“Sounds go-,” but her words were swallowed up by his mouth, hot and wet and possessive against hers, his body colliding against her, hands falling to her waist to lift her slightly as he pressed her against the door.
“How’s that, love?” he said, as he pulled his lips from hers, letting them travel along the column of her neck, biting down gently at her pulse point.
“Perfect,” she said, sliding her hands through his hair. His mouth carved a trail of heat across her chest, his nose nudging the V-neck of her shirt out of the way, allowing him to explore the tops of her breasts, the lace of her bra finally impeding his path. Letting out a frustrated noise, his body shifted against hers, one arm sliding beneath her knees and the other bracing across her back, as he lifted her up into his arms, swinging her away from the door and toward the large bed at the center of the room. For a moment, she tensed, thinking he was about to toss her onto it, but instead, he kneeled at the edge, setting her onto the mattress easily. Her hands went to his hair, lightly running her nails over his scalp. He looked up at her, his hands resting against her knees, his palms warm and steady, his thumbs tracing small circles on the skin of her inner thighs. “Come on,” she said, tugging at his wrists. She wanted to feel him, every single inch of him.
“No,” he said, pulling free and fiddling with the button on her jean shorts. “I think we’re going to try something new tonight.”
“New?” she asked, and he smirked, his blue eyes flashing.
“Just lay back, love,” he said, pushing gently at her shoulder with one hand, the other working open the button.
“And think of England?” she asked, letting her back hit the mattress and feeling the light pressure of her waistband give way.
“Yeah,” he agreed, the rasp of his beard on the inside of her thigh and the warmth of his breath making goosebumps spring to life on the skin behind her knee. “Something like that.”
Chapter 19
June 27th
The court wasn’t Court 1. It didn’t have stands lining the sides or a crowd that paid for tickets for her particular match. There wasn’t a PA announcer or video replay or a security guard walking her from the locker room to the court and back again. And the girl across from her, though athletic and a very good tennis player, definitely wasn’t Penny Harrison. Indy couldn’t help the sinking feeling like she’d come down in the world. Like she’d gotten a little taste of what this whole pro tennis thing really was, but she wasn’t allowed to have it yet, not really. So instead, she was on this outer court and for now, that would have to be good enough. The girl on the other side of the net, Zhang Li, was an up-and-coming Chinese junior, but while her game was solid, there weren’t any weapons that really made it a tough match for Indy, not after facing a player of Penny’s caliber.
“Time,” the chair umpire said and she rose from her seat on the sideline and headed back out to the baseline. It was Indy’s serve and aside from one game where her location had let her down and she’d double faulted her way to a break, Zhang Li hadn’t been able to put together any sort of defense against her major weapon.
“Here we go, Indiana,” a voice bellowed from the crowd and she let her eyes flicker, just for a second, to Jack. This was why she felt like she did about him, that intense, burning, scale every obstacle in the way kind of feeling. Things were awkward as all hell between them. They’d started something the other night, something that he maybe didn’t really like about him or her or them. But there he was, supporting her because the awkwardness would fade, they’d work through it and he wanted to be there for her, maybe as much as she wanted him there. They’d work it out, the stuff that freaked him out or maybe the stuff he thought should have freaked her out or whatever they were going through. That was the plan anyway. Tonight, after she wrapped up this match, she wanted him all to herself. She just had to get through Zhang Li.
The match had only taken about an hour. Indy won two sets to love, 6-2, 6-0. Emerging from the locker room, showered and dressed, she saw Dom waiting for her, a large smile on his face as he pushed off the ivy-covered wall.
“Beautiful job out there today,” he said.
“Thanks.” She didn’t really want to talk to him. She’d done a damn good job of avoiding him since they arrived in London and anything he said now would just ruin the good mood her win had put her in.
“The WTA is fining you for your outburst at the press conference.”
“I figured,” she said. “It was stupid.”
“It was, but you don’t exactly have the market cornered on stupid lately. I’m sorry I let you down.”
Indy’s eyes flashed to his. Maybe she’d let him have his say. “Go on.”
“I want you to know that what you saw, that’s over and I know it probably doesn’t mean much now, but I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t tell my dad,” she said.
Dom rubbed a hand across his face and nodded. “Thank you for that. She really loves him, you know?”
“I don’t really care,” she said. “I was…you’re my coach and you believe in me, maybe more than anyone else has since my mom died and I can’t…I don’t care what you do or who you do or whatever, Dom. I just need you to be my coach.”
“I can do that and one better, I’ll pay your fine myself. If I had been the coach I’m supposed to be, that never would have happened.”
“Thanks.”
“So we’re good?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Great, otherwise this would have been really awkward. We’re all going out to celebrate, on me.”
“Define all?”
