She aimed the remote at the state-of-the-art machine—go, Sir R!—and clicked the button. "Fuck 'em," she muttered, and, gripping the racket in both hands, bounced back and forth on the soles of her feet, focusing intently on the chute. It wouldn't be the first time she'd smacked the fuzz off a ball as a way of mitigating stress.
The hollow whooshing sound of the first ball shooting toward her coincided exactly with someone calling out her name.
Concentration shattered, the ball whiffed by her as she looked around to see who it was.
"Sorry," Max Fontaine said, looking anything but. He paused outside the fence that surrounded the court.
What in the hell was he doing here? She glanced behind him, but there was no sign of Gabrielle. They weren't supposed to meet until later. And it was supposed to be just her and Gaby today. Aurora Had said she'd make that happen. Tess could only guess that big bro had gotten wind of their little plan and was none too happy about it. Tough.
He wore khaki shorts, a navy polo shirt, and leather loafers, no socks. Nonetheless, he managed to look like he'd just stepped off the pages of Man About Town Monthly.
Another ball whizzed by and she clicked the remote toward the ball machine. So much foT her private return to the sport.
He apparently took that as an invitation and opened the gate.
It was hard to tell with the sunglasses, but he didn't look all that thrilled to see her. So what else was new?
"We need to talk." He walked to the end of the net and stopped beside the pole.
She started to tell him he should have called ahead because she was busy at the moment. But then he'd probably offer to wait while she practiced. Which was so not going to happen. God, how far the mighty had fallen. She'd played to crowds numbering in the tens of thousands, with millions more watching from home… and thrived on it. Now she was afraid of showing off her rusty, surgically repaired, less-than-world-class form in front of one measly person.
She stayed on the baseline. "About?" she asked, shading her eyes from the sun.
"Gabrielle."
Of course. Aurora had been rather vague about Max's feelings on her continued involvement with Gaby, not that Tess really cared one way or the other what he thought. She'd been so impressed with what she'd seen at practice the other day, she'd probably sounded a little gushy when talking about it with Aurora later that night. If she were honest, it was hard to be casual when talking about the teenager's game, In fact, she'd admit that it had been watching Gaby's intensity and drive during the hour of practice she'd hung around to watch, that had directly reinvigorated her own need to get back out on the court. She could all but taste the power and speed, the feel of the ball coming off her strings, all things she loved and so desperately missed.
"Your sister is quite talented," she said preemptively. "Not that I have to tell you that." She smiled, let it go a shade cocky. "Reminds me of me, actually."
He didn't so much as quirk a lip in return. Spoilsport. She was restless. And scared. She needed a diversion, dammit. And if he wasn't going to let her take it out on a few poor tennis balls, then he could suffer being the target instead.
"That's actually my concern, and why I'm here."
"Ah." She twirled her racket on two fingers. "Yeah, it must really suck to have your sister constantly compared to a former number-one player with a fistful of slam trophies to her credit. Poor you."
"It's not me I'm worried about."
She laughed at that. "Isn't it? From what little I saw and heard, Gaby seems to be holding up just fine. In fact, she has a pretty good head on her shoulders. Better than I did at her age, I'd say. I was all ready to give that credit to you." She propped her racket on her toes and flipped her hair over her shoulder. He really wasn't her type, too uptight. Yet, perhaps he could be interesting as a different kind of diversion. "But if you're going to come out here and interrupt my practice session just so you can insult me on my own tennis court—well, my borrowed court, anyway—I don't know that I'm feeling as generous now."
As flirting went, it was far beneath her usual standards, but she wasn't really on her game at the moment. She'd like to blame him, but she'd been off for quite some time now. In fact, she was out here facing her demons—or trying to—as a means to yank herself back up again. She hated—hated—feeling anything less than fully in command.
"Somehow I doubt my opinion of you causes you to lose any sleep."
