by Claire Adams
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “Are you sure that you’re ready to face that level of defeat again?”
“Oh, I plan on schooling your ass this time, Mr. Skye.” She brushed the sand off her body as she stood. Her ass jiggled in the most delicious way. Blood surged to my cock.
That motel beckoned to me again, but first, we were going to hit play on the race she’d paused the first time that we’d gone jet skiing. “Are you now? I’d like to see you try, Ms. Ralls.”
She ran all the way to the man renting the jet skis, gestured to me, accepted her life jacket, and then mounted her jet ski with the expertise that she’d shown the last time. She gunned the throttle before I’d made a single move towards the stand.
I stood watching her for a second, transfixed by her. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, then jogged to grab my own life jacket and jet ski.
She shrieked as I came up behind her. “Motherfucker, how are you so fast?”
“I have many hidden talents that I’d be willing to demonstrate for you. For instance, did you know that I can juggle?” Her jaw dropped at the exact moment that I spun and raised my prop to send a shower of water over her.
“You asshole,” she sputtered as she laughed.
She took off, her delicate wrist pulling the throttle all the way back. The jet ski skidded on the wake of an incoming ski boat, and she lost control, flying into the air and landing with hardly a splash in the water.
My heart pounded in my chest as I raced over. I couldn’t breathe. My mind swirled until I saw her curls break water. She laughed and swam toward her jet ski. It had cut out when she’d been flung from it.
I angled to her carefully, not wanting to make any extra waves for her to deal with. Worry clouded my vision. I couldn’t think straight. She looked fine, but I wouldn’t believe it until I heard her say it. “You okay, Gabbi?”
“I’m fine, babe. Really, the wake just caught me off guard. Don’t worry about it.” Icy fingers clutched at my heart as she called me babe. It just seemed so easy. I knew I should not be feeling these kinds of things. Especially not with Gabrielle.
We played around for another hour or so before I decided that it was time to break for lunch.
“Only if it means that we’re even,” she insisted.
I was miles ahead, and she knew it, but I was willing to let it go for her. This one time. My competitive side groaned, and I pushed it down. “Okay, but then we’re having lunch where I want.”
I hadn’t taken her to the Spanish place yet, and it was only a short walk up the beach from where we were.
“Fine, your pick for lunch, but you better make it good.” She took off and beached her jet ski with expert precision.
“Don’t I always?” I muttered to myself and took off after her.
The Spanish place was exactly as my teammate had described it, and it didn’t disappoint.
Gabrielle clapped her hands together as she inspected the platter of tapas that the server placed on our table. “This looks divine!”
“I thought that you might like it.” I smirked and gave myself a mental pat on the back.
She sampled some of the cold meats from the platter. Her eyes lit up, then fluttered closed. I loved that she appreciated good food the same way that I did and that she didn’t give a damn about pigging out in front me.
“You have to try that one,” she said. “It’s delicious.”
She dove into the rest, trying everything at least once, and spouted off random facts about the different tapas that she had learned from her mother.
She had pushed her sunglasses up into her wet hair, and her blue eyes sparkled. Her cheeks had a rosy hue thanks to our time in the sun. Her small hands were animated as she talked, a permanent smile lighting up her face.
It was captivating. She was breathtaking.
I found myself hanging on her every word, completely enthralled by her. It was completely ridiculous how easy it was being with her, how she relaxed me and wound me up all at the same time. It felt right. Or something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
The buzzing of my phone on the table distracted me.
The name on the display set my heart pounding as reality came crashing into me. “Richard calling.”
Gabrielle fell silent, spotting her father’s name at the same time that I did.
“It’s okay, answer it,” she encouraged softly. I looked at my phone like something that was about to bite me. This was it. The call that would determine my future.
“Richard, my man.” I tried to keep my tone light and my voice steady. Like I didn’t have a care in the world. Like I wasn’t sitting across the table thinking dangerous thoughts about his pride and joy.
“James, how are you?” His voice was brisk, but he sounded the same as always. It didn’t sound like he was about to shatter my dreams with a shitty offer or tear me limb from limb for being with his daughter.
“I’m good, Richard. Really good, actually. How are you?” My eyes met Gabrielle’s and held them.
“Probably about to make you feel even better,” he said, chuckling. Lightness and relief creeped into his tone.
“Yeah? You’re calling me with good news, then?” Hope surged in my chest. I knew that Richard would have done anything to keep me happy and to make me stay, but I wasn’t sure whether he would be able to meet some of the better offers on the table.
“I am. I had a look over our financials and talked it over with the bean counters. I think you’re really going to like what we’ve put together for you.” Fuck yeah.
Gabrielle smiled brightly at the expression on my face. Or maybe she could hear some of what her father was saying. The point was that she looked genuinely happy. She knew how much it meant to me that the contract restructure went well.
My heart did something strange when I realized that my happiness meant that much to her. That she gave a single fuck about me getting what I wanted. The best of both worlds, as she’d so aptly put it.
“That sounds promising.” My dreams were within reach. All I had to do was reach out and grab them.
