Playing for Kicks (Play Makers Book 5) (17 page)

Tess was sure she had exaggerated, but the
evidence didn’t lie, and as the camera panned the outrageously
rowdy crowd, she could see it had indeed been a clusterfuck of epic
proportions.

The photographer wisely settled on the
ceremony itself, where Erica’s sense of style and staging saved the
day. Sean looked sinfully handsome in his tux, which didn’t
surprise Tess. And while she hadn’t seen Murf or Bannerman in the
flesh, they weren’t really a surprise either. As part of the
Spurling entourage they were expected to be awesome.

So the big surprise was Johnny’s younger
brother Jason, who looked a lot like Johnny but at the same time so
different. She had heard people say that about her and her sister,
Jill, and now she finally understood.

Jason looked so playful. And on the other
side of the dais, Jason’s wife—the infamous Beth—seemed just the
opposite. Lovely, shapely and aristocratic, more dominatrix than
laid-back companion.

Just as Tess was about to make a joke, the
camera zoomed in on the bride and groom and she melted in defeat.
“You look so beautiful, Erica. I’m starting to think
you’re
the one who settled in this marriage.”

When Erica giggled helplessly, Tess grinned.
“You’re such a lush! And I’m just kidding. Because Big John looks
hot in that tux.”

“He’s the hottest guy in the world,” Erica
assured her.

“Have some pride, please? And what’s with all
the diamonds? You’re worse than that jewelry store in your
commercial.”

“It’s true. They always seemed impersonal to
me. But now? I
love
them.” Erica paused the video and
demanded, “Say something nice about Sean. He looks so dreamy.”

Tess rolled her eyes. “Get it together, will
you? I want to see Rachel next. And then Darcie.”

“We didn’t know Darcie back then. I can show
you Rachel, but probably from behind since the videographer had a
thing for her ass.” She sped through the recording, then stopped at
a petite, good-looking blonde in a conservative blue dress. “This
is Kerrie,” she said under her breath. “She looks normal but trust
me, she’s not.”

Tess winced at the image, so unlike what she
had pictured. So prim and proper, not at all a woman who had
illicit affairs and masqueraded as her own twin. Plus, she looked
too sophisticated to date a laid-back kicker.

“Is she older than Sean?” she blurted out,
but before Erica could respond, she stopped her, saying, “Don’t
answer that. Please? I don’t actually care about her. And he’s been
so decent about it. Trying not to trash her even though she
apparently had issues. So let’s move on.”

“She has more issues than
Vogue
magazine,” Erica drawled. “Which ones did you hear about?”

“Just the basics. She’s married. She has a
twin. She wanted to get her virginity restored so Sean could do the
honors. That’s about it.”

Erica shrieked with laughter.
“What?”

“Oh, God, he said he tells you everything.
You didn’t know about the twin?”

Erica gasped for air. “Her
virginity?
You mean surgery to get a new hymen? Who
does
that?”

“She didn’t do it,” Tess insisted, kicking
herself, and then kicking Sean for claiming Erica was his
confidante. Because apparently not. So she tried to salvage things,
saying, “She just
offered
to do it. To please him. Like any
devoted girlfriend would. Do
not
tell anyone. And please,
please can’t we move along?”

“Fine.” Erica sped forward, stopping
occasionally to prove that indeed there were hundreds of
rambunctious, intoxicated buffoons crowding what should have been
the dance floor. Even the champagne fountains were polluted by wild
men who insisted on drinking straight from the stream. Finally, the
video focused on the backside of a tall blonde in a salmon-colored
gown chatting with the still-gorgeous Jason Spurling.

“That’s Rachel,” Erica said. “Isn’t she
beautiful?”

“I can’t see her face. But yes, her ass is
amazing. And she looks like a mermaid.”

Erica hooted. “The guys actually
call
it her mermaid dress. But only Sean and Bam say it to her face, so
be forewarned.”

Tess giggled at the great advice. “This is so
much fun, Erica.”

“Wait till you see the toasts. Especially
Bam’s. He’s such a lunatic.”

Tess waved her hand. “It’s already nine
o’clock. So let’s make those dirty martinis—just to get in the
mood. Then we’ll drool over the Bam Man for sure.”