She sighed inwardly. Okay, so maybe he wasn't going to be fun to play with either—too dry and sober for her tastes. Although there was that naughty little devil voice inside her, prodding her to push just a bit harder, serve and volley a little, get him to come into the net, so to speak, set him up for the perfect return winner. Not that she was going to do anything with him when she had him at her mercy, but at the very least she'd have him enamored enough that he'd have to back down from his negative stance on her involvement with his sister.
She walked closer to him, stopped a few feet away, and tapped her racket against the net. "You know, there are times when losing sleep can be a good thing," she ventured. Soft lob. She waited for the return.
"See, that right there is what I mean."
She sighed. So damn serious. And straitlaced. She was beginning to think it was a miracle Gaby had turned pro before she was thirty. "I don't mean to be rude—well, actually I do. After all, you don't seem to mind, so why should I?"
He rocked back on his heels a little, shoved his hands in his pockets. "Meaning?"
"We'll get back to my craven ways in just a moment. First I want to ask you something. Are you this uptight all the time? About everything? I mean, do you have any idea how to have fun?"
He just stared at her. It made her want to yank the sunglasses off his face. Not that it would have automatically made a difference. The guy took stoic to a whole new level.
"What I do with my private time isn't really a concern of yours," he said, sounding even more stuffy than before.
She hooted. "Question answered, then."
He frowned.
She lifted a hand in a helpless gesture. "Hey, if you're going to slander me all over God's creation without even taking five minutes to get to know me—ever think of working for one of the rags here, by the way? You'd be a natural, trust me." She shrugged, let her hand drop by her side. "All I'm saying is, you're here specifically because you're concerned with how I spend my private time, afraid I'll somehow poison your baby sister's apparent pristine persona. Well, let me tell you, she's not as pristine as you'd like to believe."
His scowl faltered. "What the hell are you talking about? What did she tell you?"
She wanted to laugh at his instant defensive posturing, but couldn't bring herself to do it. He might be a prig, but he was such a damn earnest one. It was clear he really did care about his sister. Thinking about Wade, even for a split second before automatically shoving him right back out of her brain again, she wondered what it would have been like if he'd felt even a fraction of the protective affection for her that Max obviously did for his younger sister. Sure, Bobby and she were tight, but that dynamic had her holding the older sibling card. Not the same thing at all.
Of course, she'd had a set of parents ruling her world in her formative years, at least one of which was a fabulous role model and extremely close to her only daughter. She had no idea what Max's formative years had been like, but she knew Gaby had lost both of her parents when she was quite young. Knowing how hard it had been for Tess to lose her mother as an adult, she couldn't even imagine, Max was all Gaby had.
So really, she should lighten up on the guy. But did he have to make it so damn difficult?
"Did she confide something to you?" Max pressed. "Because, as adults we have a responsibility here. You can't let her talk you into keeping secrets." He took his sunglasses off and she was treated to a pair of brown eyes that were really something up close and personal, as it happened. Especially when he was all heated up.
Made a girl wond
er what they looked like when the heat came from a different source. How had she not noticed them that first night with Aurora?
"I'm serious, Tess."
"When aren't you?" she responded, having to drag her attention away from his gorgeous baby browns. "And no, she didn't confide secrets. All I'm saying is, given her lifestyle up to now, it's like she's sixteen going on thirty-five. She's traveled, she's seen the world, she's been exposed to various cultures and things that most teenagers could only dream about knowing in a lifetime. No matter how sheltered you've kept her, she's still mature way beyond her years. She has to be, to play the kind of mentally tough game I watched her blast through the other day. And that was just practice. Lord only knows what the kid is like on court when it matters."
There was a brief flicker of… something, that crossed his face. Pride. And such love. He couldn't hide it if he wanted to. And that was one of his best, if only, selling points.
"Yeah, I kinda figured," she said, a bit more gently, to his unspoken response. "So why don't you give Gaby some credit here? She's a sponge, soaking up so much right now."
"Exactly."
