Page 142 of Playing Dirty

“Well, your hot water is safe, ’cause I’m not moving in.” One of his hands wraps around the back of my neck and he looks down at me intently, dropping his voice to a whisper. “But I will come back after practice if you want me to.”

“Only if you wanna be part of all this,” I say, motioning to my roommates who have now moved on to bickering about what movie to watch.

A smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth. “Well, you put in the work with my friends. Guess it’s my turn to finally do the same.”

“As long as you don’t expect them to go easy on you,” I tease, knocking my arm against his chest playfully. “You may be my boyfriend now, but you’re still a Falcon.”

His smirk shifts into a full-blow grin, though I’m not sure if it’s because of the taunt or the newfound label I’ve applied to him.

Maybe it’s a little of both.

“You know I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Epilogue

Madden

Six Months Later — October

“Hello, welcome to Snowline Reso— Oh, God.”

“Hey there, Jeremy. Good to see you again.” Theo drops his ID and credit card on the counter before aiming a winning smile at the receptionist. Meanwhile, the poor guy looks like he wants to crawl into a hole and die right now as he stares at my boyfriend.

“H-how can I help you?”

“We’re looking to check in,” I say politely.

To Jeremy’s credit, he gathers himself quickly, then grabs Theo’s ID and turns to the computer to pull up our reservation. But it doesn’t stop Theo’s shoulders from shaking with silent laughter until I shoot him one of thoseknock it offlooks.

Of course,Ialmost lose it when Jeremy’s face goes stark white while looking at his computer screen.

“I have you down for a…king room, mountain view for four nights.”

Theo glances at me with the fakest confusion drawing his expression down. “I don’t think—”

“Yes, that’s right,” I cut in, wishing I could kick him right now. But hejustfinished physical therapy and is back at one hundred percent, so I reel in the urge.

Jeremy’s attention darts between the two of us for a second before he states, “I have double rooms available if there’s—”

“We’re good with what we have,” I promise.

He nods a couple times before giving me a tight smile. “All right, then. Here are your room keys. You’ll want the second elevator bank—”

“Oh, we remember where it is,” Theo cuts in, aiming another devilish smile at the receptionist. “Thanks so much, Jeremy. We’ll let you know if we need anything.”

I swear,I hear the faintest “please don’t” come from the guy as we grab our bags and head in the direction of the elevators. It’s only when we’re safely closed behind the sliding doors that I finally let my composure slip, laughter spilling from me.

“Oh, my God,” I manage between chuckles. “You really must’ve made an impression on him back in December.”

“I guarantee I haunt his nightmares after checking for another room every single day,” Theo jokes, linking his fingers with mine while we ride up to our floor.

We arrive at our room, and Theo pushes open the door, making way for me to enter before following me in. The suite looks identical to the one from this past December, though it’s not lost on me how entirely different the circumstances are on this trip to Vermont.

It’s kismet, in a way; being back in the place where this whole thingstarted. Only this time, we’re stupidly in love instead of at each other’s throats.

I drop my bag near my side of the bed and then turn, finding Theo still smirking to himself about the encounter with Jeremy.

“You’re rather proud of yourself for almost giving him a heart attack.”