Page 56 of Best Year Ever
“It would be lovely,” Rori jokes, saying the last word with an English accent.
“We’ll need to keep things low key because of the press too, but I’m excited to see you crush it, baby.”
“Come here,” Rori orders, her voice deepening with the command. I meet her eyes and see a certain look that promises a good night.
I stand up and walk around the table, and she stands up to meet me. Grabbing me by the neck of my t-shirt, she pulls me down and locks our lips together. I sink into the kiss and wrap my hands around her back, closing any remaining space between us.
After a couple of minutes, we break apart, and Rori rests her hand on my upper arm gently. “It’ll be great to have you there. Thank you for thinking of everything.”
I plant a kiss on the tip of her nose and we walk to her couch for our last night of reality TV for a while, holding each other’s hands.
The next morning I plan to leave at seven, my normal time. I want to give Rori a little space to finish packing and get organized for the long trip.
We wake up about an hour before and quickly reach for each other in the breaking morning light. Everything is gentle and slow to start, as I enter her at a leisurely pace.
“You feel fucking perfect, Rori. Everything with you is another level,” I confess while pushing inside her.
She doesn’t say anything in return, just kisses me hard.
As I feel her getting close, her pussy squeezing me tight, I pick up my pace. Soon we are both toppling over the edge in each other’s arms. The intimacy of the experience is undeniable.
I hug her as we both come down from the intensity and bury my head in her neck.
“I’ll miss you, babe.”
“Me too, Landon,” she says softly into my ear. “I can’t wait to see you in London.”
“Me neither,” I say back.
Holding her in my arms, my head still resting in her neck, I make a confession.
“It’ll be tough not being able to do this for the next few weeks. But I’m starting to realize that some things are worth the wait, Rori.”
Soon afterwards, I force myself up, walk Grover in her backyard, and say our final goodbye.
“I’ll text you when I land,” Rori promises.
“Fuck that, text me before you take off.” I laugh. “No seriously, write me as much as you want.”
Rori’s face breaks out in a big grin. “Okay, I will.”
And then I hit the road for Orlando.
CHAPTER 20
Rori
JUNE
As soon as we touch ground in London, I’m buzzing. It’s 7:45 PM here and the energy of Heathrow is a complete 180 degrees from my quiet cottage in Tampa. People of all ages, speaking several different languages, mill around as we get out of customs.
“It feels real now,” I say quietly to Julie.
“Yep, here we go,” she replies in a focused tone.
Dad steers us to the private car waiting to take us to a large rental house which will be our home base during the grass court season. The Hesters kindly took Buster in for the next few weeks. Apparently, he’s become besties with their two dogs, so it’s a nice setup.
Maggie and Peter will be staying with us, as well as another American player on the rise, Malcolm Solomon. I don’t know him very well. At nineteen, he is starting to breakthrough on the men’s side. He came from one of the big California training academies, so we haven’t had a lot of chances to interact.
