by Nana Malone
The sound from the cameras clicking was surprisingly loud.
“What do your parents think of you partnering with Miss Ivey?”
“You’d have to ask them, but I think they know she’s a good influence on me,” Bryce said, going back to teasing. He’d left no doubt in anyone’s mind as to the status of their relationship.
“Any big plans or announcements for the next few months?” one of the reporters hinted with a wink.
“We’ve got a few tournaments coming up in October but then we’ll mostly just be practicing and getting ready for Australia,” Tami replied, ignoring the reporter’s intended direction and substituting her own. “I think we’re going to try working with different surfaces during some of the down time—I don’t have much experience on clay or grass, and we’re both looking for ways to expand our game.”
“Will either of you be looking to compete in singles tournaments coming up?”
“I’m hoping to compete on the singles side a bit more, moving forward, yes.” Tami’s voice rose a bit betraying her nervous excitement at the prospect. “But my first priority right now is to this mixed doubles partnership. As you all know, I haven’t been competing for very long, and it’s been a relief to have someone who’s more familiar with all of this—” she waved her hands towards the reporters, cameras, and lights, while the majority of the room laughed sympathetically “—to help guide me through it. To have people cheering us on in the stands the way they were today… It’s more than I could ever have hoped for. So, thank you, everyone.”
The focus turned to Bryce—though they all knew he’d respond in much the same way.
Tami moved quickly, barely seeing the people outside of the pressroom. She knew Bryce was following her. But she didn’t want to hear any more. She didn’t want to hear him say that this was over. That they were over.
He’d given her her dream, no matter how long that had lasted, he’d given it to her, and she didn’t want to lose any of it, she didn’t want her world to fall apart now. She just couldn’t face it if that was what was happening.
“Tami, wait, damn it.”
It wasn’t fair. She knew it. She was running away, quite literally, but losing him. Hearing him say the words. That this was over, that he didn’t feel the same way. The thought of it killed her.
So when in doubt, run. That was her motto, right?
She rounded a corner, but the tears had welled so badly, she could barely see. Bryce grabbed her arm and pulled her to a halt.
“What the hell, Tami? You can’t just drop a bomb like that, then run from me.”
“I—I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry. I just—” She sniffled deep. “This is my fault. All of this is my fault. I wanted this too much. I wanted you too much. I needed to be real. I needed this to—”
Bryce dragged his hands through his hair. “Damn it, I love you. How can you not see that?”
The words terrified her. How could she make him see how much they terrified her? “You never said it until before the match. You asked me to move in with you. You gave me my dream, and I wanted to believe it. But you never said it. I didn’t want to delude myself. I knew this could end at any time.”
His voice softened. “How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not going anywhere?” People were starting to stare, listen in. Such was his life. “I want to be with you. I fell in love with you that first swing I saw you take. You are the most stubborn, mule-headed woman I have ever met. But you’re kind, and determined. Deadly with a racket. And proud. I love every part of you. Not in spite of your faults, but because of them. So you can run all you like, but you’re going to have a hell of a time losing me.”
“Bryce, what if this doesn’t work?”
“You’re kidding me, right? Six months ago, you were playing on a shabby little court in a frayed sports bra. Now you have shoe companies sponsoring you. Everyone was sure I’d never play again. Hell, I was starting to believe them. Baby, we’re at the Goddamned US Open. You and me. We’re a team. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of a fairytale.”
She shifted on her feet and looked down at her hands. “I guess the cat is out of the bag.”
Bryce grinned. “Yeah well, my girlfriend spilled the beans officially about us, so.”
A smile broke free on Tami’s lips. “You probably want a new girlfriend. This one sounds unstable.”
He shook his head. “Nope. I’m keeping her. She makes me feel alive.”
“You just like to live dangerously.”
Bryce pulled her close. “That I do. I love you, Tami Ivey.”
The words flowed over her, like warm hot chocolate on a freezing winter’s day. “And I love you, Bryce Coulter.” The moment the words were out of her mouth, a calm settled over her, and the tension eased out of her muscles. Love didn’t mean disaster. It meant happiness. Her parents, they’d loved each other, and her. Her mistake had been not holding on to the best memories as tightly as she’d held on to the sad ones.
Even as flashbulbs flashed around them, she whispered into his ear, “You know I’m stuck with you forever now, don’t you? ”
“That’s just the way I want it.”
Thirty-Two
Tami woke to the sun peeking in at the edges of the shades—and to Bryce having pulled the comforter to his side of the bed. She stretched and ran her hands over her arms—she needed to invest in some sexy nightwear with sleeves. Rolling to her side, she adjusted the hem of her impractical but silky negligée so it covered a little more than just her breasts. Bryce’s choice, of course. Though he’d pretty much rather she slept naked.
