Qualified: A Sports Romance (21 page)

He didn’t take long to catch his
breath.

The stamina of an athlete. The thought trickled
into her mind when Marc climbed away. She should be appreciative, Allie
supposed, that he was conscientious about making sure he slipped free of her
with the condom still sheathed over his length. But nothing seemed as important
as keeping him close.

He sat back on his heels looking self-satisfied,
his palm running over her wetted thighs as he took a deep breath. “What do you
think?”

Allie shook her head and smiled around her bitten
lip. “I’m not thinking.” But she did start to curl a little self-consciously
beneath his gaze.

Marc chuckled. “I’m going to take care of this.” He
started shifting off the bed.

“Marc.” Allie grabbed for his wrist, trying to damp
down the panic that threatened her glow.

There wasn’t as much of his smile left. It was
lopsided beneath the low, sated lidding of his eyes. “I’ll be right back,” he
answered the question she didn’t ask.

It took a second for Allie to realize he was
heading straight for the door. “What about Kelsey?” she hissed as she grabbed
the sheet into a tangle over her naked body.

Marc didn’t seem very concerned. He did pause at
the door, standing half behind it as he cracked it open to peer into the short
hallway. Then he merely went on through without a scrap of clothing covering
him.

Allie was left with too much time to think as she
lay in the cooling damp. Fingers of doubt crawled in at the edges of her warmly
happy radiance. When Marc returned and encouraged her to take her own trip to
the bathroom, she wondered if he was trying to make an opportunity to dress and
escape out the front door.

She wrapped the edges of her robe over her mouth
when she came back to find him propped into a half-seat against her pillows.
The besotted ridiculousness of her unguarded smile was sure to chase him away.
Allie could only hope he would find it cute, how she weaved her step back to
the bed. “Hi.” She mostly had her grin under control by the time she crawled
over him to curl back into her covers.

“Hey.” Marc fitted an arm over her pillow once
she’d settled. It gave him access to her cheek and his fingers brushed over her
temple as he absently neatened at her hair. “You seemed to enjoy yourself.”

It was hard to tell if she felt embarrassed.
Allie’s senses were swamped with the static of aftershocks and the shards of
her worries—some of them turned to dust and others still threatening dangerous
edges. She nodded after a second. Certainly, she couldn’t stop smiling. Her
hand reached with uncertain possession to stroke at the resting ridges of his
side. “Did you?”

Marc’s sigh was one of relaxation. He sank farther
onto her bed, hitching himself to lie more neatly beside her. He made the
mattress seem small. She clutched at the solid muscle of his waist. As if she
had any hope of catching him if he started to roll off the side. It wasn’t
until their eyes were matched in close-made search that he answered. “Yeah.”

That smile of his. It was like the sun on dark
waves.

His fingers were still playing in her hair. “I
can’t believe you’re a virgin.”

“Was a virgin,” Allie corrected in a mumble. She
still didn’t really believe it. Her hand stroked along his side like she wasn’t
completely convinced he was real. Marc Belmont, naked in her bed. She stung
where his body had opened hers but it was the sweetest of aches.

“I don’t know how you got through college.” Marc
wasn’t plagued with any of her uncertainty. He reached a touch to her chin and
brushed his thumb at her lips. “What’s the altitude doing to those guys in
Colorado.”

“I don’t know.” Allie smiled against his touch. Her
gaze flicked down to watch the path of her fingertips as she traced the hard
lines of his chest. “I guess … I came from a small town. I did have a
boyfriend.” She nibbled her lip a second, not sure if it was the kind of thing
she was supposed to admit. “We transferred schools together, and our families
knew each other. We’d always been taught we were supposed to wait until we were
married. There was always something to wait for, anyway.” The edge of her smile
started to misshape.

“He got into grad school and I didn’t. And it turns
out, he was just waiting for someone who wasn’t me.” It sounded so pathetic. A
frown tucked onto her forehead and Allie gave a little shake of her head. “I’m
sorry.” She peeked back at him. “It must sound so stupid to you. I must seem—”

“It’s all right.” Marc was placidly watching her.

“I’m probably so boring after …” It felt like
she was just digging herself in deeper. She’d conjured that idiot Jimmy between
them and now
Natalie
. “After all you’ve done,” Allie finished lamely.

Marc snorted a quiet laugh. “That’s one way to put
it, I guess.” The bedframe complained as he twisted his shoulders to lie flat
on the mattress. His hand had drawn away so he could rub its heel at his eye.
“What I’ve
done
.”

Allie nibbled her lip and kept quiet. She curled
her hands into her chest and watched his smile disappear.

