Only Work, No Play Read online Cora Reilly (Tough Games #1)

Categories Genre: Romance, Sports Tags Authors: Series: Tough Games Series by Cora Reilly
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Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
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“For me the kiss looks okay,” I said with a small shrug, but discussing kissing techniques really wasn’t on my agenda when alone with Xavier, or at all.

Xavier turned to me. “Then you’ve never been kissed properly. Trust me, if I kissed you, you wouldn’t let me disappear—you’d rip my bodysuit off and fuck me in that alley.”

I swallowed because I had a feeling he was right. His gray eyes held mine with an intensity I hadn’t seen in them before. I nodded toward the screen. “Spiderman isn’t about kissing,” I said, my voice a bit breathless to my ears.

After that kissing was off-limits and we found less awkward topics, though I had a feeling I was the only one who felt uncomfortable. Xavier was cool as a cucumber as usual.

After the second movie, I prepared to leave. “Should I drive you home?” he asked as he brought me to the door.

“Usually I’m your chauffeur,” I teased.

“True. But we’ve both had a couple of beers, but I’m much bigger and can hold my liquor better.”

“I doubt that,” I said with a laugh. “I’m not the one who usually drinks light beer.”

“It’s late, Evie. You shouldn’t be out alone.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be fine. I’m not the only woman taking public transport from this house. It’s only midnight. And you can’t risk being caught behind the wheel with alcohol in your system. The Rugby League might ban you for a few games.”

He grimaced. “Then let me bring you to the bus station.”

“Okay,” I said, grabbing my purse and following Xavier out of his apartment. We walked in comfortable silence toward the station, where an older man and a young woman were also waiting for the bus to Bondi Junction.

“This was nice,” I said quietly when the bus finally approached.

Xavier looked down at me. “Yeah.” I couldn’t quite pinpoint his expression. He looked almost…apprehensive.

I got onto the bus. Xavier watched with his hands stuffed into his jeans pockets, and my heart thudded a bit quicker in my chest.

Even Fiona’s interrogation couldn’t dampen my mood after the movie night with Xavier. I enjoyed his company, even if she couldn’t understand. I knew he could be a major prick, but he wasn’t to me.

The chances of me misinterpreting his motives were blown right out of the window when I entered his apartment two days later to wake him for training as usual. A female voice sounded upstairs.

My smile dropped and I headed for the espresso unit and flipped the switch, announcing my presence.

For a moment, the woman quieted down, but then her voice rang out again. I didn’t listen, didn’t want to, too worried by the realization that for the first time it really bothered me that Xavier had a girl over to bang her brains out. I’d seen him do it from the start, so what had changed? And more importantly, how could I return to my previous indifference?

I grabbed the pitcher, filled it with milk and began to froth it. From the corner of my eye, I saw Xavier make his way down the staircase, looking royally pissed. Behind him one of the women who’d tried out for a position in the cheerleading team, a lithe girl with long black hair, followed, talking to him without pause.

“We could work out together. I’m sure you can show me a few new moves.”

Xavier stopped next to the kitchen island, in his usual Calvin Kleins. “Listen—” he began, then paused.

He looked at me. He didn’t know the girl’s name. Of course.

I fought the urge to let him get through this situation on his own, but it would embarrass him less than the girl. Xavier was lucky I had a good memory, and that Fiona had bitched about the candidates almost nonstop while she’d watched the tryouts on repeat at home. Still, I wavered between two names. Samantha or Cameron.

Cameron, I mouthed at him.

“Listen, Cameron, our coach is kicking our asses right now, but if you give my assistant your number, I’ll give you a call as soon as I have time.”

Never.

The girl told me her number and I put it into my mobile. Xavier led her out of his apartment with his hand on her lower back. She stole another kiss from him that turned my stomach into ice before he finally closed the door. And just as quickly, he would have forgotten all about her. I deleted her number from my phone again.

“What’s on today?” he asked me.

I paused, resisting the urge to ask for the name of the girl just to make a point. He had already forgotten anyway. “You have a fan meeting in the afternoon, and please don’t land in bed with any of them. The press will tear you apart if you do.”

“They do anyway. But I don’t take fans into bed on general principle.”



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