A Whole New Ball Game Read online

  Julie did the honours, and seconds later, we were off. I took another quick glance at Sawyer—I wanted him to be proud of me. He’d seen me train one-on-one before, but he’d never seen me in action. What if I let him down? What if, after all he’d done, he was about to see I couldn’t cut it? Not in the big league. Not with these women who so clearly had dedicated their lives to making it in this sport.

  ‘Zoe!’ Julie called.

  The ball flew toward me. I stepped. I leapt. I caught.

  I ran.

  My feet pumped down the sideline as I headed across the field, searching for my forward. Less than a metre later, the heavy impact of a tackle took me from the left, and my face met the grass. The ball slipped from my hands. Shit.

  Pain radiated from my jaw. Damn. I hadn’t experienced a tackle like that in … well, ever.

  Play didn’t stop. The game kept moving forward.

  I glanced to Sawyer on the sideline. His lips were a thin line of concentration. Have I disappointed him?

  It didn’t matter.

  Just like the game, I had to keep moving forward.

  I shook it off and raced down the field, determined to show the others what I had. I wasn’t here to worry about Sawyer, about the future, about consequences—this was all about me, my girls, and the ball. And we were going to give it everything we had.

  We all wanted to be women of W.A.R.

  And I would give one hundred per cent of my focus to that.

  ***

  An hour and a half later, we clustered on the ground, some stretched out, looking at the late afternoon sun, others emptying water bottles over their head to combat the fierce spring heat.

  I took a sip from my bottle, then placed it in my lap, leaning back on my hands and letting the sun ease the ache in my tired muscles. Had I ever played that hard? That fast?

  And this was just a casual game.

  Imagine what the trial will be like.

  ‘Good game.’ Julie nodded to me.

  ‘Thanks. You too.’

  ‘It took you a little to get started. Once you stopped focusing on your boyfriend, you were fine.’

  ‘Oh! Snap!’ A player to Julie’s left clicked her fingers, laughing.

  Heat flushed my cheeks. The thing was, she was right. I shouldn’t have let him in my head at the very beginning when I knew more than anyone just how important focus was when it came to winning.

  ‘I wasn’t trying to be mean.’ Julie gave me a soft punch on the shoulder. ‘I think you’re a good player. You trying out around here?’

  ‘No. I’m from Melbourne,’ I replied. ‘You?’

  ‘Shame. I wouldn’t half mind being on a team with you. I think you’ve got spunk.’ She leaned closer, lowering her voice. ‘And having Sawyer Benson for eye candy on the sidelines isn’t all bad, either.’

  I followed her gaze. Sawyer’s cap was still on, but he was posing for a selfie with the two women from earlier. The instructor stood nearby, casting furtive looks in his direction.

  ‘Come out with us tonight.’

  I blinked, turning my attention back to Julie. ‘Pardon?’

  ‘Come out. A bunch of us are headed to dinner to chat about the league, why we want to play, where we think it’s headed.’ She made eyes at Sawyer again. ‘Unless you need to check with …’

  ‘I’m my own person.’ I straightened my spine, my water bottle rolling from my lap to the grass beside me. ‘I’ll come out. Sounds like fun.’

  ***

  ‘Here.’ Julie placed a schooner of beer in front of me. The head sloshed over the top, cascading down the sides as I lifted it up and clinked glasses with her and the four other women sitting around the booth.

  ‘To the best women making the team,’ Julie called, and we all echoed a response.

  ‘I don’t understand why the others didn’t come.’ Chrissie sipped from her cup, looking around the group. ‘I thought this was supposed to be a team sport.’

  ‘Yeah, but none of us are on a team yet. It’s not like we need to bond.’ Leah rolled her eyes, her Chinese accent rounding out the vowels. ‘Hopefully, we will be though. One team.’

  ‘Except for Zoe here.’ Julie tilted her head to me. ‘She’ll be too busy back in Melbourne with her lover to possibly focus on playing Aussie Rules.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever,’ I scoffed. ‘Are you jealous I get one-on-one tutoring from one of the best in the business?’

  ‘Jealous? Hell no!’ Julie replied, taking another long sip of her drink. ‘Sawyer Benson is not my type. He’s too … tall.’

