Sweet Spot

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 by Renee Dahlia

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. No part of this book may be used for the purpose of training artificial intelligence systems. No gen-AI has been used in writing this book, all errors are human made by Renee and have sneakily slipped past the editing team. For permissions contact renee at reneedahlia dot com.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual personas, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover by The Book Cover Boutique

Sweet Spot

Renee Dahlia

A one night stand between a candy maker and a cricketer leads to uncomfortable questions.

Injured cricket player Augie is home for Christmas to rest and heal before the Ashes. She thinks that a one night stand is the best way to ease her boredom as her broken toe heals. But when she starts falling for Crystal, being with her reminds her of the past, and she runs away, rather than confront uncomfortable feelings.

Crystal’s market stall Sweet Spot in Hobart always does well over Christmas. She’s content with her life, until she meets Augie and she’s pushed to confront a few truths about herself.

Can they be honest with each other? Or will they never move past a one night stand into love?

Content Warnings: Forced outing (off page), cheating (not the main characters and off page), minor sports injury, discussion of non-consensual kiss.

About the author

An avid reader, Renée Dahlia writes contemporary and historical queer romance. Renée is a bisexual cis woman who is fascinated by people and loves to explore human relationships, with a side of humour, through her writing. Renée has a degree in physics and mathematics, using this to write data-based magazine articles for the horse racing industry. Her love of horses often shines through in her fiction, and she loves a good intrigue and to escape the real world in the pages of a book. When she isn’t reading or writing, Renée spends her time with her four children, usually watching them play cricket.

Foreword

W elcome to SWEET SPOT , the third book in the Cricket Slam series.

Cricket Slam is a contemporary sports sapphic romance series set in the world of professional cricket.

If you love one night stand, athlete and non-athlete romances, awkward dates that aren’t really dates, and high heat sapphic reads, Sweet Spot is for you.

Please note this novella contains forced outing (off page), cheating (not the main characters and off page), minor sports injury, discussion of non-consensual kiss. Please read with care.

This book is written in Australian English and some spelling and phrases may be unfamiliar to American readers.

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I hope you enjoy reading this book!

Renée

Chapter 1

T wo weeks before Christmas

Overhearing people chatting as they walked past her market stall, Sweet Spot, was one of Crystal’s favourite things.

“What do you get an old rich cis bloke?” A woman of South Asian heritage with black hair cut short and lopsided with a sweeping fringe, light brown skin, and one leg in a moonboot asked a blonde woman.

“Who?”

“My dad, who else?”

The two women couldn’t be sisters; they were the same height, but other one was white with long blonde hair. Crystal’s attention was drawn to the woman with black hair, mostly because she had tattoos down both arms, and she wore a sleeveless shirt that showed off both her tatts and her sculptured biceps. Crystal had always had a thing for impressive arms and was thankful that the weather was warm today. Summer in Hobart was always a bit hit and miss; there was even talk of snow next week which was ridiculous so close to Christmas. It was supposed to be summer.

The blonde woman sighed. “Why are you getting him something? You know he’ll get you nothing.”

“Probably. I don’t expect anything from him. But why should that matter? I deserve to treat others with kindness even when they don’t deserve it.”

“He’ll just use it to say that his famous daughter still likes him.” They had both stopped outside her stall and were gazing at her neatly packaged candy without looking like they’d commit to anything. Crystal didn’t mind, it meant she could see the details in the sleeve tattoo. A vine covered in flowers wound around a stylised lizard that reminded her of a dragon. On her other arm, she had a simple design of a cricket bat, ball, and wickets. Was that a date underneath it? No, just a number. 189.

“Let him say that. At least I know I’m not a selfish asshole.”

“Fine ... if you are so determined to be the better person.”

The rolling eyes was exactly how Crystal felt. “It’s not about that. It’s about me deciding what type of person I want to be.”

“And the person you want to be is not him.”

“Sure. That’s part of it, but it’s not, like, petty to decide to be kind.”

Crystal realised that she was hovering, and it was far too obvious that she was eavesdropping. “Would you two like some help?”

The blonde one chuckled. “I’m just trying to talk my cousin out of getting her father a gift.”

Cousins. Crystal hoped her face hid the relief that they weren’t a couple, not that she would ever have a chance with someone so hot, even if she was brave enough to ask her out on a date. She swallowed down her ridiculousness and focused on her customers.

“And honestly, if you are determined to get him something, at least put less emotional labour into the decision.” The blonde one had a fair point. “What does he want?”

"He has everything except the one thing he wants and can't have."

“What’s that?”

“Time, or rather, youth.”

“Makes sense that he’d chase that. His latest girlfriend is the same age as you.”

The hot one cringed. “Don’t remind me. Ewww.”

“Sorry.” The blonde one slung her arm around the woman and Crystal was glad they’d already established themselves as cousins. She was such a fool for glorious arms like that.

“He’s your narcissistic father but he’s my gross uncle. I get it.”

Crystal squared her shoulders and cleared her throat. “Excuse me. You could get him thyme. I have these lovely jars of thyme infused honey and I find it works as a nice gift for cis men because then they can joke about how they don’t have any time. I’ve even put that on the label.”

“Right because they are so busy spending time on themselves and their careers that they forget everyone else.”

“So cynical, Lottie. I thought you weren’t upset about Matteo’s job.” The woman who’d initially caught her eye grinned, and Crystal went weak at the knees.

“I’m not, but you know my father.”

“Yes. He’s a workaholic who pretends he does it for his family when it’s really just about himself. Two brothers, both selfish assholes. It doesn’t reflect well on our grandparents.”

“Yeah. It’s why I don’t understand why you are getting him a gift.” The blonde one shook her head. When the hot woman winked at Crystal, she swallowed, wanting to fan her face.

“My mother brought me up to be kind. The honey is the perfect gift. Thank you.”

“This is the cutest little shop. Do you make all of this yourself?” the blonde asked.

“Yes.” She’d grown her hobby of sweet making into this; at first an online shop, and now a market stall that earned her enough that she only had to work part time as admin for the local primary school.

“Clever and cute. The name is great—the sweet spot—you’ve hit it right out of the middle.” The sexy woman dragged her gaze over Crystal in a way that could only be flirtatious. Hope flared in her chest, and she cursed herself for being a damned romantic. The best she could hope for was to sell her candy and everyone would move on.

Chapter 2

A ugie knew Lottie was right; that her father would take this as a sign that he was a good father. His dutiful daughter who proved his worth as a father because she played cricket for Australia. It was all bullshit. She hadn’t even met him until she was nearly fifteen, meeting Lottie soon afterwards as their fathers were brothers. Time. Thyme. The irony was strong with this gift ... which made it perfect.

“Do you have a card?”

The gorgeous brunette running the shop frowned. “Um, to write in?”

“No. For your shop.” Augie probably shouldn’t flirt with the stall owner but now she’d solved the problem of her father’s gift, she couldn’t help it. The fact that she’d named her candy stall after the slang term for the middle of a cricket bat, the sweet spot, was a nice touch. There was something magical about the way the ball pinged off a bat from the sweet spot. And the sound it made when the perfect shot happened was music to her ears.

Augie wanted a way to contact the voluptuous brunette who wore rainbow earrings, maybe invite her to dinner sometime. It wasn’t like Augie had much to do over the next two months, except go to rehab and stay fit as best she could so she could get back on the field as fast as possible. And since she had a policy of not fucking her teammates—unlike some of her team—it’d been ages since she’d had sex because the whole Cricket Slam tournament had meant her focus had been on her cricket and she hadn’t had much time away from the team... Well, until she broke her toe in the semi-final.

“Yes. I have one here.”

Lottie, who was always trying to match make now that she was happily partnered up, picked up the clues quickly. “Excuse me. I’m Lottie Colby and this is my cousin Augie. And you are?”

“Crystal.”

“Crystal.” Augie liked the sound of that. She was about to ask her to dinner when Lottie elbowed her.

“Hey, I’m injured. Be careful.”

“Not in your ribs.”

Crystal coughed. “If there’s anything else I can do for you?” She held out her electronic pay device, and Augie tapped her phone to pay for the jar of honey. It was beautifully presented with a sprig of dried flowers tied around the jar with a ribbon.

