Alice:Do you now? I grinned at the phone. There was no doubt in my mind now. Aiden was definitely a kink-master in the bedroom.

Aiden: I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Alice:And you’re calling me confusing? I shook my head at the phone. Everything in me was telling me that he was flirting with me.

Aiden: I wouldn’t be confusing if it wasn’t for you.

Alice: What does that mean?

Aiden: It means that you my dear, Alice have affected me much more than you think.

Alice: Oh? How?

Aiden: You’ll have to wait to find out.

Alice:Okay. I was itching to tell him to just call me now. I wished that he would just call me and be done with it.

Aiden: Have a good day.

Alice:Thanks, you too. Was that it? Argh. I was irritated that he was just going to stop chatting when it was getting good.

Aiden: I’ll see you tomorrow at flag football.

Alice:Ok. Wait, what? Was he calling me tonight or not?

Aiden: I’m glad you’re feeling better.

Alice: Thank you.

Aiden: You need to take better care of yourself.

Alice: I do.

Aiden: Get eight hours of sleep and eat your veggies.

Alice: Yes, Dad.

Aiden: There are better nicknames you can call me.

Alice: Like what?

Aiden: You’ll see.

Alice:Like Sir? I typed and laughed, wondering what his face looked like as he read the message.

Alice:Or Master? I typed again and waited for his response.

Aiden: Whatever you like. :)

Alice: Aiden Taylor!!

Aiden: That works as well! :)

Alice: Fine. Whatever. See you tomorrow.

Aiden: Yes. And we’ll chat after.

Alice:We’ll see, I typed, feeling annoyed.

Aiden: Have a good day, Alice. I know I will. My lips are still tingling from your kisses last night.

Alice: I hope you didn’t catch anything.

Aiden: Is there something you need to tell me?

Oops. I guess my quick-witted diss was really a diss to myself.

Alice: Funny. Not.

Aiden: Call me if you need anything.

Alice:Thanks. I will. I put my phone down on the bed and lay back and stared at the ceiling. All of a sudden I felt better. Confused still, but better. Maybe Aiden really did like me. And maybe I really did have a chance. Maybe, just maybe, I could let him see that he was the one for me and I was the one for him. I just hoped that Elizabeth Jeffries would just disappear, along with my insecurities.

Chapter Eight

Football Is a Dance of Seduction

The best feeling in the world is when a guy you like likes you. The second best feeling in the world is when another guy likes you and makes that guy jealous. The only part that can make these best feelings the worst feelings in the world is if you also like the second guy. There is nothing worse than being attracted to two guys and having them both like you. Trust me, I know. Well, I guess I’m stretching that a bit. I don’t know if they both like me, like me. And I don’t really like like both of them. I really like one of them and the other one just makes me feel good; and that might not even be because he likes me. I don’t really know, if I’m honest. What I do know is that they both act like they kinda like me when I see them on the football field. And yeah, what does that really mean? There are so many men who like to flirt just for flirting’s sake. It doesn’t mean they actually like you.

***

“How do you ask a man to dominate you?” I whispered to Liv as we made our way onto the field. “How do you bring that up casually?”

“It seems like he might already know that you want that,” Liv said as she gazed at me with a huge grin.

“Well, I don’t think he does.”

“I wish you would let me tell Xander that I know about Aiden.” She made a face and I squeezed her arm hard.

“No, you can’t tell him that I told you. He’ll never trust me again.”

“Trust you with what?”

“Anything.” I moaned. “I don’t want him to think I have a big mouth.”

“He has to know you’d tell me.” Liv frowned. “I can’t even believe that he wants to keep this a secret from me.”

“He doesn’t want to scar you.”

“I am a big girl. It will take more than finding out my brother is a freak in the bedroom to scar me.”

“He’s not a freak.”

“I don’t mean freak freak.” She laughed. “I meant freaky freak.”

“Haha, so are you going to call me freaky as well?” I questioned her with a smile.

“Why would I call you freaky?”

“If I became Aiden’s sub?”

“Number one, I can’t see you as a sub, but whatever floats your boat. Just don’t wear a choker, please.” She groaned. “No chokers with studs, they look so tacky.”

“What looks tacky?” Henry ran over to us with a big smile and lifted his hand up so I could high-five him.

“Choker necklaces,” Liv said and made a face.

“Oh, I haven’t seen a woman in one of those since …” His voice trailed off and he winked at us. “Well, since a fun night I had a few years ago.”

“What sort of fun night?” I asked curiously and I watched as Henry licked his lips and laughed.

“Trust me, girls, you don’t want to know.”

“Everyone gather around, please.” Aiden’s voice was loud and booming, and I noticed that he didn’t even glance in my direction as he spoke.

“Someone’s upset the bear,” Henry said with a laugh and looked at me.

“Not me,” I said and made a face.

“It’s always you, Alice,” Liv said with a grin. “It’s always you.”

***

“Run Alice, run!” Liv screamed as I ran down the field with the ball in my hands. I was in shock as I held it close to my body and continued dashing down the field. I could see the marking lines that Aiden had spray painted in the grass, even though I was pretty sure that they were against the rules of the park. That had shocked me because Aiden was someone who never broke the rules.

“Keep going, Alice!” Liv screamed, and I made the mistake of looking back. Scott was a few feet away from me, and Henry was close behind him. I was praying that Henry got to Scott before Scott got to me. I could also see Aiden coming up fast behind Henry, and Elizabeth was farther back on the field near Xander and Liv. I gasped for air as I turned back around. I could see one of the guys on my team signaling to me to throw him the ball, but I didn’t want to pass the game-winning touchdown to some guy whose name I didn’t even know. I wanted to be the MVP of the game. I didn’t want the guys to just look at Liv and me as two silly girls with no business being on the field. We weren’t like Elizabeth: we didn’t run marathons; we didn’t play pickup basketball at the Y; and we weren’t hiking up mountains or surfing in the Pacific Ocean along the coast of one of the Hawaiian Islands. We were just average, regular girls who liked to have fun and played sports for some excitement in our lives. I knew the guys thought we were pretty worthless on the field, especially me. I mean, I couldn’t blame them. I wasn’t in the best shape, but I knew if I scored this touchdown and scored the winning points, I’d be looked at with new eyes. This was about the game. In this moment, I didn’t care about Aiden or Scott or Henry or whatever other guy might be interested in me. I didn’t care about looking pretty or sexy. I didn’t care about being witty. I didn’t care about making Aiden jealous. All I cared about was winning. And I knew that in this moment, for the first time in my life, I was a sportswoman. A true, dedicated and fearless sportswoman. I kept my head down and ignored the pain in my stomach and the cramps in my legs. I was not going to slow down. I was not going to let the pain win. I was nearly there.