Playing to Win: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by Romi Hart

  Kassie sat across me with a mixed look of irritation and amusement. “I guess you come here often?”

  I guffawed at her irritation but decided to not address it directly. “A bit. Alex, my cousin, his wife’s family restaurant sells this place her father’s oxen.” Kassie tilted her head in inquiry, making her ponytail swing to the side. I had piqued her interest. “Now, it’s not just any steak. Alex’s father-in-law preserves rare breads of oxen.”

  Kassie’s eyes opened wide. I knew she would like the bit about preserving rare breads of oxen. “That’s amazing. Rare breeds?”

  “Yeah. From all over the world. It’s delicious, too. You’ll see.”

  Todd, the waiter, walked up to our table with methodical plodding steps. “Good to see you, Ryan. I caught your game on ESPN the other day. No hitter again!” Todd mimicked an exaggerated wind up pitch.

  “Thanks, man.” I held out my fist to him.

  Todd fist bumped me back. When our knuckles touched, he called out loudly and boldly, “Bam!”

  Kassie and I laughed at his enthusiasm. Todd looked us over, rubbing his chin. “Now, I know what Ryan wants, but…” He paused, placing a hand on his chest and bowing deeply in Kassie’s direction. “Forgive me, I didn’t catch your name?”

  Kassie laughed, enjoying Todd’s theatrics. “I’m Kassie.”

  Todd was in his fifties and had grey hair and an intricate handlebar moustache. He had quite an eclectic personality, definitely my favorite server at the restaurant.

  “Nice to meet you, madam. Now, have you had a chance to look at the menu?” Todd grinned with his hands clasped in front of him in a praying position.

  Kassie looked over to me. “I’d like to just have what he’s having.”

  Todd bowed again. “Excellent choice. Two Filet Mignons.” His eyebrows raised dramatically as he tapped his finger on his lips. “Crawfish Beignets and Pork Belly Du Jour for starters? And, it’s Thursday, so I assume no alcoholic beverages?”

  Todd was the man. He always knew what I wanted. “Yeah. Sparkling water, for me please. It’s a school night. Starters sound great.” I looked at Kassie for confirmation.

  She smiled eagerly. “That would be wonderful. And yes, no alcohol for me either. Sparking water please.”

  “Brilliant.” Todd strode away in a dramatic gallop.

  Todd’s energy lightened the mood. The scowl on her face from earlier that day had disappeared.

  “So tell me: what is up with your sudden interest in urban farming?” Kassie asked. I bet Kassie had been dying to ask me this all day.

  I had an answer for her already prepared, knowing she would ask me this sooner or later. “To be honest, I’d always wanted to get involved in community outreach, but baseball has a monopoly on my time. This year though, I told myself that I needed to make time. It’s my last year after all.”

  Although this was a prepared answered, I actually meant it. But Kassie eyed me skeptically. “Oh, yeah?”

  I explained further. “My father’s a lawyer in Miami. He helps the large influx of Argentinian immigrants flocking to Miami. My dad does a bunch of pro bono work. I grew up around my large extended family who’re active in community outreach. It was always something I had interest in getting more involved in, in the future, but why not start now?”

  Todd marched back to our table with the sparkling waters. He poured quickly in a flourish of affected movements and then disappeared in seconds. His measured movements made Kassie giggle.

  Motioning with my head in Todd’s direction, I said, “Todd has Parkinson’s.”

  Kassie’s face dropped in horror. “Omigod. I had no idea.”

  I assuaged her uneasiness. “The reason he makes such big exaggerated movements is because he sees a physiotherapist for LSVT BIG.”

  Her face clouded in confusion. “LSVT BIG? What’s that?”

  “LSVT BIG is where you make big movements to help counteract the slowed movements of Parkinson’s.” I held my arms out wide to demonstrate.

  Kassie’s eyes trailed to where Todd stood as he took orders from another table. “Wow. I thought he was just being funny. I feel terrible for laughing.”