“Are you free tonight?” Lottie asked.

Augie shook her head. “Please ignore my cousin. She thinks that now she has a sugar daddy that she can play matchmaker with everyone else.”

“Hey. Matteo is more than a sugar daddy.”

“Yeah, I know. You two are in lurve.” Augie appreciated the way Matteo had given Lottie a trust fund in her own name, therefore independence, so she could choose to stay with him because she wasn’t financially tied to the enterprising young millionaire. Matteo understood how much Lottie’s father used money to create obligation and a false sense of loyalty, which was really another way of saying financial abuse, and so Matteo had given Lottie the best gift of all. The gift of being able to walk away, which was precisely the reason Lottie stayed. Augie was pleased for her cousin for totally pragmatic reasons. She didn’t believe in love. Life had taught her it was all fake.

“Blah blah. You should invite Crystal to dinner because I’ll be going to dinner with my Matteo.”

“Is he yours then?”

“He keeps threatening to propose, so yeah, probably.” Lottie blushed.

“You’d make an excellent trophy wife.” Augie winked at her cousin, teasing her because it wasn’t true.

“Shut up. I’m going to keep my career, not give it up for a bloke.” Lottie rolled her eyes. “Now I’m going to leave you here for a bit.”

Crystal handed her the jar. Their fingers brushed momentarily, and Augie enjoyed the way electricity buzzed up her arm. She couldn’t commit to anyone but if Crystal wanted to spend some time together, she wasn’t going to object. It would help pass the time while her toe healed.

“I’d like to go to dinner but I promised I’d visit my gran tonight. It’s her birthday.”

Augie shrugged one shoulder. She would let Crystal use her grandmother as an excuse to say no to her and she wouldn’t take it personally.

“No really. It is. Um...” Crystal’s hesitation made Augie hold her breath. The good thing about playing women’s sport was that people didn’t often recognise her, but the bad thing was that when they did, they were often super fans and sometimes that got a little weird.

“Yeah?”

“Was it the rainbow earrings?”

“What?” Augie tried not to sigh. If she’d just asked out a straight person, she was going to be annoyed. Her gay-dar wasn’t usually this bad. Bloody Lottie and her encouragement.

Crystal leaned across the table, which made her heavy breasts look amazing. If Augie had been younger and less experienced, she might have passed out from such a sight... Ahh, the good old days.

“Do they give off a—”

“Queer vibe? Yes. Is that not what you were going for?”

Crystal swallowed. “I mean, yes, but I was hoping they were subtle.”

“Oh. Are you not out?” Augie could do without that particular drama. She would never be someone’s dirty little secret again. Never ever ... although for a one night stand, it probably didn’t matter. The idea was to fuck, not meet Crystal’s bloody parents or whatever.

“It’s complicated.”

Augie rolled her eyes. “It’s literally not. Come to dinner with me, and we can fuck. Or not. Whatever.” She shrugged and walked away. There was a tap on her shoulder.

“Augie. I’m sorry. You forgot your honey.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m telling the truth about my gran.” Crystal handed over the honey and Augie nodded.

“Okay.” She walked away and tried not to care too much. Her last girlfriend hadn’t been out and it’d ultimately ruined their relationship. What a mess that’d been. She wasn’t keen to repeat the experience, so perhaps it was for the best that Crystal had an excuse not to go to dinner with her.

Chapter 3

A few days later, Crystal restocked her stall, pleased with how this year’s markets were going. The waterfront marketplace in Tasmania’s biggest city was open every afternoon and evening in December and she always sold better here than she did in her online shop since there was a lot more foot traffic and plenty of tourists at the markets. Basically, being here drove traffic to her online shop.

Christmas always brought plenty of tourists to Tasmania as people sought out the cooler weather in this part of Australia; hoping for a little touch of a white Christmas without having to live with snow. More often than not, Hobart indulged in a grey overcast damp days interspersed with glorious sunny days. Today was one of the glorious ones with a bright blue sky and people walking around in t-shirts.

She locked her van and pushed the final trolley of new stock towards her stall. A crowd of people were gathered on the green with lots of them wearing shirts from the local cricket team; she wasn’t big on sports, but you couldn’t really avoid cricket in the summer. She’d never been to a game but her Dad liked watching the local team on telly, and sometimes when she went to her folk’s place for dinner, they watched together afterwards.

“Do you think Baxter Trevors will be there?” Her stall neighbour and good friend Holly wore a t-shirt with an impressively muscled Santa on it and the words ‘Merry Flexmas’.

“Who?” Having watched a few games didn’t mean she knew any of the player’s names.

“Oh my god. Do you not watch cricket? He’s so hot.”

Probably not her type, being a bloke. “Shall we have a look? I can park my trolley under this tree.” Her trolley would be safe there as she could lock it and the stock with a bike lock; perhaps it was a little paranoid to do that, but she’d rather not have to make all this stock again. It would ruin her day’s income.

“Yes please. Did you know our women’s team made the semi-finals this year? We might’ve won if Augie Colby hadn’t smashed that ton for the Mighty Cherries. She grew up here, you know, and moved to Sydney to join the Cherries.”

“And then played against us?” Crystal’s ear pricked up at the name Augie.

“It’s normal in Cricket Slam. It’s a franchise league, so players go wherever the money is.”

It had to be a coincidence that the gorgeous customer from the other day was the same Augie... Although—she gasped—her Augie had a moonboot on, and her cousin had called her famous. Her Augie. She was being silly, she’d already missed her chance with the woman with the gorgeous arms, but dreams were free...

“Come on.” Holly dragged her by the elbow as they threaded through the crowd and sure enough, there was Augie wearing an Australian shirt and smiling at a group of young girls. Crystal’s heart sped up, which was silly because she’d said no to dinner. Someone famous like Augie wasn’t going to give her a second chance.

“Is he here?” she asked.

“Yeah, but there’s a huge line.” Holly’s shoulders sagged a bit.

“We could meet some of the women players instead.” Crystal suddenly wanted to talk to Augie again. Not because she was famous—honestly that was too intimidating—more that it felt like unfinished business the other day. If it hadn’t been her Gran’s ninetieth birthday party...

“I didn’t think you liked sports?”

“I don’t really have an opinion on it, but you know, we are here now.” She hoped the heat in her cheeks wasn’t showing. Holly gave her a curious look and Crystal almost turned on her heels and ran away, but then Augie waved.

“Crystal from Sweet Spot. Hi.”

She waved back as Holly hissed beside her, “You didn’t tell me you knew Augie Colby.”

“She bought some honey from me a few days ago.”

“Nice to see you again, Crystal. How was the dinner?”

Crystal tried not to glance at Holly. “Good. It was for my Gran’s birthday. Anyway, this is my friend Holly. She’s a fan.”

Augie stuck out her hand for Holly. “It’s always good to meet a fan.”

“Thanks. I’m sorry about your toe. Really rough timing.”

“Yeah. It was a good yorker.” Augie signed a piece of paper. “Holly, yeah?”

Holly nodded and thanked Augie for the autograph. Crystal felt herself nodding along.

“Um, we won’t take up too much of your time with your other fans.”

“Do you want one, or should I sign your...” Augie’s gaze dipped to Crystal’s cleavage and her skin came alive with heat. Oh gosh. She wanted Augie to paint her skin, dip her finger in jam and sign her name, then lick it off. She breathed in deep, and Augie’s eyes widened, so she took her chance.

“Maybe drop by the stall later and say hi?”

“Sure. I’d like that.”

Hours later, Crystal fidgeted with her stock, shuffling it around under the pretence that she was making the stall look more attractive, more Christmassy, but mostly to ignore the growing realisation that Augie wasn’t coming back. It was silly to miss her; someone like that probably had much more important things to do. It was likely an empty promise.

“Hey, can I ask you some advice?”

Crystal blinked. “You came.”

“Yeah. Okay. Were you waiting for me?”

“Um, no. Maybe.” Crystal swallowed down the rush of nerves that made her stomach fizz.

Augie leaned over the table. “I came as soon as I could.”

“Really?” Crystal’s face was far too warm. “Are you making fun of me?”

