Page 132 of The Surprise Play

“He’s always mad at the moment,” I counter, then sigh. “And I shouldn’t have gotten shitty with him, but he was…” I sigh again. “He’s hurting, and I should have been more patient with him. It just bummed me out that he was raining on my love parade.”

“Your love parade?” Satch grins at me.

“Yeah.” I tip my head, cupping her cheek. “This evening has been perfect.”

She rests her hand over top of mine. “It really has. Thank you, Coyote.”

My insides buzz with this warmth I could easily get used to before I lean forward and brush my lips over hers. “Believe me when I tell you that the pleasure is seriously all mine.”

She laughs, nestling back against the pillows and asking what we’re gonna do next.

“Well, I’m starving, so we’re gonna eat those snacks over there.” I point to them, jumping out of bed and gathering the food into a pile on the covers. “And then I thought we could watch a movie or… I could teach you how to playMaddenor something.”

“What’sMadden?”

“Only the best video game ever invented.”

She smiles and excitement buzzes through me as I grab the controllers and bring them over to the bed.

Satch starts opening chip packets and munching while I line up the game.

Digging out a huge mouthful of chips, I crunch through them whileMaddenloads, explaining the rules and how the controller works while I fill my stomach, spit crumbs all over the duvet, and make sure this girl knows how to play this NFL football simulation.

“You got it?”

She nods, checking the controller, then looking up at the screen and testing it out.

“And you know the best part?”

“What’s that?” she murmurs, still looking at the screen.

“We get to do it naked.”

Her cheeks blush a pretty pink as she turns to smile at me.

I waggle my eyebrows at her, mumbling, “Never playedMaddennaked with a girl before.”

She giggles. “But you’ve playedMaddennaked by yourself before?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Her snorting laughter makes me grin, and I pop a carrot stick into her mouth before starting the game.

CHAPTER 40

ELIZABETH

PlayingMaddenwith Wily was so much fun.

I mean, I thought it might be, but I really got into it.

And I think Wily was stoked by how much I enjoyed playing “the best video game ever invented.”

“You really are all about football, aren’t you?” I hand him my controller and enjoy the view as he pads across his room, still totally naked, and dumps both of them onto the floor.

“It is the only game, Satch.”

I grin when he turns to face me. “You do know there are other sports, right?”