the time in the world? I could hardly contain myself.

  Back at my apartment, Jasmine walked around admiring the place. “This is really nice. Do you live here alone?”

  “Yeah. I’m not really into roommates. Too distracting.”

  Walking over to the sliding door to the balcony overlooking the clear pool, she asked, “How do you afford this? I’m sorry. Is that rude to ask?”

  I shrugged. “No. It’s not rude. I get paid a salary for working in Dr. Dupree’s lab. Also, I coach my little soccer tots. Plus, I’m on scholarship at UF with a sports stipend.”

  I watched as her eyes roamed over my trophies above the fireplace. “Impressive.” She walked over to me, hugging me from behind. Her hand ran up and down my stomach under my shirt. Her hand on my bare skin thrilled me.

  I turned around to her and said, “Quick shower. Don’t go anywhere.”

  I took the fastest shower possible and changed into running shorts and a t-shirt. By the time I was out of the bathroom, Grub Hub had already arrived with our sandwiches from Phil’s.

  Jasmine laughed, “When did you have time to order delivery?”

  I held up my phone. “I ordered at the game. There’s literally an app for everything.” She giggled at my stupid joke. I laid out my orange and blue Gators blanket on the living room floor. “I thought we’d have another picnic minus the alligators.”

  Jasmine sat down on the blanket. “I love picnics. Don’t mind the alligators anymore either.” Patting her hand down next to her, she winked at me seductively and said, “Come sit.”

  Mesmerized by her sultry stare, I dropped the sandwiches back into the paper bag they came in. Hurriedly, I sat down next to her. Before I knew it, my lips were on hers, and we were rolling around on the floor.

  Jasmine kissed me passionately making me crazy for her. Surprising me, she pulled off the pink shift dress she was wearing. I stared at her in her white lace bra and panties.

  “You are so beautiful,” I said as my eyes devoured her smooth, creamy body.

  This time when I complimented her, Jasmine didn’t blush, she just smiled, pulling me to her. I threw off my shirt wanting to feel my bare chest
on hers. Kissing me fervently, she reached for my shorts pulling them down. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Jasmine was usually so bashful, but alone, she was on fire for me.

  Following her lead, I unhooked her bra. Holding her full breasts in my hands, I kissed her nipples softly. When Jasmine let out a soft moan, I took an entire nipple into my mouth sucking it until it was firm and hard between my lips. “That feels amazing,” she murmured.

  Surprising me again, Jasmine swiftly pulled down her panties. My heart fluttered at the sight of her completely naked. I ran my hands down her body from her breasts down to her legs. She was soft and supple. Her curves dizzied me, putting me under her spell.

  Jasmine pulled down my boxer shorts releasing my hard cock from its pen. “Wow,” she said in a hushed whisper as she wrapped her hand around it. My already rock hard cock nearly burst in the grip of her hand.

  “I want you so badly,” I said, watching her lick her luscious lips. The sight of her tongue gliding between her lips was too much to take.

  “I want you too,” she said softly, tightening her grip on my cock.

  With her hands stroking me deftly, looking into her eyes, I climbed on top of her. I was ready to explode. My fingers found her clit while my mouth kissed her all over: her neck, her collarbone, her chin, her shoulder. I was a madman, wanting to kiss her everywhere all at the same time.

  Jasmine moaned when I moved my fingers inside of her. Exciting me, she was wet and warm. Pushing my fingers in and out, Jasmine groaned in pleasure. I watched as she closed her eyes tightly enjoying my fingers inside her dripping cunt.

  Her face twisted in pleasure brought me to the edge. Her beauty multiplied by a thousand with her eyes closed moaning in desire. Pulling my fingers out, I grabbed my engorged cock ready to push inside her delicious warm pussy.

  Jasmine broke me from my daze. “I’m not on birth control.”

  Well, shit!

  My heart sank. “I don’t sleep with a lot of women, so I don’t keep a stash of condoms,” I confessed. I was an idiot for not being prepared for her.

  Jasmine held her arms out to me. Collapsing next to her, my cock did the same. She wrapped her lovely lean limbs around me, giving me tiny kisses on my face.

  “Rain check?” she whispered dreamily.

  I kissed delicately her on the nose. “Definitely.”

  7

  Jasmine

  When El Buey won two Michelin stars, I was far too young to understand the significance. It was one of the few times in my childhood that I remembered my mother and father happy together. Only as tall as my father’s knees, the memory of Mom and Dad dancing, twirling and laughing in the kitchen, imprinted in my mind.

  My mother had on an ankle length dress. The dress had a yellow mustard background with small white daisies. When my parents twirled, the skirt of the dress billowed, the soft cloth brushing my cheeks as they waltzed around me. Joseph had been there too, looking up at our parents and clapping his hands cheerfully. That was so long ago, back when my mother was not yet dissatisfied and unfulfilled being just a mother and wife.

  It was only when my father lost a Michelin star did I understand the real implications of Michelin status. I was older then, twelve, and my mother had been gone for a year already. One Michelin star was still notable, still signified an elite caliber restaurant, but coupled with my mother’s departure, my father took the star retraction like a bullet to his chest.

  My mother had been the de facto general manager of El Buey. When she left, my father refused to hire anyone else. All GM responsibilities fell to the wayside or trickled down to Joseph or me as we got older.