According to the clock, it wasn’t quite seven yet. Man, it was good to be home. They were taking a few days off from practicing and competing before their first round of endorsements—a series of print ads for some magazines—was to start. With nowhere to rush off to over the next couple of hours, Tami rolled over to play.
She moved gently and carefully, to keep from waking Bryce until she had him where she wanted him. It helped that he was already lying flat on his back and naked beneath the covers. Not falling on top of him while she slinked along beneath the comforter to straddle his sleeping body proved difficult but she managed, easing her weight onto him slowly so he wouldn’t wake up. She tucked the comforter around her waist, covering her bare legs while exposing Bryce’s bare chest and torso.
It didn’t take long for the warmth of her pressing against his erection to wake him. His cock strained upwards, seeking entry into her heat the way sunflowers strained towards the sun.
Tami heard the rhythm of Bryce’s breathing shift slightly and knew he was awake, though he kept up the pretense. She let her knees slide wider so she sank onto his stiffening cock, joining them. He groaned, and ticked up his hips. His hands slithered across the sheets till they found her legs and began massaging the soft spots behind her knees, trailing up her thighs, then down to the spot where their flesh met. With small movements, he readjusted their connection until he slid all the way home. His thumb slid over her clit as he whispered, “Hello, beautiful.”
“Good morning,” she greeted him, her voice trembling. She rested her hands on his chest, leaning forward to look into his eyes as he fluttered them open.
“Better than good from where I’m sitting,” he grinned, before groaning as she slid over him with more force.
She started to laugh, but the rocking that accompanied the laughter left them both gasping, their hands clutching at the closest flesh to steady themselves and calm the warning tremors. Neither of them was ready for things to be over so soon.
Bryce pushed himself into a sitting position. Tami had to wrap her arms around his neck to keep herself steady. By the end of their shifting about, she was sitting in his lap, her legs wrapped around him, and gooseflesh appeared across the exposed skin at the top of her breasts. Bryce had a firm hold of her ass, and he rocked them together slowly.
The phone rang, and Bryce’s head fell back in defeat. “F
uck, ignore it,” he begged, even as Tami’s attention darted to her cell phone, which lay just out of arm’s reach.
His hips bucked as the phone continued to ring; Tami’s nails dug into his shoulders.
“What if it’s…something important?” she managed to ask, before he covered her mouth with his, silencing her.
She started to push up away from him, but his hold on her was tight, and though her mind was willing to break away, her body wasn’t. The phone rang again, and she adjusted the hold she had with her legs, her heels digging into the base of his spine as she leaned farther back, letting go of him to brace herself on her hands. His grip slipped on the silky material of her negligee, as he fought to hold her and increase their rhythm.
The phone rang on as their breathing became shallower and more desperate, their moans higher-pitched until she broke apart, and with a final thrust, Bryce’s grip on Tami weakened as he came hard and filled her.
The ringing had stopped long enough for the phone to vibrate loudly against the surface of the nightstand, before it fell silent.
They both laughed. Tami raised a weak arm to point at the phone. “Could you reach that for me?”
Bryce grunted as he pulled himself upright again. Tami readjusted her negligee before sitting up and scooting to the edge of the bed.
“I don’t know why you bother. Those gorgeous breasts of yours should never be covered.” Nevertheless, Bryce handed her the phone. She took it and reached for her robe on her way to the bathroom.
“Who was it?” Bryce called, as he tugged on his pajama bottoms.
The sound of an ear-piercing squeal echoed from the bathroom.
“Are you okay in there?” he called, bolting up. “You didn’t drop your phone in the toilet did you?” He headed toward the bathroom, curious.
She squealed again, as she opened the door and jumped into his unsuspecting arms. He managed to catch hold of the doorframe and prevented what probably would have been a hell of a fall.
“I got in!” She screamed as she squeezed Bryce with trembling arms. “I got in!”
“Slow down,” he advised, unsure what she was talking about. “You got in where?”
“The Australian Open. It was my manager who called—she left a voicemail—and—okay, it isn’t completely official yet—they’ll let me know officially at the beginning of January—but so long as I compete in all the tournaments I’m scheduled to appear in between now and then, I should qualify, and it doesn’t sound like there’ll be anyone else moving up into the spot that’s mine.”
Understanding instantly cleared away the confusion. “You’re saying…”
“The Australian Open! I’ll be competing in the ladies singles tournament at the Australian Open in less than three months!” She held a hand to her stomach. “Oh, my God… It’s less than three months away.”
Bryce lifted her and spun her in a quick circle, absorbing her drained excitement. “This is amazing! I’m so proud of you.” This was what he’d wanted for her. This joy, this happiness.
He set her back on her feet and kissed the fear and doubt from her expression.
