Synopsis
Grass
courts, tennis whites and the fiercest competition in the world. Wimbledon.
After two crazy weeks in Paris, the girls of the Outer Banks Tennis Academy are
headed to London with just one thing on their minds: winning.
Indiana Gaffney is fresh off a surprise win at the French Open junior
tournament. Sponsors are clamoring for her attention, but what she wants more
than anything—aside from a wild card to Wimbledon—is to be with Jack Harrison,
but international fame and a secret relationship rarely mix well.
When Penny Harrison dreamed of playing at Wimbledon she never imagined
agonizing pain shooting through her ankle with every step. With just a month
until the tournament and the whole world expecting her to win, she’s determined
to play, with or without the support of her coach or the love of her life, Alex
Russell.
For the first time ever, no one expects anything from Jasmine Randazzo. After a
crushing first-round defeat in the French Open juniors, the tennis world has
given up on her, but worse than that, so have her parents, her best friend
Teddy and maybe even her coach. With everyone writing her off, can she find it
within herself to go after her dreams?
Excerpt:
Stepping
into the sunshine, Indy shouldered her bag and turned towards the OBX library,
her mind running through the assignments she still had to complete when a
shadow crossed over her path, a large body falling into step with her, close,
but not touching, their strides matching.
“Jack,”
she said, glancing up at him sideways, a small smile threatening at the corner
of her mouth.
“Indiana,”
he said, echoing back her name, sending a shiver down her spine. He was the
only one allowed to call her that, the only person who made the name she’d
hated since forever sound friggin’ good.
They
walked together without another word, turning the corner that separated the
courts from the residential area of the complex, but her stride was suddenly
cut off when Jack shuffled his feet, sliding his arm around her waist and
pulled her into a shady walkway between buildings. Her bag slid off her
shoulder, but he caught it before it crashed to the ground and smashed her
laptop to smithereens. He let it settle on the ground gently before leaning
over her, forcing her to step back into the wall.
Walls
were their thing. Their first kiss had been against a wall in a random hallway
at Roland Garros, their second pressed against the wall of their hotel in Paris
and now that they were back in North Carolina, they found any excuse to push
each other against a wall and kiss until they were gasping for air and their
bodies begged for relief. Jack’s lips trailed from her temple, using the wall
behind her as an anchor before bending his head to hers. Pushing up onto her
toes, Indy met him halfway.
She’d never been so grateful for every millimeter
of her five feet ten inches as she was when she was kissing Jack. His hands
slid through her hair, twisting it around his fingers, then cradling the back
of her head, drawing her mouth more firmly against his. Indy brought her hands to
his torso, gripping his t-shirt, letting her palms press against the cut of
muscle that disappeared into his cargo shorts.
The skin on skin contact made
his breath hitch, his mouth opening just enough to allow her tongue to slide
in, deepening the kiss, before letting her teeth nip at his bottom lip. A groan
rumbled in his throat as he stumbled forward, pressing his body full length
against hers. He wrenched his lips from hers, trailing his mouth over the line
of her jaw to the spot just behind her ear. It was her turn to gasp and her
head fell back as she arched into him. No one had ever kissed her there before.
Jack smiled against her skin as her fingertips dug into his sides and she let a
moan slip free as he focused his attention on that spot, scraping his teeth
against it then soothing that small pain with a flick of his tongue. Her hands
scrambled to get purchase against his shoulders, desperate for some leverage,
anything to help her slide her body against his.
Then he was gone, his hand
gone from her hair, his mouth gone from her neck and his body inches then feet
away. Indy blinked at him, trying to figure out what happened when the voices
echoing down the pathway towards them finally reached her ears.
Bending
down, he lifted her bag as she ran her fingers through her hair, knowing he’d
made an unholy mess of it. “You’re fine,” he muttered, handing her the bag,
then keeping the distance between them as a group of junior boys stomped past
them, none giving them a second glance.
“You
have good ears,” Indy said, biting her lip at the close call. If those boys had
seen them, the news would have spread like wildfire through the OBX campus and
everyone would have known by the end of the day. She was only seventeen for
another few months, but that wasn’t really the problem, seventeen or eighteen
wouldn’t matter to other people. She was a young tennis pro, he was an up and
coming agent. The last thing either of their careers needed was the heightened
publicity of a controversial relationship, even if Jack Harrison was far more
of a gentleman than any guy she’d ever met. Sometimes a little too much of a
gentleman, truth be told.
Jack
shrugged, glancing back over his shoulder again before facing her fully. “I’m
sorry about this.”
