Playing House: A Small Town Brother’s Best Friend Romance (The Playboys of Sin Valley Book 1)

by Cassie-Ann L. Miller

  Anyway, I had to scramble at the last minute to find someone to replace Jace at today’s event. Luckily, when I called Faith Monroe-Masters, she passed the invitation along to Maxwell who was more than happy to show up and share his wisdom with the kids.

  Faith appears next to me, a kind grin on her face. “Hey, do you need any help setting up?”

  “No, I think I’ve got everything covered.” I aim a remote control at the overhead projector and the first page of Liam’s presentation appears on the makeshift screen. I step back to ensure the document is properly displayed. “Is Maxwell here yet?”

  Faith glances at her phone. “He’s just a few blocks away. He should be here any minute.” She observes me as I work. “How have you been holding up, girl? Have you been in contact with Jason?”

  She knows what happened between us. In fact, when she got word of our break up, she called me on the phone and spent two hours lending an ear while I blubbered my heart out. She’s been an incredible friend throughout this whole thing.

  “I haven’t been in contact with him,” I admit. He gave up on reaching out to me after I moved out. And honestly, I’m just done. I can’t face the hurt anymore.

  Still, what Declan said to me keeps popping into my head. Did Jace really plan to stop me getting married to Rocky? Even if he did, does that even mean anything? I don’t think it does because he’s the one who set the lawyer’s appointment to get the annulment started. He would have canceled that if he were serious about working things out with me.

  “You know you won’t be able to avoid him forever,” Faith says softly.

  “I know that.” I sigh. “Actually, he and I are meeting with the lawyer on Wednesday evening so that the annulment paperwork can be filed. The deadline is on Friday. I have to work on fortifying myself by then, or else I’ll just break down in tears at the sight of him.”

  I feel like I’m dying inside. Every morning I wake up without him feels dull and empty. Every night I go to sleep without him is torture. But I have to accept that it’s over. We had our time and now, we’re done.

  “Oh, honey,” Faith drapes an arm around my shoulder and gives me a squeeze. “I still think it’s not too late for the two of you. I believe you guys can work things out. You can have your fairytale ending.”

  “I’m not holding out hope. I don’t want to be disappointed.” I exhale deeply. “As much as I wanted to believe the contrary, I’m just not sure Jace is capable of fairytales.”

  Faith quirks an eyebrow in disagreement. “I don’t believe that for one second. Y’know what I say? Every man’s got a fairytale somewhere in them. For some guys, it’s just buried deeper than others.” She squeezes my hand. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Sera, trust me—if anyone can bring out the Prince Charming in Jason Bellino, it’s you.”

  My eyes begin to prickle but I hold the tears back. “You’re way more optimistic than I am, Faith.”

  She shakes her head stubbornly. “Never underestimate the power of fairytales, Sera.” She smiles knowingly. “Excuse me. My husband is here.”

  I watch after her as she heads for the entrance where Maxwell greets her with a hug and a sweet kiss on the cheek. Holding hands, they chat excitedly together. Just watching them, I can tell that they’re best friends, that they tell each other everything, that there’s nothing they enjoy more than sharing their lives with one another. My heart mourns and I hate myself a little for feeling jealous. I can’t watch them. It hurts too much. I have to look away.

  When my gaze moves just beyond Maxwell’s shoulder and lands on the handsome tower of muscles and smugness entering the room, my palms are instantly a clammy, tingly mess, my heart starts thudding in my throat, and boob sweat—so much boob sweat—as Jace steps into the room.

  Fifty

  Jace

  I can barely keep my eyes off her. God, I think she gets more beautiful each second I’m away from her.

  My wife. I’ve been going crazy without her. I was crazy for thinking I could give her up. And now I’m here, sitting cross-legged on the gymnasium floor, surrounded by these restless little overactive kids. Because if this is what it takes to get Sera back once and for all, I’m willing to do it.

