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Play Me
by Diane Alberts

Copyright © 2013 by Diane Alberts. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Chapter One

Garrett Kelly might have been a laid-back middle school math teacher by day, but at night he was a basketball coach who yelled and cussed and fought for his team. And right now? He was yelling. And in his head? He was cursing up a storm. Mainly because his star player, Chris Worth, stood frozen mid-court of the middle school gymnasium.

What the hell was going on out there? Chris never choked. Never missed a chance to win a game. But he was just standing there. Not moving.

“Dribble the ball, Chris!” Garrett screamed down the court, his entire body tense. The damn score was tied at fifty-six with thirty seconds left and he still wasn’t moving. Garrett looked up in the bleachers at Kiersten Worth, Chris’s aunt and legal guardian…as well as acting mother, who shrugged back and scrunched up her nose. “Move!”

Chris finally launched into action, dribbling in between the opposing team’s defense as if they merely stood still, and banked another two points. The crowd went wild, both with moans and shouts, depending on which side they were rooting for.

“There you go. You got this down, boys,” he called out, rubbing the back of his neck. Now, they just needed to figure out how to prevent the other team from scoring in the next twenty seconds, and they would be able to maintain their undefeated record. And if they failed? He might have to give them all double homework duty on Monday.

His assistant coach, and best friend, paced behind him. “If they let this kid score, I’m gonna lose it,” Mike whispered. Then he raised his voice and shouted, “Arms up, defense!”

“You’re preaching to the choir.”

Garrett tensed as the opposing team headed down the court. Sending a prayer above—God had to like basketball…He was a man after all—Garrett clenched his hands tight. The other team’s tiny point guard dodged between two players, only to be caught off-guard by Chris. Chris snatched the ball out of his hands and dribbled down the court. He squared off and took a shot just as the buzzer sounded.

Swoosh.

“Yes!” Garrett said, turning to give Mike a high five. “And the streak continues.”

“Thank God,” Mike grinned.

They lined up all of the kids in the most unorganized row ever, slapped hands and huddled for an after-game pep talk. After they finished, Mike and Garrett headed toward the waiting moms, who hovered like vultures waiting for their meal.

“Oh, God, Susan is eyeing me again,” Mike groaned, rubbing his forehead. “Help me.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have slept with her, dumbass,” Garrett replied, smiling at the woman in question as they approached the crowd. “I warned you to avoid her like the plague. Her ex-husband had to get a restraining order against her. If that doesn’t scream caution, I don’t know what does. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Yeah,” Mike shrugged. “But she’s hot. That throws the crazy scale askew.”

Garrett rolled his eyes. He scanned the crowd for the woman who wouldn’t be chasing him. Kiersten stood in the back of the well-wishers, waving at Chris and beaming with pride. Her straight blond hair looked silky smooth today and Garrett’s fingers twitched with the desire to see if it was as soft as it looked. But friends didn’t fondle other friends’ hair.

Or so he kept telling himself.

Chris held his index finger up to Kiersten, obviously needing a minute to collect his stuff and say his good-byes. Though Chris’s mom had died in a car crash when Chris was an infant, the boy had never lacked for a mother. Kiersten, though barely more than a child herself at the time, had stepped into her sister’s role without hesitation. She had even refused to let her older sister take on the responsibility, since Brianna had just had a baby with her husband. That was just one of the many things Garrett admired about her so much.

“Don’t even think about abandoning me for her,” Mike said between clenched teeth, following the line of his gaze. “You don’t stand a chance and you know it. Besides, she’s still depressed over Pete leaving her. Fucking asshole.”

“Agreed.” Garrett shrugged. “We’re friends, is all. Stop trying to make it more than what it is.”

“Are you so sure about that? Need I remind you of high school?” Mike called out. “Move on and leave her alone.”

Mike, of course, referred to the huge crush Garrett had held on to all throughout his teen years. But he was over it. He’d grown up and moved on, as people did. “You have no clue what you’re talking about,” he said before walking away.

“Yeah, I do. She’s my sister,” Mike retorted. “And you’re an as—” Mike broke off and looked at the kids surrounding them. “Uh, an astounding fool.”

Garrett rolled his eyes at his friend’s quick recovery, waved over his shoulder—with one finger conspicuously higher than the others—and stalked to Kiersten’s side. All of the other moms let out a sigh and zeroed in on Mike. The poor sucker stood no chance, and deserved every second of it.

The closer Garrett got to Kiersten, the faster his heart thumped in his ears. It felt more like he was sprinting down the court for a winning shot instead of walking up to his longtime friend. She saw his approach and straightened, cheeks rosy. Her green gaze latched onto his, pushing him away without saying a word. “Coach Garrett, how are you doing tonight?”

