I Think I Love You (Australian Sports Star Series Book 3) (4 page)

“Markus,” she cooed this time.

“Mel, whatever it is, it has to wait. I do not want to talk. End of story.”

Not taking the hint, she arched one of her finely shaped eyebrows. Ignoring her stare, he slid past her, and walked towards the front door.

“Sports TV in Sydney is interested in you.”

That stopped him in his tracks, and he turned around slowly.

“Sports TV wants you,” she repeated.

Everything inside him stilled. For a moment he wasn’t able to think.

Television.

“They want you as a commentator for the Asian Soccer Cup and possibly the next world cup. Contract initially for two years.”

“Holy fucking shit,” he whispered as he rubbed both his hands over his face. It was close to an opportunity of a lifetime. When he’d come back from England over twelve months earlier, he’d known it was a career suicide not to accept an offer to play straight away, but he’d been worn out, tired, and needed to reassess what he wanted to do. Mike had given him hell, telling him he was in the prime of his life being only in his late twenties, but he’d ignored him, sat back, and lived life for once instead of following a schedule, diet, and training. Then he’d got lost in his thoughts over the last twelve months and was out of the game. No one was interested in a goalie who
took a break
for a year.

But television?

He liked the idea. He liked the idea of staying in Australia, close to his family and close to his friends.

Melanie’s finger found his chest again, but he quickly brushed it off.

“I’ll give Mike a call later on.”

“Whatever ran over your liver, darlin’, this should improve your mood,” she said.

“It does, thanks. But still, I’m going to discuss the rest with Mike.”

She stepped closer. “You
are
in a foul mood.”

“If you had listened, you’d know I’ve had a shitty day so far.”

With another step closer, she looked up at him and let out a long sigh. “All the money in the world and still not happy.” She placed a kiss on his lips. “Hope you feel better soon, darlin’.”

He let out a little huff, but didn’t reply. What was he supposed to say?

Still in thoughts about the latest news, something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. The sight of Sarah’s car threw him a bit. He didn’t expect her. Especially not after his brilliant exit. Yes, inviting her for lunch and then running off probably hadn’t gone down very well.

Shit. He had no idea what to expect and wasn’t ready to talk about it either. He hadn’t had time to sort out his feelings, yet.

Feelings?

Markus placed his hand on the back of his neck when he said to Melanie, “Tell him I’ll give him a call.”

Her mouth opened, but he held up his hand. “I’ll call him,” he said, adding as much authority into his voice as possible.

With an obvious pout on her face, she turned and walked to her car.

Markus watched Sarah approaching the house with slow steps and cringed as he wiped away any traces of Melanie’s kiss with the back of his hand.

Looking at Sarah, he remembered when he’d been about five or six and had kissed her. He wasn’t sure why the memory came back now, but it’d been as sweet and memorable then as it’d been earlier today. Her reaction couldn’t have been more different, though. It was funny how the images of that day came back so clearly. Markus’ mum had invited Sarah and her sister to join the DeLeon family for a picnic at the beach. Lisa, Sarah’s mum, had appreciated the offer, and the girls were excited about the idea to get away from the house for the day. When Rachel, Sarah’s sister, had eaten all their treats, Sarah was so upset that Markus had given her a quick peck on the cheek. Yet, quite to his embarrassment, she’d moved, and he’d connected with her mouth. Sarah had grabbed the bucket of sand next to her and thrown it at him.

Markus chuckled at the memory, but stilled as soon as he looked into Sarah’s eyes when she stood in front of him.

Time to tell her…well, he didn’t know what to tell her. To give them a chance as a couple?

Everything inside him tensed up. He knew he didn’t want to, but more so couldn’t mess this one up. How did she expect him to make a decision when he wasn’t clear what he wanted?

***

When Sarah saw Melanie with Markus, she was about to turn and forget about the whole idea of
facing the truth.
It was a bad idea. Their morning together had been a bad idea. It was one of the cases where her mother would say,
Sweep it under the carpet and forget about it.

She hardly knew Melanie, only from the occasional run-ins when she was with Markus. What she did know about Melanie, though, was her incredible candour and her frank admiration towards Markus, which she made known to everyone. It annoyed Sarah every time when she heard about Melanie’s house visits only to drop off a letter or forward a message. It annoyed her even more when he returned her flirting, albeit with a lot of mockery.             

Sarah’s heart nearly stopped. Forcing herself to keep taking one step after another, she blinked a couple of times to process the picture her eyes had just relayed to her brain. Did Melanie really dare to kiss Markus?

Jealousy rushed through her and anger at Markus for not stopping it. Closing her eyes momentarily, she took a deep breath. Obviously, he wasn’t ready, yet, for a serious, one woman relationship.

The pain in her chest was instant. Her heart ached, and she held back the tears now knowing the reason for the conversation she was hoping to have with him. She walked up the little garden path, doing her best to keep a fake smile on her face.

With every step she took towards him, her head spun more and more. Doubts crept up in her, almost overwhelming her.

“Hi there,” she said, her voice nearly breaking.

A smile spread across his face and her whole body responded. She did her best to ignore it.

“Want to come in?”

It was tempting to simply say yes. Possibly have a repeat of the morning they had shared together, but instead she shook her head.

“Sure?”

She shrugged her shoulder. “Look, I just need to clarify that what happened this morning, was a once-off. I heard your message when I was at Oliver’s, and I wanted to make sure that things are okay between us. No regrets and such, you know.”

