They volleyed back and forth for position, each coming out ahead at one point or another. It wasn’t an even match. Liz knew that going into it. Even if she had more skill in the subtleties, he was overall a more skilled player than she was. When he won, he gloated, but it was better than if she had beaten him. He was a sore loser too.
Liz tossed her racket onto the ground and rested her hands on her knees. Her breathing was coming out in gasps and sweat poured down her back, chest, and forehead. Some of it spilled into her eyes and she had to blink away the salt. She wiped her face with the back of her forearm. It didn’t help much, but it didn’t make it any worse.
“I’m beat,” she said, feeling like flopping over onto the court right then and there.
“You put up a good match,” Hank said, paying her a compliment. That was unusual.
“Thanks, but you kicked my ass.”
“You held your own. Whatever Tana’s doing over there, she’s doing it right. You should come work out with me more often,” he said with that same toothy smile.
“I don’t think my body can take it,” she groaned, straightening with difficulty.
“Next time, I won’t go easy on you.” Hank smacked her back good-naturedly and she nearly fell over. He chuckled and helped right her. They walked back down toward the clubhouse together. Liz’s breathing still wasn’t even by the time they got there.
“I have another student, but you really should come back and play sometime, Liz. Hard to find good opponents who aren’t instructors,” he told her.
Liz nodded. Exhaustion was already taking over. “Yeah, I’ll be around. I’m working on the paper, running the election column and following the races. I think I’ll be swamped, but let me know when you’re open and I’ll work around it.”
“Oh yeah! I read your article about Brady,” Hank said, snapping his finger like it had just come to him.
“Yeah, did you like it?” Liz asked.
“I thought it was good. I like Brady, though, man. He’s a good guy.”
“Do you uh…know him?” Even here, when she had let herself get to the point of exhaustion, she couldn’t escape him.
“Yeah, he played basketball here my junior and senior years of college. I came home to every game that I could,” Hank told her.
“Cool,” she said with a shrug.
“Next article should be about his career here playing basketball. Do you know how many points he scored or how many games he started in?” Hank asked.
Liz just smiled. “No, I don’t.”
“I can write up a profile for you for your next piece. Just quote me,” he said with that grin.
“I’m sure it’s available on the Internet.”
Hank laughed. “You’re probably right. Let me know when you’re free for another game.”
“Will do. See you around,” she said, waving as she walked out of the club.
It only took a couple minutes to get back to her house, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Brady. Even when she was playing tennis, smacking a tennis ball as hard as she possibly could, he still returned.
She turned the water on cold in the shower when she got home and washed her workout off of her skin. She didn’t normally like cold showers, but it had been so hot outside that it was the only thing she could stomach at the moment. Plus, it woke her up some.
Maybe she was being ridiculous about the whole thing. Maybe she and Brady could start whatever they were about to start and everything would be fine. If only she could stop obsessing in his absence. It had to be the reporter side of her coming out, trying to fit the facts into the puzzle. The truth was that there weren’t many details to consider, just a whole hell of a lot of hypotheticals. To move forward, she needed to push past the hypothetical and settle in on what she did know. Accept those facts and move forward.
So what did she know?
Brady wanted her. He wanted her badly enough to risk continuing to see her when it had the potential to hurt both of their careers if they got caught.
She really wanted Brady. If the fact that she couldn’t get him out of her head and she had felt like she was walking through a black-and-white movie in his absence wasn’t enough to prove that, then she didn’t know what would.
Yes, well…that was it. That was all she knew.
That was all she needed to know.
Liz stepped out of her shower, wrapped a towel around her wet body, and grabbed her phone off of the counter.
“Hello, Senator Maxwell’s office,” a woman answered.
“Yes, hello,” Liz said, trying to keep her voice strong. “I’m trying to reach the Senator.”
“Who may I say is calling?”
Liz took a deep breath. “Sandy Carmichael.”
Chapter 13
SURPRISE GETAWAY
Liz couldn’t have been on hold for more than a couple minutes, but it felt like an eternity. She thought about hanging up. Maybe he wouldn’t actually answer anyway. But inevitably she had decided against it. She had mustered up the courage to go through with it, and she wasn’t going to back out now.
She heard rustling on the other end and straightened in her seat. He couldn’t see her, but it didn’t matter.
“Ms. Carmichael, what a pleasant surprise,” Brady answered.
Liz swooned in her seat. She had already forgotten how his deep voice affected her. Even when he was talking to her as if she was a reporter and not…well, whatever she was, it was still very attractive.
“Brady,” she murmured into the phone.
“Yes, it’s great to hear from you too,” he said cheerfully. He was using his campaign voice. He cleared his throat and all but whispered into the phone, “Give me a minute.”
She heard more rustling coming from the other end and she wondered if he was switching rooms or trying to find privacy. Was this what it would always be like?
“Hey,” he said, losing the campaign-coated speech for his more personal tone. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon.”
“You didn’t want to?”
“I wasn’t expecting to. There’s a difference. I always want to hear from you,” he said smoothly.
Liz smiled despite herself. She didn’t mind being flattered. “With that attitude, how did you expect me to wait?”
“I didn’t,” he said. She wondered if he was smirking. She closed her eyes and thought about the way his eyes looked down upon her deviously. It made her swallow and cross her legs.
“I want to see you,” she breathed into the line.
“Yeah, I think you mentioned that this morning.”
“I know you said it was your terms. I know you said that it was only when you were free…” she trailed off.
“And you agreed,” he growled into the phone. “Are you backing out?”
“No,” she answered hastily. “Quite the contrary. I want you to be free now.”
She couldn’t believe she had blurted it out. It was what she was thinking, but she usually kept her thoughts reserved. Still, it wasn’t a lie. She had gone a long time without him. She knew she had work to catch up on, the paper to do research for, and a portfolio she needed to compile for her professor, but she couldn’t concentrate on any of that when he was on her mind.
“I said the things I said this morning because I’m a very busy person.”
“I know you are. I follow your campaign schedule,” she said.
He chuckled softly into the phone. “I’m sure you do.”
“Brady, it’s been two weeks. That kiss in the auditorium wasn’t enough. Not enough for me…or for you,” she stated boldly. Whatever was going on with them was something she had to push forward with head-on. If she hesitated too much, she started wondering if she was being used, and she couldn’t think about that. She was getting out of it what she could, and what she wanted was Brady.