Not So Snow White (30 page)

Dinner had been a study of awkward discomfort. They'd both gone out of their way to not even make eye contact, much less small talk. And yet she couldn't keep from darting looks at him when she thought he wasn't looking. Wondering what he was thinking, had he regretted the kiss that would surely be splash
ed across a front page or two…
or did he maybe want to kiss her again?

She was being ridiculous,
r
eally. Like she was Gaby's age again, or something. But still
…
She hadn't even planned on going out last night, but heading back to Wexley, knowing Max was under the same roof thinking God on
ly knew what kind of thoughts…
she'd taken Vivian up on her offer to do the town. And then there was her morning meeting, so she'd avoided him at breakfast, too. But now it was practice time. She thought she'd have her act together by now and the whole matter firmly sorted out in her mind.

It had merely been a nice little interlude while it lasted, burned off a bit of that sexual tension they'd somehow managed to build up despite sniping at each other all the damn time. And yes, it got all of England and perhaps half of Europe absolutely convinced they were shacking up at Sir Robin's place. But since she'd be walking out of his life in a few days, all the buzz would die down, no doubt replaced by the next salacious bit of celebrity gossip, and they'd both be free to continue on with their lives as if it had never happened.

As it turned out, it wasn't Max who greeted her at the practice court with Gaby, but Aurora instead.

"What a nice surprise," Tess told her as she encountered the two of them waiting just inside the building doorway for the security escort through the fans to their practice court.

"I'm getting all the behind-the-scenes scoop today," Aurora bubbled. "It was so nice of Max to arrange for my pass." She took Tess's arm. "He was sorry he couldn't be here, he had some
other business to attend to." She held Tess's gaze for a moment, in a meaningful way that Tess completely ignored.

"Good," Tess finally responded.

Aurora looked a little disappointed at her lackluster response. "So, what brought you down here so early today?"

Tess debated briefly about telling her, but Gaby was hovering and it really wasn't the right moment. "Oh, just a bit of business that came up. Good news, actually." She sent a telling look past Aurora's shoulder to, where Gaby stood, chatting with the cute young security guard. "I'll tell you about it later."

Aurora smiled. "That would be lovely. We need to do a bit of catching up, you and I."

Tess wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but she was anxious to get through the gauntlet and out to the practice court. "Sure. No problem. I promise."

"I was hoping that perhaps you could find a way to finagle me a spot in the box with you during Bobby's match today. I would so love to see him play. And that would give us more time."

Tess's brow furrowed. Aurora seemed awfully intent on something. More than likely something about Max, given that Aurora had been almost as bad as the teenager at dinner last night, trying to maneuver them together. Well, she was going to have to wait a bit longer to try and work her matchmaking wiles on Tess today.

"I'm certain we can get you a seat, and I'd love the company."

"Are you ready, miss? Madam?" the guard asked them politely. "We should head out."

"All ready," Tess assured him, smiling in relief. "Aurora, you stay in the middle and Gaby and I will bring up the rear." She leaned close to Gaby when she stepped back beside her. "You ready? It's going to be a little crazy out there today, all things considered. Just smile, nod, but no questions, no autographs.
We'll see how practice goes, how frenzied it is out there, then maybe a few signatures afterward. Then home."

"Okay," Gaby said, surprising Tess with her easy acquiescence. She was all but bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I'm ready. Hey, where's Petra? Who's hitting with me today?"

Tess grinned, and it was the first time all morning that she felt it all the way down to her toes. "You're playing in your first slam semis tomorrow. You'll be practicing with me."

Ch
a
pter
2
3

T
he Glass Slipper limo door opened and Max automatically scooted over to make room for Gaby. Only it was Tess who slid in. He leaned forward as she quickly closed the door behind her to keep out the rain. "Where's Gaby?"

"You bumming my ride?" Tess asked at the same time, obviously just as surprised to see him as he was to see her. "Since when do you use Aurora's limo service?
"

Ever
since
our kiss in
the
players' box was plastered all over England,
he wanted to tell her. He'd sent Gaby ahead in the limo for practice earlier in the day so she could have the privacy she needed to stay focused. Her win yesterday had elevated her celebrity status even more. He'd known he'd get a bit more interest because of being Gaby's manager, and perhaps a lot more because of the renewed focus on the state of his relationship with Tess Hamilton, but he hadn't quite counted on just how much until he'd tried to pull his car into the car park earlier and had been all but mobbed by media and fans alike.

"I thought I'd catch a ride back with Gaby," he told her. "Where is she?"

Tess frowned. "She's going out with Aurora and the other godmothers for high tea and a little shopping. I thought you knew."

