The Player Read online

  The Player

  Aliyah Burke

  The Player

  Copyright © 2020 Aliyah Burke

  Cover illustration copyright © Studioenp

  Edited by Shawna Kingsbury

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system-except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web-without permission in writing from the publisher or author. The unauthorized replication or allocation of any copyrighted work is illegal. File sharing is an international crime, prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Border Patrol, Division of Cyber Crimes, in partnership with Interpol. Copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by up to five years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000 per reported instance, and seizure of computers.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is coincidental. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only.

  Published by: Sensual Romance Publishing

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  The Player

  Blurb for The Player

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  About the Author

  Additional Books by Aliyah Burke:

  The Player

  By

  Aliyah Burke

  Blurb for The Player

  This ruse may cost him everything…

  Star Tight End in the NFL, Kaeden “HP” Archer needs another scandal like some need a hole in the head. Agent ready to drop him, just traded to the last team in the league willing to put up with him, he can see the writing on the wall. Until a chance reunion with his friend’s little sister, brings more than just a gleam of hope. It’s brings an insane idea.

  Faye Reynolds is used to being overlooked by men, she’s comfortable in her skin and is fine with not being a size zero. And that’s fine until Kaeden Archer is transferred to the Vancouver Storm and is back in her life. Unable to tell him no, she agrees to help him improve his image. Only problem is, her feelings have always been real for him, like they’ve been her entire life. Does she have what it takes to play the player, so she’s not hurt even more when the deception ends?

  To all my lovelies. Head held high. Adjust the crown for someone else if you see it slide, or dip. We are not in competition with each other. Real Queens raise each other up!

  Thank you for the love and support!

  Prologue

  She loved him. Not from the first time they met, of course, because that wasn’t what any intelligent six year old would do. A foolish one, sure. But she wasn’t a foolish little girl, no matter what her brother tried to tell her.

  So, she held off on that very first day. Was it a bit of a miracle? Perhaps. Either way, she held out on day one. She fell in love with him on the second day he came around. His chocolate hair that was so soft, his blue eyes that crinkled in the corner when he sent her a smile. One that was just for her.

  It didn’t matter he was a few years older than her and her brother’s best friend. He was always there, or she at his place with his family. They were next door to one another so it was easy to watch him.

  And she did.

  Watched him while she read her books. Stole looks while he and her brother played football with some of the other guys from school. Pretended she was his girlfriend when she was allowed to go watch them play.

  Things began to change. They all grew up and it wasn’t right to for her to follow after them anymore. It didn’t matter, she still loved him, holding onto the hope he would wait for her.

  But he didn’t. The first time she found him kissing another girl hurt. What hurt worse was that he began moving from female to female like they were disposable.

  He’s waiting for me to be older. It will be different then.

  It wasn’t.

  On her eighteenth birthday, when she was finally legal, she had plans to kiss him, to show him that they were meant to be. Excited all day for him and her brother to arrive from college she lingered as much as she could in his embrace.

  Dinner was amazing as she listened to them talk about college. She wanted to go to the same school, just to be close to him and had been accepted there. More of the news she was going to share with him. Tonight. She told him when they had a few seconds alone she wanted to talk to him after the party.

  After the house had settled down, she walked outside and cut her gaze to the house next door. She loved his parents and him. Everyone would be thrilled when they got together.

  Staring at her watch, she knew she was early but didn’t want to miss any of the time she had with him. Doing a shimmy, she walked toward his house and slowed when there were noises from the porch there.

  Correction, not just noises. Grunts and groans. The sound of flesh on flesh, like two people… Her heart sank. She knew she should turn away and not continue forward, but the part of her that refused to give up on her love for him, propelled her forward.

  She peered around the corner of the porch and in the faint glow from the moonlight, she stared and watched as the love of her young life, fucked another. Her silky blonde hair wrapped in one thick fist of his as he pumped his hips into her.

  “You shouldn’t have come here.” He shook his head, all without stopping the smooth action of his hips.

  “You wanted me in high school. Figured that hadn’t changed.” She gasped and dug her nails into his shoulders. “What’s the rush?”

  “I told her I would swing by and see her later, she has something to tell me.”

  “You sweet on her?”

  “God no. She’s not my type.”

  “What is?”

  “The one my dick is in right now. She’s a tagalong girl that I grew up with. Family in a sense.”

