Fair Game

by Amy Andrews

  Hell, Levi had probably been dreaming about some of those hot yoga chicks he followed on YouTube and Instagram.

  ‘Well... you’re wrong.’ She shoved her hands on her hips. ‘And besides, I don’t have time for a man or love in my life. Not you. Not Levi. Not even Chris fucking Hemsworth. I don’t want it and I certainly don’t need it. I’m finally getting a national footy career and that is my focus for as long as it lasts.’

  For everything else she had Vlad. Just as soon as she got up enough nerve to remove him from his clear plastic packaging.

  ‘Are you hearing me?’

  Tony held up his hands in surrender. ‘Okay, sure. Sorry. I guess I just misread some signals.’

  ‘Signals?’ hissed Darcy. She was pretty sure she popped a vein in her neck. She’d sent him jack shit and he wasn’t putting this on her. ‘Me being friendly and cooperative, and not poisoning all the girls against you by telling them what a total douche you were to me, is not a signal, you...’

  Fucking dipshit.

  ‘Idiot.’

  His eyes widened in alarm at whatever it was he saw in her eyes, which felt as big as footballs in her head. Maybe he was suddenly worried she might report him for his completely inappropriate behaviour. She wouldn’t but she was pissed off enough to hope he was panicking about it. He took a step back.

  ‘Of course. I’m sorry. I was out of line just now. With the signals thing. And the kiss.’

  ‘Damn straight you were,’ she snapped.

  He spread his hands. ‘Sorry... really.’

  Darcy gave a brief nod. He looked sufficiently chastised and wary. She believed him.

  ‘How about we pretend this never happened?’ he suggested.

  Typical that Tony would want to wipe the slate clean—again. Like he had when he’d first shown up in Brisbane a few months ago. If the guy just did the right thing in the first place he wouldn’t spent all his life trying to start over.

  ‘I have no problem with that.’

  Some women in her situation might, quite rightly, worry that there could be career repercussions for rebuffing a man in charge. But Darcy wasn’t. She knew she was one of the most valuable players on the team—even if she’d only played one game so far—and, more importantly, she knew Tony liked to win.

  Seeing no point in sticking around any longer, Darcy brushed past him, leaving him alone outside. She was still pissed off with Tony but calmer now, apart from the rather startling bombshell about Levi.

  Darcy didn’t really believe it but she couldn’t stop thinking about it either.

  ***

  Levi loved Saturday mornings. He went to a public outdoor yoga session at South Bank followed by a dip to cool off at the man-made lagoon that overlooked the Brisbane River. He changed into clean clothes then headed to his favourite bakery on the way home for two cups of good coffee and a half-dozen melt-in-your-mouth chocolate croissants.

  It was a good morning. The sun was shining, he was all loose and limber from his work-out and Darcy would be plodding around in her PJs when he got home. She had a lunchtime flight to Sydney for the game tomorrow so he doubted she’d get out of her tank and shorts until she needed to get ready for that.

  Nobody slopped around the house in PJs better than Darcy, who insisted that’s what weekends were for. He smiled just thinking about it and picturing how she’d tear the bag of croissants from his hands as soon as he crossed the threshold, devouring one immediately.

  He was about as Zen as it was possible to be for a man who was in love with a woman who had no fucking clue what she did to him.

  Yes. In love. If he hadn’t been before the injury, he sure as hell was now. The way she’d conquered this disappointment had been inspirational. He’d gotten a glimpse of how she must have been at fifteen with the rug pulled out from beneath her, determined to change direction and succeed.

  Her grit. Her guts.

  Sure, she might have been a little wobbly emotionally, but she’d done the hard yards physically. She’d never shirked what needed to be done to get herself fit. She hadn’t sat around bemoaning her fate whilst simultaneously doing nothing about it.

  She’d worked damn hard and he’d fallen a little more in love watching her every day. Not the kind of infatuation he’d had for her for so long that it had stayed like that because he’d been trying to deny it. But a deep, mature feeling that squeezed at his gut and settled in his soul.