• • •

It was almost ten p.m. when Sean drove
through the McSpurling gate. They were back one day early, so his
plan was to dump Johnny off then rush home to call Tess for a
late-night drink. Odds were she’d say no, but what did he have to
lose?

“I’m just gonna drop you off,” he told the
QB. “Tell Erica I said ‘hi.’”

“She’s gonna be surprised,” Johnny said in a
tone that indicated “surprised” was a euphemism for “hot to hit the
sheets.”

There had been times when Sean envied that
relationship, but these days, it was all good. The QB was happy.
Erica—AKA the most amazing female in the world—was happy.

And Sean? Happy didn’t begin to describe
it.

And when he caught sight of the RAV4,
happiness morphed into euphoria. “That’s Tess’s car.”

“She must be keeping Erica company. They’re
pretty good friends these days.”

Sean nodded as he pulled up near the steps
and killed the ignition.

“No need for you to come in,” Johnny told
him, his tone casual but subtly focused.

Sean knew what he was really saying: that he
should stay away from Tess.

But he still opened his car door and
explained, “I just want to say ‘hi.’”

“I know. But I’m asking you not to. One
friend to another.”

“Why?”

The QB’s manner grew solemn. “You know how
you are. And that’s fine. But this friendship with Tess means a lot
to Erica. I don’t want anything to wreck it. So I’m asking you to
find another girl.”

Sean chuckled. “I’m just saying hello. Not
marrying her.”

“I thought you were taking a break,” Johnny
began, then he stopped himself and said, “You don’t even know her.
Let’s keep it that way.”

“Actually, we’ve been hanging out,” Sean told
him, trying not to grin. “Just friends, but still—I definitely know
her.”

The QB stared in frustration. “Since
when?”

“For a while. She’s awesome, but we’re taking
it slow. Just hanging out, like I said. And yeah, I’d never do
anything to hurt their friendship. Because it means a lot to Tess,
too.”

He watched as his best friend quietly
recalibrated his attitude. Classic John Spurling, looking out for
everyone, including Sean, including Tess, but most of all
Erica.

“It’s all good, John,” he told him
firmly.

The QB hesitated, then chuckled in defeat.
“In that case, let’s go see what they’re up to.”

• • •

“You actually lost it in the back of a car on
prom night?” Tess demanded. “It’s like the worst cliché
ever.”

“It’s not clichéd, it’s classic,” Erica
assured her haughtily.

“Just tell me he wasn’t the captain of the
football team.”

Erica giggled. “I can neither confirm nor
deny.”

Tess laughed too. Their dirty martinis had
turned out particularly well, and while they hadn’t drained the
glasses yet they were working on them while the wedding fiasco
played in the background.

“I suppose
your
deflowering was
better?” Erica challenged her, adding more sweetly, “In Hawaii,
right? I hope it lasted longer than a moment.”

Tess grinned at her glassy-eyed friend. “Do
you want to hear it or not?”

“Yes, please.”

“Fine.” She flashed a mischievous smile.
“Remember when I told you I was a B student in high school? That
was partly because I got As in French. Don’t ask me why. Anyway, I
ended up in AP French in my senior year, and when I took the AP
test I rocked it to death. Again, don’t ask me why. So when I went
off to Hawaii and got my class schedule, they had placed me in an
uber
-advanced seminar. And like an idiot I took it as a
compliment.”

“It
was
a compliment. You shouldn’t
downplay your accomplishments,” Erica scolded.

“Pay attention, chickie. This is a sex story,
not a résumé.”

“Oh, right. Go on.”

Tess sighed. “I was late for the first day of
the seminar, so I walked in and found sixteen weirdos sitting
around talking in a foreign language which may or may not have been
French. Who could tell? They were going a mile a minute, and even
when I walked into the room they barely stopped for a breath before
they started yammering at
me.”

“You couldn’t understand them?”

“To put it mildly. I figured they were asking
me my name, right? So I hit them with my best
Je m’appelle
Tess
and they just stared at me. Then this hot dude handed me
the course syllabus, which sadly was also in French. I tried to
talk to him, but he went back to his seat and they all started
yammering again. About the horrors of war, I think. Or maybe the
horrors of train travel, I’m still not sure.”