Her voice washed over him like a soothing balm. He shook his head and grinned at her. “Kiersten, you can call me Garrett.”

“Not here,” she murmured. Her gaze flitted over his shoulder to where Chris probably approached. “Don’t want to give anyone anything to gossip about.”

He pasted his generic playboy-smile on and ran his fingers through his hair. “No one would get the wrong idea. It’s quite obvious we’re just friends. Speaking of which…are we still getting together for drinks tonight?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “Now be quiet. Chris is coming, and I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.”

The wrong idea being that she was actually interested in more than friendship from him. Garrett knew all too well that wasn’t the case, even if he occasionally wished it weren’t. “Right.”

“Hey, coach,” Chris said. He walked over to Kiersten’s side and looked at Garrett with eyes far too wise for a thirteen year old. “What’s up?”

Garrett cleared his throat. “Nothing much. I’m just letting your mom know about practice on Monday at five.”

“Oh, okay.” Chris looked up at Kiersten expectantly. “Ready to go to Friendly’s?”

“I’m always ready to go to Friendly’s,” she replied. When she slung his gym bag over her shoulder, her gaze met Garrett’s for one brief second. “Good bye, Coach Garrett.”

“See ya,” he murmured.

He watched her walk away, the swing of her hips teasing him. Over the past three months, they had been getting together at her place to have a few drinks on the weekends, but not as lovers. Just as friends. Very platonic friends. It’s all they could ever, and would ever, be. He was her kid’s teacher and coach. Though the school didn’t frown upon such things… other parents did.

All it would take was one game where he played Chris longer than another kid and all hell would break loose. So no matter how much he might like to discover how those swinging hips felt in his hands…he needed to keep his head on straight.

And his hands at his sides.

Rolling his shoulders, he headed back to Mike. Upon seeing his return, Mike flashed him a dirty look. “About time,” he muttered under his breath. “Done drooling over my sister?”

Garrett ignored him. “Okay, everyone. Listen up. Practice is Monday at five. We’ll see you all then. Coach Mike and I have to go over some end-of-game plays, so we’re gonna head out now.”

The women dispersed, leaving him and Mike alone. Mike scowled at him and punched his shoulder. “Look, fuck-wad, stop chasing her.”

Garrett ground his teeth together. “I’m not chasing her.”

And he wasn’t. They were friends. If there were a moment or two where he wished they could be more, then so be it. That’s life. It didn’t mean he had to act on the desire. Making a move, especially an unrequited move, certainly wouldn’t do at all for his image—the image he’d worked very hard to build. He was the perfect picture of the content bachelor with no intention of ever changing his ways.

“Looked to me like you were chasing her,” Mike said.

Garrett gritted his teeth. “Then you weren’t looking close enough. I’m over her. I’ve been over her since college. You’re the one who needs to move on, man.”

“I did.” Mike eyed Garrett in a way that all too clearly conveyed that he doubted Garrett had.

“Yeah?” Garrett grabbed the clipboard. “So did I.”

“Good. Now, I need to drink a few beers and find a woman with a lot of daddy issues and no attachment issues whatsoever,” Mike said, gathering up his jacket and clipboard. “You in?”

Garrett hesitated. After all of the ribbing Mike had been giving him, the last thing he wanted to admit was that he was spending his Friday night at Kiersten’s. “Nah. I think I’m getting sick. I’m gonna go home and take it easy tonight.”

“Like you’ve been doing almost every weekend lately? Are you going to shave your legs and douche, too?” Mike snapped. “What the fuck, man?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly right. I’m going to go home and douche. See you later, asshole,” Garrett called over his shoulder. “Don’t forget that we have our own game tomorrow.”

Mike called out, “See you then. Wear a pretty skirt for me, will ya?”

Garrett flipped him off and stalked out of the gym. The cold air blasted his face as soon as he walked outside and he inhaled deeply. Damn, he loved winter. Tiny snow flurries drifted down from the sky and Garrett took a minute to appreciate the sheer beauty of the unblemished white snow falling around him. Too bad it wouldn’t stick to the ground. It wasn’t cold enough in Vegas for that.

But it sure looked pretty.

And then it struck him how very much like life falling snow could be. It looked great at first glance, but within minutes all you had left was yellow snow and gray streets. Nothing ever stayed pure and fresh—which was why he avoided romantic entanglements.

It wasn’t because the only woman he really wanted didn’t want him. No. All he needed was a warm body in bed every once in a while and he was good to go. It didn’t matter who she was or where he found her. Intimacy was overrated and overbearing.

Unfortunately, the more he told himself that…the less he believed it.