Page 30 of Double Fault

Her eyes fill with sympathy. “You’re doing the best you can while diving back into your career, but that doesn’t make it any easier for Maddie. All she knows is her dad said he’d be here to tuck her in, and then he wasn’t.”

I scrub a hand over my jaw, my stubble rasping against my palm.

Under normal circumstances, I might snap at her.

But I’m too tired to argue. And though I hate to admit it, she’sright.

I let my little girl down.

Deflating, I look at our bedroom door, envisioning my sweet girl curled up with her teddy bear. Tennis is my job, my passion, but she’s mylife.

And fuck if I’m not an asshole for getting caught up in my own shit and forgetting that while I lost my wife, she lost her mother.

I huff out a breath and rake my hand through my hair. “I’ll talk to her in the morning.”

Sabrina nods and picks her wine back up. “You might as well have more.” She tips her head at the bottle on the table in front of me. “You’re paying for it, and I picked the most expensive one they have.”

Head lowered, I squeeze my eyes shut. “Of course you did.”

“You owed me.”

“Mhm.” I take another swig straight out of the bottle. “I did. Ido.”

Standing, she picks up her glass. “I think I’ll turn in.”

She’s almost to her room when I say, “Don’t go running by yourself.”

When she spins around, her dark eyes are narrowed into slits.

My lips twitch. My traitorous dick twitches too.

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

“It’s not safe.”

“Even the hotel gym?”

I shake my head. “No.”

I’m sure it’s safe enough. There are bound to be cameras. But I don’t like the idea of her there on her own.

She plants a hand on the curve of her hip, brow arched in challenge. “Are you offering to run with me?”

“Sure,” I say, surprising both of us. “Running is part of my training.”

“And who’s going to watch Maddie?”

I spin the wine bottle around, balancing it on its base. “She can hang out with Fisher for a while. He’s practically her uncle.”

With her tongue pressed to the inside of her cheek, she looks away.

Fuck. I close my eyes, silently cursing myself for even contemplating what she might look like with that sassy mouth wrapped around my cock.

“I don’t understand you, Noah.”

I take a long swallow of the wine. “Trust me, I don’t either.”

With a sigh, she turns, her dark curls swishing around her shoulders.

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