  My life has been empty and hollow this past week without her but I knew I had to come at her with a proper offer of love. After the way I treated her, I have to be bold and fearless in my attempt to get her back. I have to be willing to put myself out there to show her that my stubbornness and pride will never come between us again.

  Liam is at the front of the room, giving a never-ending monologue about productivity, focus and scheduling priorities. It’s going over real well with the under-ten crowd.

  Then, Wyatt goes up to the front and delivers a speech about discipline and endurance. I swear, he scares the crowd of rambunctious little brats silent with his no-nonsense expression and his booming voice. And I can’t help but flinch a few times when he delivers angry stares and harsh lines that are obviously aimed directly at me.

  When Wyatt is done speaking, Maxwell approaches the podium. My pulse starts booming.

  My team captain introduces himself and speaks to the kids for a while, pumping them up with a ‘follow your dreams’ spiel. Then, he asks the kids if it’s okay for me to speak to them also. They go up in cheers, their eyes finding me at the back of the crowded room.

  I rise from my spot on the floor and move to the front of the gymnasium. Before I’ve even gotten to the podium, I’ve broken out into a sweat.

  So much is riding on this moment. Everything is riding on this moment.

  I need to make Sera see that I get it, that I understand what it means to be her life partner and that I’m willing to put in the work.

  I step up to the lecturn and I’m nervous as heck. There are about a hundred little eyeballs staring intently at me, waiting to hear what I have to say.

  “When I first got asked to come speak to you guys, I didn’t want to,” I confess sheepishly to break the ice. “I didn’t think I was a role model you guys needed. I didn’t think I had anything useful to share.” I pull in a breath carefully avoiding Sera’s eyes where she’s standing between Liam and Wyatt off to the side of the room. “But then someone I care for deeply, made me realize that I was just scared.” I scratch the back of my head, feeling impish when I say it. “Do I look like the kind of guy who gets scared easily?” I flex my biceps.

  The kids laugh and belt out a chorus of ‘No’s.

  “Well, I was,” I tell them. “I was really, really scared. So today, I'm gonna be teaching you guys some things I recently learned about courage. Does anybody know what courage is?”

  A few little hands instantly spring up and I pick a girl with pigtails tied up with yellow ribbons. “Courage is when you’re scared to do something and you do it anyway,” she says proudly her tiny voice filling the room.

  “That's right. Good answer,” I tell her, nodding. “Usually I have to be courageous when I'm on the football field. Some of these guys I play against are huge. I mean, super tall and strong.” I slice my hand through the air above my head for effect. “But that doesn’t matter. I’m not scared of them. Because I’ve got courage, right?”

  “Right!” The kids sing along, their little faces full of enthusiasm.

  “I used to think I only needed my courage on the football field…Until I started to like a girl.”

  That confession earns me a wave of ‘Ewww!’s from the boys in the room.

  I laugh, making an appeasing motion for them to simmer down. “No no. She's awesome. Trust me.” My gaze finally finds Sera and I dare to hold eye contact as I speak. “She's the smartest, funniest, most prettiest—”

  “Most prettiest is not a word,” one of the little jerks cuts me off.

  Smartass.

  “Psht. I used to think most prettiest was not a word too...until I fell for Sera.”

  The kids burst into a chorus of ‘Oooh!’s that makes Sera blush.

  One of the kids at th
e back of the room lifts a hand, pinning me with a distrustful look on his face. “How does liking a girl make you courageous?” he challenges. “Anybody can like a girl.”

  My heart is thumping and crashing when I bring my attention back to Sera. “Because I'm about to tell her I like her…and I'm not sure that she still likes me back.”

  I see the stilted breath she takes, the way she swallows and her expression melts when I say that.

  Good. She’s melting for me. I think she’s melting.

  I keep going anyway. “I did somethings that hurt her feelings,” I confess, “and I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m a jerk now.”

  The kids are giggling and whispering to each other, like I just lost all my cool factor, baring my heart like that.

  “Shhh…Guys, come on. No laughing. I’m nervous here.” One corner of my mouth swings into a smile even though I’m dying of anxiety on the inside.