“So you lost your virginity to the hot
dude?”

“Patience, infidel.” Tess waited for a
repentant look from Erica, then continued. “I was so lost they
might as well have been speaking in tongues. So I figured I’d just
head over to the admin building and drop the class. But I didn’t
want to be rude so I stayed for the rest of the hour, nodding like
a French bobble head. Finally it ended, but before I could scurry
away the hot dude blocked my path and started speaking in tongues
again. I begged him to speak English, or even pig Latin, but he was
clearly into the no-English rule, and I realized he was the
teacher. Some sort of graduate assistant, right? So I told him
point-blank I was going to drop his class. Then he looked sad, and
scribbled an address on my syllabus and said something about
ce
soir,
which luckily I understood. He wanted me to come to the
address that night so he could tutor me. Convince me to stay in the
class.” She rolled her eyes. “What a loser. But by then it was five
o’clock and I figured I couldn’t drop the class until morning
anyway. And he was being sweet, so what the heck.”

“Oh, my God! You went to the address and lost
your virginity? To a stranger?”

“Do you want to hear this or not?”

Erica giggled. “Sorry.”

Tess laughed too. “So I went to the address
and he was very professional. A little too French, but no beret or
anything. There was wine and cheese, and I actually appreciated the
effort, so I tried to thank him. And damn if he didn’t start up
with the damned French talk again. But he was doing his best, so I
had a glass of wine and tried to learn something from him.”

“Sex!” Erica hooted.

“Yes, Erica, sex.” She grinned. “Turns out it
wasn’t a study session after all. It was a date. In other words, a
complete
misunderstanding. But he had gone to so much
trouble, and he was sooo adorable, it just seemed like the polite
thing to do. And P.S., I got an A in the class.”

“
What?”
Tears were streaming down
Erica’s face. “You didn’t drop the class?”

“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Plus he
kept Frenching me, so what could I do?”

“It’s so
hilarious.
Not that I believe
a word out of your mouth,” she began, then without warning she
squealed, “Johnny!” sprang to her feet, and raced into the arms of
her grinning husband. “You’re home! I
missed
you.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” he told her,
laughing. “Have you guys been drinking?”

“Just zig zips,” she admitted with a bombed
smile.

Johnny looked at Tess. “Huh?”

“I think she’s trying to say ‘six sips.’”

“That
is
what I said,” Erica assured
them. Then she asked her husband amorously, “Didn’t you miss
me?”

“Yeah, absolutely.”

Tess tore her gaze from the comical scene and
smiled at the other hunk in the room. “Hey, Sean. Did you guys get
kicked off the team?”

His eyes twinkled as he joined her on the
couch. “Coach let us go early so he could concentrate on the
rookies.”

She could feel her cheeks warming but she
didn’t care. He looked so good. So yummy. He had clearly been out
in the punishing sun because his light brown hair was streaked with
gold even more than before. Making his eyes seem even greener,
which almost made sense. But his muscles looked bigger too. Was
that possible?

In any case, the effect was swoon-worthy for
sure.

“So we’re gonna turn in,” Johnny told them in
a hoarse voice. “Tess, are you okay to drive? I can run you back to
the hotel, no problem.”

“My overnight stuff is in your guest room. So
you’re good to go. Just keep the noise down, please.”

He chuckled. “I’ll do what I can. Deck?
Thanks for the ride. Feel free to take off.”

Tess gave the QB a grateful smile for the
protective move. Then she explained, “I want to hear about Coach
Riga so I’m hoping Sean stays.”

Johnny arched a skeptical eyebrow, then
turned his attention back to his bride, scooping her up and
carrying her off as she called out happily, “You two have fun! See
you at breakfast.”

“What a lush,” Tess complained with a laugh.
“But they’re so right for each other. I just saw the wedding video
and they’re officially the hottest couple on earth.”

“Rachel calls them a power couple.”

“That, too.” She smiled shyly. “How was
practice? Was the coach mean?”

“Nope, it’s all good.” Sean edged closer. “So
did you have six sips too?”

She nodded. “Your timing was perfect. Another
hour and we would’ve been sloshed on dirty martinis. That’s
actually why I’m here. Giving her mixology lessons.”