“No. I’m serious. We had to do media for ages before I could get away. There’s this whole movement to grow girls sport so the bosses at Cricket Australia like us to stay as long as possible and talk to as many girls as possible.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No. It’s bloody awesome.” Augie’s face lit up and Crystal suddenly understood why the heroines in Regency romances swooned. “Did you know the final was sold out this year? Women’s cricket is the fastest growing sport in Australia. It’s—”

“That’s amazing. You really are a star.” Crystal didn’t want to admit that she had looked Augie up on the internet as soon as she got back to her stall and watched a lot of those promotional videos where they asked players for their favourite songs—Throw Your Arms Around Me by Hunters and Collectors—and that sort of thing. She had been surprised that Augie liked something so old school, an Aussie classic of sorts but also it was a clever answer as it would appeal to many fans without being too polarising. Her actual favourite was likely something more modern that came out this year.

“An injured star.”

Crystal wanted to ask about it, but she didn’t want to be boring. “Holly said that you got injured in the semi-final.”

“You don’t watch?”

“Not really. I’d rather be in my kitchen creating, than—”

“Outside watching cricket? Come on, cricket is the perfect sport for spectators. It’s basically sitting in the park all day with a coffee or a beer.” Augie’s grin was so sexy, and Crystal wanted to fan her face.

“Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“So you are an outdoorsy person?”

“Obviously. But I don’t get to sit around drinking coffee. I have to actually concentrate so I don’t get hit by the ball.”

Crystal smiled. “Is that what happened?” She glanced down towards Augie’s moonboot.

“Yeah, but I was concentrating. It was a great ball. It happens.”

“Breaking your toe is just something that happens?” Crystal gasped and curled her toes in her sandals instinctively.

“My first time.”

Crystal grimaced. “Once is probably enough.”

“Yeah. It’s super annoying because it hurt like fuck and I tried to keep batting, but blood was pissing out of the end of my shoe.”

Crystal gasped. “Um, that doesn’t sound good.”

“Yeah, nah. It really wasn’t. Wanna see?”

“Um...” Crystal swallowed. “See what, exactly?” She wasn’t really squeamish, it was more that it felt absurdly intimate to stare at Augie’s injured toe.

“The ball. It was a bloody great ball. I have it saved on my phone.” Augie pulled her phone out of her jean’s back pocket.

“I mean, sure. I don’t really know what I’ll be looking at...” It seemed a bit gruesome to show people a video of an injury. “Is this a sports person thing?”

“What?”

“To show replays of injuries?” Crystal was caught between curiosity and finding the whole thing a bit odd.

“I guess so. My captain keeps roasting me about it and my team sends me memes of bricks.”

“Bricks?” Crystal had missed something crucial here.

“Because I should’ve moved my foot, not left it there like a brick or a lead weight or whatever heavy thing the team happens to find funny each day.”

Crystal swallowed. “Do you blame yourself for getting injured?” Wasn’t that self-victim blaming? It didn’t seem healthy, but what did she know? She always blamed herself when she burned herself with sugar. Was that the same thing?

“I mean, fifty-fifty. It was a fucking peach of a ball, but I probably shouldn’t have planted my front foot like that.” Augie flicked her thumb over her phone and showed Crystal a gif of the event. She wished she knew what she was looking at; although it was obvious even to her untrained eye that the ball had hit Augie and must’ve hurt.

“Ouch.” Crystal didn’t know what else to say, and when she glanced up from Augie’s phone, their faces were almost touching, almost within kissing distance. If she moved forward a few inches, their lips would meet, and Crystal wanted that more than anything. She could feel Augie’s breath against her mouth. The zephyr sent a rush of heat down her spine and she stared deep into Augie’s dark brown eyes, seeing all the details hidden in their depths, all the richness of colour. Could she be brave enough to kiss her?

Chapter 4

A ugie’s plan to get Crystal to lean in close to her phone—to her—had worked a treat but was immediately spoiled by some clown who wanted to buy a gift box for his wife. Having Crystal’s soft sigh whisper over her lips before she straightened up and walked away to deal with her customer sealed the deal for Augie. She only half-heard the conversation about mistletoe, which apparently Crystal sold as a Christmas special, with each leaf handmade from chocolate. Speaking of which, Augie was absolutely going to kiss Crystal before the day had ended, and preferably more than kissing. She wanted to bury her face between those bountiful tits and just get lost in the sensation of Crystal’s soft skin.

“Are you going to the game tonight?” The customer asked.

“Excuse me?”

“The Tassie Devils. Must be your boyfriend’s replica Aussie shirt you are wearing if you don’t know who is playing.” Oh, right, he was one of those ‘fans’ that only watched men’s cricket. She hadn’t even really spoken and he’d leapt directly to ‘boyfriend’s shirt’, which was hilarious when he’d interrupted her almost kissing Crystal.

“Yes. I’m aware of the shirt I’m wearing.” It was her own Australian training shirt. “And yes, I will be at the game.” She had media duties and would hang out with her mate Baxter who was the keeper for the local men’s team after that. She played for the Sydney team, the Mighty Cherries, in the Australian wide Cricket Slam competition, but she’d grown up here in Tassie and played junior reps with some of the blokes.

“Awesome. I think we’ll win tonight.”

“I hope so.” The men’s team had yet to win a game this season, although it was early days for their season. The men’s season began the weekend after her season had ended. They used to schedule them to overlap and hold double headers for fans who wanted to attend a women’s game, followed by a men’s game, but that had changed a few years ago for reasons known only to the administrators. The man paid and walked away, and she checked her phone for the time. She’d better get moving soon.

“Should we?”

“Want to?” She spoke at the same time as Crystal. “No, you go first.”

“Um, I was going to ask if we should do that dinner sometime?” Crystal’s cheeks were slightly pink, making her brown eyes look bigger and wider than usual. She fiddled with the hem on her shirt, and the little tugs made the fabric stretch across her fantastic tits. Augie was in so much trouble and they hadn’t even kissed yet. Maybe the chemistry would fade once they actually touched—not that Augie truly believed that—chemistry like this tended to explode before it eventually dissipated, and she sure as hell wanted the explosion.

“Do you want to come to the game tonight?” It might be a bit weird for Crystal as Augie would have to do an interview at some point, and they’d be sitting at the edge of the dugout with the men’s players, but she hoped that wouldn’t matter.

“With you?”

“No. With fucking Santa. Yes, of course with me.”

Crystal’s face went bright pink. “Um, I don’t know much about cricket.”

“So?”

“I don’t want to make a fool of myself.”

Oh. “Why don’t you bring a friend?” Augie cursed her damned mouth. What the hell? How was she supposed to get Crystal all alone for some tongue time if she had a friend? She bit back a growl. The whole idea was silly; they would be sitting in the dugout with cameras on them the whole time.

“Holly might be keen?”

“Holly?” Who was this Holly to Crystal? Fuck, Augie hadn’t even established that Crystal was single. What a rookie error. “Is she your girlfriend?”

Crystal’s eyebrows knitted together. “Um, no. Holly is... Well, I assume she’s straight since she has a crush on.” Crystal paused. “Um, I forget the guy’s name but he’s in the team, so she’d be super cool with coming along and um, I suppose it doesn’t mean she’s straight.”

“She could be bi or pan.”

“Yip.”

“Do you not have many queer friends?” Augie didn’t mean for it to sound so accusing, although it always confused her when queer people didn’t have queer friends.

“A few.”

“Weird.” Augie clapped her hand over her mouth. “I mean, it’s just that queer people tend to congregate and hang out together.”

“True. I’m still working this all out.” Oh yeah, Augie had forgotten that Crystal had said she wasn’t completely out.

“Being queer, or—”

“Oh no. I know I’m a lesbian. I just can’t really ... my family ... you know.”

“Yeah. It can be tricky.” Augie cut her off, impatient with the dithering about it. She was lucky that there were so many queer women in cricket. It was one of the strangest phenomena about cricket; none of the blokes were openly queer and many of the women were. Someone probably should study that, and why toxic masculinity made it hard for the men’s teams to be open and accepting, although the bias probably started at a much younger age.