  I keep my attention on Sera, to the exclusion of everyone in the room. Everything but her fades from my view. Her eyes are guarded like she thinks she has to protect herself from me.

  I hate that. I have to fix it.

  “Courage isn't just having big muscles and going around, knocking down every obstacle that gets in your way. Courage is being brave enough to take a risk with your heart even when it's scary. And the scariest thing of all is giving someone your heart even after its been broken in the past. Jumping out of the plane. No parachute.”

  Her eyes fall closed and she gasps, her fingers coming to her lips.

  I leave the podium and go to meet her where she is. Takes all the courage I have since Wyatt is hovering over us like the damn Terminator. When he growls at me, Sera rolls her eyes, grabs my wrist and pulls me down a hallway and into a stairwell for privacy.

  “What are you doing?” she whispers once we’re alone. Her voice is husky with emotion.

  “I’m apologizing for being an idiot,” I say, my tone a little frantic. “And I’m begging you to take me back.” I dare to lace my fingers through hers.

  “You really fucking hurt me, Jason.” She takes her hand from me and folds her arms across her chest. “It took a lot for me to put my trust in you after what I’ve been through and you took all that for granted when you just dumped me without even letting me explain myself. Do you know how devastating that was?”

  “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am, Sera. I was just so fucking scared I couldn’t think straight. I was terrified.”

  Her hard eyes don’t even blink. “Well, I was terrified, too. And I chose to love you anyway.”

  “I know. Baby, I know. And I’m choosing you now…if it’s not too late.” I pull in a breath and pour my heart out across the floor for her. “I’m not a perfect man. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, okay? I had no clue what I was doing but I’ll make you a few promises now. I promise that I won’t abandon you the next time things get hard, because I know they’ll get hard. I promise that I’ll always give you the benefit of the doubt when my old insecurities come up, and I know they will. I promise that I’ll trust you with my heart wide open, with my love overflowing, even when I’m scared because I’m not too big and tough to get scared. When the going gets tough, I’ll choose love each and every time.”

  “Jason, I…I don’t know…”

  I cut her off. I can’t let her say that she’s not giving me another chance.

  “One thing is clear to me, Sera. I’m in love with you. One hundred percent. Actually, forget percentages. I’m not good at Math but I’m pretty sure this feeling in my chest is what infinity feels like. When I look at you, I want infinity. I want forever. No parachutes.”

  She pauses. Looks into my face. Sees my soul bleeding out through my eyes.

  She chooses to have mercy on me. She chooses to give me her love. “I love you, Jason Bellino.”

  Fuck. Her words are magic. Hearing her say she loves me puts all the pieces of my broken heart back together again.

  “My god, Sera. I love you.” I breathe out, sweeping her into my arms and swinging her around. “I love you.”

  She smiles through her tears. Her hands come to my cheeks. “I love you, too.” She laughs, throwing her head back, liberated. “I love you. No parachutes.”

  Fifty-One

  Sera

  Two weeks later…

  Jace and I are hand in hand, running down the steps of the Kissy Kissy Bang Bang wedding chapel.

  Our guests line the stairs, cheering and clapping, raining a shower of rice down on us as we exit. Well, actually, we duck for cover when we pass by Holly because, knowing that girl, it’s probably salt she’s flinging our way.

  Jace and I re-tied the knot.

  We wanted to have a ceremony we could remember, with pictures and videos and our friends and family as witnesses. We want every moment on record. No blackout drunkeness this time.

  Still, the event is nothing but a blur through my curtain of tears. A blur of happiness.

  As my man and I are standing on the bustling Sin Valley sidewalk, basking in our contentment, Wyatt comes up and claps him on the shoulder. “You remember what we talked about?” I hear my brother grunt into Jace’s ear in a not-so-friendly tone.

  My husband chuckles, draping his arms around my back. “You can lay off the threats, Wyatt. No way I’m hurting your sister again. I learned my lesson in the time we were broken up. I’m never putting myself through that pain again.”

