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Kai went out to thank the crowd for staying with him through the “crazy times” and the good, and to praise Jason profusely for sticking by him despite how difficult it was to support a player who had his head lodged up his own arse.
The crowd loved his speech, but Laki’s patience—stretched to the two-year-old’s breaking point—was running out. He squirmed harder.
“Are you sure Laki means lucky and not wiggle worm in Samoan?” my Dad asked, chuckling.
“I’m having doubts,” I said, laughing. “It’s okay, baby…”
Laki disagreed.
“Daddee!” he squealed, his little arms reaching for this father.
His cry dropped neatly into a pause in Kai’s speech, and the audience laughed and awwwed.
“I hear you, mate,” Kai said. “I’m coming.”
Kai jogged to our box and his son jounced up and down in my arms excitedly. Children weren’t allowed at pro tennis matches, and Laki had been kept entertained on the grounds by a rotating team of sitters from Kai’s team. But Laki missed his daddy. Father and son had a special bond that warmed my heart, and the pair didn’t like to be separated from each other long.
“He’s got your determination,” I said when Kai was there.
“And your need to be the center of attention,” Jason put in, laughing.
Kai shot his agent a look and then grinned. He took Laki out of my arms and craned up to kiss me. “Nah, he’s perfect, like his mum.”
The crowd cheered and applauded as Kai set our son on his hip and resumed his post in t the center of the court at the closing ceremony.
“Everyone, this Laki. Laki, this is everyone,” Kai said into the mic, while our son glanced around, wide-eyed. “He’s a little miracle, and until he came along, I had a one-sided view of fatherhood. I lost my own dad when I was young, and suddenly. And it messed me up for a long time. My dad was an amazing man, full of advice and wisdom. But after he passed, I blocked it out. I blocked him out. It took a smart, compassionate woman—doesn’t it always?—to get me to hear him again. I’m listening now, Dad,” Kai said, his gaze upward. “I hear you. And I know you’re watching, and I hope I made you proud.”
The crowd cheered and sniffled, and Antonia and I reached across the seats to clasp hands.
“Thank you,” she said to me. “For all of this.”
She turned away and the crowd got to its feet as the ceremony ended. It was too loud and chaotic to tell her that Kai had given me just as much as I’d given him. If not more.
He gave me my life back.
I smiled, watching Laki lay his dark-haired head against his dad’s, content and sleepy. Kai met my eyes across the court and there was more that love burning in their brown depths.
A flush of heat swept through me. Kai Solomon was a beast in bed on any day, but after he won a tournament…?
I smiled to myself. “Tonight’s going to be a good night.”
When the dinner, parties, and press flurries had all died down, and Laki was tucked in bed with Grandma and Grandpa in their suite in the hotel, Kai and I were alone.
“Oi, mate,” Kai said to Keanu who was sprawled on our king-sized bed. “Scoot.”
I laughed and scrubbed my dog’s ears. “He’s enjoying the perks of being allowed this hotel suite.”
Kai rolled his eyes. “I’m so happy for him but it’s time to go.” He pulled me close and nipped my neck. “If he stays, he’s going to think I’m devouring you. Because I will.”
Shivers tingled pleasurably over my skin. “I’ll get him out.”
I called Keanu out of the room. I gave him his favorite dog treat, made sure he was comfy and happy, and then hurried back to the bedroom. To Kai.
“Wimbledon champ,” I said. “How’s that feel?”
“Orgasmic,” Kai said, his voice low. “Come here and I’ll show you.”
In seconds, I was in his arms, drowning in the sensations of his hands, his mouth, his hard body pressed to me. He took me down on the bed, clothes melting away under his deft touch. The athletic perfection of his body that had served him so well on the court was now all mine. Every muscle, every sinew, every perfectly honed inch of him was now moving in concert with mine, bringing me to the brink and he wasn’t even inside me yet.
