Phillipa Rodgers—Pip or Pippa to her friends—sent Cassie a bewildered look, wondering what had brought about the odd question from her best friend.
“Well, Pip, it’s your twenty-second birthday and you are now a professional sports physio, about to begin the grown-up phase of your life—you know, responsibility and all that.” Cassie giggled. “If you could have or do anything, just for one night, what would it be?”
Cassie was looking at Pippa as if she knew some big secret and couldn’t wait to tell it.
Phillipa Rodgers and Cassandra Davies had been best friends since they’d met on their very first day of school, eighteen years ago. Since that day, they had shared everything—the ups and downs of life, good or bad. Tears, fears and successes. They had always been confidantes, whether it was for a first kiss or the loss of virginity, each girl had been there to support the other. They had cried over broken hearts and celebrated the good times, but always together. Pip and Cassie were inseparable.
Pip—once blonde, like her friend—had recently dramatically changed her hairstyle. Her formerly curly, waist-length hair was now cut short and coloured blue-black in a style that feathered around her face. Pip’s eyes were a darker shade of blue than Cassie’s cornflower ones, her face slightly more pointed compared with Cassie’s more cherubic features.
The girls were out partying to celebrate completing their university degrees, dressed in the latest fashionable, chic clothes. Pip, having finished a physiotherapy degree and a year at a teaching hospital, was about to begin her career in earnest, specialising in sports physiotherapy. Cassie, with a Diploma of Education combined with her bachelor’s degree in physical education, was starting her teaching role as a sports teacher at the local high school.
Now finally back on home turf, the girls had been enjoying the scene at a new club when Cassie had spotted Pippa’s fantasy man.
“Well, if you really have to ask that question, Cass, you’re not the best friend I thought you were. You know full well my one fantasy is, and has always been, to have long, hot monkey sex with Mitchell Harris.”
“Hmm, yep, I knew that, Pip. Just thought I’d double-check before I told you the man of your seven-year fantasy walked into the club a few minutes ago. Take a look. He’s standing at the bar,” Cassie said as she pointed.
Pippa’s gaze followed in the direction her friend pointed. Sure enough, leaning majestically against the bar and looking as if he owned the place was Mitch ‘Rook’ Harris, and he was as gorgeous as ever. The mere sight of him caused Pip to catch her breath.
Pippa hadn’t seen Mitch in the flesh for over five years, but she noticed the changes in her first crush’s looks immediately. The young, brash man destined for superstardom had completely filled out into one hunky piece of prime male. Rook’s face was now slightly fuller, more mature. His nose—not as straight as it used to be—gave him an overall tougher, more masculine appearance. Once the ‘pretty boy’ of rugby league, he was now all grown up—and he was the complete package.
As Pippa sat staring, Rook turned from his conversation with the barman, and as if sensing he was being watched, looked towards her. Their eyes locked, and Rook’s face broke into a sexy, broad smile.
“Oh, my God, he saw me, Cass!” Pippa exclaimed as she hastily broke eye contact with Rook.
“Well, Pip, now’s your chance. What did you say? ‘Hot monkey sex’, wasn’t it?” Cassie laughed at Pippa.
Pip had first met Mitch ‘the Rookie’ Harris when he’d joined the rugby league team her father had coached. Rookie had been a cocky twenty-year-old, full of potential. Quick and with a natural footy brain, he had been instrumental in the Jets’ winning the premiership that year. Pippa had been a fifteen-year-old girl coming into womanhood, and Rookie had stolen her heart. He had been her first love.
“Not likely, after the disgrace of five years ago,” Pippa answered with a hint of sadness in her tone. She’d thought fulfilling her fantasies with Rook before heading off to uni would be a good idea, but the humiliation when he’d calmly removed her hands from his body and told her ‘no’ was one she was unlikely to forget. “My God, I bared my breasts to him and he turned me down. I’m not his type. Rook will just have to stay a fantasy.”
