The Player

by Aliyah Burke

  He watched his friend pull out items for a protein shake but didn’t speak. The man didn’t look all that bad after last night.

  “Saw Faye this morning.”

  It didn’t take but two seconds for Mitchell to whip back around to look at him.

  “Read the riot act to you as well?” A shoulder shrug. “Sorry man, I told her to leave you alone but guess she didn’t listen.”

  He snorted. Faye didn’t listen to anyone she didn’t want to. That he’d learned back in middle school.

  “She acts like I’m not grown, or older than her.”

  “Lannie was on chat when she came in busting my ass about me being a bad influence on you.”

  Mitchell flushed, his light skin reddening as he shook his head. “I’ll talk to her.”

  “Lannie wants me to date her and clean up my image.” There he put it out there so the man couldn’t beat the shit out of him when he went after her.

  No laughter, no smirking. No anything. Not other than Mitchell turning to him slowly, the gleam in his eyes warning of the danger he could be in.

  “Why would she think you and my sister could be a match?”

  I thought he was my best friend. Why is he so mad about the thought of me with his sister?

  Manwhore was a good start.

  “Not sure. Like I said, she was there when I was torn a new asshole by your sister. Somehow she seems to think it would clean up my image.”

  “It would but good luck with that.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Nothing while the blender ran on the shakes and Mitchell poured two of them before handing him one.

  “It means that my sister already has her eye on someone that she wants in her life.”

  “Who?” He forced that word out calmly instead of roaring it like he had an actual say in who she chased.

  “Nope, not telling you. Look man, Faye loved you in school, you broke her heart then. College was the same, why do you think she went to the same one we did?”

  “Because she got a scholarship?”

  “Yes, but she had full ones to other schools. She wanted to be close to you. All you did was break her heart. She knows you’re a player and she doesn’t want that.” He chugged most of his drink. “She’s working on her MBA and running her bookstore. Leave her alone. Unless, I’m mistaken and she said she’d help you out.”

  Kaeden put his drink down and shook his head. “She will.”

  He left the room to shower and plan how the hell he was going to get Faye Reynolds to act as his girlfriend.

  αβ

  Faye smiled at the little boy who clutched his book to his chest like it was the greatest treasure in the world. His gap tooth grin made her heart flip over a few times in her chest.

  “You need a brood of them running around. You’re so good with children.”

  Side eyeing her employee and all around one of her two best friends, Randy, she laughed. “I get all the kids I want here and at home I can have the quiet I’m needing by that time of the day.”

  Randy shrugged and tucked some black hair behind her ear. Faye took in her multicolored dress, she swore the woman was trying to embrace the African roots that had shown up in her Ancestry reveal, even if they were only two percent. Girl was as white as they came. Dark hair, pale skin, freckles.

  Not that she was judging, just, amused.

  “Fine, just a thought. I was thinking if you were knocked up you would stop chasing after that no good one you’ve got your eyes on.”

  “I’m done chasing players and bad boys. This guy is perfect.”

  “A perfect snore fest.” Randy rolled her eyes and opened up a new box of books they’d just cataloged, pulling them out and setting them on the counter to be shelved. “You need some excitement in your life. That man, ain’t going to deliver.”

  She gazed beyond Faye out the front door.

  Faye ground her jaw, keeping her comment contained. So what if Billy wasn’t flashy. He would make a good husband and father. Life would be nice.

  Back to the door, she glared at her friend. “Billy is what I need. I had the bad boy and the players. I’m not looking for that. He may be a bit, stodgy, but that’s fine. We will be fine.”

  Randy held up two books. How To Please Your Woman; Learning To Find The Clitoris. And the Kama Sutra. “Even if I gave that boy these books, your sex life would still be boring. That man probably doesn’t even know what a clit is, much less how—”

  “Randy, children are here and no I’m not talking about you. Even though right now, you’re fitting in that category.”

  Her friend wasn’t the slightest bit perturbed. In fact, she seemed disgustingly perky in regard to this conversation. “Point is, you need a man who will keep you in bed after the alarm goes off. One who will keep you up all night and help you lose your voice. One that will make you breakfast and paint your toenails. Excitement for you that doesn’t come from that drawer of toys you have in your bedroom. We both know, Billy isn’t that man.” Randy’s lips twitched as if she was holding back her laughter.

  “I can help with the excitement in your life. Happy to. Of course, now I’m also intrigued as to what toys you have in your bedroom.”

  And now she knew why Randy’s expression was what it had been.

  Kaeden Archer.

  Fuck.

  Quite positive her eyes were fire, she glared at her smirking friend as she turned to face the last man on earth she wanted to see. Especially twice in one day.

  Damn!

  He relaxed against her counter and put those laser sharp blue eyes on her. The black knit cap covered his dark messy hair and it was all she could do to keep her gaze on his face. Not allow it to trail down the ridiculously hard planes of his body.

  Nope, she definitely wasn’t aware of how he filled out his jeans, or the way his long sleeve t-shirt hugged his biceps only to partially drape over that firm ass he had and tease people as he walked away. Which she could see if she angled back just a teensy bit.

