Play Hard (Game Changers #3)

Chapter 1

Noah

Afamiliar scent wafted through my nostrils, causing my thumb to pause over my phone.

Suddenly, telling Lance to kiss my ass I’d be there when I got there was a distant memory.

Every molecule in my body was too busy responding to the warm, sensual aroma.

Brushed mahogany, smoked vanilla, golden amber and a hint of apricot.

It was a fusion I’d never forget. A soothing balm to the ache buried deep in my chest.

Ever.

That was the name of the perfume. And when I lifted my head I saw the only woman to ever wear it.

Serra Davis.

Our gazes locked. The widening of her eyes indicated she was just as shocked to see me as I was her.

Before I could say anything—I’d have to think of what the hell to say first—she jerked back as if I’d reached for her.

Then she turned and attempted to get off the elevator.

But the doors were already closing, halting her exit.

“Can’t stand the sight of me now?” was what finally fell from my lips. Not exactly what I would’ve planned to say seeing her for the first time in eleven years.

She turned slowly until she was once again facing me.

My hand clenched around the phone before I slipped it into my pocket.

My other hand, thankfully, fell to my side as my fingers twitched.

I wanted to touch her. To reach out and brush the back of my fingers over her cheek the way I used to do whenever she was near.

Her skin was still the same golden-brown hue, still looked as smooth and soft as it had so long ago.

High cheekbones, perfectly arched brows, expressive eyes and that damn bow shaped mouth.

I had so many memories of that mouth. My dick was just about to start its stretch down memory lane, when the elevator started to move.

I barely registered the glow of the number on the control panel behind her, indicating the elevator had stopped on the fifth floor to pick her up.

I’d just gotten on at six and pressed the lobby button.

Serra hadn’t made a selection, so I assumed she was going to the same place.

“Wasn’t expecting to see you,” she finally replied with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her even when she moved to the farthest corner of the elevator car and folded her arms over her chest.

My gaze instantly dropped to her generous breasts that her action had pushed upward as if to taunt me even more so than the memory of her had done these past years.

The purple dress she wore stopped just above her knee and hugged those breasts like a second skin.

There was a bow tied at her waist that I was certain if I yanked on it, the material would fall to the floor.

As tempting as that thought was the frosty glare that greeted me when I dragged my gaze back up to her face, jolted me back to reality.

“So, you forgot I lived in Providence?” I asked, not at all believing that shit. “Like you forgot to tell me you weren’t satisfied with our relationship anymore.”

Yo, I felt like a fuckin’ fool. And honestly, I hadn’t felt this way in a long ass time. But there had always been something about Serra that had me doing and saying things I never imagined I would. I guess today was no different.

Except it should’ve been. I wasn’t that twenty-one-year-old who’d fallen head over heels in love with this woman’s pussy.

Nor was I the immature guy who believed her when she’d said she wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship.

In the years we’d been apart I’d seen a good portion of the world, made a decent amount of money, suffered another tremendous loss and resolved a lot of shit from my past. So, standing a few feet away from her shouldn’t have me feeling off-kilter.

“Are you serious?” she asked, then huffed. “That’s what you say to me after all this time?”

I shrugged but I just couldn’t stop staring at her. She was so fuckin’ beautiful, it almost hurt to continue staring. My damn traitorous heart wouldn’t let me look away.

“You’re the one who turned around to walk away, like you weren’t going to say anything to me at all,” I shot back.

“Because there’s nothing left to say,” she replied.

“Yeah, that’s what you said the last time.”

She rolled her eyes again. “And I meant it.”

I shrugged again. “So you did.”

There was about twenty seconds of tense silence before a screeching that sounded like bad brakes on a tractor trailer, pierced the air, then the elevator car jolted. Serra pitched forward and I lurched toward her, arms extended to keep her from falling on her face.

Her palms flattened over my chest. “Shit,” she hissed.

My fingers were tight on her waist as I held her close. Too damn close.

“Are we stuck?” She stared up at me, brow furrowed, eyes wide.

Finally able to tear my gaze away from the face that had haunted me more nights than I could count, I glanced around to the control board like I expected it to have an answer.

It didn’t, of course, and that only deepened my frown.

My hands left her waist, immediately missing the warmth that filled them the second they connected with her.

“Well, don’t just stare at it,” she said from behind me. “Press the button. Make it move. Do something, Noah!”

Panic was clear in her tone and I didn’t like it. I never liked hearing or seeing her anything other than smiling and happy, but right now, I’d settle for calm. So I pressed the help button and waited.

“I cannot freakin’ believe this,” she continued. “Of all the days, in all the buildings, it had to be this one.”

“You mean it had to be with me.” I wasn’t going to reply, had just reminded myself of how long ago we were a couple and every day that we weren’t. But the words tumbled free. I swear it felt like I might need a muzzle to be in the same space as her.

