The Playboy Next Door

In the past, I couldn’t give him a chance. And now that we finally have a shot, I wonder if this can work. Can men really change? Because if this doesn’t work out, I don’t know if I can handle it. If he screws me over, like all the others before him, how will I protect my heart from breaking again?

River clutches my chin and kisses me again. “Are you ready to go inside, beautiful?”

I nod. “Do you think those girls are gone?”

“I doubt it. You’ll probably have to kick them out in the morning. My teammates don’t have the same rules as me.”

I blew out a breath of air. “I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around you changing so quickly. It doesn’t seem real.”

“I’ve been waiting a long time for you to ditch that loser boyfriend,” he says against my lips. “I knew it wouldn’t last.”

I scoff at his comment. “Why did you think that?”

“The way he treated you.” His hand slipped from my chin and he sat back to look into my eyes. “He was an asshole. Always acted like you were his sidekick instead of his girlfriend. I hate guys like that.”

River wasn’t the first person to tell me this about my ex.

“You saw that, too?”

He nodded. “I hated him. So did Ollie. And when I found out he cheated on you, left you with all of the debt, ruined your dreams, I wanted to kill him.”

“How do I know you won’t do that to me?”

“You don’t,” he admitted. “In this case, you have to take a leap of faith. Give me a chance to prove you wrong.”

“I never said you were a bad guy. But I do have my reservations about you. A guy who’s never had a girlfriend isn’t the type to settle down with one woman.”

“Who said I’ve never had a girlfriend?”

“I’ve never seen you with a woman for more than a night.”

“Back in high school, I dated the same girl for three years. I can commit. That’s not my problem.” He raised my hand to his mouth and kissed my skin. “Just haven’t found the right woman… until now.”

A shiver rushed down my arm, and it wasn’t because of the chill in the air.

River helped me up from the ground and hooked his arm around me. “Watch TV with me. There’s a new movie on Netflix I want to watch with you.”

“Okay,” I agree.

“In my room,” he adds.

“What about Ollie?”

He leads me toward the roof door with his arm around me, his body heat taking the chill from mine. “He’ll be too busy to notice.”

“I want you to tell him, River. He needs to know.”

“Whatever you want, beautiful.”

We descend the stairs, down a few landings until we’re in our living room. There’s clothes on the floor, but my brother, Brady, and the girls are nowhere to be found. I let out a sigh of relief.

I was so afraid I would have to see my brother in the middle of an unspeakable act. Sadly, it would not have been the first time. We shared a womb, but that’s about all I want to share with him.

“I want to change into pajamas,” I tell River when we stop in front of my bedroom door. “I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

He grabs my ass. “Don’t take too long.”

My heart is still racing when I shut my bedroom door behind me and strip off my sweater. River is killing me. I never could have anticipated the cocky player being so… sweet. If I had known what he was really like, I would have given him a chance a long time ago. I wasn’t always in relationship. There were a few times when I could have taken him up on his offer, but I couldn’t take a player like him seriously.

After I change, I enter River’s room through the adjoining bathroom door. He’s dressed down to black boxer briefs and a tight T-shirt that is so tight he might as well be naked. I blow out a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the next two hours.

It’s just a movie.

Nothing will happen.

“Mmm.” Rivers moves to the edge of the bed, his long legs spread as he licks his lips. “Look at you, Ems.” He scrubs a hand over the stubble on his strong jaw. “Damn, girl. Come get in this bed.”

I try not to stare because River looks too damn good in those boxer briefs that hug him perfectly. But I can’t help but laugh. “Keep it in your pants, playboy.”

He fluffs a few pillows and leans back against them, smoothing his hand over the space beside him. His eyes met mine as I follow his instruction and slide under the covers.

“You don’t have to hide from me,” he says with a wicked look in his eyes.