“Stay there,” Jade said through a smile, “because as much as I love your face, I think I might lovehers,even more.” Jade ignored the grumbling response she received from Emily. Probably something about being a rubbish friend and not feeling her pain about flying. Jade was far too preoccupied taking in the woman standing a short distance behind her friend.
The woman seemed a little younger than Jade, with blonde ringlets cascading down her back. She was too far away to see what color her eyes were, but the midnight blue cap sleeve top and dark blue eye shadow she was wearing made Jade think maybe that was a clue. The fitted jeans down to her strappy sandals, ending with pale pink painted toenails intrigued Jade. The fit of the jeans let her know the legs they covered were extremely toned and muscular. The main draw of Jade’s focus, other than the woman’s face, was her arms and shoulders. No woman had that level of definition unless she was an athlete. Not some gym bunny either. No, this woman absolutely knew what she was doing in a gym.
The snap of Emily’s fingers beside her ear caught Jade’s attention.
“Right,Casanova, is this what tonight was about for you? Even after youpromisedI wouldn’t be leaving here in a taxi on my own? You know, like the lastfour times?” Emily raised her eyebrow and was short of putting her hands on her hips to prove the level of her protest.
“I promised, didn’t I? Have I ever broken a promise to you before?” Jade knew the answer to that. “Wait, don’t answer that. Point is, that’s not the reason we’re out tonight. But if she comes over, then I can’t really stop her, now, can I?” She gave Emily her best grin.
“I’m serious Jade, I’m not going home by myself tonight. I can’t be the unlucky friend who’s constantly your wingman...woman...person...whatever. The point is, my mom already thinks my job is a ‘lifestyle unconducive to finding a partner’ as if I never actually work with guys. You know, they’re the ones who typically need the most time in the chair before being ready anyway. So, really, it’s the perfect time to meet someone and spend quality time getting to know them. Unless they’re a total douche, in which case it’s the longest time known to man before I can get them out my chair.” Emily huffed a breath. “Regardless,pleasedon’t leave me tonight?”
“Unless I find you someone first?” Jade asked with a mischievous grin.
“Chance would be a fine thing,” Emily mumbled as she finished her drink, “I’m going to get another, I’ll get you one because I’m nice, but if you leave me for whoever you have your eye on tonight, you owe me an entire night of drinks next time.”
As her friend walked away, Jade replied with a laugh, “deal!”
Chapter 4
April
April loved nights out like this with Dani. They’re what she missed most when she was out on tour. When she stayed in a different hotel every few weeks, wore new outfits that were shipped to her for each tournament, and had her dad constantly watching over every little thing she did. Being on tour made her miss her mom’s cooking, spending time with Dani and her family, and getting some sort of normality in her life. Nights like these were a rare moment of freedom in her life, and she loved them. Usually.
Tonight though, she was just tired. She loved this bar, but she’d love it even more if the table she was standing at with her best friend was one of the few that had stools. Having spentmonths in sneakers meant needing to stand for over an hour in heels was seriously starting to take its toll on her body.
“I don’t know how you can pull off a look like that,” April said to Dani, taking in her friend’s deep pink slinky spaghetti strap cocktail dress and matching stiletto heels. Which now put her at a towering six feet tall. “I can’t pull off anything like that with my top-heavy muscly shape, not to mention I’d most definitely break an ankle in those heels. Three inches is my limit for comfort.”
Dani stood back from their table and looked at herself. “Well, I spend the day in comfortable clothes and like to dress up for nights out. Especially when I’m out with you and would like to receive a small bit of attention myself, so I’m not the dowdy friend of the stunning April Walker.” The size of Dani’s grin said that evenshedidn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth.
Dani always got the majority of attention on their nights out together. Even since meeting Matt, Dani still drew the looks from the masses like bees to honey. Tonight was no different. Between her height, the pink dress, and her ice grey hair styled in a severe high ponytail that hung perfectly straight down her back, there was no way she was being overlooked in the crowd.
“You mentioned earlier about the last few things on your wedding list being ready to complete this week? Does that mean you’ll be ready ahead of schedule?” April asked her friend, as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, distracting herself from the discomfort of her heels.
“Yeah, I can’t believe it’s happening so soon! Plus,” Dani took a sip of her Cosmo, “you’re going to be there after being in Paris for the Grand Slam. Perfect timing, almost like it was planned that way.” Dani added with a smirk.
“I can’t get over the fact that you’re going to be married!” Dani was four years older than April, but they’d been best friends for so long that neither of them noticed it most of the time. “Didyou decide whether you were going to take Matt’s last name or keep your own? Last we spoke you still weren’t sure.” April took a drink of her soda water and lime, the drink that made her look like she was drinking alcohol in a bar, withoutactuallydrinking alcohol in a bar.Such fun.
“I honestly don’t know what to do. I mean, Dani Harris is what I’m known as in the sports world, and Dani Doran just doesn’t sound right to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are other women out there in the world with that name and they suit it perfectly well. I just don’t think it’s right forme.” Dani said.
“What does Matt think about it all?” April asked.
“He doesn’t care one way or the other.” Dani paused, “He just wants to marry me,” she added with a sigh and a smile.
April shook her head with a laugh at her best friend’s soppy moment. She sipped her drink as she took another look around the bar to see if any of those highly sought-after tables with stools had become available. A few tables over from her she noticed a pair of women enjoying a night out like herself and Dani. One wearing a green dress which hugged her curves perfectly and went well with her intricate dark hair. The other, well, she wore low fitting trousers with brogues and a racer-back waistcoat that displayed what looked like tattoos, but April couldn’t be sure at this distance as they weren’t solid black lines on the woman’s body. And her hair? It was like fire. Which seemed apt, given the way April felt heat spread throughout her body at the thought of running her fingers through the fiery tangle of hair that was worn in a top knot.
“That’s nice,” April said distractedly.
“Glad of your input April, great help in my decision-making process as always,” Dani laughed. “Who’s caught your eye?” Dani spun around looking to see if she could identify whoever April was looking at.
“No problem, wait, what?” April spun around to face her friend. “I wasn’t looking at anyone, I was just trying to see if there were any stools available, my feet are killing me.” She snuck another glance over in the direction of the fire haired woman. She was stunning.
Dani turned, somewhat convinced, “well, we can give it another hour and if we haven’t gotten stools by then we can head back to mine for the night. Matt is crashing at his parents' house. He’s got an early tee-off with his dad in the morning, so it made sense for him just to stay there tonight.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Speaking of plans, now that I’m off for a few weeks, I’ll have some time to help with the wedding ones if I can? I mean, you probably have most of it done, but let me know, yeah?” April said, trying desperately to keep her focus on her friend. She couldn’t help but look back over at the striking woman to her left. There was just something about her that was drawing April in.
“Actually, there’s not too much left to do, but could you help me arrange the seating chart? I’m only waiting on a few people to get back to us, but most already have and Matt is beyond useless at this sort of thing. If he even remembers to turn up on the right day, I’ll be shocked.” Dani replied.
“I can help with that, I won’t run the risk of pulling a muscle doing that, so Dad can’t complain,” April said to Dani, then glanced over at the attractive woman again and caught her looking at April at the same time. A flush quickly crept up April’s cheeks as she tried to recover from being caught. “You’d swear he’s not happy unless I’m either training, recovering or sleeping. Everything else seems to have a reason attached, detailing why I can’t do it. I’m surprised he hasn’t hired a personal risk assessment manager to ensure all the fun is completely sucked from my life other than tennis. He’s driving me mad.”
