Losing at Love (23 page)

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 probably 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.”

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.

“Morning,” Jasmine said, smiling sheepishly and glancing back at Paolo, who took the cue.

“Get dressed and come with us, there’s something we want to show you,” Paolo said, putting a hand on Jasmine’s shoulder and squeezing lightly.

“Now?” Jack asked.

“It has to be now,” Jasmine said. “Are you coming or not?”

“Secret mission at the ass crack of dawn?” His green eyes gleamed from behind his glasses. “Of course I am. Give me five minutes.”

~

The practice courts were empty. There were only a few security guards wandering around the grounds to keep out overzealous fans who thought sneaking in very early would somehow go unnoticed. Every shot echoed like a bomb going off as Paolo and Jasmine went through a hitting session featuring her brand new backhand. She hadn’t shown it to anyone yet, hadn’t even used it in her first matches in the junior tournament. She needed Jack to see it though because this was the first step, just like she and Paolo had talked about.

One more backhand, a pretty one-handed slice that spun off speed, but far out of Paolo’s reach ended the session and Jasmine pumped her fist and couldn’t help the broad smile on her face. The smile grew even larger when she turned to the edge of the court and saw Jack standing there with a grin that matched hers.

“Well that’s new,” he said, as both she and Paolo walked over to him, grabbing water bottles from their bags.

“Brand new,” she agreed.

“I’m guessing you haven’t shown this to Dom yet or he’d be here with us.”

“Good guess,” Paolo said, shooting a little water into his mouth. “Dom is a great coach, but he is blind when it comes to Jasmine.”

“Familiarity can do that sometimes,” Jack agreed. “So, I’m also guessing you didn’t invite me here because you wanted my opinion on your new backhand. What can I do for you?”

“Sign me,” Jasmine said. “I want to go pro and I want you to be my agent.”

Jack fell silent, but he nodded. “Okay, listen. You turned eighteen a few months ago, right?”

“I did.”

“You can sign a contract, but your parents will actually end my career if I let you sign anything without them present.”

Jasmine pursed her lips and shrugged. “You represent Penny. There’s nothing anyone can do about that and if you rep me, that’s two athletes who won’t ever leave you. My parents don’t have that kind of power.”

“Fine, I’m uncomfortable with the idea of doing this behind their backs.”

Paolo cleared his throat a little, drawing their attention. “You wouldn’t want to sign with someone who was comfortable with the idea, gattina. This is why he is the right choice.”

Jack nodded. “Thanks, man.”

Jasmine huffed at being overruled, but kept pushing. “Okay fine, I’ll make you a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Yeah. I have a match today against Adelaide Brennan. I’m assuming you know who that is?”

“Australian and number one junior player in the world, took the top spot after Penny moved up to the tour.”

“Exactly. If I win today, we Skype my parents tonight and tell them I’m signing with you.”

“And if you lose?”

“That’s not going to happen.”

Jack stared at her, a hard look, like he was trying to see through her, trying to see if it was confidence or false bravado. “You really think you can beat Adelaide Brennan?”

“I know I can.”

“Good. You’ve got a deal, Miss Randazzo,” he said, holding out his hand and she took it, shaking it firmly, but her eyes looked up and to the side, meeting Paolo’s.

~

Jack left them at the court, tapping away at his phone and mumbling about having to put together paperwork. As soon as he was out of earshot, Jasmine let out a high-pitched squeal and punched the air. “We did it.”

“Almost,” Paolo said, though his smile was spread wide across his face, making his eyes crinkle, premature lines from spending most of his youth out in the sun, revealing themselves at the corners. “You just have to win.”

“I know I can win.”

“I know you can too.”

“Thank you,” she said, moving close to him. “None of this would be happening without you.”

“Yes it would,” he disagreed, though he stepped closer as well. “You would have done this eventually, but maybe I gave you a little push.”

“A big push and I needed it. So thank you.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond this time, pushing up on to the tips of her toes and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. It was meant to be short, just a thank you, but he caught her about the waist and held her there, tilting his head and creating the perfect angle to hold onto the moment a little longer. He took her lower lip between his and kissed her firmly.