“Yeah, well, let’s just see about that, Pip. Fantasy man is heading this way—and it’s not me he’s undressing with those sinful eyes. Stay calm and see what happens. This will be your last chance at him. You told me Coach James has a strict no-fraternisation rule, and as of next Monday, you will be part of the Jets staff. I don’t think you will ever find a man that lives up to your fantasy of Rook—now is your chance to get him out of your system and then maybe you can move on.”
Pip understood what Cassie was saying. Up to this point in Pippa’s life, no man had been able to measure up to the fantasy she’d created around the Sydney Jets halfback, and Pippa was not sure if even the man himself could. Feeling a bit like a startled deer, she watched this more mature Rook saunter confidently towards their table. His blond hair, which he had once worn long and flowing around his face as he ran, was now short and flicked back from his high cheekbones.
“Hello, ladies, are you having a good time tonight? You certainly have brightened up the club with your beauty.” Rook’s voice was smooth and sexy as he spoke, and he didn’t once take his eyes off her, Pippa Rodgers—the same woman he had once refused.
Pippa couldn’t speak, worried that if she tried her mouth might just gape open unflatteringly.
Finally, to her relief, Cassie saved the day by making small talk, explaining to Rook that they were out celebrating, adding that it seemed like a great club. All the while, Pippa just stared at Rook, probably doe-eyed, and trying unsuccessfully to stop her body from reacting to the sight and smell of the man who had starred in so many of her fantasies. Her nipples tightened—she felt them pushing through the soft fabric of her dress as her channel clenched and grew moist in hopeful anticipation of being pleasured. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have even moaned out loud.
Rook asked the girls if he could buy them a bottle of champagne in honour of their celebration and waited for a response, his silver-grey eyes twinkling.
Under the weight of that stare, Pippa felt she would just melt. She imagined herself as a piece of satin material sliding from the stool and pooling on the floor at his feet.
Finally, with every ounce of concentration possible and her tongue feeling as if it was stuck to the top of her mouth, she managed to squeak out a single word. “Yes.”
“Okay, then, that’s great. I’ll be right back with the bubbly, and princess, don’t you dare go anywhere.” Rook touched his finger ever so lightly to Pippa’s chin before he turned and backtracked to the bar, leaving her shaking in response to his touch.
“Oh…Lordy! I think I’m going to die. My body is on fire and all he did was touch my chin. What am I going to do, Cass? Do you think he knows who I am?” Pippa whispered anxiously.
“Pip, I don’t reckon he recognises you. Why should he? You look so different now to when he last saw you. But, my girl, he certainly is interested. That’s as plain as the nose on his gorgeous face. I’m feeling a bit like the ugly stepsister, here,” Cassie joked, trying to lighten her friend’s mood.
She continued, “Pip, go for it. Finally get Rookie out of your system once and for all. Don’t even tell him who you are, just enjoy tonight for what it is—your fantasy. Then maybe you can move on and find a nice, rich man to make you happy! I’ll stick around for a glass and then make up some excuse. Wake me as soon as you get home. I want all the down-and-dirty details, girl.” Cassie winked at Pip just before Rook returned to their table, with a bottle in an ice bucket and three fluted glasses.
The loud pop as Rook effortlessly uncorked the bottle made Pippa jump, even though she had been expecting the sound. Rook expertly filled the three elegant glasses.
Rook handed the first flute to Cassie. He picked up the second and held it out to Pippa. As she l
ifted her hand to take the offered glass, he took it in his free hand. After brushing his lips over her palm he formally introduced himself.
“Hi, I’m Rook. What’s your name, princess?”
Pippa froze. What should she say? Trying to stifle the sudden rise of hysteria overtaking her and knowing she had to think fast, she blurted out the first name that came into her head.
“Nice to meet you, Rook. My name is Cassandra,” she said, ignoring the sputtering sound of her friend choking on a mouthful of champagne at hearing her own name coming from Pippa’s mouth.
