Chapter 1
Remi: Jaden, where the hell are you?? They’re boarding soon and your entire team is asking me where you are.
Jaden: Relax, Rem. I’m 5 minutes out. Tell Coach I had a bathroom emergency.
Remi: No. I’m not telling your coach you were shitting. You’re disgusting.
Jaden:You signed up for this.
Remi: I did not sign up for international embarrassment.One twins are looking at me like I am a lost puppy!
Jaden: Which one? Sexy broody one or the whore? 👀
Remi: JADEN You cannot call your best friend a whore.
Jaden: I do what I want. Also Luca once got a girl’s number by pretending to be a fan of Grey’s Anatomy. Whore.
Remi: You’re the worst.
Jaden: Hot boys. Paid trip. Hotel rooms. Adventure. Memories. And you are getting paid. I am the best!
Remi: You’re so dramatic. Also Luca is staring again. What is his problem?
Jaden:Do you look like a rave threw up on you?
Remi: Says the man who wears sliders with socks and thinks Axe is cologne.
I lock and pocket my phone before Jaden can reply. I should never have agreed to do this, I know that. But my parents had been on my back about leaving college, and Jaden had been offering a paying job. I just wish I had thought about how that job would involve being surrounded by his entire soccer team all the time.
I just wish I had thought about how that job would involve being surrounded by his entire soccer team all the time.
Especially them.
I don’t even have to look up to know he’s still staring.
Luca Takahashi is cocky, loud, and unbelievably beautiful in the most obnoxious way possible. Luca is the kind of guy who knows he’s hot and weaponizes it. Half Japanese, half Korean-American, with honey-toned skin and a jawline sharp enough to commit war crimes, he’s got the kind of face that belongs in cologne ads and the kind of mouth that belongs on mute.
“Hey, Skittles,” he calls, loud enough for three strangers to look over. “Your brother abandon you again or are you just loitering near Gate C7 for the vibes?”
I grit my teeth and turn toward him with the sweetest fake smile I can manage. “Worried I’ll take your spot on the field, Takahashi?”
He smirks. “Not unless they’re adding bedazzled distraction to the lineup.”
I glance down at my outfit. Bright green jacket, pink hair clips, neon galaxy leggings. Okay, maybe I look like a sticker book exploded. Still.
“At least I can dress myself without crying for a stylist,” I say.
Luca presses a hand to his chest like I’ve wounded him. “Ouch. Careful, Skittles. You might hurt my ego.”
“As if that is possible.” I roll my eyes, turning away.
But the second I do, he appears.
Leo Takahashi . Aka, my future husband.
Same face, same sharp features as his brother, but quieter and a hell of a lot nicer. More dangerous because he doesn’t try. Where Luca’s voice demands attention, Leo’s silence pulls it in. His hair’s still damp from his shower, pushed back off his forehead. Black hoodie, dark joggers. Eyes that cut straight through me like they know. They know the things I write about him while I sit in my room, alone, in the dark. But that’s crazy.
“Remi,” he says, voice low and warm as he smiles at me.
God help me. I might not survive this.
“Leo.” I try to sound normal. Cool. Not like I’ve written 60,000 words of sin with his name in it, just this month. “Please tell me you’re here to collect your PR disaster of a twin before he gets banned from international airspace.”
Leo’s lips twitch at the corner, almost a smile. “You looked like you might be contemplating murder, and we kind of need him for this tournament. Thought I would come over before he caused you prison time.”
“You’re assuming I’d let him,” I say.
Leo shrugs. “I figured I owed you a rescue mission.”
My pulse kicks. I don’t know if this is one of those Leo comments, the ones that feel like flirtation but is probably in my head.
Luca whistles. “You flirting, bro?”
Leo ignores his twin, looking at me. “You look tired.”
I swallow, a nod, not wanting to admit flying this distance makes me nervous. “Didn’t sleep much.”
He nods like he gets it. Then, just like that, he slides past me and joins the rest of the team boarding.
And I’m left standing there, heart in my throat, wondering how the hell I’m going to survive two weeks of this.
Jaden barrels up beside me, panting and grinning.
“Told you I’d make it,” he says, like he didn’t just almost miss the flight.
I smack his arm. “I hate you.”
“You love me.” He slings an arm over my shoulder, dragging me toward the gate. “Come on. Let’s go meet Japan.”
Jaden is knocked out almost as soon as we are in the air. His blonde curls a mess across his face, and mouth open, snoring loudly. I can’t help but take a picture.
I, however, am too anxious to sleep. I glance over at Jaden one more time, even though I can hear his snores over the earbuds in my ears, still sound asleep. The twins are in front of us. Leo is also asleep, while Luca is engaged with something on his phone. Either way, neither could see what I was doing.
I pull out my laptop and I open the story I am currently working on, picking up where I left off.
“I knew I was playing with fire when I put on the jersey, the number 11 boldly displayed on the front and back. But this is what he gets for not inviting me to that celebratory dinner.
When he walked in and saw me half-naked in his brother’s number, something snapped in those dark eyes, his sharp jaw tensing.
“Take it off,” he growled, his hands balling into fists at this side.
I froze, my heart skipping a beat. I bit my lip, trying to keep the smirk from forming on my lips and I shook my head.
“You really want to play it like this, Princess?” He said, stepping close. “Fine.”
He walked over, grabbed me by the hips, picked me up, and pushed me flat against the couch.
“Let’s see how many times I can make you scream my name in his jersey, shall we?”
“Skittles! What the hell did that keyboard do to you?” I look up to see Luca looking at me over his seat. I quickly close my laptop, shaking my head.
“Was I being too loud?”
“Your typing could wake the dead. Are your fingers made of metal?”
“It wasn’t that bad. You are being dramatic.” Leo rolled his eyes, glancing over his shoulder at me between the seats. “She didn’t wake Jaden. She is fine.”
“Nothing wakes Jaden.” Luca is still looking at me. “What were you working on anyway? Your face is red.”
“Just some social media stuff for Jaden.” I lie.
Leo makes his brother turn around and sit back in his seat, but I don’t chance opening my laptop again. I shouldn’t be writing smut right now, surrounded by the soccer team I write about.
