“Is that your way of saying you’re just now realizing that your obsession with me may be rooted in something much deeper?”
“Maybe.” A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, melting my heart. “I might require more demonstrations later to help me reach some definitive conclusions, though. This has been way too weird for me to process right now.”
I beamed at him with happiness. “You can face off against me anytime you want, onandoff the tennis court.”
“We definitely need a rematch after this.”
Taking a chance, I leaned in for a tender kiss. He set my heart alight when he allowed it to stay gentle and reached out to pull me closer. I couldn't resist getting a little cheesy. “Now I know why they score tennis with love.”
We both dissolved into laughter before kissing again. I had played the long game to reach that point, but it was the best win of my career to have Knightley as my own.
Chapter Three
Knight
After returningto the hotel and taking care of some personal business online, I jumped in the shower to help me unwind from such a strange day. I had pushed myself hard during the Australian Open, and the encounter that followed, so the hot water felt amazing on my tired muscles. Letting the spray wash over me, I got lost in my thoughts, which centered on Kingston, just like they always did.
As often as I had fantasized about all the different ways I could beat him, I had never imagined it involving sex. But our explosive encounter had given me an outlet for my frustration, plus opened new forms of winning over him. That power seduced me, despite never having an interest in men before. Having him moaning under me as he submitted to my desires had been an intense aphrodisiac. It left me hungry for another chance to achieve a sexual high unlike anything else I had ever experienced. I needed more of him, whether I was comfortable with that or not.
While it was one thing for me to be in control, I shouldn’t have been okay with him reversing our positions. At first, my acceptance of the shift had partially been about saving face by not backing down and looking scared. But in my orgasmic haze, I had rationalized that having him fuck me was its own form of power over him. He needed me to achieve his own pleasure, which meant I was still the one with all the control in that situation, even when I was on the bottom. I had the ability to deny him, which meant he was at my mercy. As a result, making him come had been one hell of an ego boost. I also derived a special kind of gratification from proving my sexual prowess with a second climax to his single one because there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t turn into a competition. Above all else, it had felt so damngood.
It angered me that he had made me feel better than any woman ever had. Why did he have to be so gifted ateverything? And what was up with his sincere confession afterward? The cynic in me wanted to dismiss his interest in me as an underhanded method of trying to best me yet again. However, I begrudgingly conceded that Kingston wasn’t that kind of person. No, he had shown me his genuine vulnerability and given me the chance to destroy his heart. But I wasn’t that kind of person, either.
I struggled to come to terms with how I handled our post-sex conversation. After two of the best orgasms of my entire life, my anger mellowed out to the point where I could be civil with him. It was the first time I hadn’t seen him as my opponent but more of my equal. He had even been funny enough to make me laugh in genuine amusement, which was a first. That was a Kingston I could see myself calling a friend, which was a mind-blowing concept when I had always considered him my rival.
It was strange to realize that as much as I hated him, I had never once conceived of him as my enemy. He lacked the evil and menacing spirit to be awarded such a title. I always said I hated him, but I had to wonder if he was right after all. Maybe part of me had always been attracted to him and used my anger as a form of denial. Ignoring his gender, he was attractive, good-natured, and shared my passion for the sport of tennis. His incredible work ethic, impressive accomplishments, and dedication to training had earned my respect, even when I didn’t want to like him. Beyond that, he was the first person to ever see the fire burning inside of me and not the Iceman that everyone else made me out to be. Despite seeing the real me, he still had an affection for me I couldn’t understand. I was a monumental dick to him every chance I got, so why would he be interested in me? Let alone be so sincere about his desire.
Washing my hair as I continued sorting through my emotions, I couldn’t figure out what happened next. Someone had tried to enter the locked room, forcing us to get dressed and make a hasty exit past a very confused custodian. We lost our chance to discuss what the encounter meant going forward. Worse, I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go. His feelings seemed too deep for a casual hookup, but was I ready for something serious on that level? How had I gone from hating his guts in the morning to contemplating a future with him as a partner? It didn’t make sense, so why did being with him feel like the right choice?
By the time I finished, I still hadn’t reached any definitive conclusions. Drying off, I wrapped the towel around my waist and returned to my room. I debated the merits of calling it an early night when a knock on my door drew my attention.
I walked over and used the peephole to see who was on the other side. It didn’t surprise me it was Kingston. As much as I wished I could ignore him, the part of me that needed to hear what he had to say won the debate.
His green eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me wearing nothing but a towel. “Hello, gorgeous.” He was one to talk. Although I had never been interested in men before, it was an undeniable fact that he looked handsome in jeans, a gray T-shirt, and a black leather jacket.
“I should shut the door on you just for that.”
“We both know you won’t.” He strode into my room like I had invited him inside, sitting down in the chair beside the window. His gaze once again drank me in from head to toe. My ego loved every second of his appreciation. “Are you ready to talk?”
“About what?”
“What happens next.”
It was hard to be mad at him for offering me answers to the thing I had spent the better part of my shower wondering about earlier. “Okay.”
His eyebrows arched in surprise. “Wow, you’re not going to fight me on it?”
I crossed my arms over my chest as I remained standing. “Do you want me to?”
“It makes it more fun for me when you do.” His cheeky grin was infectious, but I fought my urge to return it. “I enjoy when you make me work for it.”
“Get on with it already.”
He took a deep breath as he lost some of his playfulness. “You hate beating around the bullshit, so I’m going to put all my cards on the table for you. You’re more than a meaningless fuck for me, Knightley. I want to be your boyfriend.”
His willingness to state his ambition impressed me. That he had phrased it as he wanted to bemyboyfriend and not that he wished I’d behisboyfriend also spoke volumes about his insights into how I worked. His intuitive understanding of his opponents was one of the things that made him impossible to beat. “Exclusively?”
“For both of us.” He smoldered in a way that made me shift uncomfortably as it stirred the embers of my desire from our previous encounter. “I play for keeps. It’s all or nothing with me.”