  ‘You mean he has a penis,’ Chrissie deadpanned, and Julie burst into a raucous display of laughter.

  ‘That too.’ When she finally settled down, she looked to Leah, sitting directly opposite her in the booth. ‘So tell me, Leah. Where did you learn to play Aussie Rules?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Chrissie chimed in. ‘You don’t exactly fit the stereotype …’

  ‘I know. Which is why I’m going to crush the opposition. They won’t ever see me coming.’ Her dark eyes flashed with humour. ‘I grew up in Hong Kong, with five older brothers, and was sent by myself to boarding school in Sydney when I was thirteen.’

  ‘Wow.’ Moving halfway across the world, all by yourself when you were just a kid? I couldn’t imagine. ‘Did you miss your family terribly?’

  ‘I missed them a lot, yes. Mostly, I missed my brother, Joey—he was second youngest, and we used to play together all the time.’ She tucked her dark hair behind her ear. ‘All girl boarding school—not many boys.’

  ‘Logically.’ Chrissie laughed.

  ‘So, to try and I guess … spend time with people who made me feel at home, I asked if I could enrol in Aussie Rules. The headmistress said no at first. My parents said no—girls do not play sport like that. But when I told the teacher how important it was to me … how I’d do anything to be able to get out and involved in physical education …’ She shrugged. ‘I played in mixed comps on weekends. I played, and I played, and I didn’t stop, not when school did. Not when uni did. I’m small, and I’m fast, and people underestimate me because of how I look. The rest is history.’

  She was right. In our game this morning, Leah had been on the other team, but she had smashed it down the field on more than one occasion, leaving our defence in her wake. She would make a formidable opponent in a serious game.

  ‘I, for one, think you’re a kick-arse player, Leah. More fool to anyone who underestimates you.’ Julie took another sip.

  ‘Hear, hear.’ Chrissie agreed, raising her glass in toast. ‘I understand about parents not wanting you to play. My folks still don’t take this seriously, even though I know I’m good. I’ve got what it takes.’

  ‘They do know there’s a women’s league, right?’ Julie asked.

  ‘Sure they do. But, as my father said, it has lesser pay, lesser players, and lesser credibility.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I’m in my last year of an internship at a law firm in the city. The hours are pretty flexible, so I should be able to fit it in around training, but Dad insists that if I don’t make junior partner by the end of the year, he’ll kick me out of home and then I won’t be able to play—I’ll need to work full-time.’

  ‘That sucks.’ How unfair that he was almost forcing her out of doing something she so clearly loved.

  ‘The whole thing sucks. I mean, it’s great we finally get a league, but I wish we could get some equality, too.’ Julie scowled, then turned her attention to me. ‘What about you? How’d you get into the game? Tired of always watching lover boy in the spotlight?’

  ‘Ha! Very funny,’ I replied. ‘No. I started playing when I was a kid, mostly to help my boyfriend at the time—not Sawyer or a pro-ball player, just a regular guy,’ I rushed out, before they could ask how long Sawyer and I had been seeing each other. ‘And then, at some point along the way, I fell in love with it.’

  ‘How did your parents feel about that?’ Leah asked.

  ‘My father’s not in the pi
cture, and my mother …’ Her latest email flashed to mind. Not one mention of AFL. ‘Well, she doesn’t really care either way. She’s more interested in charity work.’

  ‘Donating?’ Jenny asked.

  ‘No. Volunteering overseas. It’s what I’m going to do next year.’ For once, the words didn’t fill me with that usual buzz of excitement, that warm feeling in my chest I got whenever I thought about fulfilling my dream. They just felt like—words.

  ‘Wait, wait, wait. But aren’t you trying out for a team?’ Julie asked, shaking her head as if she didn’t understand.

  ‘Kind of.’ I shrugged. ‘I’m going to trial, but I’ll let them know that it’s more something I want to do in the future. Not now.’

  ‘Oh.’ Leah frowned, studying her beer. ‘So you are not playing this season.’

  ‘No.’

  The rest of the table fell quiet. Behind us, a group of guys called their excitement, as on the television screen overhead, some rugby players went in for a fight.