“I would love to come to the game with you. You can teach me about it.” Crystal’s smile sent a hot burst of electricity down Augie’s spine and she suddenly wanted to be in one of those movie moments, where the expert stood behind the newbie, wrapped their arms around them, and showed them how to swing a bat for the perfect cover drive. Hands together on the bat as she breathed against Crystal’s neck, inhaling her sweet scent. Horniness was going to get her into trouble, and she probably—definitely—shouldn’t want the type of trouble that came with someone who wasn’t totally out yet.

“Ask your friend too.” Augie’s common sense knew that Crystal would be more comfortable with someone else to talk to, especially when she was on sideline duties. She wanted to roll her eyes at her own lack of logic; pulled towards Crystal but wanting to keep her distance too.

“Okay.” Crystal smiled and Augie went to leave. “Um, can I have your number?”

“Oh, sure.”

“Otherwise, how will I know where to meet you and all that?”

Augie spent so much time at games that she forgot other people didn’t know what happened or how it all worked. “I’ll organise tickets for you and your friend. You’ll be able to pick them up at the main gate.”

“What’s your number? I’ll text you, then you’ll have mine too.” Crystal had an odd expression and Augie realised that she’d been evasive.

“Sorry. It’s habit not to give my number to too many people. Pass your phone.” She took the device from Crystal and typed in her number and sent a message. Her own phone dinged and Crystal breathed out slowly, lowering her shoulders. Augie instinctually mirrored the action, easing the tension in her own shoulders. It wasn’t weird that Crystal might want reassurance, or simply a schedule about what would happen tonight.

“Thanks.”

“The game starts at quarter past seven, but be there a bit early if you can so we can get to our seats.” She needed to be there much earlier to get mic’ed up and all that jazz. But before she left, there was one last thing to do. Augie reached up and brushed her finger down Crystal’s face. Her hand buzzed and Crystal’s lips parted slightly. “Fuck, I could kiss you now.”

“Same.” Crystal whispered. “Maybe later when there are less people around.”

“Yeah.” Augie walked away before she did something Crystal wouldn’t like, and with every step, she cursed herself. Why the fuck was she interested in someone who couldn’t be openly themselves? Down that road lay heartache. She already knew this, and yet—more fool her—she couldn’t resist Crystal’s big brown eyes, fucking fantastic tits, and general wholesome sweetness. Shit. This was entirely too much thinking for a potential one night stand.

Chapter 5

C rystal stood in line with Holly, trying to disguise her nerves, as Holly rambled on about the team and the game using terms she didn’t really understand. Cricket was a part of the culture in Australia, she knew the basics—everyone did—but Holly spoke like a real fan.

“I didn’t expect there would be so many people.”

Holly grinned. “We only get eight home games in the men’s season, and they are always booked out. My brothers come to every game, they get season tickets.” She waved her phone. “They are going to be so jealous when they see me with Augie Colby.”

“Oh? Does that mean you haven’t told them you are here?”

“Look, not to be all unsure about your friend, who is fucking Augie Colby and I’m sure she’s a girl of her word and all, but just in case the tickets were an empty promise, then I don’t want to tell anyone until I’m actually in the ground.”

Crystal frowned. She didn’t think Augie would make up something like that.

“Excuse me. Tickets?” They’d reached the front.

“A friend is holding some for us.”

“You are in the wrong place. You need to go over there, to ticket booth seven, and Sue will sort you out.” The guy pointed to a window in the wall that Crystal hadn’t even noticed until he showed it to them.

“Okay, thanks.” Crystal hated the way her shoulders tensed with embarrassment at being in the wrong place.

“This is exciting. I’ve never been to the VIP entrance before.” Holly was bouncing on her toes as they left the main line and walked towards the little window. She took charge. “Hi, Augie Colby left two tickets for Crystal?”

“Yes, I have them here,” Sue replied, and Crystal’s shoulders sagged in relief. Not just that Augie had kept her word—something she wouldn’t have questioned until Holly mentioned it—but also that Holly had taken over and sorted it all out. Holly took the two tickets.

“Does that mean we have to stand in that line all over again?” Crystal looked over at the line forlornly because it had grown again in length.

“No, come through here.” Sue opened a little gate beside her and waved them through. “Now, you’ll need to head around to the front of the stand, then towards your right where you’ll see a press tent, and you should find Augie there.”

“Augie? You know her?” Crystal asked, hoping she didn’t sound too ignorant.

“She’s a local legend. Grew up here, played all her junior cricket here. We don’t get her here very often because she plays in Sydney now and for Australia, but you guys are her friends, so you’d know that.”

Crystal nodded, not wanting to admit that she knew none of that because this was maybe a first date, or something. So far it didn’t feel much like a date but she just nodded and smiled, as Sue and Holly had a discussion that made it sound like they knew what was going on.

“Come on Crystal, let’s go.” Holly nudged her and she blinked.

“Thank you for your help, Sue.” Crystal reminded herself that she’d made a promise to herself to get out more and not just work all the time in her shop, even though making sweets was her favourite thing, so when Holly hooked her arm through her elbow and tugged her along, she followed, taking each step into the unknown with a curiosity about Augie and why she’d invited them here.

“This is so cool.” Well at least one of them was having fun. They walked through the crowd and arrived at another gate. Holly waved their tickets and they were let through.

“Why is this part different?”

“It’s the members area. My brothers will be over there somewhere.” Holly pointed to a stand opposite them. “The teams come out of that alleyway from the change rooms.” Holly pointed to a gap in the seated area. “Oh look there’s Augie.” Holly was expansive in her movements, waving her arms around and the enthusiasm was infectious. Crystal ended up staring at Augie, standing next to another incredibly hot woman in a suit holding a microphone.

“Is she on telly?”

“Looks like it. We could go down to the front and wait for her to finish.” Since Holly knew what she was doing, Crystal nodded and followed along. They ended up waiting for half an hour, with Holly pointing out different things around the ground, like the way the teams were out in the middle doing warmups and what they were doing and who all the people were. Holly had also texted her brothers and promised to meet up at the innings break. Slowly Crystal settled in and started to enjoy the experience, now that her nerves in the line had dissipated and then, all of a sudden, Augie was standing in front of her and it all came rushing back.

“Hi.” She hated how breathy she sounded.

“Hi.” Augie fiddled with her lapel. “Hold on, I’d better make sure this is off.” She unclipped the little microphone and put it in her pocket. She was wearing dark green tailored shorts, and her moon boot was matched with a single dark sneaker on her other foot. She had a light green silk blouse on with the sleeves rolled up, showing off her gorgeous forearms, and Crystal immediately forgot about all the awkwardness she had felt as she’d stood in line.

“Thanks for—”

“You came.” They spoke over each other, and Crystal’s cheeks heated in a blush. She waved her hand for Augie to go first.

“No, no, what were you going to say?”

Crystal breathed out slowly. “Thanks for inviting me. I’ve never been here before.” She kept her gaze firmly on Augie’s face, trying not to appear too thirsty at the way the silk blouse shifted over Augie’s skin with each small movement.

“To the cricket or to this ground?”

“Both. I mean my dad watches it on telly, like everyone, but my mum doesn’t like crowds, so we never really went to live events.”

Augie frowned. “But you’ve been an adult for a while. You could’ve come along.”

Crystal wanted to fold her arms and argue back, but she conceded the point because it had already been an overwhelming day. “True, but I haven’t so this is my first time.”

“I’m sorry. I’m being a dick. First I invite you here without really telling you that I’ll be working. I kind of just assumed you’d just enjoy the game and we could hang afterwards, and then I didn’t even ask if it was something you’d want to do.”

“It’s fine. I just didn’t know what to expect, but Holly has been great.”

“Where is Holly?”

Crystal glanced over her shoulder, then shook her head. “I don’t know. She was just here, but she comes all the time and she knows her way around the place.” She paused, “but don’t you have to work?”

“Not until drinks.”

Crystal didn’t know what that meant. “Okay.” She’d figured it out in time.

“Come and have a seat with me and I can run you through my timetable if you want.” Augie opened a little gate in the fence and Crystal stepped through onto the grass, following Augie into a small tent that sheltered her from the sun and the crowds.

“Oh, this is nice.” Crystal gathered her skirt under her and sat in the little plastic chair next to Augie. “Who are all those chairs for?”

