She’s running down the bleachers and headed across the football field of the Sin Valley community center.
Following after her, I chuckle to myself, watching as she scoops Jay-Jay off his feet.
Okay, she’s never this excited at my games. Should I be jealous? I think I’m jealous of my four-year-old.
Gabriel comes up and claps a hand on my shoulder. “That kid takes after his father. Impressive skills he’s got.”
I sort of grunt. “Too bad he’s into the whole quarterback thing, though. Any chance you can convince him to move to defense?”
Gabriel laughs. “It’s only his first season and he’s enjoying the game. Let’s just leave it at that for now.”
“I guess you’re right.”
It’s good to see Gabriel like this, clean and sober. Since he got out of rehab two years ago, he’s been on a healthier path. Now, he’s helping coach my kid’s football team at the community center.
Jay-Jay runs up to us and wraps his arms around my thigh. “Did you see that, Dad? Did you see me score that touchdown?”
“Sure did, Bud.” I pick him up and swing him onto my shoulders as Sera comes to join us. “Football is so fun! I want to play all day long,” he proclaims, even as a yawn barrels out of his mouth.
My wife drapes an arm around my waist. “I think you need to get some sleep, Jay. Build up your energy for your next game, okay?”
Of course he pouts and whines because that’s what kids do. But my family manages to say good night to Gabriel and head back home.
I warm up some leftovers for dinner while Sera gets our son in the bath. Then, we sit together and eat. When the broccoli and beef with rice has been gobbled up, we put Jay-Jay to bed and tip-toe to our room down the hallway.
Sera goes to use the bathroom while I get comfortable in bed with a book.
I love this. Life is so incredibly normal in the off-season. Just me and my family spending all our time together. I couldn’t be happier.
I have a few more weeks of this before pre-season football training starts and I intend on enjoying every minute of it.
“What are you reading?” my wife asks a few minutes later when she crawls in next to me. She opens a folder of spreadsheets and contracts that she’s been reviewing. She’s a senior executive at Kline-Simmons now and she puts in the work.
“Taken by my Bad Boy Defensive Safety,” I tell her, barely taking my eyes off the page. “Best book of the series.”
“Oh, that’s a great one,” she replies, “Let me know when you’re at the steamy locker room scene.”
I wave her away. “Shhh! Don’t ruin this for me woman. I’m getting to the good part.”
“Fine.” She pouts and turns her attention to her important-looking documents. “I’ve got a lot of work to do anyway.”
A few minutes later, I do indeed, get to that steamy locker scene she was talking about. My dick starts getting hard just imagining reenacting it play for play with my wife.
“Mmm,” I groan. “Oh, yeah.”
Sera leans across the bed and she tries to peek at my book.
“Fuck. So hot.” I growl a little bit.
My wife gets closer and reads along with me. She’s panting in an instant.
I grin to myself when I feel her hand skim up my thigh and cradle my dick.
“Creeper,” I mutter.
Stroking her hand down my shaft, she grins. “You love it.”
I fling the book aside and pull her into my lap. “I do.” I kiss her neck. “And I can’t resist you.”
She giggles and rubs herself against me. “Good thing you don’t have to.” Our lips meet and dance as I strip her out of her T-shirt. “I love you, Jason Bellino,” she whispers into the air. “I’ll love you for the rest of my life.”
“I love you, Seraphine Bellino.” I flip her over and climb on top of her, my heart overflowing like it does every time I touch her. “Thank you for giving me a family.” I kiss her chin. “Thank you for giving me a home.” I kiss her lips. “Thank you for giving me forever.”
Thank you so much for reading PLAYING HOUSE! I hope you fell in love with Jace and Sera.
The playboys of Sin Valley aren’t done melting your panties yet…The next books in series are available. Grab them here!
Playing Pretend (pre-order)
Playing Along (pre-order)
Jace and Sera had a steamy and hilarious honeymoon and I know you want to read all about it. (And guess who fucked each other off the bed again…SMH.)
Click here to grab your copy of the Playing House Honeymoon Bonus epilogue.
So, what to read now…?
If you love a steamy and hilarious rom com about a bloodthirsty billionaire out for revenge and the fiery woman who’s getting in his way, read an excerpt of Mister Billions. The sizzling chemistry that will short-circuit your Kindle. (It’s free in Kindle Unlimited.)
