Chapter 23
Losses:??? Somewhere at the bottom of the Pacific
Pregame: Light cardio, stretching, foam rolling … yoga … ice baths … more stretching … veggies and lean protein, lots of water, mindfulness, deep breaths … game tape of your opponents, positive self-talk … lots of sleep … deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths, Jess.
An older mustached man in an ill-fitting sweater tore himself away from the cocktail shrimp to greet Vivienne. Then he noticed Jess. “Hello, Lee, nice to see you again.”
Vivienne maintained her smile. “No, Uncle Lane, this isn’t Lee. This is Jess.”
“Jess?” He frowned at Jess. “I could have sworn your name was Lee.”
“No,” Vivienne explained patiently. “Lee is my … was my … partner. I mean, she is my partner. But she had a family emergency and she can’t play in the final, so Jess stepped in.”
Uncle Lane dunked a shrimp into the cocktail sauce. “Oh, dear. How terrible.”
Vivienne shifted, hands clasped in front of her. “Well, for Lee, yes, but—”
“Do tell Lee I hope things are right as rain soon.” Lane took a bite, splattering a glob of red sauce onto his sweater, gaze roaming the crowd in search of someone better to talk to.
“I will, Uncle Lane,” Vivienne said as he wandered away with his shrimp. “Ugh, I’m sorry about him. I don’t think he’s ever watched a single game.”
“It’s fine,” Jess said. Her stomach growled. “Let’s get some food.”
She was loading up her plate when another uncle arrived, this one balding, and dressed in a light gray linen suit.
“Jess, this is Veronica’s husband, Uncle Milton,” Vivienne introduced. “Uncle Milton, this is Jess.”
“Thank you for having me,” Jess said. “Your home is beautiful.”
“Oh.” Milton looked around like he had never been in this room before. “Yes, thank you. It does the trick.”
Jess was about to tell him that her parents were also lawyers, but Milton puffed out his cheeks and shook his head. “Such a shame about Lee missing the final. You two had quite the season!”
“Yes, we did—” Vivienne started.
“Broke a record for games won, didn’t you?”
“Er, yes, but—”
Uncle Milton examined the charcuterie board. “Such a shame.”
Jess smiled blandly and took a bite of a baked salmon cake.
A furrow appeared between Vivienne’s eyebrows. “Yes, Lee is sorry to miss it, but Jess and I are a great team.”
Milton took a piece of each kind of cheese, then peered at Vivienne. “And there’s no chance Lee will make it after all?”
“No. Nope. It’ll be me and Jess on Saturday.”
“Well. Best of luck to you. And do try the smoked Gouda, it’s fantastic.”
Vivienne gave him a forced smile. “Thanks.”
Jess wanted to curl up under the table with the entire hunk of smoked Gouda. And that feeling didn’t end with Uncle Lane or Uncle Milton.
The next confused uncle studied Jess over his glasses. “Who’s this?”
Then an aunt put her hand on Vivienne’s arm. “How awful.”
A cousin glanced up from their phone. “Poor Lee.”
Uncle Milton again. “What a shame.”
“What a shame.”
“What a shame.”
Jess was having trouble swallowing her food, and the sparkling water didn’t help.
“I’m gonna go to bed,” she finally murmured to Vivienne after nearly two hours of being Not Lee. “I’m not feeling great.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure.” Vivienne immediately set her glass down on a side table. “I’ll go with you.”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to. You can stay with your family.”
“No, it’s fine. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Scarlett yet and, trust me, it’s actually better that way. Are you done with this?” Vivienne collected Jess’s glass and placed it next to hers. “I’ll just tell Veronica we’re heading up.”
“Really, you don’t have to,” Jess protested, but Vivienne had already dipped into the crowd to find her aunt.
Jess waited, smoothing her dress, smiling flatly in case anyone looked her way, itching to bolt, until Vivienne reappeared at her side. She took Jess’s hand and pulled her out into the hall and up the stairs.
“What’s wrong?” Vivienne asked as soon as she shut the sapphire-room door behind them.
Jess kicked off her flats and removed her lucky sunshine earrings. “Nothing. I’m sorry, I’m just tired.”
“Jess.” Vivienne waited, hands on her hips. “Come on. We agreed to communicate about everything, and that is not limited to the court.”
Jess set her earrings on the vanity, alarmed to feel a prickle behind her eyes. She shook her head.
“Jess, come on. You can tell me anything. I promise.”
“It’s just…” Jess took a deep breath, trying not to cry. “I don’t belong here, Vivienne.”
Vivienne furrowed her eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”
Jess waved her hand at herself. “The dress. The party. You. Your shot at the pros. Lee should be here, not me.”
Vivienne looked around, searching for words. “Jess…”
She had to say it. “I’m going to fuck this up for you.”
“Jess. Stop.”
Jess knew she should stop talking, but the ugly thoughts in her head clamored to come out, to be said aloud, to be more true. “And I know you think so, too.”
