Chapter 42
Landon
When I wake up, I remember last night like it happened in slow motion.
Every conversation, every moment—piece by piece—working towards Rori’s apology and plea to forgive her.
I do forgive her. And damn, holding her in my arms last night felt so right. Released some of the pain she caused.
Her words did too. I know Rori has baggage, just like me. She’s new at this, just like me. The fact that she laid herself bare, owned up to her mistake, was major. Especially now that I’ve had some time to process all that she said.
Still, I want to be crystal clear tonight about where we stand. I feel like I did a solid job of laying out my expectations last night, but it was an emotional conversation. Before I can completely let go of what she did, I want to be certain that she knows how I feel about us.
Rori had gone back to the cottage last night soon after we made our plans, so she could sleep at a reasonable hour before her training today. Even with so much to work through, we’d slipped into our normal texting.
She’d texted me about how things had gotten sorted with Julie and how her training was going. I caught her up on our preseason so far and what was next for the team.
It was nice to experience some normalcy and be reminded of all we have in common after the intense emotions earlier in the evening. This natural connection we have—it’s not like anything else I’ve experienced.
I also texted Grace last night, because I was certain she was dying for an update.
LANDON: Thank you, Gracie. She apologized for what happened, and we talked things through.
GRACE: Like you would say, just doing my sisterly duties.
She followed up a few seconds later with a second message.
GRACE: You know her so much better, but I believe that she wants to make things right. I’m praying this is just a blip for you two.
I put a heart emoji on her message.
At the facility this morning, the guys are all abuzz about the auction and the fact that I’ll be getting tennis lessons from Rori. Everyone still seems clueless that there’s anything more there. Except Johnson, of course.
He comes up to me at lunch and looks slightly apologetic. “One free shot, Battle,” he says, leaning down to my ear. “You earned one free hit on me at practice.”
I chuckle and turn to look up at him. “That I did. But since we’re trying to win the championship this year, I’m going to skip wrecking my QB in practice.”
He laughs back and claps my shoulder before walking over to the quarterback group that is eating together.
I get home around six, walk Grover, and try to stay calm as I prepare dinner. Rori shows up at my house right before seven. She’s wearing a cute yellow shirt that looks super soft, paired with those dangerous tiny denim shorts, her long, toned legs on display.
My heart pounds as she enters my house. We’re truly alone for the first time in over three weeks, and I can’t help but be nervous.
Grover helps break the ice by coming up to her excitedly.
“Hi, Grover! I’m happy to see you too,” Rori says in a baby-ish voice to him, leaning down to pet him.
We gravitate naturally to the kitchen, the smell of the lemon garlic chicken I’m heating permeating across the house.
“How was your day?” I ask as I head over to the stove to stir the rice.
“Chef Landon, is it?” Rori says, watching me.
“Well, the chicken just involves my usual specialty of reheating something pre-made. I can make rice though,” I say, keeping my lingering nerves out of my voice.
Rori takes a seat on one of the stools at the kitchen island. “I’m going to count that as a home-cooked meal. I haven’t seen you do anything from scratch, even rice.”
I smile and hand her a water while she returns to my question.
“It was good. Julie and I focused on implementing some tweaks before the Open. Hoping to get some more spin on my first serve. Other than that, the usual drills.”
“That sounds like a positive thing, with my admittedly limited knowledge of serves still,” I say. “How’re you feeling about everything?”
“About my tennis? Never better,” she responds.
Pausing for a moment, her eyes look up and lock with mine. “About everything with us, I still feel so bad, Landon. I don’t know how to make it up to you except to apologize over and over.”
“Rori,” I interrupt her before she keeps going. “Look, I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep apologizing. That isn’t what I need. What we need. I believe everything that you said last night.”
The pained expression on her face relaxes a little.
I pivot to stir the rice again. “You were going through a lot all at once and didn’t cope well. I can promise you that I’ve been there.”