  “No, no. He doesn’t mind. He’s always had that theatrical flair. He loves to make people laugh. When I first met him, he was just as dramatic, but without such big movements. I referred him to a physiotherapist I knew after I noticed his tremors. He’s been in therapy with her for over a year now.” We both watched as Todd flung his arms up, describing something to the other table.

  Kassie leaned in. “How do you know about physiotherapy?”

  “I’m a kinesiology major studying biomechanics. I’d read about LSVT BIG in a research article. I found a physiotherapist in town who was certified.”

  Todd walked back to our table with our appetizers and placed the plates on the table with panache. “Crawfish Beignets and Pork Belly Du Jour!”

  “Thanks, Todd.” He bowed his head in a large swooping movement and dashed off.

  Kassie looked at the food, but then her eyes slowly met mine. “That’s

  incredibly kind of you to help Todd.”

  I was impressing her. She was definitely falling for me. “What? With the physiotherapist? It was nothing. Todd’s a great guy.”

  Kassie’s interest had been piqued. I could feel her regard for me growing warmer. “What do you want to do with your kinesiology degree?”

  I looked away at Todd as he poured waters for a table of five. “I’m not sure I’ll do anything with it. I have an interest in biomechanical and biomedical research. Take LSVT BIG, for instance. I saw with my own eyes how that helped someone. So, sometimes I think I could do research to discover more therapies like that.”

  I looked back at Kassie, whose blue eyes were trained right at me. I continued, “But you know, my first love is baseball. So, I might not ever actually use my kinesiology degree. And maybe when baseball is over, I could be a coach or something.”

  “It must be tough having two drastically different things that you’re passionate about.” Kassie bit into a beignet so delicately. It was endearing. Her two front teeth were slightly larger than the rest of her teeth, giving her a sexy overbite. I imagined those teeth gently sunk into my shoulder while I pounded into her. Damn. She was so hot.

  Even though I knew her major, she didn’t know that so I asked, “What about you? What are you studying?”

  Kassie wiped her mouth daintily with her napkin. “I’m studying to save the world.” She laughed into her napkin.

  I chuckled, then gritted my teeth in desire. Even her laugh was sexy. Literally, anything this girl did was dripping with sex.

  Kassie fingered the blue pompom necklace as she talked. I was duly impressed she made that. What couldn’t this girl do?

  Her eyes scanned the ceiling before settling back down on me. “I went into environmental engineering to learn how we can use technology to save the planet, to stop hunger, and to provide clean water for all because I believe fresh air, healthy food, and clean water are not privileges. They are rights.”

  As she spoke, her eyes watered just a bit. She blinked the tears away with a laugh. Fanning her face, she said. “Sorry. Sometimes when I talk about this stuff, I get a little emotional.”

  Kassie Fairchild might have looked like a Barbie with her blonde hair and long legs, but inside, she was passionate about what she was doing. That touched me. I was just as passionate about kinesiology and baseball.

  Todd strode to the table with our steaks. He set the plates out in front of us. “Compliments of the chefs,” he said thoughtfully. He then stood straight up and raised his fist in the air. “Enjoy!”

  From across the table, Kassie gave me a knowing smile, understanding now Todd’s reason for his exaggeration and flair. She cut into her steak, still with that cute smile on her face. I couldn’t eat. I wanted to watch her.

  Slowly, with anticipation, she took a bite of the steak into her mouth. She chewed slowly before closing her
eyes and murmuring a delicious moan. Her delicate hands with long tapered and manicured fingers flew up to her mouth, “You weren’t kidding. This is the most delicious meat I’ve ever had in my life. Thanks for bringing me here.” She licked her lips and speared another piece of steak with her fork.

  “My pleasure.” I patted my tie down and shifted in my chair. Watching her eat had made me half-hard. That steak wasn’t the only thing I wanted her to wrap her lips around.

  7

  Kassie

  I could not figure Ryan out. It had been a couple weeks since he had taken me to Stroubes. As much as I wanted to deny it, secretly inside, I’d been hoping he would ask me out again.

  Honestly? I’d been dying for him to ask me out again.

  But he still hadn't.

  What was his deal?

  I had a great time that night. He genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself too. Could I have read him wrong?