"What I'm trying to say is that not only is she soaking up this new experience, she's integrating it in a way that is allowing her to grow and become more successful. At least that seems to be her path. So why not trust her to glean what she can from me? Use what helps, discard the rest?" She held her racket up to her face and made a deep breathing sound. "Trust me, Luke," she said in her best Darth Vader imitation. "I won't take her to the dark side."
If he found her even remotely amusing, he didn't show it. Big shock there. "She idolizes you," he said flatly. "And you've managed to trot around the globe in rather scandalous fashion and still bring home the prize money. She'll think she can do the same. You say you're warning her against the dark side of being a pro on tour. I say you're going to basically hand her a guidebook, whether you mean to or not."
"Well, hey, I guess I should be flattered you're at least giving me that much credit. Would it help if I told you that I don't think it's a wise idea for anyone to carry on as I did?" She stared at him. "Yeah, I didn't think so." She sighed and let her racket drop to her side. "Then I guess since you can't find it in yourself to trust me, you're just going to have to trust Gaby."
She expected him to inform her that he wasn't going to allow Gaby to have that decision. When he merely stood there and silently stared her down, she had to fight to restrain the urge to smile in victory. So that's why he was here. Aurora had somehow gotten him to agree to let her handle things with Gaby. Forcing him to come directly to the source of his angst, in hopes he could get her to agree to let this liaison she was forming with his sister drop.
Ha. Fat chance.
His jaw tensed, then forcibly relaxed. "I'm asking you to please opt out of Aurora's plans for you and Gaby to continue seeing each other over the next week. I'm asking that you trust me to know what is best for my sister."
"And it isn't being exposed to some international disaster like me, huh?" It shouldn't have stung. She didn't know him from Adam, so why did his opinion matter? She'd suffered far worse slings and arrows from people who did matter to her.
"You say that like I'm exaggerating your exploits." He held her gaze directly then. "Am I really?"
He'd sort of caught her off guard with that quiet, direct question. "Perhaps not my exploits, no. But I'm older, wiser. And just because I enjoyed myself during my time at the top does not make me a bad person."
"I didn't say you were a bad person."
She snorted. "Funny, because my character is feeling quite besmirched."
He didn't respond to that, His expression made it unnecessary. He thought she'd besmirched it just fine on her own. Arrogant jerk.
"So I'm such a lousy role model, am I? As opposed to you, you mean? Traipsing around the globe after your baby sister, watching over her while she plays tennis, living off her earnings? Or worse, your father's money?" She immediately put her hand up, palm out. "I'm sorry. That was low. Even for me." She glanced up at the sky, then down at her feet. Her brief smile was one of self-deprecation, "If my mom was here right now, she'd tan my hide but good. And the accompanying lecture would be even worse."
She shook her head, then glanced up at him. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning anymore.
"You're just not the role model I want for my sister, okay? Titles notwithstanding. She'll get those on her own."
"With who for a coach? She has talent, Max. Out the wazoo. But it's raw and youthfully exuberant. It needs to be harnessed, focused, matured. And for that, she's going to need guidance. The kind that you can't give her."
"I'm well aware of that."
"But it is exactly the kind I can give her." She had NO idea where that had come from. Damn Aurora for ever planting so much as a seed in her brain. She had absolutely no business making such an offer. It was enough that she was going to be involved with Gaby for the next week or so. She'd told herself she'd have plenty of time during the tournament to roust up the endorsement offers she so desperately needed. She could donate some time for a few days. But she didn't have the time, much less the inclination, to actually coach the teenager. Hell, she needed to get on the court herself first.
"You—you're saying you want to coach? My sister?"
His sincere bafflement snapped her out of her mini-panic attack. The fact that he couldn't even seem to begin to think she'd do something like that made her want to do it all the more.
"Why so shocked? Do you really think I'm so self-absorbed that I don't think of others?"
"I didn't say that." He lifted his hand now when she rolled her eyes. "Okay. So maybe I implied it. What's in this for you?"
