The Name of the Game by Jennifer Dawson

attracted to James.” Cecilia’s words were blunt, hard blows to the chest.
    Gracie’s head snapped back and she scowled. “I am not!”
    She wasn’t. He bothered her. Everything about him irritated her. She scowled at Cecilia. “Don’t confuse tension with attraction. It’s not like you and Shane.”
    â€œBut it is something . Come on, admit it. You don’t think he’s the least bit sexy?”
    Gracie could only stare at her, openmouthed. “Of course not.”
    Yes, she conceded that he was quite good-looking, and he looked pretty hot tonight, but he wasn’t her type at all. And he was not sexy.
    Cecilia shrugged. “I think you’re lying to yourself. You like him, Gracie. You’re just too stubborn to admit it.”
    â€œHow could you possibly think that? Can you even imagine?”
    â€œLet me ask you this: How long after meeting James did you break things off with Charlie?”
    Gracie couldn’t believe this. She shook her head. “They have nothing to do with each other. I broke things off with Charlie because I was tired of coasting. Things had gotten routine and comfortable. It’s just coincidence the events coincided.”
    â€œHmm . . .” Cecilia’s voice trailed off, and she tucked her long legs underneath her.
    â€œWhat?” Gracie asked, cringing at the defensiveness in her tone.
    Cecilia smoothed down her tank top. “When’s the last time you went on a date?”
    Gracie blinked, then blinked again. “I went out with the new football coach.”
    â€œBut you turned down a second date.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œI’m just saying, you haven’t gone out with anyone since you met James, and that seems a bit odd.”
    â€œI live in Revival, where I’ve known everyone since birth. New people are hard to come by, but I’ve dated plenty. I just haven’t met anyone who interests me. Simple as that.” Gracie watched the lights blinking on the top of the John Hancock building. There was no relationship between her dry spell and James. None at all. She’d never been great at commitment. Unfortunately, she was like her father that way.
    â€œWhat about sex?” Cecilia continued her probing, looking for meanings where there weren’t any.
    â€œWhat’s that?” Gracie laughed, meaning to sound breezy, but instead the sound came out a bit choked.
    â€œYou know Charlie would take care of any itch you have, and you’ve told me often enough he’s great in bed, so what’s stopping you?”
    â€œNot James.” Gracie frowned, blowing out a deep breath. “I don’t want to fall into that pattern again. Is that so hard to understand?”
    â€œNope, not at all.” Cecilia looked at her, her face soft in the lights of the window. So different from all the hardness she used to carry around with her. “I guess I’m wrong.”
    â€œYou are.” She was.
    Gracie did not have the hots for the professor. She thought of the flare of awareness she’d experienced in the closet when he’d stood so close to her. The way she’d dug her nails into her palm when he’d smiled at his ex-girlfriend. The idea that kept slipping into her mind of them in bed together, maybe even right now.
    No. She refused to even think about that. Absolutely refused.

Chapter Four
    Gracie pulled up to the Donovan family’s brick bungalow and turned off the ignition. The modest house was located in a tight-knit neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago and looked nearly identical to all the other bungalows lining the street, except for the brightly colored balloons next to the door.
    She got out of the car and walked up the steps. Today’s event was at Shannon Donovan’s house. The mother of the groom had wanted a close-family-and-friends celebration before the official engagement party tonight. Gracie blew out a deep breath. Another day