Finding her hidden seductress, even if it was for the first time, Pippa leaned towards Rook and, using the hand he still held, pulled him closer to her.
“Rook? That’s a very unusual name. I don’t think I’ve heard that before,” she purred, taking the flute of champagne from him and sampling a small sip.
Pippa watched the movement in Rook’s thick neck as he swallowed, mesmerised. She noticed his eyes glaze over, his tongue twitch over his lips. Has it got incredibly hot in here or what? she thought as the sound of her friend’s voice broke into her reverie.
“Umm, guys? Hate to interrupt, but Cassandra, I have to leave,” Cassie said.
Pippa had to stop herself from giggling, pleased at the sight of Rook’s face filling with disappointment—he was probably thinking she would leave as well. He’d snapped his neck around so quickly in response to Cassie’s comments that his head could have fallen off.
“It’s okay. Rook, wasn’t it? I’m sure you’ll keep my friend here good company and send her home at midnight, before she turns into a pumpkin.” Cassie grinned at Rook, winking as she made reference to his earlier ‘princess’ comment.
Rook, looking decidedly more comfortable with the new arrangement, went to great lengths to assure the real Cassie that he would indeed protect her friend with his life, ending with one of his best trademark heart-breaking smiles. The wattage of that smile had been known to send women swooning, as Pippa knew only too well.
Watching as the real Cassie grabbed her bag and walked away, Pippa couldn’t help but wonder what she had just got herself into.
Looking for some Dutch courage to get her through the night ahead, Pippa up-ended her champagne glass and swallowed the bubbly liquid down in one gulp. Her mouth was so dry from nerves that the fluid hardly touched the sides. Trying to act calmer than she felt, the tornado whirling around in her stomach making it hard to breathe, Pippa—or was that Cassandra?—leaned in even closer to Rook and repeated her question about his unusual name. All the while, she searched his eyes for any sign that he recognised her as the coach’s daughter who had all but undressed herself in front of him five years ago, only to be rejected and humiliated in return.
She pushed the moral dilemma of her contractual obligations to not get intimate with her co-workers firmly pushed to the back of her mind. Having decided to continue with the charade and see what happened, for better or for worse, Pippa was now determined to give herself this night and be damned with the consequences. All she had to do was make sure she didn’t say or do anything that might clue Rook in to the fact that she was the girl from so long ago who used to follow him around making goo-goo eyes at him. “No problem!” she whispered into her empty glass.
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About the Author
Sydney-born Donna Gallagher decided at an early age that life needed be tackled head on. Leaving home at fifteen, she supported herself through her teen years. In her twenties she married a professional sportsman, her love of sport—especially rugby league—probably overriding her good sense.
The seven-year marriage was an adventure. There were the emotional ups and downs of having a husband with a public profile in a sometimes glamorous but always high-pressure field. There were always interesting characters to meet and observe, and even the opportunity to live for a time in the UK. Eventually Donna returned home a single woman, but she never lost her passion for watching sport, as well as the people in and around it.
Now happily re-married and with three sons, Donna loves coffee mornings with her female friends, sorting through problems from the personal to the international. But she’s on even footing with the keenest man when it comes to watching and talking rugby league.
Donna considers herself something of a black sheep in a family of high achievers. Her brother has a doctorate in mathematics and her sister is a well-known Australian sports journalist. An avid reader, especially of romance, Donna finally found she couldn’t stop the characters residing in her imagination from spilling onto paper. Naturally, rugby league is the backdrop to her spicy tales of hunky heroes and spunky heroines overcoming adversity to eventually find true love.
Email: [email protected]
Donna loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.total-e-bound.com.
Also by Donna Gallagher
League of Love: Caitlin’s Hero
League of Love: Mandy’s He-Man
League of Love: Laura’s Light
League of Love: Pippa’s Fantasy
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