Page 94 of Playing for Keeps

“But Porsche sent you a free car?”

“I worked hard for my free car,” she said with a sly smile. “You have to be doing really well to make it worthwhile for companies to give you expensive gifts. It’s also not really a gift. It’s part of their marketing.”

“It does sound impressive,” he agreed, then ran his hand over her shoulder. “But you don’t play professionally any more.”

She shook her head. “I don’t play at all. That big tournament I was in …”

“The one that scored you a Porsche?”

“Yes, that one. It was just a one-day event … We were almost done and I was all set to win.” She paused, expecting the usual rush of emotions as she recalled that day, but she found herself perfectly calm. “I went to take my shot and felt this crack in my shoulder, and then a lot of pain. I had to stop playing. It turned out I’d torn my rotator cuff and it ended my golf career.”

Hugh winced. “I’m sorry.”

“It was kind of a crappy time,” she said, understating it somewhat. “At first I thought I’d recover and get back to golfing. In the meantime, I went to help my dad out with running the golf club. I did that anyway between golf tournaments so it was a natural transition. It was only supposed to be temporary, but eventually it became clear that my shoulder wouldn’t heal well enough for me to get back to playing golf professionally.”

“So you just stuck to working at the golf club and doing the social media thing?”

“I gave up the social media stuff. My heart wasn’t in it and I didn’t have the right energy for it.”

“Is that why your dad encouraged you to come here for a change of scenery?”

“Partly …” She leaned her head on his shoulder, considering how good it felt to share her past with him. Which instantly made her think of the phone call when he’d refused to open up to her. “There’s more to it,” she said, then turned to look him square on. “I wanted to get something straight first … about us … our relationship …” Inwardly, she winced and waited for his reaction, but she didn’t get one. “I know originally we said we were only looking for fun—”

“As I recall, it was mostly you who insisted you weren’t looking for a relationship. I’m fairly sure you made me promise not to fall in love with you.”

She felt heat flood her cheeks. That seemed pretty arrogant now, as though there was no way it would be her who’d fall in love. It was made more amusing by the fact that she was definitely falling in love with him.

“Anyway.” She sucked in a breath. “I wanted to be clear that I don’t see things that way now. We haven’t known each other for very long, but I don’t just see this as fun.”

“Me neither.”

Tension left her shoulders. “That’s good to hear.”

“Did you really need to clarify that with me? I’d have thought it was obvious.”

“I thought we were on the same page but …” Pausing, she pressed her lips together. “I keep thinking about how you reacted when I asked you about your mum. You not wanting to tell me about it stung a little.”

He visibly tensed and a muscle in his jaw worked. “I told you I don’t like to talk about my mum with anyone.”

“Yeah.” She nodded slowly. “That’s fine. Except you’ve just lumped me into the category of anyone. And I don’t want to be just anyone. I want to be the person who you can talk to about this stuff. If not now, then eventually.”

“Oh.” His features softened.

“I want us to be honest with each other. About everything.”

“Okay.” He visibly swallowed.

“Have I freaked you out?” she asked.

“No.” He tilted his head from side to side. “Maybe a little. I’m so used to not speaking about my mum that I’m not even sure where to start.” For a moment, he looked thoughtful, then his brows drew together. “I haven’t seen you in days, and I need to leave in about two minutes. Is it okay if we don’t talk about my mum now?”

“Yes.” She frowned. “I thought you had some time before you needed to pick Emmy up.”

“I don’t need to leave for the airport yet, but it’s Alice’s birthday. There’s a little party at Leo’s place.”

She felt a rush of disappointment. “Are you going straight to the airport from there?”

“Yes.” Dipping his head, he brushed a soft kiss against her lips. He began to withdraw, then seemed to think better of it and clamped his hand at the back of her neck to deepen the kiss.

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