30 Love Ch. 02

I made my way past the little bar near the courts and waved to Jules and noticed Stacey sitting at one of the little tables with a water in front of her. She was wearing a light blue tank top over a pleated white tennis skirt. Her long legs out in front of her. She smiled up at me with a wicked grin.

"Right on time I see." I said to her.

"You're late." She responded causing me to look at my watch. It was 10:04, I figured I had made pretty good time in getting back here.

"We'd best get started then." I smiled back at her. She got up from her seat and walked towards me with a hobbling like she'd just gotten off a horse after a day long ride. I chuckled and I felt my face flush.

We walked onto the court and set our bags down getting our rackets out. I looked out of the corner of my eye at Stacey and noticed she was suppressing a grin, and trying not to look at me.

"What?" I asked.

She chuckled. "It's just cute how you tried to act so nonchalant in front of your buddy Julie just now."

I just gave a little shrug.

"Despite what people may think, I'm not the kind of guy that notches the bedpost with my conquests." I said, as I felt my cheeks redden again.

"What shall we work on today?" She asked.

"How's your serve?" I asked.

"Lousy." She chuckled. "I heard lessons could help."

"That's where we'll start then." I grabbed the basket of balls from the corner and walked to the baseline. I reached into the basket and tossed her a ball she pocketed the first and nodded for another like a pro. I smiled tossing her another. She bounced it a few times, then lofted it and nailed it solidly into the net as I watched her form. I won't lie and tell you that it was a tough job watching her form.

"Not bad, except for burying it in the net. Let me tell you, this was one of the hardest things for me to learn too. At the beginner level, it's not about driving it down your opponents throat. This isn't Wimbledon. Let's concentrate on consistency. Stand over here a minute so you can watch me."

"Gladly." She winked.

I grinned as I grabbed a couple balls. "Stand comfortably toes at one and three like this. You've got the right forearm grip that's good. Follow me." I nodded at her. "Think one, two three and it's easy. One, bring your racket back so your arm is at a 90 degree angle. Two is the hard one, the ball toss. Don't try to throw it up, keep your arm straight and lift it, let your arm do the work don't bend your wrist. You're not trying to send it into orbit. Three as you bring your shoulder around you'll meet the ball straight above your left toe at one o'clock. Keep following through after you hit the ball. If you think of it as giving yourself a hug you'll be well balanced to move for the return." After showing her in slow motion step by step, I served calling the numbers as I followed through finishing with both toes pointing towards the net, arms crossed in front of me.

She walked up to me turned and backed against me. "Walk me through it." She said, knowing the effect of having her body against mine would have.

"Okay." I chuckled. "Going to be like that is it? Relax, one and three." I pointed at her feet. "One." She brought her arm up careful not to hit me with the racket. Her arm was set perfectly. "Two." She brought her arm up lifting the ball straight up. "Three." She brought her racket arm forward as I hopped to my right allowing her to follow through without hitting me.

I stepped aside and tossed her a ball. She reset her feet took a breath and let it out and spoke the steps aloud as she followed through with a nice serve to the far court baseline.

"Nice!" I said, my enthusiasm genuine. "Can you do it again?" I tossed her another ball.

She smiled at me and did it again, and again. She dropped two of the three right inside the baseline the other would have faulted hitting the baseline from my view. I walked over to my bag pulling out my towel and walked to the other side of the court and flipped it out laying it on the court. I shagged the balls and walked back towards her, noting that she was following through with the motions even without serving a ball. I had to admit she did have great form. The thought made me smirk knowingly.

"You have a terrific swing, let's try accuracy. They don't count if you can't land them in fair territory. Let's see if you can hit the towel." I tossed her a ball, she looked at the towel then served and hit it dead center. "Shit if everybody learned this fast I could crank out US Open winners every week." I chuckled. "I better be a good engineer, I'm working myself out of the tennis pro business."

"Oh shut up. It was luck." She said smiling.

"Luck? Care to make a wager on that?" I taunted her.

"What did you have in mind?" She said intrigued.

"Ten balls, land half of them on the towel and I'll buy you lunch." I smiled.

"You're on." She said beckoning for a ball. She proceeded to ding the top of the net on the first one.

