Match Pointe

‘I’m no expert on tennis, Caesar; you’d know far better than I would.’

He silently congratulated her on her answer: sticking to generalities rather than getting personal. Perhaps she had more intelligence than he’d given her credit for.

‘Yes, yes, quite right.’ He chuckled. ‘Then let me phrase my question more succinctly. Would you prefer a change, or for your circumstances to remain as they are?’

She paused before answering, unsure of what he was hoping to hear. ‘My preference is irrelevant, Caesar. I will accept whatever happens; that’s the commitment I’ve made.’

‘I’m very pleased to hear that you’re taking the contract as seriously as I am. I’m not one for deviations once something has been agreed. Enjoy the game, Eloise; heaven knows I shall.’

With a clink of his glass and a cheerful wink that belied the veiled threat in his words, he excused himself to go and chat with his other guests as the pre-match tension rose steadily around them.

The knots in Eloise’s stomach tightened as the two players entered the stadium and applause instantly erupted. Noah came out first, and the crowd enthusiastically welcomed the new kid on the block. Though he was smiling and waving, everyone could sense his nervousness at being in his first grand-slam final. Eloise beamed with pride, hoping he’d received her message and small gift. Caesar didn’t miss a single twitch of her expressive face from the other side of the room.

The cheering changed when Stephan Nordstrom appeared on the court, sporting his sponsored Maui Jim sunglasses. The newly appointed tennis superstar acknowledged the crowd with a brief nod before immediately getting down to the business of ensuring the brands of his clothes, racquets and even his drink bottles were facing the right way for maximum exposure. It took three attempts for him to find the racquet with the perfect string tension, then he carefully placed the other two back in his sponsored sports bag, ensuring they were in the exact position he wanted them. Some might have called him obsessive–compulsive – and many had, often – but the sponsors Caesar had secured on his behalf would handsomely reward such meticulousness.

Once these actions were performed, he sat perfectly still, more focused than a neurosurgeon about to make his first incision. It was as if the crowd no longer existed in his mind. The look on his face made it clear that Nordstrom was here for one reason only.

To dominate and to win.

Eloise’s nerves electrified as she was torn between her excitement at the prospect of a new Number One particularly a Swedish god like Stephan – and wanting to protect her gorgeous Noah from such a tour de force. Though beaming at Noah, she found herself drawn to Stephan, wondering if he was as domineering in person as he was on court. She watched in awe along with thousands of other fans as he sat trance-like in his seat before the announcer summoned the players onto the court for their warm-up.

Eloise desperately hoped the knot in her stomach would ease when play commenced.

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Transition

The entire match lasted a little over an hour – much to the disappointment of the crowd, some of whom had paid a small fortune just to witness a wipeout.

There was no opportunity for Eloise to find Noah and offer her condolences on losing so catastrophically in straight sets. Realistically, she had no idea how she could even have attempted to locate him, given the security around the stadium. Since her brief conversation with Caesar she had sensed he was watching her every move, so she didn’t even dare send a message to Noah in case he showed up and aroused Caesar’s suspicions further.

Caesar’s people ensured she was escorted directly back to the hotel to await further instructions. Once again, she felt like an object in Caesar’s world – a world where he oversaw her every move until the transition was complete. She was sure that, had she attempted to leave the premises, she would have been prevented.

She tried to call Noah when she was finally alone but went straight through to his voicemail. She left a message telling him she was sorry but reassuring him that it was only the first of many grand-slam finals to come. She couldn’t help but think that perhaps eliminating smoking from his lifestyle might guarantee better success, but she didn’t dare say it!

After meeting up with Ivan for a platonic yet warm goodbye, she was informed of the request for her to be in the hotel boardroom at 9pm to meet Stephan Nordstrom.

Eloise felt like she was in limbo. So to keep her thoughts and emotions at bay, she went for a long swim in the hotel pool. After which, she prepared herself, dressing simply and elegantly in a black cocktail dress and heels, her hair pulled into a low chignon.

At 8.50pm there was a sharp knock on the door of her suite. A suited man, no doubt one of Caesar’s entourage, silently escorted her to the boardroom. The butterflies in her stomach were as violent as they’d been before her first performance as Principal.

She sat demurely with her eyes lowered while Caesar’s lawyers negotiated with Stephan’s. As the paperwork was signed and exchanged, every fibre of her being could sense Stephan’s wild excitement as he courteously pulled back her chair from the boardroom table. As she stood, she looked up to meet his intense gaze as his steely-blue eyes feasted on her petite form and the dynamic between them intensified. Stephan’s dominance on the court was nothing compared to meeting the man himself – and it took her breath away, literally – as the electricity between them was undeniable to everyone in the room.

