‘Hey, babe.’
She looked up from her phone, placing it down on the table as she smiled the biggest smile. ‘Hey, back.’
‘So, you thought you’d surprise me, huh?’
‘I needed a break, and this is the last chance I’ve got to take one before the new season starts. It’s already getting busy back at work.’ She looked right into his eyes. ‘And I missed you. I didn’t realise how much I was going to until you’d gone.’
He felt a small twinge of guilt as he realised he hadn’t really missed her at all since he’d been here. He’d been way too busy to even think about her. Busy doing stuff she didn’t really need to know about. ‘I missed you, too.’ Jesus! The lies still came so easily to him. But at least he felt guilty about reeling them off these days, unlike before, when his lies had driven away the woman he should have been married to by now. But instead she was married to his boss. How frigging wrong was that?
‘Really?’ Ellen gasped, her voice shaking him out of his thoughts of Amber. He had to learn to stop doing that, drifting back to memories of someone he was never going to have. No matter how much he still thought he wanted her. ‘Oh, Ryan… I was so worried about telling you I was here, because I know partners aren’t allowed on this trip, and what with me working for the club and everything… That’s why I chose this place to meet, it’s out of the way…’
He shut her up by leaning over the table and planting a kiss on her unsuspecting mouth. She tasted good – a mixture of coconut lip balm and sun cream.
‘Was I going on a bit too much?’ she asked, her voice quiet, her eyes carrying an almost worried expression. ‘I know I can talk for England once I get started but…’
‘Ellen, it’s okay. Really. I’m happy you’re here, and hey, I like a woman who’s willing to break the rules now and again.’ He grinned, turning the Ryan Fisher charm up a notch, and he could see her relax instantly. Her pretty shoulders sagged, and her face almost lit up as she looked at him. But somewhere inside, a very small, very quiet alarm bell started ringing in Ryan’s head – he liked being with her, but was she starting to become just a little too attached to him? They’d spent a lot of time together over the summer break, and he’d tried really hard not to give her any mixed signals, because the last thing he wanted to do was mislead her. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.
‘Ryan… you and Amber…’
This was a conversation he really didn’t want to get into, not with her, so he was happy when a striking-looking dark-haired woman materialised at their table with two more bottles of beer, smiling at them both before retreating back to her post behind the bar. She provided a short but welcome distraction, and Ryan couldn’t help but watch her as she began serving another customer, smiling and laughing with a group of people at the bar whom Ryan guessed were regulars. It was that kind of place.
‘Ryan?’
He waited a second before turning to look at Ellen, that famous Fisher smile now firmly back in place. ‘Let’s finish these beers and go back to your hotel. Then you can show me just how much you’ve missed me. Okay?’
She smiled back, relief once more quite evident on her face. ‘Yeah. Okay.’
There was nothing like sex for taking Ryan’s mind off things. Nothing like it at all.
Amber closed her eyes and let the burning sun wash over her skin. Sighing contentedly, she settled back on her sun lounger by the huge circular pool at the team’s hotel. It was the day of Newcastle Red Star’s final match in their pre-season tour of Spain and the Canary Islands but, thankfully, Amber didn’t have to start work until later, when she and Ronnie would be at the match, talking to some of the players and interacting with the guys back in the studio, live from the game itself, a game which was being televised in the U.K. that evening on one of the Cloud Sports channels.
So, for now, all she had to do was relax. She couldn’t deny the nerves weren’t still there, though. This was a huge deal for her. She was the new face of football on a major satellite TV channel – for Amber it didn’t get much bigger than that. Cloud Sports had put a lot of faith in her, and she didn’t want to let anyone down, that was all. So far she’d been getting some great feedback, but those nerves were still going to take a while to settle down.
‘You look a bit apprehensive,’ Ronnie said, sitting himself down on the edge of the lounger next to her.
She opened her eyes, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head. ‘Yeah. Thanks for that, Ronnie.’
He smiled at her. Amber pushed her sunglasses down over her eyes and lay back again.
‘You’re doing great, Amber. Everyone back home is loving you, believe me.’
‘You’re not just saying that, are you? To placate me. I know what you’re like.’
‘As if. Anyway, you’ve done live TV before, haven’t you? Loads of times. Why should this be any different?’
‘I used to be on local TV, Ronnie. This is a whole different ball game.’
‘No it’s not. Where’s Jim?’
‘Team talk. They’re off to the ground for a training session in a little while.’ She sat up again, propping herself up on her elbows. ‘Why didn’t you bring Karen with you?’
Ronnie looked away for a second, staring out at the sea view in front of him. ‘I’m working, Amber.’
‘Yeah, and so am I. But I’m here with my husband.’
Ronnie looked at her. ‘Your husband is the manager of the team we’re following.’
‘So?’
He laughed slightly. ‘Come on, kiddo. Karen doesn’t want to hang around while I’m working. She’d only get bored.’
Amber sat up properly, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them to her. ‘She’d get bored? Here? Look at it, Ronnie. It’s beautiful! She could have…’
‘Leave it, Amber, okay? Just – just leave it.’
She widened her eyes as she looked at him, slightly taken aback by his tone. ‘All right. I’m sorry. Look, is everything okay?’
He sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘No, and it’s me who should be sorry. Things are just a bit… a bit weird at the minute, that’s all.’
Amber cocked her head, desperate to know what he meant by that but getting the feeling that, whatever it was, he wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. But she couldn’t leave the subject alone altogether. ‘All the more reason to bring her with you, then, surely?’
‘No, Amber. Don’t you see? If I’d brought her with me, if I’d insisted she come here, wouldn’t that just have looked as though I wanted to keep an eye on her? Keep tabs on her? Make sure she wasn’t…’ He stopped talking, looking out at the sea view again.
‘If it was me, I wouldn’t have seen it that way.’
‘Well, Karen’s not you, all right?’
Amber frowned. ‘You’re happy though, aren’t you? I mean, you don’t regret marrying her again, do you?’
Ronnie continued to look out over the stunning clear-blue sea that was dotted with the odd jet ski and a catamaran way off in the distance, no doubt out on a whale and dolphin sightseeing trip.
‘I’m happy, yeah. I’m happy.’
Amber rested her chin on her knees as she looked at him. ‘Really?’
He finally turned to face her again. ‘What is this, Amber? I came