When Zeke looked her straight in the eye and asked, ‘Would you like to get out of here?’ Charlie didn’t really think about Marco or the media frenzy that would surely ensue or the not-inconsequential fact that she’d had gym sessions that lasted longer than the total time she’d known Zeke. Thinking, for the first time in so long, didn’t really factor in at all. She’d been a good girl. She followed the rules everyone else laid out for her. And to what end? She’d missed so much fun over the years with the training and traveling, the practice and tournaments, that she almost felt as if she couldn’t say no. That she’d be letting herself down if she did – that is, her eighty-year-old self who would remember the night she’d had a sexy affair with a movie star in far greater detail than ten full years of tennis grind. She couldn’t blame it on being drunk (she wasn’t), or on being starstruck, or even on being angry at Marco. No, the truth was far simpler, and not something she would admit to Piper when they were hashing over every detail or Jake when he feigned disapproval because that’s what big brothers do: she was doing it because she could.

Charlie looked him straight in the eye and grinned. ‘Let’s go.’

15

the morning after

CHARLESTON, APRIL 2016

Her fellow players often complained of not knowing where they were when they first woke up in a strange place: all the travel messed with their heads and left them feeling confused and displaced, like nowhere was home. Charlie usually nodded in agreement, but the truth was she always knew exactly where she was, whether it was a hotel room in Singapore or a short-term sublet in Wimbledon Village or a cramped seat on a flight across the Pacific. Today, though, for the first time in possibly her entire life, she understood what they meant. Despite the fact that Zeke Leighton lay next to her in bed – or maybe because of it – for the briefest moment she couldn’t remember where they were or how they’d gotten there.

‘Hey,’ he murmured, setting down his phone. ‘You’re up.’

She self-consciously pulled the duvet up to cover her chest, but he reached over and gently pulled it back. He kissed her breasts as though they were highly breakable objects of art.

‘What time is it?’ she asked, although she could clearly see the bedside clock read 9:12 a.m.

‘It’s a little after nine. I’ve been watching you sleep forever.’

‘Forever?’ She rolled over and, encouraged by his smile, kissed his mouth. ‘Didn’t we, like, only go to sleep a few hours ago?’

He rolled on top of her, and she could feel that he’d been waiting for her. She moaned.

‘We can’t,’ he said, teasingly pulling her bottom lip in his teeth. ‘You have a flight to catch, apparently.’

Munich. Had she already missed her connecting flight to New York?

‘How bad is it?’ she asked.

‘Well, the hotel manager finally knocked. It sounds like your people really want to get in touch with you …’

‘Where should I look?’ Charlie asked, grabbing her phone. Immediately she could see that her home screen was exploding with messages: two from her father, two from Jake, one from Todd, four from Piper, and even one from Natalya.

‘Take your pick. They all probably say the same thing. And just so you’re not surprised, there’s pretty much a riot outside the hotel right now. They know you’re here.’

‘They know I’m here?’ Her voice was shrieky, panicked. ‘Of course I’m here! I’m staying here! We’re in my room! I didn’t know until we left the restaurant that you were staying here, too.’

Zeke held his hands up in self-defense, but he couldn’t disguise his amused expression. ‘Don’t shoot the messenger.’

She bypassed the screen of text messages without reading any of them and clicked open her NY Post app. Instantly, a photo of her and Marco appeared. There was a jagged red line running down the center and the headline screamed at her in a massive red font: ‘CHEATERS!’

She closed her eyes and took another breath. It was a hideous thing to be called, perhaps even more so as a professional athlete – there was something about that word that just cut her legs right out from under her. Cheater. Only the most spineless actually cheated – in sport, in love, or in life. And now here she was, being accused of it in bold print for all the world to see.

Charlie forced herself to pick up her phone, but Zeke clamped his hand over it. ‘Maybe you shouldn’t read it right now. Not much to be gained.’

She wrested it away from him and quickly read the first two sentences:

No love in this game! It looks like even their close friends got it wrong: despite reports the couple were hot and heavy, it appears that tennis phenoms Marco Vallejo and Charlotte Silver each scored – with other people.

She looked up at Zeke, who was watching her closely. And then it occurred to her: the ‘CHEATERS!’ headline was plural.

The first-ranked men’s player is competing at the Rolex Open in Monte Carlo and has just advanced to the semifinals. Vallejo’s love interest is still a mystery, but multiple sources confirm he was seen kissing a blond beauty at the official player party before departing with her. The cute couple was spotted later in the evening sharing yet another kiss on the balcony outside the gorgeous Spaniard’s hotel room – this time while she straddled his lap wearing what appeared to be a men’s T-shirt! Not to worry, Silver hit her own winner with a romantic dinner à deux with none other than Zeke Leighton. Not only did the steamy new couple share multiple champagne cocktails and nibble on truffle risotto, but his bodyguard also made a drugstore pit stop (safety first!). And it doesn’t look like they kissed good night at the door … Hotel staff report the gorgeous duo are still holed up in the movie star’s room. Check back for more details!

And if that weren’t bad enough, there were pictures. Four of them, to be precise. In the first, Charlotte and Marco shared their first public kiss on the red carpet in Miami. Right after that was a zoomed-in shot of what appeared to be a blond teenager wearing an oversized, collared Nike shirt that ended halfway down the same perfect thighs that were firmly wrapped around Marco’s midsection. He was laughing as she kissed his neck. The third photo in the series featured Charlie and Zeke at dinner the previous night, both leaning in toward each other, making obvious, flirtatious eye contact. The last was, thankfully, a bit grainy, but not so much that you couldn’t clearly recognize Zeke’s bodyguard handing a small red box to a cashier.