  “What do you want?”

  Faye was fairly certain she snarled at him like a pissed off she-wolf. And had no qualms about doing so.

  He tossed her a smile she remembered all too well from growing up as his neighbor. Okay, possibly also because she’d been obsessed with him.

  Been.

  Past tense.

  Or this was her current lie she fed herself.

  With a clucking of her tongue, Randy moved up to the counter and held her hand out. “Hi, I’m Randy, on behalf of Just One More Page Books & Cafe, I’d like to apologize for her behavior. We love it when people come into our place of business.”

  “Sod off, Randy,” she growled under her breath.

  Kaeden shook her hand, his familiar “look at me I’m so fucking handsome I can do whatever I want” smile in place.

  “Lovely to meet you. I’m used to her behavior. In fact, she was yelling at me this morning in the kitchen before she left.”

  “Kaeden,” she warned, suddenly wishing the shop was closed and she was anywhere else.

  Randy moved her gaze between the two of them. Faye knew she was working it out in her head. They were best friends, soon enough she would put it all together.

  “You were in his house this morning.” Randy spoke the words slow as if trying them out on her tongue to make sure they were correct.

  The bastard grinned down at her. Faye clenched a fist and imagined punching him with it in his nose. Probably not a good idea. He would be fine and she’d most likely break her hand.

  “She was.” His eyes glinted with wicked intent. “She must not have come here right away though, because you were wearing something different this morning, weren’t you, baby?”

  “Oh my god, it’s Kaeden Archer!”

  He didn’t look away from her for a moment, his blue eyes burning a hole directly into her closed off heart. “We need to talk.”

  “I have nothing to say to you. At all.”

  Fa
ye felt her unease topple the chart as people, she swore there hadn’t been this many in the shop earlier, swarmed him. Edging away, until she could escape the throng of rabid fans, she didn’t join Randy behind the counter but went into the backroom.

  Slumping against a wall, she stood there, chest heaving as she tried to slow her breathing and heart rate back to a normal range. It wasn’t easy, that man, it wasn’t fair.

  How the hell does he do that to me? Still?

  He made her lose control and want to be one of those simpering people who would sell their kidney to be beside him. Whatever it took for a look, a brush of a touch. Any fucking scrap he was willing to toss in her direction.

  With that recollection of how this had gone down, punched her in the very non-flat plane of her belly. She gave herself five more seconds then smoothed her hand down her pantsuit she’d put on after getting home this morning after dealing with Kaeden.

  The reason she’d had to change wasn’t because of him, no matter how his wording made it seem. She’d gone back to check on her brother and he’d puked on her. That was why she’d changed. But she couldn’t toss that out to the pain in her ass out in her business. She knew not to blab information about the team in public.

  Hefting another box, she walked up to the front and slowed as she looked around at all those still gathered. Randy finished ringing someone up and looked back at her, mouthing, “Oh my God” at her.

  Nudging her way into the register area, she had to put the box on the floor because there was a line of patrons waiting to check out. As she stepped up to the second register, she picked up on snippets of the conversation floating around her.

  “He’s so hot.”

  “I just want ten minutes with him.”

  “You can have ten minutes, I want a night.”

  “I’m going to just wait for his call. I slipped him my number, you know.”

  All that and more came from the women who were there. But it wasn’t only women. There were men and the children were loving the attention he gave them. Staring over at the café, she looked at her other employee, and second bestie, JadaLei. The woman was just as busy as Randy.

  But where was he?

  She looked around as she bagged the books the gentleman had purchased and handed him his change.

  Kaeden sat with the children. Not in a chair over them, but on the floor, part of their circle. Okay, her ovaries did a bit of flexing their muscles and reminding her, he was her forever love. It was hell watching him with the children. He was so good with them.

  She ran her hungry gaze over the taut pull of his jeans over powerful thighs. The way his shirtsleeves had been pushed up, exposing his tattoos and the strong forearms. Pulling her eyes up over that impressive chest, up his features, her heart skipped several beats when he leveled that blue stare on her.

  When he winked, she calmly looked away and smiled with honest affection at the person before. Margie Henderson was one of her favorite patrons. She loved the classics and was in at least once a week, to sit with a cup of tea, a fresh muffin, and a book.

  “Good morning, Ms. Margie.”

  “Busy in here today.” She placed two books down.

  “A bit, yes.” Picking up the books, she nodded as she read the titles. “I have put in the order for you, that signed copy should be in next week. I’ll give you a call when I get it in.”

  “Thank you,” she gushed. “I can’t wait for it to arrive.”

  “Have a great day, Ms. Margie.”

  “I will. You too. And I mean I’m older now, but if I was your age, I would totally be fine with you bringing in hot man candy like that.”

  She laughed, head back and shook her head. “Ms. Margie, you can’t say things like that to me.”

  The woman winked. “He’s watching you like you’re the air he needs to breathe. It’s very romance novelesque.”

  Problem was, she already knew why. He needed something. And she had a fair idea of what that insane favor was going to be.