"She's
what?"
Max pressed the intercom button. "Driver—"

"Don't bother," Tess told him, "they've already gone." She leaned back in her seat, still damp from her short run through the rain to get to the limo. Her hair was stuck to her cheeks and forehead, but she didn't bother to do anything about it, She wore the same shorts and T-shirt she'd had on out on the practice court earlier, only now they were damp and clinging to her skin. Her long legs sprawled out between them, all tanned and toned.

His body stirred and he made himself look away. "Never mind," he told the driver, then released the intercom. "So, did you set up that little adventure?" His tone was a little terse, but then, wasn't that exactly the kind of thing Tess would
do?
"She needs to stay on track
fo
r
tomorrow. The last thing she needs is to be gallivanting all over London. She could be mobbed."

Tess just stared at him, arms folded.

"Okay. All right." He made himself hold her gaze. "I'm sorry," he said. And he meant it.

"Wow. That must have hurt."

He sighed. What was it about her that brought out the worst in him? Or maybe he was just subconsciously sabotaging any chance he had to be himself with her. "So tell me, what exactly is going on?"

Tess shrugged. "You've got me. I can only guess, with the godmothers' hand in this, they're trying to play matchmaker again."

He couldn't tell from the tone of her voice how she felt about that particular i
dea, so he opted to say nothing.

"Gaby and I went into the players' locke
r
room to wait out the rain, see if we could get back on the practice court," Tess went on. "When that didn't look like it was going to happen, Aurora got the idea to take Gaby out for high tea and contacted Vivian and Mercedes."

"And you weren't going to go along?"

"Believe it or not, I do have some common sense. The godmothers are very good at what they do. Spiriting Gaby out for the afternoon for tea won't be that much of a challenge. Trust me when I say that Gaby will enjoy herself in privacy. But keeping me incognito is another story. And me and Gaby in public together was just asking for trouble." She gave him a pointed stare. "As the closest thing she has to a coach, I wanted to make sure she had a nice time, got a little break, but also kept her focus. We agreed that if the weather clears, they'll get her home in time so we can practice at Wexley later on."

Max blew out a breath. He wasn't happy with this little turn of events, and Aurora's high-handedness, but he knew she was probably hoping for this exact thing to happen. Max and Tess alone together. And though he had no idea what he was going to do with the opportun
ity they'd presented him with…
he couldn't say he was exactly upset about it. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Knee-jerk reaction. I should know better by now."

"And here I was just getting used to you always thinking the worst of me." She shifted her gaze out the window. With the rain running down the tinted glass there wasn't much to see, but apparently that was preferable to looking at him.

He couldn't say he blamed her.

Max watched her for a moment or two longer. She was right. He was always jumping to the worst conclusion where she was concerned. Initially it had been to protect Gaby. But he'd known for some time now that she had Gaby's best interest at
heart every bit as much as he did. She might have different ideas on how to handle things like media scrutiny and the like, but she'd never once jeopardized Gaby's training schedule or anything else.

He'd also started to see the real woman behind the bad-girl image
…
and he was undeniably intrigued. He understood that it was a lot harder for her, this new life she'd entered into, than she let on to anyone. She was trying to find her way, just like the rest of them. And doing him and his sister a huge favor in the meantime. Yes, he was very intrigued. And undeniably attracted. Hence that stupid, impulsive kiss yesterday.

But the bottom line was, she was Tess Hamilton, tennis superstar. In a few days' time, she would flit off to some other world event and leave the two of them behind.

Gaby was going to really miss her. But even harder to admit was how much he was going to miss her, too. He'd gotten used to having her bubbling enthusiasm around, and he even liked her somewhat jaded view of the world. Yet she was always optimistic, always upbeat. Hell, he even liked sparring with her. The truth was, he looked forward to it. She kept him on his toes. He never knew exactly what to expect. Every time he was around her, he was mo
re aware, more alive. Just…
more.

Maybe he was still so insistent on finding that bad side of her because that would make it easier to let her walk away.

"I don't think the worst of you, you know," he said quietly. When she said nothing and kept her gaze locked on the window, he nudged her foot with his. "I wanted to. Would have made things a lot easier. But I was wrong about you."

That had her looking at him, surprise and wariness both on her face. "Oh?" Her lips quirked. "Gee. Where is the media when you really need them? This is the front-page moment right here." She laughed, but there wasn't much humor in it.

"They're trying to paint us as some hot couple. If they only knew the real story, huh?"

Just let it go,
he schooled himself.
Let
the
moment go.
She's out of your life in three days. You
apologized, you made peace. Leave the rest alone.

And yet, somehow, where Tess was involved, impulse always seemed to rule the day.

"What is the real story?" he asked her.

Judging from her expression, that had caught her off guard. Good. He didn't want to be the only one sitting here with sweaty palms and a heartbeat that wasn't quite regular.

"What do you mean, 'what is the real story'?"

