Game, Set, Match (A Humorous Contemporary Romance) (Love Match) (23 page)

“Izzy,” he implored. “I know how this looks, but it’s not like that.”

She sighed and looked up from her board. “You’re right.”

He filled his lungs with the sweet air of relief. She wasn’t going to overreact. She understood how the paparazzi could manipulate photos. Though, as he further searched her face, he held onto the deep breath as if it would be his last.

“I know how it sounds. But it honestly doesn’t concern me. It’s none of my business.”

He took two halting steps over to her matting board. “Do you think I’d be with Sabrina? And to add insult to injury, come here, ask you out? That doesn’t make any sense, Izzy.”

She hesitated, and then straightened her back. “It didn’t make any sense then either. Did it? I’m not interested in playing games, Jason.”

He stood directly in front of her until she had no choice but to look him in the eye. “I’m not playing games with you. I came here today because I wanted to see
 
you
. End of story. I felt something.”

She scoffed. “Of course you felt something the other night, you wanted to get laid.”

The surge of anger crashed through his veins, but he reigned in his temper as best he could. She’d always been able to rile him. “Oh, it would have been nice to get laid, but I’m way beyond the age of trying to play games to get some.” Because she forced his emotions to churn, he added, “And sweetheart, let’s not get it twisted, you were the one all over me all those years ago.”

She reeled back as if he’d slapped her, and he wished he could take back the harsh words. But they were already out.
 
Fuck
. How the hell had they gotten into a fight? “Look, she came over to ask for money. She’s in some kind of trouble.”

Eyes wide, she blinked at him. “Did you give it to her?”

“Are you kidding? Whatever trouble she’s in, Sabrina will have to get out of it on her own.”

Izzy sat down looking at her hands. “Did she look like she was using again?”

“I don’t think so, but I don’t know. She said she needed it to make amends or whatever.” He shook his head. “She’s a piece of work.”

Izzy’s shoulders slouched. “I don’t know why I thought this time would be any different.”

“I didn’t give her anything. She knew the cameras were there. She played you all over again.”

She squared her shoulders. “And you’re not?”

Chapter Seventeen

Izzy slammed her phone down at Simon’s tenth text of the day. She would have to deal with him, tell him once and for all they weren’t going to be together.

After a few kisses from Jason, she knew to her core, she couldn’t fake it. Since the night in her studio with Jason, she planned to get it over with, but with Sabrina and Jason, and lawyers and the gallery opening, she couldn’t focus.

As the sounds of Sean Paul blared from the radio, as she danced around her room sorting laundry and let the sounds of dancehall soothe her soul.

She couldn’t postpone the inevitable.

Jessica sat cross-legged on the bed going over final details of the gallery night. “The timeline is almost set. Press is scheduled to arrive at seven, but I promise they’ll be a little late.”

While Sean Paul prompted her to “Shake that ting
ting” Izzy tossed the pile of darks into the hamper and searched under the bed for her dark jeans. “Okay, so I’ll want to arrive about a half hour later. Do the interviews I need to, then make myself scarce.”

Jessica’s expression softened. “You don’t need to do that anymore,
Iz. No one cares about the past.”

“Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong, but all it takes is one reporter to dig around about my past. Maybe they don’t care anymore, but I don’t want to take that chance.”

Jessica chewed her bottom lip. “Look, I know you don’t like to talk about it, but I came on long after it all went down. I don’t even think I have the whole story.”

Izzy turned down the radio and eased herself onto the bed. “I guess it doesn’t make a difference now. My sophomore year, I was in the
semi’s for the NCAA Singles Championship. Between finals and classes and applications for every internship under the sun, I was under a ton of pressure. Got run down and contracted Mono.”

“Damn.”

“Well, anyway, I considered dropping out to let the wildcard take my spot. I was in no condition to play. My dad was there, like he was for every other match I’ve ever played, and came back to the holding pen to give me the failure isn’t an option speech.” Izzy puffed in a breath. “We got into a huge fight with him insisting no daughter of his was going to quit.”