“Our team when they are batting.”

Crystal blinked. “You want me to sit with the team?”

“Are you not comfortable with that? We can move to the stand if you want.” Augie rested her hand on Crystal’s thigh and all her worries and thoughts disappeared again.

“No, this is fine.” She wished she was more like Holly sometimes, able to try new things, and this was definitely a new thing.

“Fine or fine but not actually fine?” Augie asked.

Chapter 6

A ugie’s teammates often accused her of railroading people to her will. It was a consequence of being raised by a single mum and being a driven, ambitious, athlete. But now Crystal sat nervously beside her in the media tent with Augie’s colleagues hovering curiously without saying anything, she realised she hadn’t really thought this through at all. Crystal’s thigh trembled under Augie’s hand and she quickly removed it and shoved both hands in her pockets brushing against the microphone in one of them.

“I think it’s actually fine. I want to try new things that push me out of my comfort zone,” Crystal said.

“Because you aren’t out so you are practicing being uncomfortable?” Augie really ought to cut her tongue out. Why did Crystal make her so foolish?

Crystal frowned. “I am out. Mostly, just not to my parents.”

“Would they be upset?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, probably. The best case is that they would ignore it and pretend like I hadn’t said anything.”

“But they wouldn’t do anything drastic?” Everyone who had any queer friends knew someone whose family had rejected them.

Crystal let out a nervous little giggle. “I mean, they can’t throw me out of home. I moved out ages ago, but maybe I’m a coward and I don’t want to find out. I don’t exactly hide it.” She pointed to the earrings, “but we have never discussed it either.”

Augie relaxed a little. It was nothing like Shelley’s situation, who’d been so secretive about being out and about their relationship. Augie had met her parents once and been described as a friend, then a day later Shelley had said that she couldn’t come around anymore as her parents thought Augie was a bad influence on her.

“And you have queer friends?” Augie needed the reassurance.

Crystal laughed. “You asked me that once before. Yes, there’s Holly and I have a big queer community online, but in person, not really. Hobart is kind of small.”

“True, true.” When Augie had moved to Sydney, for cricket, she’d loved the size of the queer community there. Hobart was really only a big small town and there was a claustrophobia that came with the sense that everyone knew everything about you. In Sydney she was always meeting new queer people, although the interconnectedness was funny sometimes.

“I’ve done some dating here, through the apps, and I went to one of those speed dating things once, but everyone knew everyone and they all zeroed in on me because I was new and it was a bit weird.”

Augie leaned close and whispered. “Also because you have incredible tits.”

Crystal’s blush was worth every second of and she giggled. “I can’t believe you just said that. Are you always that blunt?”

Augie shrugged. “Yeah. Anyway, it’s true. All the girls would’ve been falling over each other to talk to you.”

“I thought it was just because I was new.”

Augie grinned. “That too, but come on, you must know about your tits. You show them to such advantage.”

The blush deepened. “It’s mostly to take attention away from my stomach and thighs.”

“What?” Augie was confused. “Why would you want to do that?” She found all of Crystal’s round softness attractive.

“Because people aren’t attracted to fat people, only to some parts and only if it’s the right shape, and anyway, look at you. You are so fit.”

“I’m not attracted to me.” She knew how much work went into getting her body ready for her job. Even now with a broken toe, she was still in the gym every day, keeping up her stamina as well as doing physio to ensure her toe healed without causing issues to the rest of her foot.

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. I eat too many sweets, and I’m not a fan of exercise.”

“Well, I like the result.” Augie had always liked her fuck-buddies to be the opposite of herself, and she loved the way Crystal’s cheeks turned pink under the attention.

“Really? Even my—”

“Yes. All of you. You are so hot, I can’t believe you don’t know this.”

“Oh.” Crystal leaned back in the chair. Baxter’s team jogged onto the field, and Augie stood to applaud them, before settling in to watch the game. Several overs passed before Crystal leaned in close and whispered.

“I think I like your bluntness. Sometimes.”

“Thanks?” Augie clapped as Baxter took a decent catch down leg.

“Are you applauding me?”

“No, the game. And yes, I’m too blunt sometimes. It comes with being an athlete. I’m driven and ambitious and a lot of people don’t like that in a woman. I intimidate people by being good at this, and I like it when coaches get right to the point and don’t piss around trying not to hurt my feelings. I’m not going to get better if I’m not told what I need to work on.”

“Oh. You seem very self-aware.”

Augie laughed, surprised by the idea. “I try to be, but I’m probably not. I have no idea if what I feel is a strong sense of self-belief or just pure ego. I want to get better at my job, but that doesn’t mean I can apply that ahh, concept of self-improvement to all parts of my life. Maybe I’m just rude and impatient when I’m not on the crease, because batting is all about patience.”

“Even thinking about it is enough.”

“Is it?”

“Sure. It’s better than someone who goes around hurting people without thought or reflection.”

Augie sighed. “I guess so. I’m the product of a stupid mistake and my mum says she never wanted her naivety to feel like it was my fault.”

“What do you mean?”

“My dad is a lot older than my mum. She worked for him, and they had an affair, except mum said that he told her that his marriage was basically over already and his wife knew about it, so it wasn’t really an affair.” Augie ignored the familiar heat that stung the back of her neck whenever she thought about her young South Asian mother being charmed by her much older white boss and conned into an affair under the false belief that his wife knew about it.

“Oh. Those poor women.”

“Yes. Both of them. How many young woman did he use that lie on? And the wife too? I get so mad on her behalf. Anyway, then I was created and of course, he dumped my mother as fast as he could. The only good thing I can say about him is that he did get her a big financial redundancy package, and it was enough that mum could buy a small apartment.”

“So he provided for you?”

“Not really. He didn’t pay child care or anything like that, and mum didn’t realise that she could just get the government to force him to pay, but his guilt money did get us a place to live. And the thing that pisses me off, is that it wasn’t even his money. He conned his business into paying it, just like he conned my mother.”

“Once a cheater, always a cheater.” Crystal’s voice hardened and Augie nodded.

“Unfortunately yes. He didn’t just cheat on his wife with my mum, he cheated the system to get someone else to pay off my mum with guilt money. I’m sorry for dumping this on you. This is like the worst first date ever. I drag you to my work, then dump all my sordid history on you.”

Crystal smiled and bumped her arm against Augie’s sending a rush of heat searing through her veins. “Nah, it’s not even close to the worst first date.”

“What’s your worst first date story?” Augie was curious.

“Oh, that’s easy. It was the one where she cried about her ex before the dinner was even served, and then her ex walked into the restaurant with some man and sat down with us, and it turned out Margery had assumed that her ex had dumped her for a bloke but it was her cousin or brother or something, and then I sat there listening to them reconcile and the brother patted me on the hand and thanked me for being a good friend to Margery and would I like to go out for a drink and leave them to it, all while staring at my tits.”

Augie cringed. “Oh fuck, that’s awkward.”

“You aren’t going to say something about my tits?” Crystal lifted her chin with a touch of defiance that Augie’s heart melted over and she couldn’t help herself. She touched her thumb to Crystal’s chin.

“No. It’s not your fault that they all put you in an awkward position. I hate when people manufacture drama rather than just talk about the issues.”

“A relationship like that is probably doomed if they can’t have a simple conversation but instead drag someone out on a date to prove whatever.”

Augie laughed, and dropped her hand away from Crystal’s face, conscious they were sitting on the sideline with cameras everywhere. “Like a bad romantic movie where there’s no real tension and they make it happen through a stupid miscommunication that could be easily solved if they just talk to each other.”

Crystal tilted her head to the side. “You don’t strike me as a romantic movie type of person.”

“I fly a lot.” Augie shrugged. She wasn’t really embarrassed by liking to watch romance. “The only real issue is that there are not enough sapphic movies in existence, and I end up watching a lot of straight romances, while trying to pretend that the cis bloke is a butch woman.”

“What?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t really work because none of those straight romances have the queer vibe, you know.”

“I haven’t really thought about it.” Crystal leaned forward in her seat just as Baxter took an amazing catch. Augie leapt up and cheered him. When she sat down again, Crystal was staring at her.

“Were you watching the game the whole time?”

“Yes, of course.” Augie was confused.

