Dom lowered his head, keeping his voice low. “Listen to me—he’s the perfect training partner for you.” She tried to interrupt him, but he cut her off. “This is the best thing for you going into Paris: someone who can keep up with you, challenge you on a daily basis. Even not having played in months, he’s better than everyone here. And he won’t admit it, but you’ll be good for his recovery.”
“He seems fine,” Penny groused, looking up at the sky and sighing in defeat as his words echoed her own thoughts.
“Good, then, so there’s no problem?” Dom asked, but it wasn’t a question, and he was already walking away from her, gathering up the stray balls from their impromptu match.
“What’s the verdict?” Alex asked, suddenly right beside her, and despite everything, as his body hovered mere inches from hers, her skin started to hum at the proximity. She spun on her toe, nearly losing her balance, and Alex’s hands came up to steady her, but she slipped away from his grasp.
“I told you not to touch me.” She moved back out ontothe court and he matched her stride, their arms brushing as they walked. She pulled away immediately and stepped in front of him. Looking up, she squinted into the sunlight shining behind his head, reflecting off the golden streaks in his hair. “Outside of this court, you stay the hell away from me, understand?” she whispered so Dom wouldn’t hear.
Alex grunted, a sound deep from within his chest, a sound she recognized. He’d made it once with his lips buried between her shoulder and her neck, his weight pressing her down into the bed, skin against skin.
“Understood,” he said, but Penny knew the real test wasn’t if he could stay away from her, but if she could keep herself away from him.
SHIT. SHIT. SHIT,” INDY CURSED TO HERSELF. SHE PULLED HERlong blond hair into a ponytail, not even sparing a glance for her reflection, as she raced past the mirror hanging inside the closet door.
The closet was still empty, its future contents still in the suitcases and boxes lining the floor of her dorm room. The walls were bare, no posters or pictures to brighten up the sterile ecru cinder block. The dorms at the Outer Banks Tennis Club were functional, used as a place to sleep and that was about it.
Decorating was the least of her worries. After arriving the night before and unloading the back of her yellow Jeep Wrangler, Indy had collapsed into bed, feeling like she could sleep for a week. Unfortunately, her travel-slogged mind hadn’t remembered to set her alarm, and her body was still operating on California time.
California, where, if she hadn’t dropped out of school last week, she’d still be sound asleep with nothing more to wake up for than getting to class in the afternoon.
Now, she was supposed to meet her new coach, Dom Kingston, at eight, which meant she had five minutes. Indy grabbed her tennis bag, shoved her room key into a small pocket, and slammed the door behind her. Then the real panic set in. Looking left and then right, she realized she had no idea how to find Dom’s office. Her brain had barely registered her room number the night before when the night security guard showed her the way, let alone memorized the zigzag pathway they took to get here.
A few hours of uneven sleep later, she definitely had no idea where to go. Then, miracle of miracles, the door across the hall cracked open.
“Thank God,” she said as a tall guy with a dark tan and even darker hair slipped from the room, pocketing his phone.
He whipped around to face her, his eyes wide in obvious panic. Lifting a finger to his lips, he eased the door closed behind him. A bright pink paper daisy was pasted in the middle of the solid wood with the name Katie written across it in glitter. Indy smirked. Apparently, Katie, whoever she was, had had an overnight guest. The guy standing across from her smirked back, a dimple appearing in his cheek.
“Morning,” he said, and then turned, starting down the hallway.
Indy sniffed out a short laugh and then followed. “Wait,” she called out, catching up quickly. “I’m late.”
“That’s nice,” he said, but didn’t break stride.
She cringed. “I’m late for a meeting with Dom and I have no idea how to get to his office. Please, it’s my first day.”
That made him stop, the smile creeping back onto his face. He stepped up to her. “A deal, then. I take you to Dom’s office so you’re not late on your first day, and you never saw me here.”
Indy grinned. “Saw who where?”
“Atta girl,” he said, his green eyes lit with mischief. He tossed his head in the opposite direction. “This way. It’s faster.”
He led her out of the dorms and through a maze of practice courts. OBX had courts in all surfaces, though the blue hard court was the most common, and many of them were already in use.
“This is as far as I go,” he said, drawing to a halt outside the main building. “Good luck, New Girl.”
Then he was gone, jogging to a very shiny black Audi and speeding out of the parking lot before she could even thank him.
Indy glanced up at the main entrance. OBX was written in huge block letters painted navy blue, darkly contrasting the light sand-colored stucco exterior of the building, except for theO, in neon green with white stripes, like a tennis ball. Outer Banks Tennis Club, the best training facility in the world.
It looked exactly as it did the last time she’d been there, two years ago with her mom, and starting today, she would be a part of it. It was perfect timing. The spring tennis season was starting to heat up, and if she could make a splash in OBX’s invitational in a couple of weeks, she’d be well onher way to the pro career she and her mother had always dreamed of. That is, if she qualified.
It had been a long time since she’d played at an elite level. The last major trophy she’d won was well over two years ago. She was crowned the West Coast Regional 18 & Under Champion a few weeks before her mom got really sick, too sick to even fight her on pulling out of Nationals.
Indy was back now and really, she’d put this off for too long. Watching Penny Harrison kick ass in Madrid was the tipping point. Indy knew her mom wouldn’t have wanted her dreams to be put on hold forever. She wouldn’t have wanted them to be put on hold at all. And thanks to Dom’s actually taking her call after so much time had passed, she had another chance.
Swallowing back the lump in her throat—one that wouldn’t go away no matter how much time had passed since her mom died—she reached for the door handle and stepped into her new life.