“Shit, how’s that for supportive?”

“Tell me about it. Anyway, I went out on the court and played the worst set I’ve ever played. Part of me knows I was sick, but the other part of me knows I did it out of childish spite. Anyway, Dad screamed at me from the stands. Every time I missed a serve or faulted.”

“Sounds like a winner.”

“I finally got fed up, flipped him off, and screamed at him to fuck off.” Izzy wiped a hand down her face, trying to erase the memory. “I walked off the court to get my gear. When I looked up at him, people crowded around his slumped form.”

“What happened to him?”

Izzy leveled her gaze and Jessica. “He had a heart attack. By the time I made it up there, someone was doing CPR, but he didn’t regain consciousness. When I realized what had happened, I lost it.”

“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t remember much about that time, but I’ll always have the news clips to remind me. Apparently, I threw myself on him screaming about how it was all my fault and I couldn’t believe I’d done this to him. Mom says I didn’t eat or sleep for a week. I totally lost it. There was a lot of press at the tournament. Must have been a slow news week, because every night in the sports section, they’d cover my breakdown in the news. People speculated on my mental state.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. I haven’t played since, and I hate press. When I hired Simon, he suggested the name change to protect my anonymity. Though, every now and again, during the Tennis NCAAs, someone busts out some of that archive footage.”

“Shit. I don’t know what to say.”

Izzy shook her head. “Don’t say anything. I don’t want to talk about it.” To solidify the change in subject, she scanned the piles of laundry, adding, “Have you seen my dark jeans anywhere? The ones I wanted to wear on my non-date?”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “I wish you wouldn’t call it a non-date. He wanted to show up.” Jessica hung herself over the edge of the bed to search for the jeans. Unable to find them she shrugged. “Maybe the gnomes took them.”

“By gnomes, you mean Sabrina, who’s made herself at home by borrowing my clothes?”

Jessica nodded.
“The very ones. Look at the bright side though.” She indicated Izzy’s tank top emblazoned with the text 
I’m a MILF. 
“At least your missing clothing has forced you to wear my present. It suits you.” She cackled.

Izzy gave her a wry smile as she thought of Sabrina. Unclenching her jaw, she reminded herself to take Bryce’s advice—be patient. Wait her out. Not easy, in theory or in practice.

Izzy peeked out the window, listening to Nick jabbering into his cell. “When you were a kid, were you on the phone half as much as Nick is?”

Jessica’s green-tipped, blue head bobbed up and down.
“Oh, hell, yes. Girls are worse. Be glad they’re not on their way to Vegas for a drunken wedding.”

Izzy dropped the t-shirt she held and whirled to face Jessica. “Don’t play with me. I still haven’t had a chance to
suss out the new girlfriend over dinner.”

Jessica shook her head in awe. “Yep, I can feel the awkwardness now.
You, her, and a whole interrogation scenario. Nothing says nice to meet you like a serious mom grilling.” Her smile softened. “I think you’re a great mom for going into interrogation mode. A ton of parents don’t even bother these days. They don’t want to be too intrusive.”

“Did your parents do that?”

Jessica grinned. “Nope. Too intrusive. Besides, my friends would have scared the shit out of my mother.”

Izzy wasn’t sure if she should be grateful Nick didn’t stage a mutiny. Maybe her traditional values made her overprotective. Izzy wished she could hold onto Nick’s youth for a little while longer. “I don’t doubt it.” She couldn’t resist another glance at her son, the gangly boy-man.

Her line of vision didn’t escape Jessica’s keen gaze. “Relax. You were in love once.”

Izzy had some vague memories of being a teenager and in love.

With Jason.

Shoving the thought back under the bed, she tried not to think about Jason and Sabrina in living color on the TMZ.

