Page 130 of Playing Mr. Perfect

“Don’t look at me like that,” Brindle demands, the din of the crowd quieting. “If it weren’t for our matchmaking, you’d still be running away from Clay.”

“What are you talking about? You didn’t have anything to do with us getting together.”

“Not alone, I didn’t.” Brindle turns to face the crowd and shouts, “Matchmakers unite!”

I watch in stunned silence as my parents, Grace, Dash, and Ravi step out of the crowd, and Sable comes off the stage, joining the gaggle of them.

“Wha…you all…Grace? Ravi?”

Ravi holds his palms up to the sky. “Someone had to make sure you didn’t cop out of going to Paris because of work.”

That’s when I remember that Grace talked me into going to Paris in the first place when I was wavering.

“I’d say sorry,” Grace says, “but I’m not.”

“We had to do something to make sure you couldn’t run from Clay anymore,” Morgyn supplies.

“And Clay needed you,” Amber adds. “He’d just lost the playoffs.”

“We knew you were the only person who could have gotten his mind off the game,” Dash says.

“Thanks, you guys!” Clay says, and I glower at him. “What? I got my girl. I’m happy.”

“I’m happy, too,” I insist. “But I can’t believe there was so much scheming going on behind our backs. Mom? You and Dad were in on this?”

“Honey, it was so obvious that you were attracted to Clay, but you were standing in your own way,” my mother says. “All we did was think up a few extra reasons for Dash to invite him to visit this past year.”

“Dad!”

My father hikes a thumb at my mother and says, “It was her idea.”

The crowd laughs.

“What are you upset about?” Sable steps forward. “You got the guy you’ve been drooling over. Shut up and kiss him already!”

The crowd cheers, and Clay draws me into his arms. “What do you say, Reckless? Should we show them how right they were?”

I know out of everything I have ever done, or will ever do, this moment will be the one Oak Falls residents remember me for. My rational brain says to be low key, but my loving heart says eff that. “Kiss me like you never want to stop, or don’t kiss me at al—”

Whistles and cheers explode around us as my words are lost to his delicious lips. Clay crushes me to him, and I return his efforts with vengeance and possession, wanting everyone to know I’m his and he’s mine. He intensifies his efforts, and I go up on my toes, his muscular arms holding me so tight, I can barely breathe. But I don’t need to, because he does it for me. His hand snakes into my hair, and my thoughts flit away, the din of the crowd turning to white noise, and I’m overcome with a sense of freedom I’ve never known before.

Our lips part on a series of feathery kisses, and as the cheers come back into focus, the rational woman in me can’t believe I did that.

But Reckless is all smiles as my family converges on us in hugs and embarrassing comments that make me blush despite myself. I give my siblings a hard time but tell them I forgive them, and Dash says he’s not sorry and that he and Amber knew we belonged together at their wedding.

When the chaos finally calms and the crowd begins to disperse, Sable and her band head for the stage, and my father makes his way over to me. “I’m sorry to trick you, princess.”

“You’re lucky I like him, or you’d be on my shit list.” We both laugh. “I’m sorry about the PDA. I know it was a little over the top.”

“Don’t ever be sorry for showing the world your heart.”

The sound of a helicopter drowns out the blood rushing through my ears, and Sable announces, “Team Play, your ride is here!”

I spin around toward the stage. “What?” I see Clay jogging over.

“Sorry, Cade, but we’ve got to go. Come on, Pep.” He takes my hand, heading for the field where the helicopter is landing.

“Have fun,” my father calls after us. “Dash and I will get your car home!”