“But we had a whole conversation?”

Augie laughed. “This game is my job. Every game I spend some of the innings sitting with my team, unless I’m out there batting, and we watch the game and chat. It’s part of the rhythm of the game.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Are there times when you talk less?”

“Definitely,” Augie nodded. “I don’t like to talk much before I go out to bat.”

“Because you are nervous?”

“No. I come in at three, usually, so I have to wait for the first wicket to fall, and I like to watch each ball carefully to see how the pitch is playing. It’s part of the preparation.”

“Okay.” Crystal nodded but not in way that showed understanding, more of a keep going type of nod, or at least that’s what Augie assumed, so she carried on chatting.

“Once I’m out, which is hopefully not for ages if I do my job right, then I’m done and I can relax and chat to anyone who is also keen for a chat.”

“Okay, that makes sense. I thought the lack of eye contact was something I’d done wrong, but I see it’s just you watching the game. You really like this game, don’t you?”

“It’s my job.” Augie wasn’t sure why Crystal asked such an obvious question. “Of course I love it. It’s incredibly frustrating at times, but yeah, it’s my whole life.”

“What will you do when you retire?”

Augie laughed. “Probably coach? I can’t imagine doing anything else.” They watched the game for a while in silence, until Crystal’s phone rang.

“Holly, where are you? ... Oh, I’m with Augie. ... Ha, not like that. Watching the game. Come and join us.” Crystal stood up, straightened out her dress, brushing it over her soft curves, and walked to the gate. After the introductions were made, they all sat down and watched the game. Holly was quite knowledgeable. The rhythm of the game flowed. Augie got up to do media duties at drinks, then came back to sit down with Crystal and Holly, who were laughing at something together.

“Everything good here?” she asked, feeling a bit stupid for assuming Crystal was anything like Shelley. She had a queer friend, she might be worried about how her parents would react but she wasn’t secretive.

“Yeah. I notice you didn’t tell me your worst first date story though.”

Holly laughed, “Oh please do. I want to know what dating on the mainland is like. It’s gotta be better than here where everyone knows everyone already.”

Augie sighed. “It’s a bit like that in Sydney too, but not as bad. I don’t know about bad first dates, I have had the usual awkward ones.”

“You must have one that your mates tease you about?” Holly asked.

Augie grinned and stared at Crystal, “Well, there was this one time I asked a girl out for dinner but she rejected me for her Grandmother.”

“I actually did have dinner with my gran that day.”

“I’m teasing. You flush so nicely when I do.”

Holly elbowed Crystal. “Get a room!”

“Ok, fine. The most awkward one was with the socks. My team mates thought it was the funniest thing, except Tyra who went on a rant about consent, but that’s my captain for you.”

“Socks?” Crystal’s gaze slid down Augie’s legs and it shouldn’t have made her uninjured toes tingle, but damn if it did.

“Yeah, look it wasn’t even a first date, or at least not in my mind, but I guess it counts as a first date story?”

“Geez, just get to it, will you?” Holly laughed and Crystal told her to shoosh. Right then, Baxter took another wicket, with Augie jumping up to congratulate him. Holly shouted too, and they high fived before sitting down.

“I was at an event for women athletes, and Nadia Ivanova was there.”

“The tennis player? She’s so hot,” Holly said. Augie didn’t have a chance to comment that Nadia wasn’t really her type before Holly had whipped out her phone and shown Crystal a photo.

“I don’t know if I should tell this story. It’s not really fair on Nadia. It was just a big miscommunication, really.”

Crystal leaned closer, her breath soft and warm on Augie’s skin. “We aren’t going to tell anyone.”

“Okay, but I don’t want you thinking bad things about her.” Augie should’ve picked a different story, but she’d thought Crystal would like this one because it showed her preferences.

“We pinky promise,” Holly giggled.

“Fine. So we were at this event and Nadia was being really nice to me, and we chatted and it was great. It’s so good talk to other queer athletes and see what is the same across different sports. Anyway, at the end of the event, she said that she got all her socks in from Japan, and these socks would change my life, like the best socks ever, and did I want to come to hers and try them?”

“Socks? She tried to hit on you with socks?”

Augie sighed. “I took her at face value. I’ve talked about sports bras with soccer players and never once thought they were hitting on me. So, yeah, I agreed to come to her place with her and check out these socks. Like she was going on about them, how comfortable they were and how she found out about them, and how one of the other women on the tennis circuit is Japanese and gets them for her whenever she visits her family. And I’d just changed sponsors and the socks I was using weren’t great, so it all fit. I thought it was just about the socks. Anyway, we went to her place and as soon as we were inside, she spun around, pushed me up against the door and kissed me.”

“Ha, told you so.” Holly was loud, but Crystal’s whisper was much nicer.

“I’m sorry. Consent matters.”

“That’s what my captain said too. Look, then it got really awkward. I had to gently push her away, and then she cried because she thought I’d been flirting with her and that I knew that she meant this when she was talking about socks, and I had to apologise for not understanding what she’d meant, and I don’t know, why was I apologising when she invited me to her place on false pretence?”

Crystal placed her hand on Augie’s forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Not everyone can be out all the time and maybe that was her way of asking you without being too open about it?”

“Sure, but why launch at me without asking first? Anyway, now I can see that it was pretty wild and maybe it’s a bit funny, but I also feel sorry for her and I hope she’s happy.”

“You could’ve just gone along with it. She’s super hot,” Holly said.

Augie shook her head. “Doesn’t that just make the miscommunication worse? Anyway, I don’t think she’s that hot. She’s not really my type. But I do wonder if I gave out the wrong signals, and it’s also my fault too.”

“How? She tricked you, asking you to come up and look for socks, then kissing you without your consent.”

“Yeah, it was awkward as fuck. Mum said that she probably did it on purpose, to lure me up there, but mum often sees manipulation everywhere because of her own situation and maybe it was just a misunderstanding.”

“Did you ever get the socks?” Holly asked and Crystal clapped her hand over her mouth.

“I’m sorry, it’s not funny, but that’s funny.”

Augie sighed. “Yes. After she stopped crying and apologising, I tried on the socks and she was right. They were amazing, and she gave me a pair which was nice.”

“I could never wear them,” Crystal said. “They’d just remind me of the whole thing, but I also couldn’t throw them out because she was so generous.”

Augie was confused. “I thought you were upset about the lack of consent?”

“I am. But also like, it’s complicated and she was nice about the socks.”

The fucking socks. “I’ve never worn them. It’s weird, but also annoying because they are good socks.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not Nadia’s fault either. I mean she could’ve said something when we got upstairs, but it’s hard being queer sometimes. You can’t always say this stuff out loud, and—” Augie stopped. Why was she defending people who weren’t out? If her experience with Shelley taught her anything, it was that open communication was the key to a decent relationship. Imagine having that.

“Consent matters, and not just as a pithy statement. It actually matters.” Crystal’s voice rang true with determination and Augie’s shoulders relaxed. She’s always blamed herself a little bit for that socks incident because she hadn’t realised that Nadia was flirting with her, but Crystal was right, Nadia should’ve said something before launching in for a kiss. She glanced up at the scoreboard and realised she’d missed the last few overs. Oh God, that new pace bowler was getting tonked around.

“Hey, I’d better go and get ready for the innings break.”

“I’m meeting up with my brothers to grab a bite. Wanna come, Crystal?”

“Yeah, you should go with Holly. I’ll be working during the innings break, but we can meet back here for the second innings.” Augie stood up and brushed out her shorts suit.

Crystal stood up too. “Thank you for sharing that story with me, and good luck at work.”

“You can watch me on the big screen.”

Crystal’s eyes widened and her lips tilted upwards in a smile. “I will do that.”

Augie spun around and rushed off to talk to her producer before she kissed Crystal in public without her consent. God, she was going to be so overt about that now – which was a good thing. It was a good thing, because Nadia’s spontaneity had made her feel like crap, and she didn’t want Crystal to feel like crap around her. She swallowed and shook off the feeling that she’d stepped off a ledge, instead focusing on clipping her microphone back on her lapel.

Chapter 7

C rystal hadn’t really spoken to Augie during the second innings. They’d ended up sitting with the team and Augie appeared to know everyone, and she’d been inadvertently left at the edge with Holly.