She shook her head to clear the imagery. “Yeah, well, we didn’t have all the methods of communication then. I mean for heaven’s sake, AOL had rudimentary chat. Now, Nick’s got a cell phone, email, IM, text messaging, a Facebook account and a webcam I cringe to think about what he does with when I’m not home.”

Jessica perked up at the mention of text messages.
“Speaking of text messaging, any more texts from the delicious Mr. Cartwright?”

“No. Not from him. A whole bunch from Simon, though. I think it’s time to have a come to Jesus with him. It just won’t work.” As she uttered the phrase out loud for the first time, she watched her friend’s face with anticipation.

Jessica sprang up and upended a pile of clothes. “Woohoo! Now we can get your groove back, girl.” She twirled in excited glee. “No more pompous jackass thinking he owns the joint. Bust out the single lady anthems.”

Tentative, Izzy sat down on the bed. “So, you’re happy about this?”

“Are you kidding? Nick and I have waited for this moment for months. I can’t believe you’ll finally yank the shit out of that trigger.”

“Well, given the other night, it’s pretty obvious he’s not the one I want.”

Jessica put her hands on her hips. “What other night? I sense withholding.”

“The night of the last shoot, my car died at Jason’s place. He brought me home and stayed for dinner. I showed him some early proofs, then one thing led to hot make out session.”

“What? Isabella Connors, you dirty slut. I love it. Tell me everything. Are those lips as soft as they look? His hands as big as they seem?” Her eyes widened in gleeful excitement. “Did you get to sample the goods?”

Izzy couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yes, lips, very soft, but knowledgeable. Yes, on the big hands, the better to cup my sizable ass with. As to any sampled goods, no.” Not for lack of want.

Jessica collapsed back on the bed, a dreamy expression on her face.
“You lucky bitch. Please, please, please tell me you had on cute undies. A nice lacy pair or something?”

“Sorry to disappoint.
Basic Victoria’s Secret sateen.” At Jessica’s incredulous expression, she added, “Well I didn’t get dressed in the morning thinking, ‘Today Jason Cartwright will see my undies.’ Besides, it’s not like he hasn’t seen the goods anyway.”

“Oh yes, the sexting incident.”

Izzy cringed with the embarrassment and guilt. “Never again.”

Jessica wiped away streaks of tears as she howled with laughter. “
Dude, that shit 
would
 happen to you.”

Izzy picked up the hamper and made her way down the hall to the laundry room when the doorbell rang. “Nick, can you get the door?”

Nick didn’t respond, and the bell rang with a persistent chimes. She dropped the basket and trotted to the door. For several moments she stood staring at Jason as if she’d never seen him before. They had one more photo shoot, but she’d planned to be emotionally ready to deal with him. Surprise visits were unfair.

Because he didn’t say anything and stared at her, grinning like an idiot, she spoke first. “What are you doing here?”

Hands raised in a peaceful gesture, he said, “I’m here for Nick. He asked me to come around and go through some match film with him.”

Perfect. Even her own son conspired to torture her. “He’s in the back. You can go through to the kitchen.”

When he didn’t budge, she glared at him. “What?”

He shook his head and stepped into the foyer.
“Nothing. I’ll head back.”

As he sauntered to the back yard, Izzy caught herself taking in the view. She knew staring at his ass constituted a desperate and depraved act, but she couldn’t help herself. “God I’ve got to get out more,” she muttered under her breath.

Before he disappeared around the corner to the kitchen, he leaned back and said, “I’ve got to say, I’d agree.”

Not until later, as she loaded the washer, did she realize she still wore her MILF top.

****

Jason let himself into the backyard still grinning about Izzy’s tank-top. Wearing short shorts with her hair in a ponytail, looking barely legal, she didn’t seem like any MILF he’d ever seen.

He couldn’t help thinking about the way the tank had showed off an expanse of belly. The Izzy he knew had always been conservative in her dress. Maybe she’d changed.