The Girlfriend Game by Sierra Hill

Thirteen

Zeke

My feet are glued to the floor.

I stand and stare at Kendall in disbelief, my brain not comprehending what this could potentially mean or what the fuck is actually happening right now.

She watches me with a dazed expression, her skin turning a shade of green like she might be ill.

I’m feeling a bit queasy myself.

I finally take a step forward, slowly slogging toward her until I reach her table. I cock my head to the side, furrowing my brow in question, hoping she has the answer to this bizarre situation. Tipping the bouquet of flowers at her, my words spill out of my mouth in a rush. “You’re not…you can’t be…are you?”

Kendall bites on her lower lip, fighting indecision and maybe even a wave of nausea by the way her brows knit together.

“Yes. Yes, I am,” she bemoans, dropping her gaze to her hands in her lap, her ponytail swaying to the side as she shakes her head. “I’m The Other Sister.”

The world does some sort of tip and bow, like I do out on the court with a pass fake, and I grab the chair to steady myself. Dragging the chair out, I sit down across from her, placing the bouquet on the table.

“Wow. Well, this is really awkward,” I acknowledge matter-of-factly, watching her reaction carefully for any sign she might bolt. “I didn’t see this coming.”

Her chin bobs in defeat and she keeps her eyes averted from me. “I should’ve known better.”

I reach a hand across the table, using my index finger to lift her chin. When she glances up, I give her my most charming smile and then a long and meaningful look.

“Hey, we didn’t know. I guess we found one of the drawbacks of the site.” I snicker.

Kendall rolls her eyes. “You think?”

I bend down so I can look her in the eyes.

“Hey, it could be worse,” I tease, gesturing with my palms up toward the ceiling, smiling cheesily. “At least I’m not the serial killer you thought I might turn out to be.”

This grants me a laugh, albeit a brief one. But at least it gives me an opening to keep the conversation going. It’s easy to see Kendall wants to shut it down.

But I don’t. I’m not opposed to this arrangement at all. I didn’t spend all this time getting to know Kendall online, developing a strong basis for a relationship, just to end it here and now because we know each other. Or the circumstances around how we are acquainted.

I don’t give up that easily.

Now that I know Kendall is The Other Sister, I find her even more appealing.

Of course, I thought she was gorgeous from the moment I met her. This only solidifies that she’s my dream girl. Beautiful, smart, amazing ass. She’s also independent and has a life of her own that she’s passionate about. Why wouldn’t I fall for her? I’d be stupid to just let her walk out of here and forget this thing ever happened between us.

Kendall is the first real connection I’ve made with a woman who wasn’t just interested in me because of my basketball career. The women in my past were either fangirls or hoop honeys who only wanted me for the notoriety and press they’d receive when seen out with me. It was shallow and baseless.

Kendall places a hand over her chest and offers me a plaintive smile. “I’m sorry things worked out this way, Zeke, because I really like you, and I enjoyed getting to know you as your Mountain Man persona. But you know we can’t move forward with this. It’s unethical for me to see patients outside of my practice.”

A bitter taste crawls up my throat and I swallow it down to rid myself of the unwanted thoughts. I don’t want this to negatively impact her career, but there has to be another course of action. I can’t just walk away from her.

“No.” I shake my head adamantly, watching as her eyes grow a darker shade of green.

“What do you mean, no? There’s no other option. I’m sorry.” Kendall begins to stand, the legs of the chair scraping against the cement floor. I halt her with a hand around her wrist.

“Please, Kendall. Don’t leave like this. What we started online is worth exploring further. We wouldn’t have made it this far to unlock the app if there wasn’t something between us.” I stand, desperate to keep talking. To keep her from leaving. “What if we just kept things casual? Just hung out over the summer while I’m in town. We wouldn’t have to call it dating. We could just be friends.”

She gives me an unconvincing glower, brows narrowing and her full lips, sparkling with a shimmer of pink gloss, pursing together.

“I can’t associate with you outside of the office, Zeke. Not even casually.”

I sigh, realizing this is a no-win proposition and a losing argument. I slowly unwrap my fingers from her warm skin and lift my hand to readjust my ball cap, flipping it around just to have something to do with my hands so I don’t try to touch her again.

Rejection hurts. Even though I know this turn of events isn’t about me or how Kendall feels about me.

But something inside me won’t quit.

“Okay, I get it, Kendall. I don’t want to put you in jeopardy over this. But what if…hear me out…” I raise my hands in the air, innocently pleading my case. “What if we still take the walk around Green Lake? I mean, come on, it’s only a walk. And look, we’re already dressed for the occasion.”

I do my best game show host impression, gesturing to our athletic apparel in an enticing manner, pointing out the obvious, to which she rolls her eyes adorably at me.

With a boyish grin, I flash my pearly whites and poke my fingers into each side of my face in innocent playfulness. “Come on…you know you want to. This was your idea in the first place, remember?”

Throwing the bag over her shoulder, she grabs the cup from the table and walks over to the garbage to toss it away. With her back turned, I get a nice view of her ass in her black leggings. My hands ball up into fists at my side and I sigh wistfully over something I’ll never get to touch.

Fuck me, she’s perfect.

When she whips back around, I avert my gaze, trying to appear patient and disinterested.

“Fine. A walk. That’s it.” She stomps back over to where I stand and jabs a finger into my chest. Under normal circumstances, if she were any other woman, I would’ve grabbed hold of that finger and tugged her into my body. But she’s not—she’s my therapist—and these are not normal circumstances.

“Then we part ways and never speak of this again. Are we in agreement?” She levels me with a pointed look. And my dick gets a secret thrill from her stern warning.

I shrug, avoiding the question. Instead, I pick up the neglected bouquet to hand to her before I nod my head toward the door. “You, first. Lead the way.”

Her indecision is obvious as she pushes past me and heads toward the door, peering back at me over her shoulder a few times until we’re both outside on the sidewalk.

“My car is right here. I’ll meet you in front of the boathouse.”

“You’re not going to offer me a ride?” I tease, knowing full well she’ll oppose. She doesn’t disappoint.

Snorting loudly, Kendall waves a hand in the air before I hear the beeping sound of her car door unlocking. “Don’t push it, Zeke. You’re very capable of getting there on your own. Now hurry up before I change my mind on this really bad decision.”

I watch as she opens her car door and settles in behind the wheel before I dart across the crosswalk and dash up the hill to my condo’s parking garage. With every step I take, I pray she won’t get cold feet, ditch my ass, and decide to leave well enough alone.

The thought leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

This meet-up was supposed to be the beginning of something special. I’ve gotten to know Kendall on a deep and meaningful level through our online connection. My heart clenches with the grief of losing it.

I don’t want to go back to square one in my search for another woman on Heart and Soul because I know I already found the one I want.

I just need to find a way to convince Kendall of that fact.