Playing to Win

piled salad on his plate. She’d poured iced tea for them, too, so he pushed his near-empty beer bottle to the side and took a swallow of tea.
    Savannah ate without saying much, until she was halfway through her burger.
    “Why don’t you like to have people over here?”
    He knew she wouldn’t drop the subject. “This is my private getaway. No media, no team players, no girlfriends.”
    “So it’s your man cave.”
    “I didn’t say that. I just don’t do parties over here.”
    “It would be great for your image. Show your guys you really want to be part of the team.”
    “No.” He finished off his meal and pushed his plate to the side, following up by emptying his glass of tea.
    “I’ll do all the heavy lifting. We can even hire a caterer. No cooking, they do all the cleanup, too. All you have to do is be here to hang out with the guys.”
    She was like a dog with a meaty bone. She refused to leave it alone. “Why is this necessary?”
    “Team building is necessary for your image rehab. Not once have you been actually part of a team you’ve played for.”
    “Sure I have.”
    “Did you ever do things with your team members? Go out with them? Do activities with them off the football field? Charitable or personal?”
    She had him there. “No.”
    “It’s time we change that. If you don’t want to do the party here, we can do it at my place. I don’t mind.”
    “That kind of defeats the purpose of it being all about me, doesn’t it?”
    He saw the corners of her mouth lift. “Kind of.”
    He looked around at his place, imagined it filled with a bunch of linebackers and receivers. The thought both excited him and filled him with dread. “I don’t know, Peaches. I’m not much for entertaining people.”
    “Look. You don’t have to strip naked and dance on top of your coffee table. Just some food and drinks, music, and you already have the fun video games. A little conversation and you invite wives and girlfriends. Trust me, this will go a long way to cementing your position within the team.”
    He leaned back in his chair. “You think so.”
    “I know it.”
    He already knew he was going to cave, so he might as well get it over with. Savannah wasn’t going to let this go. “All right. When?”
    “How about Wednesday night after practice? That’ll give me several days to put everything together.”
    “You don’t have to do all the work.”
    “I told you I would. I’m a Southern girl. This is what we do.”
    He shrugged. “Fine.”
    “Great. You won’t regret this.”
    “Uh-huh.” He grabbed their plates and went into the kitchen, Savannah right behind him. She was talking details about the party, from who to invite to what kind of food they’d have. He mostly tuned out the details and focused on how excited she was.Her enthusiasm was cute. After loading the dishwasher, he turned to her.
    “You like entertaining.”
    She stopped mid-sentence. “What? No. This is to help you.”
    He grabbed her hands and pulled her toward him, wrapping his arms around her. “You see yourself married with three kids and throwing big parties, inviting all the other kids’ parents over and having those big bouncy houses in your backyard.”
    She tried to pull away, but he held her tight in his arms. “I do not. And how did you get married with kids out of me planning a party for you?”
    “You’re practically glowing all over doing your party-planning thing. Your eyes are bright, your skin is flushed, and you can’t stop talking.”
    She laid her arms on top of his. “Hey, there’s a lot to do to plan a party in a few days. I’m just running some ideas by you.”
    “And now you’re embarrassed.”
    “No, I’m not.” She shoved at him. “Let me go.”
    “You are embarrassed. It’s sweet, Peaches.”
    “You’re being an ass.”
    “I know. I can’t help myself. You should probably kiss me to shut me up.”
    Her eyes widened. “Oh, no. We already discussed this.”
    “No, we didn’t discuss this. You ran like hell out of here after that night and we never talked about it.” He swept his hand over her back. Just holding her against him made his cock surge to life. He liked being close to her, feeling her heart beating against him.
    “I think it was obvious that what happened between us was a mistake.”
    She said the words, but her nipples were hard points against her shirt, her eyes dark and filled with desire. He didn’t understand why she wouldn’t give her body what it