  ‘Well, I guess we all have different dreams after all.’ Julie’s smile was falsely bright. ‘Leah, is it your round?’

  Leah jumped from her chair and headed to the bar, and I wished that I’d left too.

  I should never have come here.

  All it had done was confuse me, and I was already confused enough.

  Chapter 23

  Sawyer

  Awake.

  How’d I go from dead-asleep to awake in such a short space?

  It’s grand final day, a voice in my head sung. Damn it, I was like a kid at Christmas. I grinned, my eyes still closed. Grand final day.

  I cracked my eyes open. The early-morning sun crept through the slit I’d left in the curtains before hitting the hay the night before. I stretched, blinking as I focused in on the light, the warmth, the—

  The beautiful woman lying in bed next to me.

  Hair that looked more gold than brown shone in the light. Zoe sprawled across the mattress, starfish-style. No wonder my neck felt kinda sore—she’d muscled me right outta the space.

  And I liked it.

  I liked that she felt comfortable enough with me to just go for what she wanted, even if it was in sleep. I liked the way she looked sleeping my T-shirt, the one I’d thrown on the chair in the corner of the room before I went to sleep last night, hours before she eventually came in.

  I liked her.

  I liked her a lot.

  I leaned in close, pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

  ‘Mm,’ she mumbled, turning her head to face me. ‘Time is it?’

  I glanced at my phone, pressing the button to illuminate the screen. Ugh. Early. ‘Six.’

  ‘Go away.’ She grabbed her pillow out from underneath her and pulled it over her head.

  ‘But it’s finals day,’ I teased, looping my arms around her waist and pulling her soft body on top of mine. ‘Don’t you want to wish me luck?’

  She flopped against me, her head on my shoulder. ‘G’luck.’

  I laughed, gently placing her back on the mattress beside me. ‘Okay, Zo. You get your beauty sleep.’

  I liked the idea of catching some more Zs, but that feeling—that feeling I’d been missing a few days before—it zapped through my veins. I was ready for this. The grand final.

  I threw back the covers and slid my legs to the side of the bed.

  A hand grabbed my wrist.

  Pulled me back.

  Pulled me to her.

  Zoe pinned me to the mattress by my shoulders, clambering on top of me. Her sleep-mussed hair fell about her shoulders. So beautiful.

  ‘I thought you were sleeping.’

  ‘I was.’ Naughtiness lit her eyes. ‘But someone woke me up, and now that I’m awake …’ She pushed to sit, straddling my waist. One hand trailed over my chest down toward my morning wood, throbbing for release against her pussy. ‘Now that I’m awake, I figure I may as well make the most of it.’

  ‘I like the sound of that.’ I grasped her hand, flicking my hand around her waist and flipping her onto her back on the bed. I braced my body over hers. The pink of strained nipples was visible through my T-shirt. I wanted to lick those. I wanted to take them in my mouth until she screamed. ‘Have I told you how fucking sexy it is when you wear my shirt to sleep?’

  ‘No,’ she breathed, those nipples rising and falling faster this time. ‘Have I ever told you that I find it sexier not to wear any underwear when we sleep next to each other?’

  She—

  What.

  The.

  Fuck?

  She’d slept next to me the whole night, not wearing any—

  My hand slipped between her legs. My fingers slid through her folds.

  I brought them back up to my mouth, relishing her taste. ‘You’re so wet already, baby.’

  Zoe looped both her hands behind my neck, pulling me close. ‘’Cause I’ve been dreaming about you.’

  I kissed her, raw, wild desire lunging through my body. The energy I felt, the excitement for the game—it all came out in that kiss, full of need and drive and want.

  I grabbed at the T-shirt, yanking it up and exposing those breasts I’d been dreaming about for so long. Lowering my mouth, I flicked my tongue against her nipple. She shuddered, so responsive, and it was all the urging on I needed. I did it again, this time drawing the tight bud into my mouth. She groaned. So hot. So ready and needy for me.

  My hand moved between her legs again and I massaged her clit, relishing in the shudder she gave. ‘You like that, baby?’

  ‘I like,’ she panted, her eyes half-mast. ‘I like it a lot.’