  The end of the season. He was going to take her out and tell her how he felt at the end of the season. Not start with I love you—obviously. Start with I’m attracted to you. Ask if they could date, get to know each other on a more intimate level, take it slow.

  He had no idea how she’d react. She liked him, he knew that. And there’d been times he’d caught her checking him out so he was pretty sure there was a physical attraction there. She’d sure as hell gotten off on that foot massage. But she—like himself—had probably never let herself go there.

  He hoped like hell she’d be willing to, though. Because he was through with waiting and hoping and biding his time. He was through with being passive.

  The thought of action made him happy and added to his Zen so much that he was whistling when he ducked into the newsagent to grab the Saturday morning newspaper. He reached for the top one in the stack and everything froze. His legs locked tight, his whistle cut off, his thoughts screech to a halt. His Zen evaporated.

  In fact, his Zen went to a place he wasn’t sure it could ever come back from as he stared at the front page.

  There, taking up the entire front page, in full colour, were Darcy and Tony kissing. Open-mouthed kissing. Hell, it looked like there was tongue. It had obviously been taken with a long lens but it was clearly them, at the Banshees home ground—he could see the scoreboard in the background.

  Clearly them kissing.

  KISSING HER BETTER screamed the headline.

  If his heart hadn’t been sinking like a stone, he’d have shuddered at the invasion of privacy and gutter journalism, but that didn’t even register right now. All that registered was the kiss, the image burning into his retinas as he continued to stare at the paper. He couldn’t stop.

  A sharp pain in his chest alerted him to the fact he hadn’t taken a breath in a while and he dragged one in, his mouth dry as ash.

  This could not be happening...

  The coach can have whatever the hell he wants.

  He remembered Darcy’s words and there was no doubt in Levi’s mind that Tony had wanted this—wanted her back—right from the get go. And they had become closer these last few months as Darcy put aside old hurts for the sake of the team.

  Levi hadn’t realised how close.

  It was what he’d feared. That a flame would be rekindled. Darcy had loved Tony once—deeply—and they’d been working closely together, particularly these last few weeks with her injury. Weeks where she’d often been in a highly emotionally charged state. Had something flared between them?

  Or had Tony taken advantage of her vulnerability. Then pressed his advantage? Levi’s jaw clenched hard. It sounded more Tony’s style. He certainly wouldn’t put it past the prick.

  Levi didn’t know what the hell was going on. But he sure as shit was about to find out.

  ***

  Levi spent the ten-minute drive home trying to stay calm but all he could see was that picture burned into his retinas. The thought of Tony touching her made Levi want to smash things.

  Tony’s face being first on the list.

  He wanted to find every single newspaper and destroy them all so the image of them kissing could be permanently erased from history.

  By the time he was striding up the stairs to their apartment—not the lift, he needed the physical outlet right now—he was already half-crazy with jealousy. He’d always known that Tony would make a play for her and he castigated himself for being too passive. He should have said something to Darcy about his own feelings as soon as Tony was back on the scene.

  Th
is was his fault, damn it. His fault.

  The first thing he saw when he pushed open the door to the apartment was Darcy, sitting on the lounge, her feet up on the coffee table, a book balanced between thighs that were largely bare apart from the scrunched up fabric of her boxers that just covered the tops of her thighs.

  She looked up and smiled. ‘You took your time. A girl could starve waiting for you.’

  Levi did not return her smile. He was too steamed—at himself mostly—for smiling. Instead he tossed the paper on the coffee table at her feet.

  ‘When were you going to tell me about this?’

  She frowned at him, clearly confused, before removing her feet from the table and bending forward at the hips to pick up the paper.

  Her gasp did not help to soothe his simmering anger. ‘What the hell?’ She looked from the paper to him and back to the paper again, the furrows in her brow deepening. ‘Who... When...?’

  When? Levi stared at her. She didn’t know? Just how many times had they been kissing in public? God, he couldn’t bear it if she revealed that they’d been having some kind of clandestine affair for months.

  She stood abruptly, staring at the photo. ‘How’d they even get this picture?’

