‘Charlie.’ Jake’s voice was low, gravelly. A warning.

Something about the way he said it reminded her of Marco, how he almost growled her name when they were having sex, his mouth pressed right up against her ear. Charlie.

When she’d knocked on Rinaldo’s door last night, she had been prepared to stay for exactly one hour. Just enough to flirt a little with Marco, get a feel for where things stood between them, visit a little to take her mind off her match the following morning. She had trained flawlessly for three days, eaten and slept and worked out exactly according to schedule, even watched the tapes Todd had assigned her. It needed to be an early night, of course, but there was no reason she couldn’t sip some Pellegrino and hang with Marco and his buddies and unwind a little.

She’d been surprised by the size of the group. As he’d described earlier, Marco was sitting in front of the TV with Rinaldo, a doubles player from Argentina, and two other male players. They were all shouting at the screen and frantically moving their football player avatars around with giant gaming joysticks. A group of long-legged, wavy-haired clones wearing short dresses and high heels giggled together near the windows, each sipping identical flutes of champagne. Every minute or two their collective laughter would ring out, but no one seemed to pay them much attention. Natalya had her legs draped across Benjy on the couch. Her head was thrown back dramatically as Benjy massaged her bare feet. Another cluster of female players – all American and Canadian, all under twenty years old – stood around the kitchen in leggings and hoodies, looking decidedly less glamorous than the model contingent; they were staring at Natalya like she was Katy Perry. Someone had ordered a huge room service spread of various salads, fruit platters, grilled chicken breasts, heaps of steamed broccoli, and an assortment of still and sparkling bottled water, but no one seemed to be eating it.

‘Hey,’ Charlie said to no one in particular, feeling instantly awkward.

Marco glanced up and broke into the most delicious smile. ‘Hey, babe,’ he said, his eyes back on the screen as his avatar tackled someone. ‘Come on over here. I’ll be done in a minute.’

Charlie nodded to Natalya, who nodded in return, and headed toward the kitchenette. The young players who had been gathered nearby took a collective step back to let her pass.

‘Hi, Charlie,’ said one of them, a sweet seventeen-year-old from Florida. ‘Good luck tomorrow.’

Charlie smiled at her. It was so strange to feel like one of the village elders at twenty-five. ‘Thanks. You too. Who are you playing?’

The girl blushed. ‘I’m not on tomorrow, but my first-round match is against Atherton.’

She waited for Charlie to react, to say something about what a tough match that was going to be, but all Charlie said was ‘She’s a terrific player, but she can be erratic. I think you have a great chance.’

The girl beamed. Her friends smiled. ‘You do?’

Charlie nodded. ‘Just don’t stay here too late tonight!’ she admonished like a den mother. She leaned in close to whisper, ‘Besides, those boys are all idiots. Cute, I know, I’m not denying it, but still just boys.’

‘Easy for you to say,’ laughed one of the other girls. Charlie recognized her as an up-and-coming phenom from Montreal. She’d recently won the Orange Bowl and had immediately turned pro, but word on the street was she didn’t have the emotional maturity yet to match her very adult strokes. ‘You have the hottest one.’

They all laughed and Charlie wondered what they said about the whole au pair situation when she wasn’t around. No one could accuse the tennis world of discretion – it must have been some very juicy locker room conversation.

As if on cue, Marco came over and enveloped her in a bear hug from behind. He buried his face in her neck, kissing it, and whispered, ‘I’m glad you’re here.’

Charlie wriggled away but couldn’t hide her pleasure. Marco gallantly introduced himself to the young girls and did an expert job of pretending not to notice that each of them was blushing and giggling. She hated that she felt flattered merely because he’d chosen her.

He took her hand and led her back to the couch. The suite’s door opened and more people streamed in, a mix of players and their friends and girlfriends plus a few whom Charlie recognized as hitting partners. Behind this group of five was Jake. He looked just as surprised to see her.

‘Hey, shouldn’t you be in bed now?’ he asked, standing over her and Marco. The two men slapped hands hello.

‘It’s not even nine,’ she said, resting her head back against Marco’s shoulder. ‘Look around. Half the room is scheduled to play tomorrow.’

Jake raised his eyebrows. Charlie gave him the finger. Marco laughed.

One of the model types sidled up to Jake and handed him a beer, which he accepted with a huge, flirtatious smile.

‘Really?’ Charlie said.

‘What? I certainly don’t have to play tomorrow.’

It didn’t take long for the impromptu get-together to turn into a full-fledged party. Soon someone had turned the suite’s lights down low and switched the video game to a station playing some sort of European lounge music. A few of the non-tennis girls had begun dancing near the windows, clinking classes and smoking cigarettes, while the male players hovered nearby. Not a single one of the players, male or female, was drinking anything other than water, but a few of them were taking quick drags off e-cigarettes and laughing as they pressed the electronic lit end to their palms. Charlie had been so wrapped up with Marco, literally cuddled into him on a single armchair, that she hadn’t noticed much of anything. When she finally stood up to use the bathroom, she couldn’t find Jake anywhere. All of the younger female players had left, too, and most of the people who remained now – maybe a dozen or so – were drinking and dancing together. She knocked on the bathroom door, and when no one answered, she tried the doorknob.

It took a moment to understand what was happening. Natalya was hunched over the sink and Lexi, the phenom from Montreal, stood pressed against her in the small powder room. Neither girl seemed to notice that the door had opened. She could have – should have – just pulled it shut, but she was confused by what she saw: nothing sexual per se, but it wasn’t quite platonic either. Natalya finally sensed they weren’t alone and turned toward the door. It was only then that Charlie saw Natalya was holding something rolled up tight in her left hand and wiping underneath her nose with her right. Lexi hadn’t noticed Charlie yet, and she was reaching around Natalya with a credit card, where she concentrated intently on pushing little piles of white powder into neat, orderly lines.