~
Jack and Alex weren’t having any trouble keeping the conversation going between them. English and American football, a little tennis, a little business, some movie about gangsters that they both loved, the words flowed between them like old friends. It made sense that they’d get along, even when one of the men was sharing a bed with the other’s sister. It was a brother recognizing that his sister had made a decision and respecting that decision, making an effort and realizing that she’d made a decent enough choice. Dom joined in with them easily and the awkwardness on the other side of the table was overshadowed by their conversation. The silence between the two girls, who should have tons to talk about, even if it was just how one kicked the other’s ass a few days before, spoke volumes. Indy could barely stand it. It was her fault, so it was her job to make it right. Maybe that could be the first step in making things right with Jack.
“Come on,” she said, tapping Penny on the shoulder and flicking her head toward the edge of the private room Alex managed to secure for them at what Indy assumed was a ridiculously expensive restaurant. There was a small alcove that led to the restrooms and it would be perfect for this conversation. Contained and away from prying male ears.
“You really want to do this now?” Penny said, her eyes darting toward the three men across the table, all of whom were still chatting away.
“Yeah. Come on.”
Penny leaned against the wall, arms crossing over her chest in a move so reminiscent of her older brother when he was annoyed, Indy almost laughed, but she managed to choke it down.
She took a deep breath and leaned on the wall opposite Penny. “I’m sorry about blowing you off after the match. I was upset.”
Penny shrugged. “It was fine. You lost and losing sucks. I get it.”
“I’m still sorry and look what you said the other day, about not knowing if you could forgive me or not.”
“That was a shitty thing to say.” Penny uncrossed her arms, one hand going to the chain around her neck, twisting it around a finger.
“I deserved it. I just thought maybe you’d had some time since then to think about it or at least…I don’t know, not hate me as much.”
“To be honest, I really, really haven’t, but I don’t hate you.” It wasn’t a lie. If there was one thing she learned about Penny Harrison in the short time they’d known each other, she gave it to yo
u straight or not at all. Indy didn’t really blame her though, with all the crap going down with her ankle, a fight with her brother’s girlfriend probably wouldn’t be tops on her priority list either.
Indy decided it was probably best to just lay her cards on the table. “Jack’s your brother. You’re going to forgive him eventually. What about me? Do you think you can forgive me?”
She didn’t give Penny a chance to respond. “I know I should have told you. I should have just come out and told you.”
“Yeah, you should have. I meant the other stuff I said the other day. I would have been happy for you. Why didn’t you just say something? Like, just drop a hint that you liked him, anything?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“That you’d think I was using you to get to your brother or that you wouldn’t approve or I don’t know. I didn’t think about it that hard. It just never felt like the right time to tell you.”
Penny sat in silence, the seconds ticking by before she looked Indy dead in the eye. She struggled not to look away against the steely green she saw there, so much like her older brother’s eyes it was almost uncanny. Penny and Teddy were the twins, but Penny and Jack, they were cut from the same cloth. “I think that maybe we weren’t friends.”
“Oh.” Well, that settled that. If Penny didn’t want to be her friend, well it friggin’ sucked, but she wasn’t going to beg anyone for their friendship.
“No, that’s not what I mean. When you showed up at OBX, I saw a lot of what I went through in what you were going through so I thought I’d be nice. Figured I’d try to make things easier on you and then we just sort of were around each other a lot.”
“That’s what friends do.”
“It’s supposed to be more than that though, isn’t it? I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, not really. It was all tennis all the time.” Indy raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Okay, so not much has changed. What I’m saying is, we weren’t really friends, at least not the way I always imagined real friends were supposed to be.”
“I’m confused.”
“We’re supposed to have each other’s backs, be there for each other and we’re not supposed to lie or keep really big, important secrets. And we were sort of a pale imitation of that. Like we were playing the part instead of actually, you know, being friends.”
“It didn’t feel like that for me.”
Penny flinched. “I guess I’m not really sure how to be friends with someone and like, let them in — not for real.”
“You were doing a pretty good imitation of it.”
“Yeah?”
“So do you think you want to try that, you and me, friends for real this time?”
“Yeah, just, on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“You never, ever, ever talk to me about what you and Jack do.”
“I —
“Nope. Not unless you want me to throw up all over you and then you’d have to explain to everyone why. I don’t want details about that stuff. I mean it. Ever.”
“I think I can do that.”
“Just…”
“Yeah?”
“You guys, you’re happy?”
“We are. I think…no, I know we are. Your brother, he’s…I…I think…”
Penny laughed a little, but then reached out, grabbing her hand. “I’m about to be really cheesy,” she warned and Indy quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe we weren’t meant to be friends.”
“No?”
“Maybe we were meant to be sisters.”
“Oh God, Penny.”
“I know, I know, but I thought it and I just had to say it.”
“Lets get back before they think we killed each other or something.”
~
They wandered home late that night, the streets almost empty as their car pulled in front of Alex’s house. No one had a match the next day, so more than a little bit of alcohol had flowed at the table. Alex was draped over Penny’s shoulders, mostly holding himself up, but definitely needing her to guide him up the stairs. She stole the house keys from him and Indy watched as he leaned on the door and nearly fell through when Penny pushed it open.
“I better get him upstairs,” Penny said, letting him wind an arm around her shoulders again, taking most of his weight, which probably wasn’t all that great for her ankle “Night guys.”
