Chapter 28
Two months later.
"Don't close your eyes, baby, please," Leire begs, one hand at the nape of Kate's neck and the other between the Australian's legs, who is straddling her with two fingers inside her.
Kate blinks and gasps at the same time, riding her hand with a slow, steady rhythm that has the Spanish woman completely transfixed.
"Have I told you how much I love seeing you like this?"
The redhead tries to smile as she moves, but all she manages is for her dimples to deepen at the corners of her mouth before she lets out a breathless sound.
"I'm going to come… I'm coming, sweetheart," she gasps before her body tenses, her back arches, and she folds forward seconds later.
Leire wraps her arms around her and scatters kisses along her shoulder and neck while Kate catches her breath.
"We're going to be late," Kate whispers, her body still soft and loose.
"We have time, relax."
Kate pulls back to look at her. Her cheeks are flushed, her face pale, and her green eyes are shining like two emeralds.
"You've been saying we have time for half an hour."
"God, you're beautiful," Leire breathes, catching her lips and deepening a kiss that leaves Kate gasping all over again. "Okay, now we can actually get in the shower."
They shower together, taking turns under the stream with movements they've been practicing for nearly two months, as if they've choreographed a dance only they know. They dress quickly and in less than fifteen minutes they're in the car.
Leire is at the wheel while Kate unzips her gym bag and checks — for the fifth time since she packed it last night — that she has everything she needs.
"Looks like my morning-sex plan was a failure," Leire jokes, and Kate snaps her head up.
"What?"
"I wanted you calm and relaxed, but apparently it didn't work." She puts a hand on Kate's thigh. "Relax, baby, you're going to do great."
Kate turns to toss the bag onto the back seat and narrows her eyes at the Spanish woman.
"Are you saying the sex this morning was just a scheduled task?"
Laughter bursts out of Leire and she flicks on the turn signal to go left.
"Making love with you is never a scheduled task — I could do it every hour of the day without getting tired," she says, a flicker of heat in her eyes that makes Kate's throat go dry.
"I just don't want you this nervous. You're a professional, Kate.
That doesn't stop being true just because you retired. "
"I know."
Leire reaches over and finds her hand, lacing their fingers together and bringing them to her lips, kissing her knuckles, and Kate breathes out a smile.
"Those parents are lucky you said yes."
The redhead smiles and settles back in her seat.
Since retiring, offers have been coming in — some from broadcasting, others from high-level clubs wanting a coach, and one to co-host a sports show.
Kate weighed them all with Leire, but kept turning them down because none of them sparked what she'd started calling that spark — the one every match used to light in her the moment she set foot on a court.
Until a week ago, when a neighbor from the development rang her doorbell.
He's a businessman who lives on the island, with ten-year-old twin daughters who've been training at a local tennis club since they were six.
He begged her to be their personal coach, and Kate felt that flutter move through her at the thought of shaping two little stars the way she'd been shaped.
She ended up saying yes, and on the heels of that came another request — from a widow who wanted lessons for her eighteen-year-old son, a young man who studies in the evenings and trains in the mornings.
And today is the first day: two hours with him this morning, then two more with the girls after lunch.
"Thank you," she murmurs, glancing sideways at Leire.
"Of course. You know, maybe we could build our own club someday," Leire adds, and Kate turns to look at her. "Something small — a handful of kids we can shape from the ground up, teach them what we know the way you're doing now, but on our own court."
"That sounds amazing, sweetheart."
"Yeah. If everything goes well, I'm thinking about retiring next year — one more season and that's it."
"Leire…"
The Spanish woman looks over and smiles.
"I'll be thirty-two. Doesn't seem like a bad time.
You know my knee's been bothering me lately, and I've been thinking about it a lot.
I think I'd rather be smart about it like you and stop in time than end up on the operating table.
I don't know," she murmurs, glancing at her.
"It's just something I'm turning over in my head. "
Kate leans across and kisses her cheek.
"I think it's great, as long as it's what you want, Leire. Take all the time you need."
The Spanish woman winks at her just before pulling into the parking lot in front of the club.
"Okay, we're here," she says, raising her eyebrows.
The Australian lets out a long breath and stares at her palms.
"God, I shouldn't be nervous, but my back is sweating."
"You've got this," Leire tells her, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"You didn't have to push back your flight for this, Leire, but I'm really glad you're here."
"It's an important day for you. Your new job — I wanted to drop you off and pick you up after. I want to be here to hear how it went."
Kate nods, feeling her knees go soft beside this woman. Leire was never there when she needed her while they were hiding, but since everything went public, the Spanish woman has shown her she's exactly who Kate always believed she was. Attentive, warm, and patient.
Her phone buzzes and pulls her out of her thoughts — two messages landing almost at the same time. Kate smiles when she sees the names: one from Diane and one from Rachel, and when she reads them, they're nearly identical.
"They're wishing me luck on my first day," she says with a wide smile, tilting the screen toward Leire.
The Spanish woman catches Rachel's name and can't stop the small twinge of jealousy that moves through her.
She knows they're friends, that they talk once a week and plan to meet up when the former swimmer comes through the area.
It doesn't bother her — she's glad her girl found support in that woman — but she can't quite help feeling a little jealous of her.
"You don't need luck, but I'm glad they're there."
"I miss Diane," Kate says suddenly, once she finishes replying to her old coach.
The woman, who had decided to retire, didn't quite manage it — she couldn't resist when a club in Melbourne offered her a coaching position, where she teaches Monday through Friday.
"We could go see her at Christmas," Leire offers, and her cheeks start to burn when Kate looks at her with wide eyes.
"You want to go to Australia?"
"With you, yes," she admits, a little flustered.
"I know I'm not exactly popular with the Brogans yet, but I'd like to meet them — see the house you grew up in, the school you went to, and all the spots where I'm sure you kissed plenty of girls," she teases, and Kate forgets all about her nerves.
"And we can visit Diane while we're there. "
"I would love that." Kate leans toward her. "Let's talk about it tonight at home — right now I need to go. I don't want to be late on the first day."
"Of course, baby. I love you," she says as she kisses her.
"I love you too."
Kate gets out of the car, grabs her gym bag, and jogs toward the entrance while Leire watches from inside, tracking her red ponytail as it swings from side to side with every step.
To her surprise, the Australian arrives five minutes early, and when she walks out to the court they've reserved, it's completely empty.
The moment she steps onto the synthetic grass with a racket in her hand, something in her chest loosens all at once, as if her body recognizes the place before her mind does and suddenly everything is right.
She smiles and tucks two balls into her pocket, keeping one in her hand as she moves to the baseline.
She gets into position, bounces the ball three times, and hits it, and the sound sends a current through her body that makes her smile even wider.