Page 35 of A Follow-Through in Faking

Santiago

Catalina took care of me.

She chose me over going to her family.

She organized a date for us.

All of these things are so difficult to wrap my head around. Not because I believe Cata is a horrible person. On the contrary. But it still surprises me when she offers me that level of kindness because I most certainly haven’t deserved it in a very long time.

It’s been over ten days since it happened, and neither one of us has spoken about it because we’ve been so busy training and winning matches at the Miami Open to get a second to be truly alone.

Charlie and Papá have been on our asses to focus more on the tennis aspect of our fake relationship/hitting partner agreement, so Cata and I are on the court for so long, neither one of us has energy to do anything but pass out on our beds.

Even when there is so much I want to do with her.

While I can still study her as much as I want—I can’t be blamed, watching Cata do the littlest things brings me the utmost joy—I also want to take her on more dates.

I want to kiss her until she’s sick of me.

And fuck, I finally want to take my time exploring her body, find all the ways her body quivers in pleasure.

I want to make her come for the first time, then repeat it a million more times.

Because I’m in love with her.

My father was right. Manu was right. Matteo was right.

Thomas was right. Everyone in my life was right when they told me I was in love with Catalina.

I was too blinded by my supposed hate for her to see it, but it was never truly hate.

It was my heart fearing her rejection, after she rejected me so suddenly when I fucked up, so it convinced itself it hated her, too.

It never did. It loved her from the very first moment I saw her play tennis all those years ago.

And I’m a million percent sure it is going to love her until it stops beating.

“Sage is being a very difficult patient, according to Ness,” Cata informs me as she joins me in the gym room where we get to warm up for our finals match.

A smile immediately brightens up my face at the sight of her.

Catalina is wearing the matching dress to the outfit I have on, thanks to New Light and Spin teaming up to make this happen.

I’m wearing a magenta shirt with black pants that have stripes of the same color on either pant leg.

There is a symbol for gender equality in sports printed on the left pocket area, the same as for Cata, and I love the way the dress is backless for her, showing off her trained, strong back.

I know she’s a bit insecure about the width of her shoulders and size of her back, even if she’d never admit it to me, so I love the way she’s showing it off during this tournament.

“What’s she doing?” I ask as I stand up to stretch out my hips.

“She complains every time she needs to fix the bandages. She doesn’t like sitting still. She won’t eat anything healthy Ness prepares for her,” she replies, stepping in front of me to watch me stretch.

“Sounds like Sage,” I reply with a laugh.

Cata furrows her brows, then adjusts my position, making the pulling feeling go from my leg to everywhere in my lower body.

“Holy fuck,” I breathe out, cursing even more as I hold the position.

“Atta boy. Good job,” she praises, and I flush immediately under the heat of her compliment.

“Can you say that again, but next time, can we both be naked while I put my mouth on you?” I ask, watching a small smirk cover her face in response to my dirty question.

“If we win today, yes.”

I stop stretching, stand upright and take a step toward her, bringing our chests almost flush together. She tilts her head to look up at me, but even with our height difference, there is no doubt about who is in charge.

Cata is.

And when she licks her lips and smirks, my knees go weak.

“And if we don’t?” I ask, my voice practically shaking because of how turned on I am.

“Then you’ll watch as I make myself come,” she replies, running a single hand from the side of my neck down my chest, stopping at the waistband of my pants.

My cock is painfully hard. So hard, I have a difficult time not begging her to wrap her hand around it so I can thrust into it and ease the tension.

“I think I’ll die if you don’t touch me soon, Cata. If I don’t get to touch you.”

“That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?

” she asks, her smirk still in place as she closes the distance between us fully.

Her lower stomach is pressing against my groin, and I groan as she steps on her tiptoes, rubbing against me as she brings her mouth to my earlobe.

She bites it gently before saying, “Let’s go get that trophy so I can find out how this—” She cuts off to push her hips into me, rubbing even harder against my cock. “—feels inside me.”