  The gorgeous image of the supermodel hostess at Stroubes came back to me, reminding me that all kinds of beautiful girls threw themselves at Ryan.

  Had I blown it the very first night when he asked me out in the concession stand line? Had he lost interest?

  Worse - had he never been interested in the first place?

  Every time I thought about him, my mind felt scrambled and crazed while a naughty tingle throbbed between my legs. Whenever we were working at Green Garden Greaux, Ryan took every opportunity possible to take off his shirt to show off his hard body.

  I couldn’t blame him. He was gorgeous.

  It wasn’t as if I could forget what his body looked like anyway since the first time I’d laid eyes on it. Images of his sculpted masculine form when he was shoveling dirt and his muscles were flexed dripping with sweat, played on repeat in my mind.

  I couldn’t get him out of my head, but unfortunately, it seemed I was the furthest from his.

  What happened?

  During the Engineers Without Borders meetings, Ryan was friendly, but he seemed much more standoffish since we’d had dinner together. There seemed to be a loss of familiarity there, but I couldn’t quite understand the reason for it.

  I thought we really connected that night. After he’d told me how he helped Todd, was I foolish to think we shared a special moment?

  I would have never guessed Ryan was more than just a jock with a one-track mind. He wanted to help people. He wanted to make a difference in the world, just like me.

  When he dropped me off after dinner, I googled LSVT BIG right away, completely in awe of how Ryan referred Todd to a licensed LSVT BIG physiotherapist. Sitting on my bed still on a high from that wonderful dinner, I watched a video on YouTube that demonstrated how LSVT BIG therapy helps Parkinson’s patients.

  Recognizing the big exaggerated movements in the video, I mused over Ryan’s comment that he was interested in kinesiology research. Out of curiosity, I googled ‘Ryan Romero Kinesiology Biomechanical Biomedical.’ Like any girl with a crush, I googled ‘Ryan Romero’ before, but those results were mostly about his baseball career.

  My mouth dropped open.

  The first result was a link to a research article Ryan wrote for The Journal of Sports Medicine and Allied Health. He had written a literature review of previous research done on the biomechanics of baseball pitching in relation to injury risk and prevention.

  I read the well-written article, marveling that Ryan had a published paper in a peer-reviewed journal, something that I hadn’t even done yet. Hot Ryan with his sculpted arms, washboard abs, and chiseled jaw had published an academic paper.

  Ryan wrote: ‘The purpose of the present paper is to provide a comprehensive review of previous research on the analysis of the biomechanics of baseball pitching to provide direction for future research in injury risk and prevention.’

  The abstract alone was so eloquently written I was legitimately getting aroused. Ryan Romero, not only had an incredible body, but he had an actual working brain.

  He was too good to be true. Gorgeous. Smart. Accomplished.

  After finding out he was a published scholar, the intensity of my attraction to him skyrocketed. To make things worse, I ran into him on campus all the time. If I wanted to forget about him, there was no viable way to. Every time I turned around, he was right there, looking hot and sexy without even trying. He always greeted me politely, but again, the flirty Ryan of two weeks ago was nowhere to be found.

  All I could think was maybe he was already seeing someone else?

  I spent the last two weeks on high alert looking for clues that there was another girl in the picture. The good news was that he was never with a girl the numerous times I’d run into him on campus and he never took a girl to any of the football games.

  The bad news? He wasn’t showing much interest in me either.

  Where was the bad boy player I’d been warned about? Helena and Gloria were adamant that he was this jock who was only trying to get into my pants. And now that I actually wanted him to even look in my direction, he showed no interest in me at all.

  The words of my mother rang into my ears: if I worked hard enough and believed in myself, I could accomplish anything. Granted, my mom was, in no way, talking about getting a hot guy to be interested in me, but that didn’t matter. I was Kassandra Lee Fairchild. I was not going to give up so easily.

  I was a great catch, I reminded myself. Attractive. Hard working. Intelligent. Kind.

  Maybe Ryan just needed me to show interest in him? After all, I had shot him down before.