“You’ll be fine. We can break our pact about not practicing this week if it’ll make you feel better? Cancel the photo shoots, and put that reporter who wants to profile you off for a few more weeks—they might want to put it off themselves, so they can publish it to coincide with the tournament,” he rambled, knowing that reinforcing the ways she could prepare was usually the best way to calm her nerves when they were overwhelmed.
Though…there might be one other way.
He pulled away from her and looked around the floor of the bedroom.
“Did you lose something?” Tami asked, confused.
“No, just… I thought of something… to celebrate,” he muttered, searching under the bed.
“I thought that’s what we were doing earlier?” she teased. He got back to his feet, his eyes still scanning the room.
“Yes. Though, admittedly, it was a little…premature. We can rectify that, though,” she murmured huskily, reaching for Bryce’s hand and distracting him from his search. She brought his hand up and slipped it under the lace-trimmed top of her negligee, letting his warm fingers rest on her breast, her nipples hardening at his touch. “I know it’ll probably be a few minutes before you’re…recovered enough…” she said, swallowing hard as he began to massage her chest instinctively.
She ran her hand along his chest, drifting down towards the drawstring of his pajama bottoms and giving him a gentle squeeze. He didn’t need a damn minute. He was ready as always with her.
His hands moved to the spaghetti straps that kept her negligee loosely in place, pushing them slowly off her shoulders, before abruptly stopping himself and pulling away again, startling Tami.
“Sorry, I…I mean, I do… want to…keep on with…with…this,” he rambled, as he brought his attention back to his searching. He spotted the half-unpacked boxes of clothes on the floor beside the empty dresser—they really needed to spend a day or two putting the rest of their things away properly.
He tossed a pair of panties at a befuddled Tami. “Put those on,” he requested. “I’ll be right back. There’s something I want to give you.”
Tami held the lacy panties hooked over one finger. “You want to give me something…and I have to be wearing underwear in order to receive it? I think I’m going to need a little more of an explanation before I understand that one.” With a shake of her head, she slipped the undergarment on.
Bryce stood in the doorway with a hand behind his back. Fuck. He was nervous. He wanted her so bad.
“Technically it isn’t necessary, but I’ve been trying to figure out the right way and time to do this—” he began, easing himself down onto his good knee before showing her the small, blue velvet box.
“Oh, my God,” Tami gasped, her hands flying to her face.
“—and I hadn’t settled on much, but when I pictured proposing to you, we were clothed, so…”
“Oh, my God,” Tami repeated, her eyes filling with tears as she dropped to her own knees in front of Bryce.
“Tami Ivey…will you marry me?” Bryce asked quietly. Please say yes. Please say yes.
She nodded enthusiastically.
Thank God. She was his.
Bryce beamed as he took her hand and slipped the ring on her finger.
“You’re sure?” she asked, as she found her voice. “It hasn’t been all that long—we haven’t even known each other a full year yet—and your family—”
“I already talked with my dad about it,” Bryce told her. “I wanted to see what he thought of the whole thing.”
“And?”
“He said that it didn’t matter what the rest of them thought, what mattered was whether or not I was sure. And I am.”
“Me too,” she agreed, kissing him again.
“For the record,” he added. “My dad also said that anyone who couldn’t see how good you were for me had to be blind—and that even my grandfather’s eyes aren’t that bad.”
Tami laughed, finally looking down to examine the ring. Her eyes went wide. The worn, white-gold band was broad, with chip diamonds trailing in either direction from the larger central stone—an emerald-cut diamond.
“Where did you find this?”
“At an antiques shop a few months ago.”
“Months?”
“Only two…or three,” he said, brushing off her surprise. “It was missing a couple of the stones, so I was only going to have the missing ones replaced, but they stood out too much from the originals so I ended up getting all new ones, instead. I thought you’d like something classic.”
“I love it. And I love you,” she told him, taking his hand.
“I love you, too.” They kissed again, deeper this time.
Breaking away, Tami asked, “So, the proposal’s over now, right? Does that mean I can take this off? I’d like to celebrate naked with my fiancé.” She started to lift the hem of he
r negligée, laughing as Bryce rolled her onto her back, the plush carpet pulling at the silky material as he tugged at her panties.
Forget prodigal son, forget black sheep. Most of the Coulter family would just as soon disown Dax for his bad boy, womanizing ways. But, with his career in jeopardy and the Coulter legacy on the line, he needs to turn it all around. Too bad the one person who can help him, has legs for miles, curves for days…and is his best friend’s little sister. For once he can focus on the game and not on her body right? Meet Dax in book 2 of the Player Series…
Thank You
Thank you for reading BRYCE! I hope you enjoyed the first book in my new series, The Player.
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Don’t miss any of the next Player books!
Bryce
Dax
Echo
Fox
Ransom
Gage
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