“It is. I’d like to get you in here as soon as possible to talk it over. Lock it down.” I wanted that, too. More than fucking anything.
“Sure thing, I’ll come by whenever you’re available to see me.” Fingers crossed, it would be later that day. The sooner I got my new contract signed, the better.
“Are you kidding me? I want that ink drying on the contract like yesterday, my boy.” My heart constricted, and my stomach clenched. He’d called me that so many times in the past. Why was I having a different reaction to it now?
Gabrielle’s eyes drew me in, and Richard’s voice pulled me back out. “Unfortunately, though, I’m out of town today. Otherwise, I’d have gotten you in here this afternoon. I’ll be back in the office tomorrow morning. I’ll be there all day. Stop by anytime.”
“I’ll do that. I’ll see you first thing in the morning, Richard.” Hell, I would’ve slept outside of his office if I thought it would make a difference.
“Good to hear it. I want you to know that we appreciate you, James. A lot of players would’ve upped and left in your situation. You’re a good man.” My chest puffed at the compliment. Then a frisson of guilt ran through me as I studied Gabrielle’s beautiful face.
I pushed the negative feelings aside. Richard and I were close, but being with Gabrielle? It was worth it.
“Thanks, Richard. I appreciate what you’re doing for us, too. Thanks for sticking to your word and making it happen.” I meant it. I wasn’t the only one that could’ve approached the situation very, very differently.
“Of course, I meant it when I said that I’d do whatever it takes to make you happy. I’ll see you in the morning, James. I really hope that I’m right about you liking the new deal.”
So did I. “Yeah, me too. I’ll see you then.”
“Good news?” Gabrielle beamed at me from across the table. My heart did the weird thing again.
/> “I think so. They’ve had a look over everything and put together a new contract for me. Your father thinks that I’ll like it.”
Her eyes lit up, and she reached across the table to squeeze my hand. I took hers firmly in my grasp. “That’s great news, James. You said that he’s seen the other offers, right?”
I nodded. I didn’t know if he’d necessarily seen them, but he knew what the terms were. “Then that means that he could beat them all. If I know one thing about my father, it’s that he wouldn’t have called to give you the news if he didn’t have a rock-solid offer that he honestly thinks you will take.”
“You think he beat them?” I hadn’t expected that. A match, at best, had been what I hoped he would come back with.
Confidence rolled off of Gabrielle in waves. She squared her shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. God, she was stunning. “Yes, I do think that. He doesn’t do things halfway. It’s all or nothing with him. He wouldn’t have jumped the gun with an offer he didn’t think that you would accept.”
The world became clearer with her words; everything brought into sharper focus. “That’s true. He does shit properly or not at all.”
“Exactly.” Gabrielle nodded, a slow smile spreading on her full lips. “It looks like you’re about to get the best of both worlds. Congratulations. Your dreams are coming true.”
“Yeah, it looks like they are. I couldn’t be any fucking happier right now.” I squeezed her hand, still in mine, and locked eyes with her. “I am exactly where I want to be.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gabrielle
“This is paradise,” Heather moaned as the therapist massaged her scalp.
With no small amount of effort, I had managed to convince her to take the day off from studying and have a girl’s day with me instead.
So far, we’d gone shopping. I found a lingerie set that I was dying to show off to James. Then we got massages. We were in the process of getting our hair done, and nails were up next, as soon as our hair was washed and wrapped.
I glanced at the pile of shopping bags at our feet. A naughty thought snuck into my mind. I snapped a picture of the logo of the lingerie store on the bag and sent it to James.
We hadn’t made plans for that night, and I wanted to tease him into dying to want to see me as much as I was dying to see him. Well, see him, amongst other things.
He replied right away.
James: ?
Gabrielle: I might have gotten you a gift ;-)
James: I have a feeling that I’m going to like this gift. It’s going to be *hard* waiting to see it.
Gabrielle: That’s the general idea.
“He has to be incredible at something if you’re texting with him right now instead of marveling at how the stress is just melting away,” Heather said, lifting her head from the basin. I stashed my phone quickly in my bag.
“He is,” I admitted. “At everything.”
“Swoon,” Heather said, following me across the expansive salon to the nail technicians waiting at the chairs where we’d be getting our hair done. “It sounds like you’re well past just having a little crush.”
“I think I am.” I knew it, actually. “I think that this relationship might just be the real thing.”
Heather whirled around in her chair so fast, I was afraid that she might have given herself whiplash.
“It’s probably best if you don’t do that when I have scissors near your ears,” the hair stylist reprimanded. She was a cool-looking girl with a slightly gothic style and bright pink hair. “I’m Anna. I’ll be responsible for your ears today.”
Heather shot her an apologetic grin and waved between us, but her eyes were pinned to mine. “I’m Heather. This is Gabrielle. What did you just say, Gabbi?”
“You heard me. I said that I think that this might just be the real deal.” Heather’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, and even Anna giggled in delight.
Anna caught my eye in the mirror, winked, and started brushing through my hair. “What? I’m not going to apologize. One of my favorite parts of my job is that I get to hear all the juicy gossip going on in my clients’ lives. I’m a vault. I’ll never tell.”
