"Send me your cleaning bill, Captain." The kiss surprised Emily because of how quickly Parker had scooped her up.



It was similar to the one Parker had given her the night they went out to dinner and she left her at the guestroom door. Only this time Emily parted her lips and invited Parker in. Emily could feel the calluses on Parker's hands as they came up and framed her face, but instead of concentrating on their roughness she thought about how the strength of Parker's hands made her feel safe. The contrast was in her lips though, in that they were silky soft and they touched hers with just the right amount of pressure to keep her wanting more.



"I missed you too." Parker kissed her again before taking Emily's hand and started the walk back to her hotel.



"Where are we going?" As they walked Parker told her about her pre-tournament tradition of eating alone and laughed at the slight frown that had taken over Emily's face. She thought it was a brush off from Parker not two minutes after they had kissed.



"Well I thought that this was the only city in the world where that tradition of mine doesn't work, so I thought I would change my tactics just this once. Did you get to eat tonight?"



"No I was busy becoming fodder for the tabloid news. How about I treat you to dinner, and then you'll have to give me joint custody of the trophy if you win the Open?"



"How about I pay, and you just go along for the ride?"



Emily sat on one of the chairs while Parker stripped out of her soiled clothes in the bathroom. She just stared at the bed and imagined Parker rolling around on it with Alicia. There was no way in hell she could compete with someone like that, or any other girl Parker had been associated with over the past couple of years.



"My dress is stained." It was a poor excuse to get out of the room but Emily didn't want to be there anymore. She wanted to be back in that library in Press Cove with Parker reading her something from the hundreds of books that lined the shelves.



"I thought we could stop at your place and you could change and maybe drop that in cold water or something so the stain won't set." Parker pointed to Emily's dress feeling bad now that she had stained it.



"You don't mind?"



"Mind what?" Parker's brows came together in confusion over the question.



"Leaving here." Emily waved around the room that had all of Parker's stuff thrown about. Parker figured this had more to do than just the room.



"I want to have dinner with you. I've actually wanted to have dinner with you since the last time I took you out to dinner, and the time you cooked me breakfast. Abby and I have been pining away for you, Captain, so don't disappoint me now that I got you back."



They took a cab to Emily's new apartment that had no furniture and just the bulk of the clothes she didn't need at Bobbie's. Parker walked around and looked out the windows in the front room as Emily went to change. When she walked out of the bedroom she was dressed similar to Parker in jeans and a casual shirt. She smiled when she stepped out and saw Parker holding the book that Barnaby had given her when they had stopped in the night before they had gone out to dinner. It was a collection of love poems and sonnets by Shakespeare, Barnaby's favorite author. Since it was his favorite, Emily had appreciated and enjoyed it that much more that he had thought enough of her to part with it. With any luck she could convince Parker to read some selections out of it tonight.



"How about take out and we'll come back here and eat?" Emily had just gotten Parker back and wasn't ready to share her just yet. The apartment only had a bed that she had taken from the place she had shared with Gail. It was the one thing that she had taken from home when she moved out, and only because it had the sentiment value of having been the one she had had since she was a child.



Parker looked around and saw only the hardwood floors that were present in every room, but was game for whatever Emily had in mind. "Sure."



The cartons of food were spread out throughout the living room and their conversation was finally coming as comfortable as it had when they had first spent time together. When Parker looked at her watch, she was surprised to see that it was almost midnight and it was time to go if she was going to be in any shape to play in the morning.



"Am I boring you?" Emily knew that when a date looked at their watch, the night had come to an end.



"No, I just need to get going if I want to stay awake on the court tomorrow. The networks frown on center court matches when one of the players is napping on the sidelines. Tell me that I can see you again and I'll go away happy?"



"You can see me again, but why don't you stay here and take a cab back early?"



"Because I'm doubting I can serve or lift my arms over my head for any reason if I sleep on the floor tonight. Come on, I'll walk you home, and if you behave, I'll give you and the blonde bombshell some tickets for tomorrow's match."



"You don't have to sleep on the floor, silly, I have a bed, and I was planning on staying here and not at Bobbie's anyway." Emily walked Parker to the only bedroom in the place and showed her the neatly made bed that stood alone pushed up against the back wall.



"It's a double bed." Parker stood in the doorway with her hands crammed into her pockets looking at the sleeping surface like it was a bed of nails.



"Yes, so what?"



"Emily, I'm an inch over six feet. That means I won't fit in that bed." She pointed to the bed and wondered where Emily was planning on sleeping.



"Come on, Kong, we'll make the best of it." Emily stripped her pants off and pulled her bra through one of her sleeves before she lay to one side of the bed. The one thing she hoped that Parker understood was that this wasn't about sex. It was about getting to know each other and building a trust between them. One more headline putting Parker and Alicia together in anyway and she would kill Parker in her sleep.



She's leaving? Emily's heart just stopped beating for a moment when the tennis player turned and walked down the hall. Her smile returned when she heard the light switch in the bathroom click on. When Parker walked back she was dressed in only her underwear and the t-shirt she had worn under the light sweater she had on. Parker sat on the other side of the bed and fluffed up her pillow before stretching out for the night. She could hear Emily laughing because her feet were hanging off the end of the bed.



"Good night, Emily."



"Aren't you going to kiss me good night?"



"Only if you want me to."



"I want you to." Parker rolled over a bit and pressed her lips to Emily's and lengthened the kiss when she felt the pilot's hands in her hair pulling her closer.



Parker slowed them down knowing that it was too soon to move into that type of relationship with Emily. She rolled Emily to her side of the bed as she thought that for the first time she felt like this was a woman that she could come to care about enough to have a relationship with that didn't last the normal three dates. Emily held on to her hand and was close enough that Parker could feel her body heat but it was only their hands that were touching. What would the papers say if they could see you now, Kong? Parker asked herself as the fruity smell of Emily's shampoo reached her nose.



The next morning Emily got up and found the space on the bed next to her empty. She panicked when she thought Parker had just left until she saw the slacks still folded next to the bed on the floor. Emily found the tennis player sitting on the floor in the living room with her eyes closed and her legs folded under her like she was meditating. The quiet of the room and the early morning light coming through the naked windows made the empty room almost seem like a temple so Emily stayed quiet not to disturb whatever Parker was thinking about. Parker never opened her eyes when there was a light knock on the door, nor when Emily went to see who it was.



"Good morning, Emily." Gary stood in the hallway with two large black bags waiting to be invited in.



"Good morning, she's in there if you are here for Parker."



"I am, but why don't we let her finish before we go barging in there." Gary set the racket bag down by the inside of the door and unzipped it to get some medical supplies out of it. He dropped the other bag at Emily's feet letting her get a close up view of the tennis outfit full of sponsor logos at different spots. Even the socks she noticed had something sewn on to the tops when Gary pulled them out and laid them on top of the other stuff.



Gary saw her looking over what Parker would be wearing and smiled. "The talent is what gets all those companies to use her as a walking billboard, but that's what pays the bills once you can prove you can play."



"Does seeing Parker wear this on her sleeve really make someone want to drive a Lexus?" Emily asked as she pointed to one side of the pullover shirt.