  One Michelin star meant a ‘very good restaurant.’ Two stars meant ‘excellent cooking, worth a detour’. The coveted three stars meant ‘Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.’ When El Buey fell from excellent to very good, my father was inconsolable.

  It had been rumored when Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant lost its two Michelin stars, he openly wept. The same Gordon Ramsey who cursed every other word on TV. The same Gordon Ramsey who made other chefs tremble in his wake, actually wept over lost stars. My father did the same.

  I’d never seen my father cry before. He didn’t even openly cry when my mother left, but when that one star was snatched from him, what was left of his heart that my mother hadn’t already destroyed, shattered into dust.

  Since then, he hadn't been able to get that star back. El Buey retained its one-star Michelin status, but my father was never mollified. Afterwards, my father even won the James Beard Foundation Best Restaurant and Best Chef in the South award, but the loss of his star burrowed deep inside him like a dormant tumor silently metastasizing to other parts of his life. Maybe it was because it happened around the same time my mother left. He never talked about it so I could only guess.

  For the last ten years, my father fell into a self-inflicted slump, laser-focused on his oxen and not other aspects of the restaurant. On his trip, he visited Manresa, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Los Gatos, California. For whatever reason, Manresa and Chef Kinch invigorated him. My father returned, energized and vibrant, full of innovative ideas for the restaurant: heirloom wheat for the bread and more selective wine pairings, specifically from the Ribera del Duero region in Spain, for each kind of buey.

  Seeing my father buoyed by his new ideas made me happy, but it meant more work for Joseph and me. He began to spend more time in the restaurant with our baker and the sommelier, perfecting the bread and the wine menu. While he implemented the changes, more GM responsibilities fell on us. Not to mention, it was impossible to leave the restaurant for classes with my dad there all the time.

  Hating to lie, I faked a cold, but it was the only way to get out of working in the kitchen during the day so I could go to class and see Alex. The lie was a good cover for only a week or so. I could only fake a debilitating enough cold for so long.

  To my surprise, my dad had another idea for the restaurant: a website. I’d battled with my dad for a long time about the need to bring the restaurant onto the web. He’d been against it, fiercely claiming he was running a restaurant and not an amateur business that needed gimmicky technology.

  I wasn’t sure what Chef Kinch had said to my father. He might have urged my dad to have a website to promote the restaurant and showcase his buey. Whatever happened in California to plant the seed of this idea, I gladly accepted without any further questions.

  A website for El Buey was the first step to having an online shop for exporting Dad’s buey. I’d been so obsessed with this idea for years that I taught myself how to make a simple Wordpress website. In fact, I even had one I’d been working on, all ready to go for the day my dad finally allowed his restaurant an online presence. When my dad assigned me the task of making the website, I’d congratulated myself for working ahead.

  Telling my dad I would need to work on the website from home during the day, I went to class instead. My nights were still packed with restaurant work though. The new changes to the restaurant meant I needed to take up the GM responsibilities my father didn’t have time to do anymore and running the kitchen when my father was too busy with our baker and sommelier. After I left the restaurant, sometimes as late as midnight, I squeezed in studying before class the next day.

  Thursday, during Krishna lunch, I’d actually fallen asleep in the grass, even amongst the chatter of all the students surrounding me. My exhaustion seeped deep into my bones. When my eyes drifted shut, I gave in.

  I felt a gentle shake and a kiss on my nose. “Jasmine. Wake up.” Alex’s voice was soft and soothing. “Time for class.”

  The mention of class zapped me awake. Jerking my wrist to my face, I checked the time, relieved that I still had ten minutes to get to class. “I fell asleep. I’m sorry, Alex. We didn’t get to spend time together.” I cupped his face with my hand.

  He clasped his hand over mine. “Don’t worry about it. You are an adorable sleeper, especially when you snore. It’s sexy.” H
e closed his eyes pretending to snore loudly, sounding like an elephant with a wheezing cold.

  Playfully, I hit his shoulder, stopping him from continuing his reenactment of my sleep. “I do not snore!”

  He waved his hands around him, indicating the students in the grass. “I think we should ask the few hundred people sitting around us that have been listening to your snoring for the last half hour.”

  Grimacing, I covered my face with my hand. “Omigod! Did I really snore?”

  Alex wrapped his arms around me. “No, but it would be cute if you did.”

  Poking him in his ribs and sending him into a fit of laughs, I kissed him on the lips. His chuckles blew merrily into my mouth.

  That night, my father asked me to help him and our sommelier with the wine pairings. My father rarely asked me for my opinion with the menu. I jumped at the chance to be an active part in the wine selections, but it meant I didn’t leave the restaurant until close to two in the morning. It was four by the time I collapsed into bed after hastily studying for an exam the next day.

  Because Friday was a gloomy rainy day, Alex and I had lunch in the Reitz Union in the cafeteria. Sitting at a table, waiting for Alex to come back with our lunches, I put my head down to rest my eyes for a few minutes.

  Before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep with Alex, once again, waking me with a softness in his voice. "Sleepyhead. Time to wake up."

  I opened my eyes mortified. “I did it again.”

  He nodded. “Yup.” He pushed the hair out of my eyes. “You’re working at maximum speed, Jasmine. Is there any way you can take some time off from the restaurant?”

  Lifting my head up from arms, I opened my mouth to protest with a wild-eyed look on my face. Alex raised his hands and said, “Okay. Okay. It was just a suggestion.” He kissed me on my forehead. “I just hate to see you so exhausted.”