happy."

  "Do you want to live with the world's biggest sulker if she loses?"

  Gary bid her a good night and hoped for the best.

  "Honey, how about a shower?" asked Emily getting off the bed.

  "Now, you want to take a shower now?"

  "Come on, please." Parker got up and thought about all the things

  they could do under running water so she followed the path Emily had taken into

  the bathroom. As a reward for getting out of bed Emily kissed her and turned

  her around so that her back was towards the tub.

  The second the water hit Parker, the shock drove her ardor down so fast she

  stood there blinking her eyes trying to figure out what had happened. Emily

  looked like she was trying to figure out a quick escape route before Parker

  could turn off the cold tab and come after her.

  "I didn't want to do it, baby, you have to believe me."

  Parker calmly took a towel off the rack and started to dry her hair. "I

  realize that, Emily. Gary on the other hand is going to die the next time I see

  him."

  Wanting to have sex again in her lifetime, Emily just nodded her head and

  agreed. The word behave became her new chant as she watched Parker's butt move

  back toward the bed. Tomorrow afternoon couldn't come soon enough.

  Chapter 8

  "Gary, I wouldn't do it if I were you, man. She still looked a little

  pissed this morning, and thanks to you, I'm thinking it spilled over to me too.

  I can't tell you how much I appreciate that." Emily took her seat in the

  box and stopped Gary from heading down to the locker room and getting the short

  end of Parker's fuse.

  "It was for her own good, she'll thank me later." The coach sat next

  to her and looked around for the rest of the group that would be joining them.

  Emily smoothed out the linen shirt she had put over her shorts that morning before

  answering him. She had gotten a call from her mother telling her if she was

  going to appear on the cover of any more magazines she would be forced to look

  at in the grocery check out line, the least Emily could do was dress a little

  nicer. "I'm sure she will, and they are getting some bottles of water so

  stop looking."

  "She's really mad?" asked Gary.

  "Let's just say when you called last night, I was one happy camper and you

  interrupted before I was able to, well you know."

  "Return the favor?"

  "Keep it up, Coach Gary, and I'll let you foolishly wander into the lion's

  den down there," Emily pointed toward the locker room area. When she

  looked to the end of her finger Parker was standing there looking up at them

  with a muscular looking Della Sanchez standing next to her.

  "That's a

  really big girl."

  "Yeah, and as powerful I know Parker is, that woman standing next to her

  scares me. She beat Parker last year in straight sets. That was bad enough but

  the bitch taunted her throughout the whole match. It made Park so mad that it

  threw off her whole game including her serve." Gary greeted the rest of

  the crew that had arrived loaded with drinks and snacks before looking back

  toward the court.

  "What do you mean she taunted her?" asked Emily.

  Gray cracked open her water, as she too looked toward her sister's warm up. She

  answered Emily before Gary had the chance. "You'll see once this match

  starts. I can't imagine that Della has changed her style that much. She pushed

  too far last year and was disqualified in England, that's why she didn't play.

  The bitch's started the shit already telling the papers that's the only reason

  Parker walked away with the title."

  Parker was warming up with some serves trying to ignore the asshole across the

  net from her. Della smirked at her when the first ball flew by her and just

  walked to her chair and sat down not giving Parker the satisfaction of trying

  to hit it back. The ball boy tried not to show any pain from the sting in his

  hands from catching serve after serve that Parker started shooting over the net

  as she tried to put her mind where it belonged. Della looked up into the stands

  looking for Gary and the rest of Parker's family knowing it was where she would

  find the person she was really looking for.

  Emily watched Della as she reached into her bag and pulled out the rag with her

  picture on it and kissed it before blowing another kiss into the stands.

  Parker's opponent just laughed when a red faced Emily stood up and put her

  hands on her hips.

  "Gary, get me down there now." The anger in Emily's voice was hard to

  miss by anyone sitting around them, and the photographers in the audience got

  ready for anything that came of Della's teasing.

  "Calm down, Sparky. She's trying to get to Parker through you, don't let

  that happen right before the match." Gary dragged Emily back to her seat

  and tried reason.

  "I don't want to see that overgrown adolescent, I want to see Parker

  before this thing starts."

  Parker looked up into the stands for Emily before heading back down the tunnel

  to change her shirt before the match only to be surprised to find she and Gary

  waiting for her deep enough into the tunnel that the spectators would see them.

  "Hey, what're you doing down here?"

  "Waiting to wish you luck, and to tell you a few things,"

  answered

  Emily.

  "Hey, Gary would you grab me a fresh shirt?" Gary nodded his head and

  left to find Parker's stuff. The only one that didn't take the hint was Della,

  who leaned against the tunnel wall opposite them and just stared.

