C H A P T E R 18

Adonis's POV

I woke up with light streaming in from the window. I guess Rose and I forgot to close the curtains last night when we got back.

I looked at Rose who was lying on my chest with her eyes shut and a very soft look on her face. When Rose is awake and about she is very guarded and I can see it in her face. I don't even think she realises it, she is never just defenseless she always has her defenses up. Now I don't know if it's because of Damien and Emily or if she is just scared to trust altogether. Even when we were at the football game and she was talking to Jane I could tell she wasn't completely defenseless and I don't think its about trust I think it's about fear of being betrayed or hurt by people she loves and trusts. My goal is to make sure that she is completely comfortable with and can put her defenses and guard down.

I continued observing and scanning her. Her lashes are causing a shadow on her cheeks and her lips are their natural pink colour. I brushed my thumb against the lips that I loved so much.

Last night was going bad at the beginning and I could see it in her mannerisms but then I think it improved. When we started eating we started talking talking and she did in fact become way less guarded and I got to tell her a lot about me. I also learnt a lot about her and I didn't know it would happen but I fell deeper in love with her last night. I noticed that even though she complains about eating a lot of food, she loves food. I was watching her and she would eat then make herself stop then decide to eat again. I don't want her to hold back from eating because she has to, I want her to eat and I get it it's for her job but I could tell she really wanted to eat and I wanted her to.

When we got back from our date last night, we showered and jumped into bed and we watched a series that she was watching on Netflix until she fell asleep. I tried to catch up but this show was crazy and I didn't believe her when she was explaining it to me. The main girl almost married her cousin and her father knew and left it, it all sounded messed up to me but she was enjoying it and I was enjoying the moment. Her cuddling up to me and hearing her occasional giggles and comments, I was so perfectly content just there and then.

She ended up falling asleep at around three in the morning which is why we were still in bed at eleven in the morning. All the couples were sort of just doing their own thing. Connor texted me at ten and said he was going shopping with Nicole and he said Jane and Ben were at some market or something so we had the house to ourselves.

I have noticed that she works out everyday so I was thinking that today we could do a different type of workout that would be fun for us to do but I had to ask her first.

She snuggled closer into me and her eyes fluttered open slowly and I was looking into those hazel orbs. She looked at me and closed her eyes and came closer into me and whispered ,'Hey.'

I smiled at her and said ,'Hey, you waking up now?'

She nodded and said ,'I have to or else I won't be able to sleep tonight. '

She got up and stretched and her hoodie lifted with her. I cleared my throat and looked away because I could feel my little friend getting excited. I sat up and looked at her again and said ,'So I was thinking instead of you working out we can go play tennis at the country club then have lunch there.'

She gave looked at me with hooded eyes and then said ,'Sounds like a plan.'

I looked at her and she was looking at my abs. I smirked at her and said ,'You like what you see?'

She can and straddled my laps and said ,'Oh most definitely Adonis.'

She looked at my chest and felt my chest and went along my muscles to my shoulders and said ,'Yup most definitely.'

She put her arns around my shoulder and I gave her peck on the lips then on her chin, her eyes, her ears, her dimples, her forehead and her lips again.

She jumped off and said ,'I'm going to get ready for tennis. '

I nodded and then shouted as she was walking into the bathroom ,'Don't take hours like you normally do.'

She laughed and I grinned feeling very happy with myself. I got up and took my outfit for tennis from my closet and went downstairs to shower in the guest bathroom.

I finished showering and put on my white nike shorts with the matching white windbreaker. I didn't wear a shirt because I figured if I get hot I can just take the windbreaker off.

I walked back to the bedroom and started reading the emails Norman had sent me and replying them. The door to the walk in closet opened and I looked at Rose.

Lily's tennis outfit

She looked at me and in a sing song voice ,'I hope you're ready to get your ass handed to you.'

I lifted my eyebrow and said ,'Oh I doubt sweetheart, I'm going hand your ass to you and hopefully when we get back I can handle that ass of yours. '

She rolled her eyes at me and I got up and said ,'Let's bounce.'

Rose was obviously very competitive but so was I and it was going to be a long afternoon. She walked in front of me and I shut our bedroom door and she turned back and said ,'Did you tell the others?'

I nodded and said ,'Well I texted, they're all gone out.'

She nodded and continued walking and she said ,'How fun is this going to be?'

I chuckled and said ,'Probably very fun. I get to test out your competitiveness.'

She laughed and said ,'Yeah.'

I then added ,'And I get to spend the day with you, this is a good day. '

She laughed and said ,'Agreed, who knew you could stay away from work for this long.'

We were now sitting in the car and I looked at her and saw she was serious. I started driving and said, 'The workaholic thing?'

She pretended to not know what I was talking about and I gave her a look and she gave me an innocent smile. I couldn't help the smile that grew on my face because she was smiling.

We got to the country club at her family's hotel and we went to the desk. The man at the desk was not very interested in what I was saying but he was more interested in looking at Rose with flirtatious eyes. I slammed my hand on the table and said ,'Go get your manager.'

He was about to say something to me but I showed him I didn't feel like talking to him. He scurried to the back and came out with a middle aged man. The man saw Rose and I and said ,'Mister Hamilton and Miss Hart,' he bowed and Rose smiled.

I looked at him and said ,'We were hoping to get some tennis rackets and a court and a lunch reservation at the restaurant. '

The manager nodded briskly and said ,'Oh of course, please follow me?'

We followed him and he took us to the court and two teenagers who I assume were the ball boys came with two rackets which were Rose and I's size. I looked at Rose and said ,'You like it?'

She nodded and then said to the manager ,'Could I please get some water for Adonis and I, for during our game.'

The manager nodded and with a bow said ,'Of course Miss Hart.'

He walked away and I started spinning my racket and I said ,'Soon to be Mrs Hamilton.'

She smiled and playfully rolled her eyes at me and said ,'Boy, let's just play.'

I chuckled and went to my side of the court and we had a rally to warm up. We were both really relaxed in the rally just warming up.

We started our game and Rose is really good but so am I, and this game is super competitive. We took a break after three games and came to the middle of the court to drink the water that had been brought for us. Throughout the games we had been talking a lot of trash to each other. She really knew how to give it to you but I had played tennis all through high school then at Yale.

She came to the net and said ,'Oh my word it's so hot.'

I chuckled at her fanning herself with her hands whilst fluttering her eyes open and closed. I motioned for one of the ball boys to go get us caps because I didn't want her to get heatstroke or something. I took my towel and wet it with water then squeezed it and started dabbing her so she could cool down. She opened eyes and she was just watching me as I did it. She pulled off her hoodie and what she was weafing underneath was real sexy. She was wearing a white cropped tight fitting shirt with one strap. I cleared my throat and kept dabbing her with the towel.

The ball boy came with the caps and I gave her a cap and wore one myself. She looked at me with a wuestioning look and I said ,'I don't want any of us to end up with heatstroke or something.'

She nodded and I said ,'Are you ready to cash those checks?'

She flipped me the finger and I watched her walk away to the serving line because she was serving.

I don't know if it's because of the water or the break or something but she was killing it . The score was now 3 - 4 in games and as upset as I want to get I can't because she is making it look really good. All I know is even if I lose I'm getting back to the house and winning.

I took off my windbreaker and I was now shirtless with my Nike shorts. We had attracted a crowd and they were watching our game because it was pretty intense. She saw and narrowed her eyes at me and I gave her a smirk because I know she loves my upper body.

The score was now 5 - 4 and it was almost set and we took a water break. She came, picked up her bottle and nonchalantly said ,'Looks like you have some cheerleaders.'

I looked towards the outside of the court where there was a group of girls around my age sitting there who had been clapping for me when I got a point and cheering me on. I shrugged and said ,'All I need is for one girl to support me.'

She put her hand on my chest and said ,'Well that girl is playing against you and wants to win.'

She winked at me and walked away. She bad her hair in a low ponytail and the cap on and her hair was up to her naval and so when it was swooshing like it was right now it brought attention to her butt and then her long legs that seemed to go on and on. She really had me messed up with how attractive she is and so I took my bottle of water and poured it over my head to calm myself down. I heard Rose laughing at me probably knowing why I had to do that. I put my cap back on backwards and I stretched and I could practically hear the girls watching swooning and I saw Rose roll her eyes and I winked at her.

We kept playing and we finished the game and I won but that last game was hard we went back to deuce like four times and we had long rallies but I won 6 - 4. Now it was time to see how Rose reacted when she lost and I was kind of anxious about it. I went to the net where she was waiting for me looking really cute but I couldn't tell how she was feeling. She was wiping herself with the towel and drinking water.

When I got to the net she leaned over the net for a peck. I pecked her and I said ,'So what are we doing now?'

We walked to the area where our phones and stuff were and picked up our stuff.

She threw my windbreaker at me and said ,'Well first thing is you are putting on your windbreaker.'

I laughed and put on the the windbreaker but I didn't zip it up and she gave a look that said do you really want to do that. I put my hands up and zipped it up and she gave me a sweet smile.

I took her hoodie and water and carried for her as we were leaving the tennis court. As we were walking past the girls they started saying congradulations but I just ignored them and kept walking with my hand resting on Rose's back. I didn't want anything to ruin my day with Rose and it was obvious that she was already mildly irritated but the girls from all the chanting they had been doing.

We were at the front of the hotel waiting for the valet to bring the car now. I heard someone shouting and we both turned to see who it was. It was one of the girls from the tennis court, I took a deep breathe in hopes that she is Rose's fan and she doesn't do something stupid.

She looked at me and said, 'I was wondering if I could get your number?'

I gave her an odd look and said, 'No.'

She pouted and said, 'Why not?'

I took a deep breathe and put a hand on Rose's shoulder and said, 'I have a girlfriend.'

The girl looked at Rose as if she hadn't seen her and said, 'Oh, I thought she was your sister or something.'

I couldn't figure out what this girl was thinking and what her plan was.

She looked Rose up and down and in a patronizing tone said, 'Really, her?'

I was about to reply but Rose held my arm and looked at the girl and said, 'Yes, me.'

The girl gave her an incredulous look as if Rose was out of line and said, 'I'm just asking him a question, it's not like you're impressive or anything.'

I raised one eyebrow in curiosity of what was about to happen next.

Rose chuckled and said ,'Not impressive?'

Rose looked very attractive right now, her eyes had changed colour and she looked heated. She was angry and I knew better than to try step in the middle since she already told me she was handling it by squeezing my arm.

The girl stepped closer to Rose and said, 'Yeah I'm not impressed.'

From the chanting during the game, to the conpliments after the game as if she wasn't there, following us here and now disrespecting Rose.

There was a moment of silence and Rose said ,'Let's see if I've got this right, so first you act like you don't see me here and try to hit on my boyfriend and then you disrespect me.'

She pointed at the road where I had seen a billboard playing her latest campaign and in an emotionless tone she said ,'Do you see that billboard there, that's my campaign, that person making everyone swoon is me because I'm a supermodel. This person who you think isn't impressive has been so impressive to the fashion world that she's been a Victoria Secret Angel since her senior year. '

The girl was about to speak again but she seemed to be rethinking it and just then the valet brought the car. I opened the passenger door for Rose and she got in with a huff. I closed the door and went to the drivers side after tipping valet.

Please vote and comment

Thank you xxx