saw you obviously hurting, I’d say something. If that’s a deal-breaker for you, you should let me know.”
He thought for a minute before answering, and then gave a little nod.
“I would do the same, so it’s not a deal-breaker. Besides, I know I can push myself a bit too hard at times.” When she began to speak, he sent her a quelling look. “Although now isn’t one of those times, so you can close that sweet mouth of yours.”
“I can.” She smirked. “But I probably won’t.”
His eyes rolled to the darkening sky above. “Quelle surprise.”
“So you want us to hit the ball back and forth?” Lifting her racket, she mimed hitting a forehand.
He raised his own racket in a salute. “Yes. And while we do, we can play a game other than tennis. What do you think?”
When she raised a brow, he glanced at it and huffed out an amused breath.
“I think you’re overestimating my ability to multitask,” she told him.
That wink of his. It made her want to smack him and screw him. “Truth or dare on the tennis court, Tess. A few rallies, a few secrets, a few risks. What do you say?”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and tilted her chin high. “I say bring it on, Lucas. Bring. It. On.”
Thirteen
Lucas began bouncing the ball in readiness to take a shot, and Tess shifted her stance, setting her feet shoulder-width apart. For a moment, she was tempted to sway in place like she’d seen his opponents do when he served to them in those YouTube videos, but…no. Unlike them, she wouldn’t look ready for her return. She’d look like she’d been drinking too much.
Instead, she braced the racket in front of her. “Who’s going to start?”
“I will.” One more bounce, and then the ball was flying over the net toward her. “Truth or dare, Tess?”
As always, the ball landed near her, and she hit it over the net and into the back corner of his court by sheer accident. “A gentleman would let me go first.”
“I can be gentle. If and when that’s what you want.” Irritatingly, he reached the ball without seeming to hurry in any appreciable way. “As far as your going first—”
Another easy shot for her to reach. “Oh, Jesus. I set myself up for a coming first joke, didn’t I?”
“You really did. Although I consider it less a joke and more a promise.” With two giant strides, he reached the spot where she’d barely managed to get the ball over the net. “Assuming you decide to spend the night with me. If not, no problem. I’d be happy if we just—”
He cut himself off as she lined up her return shot.
“Just what?”
Wait. Were his cheeks becoming a little pink? “Went out to dinner and talked. Held hands, maybe.”
Oh, my goodness. They were. He was blushing.
His mention of hand-holding had embarrassed him. Him. The same man who could cheerfully, shamelessly discuss for hours how her boobs might flee the harsh confines of her sports bra and roam free, crushing small towns in their wake.
For him, she supposed, a suggestion of holding hands might be more intimate—more revealing of who and what he really was—than any amount of sexual banter. And now he’d turned shy, his cheeks flushed and his gaze landing anywhere but on her.
The Sweet Swede had arrived for a visit.
“Holding hands should definitely be doable.” She smiled at him as they kept hitting the ball back and forth. “Depending on how our game of Truth or Dare goes. If you make me run around the court naked, you should anticipate a lonely evening ahead with only your own hand for holding. And I mean that in every possible way.”
His rumble of laughter crossed the court. “I promise I won’t make you run.”
“I notice you made no promises about nakedness.” Lord, Florida was an armpit in the summer. Tess was starting to sweat already. “An accidental oversight, I’m sure.”
He only grinned in response. “I repeat: Truth or dare, Tess?”
Another of Lucas’s perfectly placed shots. He didn’t even look like he needed to pay attention. Maybe she should try to hit a little harder?
The next time he sent the ball her way, she put more power behind her swing, and the ball promptly sailed into the net.
Good enough. That would buy her a moment to rest. “Truth.”
His question came immediately. “Why are you working so hard during your vacation?”
Leaning on her racket, she raised the hem of her tee to wipe her forehead.