Page 11 of OneTime Lovers
“Okay, girls, we’ve got this. Luke has no idea how much tennis we played together in college. He won’t expect me to be able to play well, so he’s bound to go easy on me. If that fails, I should still be able to get the win with some sexy bribery.”
She barely takes a breath before facing Lily. “Don’t stress, you’ll be fine. It’ll be tough against Blake, he’s super competitive and from what Luke tells me––hates to lose any bet. Give it your best shot.”
Then it’s my turn to get the Cassie pep talk. “Jas, my girl, I have absolute faith you’re going to own Scotty. Imagine he is one of your brothers, they always bring out your competitive spirit. He won’t know what hit him.”
“Got it, Captain Cassie. I need to hit him,” I respond enthusiastically.
Laughing, Cassie exclaims, “No, don’t hurt him. Or at least don’t bruise him anywhere that it will show up in my wedding photos.”
“Nice. Play hard. Win harder. Someone needs to knock the smile off his handsome, smug face.” And I’m going to enjoy being the person to do that. Lily and Cassie both turn to look at me curiously.
Lily puts her hands on her hips. “You two need to rein in your competitive spirit.” Sweet, kind Lily as always is the voice of reason. But when have I ever listened to a voice of reason?
I link my arm through hers as I remind her, “Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t want a hunky man as your personal butler for the day. Making you cocktails on request. Rubbing sun lotion on your back. Whoa, I’m getting hot just thinking about it.” I wave my hand furiously in front of my face.
I can’t deny that as annoying as Scott can be, I wouldn’t mind having him rub his hands all over me.
Lily pretends to think about this for a moment before getting right onboard with the idea, “Okay––you’ve convinced me. We are going to take these dudes down with our girl-power skills.”
“That’s the spirit, Lil. They are going down,” I agree.
Pep talks over and we are ready for our tennis challenge, only one thing remains to be done.
“Group hug, girls,” I announce loudly, and we wrap our arms around each other.
And it’s how the guys find us as they come around the corner of the building carrying the tennis gear.
“Shit, that’s hot,” drawls Scott, “I wouldn’t mind being stuck in the middle of that circle.”
Before he gets any ideas, I say, “No boys allowed.” We move apart and walk over to select a racket.
Scott leans in toward me and whispers, “I’m a man, not a boy.”
Argh! Boy, man, whatever, he’s impossible. There is only one way to teach Scott a lesson and it’s on the court. Let the games begin.
Cassie and Luke are on court first, and as planned, Cassie hides her skills till the last moment. The look of surprise on Luke’s face was priceless as Cassie posted a win for the girls’ team.
Next up are Lily and Blake. Lily plays her heart out managing to win some points off Blake but unfortunately, he has a killer serve and along with his height and strength, he takes the win easily for the boys.
Now it’s my turn. Scott strolls confidently to the opposite end of the court. This is going to be fun.
And fun it is. Each of the first four games go to deuce with us both winning two. It’s close as we prepare for the decider game. I serve and Scott returns. Back and forth we battle, each drawing on all our skills. Sweat drips from my brow but pleasingly it’s the same for him.
It comes down to my last serve. I make him run wide. He makes me run to the net, big mistake. I smash the ball with all my might, and it bounces just inside the line. Scott tries to reach it but doesn’t quite make it. My brothers would have been so proud.
The girls and I chant loudly as we do a silly victory dance, much to the boy’s disgust. To be fair, we are unbearable in our joy at winning the bet. A bet I plan to take full advantage of, after I’ve cooled down in the pool.
Exhausted, I walk back toward the resort, carried along by thoughts of diving into the refreshing water. My friends choose instead to return to the chilly air-conditioning of our bungalow. Thankfully, the pool area is deserted, even the staff aren’t around, and after the noisy, energetic game it’s nice to find an oasis of calm.
I sigh contentedly as I begin to peel the sticky t-shirt and shorts off my skin. Then stripped down to my bikini, I dive into the cool blue water. It’s refreshing against my overheated skin as I swim several strokes underwater.
Ripples of another person diving into the pool disturb my tranquility and when we surface beside each other at the same time––I see it’s Scott.
He is standing close in front of me, so close I can see the water droplets clinging to his thick eyelashes. I brush the water from my own eyes in an attempt to break the invisible connection between us.
“Well played,” he drawls in his deep Australian accent. “You are a woman full of surprises.”
Smiling up at him, I say, “I like to surprise; I’d hate to be predictable.”