  Levi shoved his hands on his hips, digging his fingers deep into his flesh. He’d been hoping for an outright denial. Hoping it had all been some terrible nightmarish mistake.

  Obviously not. Which only made him madder.

  ‘How do you think, Darcy, when you go about indiscriminately kissing your dickhead ex in full view at your training ground where photographers with big fuck-off lenses often hang out?’

  ‘Hey!’ Her head came up and she glared at him. ‘That’s not the way it happened.’ She frowned. ‘Why are you so mad at me?

  He gave a half laugh and shoved a hand through his hair. Of course she didn’t know. ‘Because it’s like watching a train wreck about to happen all over again and not being able to stop it. Because you’re going back to him, back for more. He nearly destroyed you two years ago and you’re going back for more.’

  Her eyes went round in her head as she gaped at him. ‘Bullshit. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.’

  Which bit? The bit where he’d destroyed her or the bit where she was going back to him? Levi didn’t care; he was on a roll now, two years of pent-up emotion exploding out of him like a volcanic plug.

  ‘He’s making a play for you.’

  ‘I know that.’

  She knew? Her calm admission pulled him up short for a brief second before hot ash and lava spewed out, lashing his vision in bright molten heat. She knew and she kissed him anyway? Because she wanted him too?

  Thick, scorching lava bubbled through his veins. ‘You want to know the truth about Tony, Darcy? You were in an abusive relationship with him.’

  She gasped at the accusation. ‘I bloody was not.’

  ‘Just because he didn’t hit you doesn’t mean he didn’t abuse you. He emotionally abused you. He subtly undermined your confidence in a hundred different ways. He couldn’t stand that you were more successful in sport than him, that he was always going to be the bridesmaid, never the bride. He was jealous of you and his ego couldn’t stand that your attention wasn’t always on him.’

  ‘Oh yeah, well if it was so bad, why didn’t you say something to me?’ she yelled, sparks of fury lighting her green gaze.

  Levi had asked himself the same thing over and over these past two years. He wished he had another answer for it other than his own fear that she’d shoot the messenger. Even back then he was doing anything to stay in her life.

  ‘Because you were nuts about him, Darcy. Would you have believed me? You thought the sun and moon rose with him. Nobody could say a bad word about it. It wasn’t like it was something you were going to want to hear. And I had no desire to be accused of trying to undermine your relationship.’

  But she wasn’t in a relationship with Tony now. Not yet anyway—as far as he knew. And he’d rather have his dick shoved in a vice than sit back and watch it happen all over again.

  The glitter in Darcy’s eyes faded as she nodded slowly in acknowledgement. ‘Yeah. Okay. You’re right, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.’

  Unfortunately, her admission didn’t give him any satisfaction—only confirmed what he was up against. It took the wind out of his sails though. ‘No, you’re right.’ He shoved his hand through his hair to the point where his bun stopped him. ‘I should have at least tried. He was holding you back, Darcy, and I should have said something.’

  Darcy shrugged. ‘I was happy, Levi. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to mess with that.’

  ‘You’ve been much better off without him.’

  ‘I couldn’t agree more.’

  Levi tipped his chin at the paper still in her hands. At that picture. ‘Doesn’t look like it.’

  She threw the paper on the coffee table, coming around the other side to where he stood. ‘It’s not what it looks like, Levi. He kissed me.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’ Levi gave a soft snort, desperately wanting to believe that, but the image seared into his mind told him different. ‘It sure as hell looks like you’re both going at it to me.’

  ‘No, Levi.’ She shook her head and came closer again, her expression imploring. ‘There’s nothing going on between us. He... took me by surprise. One moment we were talking about my fitness and then he was all up in my business talking about how crazy he’d been to let me go and suggesting that we try again and then he kissed me. I was so shocked I couldn’t move for a bit. I just... froze.’

  Levi’s gut churned at the thought of Tony stealth kissing her like that. He was such a prick.