“This has been so amazing.” Holly’s breathless outburst came with a nudge to her side and Crystal tried not to flinch at her friend’s enthusiasm. She’d already taken several selfies to send to her brothers and friends.

“Yeah.”

“Baxter gave me his number.”

Crystal laughed. “I can’t believe you. You just flirt with your crush and bat your eyelids and he’s all over you.”

Holly threw her head backwards and roared with laughter. “As if you haven’t done exactly the same around Augie.”

Crystal’s face bloomed with an uncomfortable heat. “Is it that obvious?”

“Hell yeah. Girl. Go and get some. You deserve it.”

“You’re not worried?”

Holly screwed up her face. “What are you talking about?”

“Augie and me.” Crystal couldn’t even say it out loud, not with cameras staring at them. Suddenly, now the game was ended, and she might have a chance to go home with Augie, the reality of the evening sunk in. She had sat in full view of the nation with her rainbow earrings and flirted with Augie, potentially on camera, and potentially with her father watching, and now it didn’t seem like fun anymore.

“Crystal darling—” Holly nudged her again. “If you have been trying to stay in the closet you are doing a shit job of it.”

“What? I’m sort of not but also am.”

Holly scoffed, then gasped. “Oh? I figured that with the earrings and the way you’ve been thirsting over Augie fucking Colby that it was common knowledge, but are you not out?”

“I’m kind of out with friends and stuff. Just my family won’t be that great, so—” She had heard often enough about her sister’s gay best friend that her family believed they could ‘like the sinner but not the sin’ which always sounded like bullshit to her; and meant they didn’t really like her—not everything about her—which amounted to the same thing. Probably.

Holly squeezed her elbow. “I get that. My parents are full on Catholics and I’ve always been very careful around them.”

“But you are bi, so...” Crystal wasn’t sure what she was asking, only that she assumed it would be easier being bi because Holly could be with a man and hide in plain sight.

“Hold off on the biphobia for a second, Crystal. Flirting with Baxter doesn’t make me less queer, and when I’m with a woman, it doesn’t make me less bisexual. Surely you know this.” Holly’s voice quivered and Crystal nodded, swallowing down a feeling that tasted like disappointment. Holly had known her assumption and Crystal realised she was wrong.

“I’m sorry. I’m still working all this out.”

“Yeah, and I jump to conclusions about biphobia because it’s fucking everywhere, but I like you and it’s disappointing to hear it from you.”

“You like me?” Crystal hated how small and pathetic her voice was.

“What are you on? Of course I like you. We are friends, and the queer thing is just another point of connection. Now stop talking to me and go and kiss Augie. I know you want to.” Holly gave her a little fake push and Crystal’s brain swirled as if she’d had too much sugar on an empty stomach and she couldn’t decide if she wanted to vomit or giggle. She needed to apologise, once she’d worked out what had just gone wrong, but Holly had already disappeared, leaving Crystal with a sense that she’d messed up and didn’t know what to do.

Unfortunately, she ended up sitting with that feeling for almost an hour as the crowds dispersed and Augie was on camera analysing the game with her colleagues. The team had already packed up and disappeared, Holly along with them. She spent the time researching and reading on her phone about biphobia and slowly understood why her assumption was bad. She sent Holly a text—one that took her a while to compose with a proper apology and a recognition that she’d done the wrong thing—and got a thumbs up and a quick thanks in return.

Finally Augie was done and Crystal couldn’t believe such a beautiful woman was walking towards her with a smile.

“I thought there would be more of a celebration?” Crystal thought their team had won, but now she was confused by the lack of ... anything. They’d all just gone through the motions of packing up and had gone home.

“Not in a tournament like this. Everyone plays twice a week, so a win is only a step towards the finals series.”

She followed Augie along a brightly lit concrete hallway, then through a wide open door leading them outside.

“Careful.” Augie stepped over cables all over the ground, and Crystal picked her way through them too. “Um, just wait here. I’ll get this mic taken off, and then we can go.”

“Okay.” Crystal was so far out of her depth that there wasn’t much else to say. She stood outside, alone, as Augie walked up a few steps into what appeared to be a truck, or a temporary building, or yeah. Whatever. Crystal figured out that this was the broadcasting truck, given that it said so on the side of the truck. She shrugged. Being among all this concrete wasn’t her thing, but then she noticed a dandelion growing in a crack in the pavement and smiled. Nature always found a way.

“What has you smiling?” Augie brushed her finger along Crystal’s bottom lip and her insides melted. From one touch. Hell. It wasn’t like this was her first time at this—kissing—although she had those sudden nerves dancing inside her as if it was. She pounced on the rush of negativity—what was she thinking doing this with an athlete—and pushed it away to focus on the moment. On Augie’s touch. On the way her belly contracted, and her skin sparkled. Her lips parted and she realised she was staring at Augie’s finger as it lingered on her mouth. Being lightheaded made sense, she must be weirdly cross-eyed as she looked down, unable to look away.

“Crystal?”

She glanced up. “What?”

“Why were you smiling?”

“Oh. At the little dandelion growing in the concrete.” She loved the tenacity of plants, always growing in unlikely spots, finding a way to make life where they could. Many of her sweets in the shop were inspired by nature and by herbs. She could do a wild and free series for an anti-Valentines theme in a month; that could be fun and a good way to get more customers, not just the usual Valentines crowd who’d want boring chocolate hearts, although they were great for business.

“Cute. And speaking of cute...”

Crystal giggled. “Are you flirting?”

“Yes. Come on. This way.” Augie grabbed her hand and led her back over the lengths of television cables on the ground. They turned the corner, back into the concrete tunnel, but now the lights had been turned off.

“It’s dark.” Way to state the obvious, Crystal. She would be annoyed at herself, but Augie leaned up against her and her ability to think disappeared.

“Yes.” Augie placed her hands either side of Crystal’s head. Fuck. Her knees weakened and she wanted. Oh she wanted. Someone moaned; a little desperate noise. Her?

“Can I kiss you?”

Crystal’s mouth was dry, and she licked her lips. “Yes please.” Her voice was all crackly, but it didn’t matter because Augie responded to her plea with a kiss. An all-encompassing kiss as Augie pushed her hard up against the cold concrete wall. The beautiful force of it stole all the air from her lungs, and Augie used her sassy mouth to fill hers until she couldn’t breathe. She hummed as licks of flames flickered up her spine, mingling with the friction of her body hard against the concrete wall, and the press of Augie’s firm body against hers. Crystal was the bush in a dry summer; ready to ignite from the smallest spark, as if she’d been waiting her whole life for the right conditions to explode with fire. She grabbed Augie’s hips, needing more support, and when Augie licked down her throat and then scraped her teeth over her collar bone, she begged.

“Please. I need you.”

Augie moved her hands, placing one of them between them, palm on her tit, and with the other, she dragged it down over Crystal’s body until she shook with need. She was so goddamned wet and someone—her—kept making these moaning desperate noises.

“You sound like you are going to come.”

“I am.” Fuck. She was. And Augie had barely touched her with her hands. It was the hard press of her whole body holding her tight—secure and demanding—that sent her close to flying over that delicious edge. She was like delicate spun sugar, and simultaneously like boiling caramel, ready to burn, needing to be poured out before the room filled with acrid smoke and everything was ruined. If Augie touched her now, she’d explode, just like caramel did when you added baking soda and it bubbled wildly into hokey pokey.

“Would you like to?” Augie’s husky question swept over Crystal like a tornado.

Chapter 8

A ugie hadn’t expected to fuck Crystal against the wall of the tunnel at the stadium, but she wasn’t going to complain. The sexual tension between them had been building through the whole game and she wasn’t going to wait any longer if she didn’t have to.

“Come?” Crystal’s innocent question and responsiveness delighted her, so she rewarded her with a nip on her ear lobe.

“Yeah. You wanna?”

Crystal licked her lips. “Please.”

She pushed her thigh between Crystal’s legs, spreading her wider, then cupped her with one hand. The moan Crystal emitted echoed down the hallway, and Augie hadn’t heard such a good sound in a cricket stadium since they’d won the World Cup. She loved the light fabric of Crystal’s summer dress; not because she knew anything about dresses, only because the thin fabric wasn’t much of a barrier and she could feel the lace of Crystal’s lingerie through it. An interesting texture on her palm.

