Chapter 10 #2
“Good job. Then you want your racket in front of you like this.” I showed her my stance and said, “And get your knees bent a little so you’re prepared to move when the ball comes.
Then, like your dad said, keep your eye on the ball.
” I turned to Jameson, who was assessing us quietly. “Want to toss the ball her way again?”
For a moment longer, he held my gaze and then looked down at his daughter. Her face was scrunched with determination.
“You’re doing great, Franny,” he murmured, but he was saying it to me. He gave me one nod, and I knew it was him recognizing how good this was for her. He agreed, finally. She had needed this, and I couldn’t help but let a smile slip.
He lobbed the ball her way and then said to me, “You’re next, and I won’t be as easy on your serve.”
I let out a ha and got ready for it.
We played back and forth every other time, keeping Franny involved but letting our competitiveness fuel the one-on-one volleys.
At one point, another little girl came to watch and asked Franny to bounce balls at the court next to us.
I saw Jameson motion behind him, and there were Hades and Archer, moving in to make sure Franny was well watched.
From that point on, I was merciless on that court.
We played for real, and Jameson didn’t go easy on me.
It felt good to push myself and shut down everything else.
We didn’t talk at all other than a swear from him here and there, but on the second to last point to win the match, he screwed me on a fake-out.
I stormed toward the net and growled, “What a cheap, lazy shot.”
“What?” He actually laughed.
“Well it was!” I laughed too at how rude I was being.
But then he rubbed his jaw and pointed his racket at me. “You’d have taken that exact same swing if you had the chance, Darling,” he threw back, his hand resting on his hip.
“Oh, bullshit.” I smiled, but when I realized what I had said, the laughter on my lips died as my eyes widened.
I didn’t swear at work nor at my boss. I’d forgotten my place and let it slip.
His gaze didn’t turn cold though, instead it danced with fire as one side of his mouth kicked up. “A little bit of devil in that darling, I see.”
“Sorry.”
I shook my head and started to step back, but he caught a finger in my collar and leaned close. “Don’t apologize to me for this. I’d rather get the real you over the buttoned-up version any day.”
I bit my lip, trying to hold back a smile because it felt like a compliment when I shouldn’t be seeking one from him.
Somehow, in playing this game against one another, we’d gained mutual respect.
I appreciated that he didn’t hold back, that he met me with his best, and that he let Franny play beside us, allowing her to be a kid while we were adults equal to one another.
When he held me by the collar a second longer, I felt the spark, and there was no denying the dip in my stomach. I shouldn’t read into what he said or question him about exactly how much of the real me he wanted. So I glanced at his lips and licked mine, backing away.
He let me go that time, his eyes glued on the spot where my tongue darted out as he backed away too. “Last serve, Mia. Should we make it count?” He held my gaze, and I swear the air crackled with tension. It was palpable, tangible and impossible to ignore.
I was competitive, had been all through high school and college. And this was something more than competition. This was attraction, deeply rooted and profound for me in a way I’d never felt before.
Yet before he served it, a woman with dark red hair that coiled around her shoulders and down her back walked toward him. “Jameson, you’re out and about today.”
His jaw ticked, his whole body tensing. Maybe it was that I was there, or maybe he just didn’t want to deal with her, but I knew that voice and had a hard time focusing on him when my mind raced quickly at seeing her.
It was like a bucket of ice water doused me.
Valerie the psychiatrist was gorgeous. Tall. Toned. And full in all the right places. He probably was taking her in like I was, because he was a man. How could he not? Plus, he knew her with clothes on and without.
And it seemed she was also a member of the country club, and when she smiled at me and said, “Introduce me to your friend,” I felt like I was absolutely not.
Of course she’d look this good after playing tennis, whereas I was drenched in sweat and felt my curls blowing wildly in the wind. “She’s Franny’s nanny, Val. We’re just finishing up here.”
“Oh.” Her eyebrow raised because she knew he was dismissing her. “Well, then. Good to meet you, Ms. Darling. I’ve heard great things. Take care of Jameson and Franny for me until tomorrow. I’ll see you at the usual time?” She communicated so much with those few words.
He nodded like he just wanted her to leave. I did too. Suddenly, the bubble around our match had broken, and we were exposed again.
I was down one, and when he served, I let loose something coiled in me.
