Page 15 of Play the Last Card
To take her on a date.
To say or do anything to make her smile.
Fucking hell.
“Tell you what, lover boy.” The friend’s eyes flash, darting back to where Flynn is sitting and playing on his phone. “You get me Flynn Reed’s autograph and you have yourself a deal.”
This seems much too easy. I frown. “That’s a low price for your best friend’s number considering Flynn loves a bit of attention.”
“It’s just the right price for me to give her your number though.” She smirks, pulling two chilled pint glasses from the fridge and heading for the beer taps. “Are you having a drink?”
I pull my lips into a tight line. “Whatever’s on tap and mid-strength.”
She nods. “You can write your number on a coaster and I’ll pass it on, if you like. Otherwise, Sunday is your best chance.”
“Right. I’ll—” She flips her hair over her shoulder before switching the glasses under the stream of beer and her name floats through my mind. I roll my shoulders. “I might just do that. Thanks, Katie.”
“You remembered!” She smiles brightly, pushing the pints toward me and holding up a couple of cardboard coasters. “Brownie points, mystery man. You truly looked like you might have popped a blood vessel when you first came up.”
I don’t reply, taking the cards from her before picking up the beers and moving back to the table with Flynn.
Steading my hand around the glass, I glance up at Flynn. “The bartender wants an autograph.”
Flynn’s head jerks up, eyes shining as he eyes Katie behind the bar. He smiles widely. “Wouldn’t want to deny my fans.”
Before Flynn can make his move, I fish a marker from the bottom of my gym bag and toss him one of the coasters. He signs the coaster and shuffles sideways to get up from the booth but I snatch the small piece of cardboard from him and stand up. “I’ll give it to her.”
He eyes me, his bright smile flattening into a sly smirk. I hold his gaze.
Ivy doesn’t like football players. I am a football player. Katie is Ivy’s best friend.
If Ivy is going to find out I’m the very thing she hates and swore never to date again, it’s going to be from me.
But I’m going to snag a date before she does.
I shrug, trying to look convincing. “You don’t want to break that mystery air, do you? Play a little hard to get, my man.” I nod toward the bar, taking a slow step away from Flynn and towards my ticket to a date with Ivy. “Come on, I thought you were supposed to be good at this.”
He barks a laugh as I back away toward the bar.
When I turn, Katie is staring at me with her brows raised. “How do you know him?” she asks. “Ivy said you worked across the road but didn’t say what.”
I scribble my number on another coaster and pass them both over. “Uh, I work with the players,” I tell her tapping a finger along the bar.
Not technically a lie.
“Nice.” Katie takes the coaster smiling. “My boyfriend is going to freak out.”
“Uh-huh.” I eye her as she looks over the coasters. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a red flag raises at the fact I just gave my number out to a total stranger but it’s the beautiful face that makes me forget all the risk.
Katie clears her throat. “You know, Ivy hates football.”
“She told me.” I nod.
“And you work for a football team.”
“Uh-huh.”
“She won’t watch games, not even on TV. She won’t talk about them, won’t listen to you talk about them either,” she says. Katie waves the coaster with my number like a fan in front of her face like she’s waiting for me to ask for it back.