Page 26 of Risky Play

“What does Noah think?”

She tilted her head to one side. “Why does it matter to you?”

“Just curious if he’s sticking around,” I lied.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Uh-huh.”

“You didn’t tell Noah, right?”

She shook her head. “I’m not opening that can of worms. Are you interested in Matt like that?”

I put a finger on my lips as I thought about it.

I was pissed yesterday, but when he kissed me, it reminded me of how good he was at it. The fact he didn’t want to piss off my brother made me like him more. I may have ulterior motives for asking him to be my wingman. His kiss reminded me of how good we fit together, and I hoped we could hook up again. As long as we kept it quiet and never, ever told my brother.

“Yes,” I muttered. “But he’s afraid of Noah and breaking the code. He’s pretty firm on it.”

Her eyes twinkled. “We can warm Noah up to the idea. I’m in your corner, so let me know. I can work my magic on your brother.”

I blanched. I didn’t want to know what that meant, but I had a feeling it was something sexual. Dinah said what she was thinking. Which I loved, but ew, I didn’t want to know about her sex life.

“Anyway…” I drawled out, changing the subject. “Let’s talk about you getting your word count done. Noah talked about me doing more work for you.”

She let out an agitated breath. “I need a PA. I took off today at the day job because I need to meet this deadline, but I ended up doing all the admin tasks you told me to do.”

“DINAH!” I scolded. “Let me do that for you. How many words did you write today?”

“Two thousand.”

“Okay, good. I have practice today, so I only have a little while to talk, and then I got to hop back to Franklin.”

She frowned. “You’re not coming to the game?”

I shook my head. “Like I said, I have practice, and then I have a night class.”

“Okay, well, let’s talk about it. I need the help.”

“Noah wants you to quit your day job.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not there yet.”

“That secret project could really help you.”

Her face colored. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable publishing it. It was fun to write, but…”

“It’s not your brand,” I finished her thought. “That’s what having a secret pen name’s for.”

She chewed on her lip. “That’s what Fi said.”

“She’s right. Let’s brainstorm a name.”

“You’re annoying.”

“Persistent!”

I stayed at the house for another hour, brainstorming and helping her talk through plot struggles with her book. Then, I had to jet for practice.

Before I walked into the locker room, I saw a text from Matt.