  “Good.” My brother punches Jace in the shoulder once more.

  Wyatt has been the most menacing best man in history. He spent the entire ceremony scowling at Jace like he was waiting for my groom to make one wrong move. I’m not worried though. “You’re going to see how happy Jason Bellino makes me.” I promise my brother. “You’re going to know that you don’t need to protect me anymore. My heart is in the best hands.”

  “I fucking hope so.” Wyatt presses a hard kiss to my cheek and wanders off into the crowd. I don’t miss the way Desiree’s eyes follow him down the street.

  “My matchmaking senses are tingling,” I tell Jace as we both watch the former lovers.

  He squeezes my shoulders. “No meddling, Sera,” he mumbles into my hair.

  When my girls gather on the sidewalk to catch the bouquet, Holly elbows everybody out of the way and makes a dive for the flowers. Somehow, she ends up tripping on the hem of her dress and face-planting on the rough concrete.

  That poor girl. She just can’t catch a break.

  And it’s as if the bouquet has a mind of its own because it somehow ends up falling into a horrified-looking Minka’s cleavage. She flings it to the ground and leaps back like she’s dealing with a venomous reptile while a forlorn Declan watches her from a distance.

  Gordon nearly topples over when he bends down to pick up the bouquet and hand it to Granny Bellino. She beams at her man, hearts and shooting stars in her eyes.

  “Oh boy…” Jace whispers under his breath.

  My eyes scan over our sea of guests and the bubbly feeling in my heart is so big. My mom and siblings, the girls from work, Liam, Knox and a bunch of the other Paragons with their significant others. Even Gabriel is here, looking dapper in a suit. I feel so blessed that all these people love my husband and me, that they were there for us as we navigated the bumpy terrain to our happy ending.

  The wedding party heads over to Faith and Maxwell’s. They have a backyard barbecue set up for us. In fact, Faith helped me plan everything. She’s an expert on vow renewals. She and Maxwell have said ‘I do’ to each other too many times to count.

  As the evening wanes and the sun sets over Sin Valley, I’m in my man’s arms with my hands on his shoulders as we slow dancing under twinkle lights.

  My new ring is much more understated and conservative than my original wedding band. This one is a simple pear-shaped diamond on an eternity band and I love it so much. Still, Jace couldn’t get me to part with my cubic zirconia monstrosity. To me, that jewel is a reminder of the beginning of our love story and it
will always have a special place in my heart…and in the ring box at the back of my underwear drawer.

  As we sway to the soft music, my husband presses his lips to the tip of my nose and hugs me to his chest.

  “You look so happy,” I whisper, staring up into his face.

  “I am,” he confesses. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

  I feel like I’m melting from the inside out. “Your happiness is so important to me, Jace. I’ll do whatever I can to make you happy for the rest of our lives. To make sure you know that I love you so very much and I’ll never betray you. I want my life with you to be a string of laughter and bickering and cooking disasters and adventures—”

  “And hot sex?” He smirks.

  “—And hot sex.” I grin.

  He kisses me again. “There’s nothing more I could ever want. I’m the luckiest guy around, Sera. I get to wake up with you in my arms every morning, pour you cereal for breakfast, send you silly text messages all day, fuck you off the bed every night.”

  I grin, happy that being with me makes him so happy. “I love you so much, Jace.”

  He kisses my scalp. “I love you more, Baby Girl. I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you how good happily-ever-after can be.”

  Epilogue

  Jace

  Six years later…

  Sera flings her arms up, her homemade poster waving high above her head.

  “Go, baby! Go, baby! Yes! Yes! Yes!” She’s jumping around in the stands, shamelessly screaming her head off.

  Next to her, I’m puffed up with pride, too, as our kid runs toward the end zone, his little legs pumping hard, leaving the other tiny footballers in the dust. He tumbles to the ground, shrieking with delight as he scores the touchdown just as the final whistle gets blown.

  “That’s my kid!” Sera proclaims to the crowd. “That’s my kid!”