  ‘And then he tried to stick his tongue in my mouth and it was like he’d hit me with a cattle prod. I pulled away. Told him in no uncertain terms that we were done. That all I felt for him was respect as a coach and a hope that we could be friends.’

  ‘Oh yeah. And what’d he say to that?’

  Women had always come easy to Tony. Unlike the rest of mankind, he hadn’t dealt with rejection, and Levi didn’t imagine he’d take it all that well.

  She opened her mouth then shut it again with a snap, her cheeks growing pink. ‘He...’ She dropped her gaze to his throat. ‘He was fine with it.’

  Levi frowned. Oh hell no he was not. Something else had obviously gone down. ‘What happened? What did he say, Darcy?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. The upshot is, he apologised and we agreed to put it behind us.’

  ‘Darcy.’ Levi ducked down to look into her face, which was pinker again. What in hell had Tony said? Levi would bet his last cent that he’d tried to turn this around to being her fault somehow. The urge to hit Tony returned with vigour. ‘What. Did. He. Say?’

  ‘He... wanted to know if me rejecting him had anything to do with you.’

  ‘With me?’ Levi’s temper simmered. Of course Tony would think Darcy couldn’t think for her goddamn self. ‘Does he think I’ve been poisoning you against him or something?’

  ‘No.’ She glanced at her feet. ‘He... implied you had... feelings for me.’

  Her voice was soft, almost apologetic, but it hit Levi with the force of a Mack truck. ‘He what!’

  A spike of rage almost blew the top off Levi’s head. How fucking dare he! How dare Tony use Levi’s very real feelings as some kind of weapon of distraction from his own cock-up.

  Christ. This was not the way he wanted Darcy to know how he felt. He sure as shit hadn’t wanted Tony fucking Cameron to announce it so casually. So callously.

  ‘It’s okay.’ She locked gazes with him, shaking her head swiftly. ‘I assured him that you didn’t, that he had it wrong, that we were just friends, that you didn’t feel that way about me.’

  Levi could barely hear her hasty assurances over the wash of his pulse through his ears. His heart hammered. His blood, charged with adrenaline, throbbed at all his pulse points.

  Goddamn it.

&nb
sp; This wasn’t how he envisioned confessing all to Darcy. But he knew, as sure as he knew he loved her, that this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

  That this was fate. And it was now or never.

  Of course, if she didn’t reciprocate, it would also be the day their relationship came to an end. There’d be no way to put this back into the bottle once it was out there. No way they could keep living together if this whole thing was one-sided.

  So... no pressure then.

  She gave a half laugh. ‘I mean, it’s totally preposterous, right?’

  Levi took a steadying breath. ‘Is it?’

  Her smile faded and her cheeks flushed again as she dropped her gaze to the hollow at the base of this throat. ‘Of course.’

  Her quick denial would have been deflating but for the tremble in her voice which gave him hope.

  ‘He didn’t have it wrong.’ Levi waited, his heart tripping, for her to raise her face and look at him. To say something. But she seemed fixated on his throat. Time seemed to stretch, each second ticking by as slowly as a minute.

  ‘Darcy?’

  No matter the outcome, this thing was happening and he wasn’t backing away from it. Finally she flicked her gaze up and their eyes met. Hers were big and green, brimming with emotions too mixed up to fathom.

  ‘Tony didn’t have it wrong.’

  Her lips parted. ‘Levi...’

  It was soft, barely audible, he didn’t know whether it was some kind of plea to be quiet or an invitation to continue. But he was in now. ‘I’ve had a crush on you for a long time. I always thought you were attractive but you were my best friend’s girl and I didn’t let myself go there.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘You... liked me, like that, back then?’

  ‘Yes. But I lied to myself about it. Told myself it was just an infatuation and pretended it didn’t exist, got on with my life. And then Tony left and you and I started to get to know each other and... I realised those feelings I’d felt for you hadn’t gone away, that they’d deepened and matured.’

  Levi ached to tell her he loved her but he knew that would be a step too far today. It was enough to reveal how hopelessly besotted he was. He needed to take this slow. He only had one chance and he didn’t want to screw it up.