Page 52 of A Follow-Through in Faking
“Your back?” Charlie asks, and I let out a strained breath.
“Yeah,” I reply, noticing Ness and Sage walking toward where I am on the floor with worry on their faces.
“Okay, that is it. You are taking a three-day break from training. Go lie by the pool and do absolutely nothing today before our flight tomorrow,” Charlie announces. “Preferably go into the sauna too, get some heat on your body. Sweat everything out,” they go on, helping me finish up my stretches.
“I can’t. There is too much to do. I have to go to Argentina for Santi’s next tournament,train for my next tournament, figure out a way to be around Santi, and, and, and,” I say, hopefully making my point that there is no time to rest.
“I don’t care if the whole world explodes if you lie down. You need rest, or your back is only going to get worse,” Charlie says, earning several nods from Sage and Vanessa.
“Fine, I’ll take the rest of the day and tomorrow off. It’s a long flight to Argentina anyway.” Twenty hours, give or take.
Usually, if I’m sitting for that long, I make it my mission to do some sort of workout before, to tire myself out, but Charlie is right. I need to rest if I want to win my next tournament. Plus, I want my back to get better.
“Good girl. Now go,” Charlie says, and I hate them for smirking at me when a blush takes over my entire face.
I throw my sweaty towel at their face and leave the room.
Santiago
I’ve been giving Catalina space, but when Charlie texted me, telling me to figure my shit out with her before the next tournament—to make sure there will be no tension between us after that amazing kiss that went on the front pages of every news outlet—I ran at the chance to see mymariquita.
It was out of respect for her that I’ve stayed away, that I didn’t ask her to tell me why she kissed me after all. Why she chose one of the best moments in my life and made it even better. I want to ask her if she might have feelings for me too, or if it’s all one-sided. But the last question is never going to come out of my mouth, at least not if I can help it.
Then again, I also told myself I’d never have feelings for another person, and here I fucking am, speedwalking to get to Cata.
Charlie told me she’d be at the pool area, but Cata still takes my breath away. She’s spread out on a lounge chair by the pool, nothing but a bikini and hat covering her. It’s an indoor pool area you need access to with a keycard—Charlie gave me theirs—so I understand why she’s not on guard right now, why she looks so relaxed and peaceful. No one who isn’t also a guest here could walk in, but there is no one here.
She’s all by herself in that tiny bikini, and I feel heat consuming my whole body.
I didn’t know she had a tattoo, let alone several. I’m too far away to study any of them, but I like the fact that she has them. It’s something we can potentially bond over, our love for the ink on our skin. There are several on my chest and back, a few hidden near my ankle where I can always cover them with socks. My favorites are the two vines running along where my V-line is, Tornado’s face tattooed near my ribcage, and the tennis racket incorporated into a heartbeat line to show I live and breathe for the sport I love.
My feet move long before I manage to catch my jaw off the floor, but I don’t care. I’m too busy studying her curves, the thickness of her thighs, the swoop of her breasts, the width of her shoulders, the sharpness of her facial features. I study all of her. Her pale skin tone, her long hair, and the way she scowls at whatever book she’s reading on her ereader at the moment.
“Catalina,” I say, her name full of the tension I feel all over my body because of her. Because I have never, ever seen her in a bikini before, so much of her exposed to me, and it’s fucking with my head.
All of that fades away, though, as she panics and reaches for her towel, covering her chest.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—” She cuts me off before I can finish my apology.
“It’s fine.” Cata puts her ereader away, grabbing her shirt and slipping it over her head to hide from me. “What are you doing here?” she asks, studying me, her eyes getting stuck on my naked chest.
“I thought we could talk,” I start, settling down in the lounge chair beside hers.
“About?”
“Don’t play dumb, Cata. You’re far too smart for me to believe that shit,” I reply, blushing a little when she studies the lines of my tattoos on my upper body. “I want to talk about that kiss.” Cata snorts before looking me dead in the eye.
“It was the heat of the moment. It meant nothing,” she says, her voice firm.
“To you,” I clarify, making her look at me with confusion.
“What?” Her blue eyes are full of all the feelings that terrify her. The same ones that terrify me, but in very different ways. She’s scared I’ll hurt her again. I’m scared because she’s the only one I’ve ever felt this way about.
“It meant nothing to you. You don’t get to decide what it meant to me.” Her features soften, but she shakes her head like this is a conversation we shouldn’t even have in the first place.
“It can’t have meant anything, Santi. It can’t happen again.” My next words practically fly out of my mouth.
“But I want it to. I want to kiss you. As a matter of fact, I want to do all sorts of things with you.”