She
reached out and took his hand, “We both agreed,” she said, entwining their
fingers together, “it’s just between us for now. It makes sense for the both of
us.” Pressing his lips together in a thin line, he nodded, but she knew he
wasn’t entirely convinced. “Jack, we talked about this. You said you were okay
with it.”
“I
just wish it were different,” he said, tugging her closer, pressing a soft kiss
to her forehead. His hands released hers and dropped to her hips, the edges of
his thumbs brushing against her hipbones in slow circles sending shivers over
her skin.
“Me
too.” She wanted to scream it from the rooftops that this amazing guy was hers. That he had deep green eyes and a smile that brightened them whenever he looked
at her. That he was brilliant in ways that she couldn’t even fathom with his
degree from Harvard. That he’d fought their attraction for so long because of
that ingrained sense of honor, like one of those heroes in a fairy tale, except
Jack was real, flesh and blood.
"Have
you thought...maybe we should tell Penny?" Indy asked, her fingertips
landing on his forearms, gently stroking up to his elbows and back down to his
wrists.
Jack
let out a heavy breath. "Penny has a lot on her plate right now."
"I
know, I just feel funny keeping it from her. Jasmine knows."
"We'll
do whatever you want to do. This is your show, baby."
"I
don't need a supportive…" she hesitated, almost using the word boyfriend,
but that didn't really fit, did it? Not if they were keeping it a secret,
"I need honest Jack."
He
leaned back, looking her in the eye. "Honest? Honestly, my sister doesn't
do well with change. It freaks her out and right now, I'm not sure that the
idea of you and me will go over that well. On the other hand, if we don't tell
her and she finds out?"
"She'll
be pissed."
"Yep."
"Maybe
we wait a little longer. We could tell her in London?"
Jack
nodded, "Face to face instead of over the phone."
“There’s
always Skype,” she said, not really sure if she wanted to know what Penny, the
only girl who’d made an effort to befriend her when she first arrived at OBX,
would think if she found out she and Jack were together.
“There’s
that.”
Indy
shook her head. They should do it in person. They should have done it before
they left Paris, but Penny had been so devastated by withdrawing from the
tournament that it hadn’t felt like the right time then either. “In London.
We’ll be there in less than a week. We’ll tell her then.”
“Okay,
in London.” They stood there for a moment, just breathing each other in until
Jack leaned away. “I’ve gotta go. I have a meeting with a potential new client
this afternoon and I’ve got to prep.”
Indy
snorted a laugh. “Right, like you don’t already have a complete profile worked
up along with potential sponsors to contact if they sign.”
“You
know me so well,” he said, leaning around the building, checking the pathway
for any more unwanted spectators. “I’ll go this way.”
Indy
nodded back in the opposite direction. “And I’ll go that way.”
With
a bow, he was gone, around the corner and out of sight, so she turned and
adjusted her bag over her shoulder, heading out from between the buildings and
towards the library. She’d have about half the time to get her Calc done than
she originally planned. Fingertips pressing against that spot on her neck
lightly recalling the feel of his mouth and the way her entire body was lit on
fire by his touch, it was totally worth it.
“Are you sure that is a good idea?” a voice
rang out from just a few steps behind her, the French accent giving its owner
away, if the superiority and condescension weren’t enough of a clue. Indy spun
around and came face to face with her agent, tall, blonde, perfectly put together
in a silk blouse and linen skirt, somehow looking completely cool and calm
despite the blaze of the sun. She was in town before they all left for England,
mostly to go over her plans for Indy’s future off the court.
A
denial formed on Indy’s tongue, but she knew it was useless. Caroline had seen
them and it probably just confirmed what she’d suspected for a while. Her agent
was damn good at her job and it wasn’t like she and Jack had been super careful
about keeping private moments behind closed doors. “Good idea or not, it’s none
of your business.”
Raising
her eyes to the sky and shaking her head Caroline said, “You are my business,
Indiana.”
“How
many times do I have to say it? Don’t call me that, and my tennis is your
business,” Indy corrected. “Keep your nose out of everything else.”
“It
is not that simple,” Caroline insisted, her voice inching up in pitch.
“It
really is.” She turned on her toe and walked away, wanting to look back, hoping
that Caroline’s brow was furrowed and her hands were on her hips, lips pursed
in aggravation. But looking back would ruin the moment because despite getting
in the last word, Caroline now had the upper hand and it was only a matter of
time before she used it to her advantage.
When
a McKinney brother falls in love, powerful emotion and overwhelming desire are
never far behind.
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