There was no way of knowing what he was thinking. She wasn’t able to read his poker face expression, and it frustrated the hell out of her.

After what seemed like a long while, he finally nodded. “No regrets.”

He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. His finger ignited a blaze of fire on her skin, and she caught her breath.

“Want to come in?” he asked again.

She shook her head. “Got a few things to do. How about a raincheck?”

“Saz?” Mark hesitated. “We’re good,” he finally said, but it was almost in a whisper.

Sarah nodded. “Yes, we’re good.”

“Sure?” he asked without breaking the eye contact.

She let out a slow breath.

He frowned. “What did you expect?”

With a small shrug, she said, “Dunno.”
It’s not every day you sleep with your best friend
. Letting out another sigh, she shoved her hands in the back pockets of her pants to resist the temptation to touch him. “I’d better go. There are still a few things I need to do.”

“Ditto here.”

Emotions rushed through Sarah. So many, she wasn’t able to sort. A great deal of warmth still stirred in the pit of her stomach, even though she struggled with the fact that she’d slept with Markus. Her whole body had been on fire and reacted to his every touch as if his hand belonged on her skin. She’d felt at home in his arms.

Yet, she worried about losing Markus’ friendship. They’d known each other for so long and had been each other’s shoulder to cry on, shared their joy for so long she didn’t think she would be able to cope without him. They’d shared heartaches, new partners, his success in soccer, as well as her failure to keep a decent job. For some odd reason, she’d never been jealous of his career and the money he earned. She had never been jealous of any of the women he was dating, because she was always confident about their friendship.

Except when she saw him with Melanie a few minutes ago. Jealousy raged within her, and she had no idea where it’d come from or how to handle it.

And there was a bucket full of anger. Anger for letting herself go like this, ignoring all the cons of sleeping with him. Obviously her hormones had been out of control, combined with being part of a fairytale wedding, she’d been the victim of his magnetism and charm.

But most of all, there was an unusual loneliness surrounding her. The one person she always confided in was the reason for her head to explode because of this emotional roller coaster. Tyson and Katie were on their honeymoon, Oliver seemed unusually distracted earlier, and her family…simply the thought of talking to her mother or her sister about her sex life caused her to shiver.

She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. “See ya, Marky.” Then she turned and walked to her car, fighting back the tears.

***

Letting Sarah walk away was one of the hardest things Markus had ever done. Even a strained ankle a few years earlier hindering him from playing in some of the Champions League games hadn’t been as painful. While she’d spoken to him, he had his eyes focused on her as if no one else in the world existed. Now he had to close his eyes, letting the memory of her soft skin linger on the edge of his mind.

Why hadn’t he said anything? No regrets, his ass. The two words seemed so stupid to him now, so hollow, and so wrong.

Of course he had regrets. Not about sleeping with Sarah. For the first time in his life, he didn’t run away from a woman, but was left behind as she had run away from him.

Damn, he was such a fool. Yet, the news of the television offer had surprised him so much his thoughts had been all over the place. Not to mention that he was still pissed off with Melanie for giving him that stupid kiss. He could’ve killed her. All that in his mind, Sarah’s words had thrown him, and he’d replied more instinctively than honestly.

The noise of Sarah’s car driving off hauled him back from his thoughts, and he stomped into the house, ignoring the ringing phone. Instead, he grabbed his mobile and punched in Oliver’s number. But all he got was the voice mail again.

“Mate, where the fuck are you. I need to talk.”

He played the message on his answering machine.
Mike here. Give me a call re the TV offer. It’s generous. And ignore the doorbell, Mel is on her way.

Markus chuckled. Mike’s assistant was brilliant keeping his office on top, books balanced, and clients happy, yet sometimes, she took it a bit too far with the term
keeping clients happy.

The buzzing of his phone indicated a phone call from Oliver.

“About time,” he said by way of answering the call.

“Bugger off. Got your message. I’m really desperate to get something done before tonight, but I’ll give you a call then.”

“What’s up?”

“I’ll tell you tonight.”

Markus heard a few cursing words and assumed Oliver was in the car stuck in traffic. His friend had never been a patient driver.

“Still there?” Oliver asked.

“Yup.”

“Look, Saz came over this morning all upset about you two doing it.”

It was on the tip of Markus’ tongue to tell him to go to hell, but he was too curious about what he had to say.

“She heard your message, mate. I have a feeling…”

More cursing words and the line disconnected.

Markus brushed a hand over his mouth, now cursing fiercely as well.
Have a feeling
what? He dialled Oliver’s number, but his friend was out of reach. Checking the time, he grabbed his car keys and headed out.

Half an hour later, he sat in his sister’s lounge room.

Antonia was four years younger than Markus and had inherited more of their Italian background. She had long wavy dark hair, their father’s dark brown eyes, olive skin, and the Italian temper along with it. Annie and Markus had always been close, but more so since she’d stayed with him in England for a couple of months after finishing school. She’d always driven the boys crazy with her looks, and her parents needed her to
grow up a little and stand on her own two feet.
Little did they know that she’d lived off his money for most of the time while staying with him. He had loved it, though, having someone around to talk to and go out with.

Maria was the youngest of them all, by about ten years. They all had a good relationship, but Maria had gone her own way, and only stayed in contact for family events.

“Need to talk, Marco?” Annie asked.

He shrugged. “Where are Ellie and Henry?”

Annie sat next to him on the couch and held a can of coke towards him. “Childcare day, thank goodness.”