Page 45 of The Playboy’s Playbook

Chapter Forty

LAILA

“ I love you Laila, no matter what.”

The words repeat over and over in my mind all night long. I don’t want the ball to be in my hands. I don’t want to be the one making decisions about the next play. I don’t want to go out and try and find love with someone else.

I just want Matt Foster.

The next morning while I’m sitting in my living room and Nola is lying next to me chewing on one of her toys, my phone rings. It’s my mom calling. She never calls early in the morning unless it’s an emergency.

“Hey, mom,” I answer.

“I know you told me you had some work to do remotely and emails to send, so I won’t keep you for long! But I just got the most exciting phone call!” she exclaims, causing me to sit up straighter on my couch.

“I took the day off. What happened?” I ask.

“You know that building downtown…wait, did you just say you took today off? Why? What’s wrong? Are you sick? Is Nola okay?”

I shake my head and chuckle. “Yeah, we’re both fine. Nola’s sitting right next to me with her banana toy you bought her from Vegas. I think it might’ve replaced the panda bear. What about the building downtown?”

“Nope,” she says. “What’s wrong, Laila?”

I sigh and close my eyes. “It’s this thing with Matt.

He came over for dinner last night and he poured his heart and soul out to me.

He wanted an answer about whether or not we’d get back together.

I couldn’t give him a direct answer. And I think by not giving him a direct answer, I hurt his feelings. ”

“Why couldn’t you give him a direct answer, Apple Pie? It seems like a no-brainer. I thought you were in love with him?”

I take a deep breath and finally let the tears flow. “I am in love with him, mom. But it always harbors in my mind that he kept something so major away from me. What if he hurts me for a third time?”

My mom lets me cry before speaking. “I’m sure that he’s learned his lesson by now. But why put yourself through all of the stress and anguish when you know that you are in love with him? It’s okay to fall because he will be right there to pick you up. Hell, he might even fall with you.”

I wipe my tears and Nola props up on my leg, sniffing my face and giving me tiny kisses to console me. “I think I’m too late, mom.”

“No. You’re not too late. Go get him, Laila.”

As soon as the line goes dead, I sit on the edge of the couch and gather myself, taking slow deep breaths.

“You can do this, Laila,” I say to myself. I stand from the couch and go to my bathroom to freshen up and put on makeup. I go to my closet and look around for something to wear.

“What the hell does a girl wear when she’s on a mission to get her guy back, Nola?” I ask as Nola prances into my closet, going to sit on her bed in the corner.

I decide on my favorite pink tweed skirt set and matching pink heels. I pull my hair into a ponytail and grab my purse and keys.

“Nola,” I call out and I hear her feet patter across the floor as she enters the living room. I bend down and pick her up, placing a kiss on the top of her head. “Wish mommy luck. Hopefully you’ll have your dad back by lunch. Be a good girl.”

I put Nola in her kennel and make my way to my car before driving an hour to the university in Meadowbrook where Matt’s been working. I remember he said this project could take up to two years, but that was a year ago.

The word “could” holds a lot of weight because either the crew finished the project early and have moved on or they’re still here. I’m hoping that it’s the latter because if not, that puts a wrench in my plans.

The whole drive to the construction site, I’m a hot mess. What if he decides that he doesn’t want me anymore because of my hesitance? What if he decided that he won’t always love me? What if I totally screwed this up?

I’m driving around the university when I finally spot the sign for Luke’s construction business on the far side of the campus. I’m hopeful again because that means the crew is still working. Circling the parking lot, I see Matt’s truck and I can’t help the smile that breaks out onto my face.

I park my car and quickly hop out, careful not to twist my ankle in my heels. I look around and see that this construction zone is like a maze. Searching for Matt will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I begin walking through the zone when one of the workers spots me and runs up to me.

“Ma’am, you can’t be in the zone!” the construction worker yells after me as I march across the construction zone, determined to find Matt.

“Ma’am!” he calls again, this time grabbing hold of my arm. I turn to face him and he sees the look on my face and immediately removes his hands.

“You can’t be here. You’re not authorized and you don’t have a hard hat on,” he stammers.

I step toward him and snatch his hat off of his head before placing it on my own. “Now I do. Lay a hand on me again and you’ll wish you never saw me.”

I turn on my heels and begin my march to find Matt.

I remember during our phone calls, he would always mention how he’s on the excavator in the morning.

