The courts were located down a crushed-shell footpath through a thick stand of trees. Several other guests joined us on our walk to the courts, and I enjoyed catching up with Cate’s mom on our walk. She asked me how the job change was going, and I learned not everyone had heard the news about the takeover at York.
It had only been a week, so it made sense word hadn’t spread outside of the venture capital community, but it still surprised me. She asked all about Gigi and her wedding plans. When we arrived at the courts, she and Cate headed out to warm up.
“I didn’t bring my racquet,” Grey said, looking uncomfortable. “Hopefully they have some here to use?”
I nodded and led him into the small tennis house located between the two courts. Inside, there were racks with various racquets on them as well as cooler bins with bottled water and trays with granola bars and bananas.
Binnie was greeting everyone with a smile and happy conversation. She was dressed in her tennis outfit also and looked as fit as ever. Grey and I selected racquets and answered the coordinator’s questions about our skill level. I was surprised to hear Grey describe himself as anything other than a beginner, but then again, I was quickly learning he’d spent time at country clubs making sure he knew how to fit in with the membership. If a prospective client wanted to bond with him over tennis at the club, Grey would most likely find a way to learn how to play tennis in order to close the deal.
Despite claiming to be an experienced player, Grey looked uncomfortable in this environment. When we returned outside to socialize with the other players while the coordinator created the round-robin playing order, Grey was even quieter than usual.
At one point, I caught his eye and lifted my eyebrow. He gritted out his version of a reassuring smile that was anything but reassuring.
I finally pulled him off to the side. “What’s going on? If you don’t want to play, that’s—”
“I want to play.”
“But you seem—”
“I’m fine.”
I stared at him. His jaw was tight, and he was white-knuckling the grip of his racquet. “You’re not fine. Tell me what’s going on.”
Grey glanced over at a man I didn’t recognize. “Nothing is going on. Stop looking for drama around every corner.”
His words stung. Clearly something had happened, and his inadvertent glance had clued me in to who it had happened with. I didn’t let his pissy attitude stop me from pestering him for information. “Who is that man?”
“What man?”
I threw up my hands, nearly knocking him with my racquet. “Fine. Be this way, but don’t get mad at me if I start refusing to talk to you the way you’re refusing to talk to me. You’re such a fucking hypocrite.”
His stoic mask came down, shuttering himself against the world. “You’ve forgotten who’s in charge here,” he said softly. “And it’s not you.”
I wanted to knock him off-balance the way he kept doing to me. Those fucking walls of his were impossible to breach, and when he stepped back into his protective shell, I wanted to punch something. What would it take to make him feel half as much whiplash as he was giving me?
Now wasn’t the time to confront him about being a buttoned-up prick, so I forced my anger down and reached for his hand to return us to happy goddamned couple status before we returned to the group. Grey yanked his hand out of mine like it had burned him, and I caught him glancing at that stranger again.
Fuck this.
I grabbed the back of his head and slammed my lips on his right there in front of everyone. He tried pulling back, but I had a strong enough grip on his hair to stop him. Within seconds, he stopped struggling and kissed me back. His arms came around me, and his broad hand splayed across my lower back.
He tasted like toothpaste. He must have brushed his teeth after breakfast. Who did that? It was sweet and unexpected.
“Mm.” The low rumble of satisfaction in his chest made me light-headed, but I needed to stop this ridiculous power play.
I tried to pull back, but Grey’s arms tightened like steel bands around me. His tongue teased me as the fervent kiss turned into tiny nibbles of my bottom lip.
He could win kissing trophies. All of the kissing trophies.
I needed to explain to him why this was wrong, why we needed to stop. “But…” I kissed him again. “We…” One more tiny taste. “I just…” Oh, god. I needed to stop making a fool of myself, but it was too good. Kissing him was like taking a deep draw on the laughing gas at the dentist. Suddenly everything was pleasantly buzzy, and life made complete sense.
When Grey finally stopped kissing me, he continued to hold me tightly against his body. His eyes met mine with their typical intensity. “That was unexpected.” His usual calm demeanor made me crazy. How could he possibly be so damned poised after that? I felt like a sweaty, slutty, drooling mess with a public erection and what I had to assume was the most transparent fuck-me face I’d ever worn in my life.
“I hate you,” I said. It came out in a tender, affectionate tone for some reason. I cleared my throat and tried again. “I hate you,” I hissed. But I was pretty sure it was a loving hiss, if such a thing was possible.
“I know.” He ran his hand along my forehead and into my hair. I wanted to preen under his touch. “The feeling is mutual.”
We stood together like that for a few more moments, acting like lovers but in reality letting hate-boners deflate before facing the tennis party.
I turned to walk back to the court, but Grey stopped me.
“He’s someone I have a date with in a few weeks.”
“What?” I squawked. “Who?”
He tilted his head toward the handsome older man. “That guy over there. Marcel and his husband have been trying to set us up for a while. I finally agreed to take him to a Giants game later this month. I’ve never met him, but I recognize him from photos. Now it’s awkward because I’m here with you.”
Obviously, I hated the stranger already. “Oh.”
“Right. I’ll have to tell him things have changed.” Grey watched me for my reaction, so I did my best to act like I didn’t care one bit.
“I’d hate for you to miss out on a date because of me.”
He leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to the skin in front of my ear. As he pulled away, I could have sworn he whispered, “Liar.”
When we finally did return to the group, I noticed Jake’s heated expression licking up and down Grey’s entire body. Great. Was everyone here after my fake boyfriend? I wanted to punch the redhead in the face, but instead, I busied myself returning to the scene of the crime to pick up the tennis racquet that I must have dropped while I was busy playing stupid kissing games with sexy assholes.
The tennis was invigorating. It took me a few games to remember my years of lessons, but when I did, I enjoyed myself without too many unforced errors. Cate and I were paired up a couple of times, and I also enjoyed partnering with Binnie once. When I was partnered with Jake, he surprised me with his skill. The two of us were unstoppable, but so was his mouth. He asked me a million questions about my “hot boyfriend,” venture capital investing, and the gay scene in New York. Since I only really had impressive knowledge in one of those areas, I tried keeping the conversation focused on VC funding when I couldn’t change the subject back to tennis itself.