“The hell it is,” Kai said. “It’s what happened, and if you need time, you should have it. We don’t have to figure it out now.” He took a step back, slipped out of his jacket and laid it in the sand. “Come on.”
“What are you doing?”
“We’re going to spend the night together. Another first. Nothing illegal is going to happen, mind you. This is a public beach after all,” he said to make me laugh. “Everyone and everything else can fuck right off while we sleep under the stars.”
“So poetic.”
He grinned. “I’m a man of many talents.”
“But…right here?”
“Yep.” He stretched out on his back on the jacket, one arm pillowing his head. He patted one side. “Plenty of room.”
My heart swelled at the sight of him, beautiful and sharp, but his eyes soft now as they looked up at me. I gathered my dress and laid down beside him, resting my head on his chest. His arm went around me at once, and we stared up at the sky that was a canopy of black velvet and starlight. The ocean swelled, crashed, and retreated, over and over.
Kai craned his chin down to look at me. “Pretty perfect, right?”
I nodded. “Perfect.”
He smiled and leaned to kiss me softly, his mouth gentle, his tongue sliding over mine lightly, then retreating. He kissed my upper lip, then my lower. He kissed my chin, my nose and nose ring, then my forehead before settling his head back against the sand. Another first, I thought, because few people had ever seen Kai Solomon like this.
This is who he really is.
“Thank you, Kai.” I settled back against his chest. “It’s just what I needed.”
Kai
Two days later, I crammed the last of my gear in a suitcase in my bedroom in the main house. Daisy was likely doing the same, waiting to hear back from the airline about how to bring Keanu to Melbourne.
Because Daisy is coming with me. She’s going to be in my box, watching and rooting for me.
The old pain and anger seemed distant, and holy shit, for the first time I had a chance at winning a Major without all the bullshit getting in the way.
Jason popped his head in. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
My agent studied me, a smile on his lips. “You do look ready. More than ready. Like you’re going to kick some ass, but in a mature, tennis-professional kind of way.”
I laughed. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t want to jinx whatever spell Daisy has put on you, but I have a good feeling about this. Like all that God-given talent of yours is going to take you to the finals with nothing getting in the way.”
“Could be,” I said. “But don’t get ahead of yourself. If I feel like hitting a ’tweener or underhand serve, I’m going to do it.”
“I expect nothing less.”
Jason patted the doorjamb and left. Daisy appeared a moment later, looking beautiful in a flowered dress. But her fingers tangled nervously in front of her, and she captured her lower lip in her teeth.
“You look amazing,” she said. “You look so ready for this.”
“You sound just like Jason. Only sexier.”
I moved to kiss her but she moved back.
“Kai…I can’t go.”
I stiffened. “What do you mean? If it’s the cost, don’t worry about it. I got you covered.”