Sports were about controlling your emotions, and my control was slipping.
Seeing how he talked with these women, how he’d kissed Valerie on the cheek and murmured something in her ear before she left, how he told her he’d see her tomorrow. How he was almost gentle with all of them and yet so cold with me.
My smash was too hard. It flew out of bounds and Jameson watched, not even going for it.
There went my emotion. And there he stood, cold and detached, letting it fly by.
It was a demonstration to me that I didn’t belong here.
“Game, set, match, Mia,” he said softly, extending his hand out over the net like I should shake it.
I knew everyone was looking on. Probably Franny too. So, I swallowed my pride and gritted out, “Good game, Mr. Knight,” as I walked up to him and shook it.
The electricity in our touch was still there, the way my blood pumped with a heat I shouldn’t have, and the sizzle I shouldn’t feel on my skin was almost too intense. I tried to pull my hand away, but he held me there for a second longer.
“That last hit was in fury.” He searched my face.
“What?” I whispered.
“You heard me. Tell me why.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shook my head. Was he asking if I was jealous? If I didn’t want to see him with other women? I would never admit to that. “We should get Franny out of the sun.”
“You used to play. Why did you stop?”
“Injury.”
“You don’t seem the type to just quit.” He still held my hand hostage, trying to find out more about me than I would ever tell him. My quitting shifted my whole life and my whole makeup. It wasn’t something I would share with just anyone.
“Maybe I just wanted to.”
“You’re not good at lying, Mia,” he murmured.
“Good game, Daddy.” Franny bounded up to us. “You’ll win next time, Ms. Darling. Are you guys ready for chicken tenders? They have some on the menu today. My friend told me.”
I nodded, and Jameson let me go to put an arm around Franny.
As we walked through the clubhouse, I reminded myself that Paradise Grove was paradise to everyone except me. I was still getting odd looks and knew these women were making it a point to show I didn’t belong. They flocked to Jameson as we ate and openly glared at me as they did.
I paid them no attention, showing Franny how she could mix ranch and ketchup instead, and we giggled over her adding more ketchup for the perfect pink color.
Jameson Knight, though, here at the clubhouse, was a man in his own element. It was obvious he knew when to smile at all the right times and how to charm each and every person that approached him. The broody personality he had with me never came out.
The way they fawned over him should have been a turnoff, but I saw Jameson more relaxed, like he knew the environment and controlled it well. His eyes flicked toward the door every now and then though, like he was still on guard and mindful to keep Franny safe as she ate her chicken tenders.
When another woman finally walked away, Franny sighed and rolled her eyes. “Daddy is very popular. Our neighbor Olive said all the girls know him very well.” She emphasized that, and I immediately lifted a brow at him.
“Is that what Ms. Olive says now? What’s very well mean, Mr. Knight?”
He didn’t seem to want to answer that, and he didn’t have to. I shouldn’t have even asked. Instead, he pointed to my plate. “Eat.”
“I’m not really hungry.” The women flirting and smiling and trying so hard had turned my stomach. The fact that I couldn’t control my last smash on the court irked me too. I should be able to control my feelings with him and remain passive. That’s all I had to do.
“Eat now, or I’ll make sure to come to your room later and serve you a meal privately, Mia.” There was that broody, cold tone.
I picked up a chicken tender and pointedly took a bite. “Happy?”
“Good girl,” he said, and I almost choked on my food.
What the hell?
He patted my back like we were just having normal conversation, and I glared at him but stiffened as I saw a man walking toward us. Both Hades and Archer stepped in his path. Jameson saw it too and was quick to tell us, “Time to go.”
The man shoved a letter into Hades’s chest and said, “Well, he shouldn’t be here then. Make sure he gets it.”
When we were safely in the car, Hades handed Jameson the note through the window, and I caught a glimpse of a symbol on the front.
Jameson didn’t give me much time to stare, though, as he hid it immediately in his coat pocket before I could make out anything else. “Doctor business is alive and well?”
He sighed. “Yes, Mia. That’s exactly why we don’t go out and about. Because the doctor business is going so well.”
“He didn’t seem dangerous—”
“He could have been, and you would have never known.” He was white knuckling the steering wheel. “I pay you to do a job. Do it and don’t do mine.”
“What exactly is that job?”
“To keep my daughter safe and you safe.”