Tempting the Player by J. Lynn

start making a smiley face out of the bun,” he said.
    “I could make one on your face if you wanted?” she replied sweetly.
    He leaned back, chuckling. “I don’t think I could let you. I’ve been told I have a million-dollar face.”
    His brother groaned. “You’re never going to let the whole People ’s Sexiest Men bullshit go, are you?”
    “Never,” Chad replied gamely.
    “Wasn’t that last year, anyway?” Bridget threw in.
    Maddie giggled. “Yeah, it was.”
    “But this year hasn’t been released yet, so there’s always time.” Chad winked at Bridget.
    She rolled her eyes.
    He nudged her arm hard enough to make her drop her fork on her plate. “I bet you’ll buy that copy. Probably more than one copy, too.”
    She stared at him. “Your ego is astonishing.”
    Taking back the distance between them, he whispered for only her to hear, “That’s not the only thing that’s astonishing, but you already know that.”
    “Okay.” Maddie drew out the word, looking at Chase like she expected some kind of explanation, but his brother just shrugged.
    A patron of the restaurant stopped by their table, towing along a young boy wearing a Nationals ball cap. Chad was surprised to see the kid, since he was at the age where he should’ve been in school.
    “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we’re huge fans.” The father clapped a hand down on his son’s skinny shoulder. “Steven would love if you signed his cap.”
    Some of the players would be bothered by these kinds of things or charge a fee for it, but Chad thought they were giant douches. Smiling, he nodded. “Sure. I don’t have anything to sign with, though.”
    The waitress appeared out of nowhere, presenting a permanent marker. “I’m a huge fan, too,” she whispered, winking.
    He bet she was a different kind of fan.
    Taking the marker, he waited for the boy to remove the cap. The boy hesitated and when he finally did, Chad saw why the kid wasn’t in school. Silence fell over the table. The pretty waitress cast her eyes to the ground as Steven inched closer to the table. His head was completely bald and pale white, obviously a side effect of chemotherapy.
    Shit.
    Signing a ball cap wasn’t enough, but he flipped the cap over and scrawled his name along the back. While he tried to write a decent signature, he sensed Bridget lean forward and he looked up.
    “You’re a fan of Batman?” she asked, gesturing at his shirt with her hand.
    Steven nodded tentatively.
    Bridget smiled, and oh, hell, there was something about that smile—something that he’d forgotten or been too horny when they’d met at the club to notice, but it was breathtaking. Lighting up her jade-colored eyes and placing two dimples in her cheeks.
    She was beautiful.
    “Batman is my favorite, too,” she said. “He’s way cooler than Superman.”
    The little boy warmed up, grinning a little. “Batman can’t fly, but he has better weapons.”
    “He does!” she exclaimed, eyes dancing. “Comic? Movie?”
    “Movie,” the boy answered.
    “Oh, I don’t know about that.” Bridget looked somber. “The comic is way better.”
    “No way!”
    During the exchange, Chad watched her in awe. No one at the table, including him, had known what to say or do. Fuck, the waitress was still staring at the floor like it held the cure for cancer, but Bridget had jumped right in, setting the boy at ease. He also wondered if she really did read comics. Intriguing. Wait. There was that damn word again. Stopping himself right there, he didn’t find it intriguing. Yeah, he was attracted to her on a near-animalistic level. Had been when he first met her and had wanted her—still did—but that was as far as he went with women. Settling down or being intrigued was what his team wanted for him, not what Chad wanted.
    Handing the cap back to the boy, Chad smiled. “There you go, kiddo.”
    “T-Thank you, Mr. Gamble.” Steven placed the cap back on, pulling it down low.
    “No problem. I