It hadn’t felt mellow when I’d wanted to toss the racket and haul her to my pickup. Playing while turned on was an inconvenient experience.
Missing her all damn week was another one. I’d nearly stayed home on Wednesday just to see her. There was no reason I couldn’t miss a week, other than the sense I was being a traitor to myself. To the promises I’d made myself all those years ago when the person who was supposed to have my back stabbed it instead.
I was falling for Ruby.
Pressure squeezed my lungs together. The same sensation I’d gotten when I’d been cornered by that jackass in middle school and the first two years of high school. He’d seen the real me. He’d seen how different I was from my brothers. And he’d prodded every single insecurity until it was raw and exposed.
I pushed my glasses up. This wasn’t high school. I was a goddamn adult, and Ruby was a good person. She wasn’t superficial or fake. She wasn’t Katrina. She was special, and I couldn’t quit seeing her if I tried.
“See you Friday night?” I pulled her close, pressing her into her car door.
“Friday night.”
I claimed her mouth. Her lips were hot from the sun, her minty flavor branding itself onto my taste buds. I could’ve kept her pushed against the door for another two hours, playing a game of a different sort.
Slowly, I pulled back and released her.
“Drive safe.”
She nibbled her lower lip and shifted her weight. “Hey, um...”
The band around my chest returned. This was it. She was done with me. I couldn’t pinpoint why, but Iknew. I just wasn’t enough for her.
“Would you ever consider a doubles game?”
Surprise eased the tightness around my shoulders. “Doubles?”
She nodded and squinted against the sun, uncertainty scrawled over her features. “Dad asked, and well, my mom would be his partner. She takes the edge off him. So... what do you think?”
My mind whirred, stalled, then circled again. “You want me to meet your parents?” The squeeze returned. I could barely draw a breath.
She flailed her hands around. “You don’t have to, I swear. Meeting them would make this more serious than it is. I’ll figure out something to tell them.”
If you think I’m going to let my daughter get engaged to some man-child still suckling from his mama’s teat, you’re dumber than you look.I swallowed hard. “No, it’s...”
I frowned, hating her declaration of how casual we were. But wasn’t that the way I wanted it? Her blush was furious, and it wasn’t from passion or the game. She was embarrassed.
The acid in my stomach crawled farther up my throat. Would she leave thinking she’d overstepped? “I met Katrina’s parents.”
She drew back but didn’t say anything. I appreciated the small downturn of her lips. A hint of distaste at my ex’s name. I knew how she felt, because I felt the same every time I saw fucking Brock.
“It didn’t go well,” I continued. “They grilled me about what I did, what my future aspirations were, and what I did in my free time.”
“And that’s when it all blew up?”
I sucked my teeth against my lips. “It started with some bullshit from her dad and just snowballed into a large explosion and a few public tantrums from Katrina.”
“She sounds delightful.”
“Her dad was too. He had political aspirations. My last name made him excited. But he was expecting a Tate and he got me.”
“No offense to your brother, but that’s just stupid. He should’ve been delighted that his daughter had such good taste in men.”
I smiled unexpectedly. “You would’ve been the only one with that opinion.”
“I wouldn’t have been. You just picked the wrong women.”
They’d all bemoaned picking the wrong guy. The wrong Bailey brother. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