"Relax, focus and follow through." I said softly. "One, two, three, just like dance lessons." She grinned at that, and nailed the towel the next two balls nearly dead center of her target. When the little exercise was done she'd landed seven on the towel. "This means you get dessert too." I chuckled.

"Damn I'm good!" She said wiggling her eyebrows at me.

"Oh you're not ready for the pro circuit just yet." I laughed. "But I must admit, you're damn good, at tennis then there are the other things you to excel at." I finished quickly avoiding a smack in the arm. We worked on return and volley for another half hour and Stacey was getting cocky.

"So how about a little game, loser buys dinner." She offered. I chuckled.

"I'm already in for lunch, I'm not sure I could afford dinner too."

"Then you'd better win." She smiled at me knowing I'd taken the hook. "Volley for serve?"

"You go ahead, let's see what you've got." I teased.

"Okay." She said slyly. She walked over to the side and set her racket down and pulled her tank top clear off in a single stroke tossing it on her bag. "Hot today isn't it?" She asked lifting the sports bra off letting cool air under the straps. She lifted her skirt and reached under and slid down her panties stepping out of them and tossing them on her tank top. I knew my mouth was hanging open by the grin on her face.

"Now wait a minute!" I said smiling. "That's that an unfair advantage!"

"How so? I'm just trying to keep cool, and level the playing field a bit." She grinned and walked back to the baseline with her racket and a couple balls. She was still turned away when she lifted the back of the skirt nonchalantly giving her butt a little scratch, all the while well aware my eyes were riveted on her shapely ass. Letting the skirt drop back into place she stepped to the line and served the ball neatly where the towel was earlier. I'd decided that I was going to keep her in the game by not being a competitive bastard and driving the ball down her throat on every volley. I gave it a gentle follow through putting it nearly right in front of her and she hammered it back at me, dropping it neatly to my left requiring a quick adjustment on my part. She lulled me into a deep defense and softly lobbed the ball over the net getting the point after a few volleys.

"15-Love." She smiled catching the ball I tossed her over the net. I raised my eyebrow at her thinking that I'd better not go softly on her. She served again, this time I took it upon myself to play a bit more aggressively and it paid off when I went far corner on her after a vicious point.

"15-All, now you're playing." She laughed. She stood at the baseline and started flapping the front of her skirt up and down. "Is it hot today or is it just me?" She said well aware of the effect seeing her flashing her little landing strip at me was having.

"It's just you, and I'm not that easily distracted." I smiled. She served, and got the point.

"Just so you know. I like Italian too, though the seafood around here is incredible." She winked at me before serving again. The next point was hers as I thought about the landing strip. Damn her for the distraction.

"30-15." She called out. Her grin was infectious.

"I heard there's a nice Brazilian grill over on the beach about 15 minutes south of here." I said.

"For a guy that's losing you're pretty ballsy." She retorted.

I just grinned, rather than replying. I had no idea who was in listening range so I figured I'd keep it clean. "Come on, you going to serve or just stand there looking good."

"30-All." She said coolly knowing that she'd been the one distracted that time. I figured I'd make it tougher on her for the next point by peeling off my shirt and tossing it towards my gear. She dropped a ball, and proceeded to bend fully at the waist showing me her bare bottom and a nice shot of pink.

"40-30." She said grinning knowing that she'd caught me off guard. She peeled back the cups of her sports bra flashing me, and fanning herself with her racket. "Wow it's hot today." Her nipples were like pink arrows pointing up to the bright sun. I thanked the people that designed the courts because they'd put in privacy chain link, so nobody could see her flash me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath vowing that I wouldn't let her distract me from my game.

"Deuce." She said with admiration, surprised that she didn't distract me enough to get the point. She proceeded to serve quickly, our volley getting aggressive as we both decided we were out to win, I went for a backhand on a bad hop and it went wide of the line.

She grinned at me. "Ad-in." She walked back to the baseline again and bounced the ball a few times, then looked at me intently, telling me with her eyes that she would win this point and the game. She set for the server and lifted the ball and rolled forward on the balls of her feet driving the ball forward causing me to back a step and take it right inside the line. Out of reflex I put just as much power behind it as I could and keep it in, putting it right in front of her strong forehand stroke. I had time to line it up, and I sent it down the line. I hadn't fooled her, she was there in a step and with a two hand backhand driven back down the line. I miscalculated her and expected a cross court shot and missed completely.