Vivienne’s eyes flashed. “If you could not put words in my mouth—”
“I’m not putting words in your mouth.”
“You’re not? Did I ever say that I wished Lee was here? Or that I didn’t want to play with you?”
“I can tell what you’re thinking.”
“Ha!” Vivienne pushed her fingers through her hair. “Jesus Christ, Jess, you’ve actually proven over and over again that you absolutely cannot.”
“I’m trying, Vivienne. I—”
Vivienne grabbed her arm, fingers pressing into her skin.
Jess stared at Vivienne’s hand and knew she’d gone too far, picking a fight with her teammate when it wasn’t even her fault, but—
Before she could finish that thought, Vivienne went up on her tiptoes, put a hand under Jess’s chin … and kissed her.
Everything exploded behind Jess’s eyes, like a bomb flashed, like the whole world disintegrated into nothingness. The only thing left was Vivienne’s lips on hers, sugary sweet.
It was the single greatest moment of Jess’s life. Her body started to dissolve too, cotton-candy floss melting away.
She touched Vivienne’s tongue with hers, slid her arm around Vivienne’s waist, and put one hand into Vivienne’s thick, shining hair.
Vivienne undid her completely when she groaned into Jess’s mouth.
Jess couldn’t think, couldn’t put together anything coherent beyond how fucking hot Vivienne was and how fucking good it felt to kiss her and how she wanted more, more, more, more … more of her lips, more of her tongue, more of her smell, more of how good it felt to press against her—
Vivienne froze, body suddenly cold and rigid, then broke away, panting. “Fuck.”
Jess was also panting … and also not thinking much beyond fuck.
Their eyes met. Vivienne’s were wide and searching, but Jess didn’t know what she was searching for.
“I’m so sorry.” Vivienne touched the back of her hand to her mouth. “I should not have done that.”
“I—” Jess tried to force the gears of her brain into motion while her body screamed Yes, you should have.
Vivienne covered her eyes. “That was so dumb.”
Jess took hold of Vivienne’s wrist and pulled her hand away from her eyes. “Maybe … Maybe not … How about one more? Just to make sure.…”
Vivienne’s body softened, and her face lit up, but only for a flash, because then their lips met again.
Jess gasped at their next breath while Vivienne kissed along her neck, sliding her hand up Jess’s rib cage until she was cupping one of Jess’s breasts. Vivienne Morris wants me ran through her head. This is happening.
Jess groaned and leaned into the hand, burning with desire. “Could we, uh … Do you want to…” Jess flicked her gaze to their bed. Someone had turned down the sapphire duvet. She almost had to laugh.
“Yeah, I really fucking do … if you do?” Vivienne studied her, eyes darting around Jess’s face, one swollen pink lip between her teeth.
Jess had never wanted anything more in her life. “Oh yes. Yes, I do.”
The moonlight fell across Vivienne’s form, curved over the swell of her breasts, dipped into her hips until the shadow won.
She was so beautiful that Jess was lightheaded.
“What?” Vivienne asked with a smile, rolling over to look at Jess head-on.
“Nothing, it’s just…” Jess trailed her finger down Vivienne’s arm.
“You can’t believe we just had sex?”
“I can’t believe we just had sex.”
Vivienne laughed. “Me neither.”
Jess scooted a little closer. “But it’s fine. We’re not going to let it get in the way of performing on Saturday, right?”
“Right. Of course.” Vivienne waved her hand. “Obviously. We have a championship to win. It doesn’t matter that we…” Her gaze traveled down Jess’s naked torso and lingered between her legs. “That we…”
The corner of Jess’s mouth twitched. “That we…?”
Vivienne rolled on top of her. “I forget.”
Jess drifted from asleep to awake when the mattress shifted under her and a footstep creaked on the floor. She reached for the form that was next to her in her dreams, wrapped in scents of vanilla and musk and … Vivienne.
Vivienne.
Jess’s eyes flew wide open. Holy fuck.
Vivienne was not in the bed next to her, but the bathroom door was closed and light shone around its edges. Sunlight attempted to poke between the curtains.
Moments from the night before came rushing back and flooded Jess’s brain.
Every glorious inch of Vivienne’s body under her fingers and lips and tongue, writhing and panting.
… Bringing Vivienne to the edge and then sending her crashing over it again and again.
… Jess’s cheeks heated at the memory and then so did her—
Vivienne opened the bathroom door, hair tousled and impossibly sexy in an oversize Veronica Doyle–branded T-shirt. She sat on the end of the bed and tucked her hair behind her ear in a very shy, un-Vivienne-like way. “Hey.”
Jess smoothed her own hair, suddenly aware of how naked she was. “Hey.”
“How are you?” Vivienne twisted her fingers in the duvet.
No sense in holding back. They were in it now. “I’m … fantastic. How are you?”
“Also fantastic.”