"The satisfaction of helping a player with so much promise?" Actually, it was a good question. Was it just because she wanted to thwart Max? To "win" this battle he'd created between them? Even with only a second or two to think about it, she knew that wasn't it. Okay, a teeny bit, that might be it. Sue her. But mostly it was because of Gaby. "I like your sister. I know you hate this, but she does remind me of me. There's just something about her." She shook her head and smiled, a bit baffled herself now. "And I'm not so much offering to coach her—I won't be around long enough for that—but what I can be is a mentor of sorts."
"Isn't that what Aurora already has you doing?"
"Off the courts, yes. I'm just offering to expand my advice and the benefit of my experience to include some on-court pointers, as well."
He still looked skeptical. "Did Aurora call in some favor?"
She shook her head. "Although she did plant the seed of possibly working with Gaby on the court. I admit I wasn't keen on the idea."
"Why now?" His lips might have quirked a tiny bit. "Because I've made it a challenge of sorts?"
"Now you're coming to understand me." Her smile grew.
"Well, as much as I appreciate the offer—and I do, actually—I have to respectfully decline."
"Did you already find someone to work with her? At least, tune her up for the fortnight?"
She saw him hesitate, and knew he hadn't. And that made her mad. Dammit, she was tired of people underestimating her lately. She'd spent a lifetime being an overachiever and it didn't sit well with her to suddenly be looked at in any other way. "I'll take that as a no," she said, tapping her racket against the toe of her sneaker, trying to rein in her temper. "You know, the world looks at elite athletes as if they're some kind of immortal gods or something, complete with the life afforded said godlike status. You and I both know the reality of what being on tour is like. And you're going to quickly learn that juniors is nothing compared to the pro circuit, if you haven't already. Gaby has joined the upper ranks right off the bat, and the pace can be brutal. It's grueling, with lots of time spent focusing on one thing and one thing only."
"That's all I'm interested in. Maintaining that focus, minimizing distractions."
"Yeah, the tour does offer some big, bad temptation
s. I'm not saying otherwise." She looked him in the eye. "Did I take advantage of some of the social perks that came along with all that hard work? You bet I did. At the time I felt I'd more than earned the right and I knew what I could handle and what I couldn't." Her short laugh was flat and without any real humor. "Do I regret some of my more colorful antics?" She glanced at him again. "On court? No. That was about my game and how I stayed focused. Off court? Sure. In the big picture of it all now, yeah, I made some costly mistakes." Very costly, she thought. He had no idea,
"Tess—"
"Let me finish." She stepped closer, tapped him once on the chest with the handle end of her racket. "But I also worked my ass off and I'm not afraid to put in what it takes to get what I want. No one trained harder than me. No one prepared for matches better than me. Those trophies didn't end up on my mantelpiece by accident. So when I tell you I can help your sister, I know what the hell I'm talking about. I think we share the same vision, the same work ethic. She sure as hell has the natural talent to go all the way to number one and then some." Her lips quirked. "Might even give a few of my records a run for the money." Her expression flattened. "And the fact that we seem to have the same temperament, off court and on, will probably make our working relationship function even better. I get her, Max. I understand what's going on up here." She tapped his forehead with her finger, then tapped his chest again with her racket. "And in here." She blew out a long sigh. "I'm not the wild and crazy party girl you think I am. Not anymore, anyway. And with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps I can give your sister a perspective of tour life she could only get from someone like me."
Max held her gaze for a long time, then finally he said, "She's only going to be at Glass Slipper for the rest of the week. How much help do you think you can be?" It sounded like a capitulation. But his expression hadn't so much as flinched, so she didn't celebrate just yet.
"Which was exactly my point this whole time. Just how much damage do you think I could do?"
Now it was his turn to look away.
"Boy, your opinion of me is really lovely. You don't even know me, but you think you have me all pegged. Wait until Gaby starts showing up in the rags."
Not So Snow White Page 12