‘I know how you fight. You’ve been favouring your right side; you always do when you’re protecting that shoulder. What happened to it?’
‘I don’t even remember. Could’ve been rugby. Or the gym. Or jumping out of a tree. Or tackling some idiot who was cheating on his wife and trying to run away. Who knows.’
‘You’re still playing rugby?’
‘Not as much as I’d like to,’ I admitted. ‘I miss it.’
He paused, and I sensed something in that pause, something that made me turn and look at him. ‘You’ve gone quiet. But I know you want to say something.’
He smiled. ‘See, I told you, we still know each other so well.’ He paused again, his eyes searching my face. ‘I saw you play once.’
‘What? When?’
‘Back in college. You never let me come and watch, remember? I asked multiple times and you kept saying no, so . . . and then as fate would have it, one Saturday I happened to be at the same club you were.’
I sat up straight. ‘Which club?’
‘Parktown Rec Centre.’
‘What the hell were you doing there?’
‘Playing squash with a buddy. So I watched you play, obviously you didn’t see me.’
‘That sounds a bit creepy, don’t you think, it’s basically spying on me.’
‘I just . . . I don’t know, you never let me see that other side of you. And I wanted to, I wanted to see who you were and what you were like when you weren’t Lizzy Brown, my rival. You never let me in on that. So I took the opportunity when it presented itself.’
‘I never let anyone in on that.’ I was quiet for a moment, and a weirdfeeling, accompanied by a thought, started making itself known to me. I wasn’t actually angry that he’d watched me play rugby secretly from the shadows. Instead, I felt something else. Something stirring in my belly, and that stupid creepy-crawly feeling in my spine again.
‘So,’ I said, feigning casual, because I certainly didn’t want him to know that my spine was now tingling with the anticipation of his answer, ‘what did you think?’ I knew Cam had been really good at rugby, and now for some reason I seemed to suddenly care about his opinion.
He didn’t answer right away. He lifted his head and propped his elbow on the bed, bringing his chin to rest on his hand so he was looking down at me.
‘The day you broke my finger, I was impressed,’ he said. ‘The day you set the speed record for the obstacle course, I was doubly impressed. But watching you on that field? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more impressive before.’
I swallowed.
‘Do you have any idea how good you are?’
I didn’t answer. Not out loud. Because somewhere in the middle of that statement, my heart had decided to skip a beat. And I was pretty sure he’d noticed.
‘There’s no one like you, Lizzy.’
I couldn’t hide the slight flush in my cheeks. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there because a sudden warmth had just spread across my face. I tried to prop myself up on my elbow too, but winced.
‘Let me,’ he said, reaching for my shoulder.
I pulled back and stared at his hand. ‘Let you what?’
‘I know how to massage a sports injury.’
‘Um . . . no!’ I said quickly. There was no way I was letting his hands anywhere near my body, because every time I did, bad things happened, bad things that felt frighteningly good but that I knew were . . . bad.So damn bad.
‘I won’t stray from your shoulder.’ He started moving his hand again and I quickly slapped it away, which only caused him to chuckle.
‘How do I know this isn’t a trick? We’re two-all, and I know how much you like to win.’
He smiled. Slow and sexy. That smile of his seemed to cause me to make poor life choices; in fact, there was something about Cam that had always made me make poor life choices. And looking at that smile, that outstretched hand, I knew I was probably about to make another one.