Putting the cover back on the rice, I turn again to face her so I can look at her with my next words.
“What matters now is what I said last night. We need to be able to trust each other and be each other’s safe place.
A rock-solid foundation. While my parents really dropped the ball for our family, it’s exactly what my siblings and I are to each other,” I explain.
“If this relationship goes where I think it could go, I can take on the world with you, for you. But it has to be the two of us together, side by side, always.”
Knowing that my goal tonight is clarity, I decide to be direct with her.
“Is that what you want?”
She doesn’t hesitate in her response.
“Yes, Landon. It’s what I want. Some stuff my family has said to me lately has made me realize that I’ve been using tennis to feel complete and happy, shutting out everything else. But now with you, I’ve learned there’s so much more to a full life,” she says, raw emotion in her voice.
I nod to show I’m hearing her.
“I want all of it—you and my tennis. And I don’t want to let myself get thrown off by some random press articles, stuff people are saying. Like, who cares, as long as we can be together?”
“I feel the same about that,” I respond. “Always have. The articles, gossip, paparazzi—that all comes and goes. It’s not real life.”
She gives a small smile at my words. “I feel so lucky to have found you,” she continues. “So blessed that you came into my life. You’ve become my best friend, in addition to the sexiest man I’ve ever met.”
“Luck is the starting place, and friendship for sure too,” I reply. “But we’re going to have to grow together in this thing. I’m sure I will screw up as well. Both first-timers at relationships and all.”
Her smile grows. “To be honest, I think you’re going to be a natural at being a boyfriend, the way you take care of everyone. Take care of me.”
Then her face goes serious again. “You can trust me, Landon. And I do trust you. Completely.”
I walk over to where she is sitting on her stool and rest my hands on her hips.
“Then that’s that,” I say, giving her a soft kiss, sealing our understanding.
Rori leans in again to grab another kiss.
“I needed another one,” she says as she sits back up.
“There may be more in the works,” I say, finally feeling ready to flirt with her. “As long as I’m still the sexiest man you’ve ever met.”
She laughs and wraps her arms around me. I reciprocate, pulling my hands from her hips to wrap them around her body. Our hold on each other is tight and firm.
I pull slowly away a few moments later. “I plan on more of those too. In the meantime, let’s eat before I overcook this rice.”
“Yessir,” she says, getting up and heading to the cupboards. Out of the corner of my eye, as I get the food plated, I watch as she sets up two table settings at the dining table. Looking like she belongs here.
My heart swells. I’ve got Rori back.
Our conversation at dinner flows easily.
I fill her in on all the pot-stirring Johnson did during the auction, which makes her laugh.
She gives me the play-by-play of all the Tessa insanity, which I had only seen in passing.
We also talk about schedules, so we can maximize our time together for the next few months.
“After the U.S. Open, my schedule will ease up so much. We’ve got a couple remaining tournaments. Otherwise, I’ll only have a handful of appearances and commercial shoots, that kind of stuff,” she explains. Then with a giddy tone, she says, “I can start going to your games.”
“You better,” I tease. “You owe me after all these tennis matches.”
“You love watching them,” she teases back.
“I do,” I acknowledge. “But yeah, we’re going to be stuck navigating football for the next few months. It’s pretty inflexible through the playoffs.”
“We’ll do what we have to do,” she says with a soft look on her face that sends a bolt of warmth to my heart.
Suddenly, it feels like she is too far away. I grab the wooden bar on the base of her chair and pull it so that her chair comes closer to mine. Without skipping a beat, I bring my head down to hers, locking our lips together.
This time the kiss feels more emotional. When she subtly parts her lips, I slip my tongue in, feeling the softness of her mouth. As she moans in response, I circle my arms around her.
This kiss feels like a promise to each other, building from all of the spoken assurances we have given over the last twenty-four hours.
Another piece of my heart mends.
When we finally break apart, we look at each other for a moment and smile.