‘So, tomorrow morning, then, I shall see you at the Waldorf?’ His eyebrows rose in question, as if not quite believing this extraordinary situation to be real.

‘Yes, sir,’ she responded quietly, knowing even as she uttered the words that her relationship with this Number One would be entirely different from her distant relations with Ivan.

‘I shall await your arrival with pleasure.’

A delicious shiver ricocheted to the core of her belly at the prospect of what was to come. If his words had that effect on her, then who knew what impact his touch might have …

As if sensing her body’s response, he guided her out the door with a sudden smile.

It was rare for Stephan to agree to a meeting straight after a match – particularly one involving his lawyers – but when Caesar’s letter had arrived requesting a private audience at Stephan’s earliest convenience, he’d accepted immediately. Since signing with The Edge, his success both on and off the court had grown exponentially. So Caesar was the last person he’d decline to meet; after all, Caesar was to tennis what the Pope was to Catholicism. However, to say Stephan was anything less than dumbfounded at the private discussion he’d had with the great man right before meeting Eloise would be a lie.

Stephan’s celebrations that evening after his third grand-slam victory were tinged with unexpected visions of what his future might hold given Caesar’s ‘bequest’ of Eloise Lawrance. Stephan had never been with a professional ballet dancer, but had he met one as exquisite as Eloise, he’d have rectified that situation immediately.

After he’d laid eyes on the enigmatic Eloise, the bevy of inane beauties who accompanied him for drinks at the hip Ling Ling Bar at Hakkasan Restaurant didn’t quite have the desired effect on his usually virile libido. Not that it seemed to bother the leggy blondes and brunettes, as long as the zesty martinis kept flowing between their ready lips and the eager photographers captured their image as they partied with the man who would adorn the front pages in the morning.

Two of them accompanied him back to his suite just beyond midnight. But instead of enjoying the ménage à trois as he usually would, Stephan found himself distracted by the sight of the milky limbs and innocent aquamarine eyes gazing at him from the portfolio Caesar had left with him. As soon as the girls had finished blowing him – a perfunctory experience at best – he called for Garry, who managed his security and his life, to escort them out. He and Garry exchanged a look that suggested Stephan would have no problem should Garry want to enjoy the sexual delights the ladies had to offer.

To the best of his understanding of Caesar’s proposition, Eloise would be on loan to him, for his personal use, so long as he retained the ATP ranking of Number One. Her role in his life was to be discussed and mutually agreed between them. A bizarre arrangement, but he had no wish to argue after their introduction last night.

For the first time in a very long time, he was excited about something other than tennis. It was no surprise that sleep came to him like a steam train after such an eventful day.

Perfect

The next morning Stephan dismissed his staff from his suite at the Waldorf, to ensure the privacy he wanted with this stunning ballet dancer. He needed to understand more intimately the machinations of this highly unusual relationship.

‘Eloise! Come in, please,’ he called as her polite knock was heard at the door.

As soon as pleasantries were exchanged, they both settled onto the lounge, looking out at the most impressive cityscape in the world. Eloise sat demurely in a pale blue jersey dress and beige peeptoe court shoes. Stephan spread his arms wide across the lounge, looking exactly like the Scandinavian sports god his publicists liked to suggest he was. His striped blue and white shirt seemed startlingly bright against his tanned skin, and sat taut across his broad chest and shoulders. For Eloise, his presence in the room was even more dominating than on either the court or the screen as he took up at least three times the space she did.

Stephan was not one for small talk, so he wasted no time in getting to the point.

‘So, let me get this straight: you are apparently mine, as long as I retain the Number One position.’

‘That is correct, sir.’

‘And we are to mutually agree on the role you will play in my life?’

She nodded.

‘Please answer me directly.’

She raised her eyes to look directly into his from beneath her lids; he was a completely different species from Ivan, and Noah for that matter …

‘Yes, sir,’ she responded. ‘It is important that I understand your expectations and boundaries in order for our relationship to work.’

‘I see. Then I suppose you should know my life is about two things, Eloise: perfection and control.’ He paused to gauge her reaction. ‘Let me be clear. Domination is my life. Winning is my world.’

Shivers raced through Eloise from head to toe as his words resonated deep within her, and although she made a concerted effort to hide her reaction, it was without success.

A satisfied smile stretched across his lips as he noticed her muscles quiver at his words; her eyes remaining steadfastly fixed to one spot on the floor. His groin instantly reacted to the sexual tension between them.

It had caught him off guard that she was even more appealing in person than her photos had suggested. He loved her prim English accent, with the merest hint of Australian casualness to it. Her lithe body with her toned curves seemed to be begging to be stroked. The discipline she maintained over herself as she tried to rein in her reaction to him caused him no end of arousal.

She was perfect. And he worshipped perfection.