  My thumb rolled over her sensitive bud and I thrust one finger, two inside of her. Her body went stiff, rigid, then coiled back in.

  ‘Yes!’ she cried. ‘God that feels good.’

  ‘So good,’ I groaned. My cock throbbed as I moved my thumb, flicking her clit faster, thrusting inside her and fucking her with my fingers until the wetness, the heat coating me was too much. I grabbed her hand, wrapping it around my cock, needing this release as much it felt like she did.

  She wasted no time. Her soft, warm hand moved up and down my shaft, and I was close, so close as pleasure barrelled down my spine, but I couldn’t stop.

  ‘Zoe,’ I groaned one more time.

  ‘Sawyer,’ she cried out, her body going still again and then—

  Release.

  She came, her juices flowing over my hand. Hell yes.

  Her hand sped up, and my balls tightened, drew closer to my body until my own orgasm ratcheted through me, and she milked my cock, my cum all over that perfect pussy, those gorgeous tits.

  I collapsed in a heap beside her, my breath heavy. We’d barely fooled around, and yet somehow it rated as some of the hottest sex I’d ever had.

  She linked her hand with mine, both of us wet with sex, neither of us moving to clean it up. Was she as spent as I felt?

  ‘How you feelin’ about the game today?’ she eventually asked, when our breathing calmed down.

  ‘Good.’ I walked to the bathroom, wetting a face washer under the tap and bringing it back. Slowly, my hand worked over her body in long, pressured strokes. She was beautiful—like an artwork.

  ‘Not nervous?’ Zoe shivered as I paused with the cloth over one breast. Her face was so open, so fresh and new.

  ‘I am a bit nervous, yeah. But the good kinda nervous—the kind that if you didn’t feel, you’d be worried. Know what I mean?’

  ‘I know.’ She nodded once, then turned back to the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought. I placed the washcloth on the bedside table.

  ‘You sure you’re gonna be okay hanging out with the girls today?’ My sister would be there, sure, but after what happened last time I left Zoe and Ava alone in a room … Would they get along?

  ‘I’ll be fine. Your ex might try intimidate me, but I’m tougher than that.’ She chewed her bottom lip. That wasn’t it, then. Maybe …

  ‘How were drinks last night with the
girls from training?’

  She pressed her eyes closed, brought one hand up to the bridge of her nose. Bingo. That was what was troubling her. ‘Good. I just …’ Those tits rose and fell with her breath. Her eyes followed me, following them, and she pulled my T-shirt down, a cheeky smile on her face. ‘They just have all this enthusiasm for the women’s league, you know? Like, they’re not just excited to play professionally, but also to make a stand and show the world that women can do it too.’

  ‘Is that a bad thing?’ Seemed pretty good to me.

  ‘No! It made me want to do it, too. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. Tell everyone I knew how great females are, how great we can be.’

  ‘It’s why you decided to try out in the first place. For Emily,’ I reminded her.

  ‘Exactly.’ She bit that lip again, and I pulled it out of her mouth, running my thumb over it. ‘But talking to them last night—it made me want to stay and play. It made me want to forget my other dreams and just be involved in helping this sport develop, in making young girls believe they could have a future in Aussie Rules if that was what they wanted.’

  I froze. Don’t move.

  She wanted to stay.

  She wanted to goddamn stay.

  ‘That’s a pretty, uh …’ I cleared my throat. Don’t get too excited yet, Sawyer. ‘That’s a pretty noble thing to do. I guess, in a way, it’s still helping people—just in a different way to what you’d envisaged doing overseas.’

  ‘I guess.’ Her tone betrayed her doubt. ‘Anyway, let’s talk about something else. Do you have any pre-game rituals or anything you do for luck?’

  I gave a lazy smile, rolling onto my back again. ‘Well, I can think of a new one we could start …’

  ‘Oh yeah?’ She clambered over me, her hips so warm against my chest. ‘Tell me about it.’

  After we kissed and fooled around once more, I collapsed in a sweaty heap on the bed behind her. This was—this was everything. Had I ever had such an easy time being in bed with someone, talking, fooling around, laughing?