CANNON
It's the plot twist of every cliched telenovela to ever get cancelled in its first season.
My best friend bolting up from under my Italian brocade silk comforter and flinging my live-in girlfriend's naked body clear across the king-sized bed.
Said girlfriend toppling over the side of the mattress and landing on the marble floor with the poise of a disgraced spider monkey.
Each of them spewing an array of nonsensical pleas and excuses my way.
"Cannon! You're home early!"
"D-don't do anything crazy, bro! I can explain."
"Baby, it's not what it looks like! You weren't supposed to find out like this!"
"I tried to say no but she threw herself at me!"
"I couldn't help it, Cannon. You work all the time. And it's been taking you forever to propose. Plus, my life coach said this sexual exploration thing is a healthy part of my natural evolution toward becoming the most authentic version of myself…”
I stand in the doorway stunned, frozen, as Margot scrambles around to unclip the gold-plated nipple clamps hanging from her tits like mini-chandeliers. Meanwhile, Carl kneels on the bed, hurrying to stuff his flaccid penis into his shit-stained white briefs.
I'm one momentary lapse in judgment away from torching the mattress with him in it.
Because there's no way in hell I will ever be able to lie on that bed with that woman in my arms again. Or sit on the couch in the living room and enjoy a Monday night football game with the hairy-assed asshole I built a billion-dollar software company with out of our college dorm room. Or take a deep breath of the hot, dense Manhattan summer air without choking on the putrid stench of this betrayal.
This is some fucked up shit.
I hear a faint whisper at the back of my mind. It sounds strangely like my grandfather’s voice. Why are you even surprised?
To know who will betray you most devastatingly, look to the one you trust most ardently.
That phrase was underlined in red ink in a dog-eared book the grumpy, old man used to read over and over again when I was a child. I never fully understood it until right now.
Barely able to see through the red haze blurring my vision, my claws clamp down on the sheets and yank them from the bed. My roar rips a new hole through the ozone layer. "You motherfuckers!" I charge across the room and tear the bedside lamp out of the wall with blinding fury. Carl squeals like a terrified piglet when I raise it above my head.
But right as I'm about to do something dramatic—and very, very stupid—I'm struck by a dizzying flash of clarity. A premonition, really.
I get a glimpse of myself, despondent and disheveled, being handcuffed and hauled into a cop car.
Then, I’m posing for an impromptu photo shoot courtesy of the fine officers of the NYPD.
And then I’m sharing a concrete holding cell with a chatty-drunk trucker named Jim for a state-imposed time-out.
Not worth it, man.
My mother already has one hot-tempered idiot spawn behind bars. She wouldn't be able to handle another.
Nah. Not worth it.
<
br /> Thirty minutes later, I'm sauntering past the doorman—key fob spinning around my pointer finger, duffel bag hitched on my shoulder. I catch sight of Margot in my periphery, flailing and yelling hysterically as my building security drops her in a heap on the bustling sidewalk outside of my Upper East Side apartment.
Pushing her bleach-blonde hair from her eyes, she hollers after me. “Cannon, baby! You can’t let them do this to me! You can’t just leave me on the street! We love each other! Where are you going, baby?”
I sink behind the wheel of my sportscar and screech away from the curb without sparing a look back. I’m going home, bitch…
I always knew Margot was an opportunist. She first sank her fangs into me with a formidable blowjob at the house party where we met back at NYU. The minute my start-up got funded, she dropped her liberal arts classes like a knock-off handbag covered in questionable bodily fluids and made a name for herself around campus as my 'supportive girlfriend'. In other words, the whiny chick who spent her days online shopping with my credit card and then doing elaborate Facebook un-boxings to complain that the merchandise never quite lives up to the website product pictures.
But I was a horny college sophomore. And she was always down for morning sex.
By the time I was swiping my Black Card for her second rhinoplasty, she was sort of entrenched in my life. I was an idiot, so distracted by my success that I didn’t realize how little she was actually contributing to our relationship.
As for Carl, he’s dumb, lazy and as useful as the ‘p’ in pneumonia. But I put up with his inadequacies because he was with me in the trenches from the beginning, when we were getting doors shut in our faces by investors left and right. So despite his shortcomings, I didn't toss him to the curb like a dirty mattress the second our company made it big.
Because I believe in fucking loyalty.
