The Good Girl Vs. The Player
Round one begins…
Trina Clemons needed the money. Why else would she—the most organized, prepared student in school—spend the summer as a nanny and partner with the biggest slacker ever? Now she’s ready to tackle nannyhood with her big binder of research and schedules. Just don’t ask her about the secret job of “fixing” the bad habits of a certain high school player…
Slade Edmunds prefers easy hook-ups, and Trina is definitely not his type. She’s all structure and rules, while Slade wants to just have fun. Fortunately, Trina has no idea about the bet Slade made with his best friend that he can totally get her to unwind by the end of summer…
Then the weirdest thing happens. There’s chemistry. A lot of it. But nothing gets between a boy and a girl like a big, fat secret…
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Lisa Brown Roberts…
How (not) to Fall in Love
Discover more of Entangled Teen Crush’s books…
Blackmail Boyfriend
The Truth About Jack
Finding Perfect
Aimee and the Heartthrob
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Lisa Brown Roberts. 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.
Entangled Publishing, LLC
2614 South Timberline Road
Suite 109
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.
Crush is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.
Edited by Liz Pelletier
Cover design by Kelley York
Cover art from Shutterstock
ISBN 978-1-63375-224-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition August 2015
For party boys and good girls everywhere. May you dare to look below the surface…
Chapter One
Trina
Friday, May 31
“Trina, just think about it,” said Mrs. Gonzalez. “You’ll still be the supervising nanny for the kids. Slade will be your…apprentice nanny.”
I swallowed quickly, almost choking on the white chocolate cookie crumbs. I hardly ever disagreed with adults, but we were talking serious responsibilities: taking care of two vulnerable five-year-olds for the summer. No way should Slade Edmunds be entrusted with their care. I had to stand my ground.
I took a breath then spoke. “But if it’s like that apprentice TV show, I get to fire him if he doesn’t work out, right?”
Dr. Edmunds studied me. She was the apprentice nanny’s mom, and a psychiatrist. No doubt she was analyzing me, trying to figure out how to sway me over to her side.
“Trina,” Dr. Edmunds said, “I understand if you have a few reservations about working with my son. I know Slade has…um…a…go-with-the-flow personality.”
I snorted. Go with the flow? That was the understatement of the century. Slade was the original slacker, right down to his pathetic fashion sense, living in old T-shirts, faded shorts, and flip-flops. He even tied back his shoulder-length hair with a shoelace, which most girls thought was all grungy sexy.
Not that his wardrobe or messy hair hindered his social life. He was one of the most popular guys in school. Everyone loved him. Jocks, stoners, honor kids, geeks, GSA, NRA. Teachers, too, even when he totally screwed off in class. They fell for some sort of charm that everyone saw.
Everyone but me.
“Trina, sweetheart, let’s discuss this rationally.” Mrs. Forrester poured me a glass of iced tea, with mint leaves frozen in the ice cubes.
Curse these desperate housewives and their Food Network tactics.
It was hard to resist Mrs. Forrester. I’d babysat her daughter, Gillian, since she was two years old. Gillian was a total spaz, but I loved her. I was looking forward to nannying her and her preschool BFF Max Gonzalez, even though they were nothing alike.
He’s all, “Ew! Gross. I hate dirt. I hate swinging. I’m dizzy. Let’s go home.” And she’s all, “Woo hoo! Let’s go down the slide backward and chase the geese into the pond and wear our lunch boxes on our heads!” Maybe it was true about opposites attracting, at least in preschool.
“I’m prepared to offer you an increase in your salary if you’ll go along with this idea, Trina.” Dr. Edmunds’s gray eyes locked onto mine.
Wait, what? Extra salary?
She kept her gaze focused on me, and it occurred to me that Slade must have gotten his legendary topaz eyes from his dad. Apparently when Slade activated their golden power, half the girls in my school willingly peeled off their panties. It would take a lot more than gorgeous eyes to get me out of my underwear.
But what had his mom just said about money? As in, a raise? I reached for a snicker doodle. These moms could pry state secrets out of James Bond with their awesome cookies.
Dr. Edmunds massaged her forehead. She suddenly didn’t seem as intimidating as when I’d first met her. The other moms watched her sympathetically, and I felt a twinge of guilt for asking if I could fire Slade if he didn’t work out.
“So maybe you can explain exactly what you want me to do,” I said, as the sugar melted my resolve.
Dr. Edmunds’s face lit up, and I caught an echo of the infamous Slade grin. His grin had magically persuasive properties, too, from what I’d observed when he talked his way out of detentions.
She cleared her throat and glanced at the other moms, who nodded encouragingly.
“Here’s the deal, Trina. Slade needs to learn some responsibility. And I know he’s capable of it, even though his father says… Oh, never mind. Anyway, I know how responsible you are. You’re always on the honor roll, and Mrs. Forrester raves about your babysitting skills, and didn’t you organize that Burger Barn boycott last year?” She paused to take a breath. “Which I supported, by the way.”