Page 28 of Rivals and Liars

In reality, it was a simple formality. Leire had already signed a preliminary renewal agreement with the brand a few weeks earlier, while Isaac negotiated the new terms, but now she had the chance to redeem herself — to say she didn't want to keep promoting a brand that made her feel invisible.

Her hand trembled when she picked up the pen, and she noticed her palms were sweating. She hadn't even found the courage to tell Kate she'd signed the preliminary agreement, and she couldn't think of any way to explain that she'd made it official.

"You'll be protected until you retire, Leire," her father went on, resting a hand on her arm. "Think of it as a guarantee for the future — with that money well managed, you'll never have to work again."

She couldn't focus. Isaac kept clicking his own pen and watching her impatiently. She thought about Kate again — about how she wished Kate were here, by her side, helping her face the pressure these two men were putting on her, helping her find the courage to say no, to say she was tired of hiding who she was, to gather the strength she needed to be honest with herself, to make a choice and choose Kate too. But the redhead wasn't here, and the pressure and the fear — that turning down this sponsorship would put her on some blacklist and send what was left of her career into a tailspin — were too much.

She moved her hand without thinking, and when she blinked, her signature was there, scrawled across a multimillion-dollar contract that would let her keep competing without worrying about money until she retired.

"Congratulations," Isaac said, scooping up the contract quickly, as if he were afraid she'd snatch it from his hands and tear it apart.

Her father squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her, pleased.

"This calls for a celebration," the agent went on, glowing.

"You two celebrate," Leire murmured, standing up, unable to look at either of them, ashamed of herself.

Five years ago, when she signed the previous contract, the image clause — which in plain terms meant no being seen with women — hadn't mattered to her at all. She'd just turned twenty-six, she was single, and the last thing on her mind was relationships. She was completely focused on her career, and anything that had nothing to do with tennis was just a distraction. But she wasn't that Leire anymore. She was thirty-one now, her priorities had started to shift, and she had Kate.

What started as a hot, fun fling had moved forward at the same pace their feelings for each other grew, and Leire had begun to feel trapped once she realized that nothing she gave Kate was ever enough.

She still remembered the first serious conversation they'd ever had. They'd been in Rome for a smaller tournament, and Kate had snuck into her room that night. They were both exhausted from an especially brutal day on the court that had left them with nothing left to give, so instead of fucking like they always did, they lay down together and put on a movie and watched it all the way through.

"This is nice," Kate whispered. She was resting against Leire's chest.

"What is?" She shifted a little and they turned onto their sides to face each other.

"This." The Australian gestured between them. "You and me here watching a terrible movie at one in the morning."

"Yeah," Leire breathed, and she couldn't help smiling as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind Kate's ear.

"We could do more things together — not just the moaning part," Kate suggested, pulling a loud laugh out of the Spanish woman.

"Like what kind of things?"

"I don't know, the kind of things everyone does when their relationship isn't limited to a hotel room."

Leire's expression darkened instantly, but Kate decided not to stop.

"We've got a lot of chemistry in bed, Leire, but I think we've got it outside of it too. We could take things further, get to know each other better, make this something more serious — not just a little fun whenever we happen to be in the same place."

Leire had a ringing in her ears that cut straight through, and her chest felt so tight her ribs ached.

"You know I'm not out, Kate…"

"I'm not asking you to come out. You don't have to for us to be able to see each other outside of here. We could go grab food, meet up to train, take a walk, go to the movies — nothing two friends wouldn't do."

"You know they'd start to suspect. By the third time, rumors of a possible relationship would be spreading everywhere, and I'm not ready for that."

Kate rolled over, faced the ceiling, and put her hands behind her head.

"Okay," she said after a moment. "I get it. But I need you to clear something up for me."

She turned back toward her and ran a finger along her scar without thinking.

"Do you want to keep this going as something more serious, or is it still just sex with no expectations?"

"I like you," she blurted. "I wouldn't sleep with you if I didn't, but I'm not able to promise you anything more while the Costel contract is still running, and that's over two years away. I'm not going to ask you to put your life on hold for me, Kate. If you find someone else, it'll hurt, but I'll understand."