Well, apparently, he doesn’t feel the same. And I don't play that backstabbing shit, as he’s about to find out.
I drive through the night, my tires eating up the dark lanes of the I-90 north. I don't stop once. Not to grab a hamburger. Not to take a piss. My only companion is the red hot pissed-off-ness that suffocates every other emotion that even dares to rear its stupid head.
Twelve hours later, the first flicker of daylight is breaking on the horizon. I slide on my aviators against the early morning sun. The meandering hatchback clogging the off-ramp up ahead is the only thing between me and the triple shot espresso I’ll need to nail down the specifics of the comeuppance Margot and Carl have heading their way.
I crank the steering wheel sharply to the left and stomp down on the accelerator. My Tesla clips around the zigzagging Volkswagen Quantum barely holding its shit together under layers of duct tape.
When the startled teen driver looks up from the cellphone in his hand, our eyes meet. I shout in the direction of my closed window. "No texting and driving, Fuckface!"
I leave his ass in the dust.
Beneath my aviators, my gaze flicks up to the huge green highway sign looming above the roadway.
Welcome to Crescent Harbor.
I coast past the sign with the calm assurance of a man about to ruin some fucking lives.
But first...coffee.
Grab Mister Billions here
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The Playboys of Sin Valley
Playing House (Jace & Sera)
Playing Pretend (Liam & Eliza)
Playing Along (Wyatt & Desiree)
Playing Rough (Declan & Minka)
The Bad Boys in Love Series
Mister Billions (Cannon & Lexi)
Mister Baller (Jude & Iris)
Mister Baby Daddy (Walker & Penny)
Mister Bossy (Eli & Jessa)
The Blue Collar Bachelors Series
Lover Boy (Leo & Reese)
Play Boy (Charlie & Nova)
Bad Boy (Clinton & Vivian)
Hot Boy (Angie & Ben)
Rich Boy (Xavier & Sadie)
Dream Boy (Archie & Sophia)
Blue Collar Bachelors Box Set
The Dirty Suburbs Series
Dirty Neighbor (Keeland & Sammie)
Dirty Player (Maxwell & Faith)
Dirty Stranger (Reuben & Isla)
Dirty Favor (Prescott & Annaleigh)
Dirty Lover (Nicholas & Blakely)
Dirty Farmer (Jakob & Lily)
Dirty Silver (Raphael & Eva)
Dirty Forever (Daniel & Grace)
Dirty Christmas (Wesley & Sanaya)
The Esquire Girls Series
Amber Nights (Amber – Books 1, 2, 3 & 4)
Madison’s Story
For Madison, Always (Madison – Books 1, 2, 3 & 4)
Ruthie’s Story
Ruthie’s Desire (Ruthie – Books 1, 2, 3 & 4)
Hailey’s story
Moments with Hailey (Hailey - Books 1, 2, 3 & 4)
Esquire HEAT Series
A Very Eager Intern
A Very Frustrated Attorney
Standalone Novels
Holiday Hookup with the Rockstar
Happy New You
Dirty Cameos & Easter Eggs
I’m an absolute sucker for ‘easter eggs’ and they’re scattered all throughout Playing House.
If you’ve read any of my older books, you may have noticed a few familiar faces, quotes and objects making an appearance in Mister Billions. If you’re new to my universe, here’s a little guide to help you figure out who’s who and what’s what.
The Dirty Suburbs Series is a sexy rom-com series set in Reyfield which is a neighboring town to Sin Valley.
Maxwell and Faith Masters - Dirty Player
“Every man’s got a fairytale somewhere in them. For some guys, it’s just buried deeper than others.” ~ Faith in Dirty Player
Blakely Hamilton novels - Dirty Lover
The Reyfield Furniture Depot - Dirty Favor
The Bad Boys in Love Series is a sexy rom-com series set in Crescent Harbor which is a neighboring town to Sin Valley.
Jude and Iris Kingston - Mister Baller
Renewed Gowns - Mister Billions
The Frosty Pitcher - Mister Baby Daddy
The Blue Collar Bachelors Series is a sexy rom-com series set in Copper Heights which is a neighboring town to Sin Valley.
Fruity Pebbles - Play Boy
Playing House: A Small Town Brother’s Best Friend Romance (The Playboys of Sin Valley Book 1) Page 32
