Fair Play (Hat Trick, Book 1) by Samantha Wayland Read Free Book Online Page A

would be next. Now next was bearing down on him like
a freight train.
    He swung around the last corner and stumbled to a halt.
Savannah stood a few feet away in the little lobby, bundled up against the
weather, her phone in her hand. The squeak of his sneakers on the smooth floor
brought her head up.
    She’s waiting for me.
    His heart beat harder and it wasn’t from the run. “Hi,” he
said, trying not to grin.
     “Hi.” She smiled almost shyly.
    He resisted the urge to clutch at his chest. Christ, she was
adorable when she was prickly. But a shy smile? If she flirted with him, he just
might collapse on the spot.
    “I hope it’s okay.” She gestured to the door.
    “Of course.” He shook himself out of his momentary stupor, opened
the door and walked through first. She’d broken him of the habit of trying to
hold the door for her, but it still felt wrong.
    She moved to his side in the glare of the fluorescent lights
ringing the arena. They didn’t say anything as they made their way toward her
car in the far corner of the nearly deserted parking lot. Garrick burrowed his
face under the collar of his parka, feeling like a love-struck fourteen-year-old
when their arms brushed and he got a little zing. She didn’t normally walk this
close to him, did she?
    They were passing under the last row of lights, almost to
her car, when a pickup truck roared to life at the end of the aisle. Wheels
squealing, the huge truck peeled out of its parking space and gunned toward
them. Garrick leaped forward and yanked Savannah between two cars. The truck accelerated
past them, gravel spitting from beneath its tires, before careening through the
main exit and disappearing around the corner.
    Savannah stood frozen, her mouth hanging open. “Holy shit. Please
tell me that wasn’t Bobby’s truck.”
    Garrick tried to bring his blood pressure back down from the
stratosphere. He’d been so preoccupied with Savannah’s arm brushing his, he
hadn’t seen a fucking thing until the truck had practically been on top of them.
    Savannah turned to him, her eyes wide.
    He blew out a breath, trying to think. “To be honest, I’m
not sure. I don’t think so. He has that awful canary yellow one, and that truck
was a darker color.”
    Savannah paced a few yards away from him, back into the
bright orange glare of the sodium vapor lamp, before coming back to the patch
of shadows where he stood.
    “Regardless, that was Bobby’s work, wasn’t it?”
    Garrick grimaced. “Yeah, I think so.”
    Savannah paced another circle. He watched her, helpless.
    “What the fuck am I going to do? I can’t complain that
someone peeled out of the parking lot. Just like I can’t make a stink about him
standing so close to me, the stupid creep, especially since my job requires it
half the time!”
    Garrick was torn between his need to comfort her and the
desire to rant and rave right along with her.
    “Shit!” She strode faster, her hands jammed in her coat
pockets. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed Bobby Kramer would be
so good at stalking. He’s such a dumb fuck. He must have read a manual or
something.”
    Garrick was surprised he could laugh. “They have a manual
for that?”
    She threw her hands in the air. “They must!”
    He put out a hand with the intention of stopping her maniacal
pacing so they could talk, so they could make a plan. He was completely
unprepared when she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his parka.
Whatever he’d been about to say left him in a quiet “ooof.”
    He stood, stunned, until instincts and months of repressed
desire kicked in. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest.
“You’re the only friend I have here. I just need…”
    “No worries,” he whispered, ridiculously pleased that she
thought of him as a friend. It felt like a huge victory.
    She started to pull away, but he held fast, rubbing a hand
down