Play Along(21)

“Everybody begins as strangers.”

“And it doesn’t bother you that I can’t really stand you most of the time?”

There’s a playful glint in his brown eyes. “I think that’s what I like most about you.”

“You like what you can’t have,” I correct.

“Nah. I just like annoying you. You get that flat line across your lips and that death glare. Very hot, Ken.”

My eyes roll.

“Mmm,” he moans. “The eye roll too.”

“Please try to be serious for once in your life. If we do this, I’m basically using you.”

“Sounds terrible. Please, Kennedy, use me all you want.”

“I can’t . . .” I gesture between us. “I won’t be able to fake this.”

I couldn’t even pretend for a legitimate relationship, let alone a fake one.

He shrugs his shoulders. “You heard Remington. We have to be professional while here at the field, and it’s not like he travels with us anymore. He’ll never see us during our time off.”

He’s really thought this all through. And he’s doing all of this for me. Isaiah gets nothing out of this arrangement.

Arrangement. This is yet another arrangement. I’m accustomed to arrangements.

It makes the idea a bit easier to swallow.

“You just did that all for me, but I thought you were mad at me?”

“I am.” He runs a hand through his hair, causing the veins in his forearm to flex. “Doesn’t mean I want you to lose your job.”

“You’d be married to someone as a business arrangement, you know? One day, you’re going to have to tell other women that technically, you’re a divorcé.”

He holds eye contact. “I’m not worried about other women. Haven’t been for a long time.”

That’s not true in the slightest.

Isaiah Rhodes has had plenty of women to worry about in the years I’ve known him.

I stand straighter, arms crossed over my chest. Part of me wants to hug him for doing this for me, and part of me wants to talk both of us out of this madness.

But we don’t have to pretend to be in love. We don’t have to put on a show. We have to remain professional. Maybe we’ll need to arrive in the same car to keep up appearances, but other than that, we shouldn’t have to fake much of anything.

Maybe this could work.

“Kennedy,” Isaiah says, pulling my attention to him. “I’m going to need you to loosen up and look at the bright side here. We just kept your job. Nothing has to change except wearing a ring on that finger.” He points to my left hand. “You still got yours?”

I chew my lip. “Maybe.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.”

I glare at him. “Yes. I still have the ring.”

Isaiah smirks at that.

“I haven’t gotten around to tossing it yet.”

“Sure.”

“They look like they’re out of a vending machine.”

He huffs a laugh. “I’m pretty sure they are. I’ll work on getting you something different.”

“Hold up.” I lift my hand to stop him. “I haven’t agreed to this yet. We need to think this through. You need to think this through.”

“I’ve thought it through. I’m good with it.”

“Isaiah, I’m serious. If we do this, you understand what this is, right? We’re not in any kind of a relationship here. This is a business arrangement that will end in six or seven months.”

“A business arrangement,” he parrots. “Whoever said romance was dead?”

“I need some time to think this over.”

“Well, while you’re making your decision, I’ll work on getting you a ring.”

“Isaiah—”

“Don’t worry. You’ll like what I get you.”

I raise a brow. “How very cocky of you.”

“That’s not me being cocky. That’s me telling you how it’s going to be. I’ll let you be a brat about a lot of things, but you’re not allowed to be a brat about this.”

He holds his hands up, index fingers outstretched as they reach for my face, bringing them to my lips. Each one tugs at the corners of my mouth, pulling up my frown and flipping it into a smile.

“Smile, Kenny. We just saved your job.”

He’s forcing me to smile, and he couldn’t be more pleased about how stupid we look, judging by the mirroring grin on his own lips.

He’s strikingly handsome when he smiles, but then again, Isaiah Rhodes is always smiling, even when he doesn’t want to.

With that, he rounds my body to head towards the exit, but before he goes, he turns, putting his chest to my back. I can sense his domineering height. Can feel his overwhelming body heat.

Isaiah’s breath tickles the back of my neck, and every nerve in my body comes to life, including the ones between my legs that I wasn’t sure worked.

“Just think of this as one big game.” His tone is low and deep when he leans down to my ear and whispers, “C’mon wife. Play along.”





Chapter 7


Isaiah


“What the hell did you do, Isaiah?” Miller scolds from the kitchen of her and my brother’s house. My future sister-in-law is like me in a lot of ways, so when Kai told me I had to be the one to break the news to her, I didn’t exactly expect this reaction.