This wasn’t the reunion I planned. Hell, I never planned for a reunion with Serra.

Never wanted to see her ass again, not after she eviscerated my heart.

Yet, here we were and besides how fuckin’ fine she still was, all I could think about was every unanswered question, every doubt and misconception that had been hiding away in some deep recess of my soul.

She carried a black leather purse, a large one.

As I recalled those were her favorites because she never liked to be caught unprepared.

It always amazed me how much crap she could actually carry around with her in those things.

A thin strap held it on her left shoulder as she folded her arms over her chest again.

“Still high on yourself I see,” she replied. “But I really am more concerned with being stuck on a damn elevator when all I wanted was to pay a tax bill.”

If she thought she was the only unlucky one today, she could think again.

I had the pleasure of meeting with council members Gayla Anton, Brenden Carter and his assistant—who I was positive he was fuckin’—to discuss the hold up with the bar’s permits.

We were a little over a month away from our planned Juneteenth celebration and we still didn’t have the town’s required paperwork to facilitate our field day activities.

Historically, a majority of the city council was against anything Game Changers—the sports bar my brothers by choice and I opened two years ago—did in Providence.

Once upon a time we’d been outcasts even though we’d all grown up here.

Ethan, Jeret, Del, Lance, Rock and me. Through different circumstances we’d all landed at the House when we were between the ages of fifteen and sixteen.

From that point on we’d been as tight as blood brothers and, to many of the people in this town, their biggest present threat.

Even though, we were now all adults who’d ventured out to build careers, only to end up right back here again trying to make a difference while simultaneously proving a point, they still hated us.

“Are you even listening to me?” Her question yanked me from those thoughts, and I was just about to respond when another voice filled the space.

“Hello? Captain Robbins here.”

The raspy voice coming from the speaker on the control board was familiar. An image of the six-foot-tall man who was still holding on to the pretty-boy curls that had helped him pull plenty of girls in our high school years, but had now receded a few inches from his forehead, popped into my mind.

“Yeah. Ebay, it’s Noah. Get your ass over here and fix this broken-down elevator before I develop PTSD and have to sue this annoying ass town,” I said, my tone full of all the conflicting emotions soaring through my system.

There was a chuckle, followed by a fake cough then his reply, “That’s Captain Eugene Robbins to you, cheatin’ ass Noah Jordan.”

Ebay—as we’d always called him because as a kid he’d been ruthlessly teased about being named Eugene after his father—would always be a sore loser.

On another day, that thought would have me laughing along with him.

But not today, not when I was having trouble breathing…

and not because I was afraid of being stuck in an elevator, because I wasn’t.

I just didn’t think it was the smartest thing to be stuck in an elevator with Serra Ward.

“Ah, Captain Robbins,” she spoke up as if she knew I’d been just thinking about her. “Can you please send someone to help us out of here? Please.”

She was scared. I could hear it in the way her voice caught on that last please. But I knew Serra, at least I thought I had a long time ago. She wasn’t afraid of anything.

“Yeah, move your ass, Robbins,” I replied.

“Hold tight, ma’am,” was Ebay’s response. “Sending one of my men over now to get you out of there and away from that reprobate.”

I almost responded to his jibe at me, but her sigh of relief caught my attention and I turned to face her again.

She’d backed up against the side wall of the elevator.

Her arms were at her sides, that big purse hanging from one hand while she let her head fall back.

I watched as she closed her eyes. My gaze eventually dropped to the rise and fall of her chest as she seemed to be trying to steady her breathing.

Trying to remain calm in this unexpected situation.

I knew I should get my ass over to the other side of the elevator.

To give her space to get herself together and to keep my damn mouth shut about our past. It was water under the bridge.

Thick, murky water that had at one point threatened to drown me in a sea of hurt and disappointment.

A familiar place for me which made that visit much more annoying.

But I didn’t heed my own warning. Much like I never listened to any of the other advice given to me by many of the well-meaning folks I’ve crossed paths with.

I closed the space between us until I was so close I wondered if I’d leave here with her scent on me. I wouldn’t complain if that were the case. Then the tips of my fingers brushed along the line of her jaw. Her eyes, deep brown eyes that I’d lost my soul in so many moons ago, opened slowly.

“Noah,” she whispered. “What are you doing?”

I frowned because fuck if I knew. What was clear as day was that I wasn’t about to stop.

My fingers continued tracing the soft skin, over her chin, to the other side of her jaw, until it brushed over her small gold hoop earring. Her breath caught, and my gaze went to her lips. Covered in a pink gloss, those pretty fuckin’ lips parted, and her tongue snaked out to swipe her lower one.

Alarm bells went off in my head, my heart pounded against my ribcage, and my dick reminded me that there was nothing about this woman that I didn’t like. Not one damn thing. So I did the only thing I could at this point, the only thing that made sense, only it didn’t really make sense at all.

I kissed her.