  “Then blow her off and keep fucking me. You know I do all the things you like.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Then he turned his head and looked directly at her. Never once did he stop fucking the girl, just looked, like he’d known she was there the entire time.

  He shredded her.

  And just like that, her heart that had been consumed with love for him, shattered, the pieces falling like torn up paper fluttering to the wet ground where they disintegrated. One tiny piece survived but she ignored it and walked away, numb.

  She nearly gave up going to the same school, but a full ride was a full ride, no man would take that from her. She saw him a few times around campus with other footballers but didn’t talk to him unless he initiated the conversation. Even then, her replies were scripted, her joy feigned.

  Then he was drafted along with her brother and she barely saw him from then on. Until the day he showed up in Vancouver, Washington. Apparently, to ruin her life and her sanity.

  Chapter One

  “I get it Kaeden, you’re not happy that you were traded. Even though you supposedly are happy to be playing with your best friend, this is the s
ingle most horrific thing that has happened to you.”

  Kaeden “HP” Archer snorted and rocked back in his chair, glaring at his agent, Lannie Neston. Lannie was a kick ass agent and if he wanted to be truthful with himself, he should be on his knees for her, doing whatever she wanted of him for saving his career. She didn’t just keep him in line the best anyone could but she was a killer with negotiations ensuring all his contracts were on point and the best beneficial with him.

  “But?” He drug out the single word, well aware of the ass reaming he was about to get.

  Two days out here after he’d arrived to be on his new team, the Vancouver Storm and he’d gotten in trouble.

  Okay, so he may have a little problem with arrogance. But damn it, he was the best tight end in the game and deserved the arrogance. Getting some of his new teammates into trouble with the law wasn’t the smartest way for him to go. And yet, he didn’t have the tiniest bit of remorse. Bitterness? Plenty of that shit. He was pissed. He never should have been traded and told her so.

  Her lips pinched as she stared back at him on the screen for this meeting. Nothing out of place for her, blonde hair tugged in a tight bun and to look at her you probably couldn’t tell she’d been up all night putting out fires.

  One’s he’d started.

  “You keep on this path and not even I will be able to get you out of the shit hole you’re digging for yourself.”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t make them go with me.” Kaeden crossed his arms. “I didn’t make them get with those women either.”

  “I don’t give a fucking damn what you do off the field and in the privacy of your own home, so long as it doesn’t affect my job. You behaving like this, does.”

  The door to his new place slammed open and he stood, ready for anything. No one should be able to walk in.

  “Kaeden?”

  “Hang on, someone just burst in.”

  “Need me to call the cops?”

  “Kaeden Archer!” a female yelled.

  Something danced over his skin at her voice. A tingling of recognition but he couldn’t place it.

  Lannie ohhhed and leaned forward like she was settling in for some juicy gossip.

  So much for any concern and being ready to call the cops for him.

  “Where the hell are you?”

  Who was this woman and how fucking brave was she to come storming into his home to confront him?

  “Arrogant fuck,” she muttered as she continued stomping through. “There you are.”

  He’d been in the kitchen for this meeting and had listened to this person making their way through the large space to get to him on the far side of the house.

  A stunning woman pushed into his kitchen, her curls were gathered on top of her head, spilling over the silver and greenish blue hair band confining them. Smooth mocha skin made his fingers itch to touch. She wasn’t rail thin and it didn’t matter, her curves were fan-fucking-tastic.

  “Two fucking days.” She marched toward him and stopped on the other side of the kitchen island, smacking her hands on the speckled marble top. “Two mother fucking days.”

  He wanted to put her up there and lay her back, kissing along her curves, tasting her. Not letting her up until her fingers yanked on his hair, tore at his back, and she lost her voice, screaming his name. His cock wouldn’t behave and he took a deep breath to do just that.

  “This is my house sweetheart. Not sure how you got in here but while I think you’d be a great fuck, I’m a bit busy here.”

  Those hazel eyes glinted with anger. “I’m not interested in the three minutes you’d offer. And we both know I’m not your type. What I need is for you to stop getting my brother in trouble. Again! Fuck, this is just like school all over again. The two of you, together. You know he’s going to go with whatever you decide to do, no matter how stupid.”

  Oh fuck.

  “Faye?”

  When the hell had she gotten a body like that? Had she looked like that the last time he’d seen her? When had that been?

  He knew she’d been home for his parents’ anniversary, he’d been unable to go because of the game, but his mom had told him she’d been there. Shit, when was the last time he’d seen her? Years now.