Stacey began jumping up and down like a spastic cheerleader yelling, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" I couldn't help but laugh in between gasping for breath and at the sight of her skirt flipping up flashing me several times. I shagged the balls on this end of the court and walked over to my bag and grabbed my towel and began drying off. Stacey skipped towards me still jumping a huge grin on her face and jumped into my arms. "Thank you for letting me win."

"I didn't let you win." I said still breathing hard, but not sure if it was because her hot, sweaty body was clamped to me or if it was from the game. I tended to believe that it was her body at this point. "I started out thinking I'd take it easy on you, but you're devilishly clever at setting a pattern and breaking it at the least obvious moment. You won fair and square. I'm going to have to get a second job to keep up these wagers." I smiled.

"I honestly expected to lose. I had dinner already planned out too. So you lose but you win, dinner is at my place tonight, I'm cooking." She brought her racket around behind my head and pulled me into a deep kiss. "Lunch is still on you." She chuckled pulling away our skin sticking together were it touched. She reached for her towel and began to dry off, dabbing her chest, she asked me to mop down her back and I gladly assisted seeing the rippled muscle relax from the rub down. She reached down and pulled her tank top back over her head. She lifted her skirt in front of me. "I'm pretty damp down here too if you could help me out." I chuckled at her.

"Gladly, but not with a towel." I said then knelt in front of her and began lapping up the moisture with my tongue. Stacey let out a low moan as I went after her with a frenzy licking her quickly and flicking her clit relentlessly. Her moans came out in short whimpers as she reached behind her and grabbed the fence to steady her. She tried to keep from moaning aloud, and occasional whimper escaped her lips as I took her clit between my lips and sucked firmly on it. She gasped and ground her hips into my face. I knew then she was over the top and ready to let go. I slid my finger up into her molten depths and she arched against me bowing backward as she peaked. I looked up to see her expression and only saw the skirt bunched up against my forehead. She was moaning through pursed lips as she came down off the high of her orgasm. When she finally began to relax she fell back against the fence.

"I asked you to dry me off, not to make me more wet." She gasped. She ran her hands through my wet hair as I cleaned up the mess I'd made of her thighs. "You know, I was going to skip putting them back on just to screw with you. Now I have to because I'm not going to walk around with a huge wet spot on the back of my skirt." I smiled at that. Finishing up I reached for the panties and had her lift each leg to slide them up her calves and thighs. Once I had them snugged back into place I looked at them for a moment then let out a little growl and gave her a mock bite right on the crotch.

"Lingerie, it's like gift wrap for the best present on earth."

"Oh so you're a lingerie fan, huh?" She said grinning. I opened my eyes wide and looked around, realizing my admission. "Good to know." I toweled myself off, she insisted on helping me with my back before letting me put my shirt back on. I packed away my gear and cleaned up the loose balls and we made our way off the court.

"Well young lady, this is your lunch what would you like?" I asked smiling.

"Let's just grab something outside, I think we're both a bit ripe to be hitting a dining room anywhere. Do they serve lunch at the bar?" I nodded, stating they did.

We took a table away from the bar itself for privacy. Though I knew we weren't fooling Jules. She knew that something had happened between Stacey and I, and she had a crooked smirk on her face when she came over with a couple of ice cold waters.

"What'll you have?" She asked Stacey first. She settled on a specialty iced tea that Jules brewed up herself. I said I'd have the same, even though she hadn't asked. I just smiled as she rolled her eyes at me and turned away. When she returned with our drinks I told Jules about losing the bet, and lunch was my treat. "Oh if that's the case let's see, a couple Maine lobsters, and a king sized filet mignon for each of you?" She asked Stacey.

"I want lunch, I don't want him bankrupt. Besides, I can get the lobster fresher at home." She laughed ordering a shrimp salad and garlic breadsticks. I ordered a salad with seared tuna. I saw Rick bring the tray down the path from the kitchen and set it at the end of the bar. Jules brought over the tray setting our meals down, offering a refill on the iced teas. Once settled in Stacey practically attacked her lunch.

