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"Tennis is a relationship. It's like we're in love. Or like we don't exist. We go somewhere really beautiful together."
Every single person on the 2006 junior circuit knew the name Tashi Duncan. She was a force of nature on the court-loud, violent, and utterly dominant. Everyone worshiped her. Everyone bent to her will.
Except Naomi Sloane.
Sleek, calculated, and carrying herself with a quiet, high-fashion elegance that money couldn't buy, Naomi was the only girl in the bracket who didn't just watch Tashi-she matched her. While boys like Art Donaldson and Patrick Zweig spent their days tripping over themselves just to catch Tashi's eye, Naomi and Tashi were locked in a completely different game. A silent promise written across the net, where the only thing that mattered was who broke first.
From the elite country clubs of New York to the prestigious courts of Stanford, and all the way to a tense, rain-slicked Challenger match in New Rochelle thirteen years later-nothing changes.
Art and Patrick are still chasing a prize they can't quite hold. Tashi is still playing god with everyone's careers. And Naomi Sloane is still standing right in the center of the court, refusing to move, proving that in a game built on obsession, the most dangerous player is the one who refuses to lose.
Because when fire meets ice, someone has to burn.