  I should have kept to myself and let my brother deal with his own fallout from his stupid and asinine behavior instead of inserting myself back into Kaeden’s life. I was fine for all those years without him being in there.

  Fine was relative. If that meant living with only his memory and vivid dreams as she replayed the sight of him fucking another on repeat in her mind, only having her as the one receiving his cock and waking with her fingers deep inside her pussy, then yep, she was fine.

  I very well could have one hell of a problem.

  Chapter Two

  Faye was doing a bang up job of pretending he wasn’t even in the store. Only one time had he seen her look in his direction. That chaffed. Why wasn’t she like the rest of the people in there, fanning over him?

  No, he didn’t give a fuck about the others but a tiny bit of fawning from her would have been perfect. She’d crushed on him, hard, when they were growing up and in college but then, she’d vanished and he hadn’t seen her. Barely heard Mitchell speak about her either.

  And I sure as fuck didn’t know she was out here in Vancouver when I was being traded.

  He smiled at the little boy who watched him and mimicked his every move. The child even had his shirtsleeves pushed up like he did. Adorable.

  Having always enjoyed kids, it wasn’t any trouble for him to be down here with them. The parents watched but hung back a bit, allowing the kids to get a piece of him. He knew his time with them would come as soon as he stood up. Then it would be the others loitering around.

  It would be worth it when he walked out of here with Faye agreeing to pose as his girlfriend.

  “Can you read this one?”

  He looked at the girl who walked without fear through the group of mostly boys to thrust a book in his direction. Her smooth brown skin, bright eyes, and braids made him think a bit about Faye as a young girl. His gut twisted, did she have a child? Was this her?

  “Of course.” He took the book and her lips lifted in a superior smile before she sat beside him.

  Fucking frightening how much she was like a young Faye.

  He read two more then cried off. By the time he made it through the parents and the waiting fans, he was ready to stop being Kaeden “HP” Archer, troubled yet insanely talented Tight End for the Vancouver Storm, and just be Kaeden.

  The one good thing was he’d found the child wasn’t Faye’s. She had been fucking adorable and now here he was, striding through the bookstore and café thinking about getting Faye pregnant to give himself a little girl that looked just like her.

  What the fuck is wrong with me?

  His phone rang and he answered, pausing by a shelf that still allowed him direct visual contact with the woman he had to get on his side. He’d thought about what his agent had told him. Like usual, she was correct. He was an asshole but damn it, he was good and spoke his mind. It wasn’t all on him to be liked, they could up their game, he didn’t tolerate those who slacked off or made them look bad on the field and called them on their shit.

  “Archer.”

  “I know who you are, I’m your agent and I called you. How’s Operation Secure A Girlfriend going?”

  “Really? You named it?”

  She laughed and he wanted to yell but kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t his place of business to cause problems in. There wasn’t any doubt that if he started something in here, his parents, hers and her brother, not to mention Faye herself would kick his ass. And while he was an asshole of the highest caliber, he cared for Faye. Always had.

  Always would.

  Probably far more than he ever wanted to think about and acknowledge.

  “I name lots of things. I have two events already scheduled for you to make an appearance at with your new girlfriend. No, she’s not down as attending but you are with a plus one. You better fucking be on your best behavior.”

  He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Wait. You booked things for us as a couple already?” His voice was low and a hiss of shock and ange
r.

  “I told you to get her on board.” A short bark of laughter. “I’m thinking you may have not believed me when I said so. Now you know.”

  Lannie was gone before he could say another word. Irritation spiked and only went higher when he looked back at the counter and found Faye talking to a man who leaned far too close to her. It was more than that, it was her expression. Happiness and open affection.

  Her smile. The way she captured her lower lip in her teeth. The dimple in her right cheek. Swallowing back his growl, he strode over there, ignoring the people reaching out to him. As if he had all the right in the world, he stepped behind the counter, allowed his hand to brush along her back, relishing in the slight shudder, and propped his hip against the barrier, he wanted to fuck her against.

  “I can ring him up.”

  They both looked at him.

  “Who are you?” The man looked down his nose at Kaeden, as if he weren’t one of the best fucking players in the NFL.

  “Kaeden Archer, tight end for the Vancouver Storm. And you?”

  The man shrugged. “Oh, right, your American football.”

  It fucking chafed that he winked at Faye once he said it. Kaeden bristled.

  “You play?”

  “No, never had the need to put on all the protective gear you boys wear. Rugby players can handle it without all the pads.” He put those intense green eyes back on Faye. “I’ll call you, luv. Good to see you again.” Bending over the counter, he kissed her lips and walked out.

  Kaeden hated the way she watched after him. He wanted that look.

  Hell, he used to get that look.

  Before he went and… Not the place for him to think about what he’d done.

  “There a reason you’re back here behind the counter?”

  “Have you given any thought to what I said? That I need a moment of your time?”

  She sprayed the counter and wiped it clean with a cloth. “Not since I told you no. There wasn’t any reason to.”

  He fell silent as she rang up the next few people. Not wanting to leave her, he claimed a seat at the desk by the computer back there, rocking it back to lean against the wall.