Page 31 of Risk Assessment
Once he was ready, and he and Raleigh were together, then they would take the world by storm. They would be reigningroyalty once again. With her by his side, there was nothing they could not do.
Not. One. Thing. But he needed to be patient.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax his death grip on the coffee cup. All this daydreaming was not doing him any good. No more lapses.
He continued to scrutinize the game from his position amidst the trees. The women were engrossed in their play. No one wanted to lose. He decided this was the moment.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Raleigh wiped sweat from her brow and looked around. Dylan was running laps around a near-by track. A warmth flooded her heart as she tossed the ball in the air and brought her racket down on it as hard as she could. The ball flew over the court, skimming just over the top of the net, and dropped like it was made of stone.
Jenn missed it by a mile.
“Yes!” Raleigh’s partner, Marielle, yelled as she raised her fist in the air.
The pert blond was obviously thrilled if her wide smile was an indicator. She adjusted her pale pink tennis dress and tried to dim her grin, but her blue eyes twinkled with joy. Although Raleigh shared the sentiment, she kept her mouth shut. Jenn was clearly livid. It was written all over her perfect face. Her eyes were practically shooting fire. Her lips were pressed thin, white with rage.
They all approached the net. “Good game,” Raleigh said to Jenn’s partner Diane, a tall brunette with a lively smile and brown eyes. She wore a blue tennis dress with matching tennis shoes and racket. After shaking the woman’s hand, Raleighleaned over and offered her hand to Jenn, who glanced down at it and then immediately stalked off toward the bench where they’d stowed their bags. Raleigh glanced over at Diane who shrugged.
“Must be wedding stress,” Marielle mused. “Don’t worry about it, Raleigh. She’s just, um, a little upset this morning.”
“Is there something wrong?”
“No,” Diane said quickly, shooting a silencing glance at Marielle. “Everything is fine. Jenn’s not thrilled Dylan is here obviously so, you know she’s a bit on edge.” She turned and walked over to join the bride-to-be.
Marielle sighed. “Don’t mind them. You’re really good. Where did you learn to play?”
“I grew up in Connecticut. My parents were big players, so they made me take lessons my whole life. I was never a huge fan, but it’s nice to get out and play every once in a while. How about you? Have you been playing long?”
“No. A couple of years. I think Jenn only asks me to play because she knows she can beat me.” She rolled her eyes. “It was really nice to win today, so thanks for that.”
“It was a team effort.” Raleigh smiled. “Well, I guess we should get going.” She nodded at the players entering the court. They both started toward the bench, chatting idly about the weather. It was warm and beautiful, perfect for the wedding.
Raleigh glanced around to locate Dylan. He was on the track but now he was stretching. The thought of him close by kept her belly free of fear and the weight off her shoulders.
Jenn glared at Raleigh as she continued to gather her things. “I guess we’ll see you at lunch,” she sniped as soon as Raleigh was close enough to hear. “Please see Donna beforehand so she can tell you what to focus on in your next article.” With that, she grabbed her bag and flounced off, her tennis skirt flapping in the breeze.
Raleigh gritted her teeth. The warm feels that she’d been carrying around all morning from waking up next to Dylan just died with that statement. She hated being ordered around.
Always had.
She tried to reclaim her calm state of joy, but it was gone. This morning she’d opened her eyes after the first real night’s sleep she’d had in weeks to find herself all snuggled into Dylan with his arm wrapped around her waist. She was safe and at ease, something she hadn’t been in a long time.
And as she lay there, she started to feel other things, too. When he’d pulled her tight against him, his hardness pressed against her butt. If she hadn’t moved, it would have been awkward when he awoke, and after he’d backed away from her last night, she didn’t want to make things worse. That’s when she had decided to get up.
“Please don’t pay attention to Jenn. She’s just overwhelmed. The wedding…” Marielle’s voice petered out.
“Yes. It’s a big weekend. Stressful for anyone,” Diane said, trying to normalize everything, but it was obvious there were plenty of undercurrents at work.
Raleigh sat down. She smoothed out the skirt of her white tennis dress. “You know, I feel really bad. I didn’t know about Jenn and Dylan.”
Both women turned toward her. “You didn’t know?” Marielle asked, incredulous.
“No. Dylan and I have never discussed any of our exes by name. I mean, it’s all in the past, right? It never occurred to either one of us that I would end up working his ex-fiancée’s wedding. I usually only do PR for major cultural events. This is my first wedding.”
The women were silent as they drank from their water bottles. Eventually, Diane said, “Well, there’s an argument to be made that this wedding is a major cultural event for BedfordHills.” She smiled as she tucked her blue tennis racket into her bag.
Marielle laughed.
