Page 71 of This Could be Love

With eyes like saucers and a wildly beating heart, I watched him go.

Chapter 30

It sounds too trivial.The last words I thought about before falling asleep. The first ones I thought about when waking back up. But that came to an abrupt end when I looked at my phone and realized it was already eight.Shit!Why didn’t my alarm go off? Why didn’t Kay wake me up? I could forget about my morning jog, and if I didn’t get moving I could kiss my training match with Malia goodbye too. I jumped out of bed and hopped to the bathroom to brush my teeth, thanking my yesterday-me for taking a shower once I got back. Scrubbing my tongue, I looked into the mirror. I looked rushed but rested. Relaxed.Satisfied, a voice in my head whispered, and images and memories immediately filled my mind. Vince and me in the Jeep, me on his lap, him between my legs. I was starting to get horny. I could both see it in the mirror and feel it. Damn. Would people be able to see what happened last nighton my face all day long? Would I ever be able to look at a Jeep again without thinking about what had happened on the back seat? What Vince had done? With his hands, his mouth, his tongue? Before my cheeks could turn the color of raw salmon, I spit out my toothpaste and splashed cold water on my face.

When just a little while later I bounded down the stairs in a dark-blue tennis skirt and a red-and-white top, I remembered why Kay hadn’t woken me up. She had driven to Honolulu to see her accountant. And that’s why I’d set up the match with Malia. Who—I looked at my watch—would be showing up at the tennis school in ten minutes at the latest. I downed a glass of water, grabbed a banana, and shot out the door.

Hurrying to the school, I noticed the sky filled with fluffy clouds that kept on drifting across the sun. I took the shortest way that would still allow me to eat my banana and read my messages. My mother had sent selfies of her and Dad hiking in the mountains, and I was hit by a wave of sadness thinking we’d only see one another again in three weeks. I just skimmed the rest. One from Milan asking about my progress, one from Laurie asking if I’d have time to see her tonight. Which is exactly what her brother was asking me. Uh-oh. Laurie and I hadn’t done anything together since our film evening, and the last time we saw each other was already a good week ago. I didn’t want her to feel abandoned. But I wanted to see Vince too. I couldn’t lie.It sounds too trivial. I kept on wondering what he meant by that.Howhe meant it. In general or…as far as the two of us were concerned? Just like the coming evening, itwas accompanied by a wide range of emotions. Excitement and joy, confusion and…worry. As much as the romantic part of me wanted to melt away, the fact that Vince might feel something for me beyond physical attraction set off alarm bells in the rational part of me. It was simply out of the question. Whether I wanted it or not didn’t matter. It was impossible. I hadn’t come here to stay.

* * *

When I got back from training in the late afternoon, Kay was standing in the kitchen peeling a mango. We hadn’t seen each other yet today. After my match against Malia, I’d gotten on the ergometer to cool down. And after that, for an hour I’d returned tennis balls shot at me at seventy-five miles per hour. Gabe had given it his all, but my arms and legs were as heavy as lead. All I longed for was the couch. And I would definitelynotbe doing anything else today but eating dinner and falling into bed. I’d already canceled with Laurie. I was going to write Vince a long message after I’d relaxed a little.

“You’ve got a visitor.”

I briefly entertained the silly hope that it might be him, but he would never have just turned up here like that.

“I told her that she could wait for you here.”

Her?I followed Kay’s index finger to the terrace, where Laurie was sitting, typing away on her phone.

“You let someone with the last name of Greenfield into your house?” I teased, dropping my tennis bag onto the ground.

She rolled her eyes only half-seriously and cut the yellowish orange fruit into pieces. I pulled off my tennis shoes and socks and walked outside.

“Hey!” I called out.

She looked up and smiled. A bit more restrained than usual it seemed.

“How long have you been here?”

“Five minutes tops.” She made a carefree gesture. “Your godmother said it’d be okay for me to wait for you here.”

“Of course.” I sat down next to her at the table. “Do you want anything to drink?”

“Thanks. Your godmother already offered. She was really nice.”

Laurie sounded surprised, and I had to laugh. “You mean for being the local bitch?”

She grinned. “Well, I wasn’t sure she’d even open the door for me.”

“You don’t look enough like your brother for that.”

Once again her smile looked more reserved than what I was used to from her. She let her gaze wander. “This is a really nice place.”

“Yeah, you can get by okay,” I said with a wink.

“But”—her eyes came back to me—“your plans haven’t changed, right?”

“My plans?”

“Well, I mean, you’re flying to the US Open. Or aren’t you?”

“Of course.” I furrowed my brow. “Why should something have changed there?”

Laurie hesitated. “Well, I mean… You and Vince, you all…seem to get along pretty well.”

“We…um…yeah. I think so.” My cheeks began to grow flushed as the memories of last night flashed before my mind’s eye. One in particular. His head between my legs. His tongue…