“It’s true, you know.” His head turned on her
pillow and Marc looked at her a searching moment. “All the girls. All the late
nights. Getting blasted and blazed and high out of my mind.” His gaze moved
away, gone somewhere far. “Maybe there were days I hoped I’d walk out that door
and never come back. Never have to face what was empty and shouldn’t have
been.”

She might have forgotten how to breathe. Allie
thought he might have been looking at her shelves, but he could just as well
have been seeing things that weren’t there.

“It never worked,” Marc continued after a moment of
silence. “It never helped.” Those dark, dark eyes returned to her and there was
no escape.

But Allie didn’t want to escape. It was crazy—she
shouldn’t forget those things that he just said, the troubling truths of his
past which should make her worry. And yet they didn’t seem to matter, because
when Marc looked at her his eyes weren’t empty at all. Maybe she was just
seeing herself reflected, but either way she thought she knew the name of that
look. It was hope.

It seemed like there might be more, further words
hovering on his lips, but instead of speaking them Marc looked away. “I, ah. I
should probably get some sleep,” he said after a minute. “Early morning. You
know.” When his gaze returned to her he was closed again behind his walled
distance. At least warmth remained in the slight curve of his smile and the
easy, teasing note of his humor. “I’m not sure your bed is big enough.”

“Oh.” Allie wanted to reach for him. She wanted
that look he’d given her to come back, and she wanted him to stay. She wanted
to promise she wouldn’t take up much room because they’d fit together
perfectly. But she couldn’t make her voice work.

“Are you going to be all right?” Marc started to
get up, rising above her on the shove of his arm against the mattress. Maybe he
could see the cloud of uncertainty come over her features. He combed his
fingers through her hair. “I’ll see you in the morning.” It sounded like a
reassurance.

No
, Allie thought. But she said: “Yeah.” It
was selfish to ask him to stay when she knew how important his training was.
“Yeah, of course. You need your rest.” She even found a smile to give him and
mostly held onto it until she heard the soft thud of the front door closing over
his footsteps. Only then did she mash her face into the pillow that was too
small in her arms and try to fall to fitful sleep.

The next morning, Allie woke up sore
and with lonely uncertainty carving cold in her stomach.

“Hi,” Kelsey said with a lift of eyebrows when she
emerged to snag a quick breakfast. “Fun night?”

Allie held her breath and bit her lip. “I promise
I’ll tell you all about it. But right now I’m super late.”

She was running behind the clock before she even
stepped foot outside their apartment. Her phone was full of messages that Allie
didn’t have a chance to check until she got down to the garage and found it
empty of water polo players. Everett had come to collect them in the big car.
She supposed she wouldn’t have been able to fit all of the guys in the
convertible, anyway.

The morning’s routines were in full swing by the
time Allie scampered into the aquatic center feeling horribly conspicuous. She
felt rubbed raw and turned inside-out, and it was hard to believe that no one
else could see it. Maybe a half hour went by before she was brave enough to
meet anyone’s eye, but by then she realized that no one seemed to be giving her
a second glance. Even Marc was doing such a good job acting like everything was
normal that she wasn’t sure if anything was different at all.

If she had started to think that the previous day
was entirely inconsequential, the belief didn’t last Everett’s appearance on
the pool deck. “Allie, let’s meet in my office. I’ll be in there in a minute.”

Allie swallowed thickly and nodded at the team
manager. She looked to where Marc was working in with the group’s drills, but
he didn’t seem to be aware of her at all. Lindsey was at least ready with a
distracted smile to take the last of the resistance bands that they were
putting away. There was no further excuse to delay Allie from making her way
inside to where Everett kept his desk.

“Would you like to tell me why you were gone all
evening with my car?” He didn’t waste much time getting to the point.

“I apologize, Everett.” Allie twisted her fingers
together and hovered beside the extra chair without sitting down. “I wasn’t
feeling well. It was awhile before I was ready to make the drive back.”

Apparently a simple apology wasn’t what Everett was
after. He gestured for her to take a seat. “I know there was trouble the last
time you were out late with Marc.”

Allie took a deep breath and looked down to find
her way into the chair. “I’m fine.” She smoothed out the creases of her
trousers with far more care than was necessary.

“I’m glad to hear that.” The desk creaked from
Everett leaning his weight onto his forearms. “But we have two weeks before my
team goes to the qualifying tournament, and you’re not my primary concern.”

Allie had been so busy feeling sorry for herself
that she hadn’t considered that someone else might be protective of
Marc
.
She looked up at the team manager, her eyes wide.

“Is there anything I should know about Marc?”
Everett adjusted the fold of his hands. He blinked a patient pause. “Is there
anything I should know about you and Marc?”

“I don’t …” Allie had to stop herself from
gaping. “No?”

“I would prefer to know now. I don’t want to find
out when I’m forwarded some salacious news item regarding one of my team
members.” Everett tilted his head down to stare at her from beneath his shaggy
eyebrows. “You are probably aware that Marc has had problems in the past that
have threatened his place on the roster.”

