“You can always go back to school later in life, but the swimming career had to happen now, while you’re young.”
“My mother would hate you.” David laughed. For more than one reason, and her perverted husband too. “But that’s exactly what I thought about it. Which is why I put school on the back burner.”
“What was your major?”
“Pre-law.”
Vic laughed. Probably thought it quite funny that she was sleeping with a lawyer and a would-be.
“Although, if I went back now, it’d probably be pre-med, maybe specializing in sports medicine. I can always go into coaching, if I don’t go back to school. But I’m not sure.”
“And your brother? Daniel? Is he still in school?” Vic resumed eating.
“Yep. Pre-med. Gonna be a plastic surgeon in Hollywood, he says.”
“So you two are still close?”
David nodded. “How about you and your sister?”
Ouch. Vic hated talking about her family. Would she answer? For a long time, she ate silently. After a swig of juice, she sat back in her chair. “She meets me once in a while on my way through Salt Lake. But only if she’s sure nobody else in the family will find out.”
“That’s pretty shitty.” Good, David sounded pissed–rightfully so. “Why?”
If Brett had his way, they’d cut Tami off and not send her any more money until she was willing to stand up for Vic. But that wasn’t the way Vic saw it.
“When I fell in love and married Luke, the family disowned me because he wasn’t from the Church. Which to them, means I’ll never get into heaven. But I didn’t care, ya know? I loved him.”
Brett bit the inside of his cheek. He hated hearing Vic talk about Luke. Sure, the bloke was gone, but losing him had almost cost her will to live. That was a load to compete with.
“And then when he died…” She managed to say it without choking up, which was good progress in his opinion. “They sent Tami to me with an offer. I could go back to the family, if I repented. She begged me to go home with her. How could I do that? By repenting, and saying what I’d done was wrong, I’d be negating everything we had together. I couldn’t trash his memory that way. So I stayed in LA alone. And ended up doing something he’d love, but they hate most of all–building Fantasy Mountain.”
“So in a way, she’s risking a lot just by meeting up with you.”
“Exactly.” Vic heaved a great sigh of relief. Fabulous. David got her plight the first time she explained it to him, whereas her husband had been hammering her about it for a year now, and hadn’t been able to get it through his thick skull.
And since Tami was the only one in her family who paid her any respect at all, of course Vic would feel like she owed her something. That part he’d got, dolt that he was.
“Britt, are you ever gonna come and eat, or are you planning to eavesdrop all day?” Vic asked.
Busted. Might as well join them, then. Lord knew he was starved. He brushed the hair from her forehead and grazed her with a quick kiss. “’Morning, love. ’Morning, David. Have you left me anything to eat?”
“Your crepes are under there, along with a pound or so of bacon,” David answered. “Health food, huh? Maybe after we eat, I can kick your ass in the pool again.”
Brett loaded up his plate with bacon. “Right, now we find out the real reason for your abrupt departure early yesterday. Pure unadulterated fear, that I’d challenge you to a rematch.”
David hooked his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair, grinning. He seemed to be paying a lot of attention to Vic’s feet in the chair next to him.
“Vic, are you cold? Why are you wearing that blasted robe?” Brett asked.
“She reminds me of Pretty Woman in it.” David looked up from her feet to her face. “Smaller lips, of course.”
Ah, the breakfast scene. How he’d like it if she sat on the table near them, as the character in the movie had sat on the table near Gere, giving him those glimpses. “Nothing at all wrong with what she’s got on under the robe, either.” The gown she’d worn to bed was short enough, and bared enough cleavage, to make breakfast a truly pleasurable experience.
“I had to put on the robe when I opened the door to the servers,” Vic replied. “And no, I’m not sitting on the table.” Damnation. “Pervert.”
“I’m gonna hit the shower,” David announced. “Back in a few.” He swiped a slice of bacon from Brett’s plate on the way past. Health food, indeed.
Once David had gone, Vic shifted in her chair to face him, and put her feet in his lap, spreading her knees just enough for him to glimpse what he wanted. Special treatment. He liked it.