Page 13 of Let the Game Begin

“What are you doing here?” I surveyed him, from his elegant overcoat to the dark pants that hugged his athletic legs. He looked particularly handsome and sexy. He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear and smiled.

“I wanted to surprise you, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find you on a strange campus,” he admitted, but I was distracted by all the curious stares burning a hole in us. I turned to find Logan and the others, all very interested in the situation.

“Um…this is Jared. He’s my…” I cleared my throat awkwardly because I was always deeply uncomfortable sharing personal information, to say nothing of hashing out complicated personal situations. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I forced myself to relax.

“Her boyfriend.” Jared came to my rescue, flashing a beaming smile.

Logan was the first to hold out his hand, and then everyone else followed his lead. But my boyfriend wasn’t there to visit campus or to meet my new friends, he was there to spend time with me, so he offered to take me home. We got an Uber, and when we arrived at the house, we lingered together outside for a few minutes.

Jared explained to me that he’d come to New York for somethingrelated to his father’s company and that he was supposed to go back to Detroit the same day. He was such a busy go-getter; his life was full of commitments. His days were taken up with either work or studying, because he was determined to forge a solid future for himself. He was a keeper, and I admired his maturity so much. Jared never made mistakes; he always knew the right thing to do. It made him a great touchstone for me.

We’d just met not so many months before during a time in my life when I felt alone and was really in need of someone who could understand me—someone with whom I could share my daily struggles. We were just friends at first, then he confessed his feelings for me, and we’d been going out at that point for three months. We had agreed to a sort of pause on the formal relationship while I was in New York. Jared insisted we were serious and would quickly pick up where we left off when I got back to Michigan, but I wasn’t sure how we would be impacted by the time apart. It would certainly test how connected we really were.

“I want to go home,” I murmured miserably after explaining to him about Mia and her children while deliberately trying not to dwell on Neil too much. Jared would not have liked a guy like that.

“I know, baby, but you need to spend some time with your father. You know, patch things up between the two of you.” He touched my cheek, and I delighted in his sweetness, a part of him that had stood out to me from the moment I met him.

“There’s nothing to patch,” I complained. “When can you come back to see me again?” I locked my eyes on his, hoping to get one answer in particular.

“Soon, baby. I have to get my studies sorted out, and my dad is on my ass about work…” He glanced around, sighing in frustration. I knew his father was an arrogant, despotic man. I’d only met him on one occasion, but that was enough for me to see how terribly he treated his son. And to know that I could never respect a man like that.

“I understand,” I answered sadly. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I decided not to make a big deal out of it. I realized that his eyes were glued to my lips, and I understood immediately what he wanted. I gave him amischievous smile before deciding I needed to thank him for his delightful surprise.

And then I kissed him.

I kissed him like a schoolgirl kisses the boy she’s crushing on. I kissed him like a teenager kisses the cutest boy in the group during a high school game of truth or dare. I kissed him like the boy someone writes about in their secret diaries and then chuckles over as the pages weather and adulthood sets in.

I felt his hand pressing on the back of my neck to deepen the kiss. Then, slowly, he leaned me against the wall next to the gate, joining our feverish bodies together. I heard him emit a small, sensual moan from the back of his throat as I continued to taste his clean flavor.

As always, though, something wasn’t quite right. I didn’t want to admit it, but that thrill that I had heard so much about and never experienced firsthand just…wasn’t there with Jared. The blazing passion, the irrepressible desire, the heart pounding in my chest—all of it was missing.

The feeling oflovewas missing.

He gave me affection and protectiveness, but I never got those famous butterflies in my stomach from him. In fact, I had stopped even believing they were real. When he kissed me or touched me, I knew for certain that I wasn’t in love with him.

I put my hands on his abdomen to try to slow down his demanding, impatient movements, but he didn’t relent in the slightest. With his free hand, he grabbed my butt cheek, and my heart leaped into my throat. My moment of apparent happiness gave way to tension that began to pulse in my veins, making me stiffen. My body just seemed to react differently to touches that other women would probably enjoy quite a bit. His kiss began to feel smothering, and it made me anxious.

The roar of an engine interrupted us, and we abruptly broke apart, looking for all the world like a happy couple caught in the act.

I pulled my mouth away from Jared’s and turned to the noise, where I found Neil…my nightmare. He rolled down the window of his car and looked speculatively at both Jared and me, pushing his sunglasses up on his forehead. He blew out a cloud of smoke; he was holding the lit cigarette withthe same hand that rested on the steering wheel. Stupidly, I wondered what he thought of me in that moment, and then I tried to figure out why I cared. I wasn’t doing anything wrong, yet I felt soiled in his eyes.

“Selene, a little discretion, please. Daddy might see you,” he scolded me with an insolent smile that I longed to slap right off his face.

I couldn’t stand it—no one had ever sparked such instant dislike in me before. He looked me up and down like I was nothing before fixating on my lips, which I touched with an index finger. They felt wet and swollen. I experienced a pointed sense of discomfort, even though I knew I had no reason to.

“Thanks for the concern, but I know what I’m doing,” I answered cheekily. (I did not know what I was doing.)

Neil just shook his head and revved the engine, making a deafening racket. He opened the automatic gates to the house but tossed me one last smirk before driving through.

“And he is?” Jared asked, frowning with confusion and obvious concern as he watched the expensive car roll through the palatial entrance. What could I have said? Nothing that would have reassured him.

“Neil,” I answered in a gloomy whisper, because, alas, I was going to have to spend a lot of time with him, and I knew it was going to cause problems. That was for certain.

“You mean Logan’s brother, Neil?” he clarified.

“The same.”

“And he lives with you?” I could see his justified jealousy. Neil evoked competitiveness in men and desire in women. On me, however, he had another effect: I found him frightening and compelling at the same time.