Page 27 of Breakpoint

“Because you’re gorgeous, dedicated, ambitious, exasperating, bitchy for no reason sometimes, and underneath all that, loyal and loving to the people that matter to you.

And fucking amazing at tennis.” Jaz still didn’t look convinced, so she continued.

“You’re anal as fuck about your routine that it drives me nuts but you also listen to me and see me beyond the nepo baby, Instagram model everyone projects me to be.

I see all of that in you, Jaz, and I still find myself wanting to be in your presence all the time.

I want to know what book you’re reading and if Scott finally told Kira he’s crushing on her. ”

Jaz’s eyes went wide at her declaration, opening and closing her mouth, but no words came out at first. When she finally spoke, they still weren’t the words that Dani wanted to hear. “We still can’t do this. We’re friends, sometimes doubles partners, and you’re so young. You can’t even drink.”

Dani scoffed. “I’m old enough to know what I want, Jaz. Besides, you don’t drink, anyway.” She summoned all her courage to ask for what she wanted. “Go out with me.”

Jaz’s eyes went wide at her plea. She shook it off but looked everywhere but right in Dani’s face. “Dani, we can’t go out. The age difference matters, and some would say a power imbalance given where we are in our careers.”

She smiled at Jaz’s overthinking of everything.

“Are these the thoughts that have been running through your head since last week? Jaz, you’re worth over a hundred million dollars.

There will be a power imbalance with anyone you date.

But I’m also a professional and have my own money.

I don’t need yours. Plus, I’m asking you, and you’ve been nothing but above reproach. ”

“That may be true, but besides the age, we’re too different. I’m drawn to routine and stability, and you’re not. You like to go out and party with the Sascha Rudds of the world. We’re doubles partners, and this is just too messy to be anything, Dani.”

“The last time I partied with Sascha was in Paris, and the last party I went to was with you. And we know how that night ended?” Dani moved even closer into her space and touched her arm. “Tell me you don’t feel this thing between us?”

Just like that, it was back, the spark that she’d felt when they touched eight nights ago.

She felt that tug all over. Dani didn’t care that Jaz had just played a grueling match.

She was standing in front of her sweaty without her shirt on, and all she could think about was touching Jaz again.

To act, to take what she craved. To have her lips pressed against Jaz’s again. “This connection. It’s real.”

Jaz’s gaze flickered to her hand, then back to her eyes. A muscle in her jaw tightened. “I...” she began, then stopped, her usual composure faltering. Walking her backwards, Dani pressed her back into the wall beside the row of lockers. And closed the remaining distance and leaned in close.

Jaz didn’t resist. Her body was rigid, but she didn’t pull away. Dani’s hand moved from her arm to her waist, her other hand coming up to cup Jaz’s face. “Don’t deny it, Jaz,” Dani murmured, her breath warm against her lips. “Don’t deny us.”

Then she kissed her. It was a kiss filled with eight days of unspoken longing, a fierce, passionate collision of lips and teeth and tongues. Jaz responded with a soft moan that vibrated against Dani’s lips, sending a thrill through her body. Kissing this woman was like a newly discovered drug.

Jaz’s hands gripped Dani’s hips, pulling her closer. The air between them crackled with electricity as their mouths moved hungrily together, tongues tangling, breaths mingling, completely lost in each other.

The kiss was deep and desperate. Their mouths moved together flawlessly, fearlessly, asking and granting access all at once.

She gripped the back of her neck, kissing her so deeply she lost the feeling in her legs.

She pulled back, panting heavily, trying to get breath back in her lungs, and to make sure that this was what Jaz wanted, that she wouldn’t run again.

Staring into those chocolate eyes, all she saw was want.

They must have shared the same thought because they both leaned in and crashed their mouths together again.

Both of them were eager and searching. Jaz hummed with appreciation without realizing her body had arched into her.

Dani's body relented, pressing her weight against her even more as she slipped her thigh between Jaz’s legs. Parting them.

They both moaned at her leg contacting Jaz’s center .

Their ensuing kiss turned frantic, and she wanted to touch Jaz everywhere.

All at once. Her hands roamed, tracing the hard lines of her back, pulling her closer until there wasn’t an inch of space left.

Their hips seemed to grind and reach for one another without conscious thought.

Her hands drifted lower to Jaz’s strong and luscious thighs, then back up until she gripped her tight ass.

At Jaz’s moan, she felt a faint pulse between her legs. Her need escalated.

She brought her hand from Jaz’s ass to around her front. Jaz groaned, a low rumble in her chest, as Dani’s fingers went up her tennis skirt and rubbed her panties, creating friction in the place Dani couldn’t wait to explore. Whatever was bubbling between them seemed to gain momentum by the second.

She arched into Dani, a soft moan escaping her full lips. Dani hooked her fingers on the gusset of Jaz’s underwear and pulled it to the side, running her fingers up her slit. “Jesus, you’re so wet.”

Before Jaz could speak, Dani’s mouth was back, hot and wet against the vein throbbing in Jaz’s neck.

She tasted of salt and sweat, her breath hot against Jaz’s neck as brown fingers tangled in Dani’s damp hair.

Jaz may have just played a match and was beyond sweaty, but she didn’t care.

Dani wanted her now. Each touch was electric, a spark igniting a fire that threatened to consume them both.

The world had narrowed to this—the small, enclosed space and the urgent press of her body against Jaz’s.

And then the locker room door slammed open.

The sound was like a thunderclap in the sudden silence.

They froze and then, as if remembering where they were, Dani jumped back.

Jaz slid away from the lockers. Both of them were breathing heavily, chests expanding rapidly.

Dani’s neck and face were beet red, unable to hide the exertion and need.

Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips were definitely pink and swollen.

Whoever had entered must have gone straight to the showers, because after a few seconds, they heard the sounds of a door slamming and water running.

Jaz had turned back to her locker, closing herself off.

But Dani would not let her run again. In this moment, Dani needed to be the strong, confident one.

She approached Jaz again but kept a bit of distance because she didn’t think she could be that close to her again and not touch her.

“So you think dating me would be wrong? Please don’t tell me you don’t feel this, too?

Don’t deny it. Not to me. Not to yourself. Go out with me tonight,” she pleaded.

Jaz turned and looked at her. “I’m not going out and partying in the middle of a tournament. And didn’t you just tell Sascha Rudd the same thing?”

Dani smiled because Jaz always had a comeback. “Um, technically, we are both now out of this tournament. And not out partying, but to a healthy, well-balanced dinner, just the two of us.”

The air between them was thick with unspoken questions, unanswered anxieties, and the heavy weight of a kiss, now two really hot kisses, that had changed everything. Or perhaps, revealed what was already there hidden beneath the surface of their burgeoning friendship.

For a second, uncertainty flitted across Jaz’s face. “Okay,” she finally murmured. The only time Dani’s smile had been wider was right after she won Wimbledon. She was quickly learning that sometimes the biggest wins came off the court.