Allie swallowed and talked herself through a
steadying breath. She straightened her posture and tried to be as dauntless as
Violet. “I don’t believe you have any reason to question Marc’s place on this
team.”

Those shaggy eyebrows lifted. “Is that so.”

She nodded. “In my time knowing him … This is
what he lives for. Yesterday was … it was entirely my fault.” She took a
breath that was shakier than she could have hoped and looked down at the
twiddle of her fingers. “I had some bad news, and Marc was nothing but
supportive.” She could feel the heat in her cheeks but plowed on. “I have no
complaints regarding his behavior.” She looked up to see if that seemed enough
of an answer to satisfy Everett.

The team manager was studying her with narrowed
eyes. “Last time the kid got himself all tied up over a girl, we had that mess
in Beijing.” His look held a moment before he broke away with a sigh to scrub
his hand over his forehead.  “I don’t expect you to tell me the details.” And
by the sour twist of his mouth, surely he did not want them. “But I hope you
can understand that I don’t want my Center imploding before a game because …”
Everett frowned and waved his hand in her general direction.

“You’re talking about Natalie,” Allie found herself
saying. It was disturbing to think that Everett might believe she would cause
scenes like Marc’s ex had in the club.

Everett’s attention sharpened back onto her. “How
much do you know about that situation?”

Allie shook her head and looked down. Really all
she knew was what Marc had told her. She wasn’t sure any more if she could
trust what he had said.

“You’re very young, Allie. Perhaps I ought to
remind you that this is a job and not a dating service.”

“I know that.” It was exactly the sort of reminder
that Allie was supposed to be giving herself. Her career was her priority and
professionalism was important. It stung having someone else point out her
failure.

After a weighted pause, Everett shifted back in his
chair and moved on with business. “We have been discussing whether or not you
should be accompanying the team to the tournament. I think it would be best if
you don’t. I’m not saying you would be at fault.” He tried to soften his words
with a gesture. “But I want to remove any chance that Marc will have
unnecessary distractions. I need him stable and I need his focus entirely on
the game.”

Allie stared at her hands and nodded her head
slowly as her stomach knotted in on itself. First the authorship was taken away
from her, and now she wouldn’t even have the tournament experience to put on
her CV. It was all her fault. What was she thinking, getting tangled up with Marc?
Everyone had told her he was trouble. And sure enough, he had left once he had
gotten what he wanted. It was only what she should have expected.

“Officially, we will say that it was too difficult
to secure the additional budgeting for your travel and board. It isn’t far from
the truth. It has been questionable, whether we would be able to bring you.”
Everett sat straighter and started shifting papers around on his desk. “Your
work with us has been excellent, Allie, and I will be happy to attest to that in
letters of recommendation or in person. I understand you’ll be doing school
applications for next year.”

Allie found a smile to lift to him. “Thank you for
saying so. I appreciate it.”

“All right.” Everett gave her a tight smile in
return. “I’m sorry about this. I feel responsible.”

He must have seen the quizzical fold of her brow.

“I thought you might be a good influence on Marc. I
was surprised with his interest in the study you were doing in Colorado. Though
perhaps I shouldn’t have been.” His hands fell back to heavy stillness over his
papers. His expression went a little sad while he searched a look over Allie.
“I’ve not heard him speak highly of many people.”

She thought back to their time at the training
center and Marc’s close-lipped quiet. “He spoke highly of me?” That was
startling enough, never mind her bafflement at being a good influence. Perhaps
she hadn’t been completely wrong about what she read in the player’s eyes. It
made her throat tighten to think of those moments when he’d looked at her and
her heart felt lost.

“Rare praise, from him,” Everett was continuing. “I’ve
known Marc a long time. So … I feel responsible.”

Allie searched Everett’s face. She wanted to know
what Marc said, and why the team manager thought she’d be good for the man he’d
known for over a decade. But Everett seemed like he was warning her away from a
relationship with his player. Sounding like a fawning girl with a crush was
probably the last thing she should do, for the sake of both her career and
Marc’s.

Fixing her smile more firmly in place, Allie
resolved to avoid any more trouble. “Then you’ll be responsible for the success
of this team this summer. I hope.”

“I hope so too.” Everett’s smile looked tired.

Her insides still ached, but Allie gathered herself
together like it didn’t matter. “Was there anything else?”

“That’s all for now. Thank you for your
cooperation.” He did sound grateful. Allie tried not to think too hard about
how she might compare to Natalie. “I’ll let you get back to helping Lindsey.”

“Thank you, Everett.” It took all of Allie’s
composure not to run from the embarrassing hot seat of his office. She mostly
succeeded.