Page 22 of She Devil
‘Thank you. It was completely deserted when I first bought it, with just an old ramshackle house and one hell of an overgrown mess. It’s been quite a challenge to get it to the state it’s in now.’
She raises an eyebrow. ‘How long have you owned it?’
‘I bought it at the pinnacle of my tennis career, five years ago. Winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year meant the sponsorship money came flooding in, and then the opportunity to set up my own sports clothing line came about, which I grabbed with two hands.’
I glance at her, but she’s looking down at the sand, her brow set in a small frown.
‘My father suggested I invest the money I made, rather than fritter it all away, which I thought was good advice,’ I go on, feeling a need to fill the silence. ‘But I also really liked the idea of having a place where I could both train and holiday away from prying eyes. The press seemed to be particularly interested in me at that point and I found it exhausting trying to go about my day-to-day business in England.’
She stops to take off her shoes and pushes her bare feet through the sand, her colourful toenails disappearing then reappearing again like shy sea creatures. ‘It must be nice to have somewhere you can hide from the rest of the world,’ she says, turning to look at me now.
Am I imagining it or is that a wistful look on her face?
‘It is,’ I agree. ‘It never occurred to me that my private life would become such public property before I started winning major tournaments, so it’s been great to have a place where I can get away from the press and relax. I only ever wanted to play tennis. I’ve never been interested in the fame that comes with it.’
She doesn’t say anything to this but I sense her internally raising an eyebrow at that and I’m sure I see her mouth twitch at the corner.
‘It’s been ten years since we knew each other, April. Don’t you think it’s possible there’s more depth to me now than you’re willing to acknowledge?’ I chide, experiencing a jab of hurt at what feels like unfair judgement.
There’s a small pause while she seems to contemplate this. ‘I guess there’s a chance you might have changed since then,’ she grudgingly admits, shooting me a reluctant small smile of acknowledgment.
A grin twitches at the corner of my mouth. I get the impression she’s still struggling with having to play nice with me. But she’s going to have to do a lot more of it before our three days together are up. I’ll make damn sure of it.
As if she’s sensed me thinking this, she slowly moves towards me, her gaze intent on mine, closing the distance between us till we’re standing only inches apart.
‘You know, since we’ve forgiven each other there shouldn’t be anything stopping us from moving on with our deal now,’ she says, reaching out a hand to brush away a leaf that’s snagged on the shoulder of my shirt.
My heart relocates to my throat at the touch of her fingers and the atmosphere suddenly becomes charged with promise.
She reaches behind her and slides down the zip at the back of her dress, keeping her eyes fixed on mine, daring me to react.
I stare back, a pulse ticking in my jaw.
Once again she’s trying to force things to move on before I want them to.
But I’m going to make sure this happens on my terms. I won’t let her control it. No matter how much I might want to kiss her right now.
Defiance flares in her eyes as the dress slithers down her body to expose the black balconette bra she’s wearing underneath which pushes her breasts upwards into two generous mounds.
I struggle not to give in and look down.
Reaching behind her, she undoes the clasp and slides first one bra strap, then the other down her arm until it falls away from her body and she’s standing brazenly in front of me, half-naked, her face set in an expression of dignified purpose. And it’s so fucking hot.
The sound of our ragged breathing is the only noise in my head and it takes all my willpower to keep my hands at my sides and give her a bland smile. ‘You can’t let go, can you? You can’t stand not to be in charge for one second,’ I tease her.
‘Of course I can,’ she retorts, as if I’ve just made the most ridiculous suggestion ever.
I shake my head. ‘That’s not how this is going to work. I thought I made it clear earlier, I’m not interested in a quick fuck. I want us to get to a point where we can stand to be in a room together again and in order to do that we need to reconnect properly. I want to know there are no issues left between us so I can finally put the past to bed.’
‘And you think proving you can make me come is going to achieve that?’
I flash her a grin. ‘It’s worth a try, don’t you think?’
She lets out a snort, which could either mean she agrees, even though she thinks it’s a crazy idea, or she just thinks I’m plain crazy.
‘But not tonight,’ I say, reaching forward to snag her dress between the finger and thumb of each hand and slide it back up her body, holding out the arm holes so she can grudgingly slip a hand through each one. Once she’s done this, I glide the straps back up her arms towards her shoulders. She gives a little shiver as the front slips over her beautiful bare breasts, the material catching for a moment on her erect, rose-pink nipples, and I feel a sting of regret as they vanish from sight.
I’m so close to her like this, I can feel the heat radiating from her body. She lets out a small, unguarded sound in the back of her throat, like a strangled cough, as I push the straps of the dress back onto her shoulders, my thumbs grazing the soft skin of her collarbone.