  Unlike anything I have ever done in my life, I hatched a plan to get the Ryan who looked dreamily into my eyes over dinner to come back out of his shell. He was in there hiding in that gorgeous body. I just had to tease him back out. Before the EWB meeting, I went to Sabilov Lab early and sat outside in the courtyard, waiting for Ryan to get there.

  With the sole intention of making an impression on him, I wore my pink skater style skirt that flared out perfectly revealing my long legs. I paired it with my white ruffle scoop neck blouse that dipped just enough to highlight my cleavage. I made sure to wear my hair down and flowing around my shoulders. To finish the look, I swiped my lips with my Sugar Pink lip gloss. I’d never put that much effort into getting dressed before just to go to school, but I was a girl on a mission.

  It felt like I had staged a photo shoot. I sat on a bench, elegantly poised with my notebook out, trying to actually go over my Chemistry notes for an exam I had later that week, but failing miserably. My eyes kept darting up from the pages to look for Ryan.

  When I spotted him at the edge of the courtyard, I waited until he was just close enough to look up from my notes in surprise. With the biggest smile, I called out, “Ryan!”

  Ryan looked over me and smiled in recognition, giving me a faint wave.

  Keeping up my friendly casual air, I swiftly picked up my bag and notebook and walked over to him. “Hey, headed to our meeting?”

  Ryan thumbed the straps of his backpack, looking towards Sabilov. “Yeah.”

  “Great! I’ll walk with you,” I said.

  We walked to Sabilov’s entrance. Ryan looked incredible in just a jeans and a t-shirt. A light wind blew through just then, and I could faintly smell his spicy manly scent.

  Catching Ryan sneaking a glance at my plunging neckline, I knew I had him where I wanted him. “I never got to properly thank you for dinner a couple weeks ago,” I said, nonchalantly.

  Ryan shook his head. “No, I should thank you. I was starving. Sorry for dragging you there. When I’m hungry, I have to stop whatever I’m doing and eat. No matter who I’m with.”

  Okay, maybe it hadn’t been what I thought it was. “As a thank you, I thought maybe you’d like to grab some dinner with me after this meeting?”

  Ryan grimaced. “I’d love to, but I have baseball practice after the meeting.”

  My heart sank like a tossed stone. Suddenly, I felt stupid in my flared mini skirt and ruffle blouse. “Oh. Okay. Maybe some other time,” I said
smiling, but inside I was chastened that my plan hadn’t worked.

  Ryan held the door open for me, as I walked inside. “You know what? Some guys on the team are going to a frat party after practice. You should come.”

  It was my time to grimace. A frat party?

  “I don’t know. I’m not really a frat party kind of girl,” I admitted. “Don’t those parties get kind of rowdy sometimes?”

  Ryan grinned. “If you go, I’ll make sure no one messes with you. I’ve got your back.”

  “I don’t know,” I said uneasily.

  Ryan put a hand on my arm. His hand on my bare skin exhilarated me. “You’ve got to go to at least one frat party while you’re in college, right?”

  Shrugging my shoulders, I said, “Maybe? Is it a graduation requirement?”

  Ryan laughed. “Yes. It’s an unwritten LSU requirement to graduate.” He lightly shook my arm in a plea. “Come on! You should go with me. After this year, I won’t be around to look after you.” He paused and said with a coy look, “In case, you know, it gets rowdy.”

  He was teasing me. And I loved it.

  It wasn’t a quiet dinner gazing into each other’s eyes like I had hoped for, but it was hanging out. And Ryan looked so cute smiling at me and offering to watch out for me at the party.

  Normally, a frat party was the last place I’d ever thought I’d go, but I couldn’t say no to Ryan.

  I smiled at him playfully. “Okay. I’ll take you up on that.”

  Ryan flashed me a sexy grin. “You won’t regret it.”

  I hoped he was right.

  8

  Ryan

  Every day it was getting harder and harder to act like Kassie was just like any other girl in the world. Ignoring her wasn’t easy. She was a total knock out no matter what she was wearing, but before our Engineers Without Borders meeting on Friday, when I saw her sitting there with her long legs crossed and her hair down around her shoulders, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm.