Chapter 11 #2
Before she could blink, a glass of white wine was put in front of her and appetizers started to flow out of the kitchen at an alarming rate. Apparently, the chef was a friend of Alex’s and had decided to send them a little bit of everything on the menu and some things that weren’t.
“Where are you from, exactly?” Jasmine asked after a bite of bruschetta, making sure to lick a bit of dressing from her thumb and enjoying the way Paolo’s eyes followed the movement. He leaned down a little to hear her or maybe he just wanted to be closer. She preferred the latter.
“Milan,” Paolo said finally. “Randazzo, that’s an Italian name.” He left the question unasked.
“My dad’s grandparents were originally from a small village just north of Trieste. They came over to escape Mussolini.”
“My family has been in Milan for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. I left when I was a boy to study at the Tennis Academy in Mallorca.”
“That must have been difficult,” she said.
He took a sip of his wine. “You were lucky that your parents had their club. Alex has said it is an excellent facility, and perhaps he is a little biased by the company he found there, but he would not praise it if he didn’t think it worthy.”
“It’s home,” she said simply.
Paolo smiled at her. “Perhaps one day, I will come and train with you all.”
“I think I’d like that.”
He moved in even more, his mouth nearly against her ear. “Am I…?” he began, but then started over. “I don’t mean to overstep, but the younger Harrison brother, he has been giving us the evil eye since we sat down.”
Jasmine chanced a look over the white tablecloth and saw Teddy staring at them, not exactly frowning.
She recognized the expression. It was the same one he’d worn when Amy had arrived at OBX last week.
He clearly wasn’t happy. Maybe he should have thought about that before he’d decided they were better off as friends.
“He’s my friend,” she said. “Nothing else.”
For the first time, maybe ever, the words felt like the truth. She meant it. Teddy was her friend and that was it. He’d made it clear that anything more wasn’t in the cards, so if he was upset at a hot guy showing interest in her, that was his problem, not hers.
“Then that sad look on your face earlier in the hallway. That was not for him?”
He’d been able to tell she was upset? Was she that transparent?
“No, I got some”—she hesitated, choosing her words carefully—“disappointing news. Nothing at all to do with Teddy.”
Teddy would actually have to be speaking to her to upset her.
“So, there is no one else?”
“No, there’s no one.”
“Ah, that is very good news. Now I shall make it my mission to distract you from this disappointing news you received,” Paolo said, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to it.
Jasmine looked around quickly and most of the table had seen it, but Jack cleared his throat and kept up his conversation, drawing everyone’s eyes away, except Teddy’s.
She could still feel his gaze on them, so she turned in her chair a little, crossing her legs and shifting closer to Paolo.
“Distract away.”
They stayed at the restaurant as it swelled with patrons until almost everyone else had cleared out. The waiters had kept the food and wine flowing, and Jasmine sat back in her chair and sighed, more than happy with the pasta primavera she’d gobbled down.
“A girl who can eat,” Paolo said, a hand rubbing over his stomach.
“That’s what gets you going?”
He simply smirked wickedly.
To her left, Penny pushed back out of her chair and signaled to Jasmine with a tilt of her head. Jasmine looked toward Indy, but she was in the middle of a heated debate with Alex about soccer, apparently their loyalties in conflict.
“Be right back,” Jasmine said, and stood up, following Penny down a hallway toward the ladies’ room.
“Indy told me about having to withdraw from doubles,” Penny said without preamble.
“She has to do what’s right for her.” The wine and Paolo dulled the pain of that particular truth for Jasmine.
“She does,” Penny agreed. “Do you still want to play doubles?”
“Why, do you want to play?”
Penny scoffed and Jasmine didn’t even have it in her to be insulted.
“Who, then?”
“Natalie Grogan.”
Jasmine recognized the name. The eighteen-year-old who’d just won the French Open junior tournament and who’d be sure to leap at the chance to qualify in women’s doubles.
Long dark hair, bright eyes—actually, she reminded Jasmine of a taller version of Penny.
Unfailingly gorgeous and with the tennis ability to match.
“You’re sure you can make that happen?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Because if she turns me down, that’s worse than not asking at all.”
Penny looked her right in the eye as she said, “She won’t turn you down.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m the one who’s going to ask her,” she said, taking her phone out of her bag and tapping away at it for a moment. “All I need is for you to give me the okay.”
Jasmine chewed at the inside of her cheek for a minute. What did she have to lose? “Okay.”
Penny pressed send.
Jasmine followed her back to the table and saw Paolo had been pulled into the debate over the Champions League final from just a few weeks ago. She sat down and leaned forward into the conversation. “Barca should have been in the final. That penalty kick against Man United was bullshit.”
“Ah. She knows football,” Paolo said, slinging an arm around her, his thumb stroking lightly at the skin of her shoulder. “I am in love.”
Jasmine shivered and ignored the glare she could feel from the opposite side of the table.
If Teddy had a problem, he was going to have to suck it up.
She felt another set of eyes on her and turned to her left.
Penny just nodded once. Teddy didn’t want her, and apparently neither did Indy, but there were other guys and other doubles partners and she was going to be just fine.