"What are you up to this afternoon?" Stacey asked me. I shrugged stuffing the remainder of a breadstick into my mouth.

"I should check in to see if I have anything, but mid-week I've usually got nothing going on. If I had anything they would have sent me a text to let me know to call in. Why, what have you got in mind?" I wiggled my eyebrows at her. She rolled her eyes but smiled as well.

"First I was planning a long hot shower since the one I had this morning was less than complete." She wiggled her eyebrows at me this time. "I figure no loss, since I only got sweaty again the minute I got out of it." This time I got a wink and a smile. "I was thinking if you weren't busy we'd go see what's going on in town, and pick up the ingredients for dinner." I thought about it and realized that I could think of nothing I'd love more than to spend the rest of my day with this beautiful woman.

"Sold. That's better than watching an aging, overweight lawyer from Jersey pretend that he's Jimmy Connors." The mental picture of that made us both laugh. I begged leave for a moment to check and see if I had anything going for this afternoon. I didn't, and the rec director chuckled when I asked him to reschedule anybody who inquired. I walked back to the table and let Stacey know I was free for the afternoon, and her face lit up like a kid at Christmas. I was amazed at the rush that smile sent through me, and I'm sure I was returning it with equal excitement.

Jules wandered over to clear the plates. I'm sure Stacey said this intentionally to be overheard. "After my winning dessert, I propose that you get a change of clothing and meet me back at my crib. That way we can freshen up and head into town from there." Stacey smiled.

"With that, what would you like for dessert?" I asked. I felt a blush hit my cheeks as Jules gave me a side long look.

"What's good?" Stacey asked Jules.

"Depends, do you want something light, or something more decadent?" She asked sweetly. Was that a barb I detected in her voice?

"Something light, I'll have something decadent later." She glanced at me smiling.

"The raspberry granita topped with white chocolate is my pick then. It's made with a splash of liqueur, gives it just the right amount of kick." Jules replied, and shot a glare at me.

"Ooh, even better." Stacey smiled rubbing her hands together in anticipation. I ordered the same, and without a word I felt Jules admonish me for my behavior. I felt guilty for only a split second until I broke her gaze and my eyes fell on Stacey again. I thought to myself, "You had your chance Jules." We finished our dessert and I paid the tab. We gathered our bags and stood.

"I'm that way." I said nodding towards a path behind the bar.

"Good to know." She grinned and stood there looking at me for a second. "Is it wrong that I want to stir up trouble?" She asked. I gave her a questioning look. "To hell with it, why not. Thanks for lunch." She said as she stepped towards me reached up behind my neck and drew me into a deep kiss. I fell into it like a dehydrated man into a pool of cool, fresh water. When she pulled away and started walking away I just grinned as she looked over her shoulder and gave me a little wave. "See you in a few." I turned and caught Jules look, her eyes were hard and her look was cool, and I realized what Stacey meant. I started for the path when I heard Jules call out to me.

"Hey lover boy." She said. I don't know why but that grated my nerves.

"What's up?" I asked walking over to the service end of the bar.

"Be careful with that one." She said. "I get the feeling she's already sunk her teeth into you, but be careful none the less."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious as to why she cared.

Jules looked down the path Stacey had taken to make sure she was gone. "I've been here a while, and I've seen her type before, thought not nearly as much here as on the east coast. She's the love 'em and leave 'em type. She'll use you for a week then turn and walk away leaving you on the floor like a wet towel."

"Thanks, but I think I can handle it Jules." I said smiling.

"Okay, I just don't want to see you get hurt. You're the type to get hurt." She said a soft smile touched her lips.

"I am? How do you know me so well?" I smiled back at her, and she laughed.

"I've been doing this for over seven years, and the next best thing to seeing a shrink, is seeing a bartender. It's not the best use of a psych degree, but I'm too young for suits and dealing with addled teens and troubled couples." She smiled.

"Yes mom." I said sarcastically.

"I hope you're protecting him." She said pointing down at the front of my shorts. "Just remember to protect this too." She said tapping me over the heart with her finger. In an uncharacteristic move she laid her hand on mine and gave it a little squeeze. I nodded at her.