  “I knew he shouldn’t have spoken up on your behalf when they were talking about bringing you here.”

  That pricked at him.

  “I’m here because the Storm need me.” He crossed his arms over his chest, flexing them just to see if she did like so many others, eyes softening and widening. Wondering what it would be like to be held by them. She did no such thing. Her expression didn’t soften a bit.

  Then he found himself wondering if she was shaved, trimmed, or bare. His cock twitched as he imagined going under that skirt and seeing how much she liked his scruff on her inner thighs.

  “You’re here because you’re nothing more than a conceited asshole who only thinks about himself and they were hoping that putting you with your childhood best friend would help to keep you better behaved. Shows what they know. That ever since you got a big head in college about your talent, you’ve been worse and worse.”

  His best friend, Mitchell Reynolds, from childhood and throughout their careers had been the one constant, other than this woman across from him. Faye Reynolds. His little sister.

  Who wasn’t so little anymore. Curves for days. Damn she was sexy.

  “Is that anyway to say hello to me? We haven’t seen each other in a few years.” He smirked. “And my head was plenty big in high school as well.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him and he figured she’d just killed him in a number of different ways for his words and the inuendo. “Not nearly long enough for me.” She moved around the island and pushed up into his personal space, finger stabbing his chest. He backed up until he couldn’t move more because of the counter behind him. “My brother loves it here. And since you are his weakness, I’m holding you responsible for keeping him out of trouble. For once in your fucking miserable life, try thinking about other people instead of yourself. Be the man you should and could be instead of this piece of shit.”

  “Lovely to see you as well, Faye.”

  “I’m not stupid enough to fall for your shit, Kaeden. Yes, my brother is grown but I will come after you and make your life hell if you get him into more trouble.”

  His skin hummed with the energy he’d only previously gotten on the field. This woman… “You used to care about me as well.”

  Sadness flashed before it was gone. Why? What was that about? And why the fuck did it matter for him to suddenly care and have concern for someone he’d not thought about in years.

  “And you used to care about more than yourself. I’m not fucking around, don’t piss me off.” She whipped around and walked off.

  He stared at the sway of her ass in that skirt she wore, wanting to lift it up and… Kaeden cleared his throat. “This was you in a good mood?”

  The glare she leveled at him from the doorway would have gelded him. For a charged moment he thought she was going to respond to him. Nothing came. She was gone as fast as she’d appeared, slamming the door behind her.

  The laughter took a moment to sink in. Fuck. He looked back to the screen where Lannie had this great expression on her face, plotting and entertainment.

  “I’ve got it.”

  “Lannie.” It was a warning. One she didn’t heed.

  “I like her. A lot.”

  Of course she did. She would. Ball busting woman. Seems only fitting they would like each other. And he had no doubt that Faye would be friends with Lannie once they met.

  “She’s going to turn you into a respectable player.”

  Ass against the counter, he leveled a look at his agent waiting for her to expound on this idea. Because while he found Faye attractive as fuck, no way that little woman was going to turn him into a respectable player.

  “You’re going to get her to be your girlfriend. You will settle down and clean up your act.”
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  “No fucking way.”

  “This isn’t negotiable. You don’t date black women? I don’t want to hear it because you’re the United fucking Nations when it comes to being whore.”

  “I won’t do it.”

  Lannie shrugged and drummed the fingers from her left hand on the table, a sure sign of her agitation. “You will, because I meant what I said before, Kaeden. I used up my chips with people to get the Storm to take a chance on you. This is your last chance. You want to play football, and not in the goddamn CFL, clean up your damn act. Get that woman to be your girlfriend and straighten up. Fly right.”

  “She’s family.”

  “If that’s how you look at family, you’re just playing into that myth of rampant incest in the south. I know that’s not true, so while you may think of her brother as family, that woman, you wanted to fuck right there even though I was here on video chat with you. Don’t try to tell me otherwise. I’ve been your agent and babysitter for years now. I know the looks.”

  “I’m not—”

  Lannie cut off the connection, leaving him staring at a blank computer screen.

  “Fuck!”

  “What’s your problem?”

  He looked up to see Mitchell swaggering in the room. Faye’s brother. His best friend.

  “Lannie.” He thumbed at the screen on the marble island top and Mitchell grunted.

  “A bitch but a damn good agent.” He shoved a hand through his dark hair and ambled to the fridge. “I’m fucking hungry. What do you have to eat here?”