Cata shoves away from me without another word, leaving me to shiver in pleasure and trying to figure out how to get my dick to calm down. Especially because Cata bends over to stretch, putting her glorious ass on display for me, and I just about come in my fucking pants again .

Trash cans.

Rotten vegetables.

Mathematical equations.

I think of all the unsexy things my brain can conjure, looking at the ceiling in the room as I take several deep breaths.

Nothing works.

Nothing’s going to work until we win this tournament and I finally get my alone time with Cata back.

But that’ll have to wait until after Cata’s surprise, too, and I have a feeling she’s not going to spend any time with me once she sees it.

The thought makes me smile.

Stepping out onto the court is always a fun experience with the crowd cheering my name, but if anyone asked me if I prefer doing so on my own or with Cata, I’d tell them I’d sell my left arm if it would guarantee she walks out with me every single time.

There is something about the way Cata demands attention, attention she absolutely despises, that mesmerizes me every single time.

Especially because even though she may hate it, she glows under it.

It’s as if she could absorb the crowd’s love for her, and in turn, it makes her shine brighter.

And I’m so happy there are cameras filming us because the look on her face when she spots her family sitting in the box dedicated to our team is priceless.

She grabs hold of my arm and stops walking, covering her mouth with her other hand.

Tears fill her eyes as Ori and Hernanda stand up to wave at Cata, her dad places a hand on his left breast, and Samuel lets out a whoooooop for his sister.

Cata waves back at them, doing her best not to burst into tears.

“Santi, what are they doing here?” she asks as I take her hand to guide her to the bench where we’re meant to put our things.

“They’re here to surprise you,” I explain, running a soothing hand down her bare back.

Cata brings her tear-filled eyes to my face, then shifts them to her family again before waving and smiling.

I know she must be in disbelief, but I can tell how happy she is simply by the real smile covering her lips.

“I hate you so much for making me cry on a tennis court again,” Cata says as her tears fall, but I wipe them away for her before anyone realizes what’s happening.

“I know, but it’s worth it,” I reply, grinning at her. “Go to them. I’ll distract the umpire,” I say, nodding in their direction.

Cata steps on her tiptoes to press a kiss to my cheek, then sprints toward her family. I rush over to where the umpire is standing, putting my most charming smile on.

“Weren’t you the umpire at my match in France two years ago?” I ask, feeling a little awkward.

“Yes. You lost that one, if I recall correctly,” they reply with a frown, and I let out a nervous laugh.

“Yeah.” Another nervous laugh escapes me, and I realize how fucking horrible I am at this. Take away my flirtiness, and, apparently, I have no idea how to distract someone.

But I’m not flirting with anyone.

No one but Catalina.

“I didn’t know you were also an umpire for doubles matches. Is it very different from singles?” The umpire furrows their brows at me, but the amusement remains on their face.

I might die of embarrassment.

“I think you should be getting ready. We have to get started,” the umpire says with an amused look, and I feel my cheeks flush because of how embarrassed I feel. I look over my shoulder to see Catalina rushing back to our bag and almost let out a sigh of relief.

Thank fuck.

I think that was the most awkward minute of my life.

“Yeah, right,” I reply and give them a thumbs up, then mentally smack myself because what the fuck was that?

When I walk back to Cata, she’s grinning at me in a way that lets me know she’s not grinning with me but at me.

“What?” I ask, poking her side.

“Nothing. You’re just—Well, you’re as red as a tomato, Santi,” she replies, chuckling to herself as she takes out her racket. I place a hand on my left cheek, feeling the heat beneath my palm, which only makes me blush harder.

“Sometimes it’s nice to keep thoughts inside, mariquita ,” I say, covering my cheeks with both hands.

My woman merely chuckles again.

“You don’t enjoy my pointing out the obvious?” she teases, and if we were alone, if we weren’t being watched from every angle, I’d throw her over my shoulder and carry her to the nearest empty room.

“Let’s win this game so I can go back to kissing you to give your mouth something else to do,” I say, but she simply keeps snickering to herself.

I hate that I can’t even be mad because Catalina is so beautiful when she’s happy.