“You hear that, Gabbi? Anna’s a vault. So spill.” Even the nail technician leaned in closer, not-so-subtly eavesdropping, but not quite as open about it as Anna.
Having this conversation with so many people listening in should have bothered me. It didn’t. Frankly, I would have shouted it from the rooftops for all of the world to hear. If my father didn’t live in this world. Or if I’d already broken the news to him.
“I’m in love with him, Heather. Like over the moon, reach for the stars, World Series kind of in love.”
Wow, soppy much? Since when was I such a goddamn romantic? I hated romantics. Yet as I sat with a stupid grin on my face and told the girls all about James, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
I loved James. I was in love with James. It was undeniable, and I didn’t even want to try to. If that meant that I’d turned into a romantic, then so be it.
Well, I told the girls almost all about James. I still hung on to his identity and his chosen profession. I would have to break that to Heather in private when the time came. I wasn’t going to risk rumors flying around and making it back to my father somehow.
Anna styled our hair as she listened with rapt attention. You would have sworn that I’d known her for as long as I’d known Heather from the “oohs” and “aahs” they delivered in perfect sync.
They asked a million and one questions, and I answered them all, neatly sidestepping the dangerous ones that would give away who he was.
“Have you told him?” There was the dreaded question. The one that I couldn’t sidestep and didn’t want to answer.
“No, I haven’t told him yet.” I twirled the ring on my index finger. Heather picked up on my nervous habit and tilted her head questioningly.
“Why not?” Anna squeaked. “From the sounds of things, he’s as far gone as you are.”
“There are some things that we need to work out before we can have that talk.” There. That was vague enough.
“There will always be things, girlie.” My nail technician, an older woman with hair graying at the temples, chimed in, finally giving up any pretense that she wasn’t listening to us. “Take it from someone who’s been there. You have to tell him. Men have a tendency to be slow on the uptake and do some stupid things on the way there.”
Her words rang with quiet authority, settling heavily all around us until Anna broke the sudden contemplative tension. “Amen to that, sister.”
“I agree,” Heather said. You have to tell him, Gabbi. I’ve never seen you this way before. He’s good for you.”
“Yeah, he is,” I agreed. “I’ll talk to him about it, soon.”
They breathed a collective sigh of relief, and the light, happy mood returned. Anna switched from working on me to working on Heather.
As they talked, the older woman’s words bounced around in my head, almost like an omen.
Things were going spectacularly well between us, but I still had no idea how James felt about me. I was certain that I was much more to him than a faceless fuck or a notch in his bedpost by then, but we hadn’t exactly discussed the status of our relationship.
I hoped we could talk about it once James signed his new contract, eradicating the threat that our relationship could compromise his future.
My father had to postpone their meeting because he got caught up wherever he was, but as soon as that contract was signed, I planned on sitting James down and talking through it. Bubbles of nerves floated through me.
“What do you do?” I heard Anna ask Heather once I forced myself to focus on the present again.
“I’m an aspiring lawyer. Though, it doesn’t feel like the ‘aspiring’ part of that description can drop away fast enough.” Heather sighed, tension lining her eyes again.
Anna must have noticed the sudden tension as well bec
ause she waved her hand like she dismissed the notion and gave Heather a kind smile. “It will all be worth it in the end. When is the end?”
“I’m taking the bar exam in a month. But it feels like I haven’t slept in at least six months. I don’t even remember when the last time was that I did anything like we’re doing today.”
“That explains your split ends, then,” Anna teased. Heather squealed and reached for her hair. “Relax, I’m kidding.”
“You’ve never had a split end in your life, Heather,” I said. The last thing that Heather needed was something else to worry about, even it was something as trivial as having split ends.
“I don’t know about the rest of your life, but your hair is in great condition now,” Anna reassured her. “So, one more month until the bar exam, then?”
“Yeah,” Heather said. “I can’t wait for it to be over, but I also feel like I need three more months to study for it.”
“You definitely don’t need three more months, Heather. You’re ready. This last push is nothing but review for you.”
“True, but there’s so much to review. How’re you holding up?”
“I’m okay. Almost there. I was thinking of maybe waiting until the next sitting to take it, but now I’m seriously considering taking it with you.”
“It would be silly of you to wait. You can only study so much. Another six months would be torture.”
“Look who’s talking.” I stared at her pointedly.
Heather laughed but nodded her head. “Touche, old friend. Come on; I want to hear you say it.”
I blushed, remembering James saying almost those exact same words to me not so long ago. Dammit. Why did everything have to come back to him these days? “Say what?”
“Say, ‘Heather, I will take the bar exam with you in one month.’ You know you want to.”
She was right. I did want to. Now that I’d made up my mind to take the exam, I wanted to get it done. Not have it hanging over my head for months on end.
“Okay, I’ll say it. Heather, I think that I will take the exam with you in one month.” My lips curled into a smile. It felt good to say it out loud. I pushed all the nerves about confronting James away. This was a time to celebrate.