“G’night” Alex called over his shoulder as they climbed the stairs.
She looked back over her shoulder at Jack, who was giving the driver instructions for the next morning, safely assuming that no one would be in the mood to head in for practice until the afternoon. Leaning on the doorframe, she waited for him to jog up the front steps and gave him a small smile as he joined her, pulling the door shut behind them.
“That was nice,” she said, as he looked anywhere but into her eyes. “Jack.”
“It was,” he said and then let out a shaky breath.
“Are we really going to do this again? You pulling away just when things get interesting?”
“No, I…that’s not. Damn it. How do you put up with me?”
Indy laughed. “Are you serious?”
“Every time we get somewhere, every damn time, I make you feel like shit about what we have and I swear, Indiana, that’s not what I want to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
He looked down at the shining wood floors of the foyer. “With you?” he asked, though clearly he didn’t require a response. Looking up at her with an arched brow. “I want to do everything. I’ve wanted all of you from the first moment I saw you. I want to know every crazy ass thought that pops in your head. I want to be there for your first tour win. I want to be there the first time you lose in a final. And I want you there with me for everything, Indiana.”
“Is that all you want?”
“You know what I want,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand, lifting up the wrist that sported a bruise for a few days. He kissed the skin, now totally unblemished. “And I know what you want and God help me, I’m trying to be a damned gentleman about it, Indiana, but you make it so…”
“Hard?” she asked, totally unable to control the giggling that followed.
“Yeah,” he agreed, a short laugh pushing out of his chest, but he stepped forward, leaning over her. “Everything about this has been damn hard, hasn’t it?”
“Because you insist on making it that way. I swear, Jack, sometimes it feels like you…”
“What?”
“That you like the drama of it all. Am I dating a closet drama queen?”
She could see the laughter still in his eyes, but his voice was firm and serious. “That’s not it.”
“No?”
“No. You just drive me insane…”
“Jack?” she said, wrapping her fingers into the front of his shirt.
“Yeah?”
“No more talking.”
“Right,” he said, closing the last few inches between them and slanting his mouth over hers. The kiss was bruising, a clash of lips and tongues and teeth, none of the finesse she’d come to expect from him and as he pressed his body into hers, he pulled his mouth away to whisper against her lips. “I heard what you said when I walked out on you that day. You said that you liked it. Did you mean it, Indiana?” His fingers pushed at the small of her back, angling his body so that his thigh slipped between hers.
“Yes,” she whispered, her breath coming shallow and fast.
“Good, that’s all I want you thinking about tonight. How much you want this, how much I want you,” he said, stepping away from her and smoothing down the front of his shirt.
“You’re kidding me. Jack, you can’t just…”
“There’s no privacy. Teddy’s in my room. Jasmine’s in yours.”
“Crap.”
“Exactly.”
“We could go to the Dorchester.”
“Where there are no rooms and where the press is proba
bly camped out at the bar by now just waiting for someone to come stumbling in?”
“After I win. We’ll go some place, just the two of us and my next trophy.”
Jack smiled, his green eyes lighting up. “I like the way you think.”
Chapter 20
June 28th
Jasmine raised her hand to the closed bedroom door. It was very early, the time of day where the only people awake are the people coming off a night shift and those early travelers, headed to an airport or a train station before the massive crowds descended upon the city. She let her knuckles rap against the solid barrier lightly, hoping that would be enough to rouse the sleeping man on the other side. Soft footfalls padding on the other side of the door gave her hope and then it was dashed when a sleepy, harassed looking Teddy Harrison pulled open the door, squinting at her as he rubbed at his eyes. He wore only a pair of thin cotton boxers, his chest bare, a nod to the warm nights they’d been having and the expanse of tan skin lined with lithe muscle drew her eyes to where she didn’t want them to go. Quickly, she locked her gaze onto his face before he noticed.
“Jas?” he rasped. “Everything okay?” His eyes narrowed as they focused on something behind her.
She turned back over her shoulder where Paolo was leaning against the opposite wall, legs crossed at the ankle, waiting.
“Everything’s fine, Ted. Is Jack awake?”
“Jack?” Teddy blinked at her and then again looked at Paolo.
“Yes, your brother. We need to talk to him.”
“Now? It’s like five in the morning.”
“Four thirty actually,” she corrected. “Can you get him?”
He rubbed at his face again. “Yeah, hang on a sec.” He flicked on the light next to Jack’s bed and grabbed a pillow from the floor and flung it against the bare back of his older brother.“Yo, bro, wake up, you’ve got an early meeting or something.” Teddy kept walking back to his bed and buried himself underneath a pile of covers just as Jack blinked awake. He squinted at them before fumbling with a pair of glasses on his nightstand and sliding them over his eyes. Jasmine had a brief pang of sympathy for Indy, ridiculously sexy and Clark Kent glasses on top of that. She’d never stood a fair shot at resisting him. He swung his legs out from under the covers and nodded toward the hallway. They stepped back and he pulled the door almost closed behind him.
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