Of course she'd lob it back in his court. He'd hoped she'd answer, at least give him some guidance on just how big a fool he was about to make of him
self. "I guess what I mean is…
we've been dancing around each other for the past twenty-four hours and going out of our way to pretend nothing happened yesterday. Like it was just another fabrication of the press or something. Why is that, do you suppose?"

She shifted in her seat a little, and for the first time since he'd known her, she didn't look so confident and in control. He'd seen her nervous for Gaby. He'd seen her grapple with the emotions stemming from her new view from the sidelines of a game she'd dominated in the not so distant past. But he'd never quite seen her like this—not meeting his gaze, fingers tangled in her lap, the toes of her sneakers tapping against each other.

It was on the tip of his tongue to just tell her to forget he'd brought it up. To save them both from this conversation. But it was hard to speak and hold his breath at the same time.

Finally she looked up, met his gaze. Her eyes were darker than he'd ever recalled seeing them. A deep sea-green. Christ, now he was being poetic. He was a goner. Truly a goner.

"You kissed me back," he blurted. Oh,
great move
,
you idiot How smooth are you?
His teenage sister was right. He had to get a life. She probably had smoother moves than he did. God, that was an image he didn't need at the moment. "Why?" he asked, trying desperately to sound casual, as if this were nothing more than a business conversation.

She didn't look away. And when she tipped her chin up, ever so slightly, he relaxed a little. This was the Tess Hamilton he knew. That vulnerable Tess he'd just gotten a glimpse of scared him a little. He knew how to handle the bold, brash Tess. He couldn't get them back on their proper footing, but he knew he could count on her to do that for them both.

So, prepared for some smart-ass response, it was a bit of a shock when she said, "Because I wanted to."

He swallowed. Hard.

"In fact, I'd been thinking about it for a while."

Palms, sweatier. Heartbeat, thundering. Throat, completely dry. "Yeah," he managed. She'd put it out there. It was only
fair he did the same. "Me, too.
"

And then she smiled. It was a slow, sweet curving thing that lit up her whole face and brought the sparkle back to her eyes. "God, we're a disaster, aren't we?"

"Why do you say that?"

She laughed a little, only this time it filled him with warmth, Like he wasn't already on fire. But this warmed him somewhere else, somewhere deep inside.

"It's just, here we are, successful, talented, worldly, with at least a certain amount of sophistication. We're single, not altogether hard on the eyes, and I doubt either of us ever had to work too hard to
find a date on any given night.
"

"Speak for yourself," he said wryly.

"Oh, that's only because you don't try. And I thought
I
took
my job too seriously at times." She waved away his attempt to respond. "You have dated, right? On the rare occasion?"

"Yes, but they were never—"

"Just answer the question. Were you ever turned down for a date?"

He had to stop for a second. "No, I guess not. But it was usually business."

She barked out a laugh. "For you, maybe. But this just proves my overall point."

"Which is?"

She settled back in her seat, and let her feet rest against his. "That we're both kind of screwups when it comes to anything resembling an actual relationship. Sure, we can date, we can mingle, we can socialize. Some of us can actually fling." She paused for a second. "What, no snarky comment about my less than savory social past?"

Other than the irrational jealousy he suddenly felt for a raft of guys he didn't know and had never met? No. "Just finish making your point."

The co
rn
er of her mouth tilted a bit, and she looked like she wanted to call him on that, but she went on. "I'm just saying we don't know how to have normal, long-term relationships. It's easy to date when it doesn't matter. But when it comes to figuring out stuff when it does matter, well, we are rather inept."

"Maybe, But I think the kind of lives we lead make long-term arrangements difficult. That more than anything else is why I don't date a lot. And maybe why you 'fling,' as you say. What else is there, given our schedules?"

She held his gaze for a moment, and his heart skipped a beat, But then she said, "Bobby figured it out. Other players have figured it out. It can be done."

"Maybe we've been too busy focusing on other things."

"Maybe." She glanced down at her hands, then back up at him, then back down at her hands again.

She was nervous. And for whatever reason
, that helped him to relax. "So…
are you saying that it matters?"

She shrugged her shoulders, kept her gaze in her lap. "I'm saying that maybe that's why we've been so obnoxious with each other. It's like we're suddenly in the schoolyard and you're pulling my pigtails and I'm shooting spitballs at you because we don't know what to do with this other stuff we seem to rile up in each other. So we punch the buttons we do know how to handle instead."

Max grinned now. "Are you saying I rile you up?"

She shot him a look, snorted. "When haven't you riled me up? It's like your life's mission or something."

His smile stayed in place. But he didn't. He shifted across the space between them and sat beside her. Her eyes widened in surprise, and maybe a teeny bit in alarm, but she stayed where she was. "I'm not talking about that kind of riled."

She held his gaze for what felt like an eternity. "Neither was I."

He thought his heart might pound right out of his chest. "So what are we going to do about this lapse in our social development?"