  "Parker, if I asked you to do something for me, would you?"

  "Sure, baby, if I can. What'd you want?"

  "I want you to go out there and beat the crap out of that asshole over

  there," Emily pointed to Della and aimed her middle finger at her when the

  woman blew her a kiss again.

  Parker smiled at the little blonde pit bull before pulling her close. "And

  what do I get if I pull that off. You know she's the one that beat the crap out

  of me last year?"

  Emily could hear Gary coming back so she tugged the shirt Parker had on and

  peeled it off her body. She took the towel Gary had handed her and mopped off

  all the sweat Parker had exuded during her warm up before putting the new one

  on, keeping the old one. When Parker had tucked the new billboard as she called

  them, Emily dragged her head down and kissed her.

  "You want to know what you get?" Parker nodded her head so Emily

  pulled her back down again and started whispering in her ear. Gary almost

  fainted when whatever Emily was saying started to make Parker so weak in the

  knees she had to lean against the wall. When she was done, Emily kissed

  Parker's ear and looked up at her.

  "Really?" asked Parker.

  "Yes, and I'll even take the phone off the hook but only if I get to come

  back here Sunday for the finals to watch you play."

  "You should give motivational classes," said Parker, as she and Della

  watched Emily unbutton the shirt she had on, take it off and hand it to Parker.

  "For luck." Emily tucked it into Parker's bag and put on the t-shirt

  Parker had just taken off. "I have to admit these look a lot better on

  you." Emily looked down to the loose fitting garment that smelled like

  Parker.

  "I think you look good in my clothes, baby, and as soon as I'm finished

  kicking Della's ass, you'll look even better out of them."

  The opponents had already been introduced and had taken their places by the

  time Gary and Emily made it back to their seats. Della was serving first and

  while Parker jumped on every one that came over the net, the level of Della's

  play held on and she won the game. The first photograph that most of the

  paparazzi shot of Emily was of her biting her thumbnail when Della broke

  Parker's serve and went up two games to none.

  It was amazing to Parker less than an hour later as she sat toweling off her

  face that she had lost the first set winning not one game.

  She looked toward

  Della watching the last of the water in the bottle she was drinking slide down

  her throat. The idiot didn't even look all that winded.

  "Do you think she'll deliver all the stuff she promised you if I win? Tell

  her I'm staying at the Hilton if she's only interested in sleeping with the

  winner. All that delicious looking skin looked mighty inviting." Della was

  starting the next part of her game plan, which was to mess with Parker's mind

  destroying what was left of her concentration.

  "She's not your type, Della." Parker sounded calm despite the fact

  all she wanted to do was get up and smash every racquet in her bag over the

  woman's head.

  "Blonde, beautiful and sexy. What about all that isn't my type?"

  "She's all that, but she's human, I only thought you were into dogs. Or is

  that the only kind of bitch you can get to go out with you?

  You know, you

  should really be careful about how much you drink when going out for the

  evening. At closing time everyone seems to look like my girl, but I'm convinced

  it's the lighting in those places."

  "Laugh it up, King. Forty minutes to go before you get to go home to the

  bitch so she can lick your wounds."

  "What Emily licks on me, asshole, is really not any of your business."

  "Quiet please." Parker waited for the crowd to follow the man's

  instructions before she turned around and asked for some balls. It was time to

  give Della Sanchez a taste of what she loved to dish out.

  "Fifteen, love." The score got the crowd into the game and the

  announcer to scream into every radio headphones in the stadium. Parker King had

  woken up from the nap she had been taking during the first set.

  "I don't know where that came from, but hopefully Parker can keep it

  up," said the excited radio announcer about the ace Parker had just served

  up.

  Parker was feeling good and looking forward to the next to sets of tennis,

  because hell if she was losing this. To get Della even madder than she was from

  swinging and missing the serve, Parker moon walked to the other side of the

  court to serve again. This time the ball came over the net with the same

  intensity but Della got a piece of it only to have it skitter off into the

  stands. The crowd when wild when Parker twirled her racquet and pretended to

  holster it after the, "Thirty, love," came over the loud speakers.

  "She's smoking now, tennis fans, and isn't Della surprised.

  And Ms.

  Sanchez should be grateful that the crowd came alive with Parker during those

  last couple of serves, because her language would have gotten her thrown out

  had the chair heard that last outburst." The announcer and everyone else

  watching could read the woman's lips though and he had been right.

  The next hour was pinpointed by long blistering volleys that started to show

  wear on Della's face. The power player wasn't used to the amount of running

  Parker was making her do, and with each short run from one end of the court to

  the other, her face was starting to turn red.

  In the middle of the third set, Della stopped play for at least five minutes to

  have an argument with the line judge over what she deemed to be a questionable

  call. Parker just bounced the ball on her side and looked up into the stands

  waving back to Emily who had stood and blown her a kiss for the tennis she had

  seen so far. Most of the reporters in the stands had not missed the change in

  attire when Emily and Gary got back to the stands. The new couple was making

  women's tennis even more exciting than it already was.

  "Game, set and match, Miss King." The announcement came after Parker

  had broken Della's serve for the third time in the third match. Parker shook

  hands with her at the net and tried to ignore the quick 'fuck you' Della said

  when Parker turned and waved toward the crowd. The win put her that much closer

  to the only title she didn't have.

  Like in all her other matches, Parker stopped at the entrance to the tunnel and

  took the time to sign autographs. She picked randomly from the pieces of paper

  that were being held over the side along with pens. In an automatic move she

  grabbed the one closest to her hand when the item she had just finished signing

  was handed back to its owner. It wasn't until she had it in her hand that

  Parker noticed it was an envelope and it had her name on it.

  There was no way

  to tell in the sea of faces who it belonged to when she looked back into the

  crowd. With a quick wave she turned and walked back into the tunnel leaving a

  hoard of disappointed fans clutching unsigned programs.

  "Honey, that was brilliant," yelled Emily when they made it down to

  the locker room after the match. Parker looked pumped by the win but tired. The

  heat in New York was starting to become a drain, the clay of the courts only

  intensifying the heat.

  "I aim to please." Parker bent down to kiss her lover before picking

  up her bag.

  "What you did was aim for the baselines and kicked the shit out of

  Della," said Gary.

  "You I'm not talking to, and if you put your fingers anywhere near a phone

  to call Emily's apartment you will find New York City not big enough for you to

  hide, you putz."

  "Parker, apologize to Gary," chastised Emily.

  "I help you win and this's the thanks I get?" Gary tried to sound

  wounded.

  "It's nice to know that you attribute all my skill to sexual frustration,

  coach."

  "If that's the case, you ain't getting any until after next Sunday,"

  teased Emily. She started squealing when Parker picked her up and threw her

  over a broad shoulder and started walking toward the door.

  "Parker, my

  mother has seen me on the cover of the Enquirer once this week, you make it two

  and there will be hell to pay."

  Parker put her down and tried to maintain her good mood. It was hard

  considering the love note she had been handed before coming down the tunnel.

  She was kicking herself now for not paying attention to who had handed her the

  envelope. Whoever it was, was the stalker that had been sending the notes all

  along. Parker recognized the fanciful handwriting the moment the paper slid

  open in her hand. The decision not to tell Emily, Parker convinced herself was

  to protect the pilot from worry.

  Later when they got to the apartment, Emily showed her what seemed to be the

  three hundredth lesson in relationships, centering on an open dialog lecture

  when Parker let her read the note. It was just one of the many ways Parker

  figured Emily would change the way she lived her life, but getting to share her

  days with the pilot made a lecture on anything worthwhile.

  *************************************************************

  ***********

  "Call him right now."

  "Let's go take a shower then I'll call. Come on, Em, it's not like the

  stalker is going to burst in here and kill us both," Parker tried to

  reason. The argument had started in the car when she had made the mistake of

  showing Emily the letter she had gotten.

  The nut that was sending them had attached the picture of Emily that had been

  in the paper with a promise to the blonde to save her from Parker's evil

  influence. The more Parker looked at it, the more it niggled the back of her

  mind that she should recognize something about the letters and the way they

  were written. The old fashioned calligraphy was an odd way for someone who

  wanted to kill you to pen the death notice. It was almost like an invitation to

  die at the time they decided.

  Emily picked up the phone and handed it to Parker along with the card Detective

  Sully had given her when he had dropped by her practice.

  The police officer had

  left an extra in case Parker needed to call him since Gary had taken the first

  one he handed out.

  "This is serious, Parker. There's some nut case out there that wants to

  send you to the big tennis court in the sky, and I think that it's time for you

  to start taking that with some degree of respect." She put the phone down

  for a moment and walked to where Parker was sitting on the bed and stood in

  between her legs. "I love you, Kong, and I want you around for years to

  come. Please do it for me?"

  "Ah, come on not that look." Parker got up, picked up the phone and

  dialed the number. It didn't take a lot of arm-twisting to get Logan to agree

  to meet them at Emily's apartment.

  Emily got Parker to lie down until Logan arrived hoping a short nap would ease

  the exhaustion from Parker's face. She never heard the knock or the

  conversation Emily had with the detective when he arrived.

  He took the letter

  and envelope with him to be dusted for prints, promising to come back later to