I’m just a girl and all construction machines look the same to me if I’m being honest. I pull out my phone to find a picture of what I’m looking for and continue my walk.

As I continue looking for Matt, I draw the attention of several crew members. Today might not have been the best day to wear a pink tweed skirt set and high heels as I trek through the dirt of a construction zone, but fuck it, I’m on a mission.

“Hey, yo! There’s a lady in the zone!” a voice shouts out. I turn my head in the direction of the voice and see a machine that looks just like the picture I saw online.

Inside, I see a shadow. The glass is covered with dirt, so it’s hard to make out who it is, but as soon as the door opens and I see that chiseled jaw and blond hair poking out from under the hard hat, I know right away that it’s him.

I see his mouth move to tell the guys to cut their machines. He jumps out and runs toward me just as I start running toward him. We meet in the middle and he takes his sunglasses off of his face, revealing those beautiful blue eyes.

“Laila,” Matt says, worry written over his face. “What’s wrong? Why are you here?”

“I’m an idiot,” I state.

Matt looks around confused. “Come again?”

“You didn’t tell me you were arrested,” I begin, but he stops me.

“Laila, please. Can we not rehash this again?” Matt says, closing his eyes.

“No, let me finish. Please.”

He reluctantly nods and I continue speaking the words I’ve been itching to say to him for an entire year now.

“You didn’t tell me you were arrested because you felt like I’d judge you and leave you.

You asked if I would have given you the time of day had I known your past. The answer is yes.

Without question, I would have wanted you to be in my life, regardless of your record because before you were the jackass playboy that girls wanted to bone or punch, you were my best friend. ”

I step closer to him and run my hands up his torso and wrap my arms around his neck, not caring if my outfit is getting dirty. He hesitantly reaches his arms around my waist, holding me to him, his eyes never leaving mine.

“You take care of Nola like she’s your own and became her fourth favorite human, third to Erica.

You watched YouTube videos on how to wrap my hair so it wouldn’t be ruined when I slept.

You introduced me to Luke and his two beautiful kids.

You allowed me to be vulnerable and let me move at my own pace.

You make me feel like I’m the only girl in the world when you look at me.

You took a Jen kick to the shin and a verbal insult from Clay to get me a new pen for crying out loud.

And that was only in the two months we were together.

” I giggle and Matt shows a small grin, his dimples setting in.

“You are a wonderfully made man. You have scars and flaws, but Matt, that’s what makes you beautiful. I love you, Matthew Foster,” I breathe, the tears I’ve been holding back finally falling.

His breath catches and he stares at me, his blue eyes wild. I can’t tell if he’s happy, sad, or angry. It’s so many emotions flowing through his head, I can’t make heads or tails of it. He closes his eyes and presses his lips together in a firm line, still unnervingly silent.

“Say something, please. I did trudge through a shit ton of dirt in designer heels to get to you,” I beg.

He finally opens his eyes and looks at me.

“I’ve loved you ever since the second grade.

I was just stupid, but now I know better and I know what I want.

I want to spend every waking moment I have with you.

I want to go on walks with you and Nola.

I want to have dinners with your mom. I want Erica to yell at me because that’s what Erica does.

I want you to grab my credit card out of my wallet and go have a ball in Target. ”

“Oh, be careful. Those are dangerous words,” I chuckle.

“As long as it’s you and only you, I’m okay. You can ruin my life and I’d be fine with it because I love you. I love you in this life and the next.”

As soon as the last syllable falls from his lips, Matt leans in for a kiss, but our hard hats clink together, startling us both. We both burst into laughter before removing the hats and then he finally presses his lips to mine.

This kiss is full of passion, love, and longing. We both needed this and now that it’s finally happening, I feel like we can both breathe easy again.

“Are you going to get fired because I showed up here? I did sort of threaten one of your co-workers,” I whisper after we pull away.

Matt laughs, life returning to his face. He shakes his head. “No, I’m pretty good friends with the foreman. Something tells me he’ll be alright with it.”

Matt cuts his eyes behind me and I turn and see Luke leaning against the door of his trailer smiling proudly at us. He nods his head and turns back to his crew member, the one I stole the hard hat from. Matt will most definitely hear about this, but I don’t care.

“Let’s go home. I need you in the worst way,” Matt says, his hand running up and down my spine. I turn back to him and see fire behind his eyes. It’s been a long time since we’ve been together and I know just what to do to fix this problem.

“Good thing I bought condoms before I came here.”