“Please. I’m so ready.” Crystal’s urgent plea echoed inside Augie, not just in the hallway, and there was only one thing she could do. She kissed Crystal, pushing her harder against the wall, pressing herself into Crystal soft curves. Glorious curves that she wanted to bury her face in. She fingered Crystal through her clothes, not caring about the fabric barrier or the way it would leave a damp spot on her dress, because she needed to feel Crystal moan around her tongue, to moan into their kiss. With her thumb, she found Crystal’s clit and swirled until Crystal shook. All it took was one more bite of Crystal’s bottom lip, as she kept up the rhythm on Crystal’s clit, and Crystal lifted her chin, her head sliding back against the wall as she screamed Augie’s name. If Augie had been inside her, she would feel her pulsing, she was sure of it, and she wanted that more than anything. Crystal slumped, her hands at Augie’s hips relaxing, and Augie gently kissed her again.

“Come on now.”

“I have.”

Augie grinned and kissed Crystal on the tip of her nose. “I meant, let’s go somewhere a little more private.” She was staying at her mum’s apartment but her mum was out visiting friends, so Augie had the place to herself tonight.

Crystal’s eyes flickered open, her lids heavy. “Can we do this again?”

“All night long.” Augie could promise that much. One night of pleasure until they were both wrung out and exhausted. Crystal rested her head on Augie’s shoulder and sighed perfectly. This woman was going to ruin Augie’s need for the temporary with her smiles and her moans and her burrowing in like that, all close and intimate.

“I’ll get us a ride share.” Augie used her thumb to hold Crystal’s chin and lift her head up. Her eyes were still a little glazed, sending a fresh tremor down Augie’s spine. It was time to get Crystal into her bed, so she could strip her completely naked and taste her everywhere, especially those tits.

For someone who wasn’t completely out, Crystal was very cuddly as they sat in the back seat of the ride share. If Augie didn’t know better, she’d think Crystal had had too much to drink during the game. She was all hands and giggles, and it was a wonderful boon to her ego that a little bit of fondling in the tunnel and a quick orgasm could inspire such a reaction. It was all too easy to imagine what another one would do.

“Here we are.” Augie thanked the driver and walked to her front door with Crystal following. The little touch from Crystal’s fingers down her triceps as she tried to unlock her front door was terribly distracting, but certainly made her heart flutter with the hope of a brilliant night together. They had fucking amazing chemistry and Augie couldn’t wait for round two.

“Golly, I feel almost drunk being with you.”

“It’s my magic fingers.”

“And your tongue.” Crystal half-tumbled inside with her, still giggling. “Oh gosh. I’m being silly. Acting like a foolish young girl having her first fling.”

“This is your first?” The dose of reality hit Augie like chin music, a bouncer to the helmet grill. Shit. This was a bad idea, and as much as some bad ideas were good in the short term... Well, she shook off the warning bitterness on her tongue. It was fortunate that this was only for tonight. She stepped away.

“No. Gosh. I don’t know what’s come over me.”

Augie smiled. What other option did she have? She’d invited this drama into her house. “One half-decent orgasm. That’s all.”

“Half-decent. Hell, I can’t wait to find out what a proper one is like then.”

Now this was the type of teasing, Augie thrived on, and she cupped Crystal’s cheek. “You’ll have to earn it first.”

Crystal’s gasp was delightful. She had such an expressive face, and an openness that made Augie feel jaded and cynical.

“How old are you?”

“Why?” Crystal placed her hand over Augie’s, holding it in place against her face.

“Just curious.”

Crystal frowned. “Do you think I’m silly? Is that why?” Her mouth was close enough to kiss, although with their height difference, Augie would have to curl her hand around the back of Crystal’s neck and pull her down towards her. When they’d kissed against the wall, Crystal had sagged enough that it hadn’t mattered, and Augie had kept her weight off her broken toe by stretching up on her other foot while using the wall for balance.

“No. I’m twenty-six, if it helps.” Augie’s age was public knowledge. The joys of being an athlete.

“Okay. I’m twenty-eight. And no this isn’t my first time.”

Augie pushed away the doubts. It didn’t matter anyway. This was just a hook up. Fuck. If she told herself that often enough, she might be able to convince herself it was true. She’d never taken a hook up to a game before or thought about what they might be doing when she wasn’t with them. She’d never regretted being rejected, usually able to move on easily, but when Crystal had said no to dinner, she’d felt a pang of loss. And now the chemistry between them was a fucking sparkling glitter bomb of electric energy; it was only logical that she had some doubts about what might happen beyond tonight. She shook it all off. Tonight wasn’t about thinking; she could do that later.

“Okay. Cool. I’m clean by the way, we get tested at work regularly.”

“What?”

“I’m an athlete. The teams have doctors who test for everything.”

“Isn’t that weird?”

Augie shrugged. “Nah. They aren’t sticking us with needles all the time or being invasive. It’s more that if we have a fever or are off a little bit, they do a basic set of blood work, and test for all the usual types of infections that might be causing an issue. I have access to all my results.”

“Oh. Well, I’m not sure about me. I haven’t been with anyone since Pride though.”

Augie blinked. “That’s almost a year.” The Pride events in Australia were usually held in March.

“Yes. It does feel like a long time when I say it out loud, but I’m cautious about who I’m out around, so...” Crystal’s voice faded out.

“Shall we take the risk, then?” Logically Augie would be taking less risk; assuming Crystal was telling the truth about how inactive she was sexually, and her reactions and worry about being out aligned with that.

“Are you always this up front about this stuff?” Crystal dropped her hand, and her eyes were impossibly wide.

“What? Body health and safety?”

“Yeah?”

“My body is my job.” It was obvious, wasn’t it?

Crystal hummed, her breath fluttering over Augie’s face. She bit her bottom lip. “I’m not very fit.”

“If I wanted to hook up with another athlete, I would’ve. But it was you that I kissed in the tunnel at the stadium, and it’s you that I’ve invited into my house.”

Crystal kissed her, a soft press of lips that reminded Augie of why she’d invited Crystal here. She tasted like salted caramel, sweet with a hint of spice, and Augie dove right in. She wrapped her hands around Crystal’s waist and walked them backwards towards her couch, until they both fell slowly, limbs entangled.

“Your foot?”

“It’s fine. The moonboot protects it.” She wanted to get that dress off Crystal, free her tits and taste them. “Does all your skin taste so sweet?”

Crystal’s eyes flicked wide again, the brown depths shimmering. She wriggled underneath Augie, tugging her dress upwards, until she pulled it over her head. Augie lost the ability to breathe. Crystal’s tits were as fabulous as she’d imagined. Full and round. Supported by an incredible lace bra; nothing like the functional sports bra she wore.

“Can I take your shirt off?” Crystal’s breathy question sounded naïve and innocent, and Augie almost said no. Innocence wasn’t her thing.

“Yeah.” But not without burying her face in Crystal’s tits first.

Chapter 9

“L et me.” Crystal sat up and held Augie’s hand. She traced the swirls of the tattoo on her arm, then dragged her fingers across Augie’s collar and undid the buttons on her team blouse. Augie kept playing with her tits, sparks kindling between them, flickering down her spine and core. And true to her word, it was lovely to feel the way Augie also caressed her round stomach, as if she did actually like all of her curves, just as she’d said. Crystal was happy, giggly, at the idea that someone was attracted to all of her, like the bubbles in a champagne flute rising up, and she was all giddy with it. She wanted—needed—to get her hands all over Augie too.

Crystal focused on removing Augie’s shirt, revealing a functional sports bra underneath, and the tattoo on her other arm. She’d temporarily forgotten about that one.

“What does 189 mean?”

“It’s my Test number.”

Crystal had no clue what that meant. “Like driving test, or school, or something?”

Augie laughed. “Do you know nothing about cricket?”

“Not really.” Why was that funny? “Is it a cricket thing?”

“Yes. Everyone who plays test cricket for Australia gets a number, in order of selection, so I’m the 189th Test player for the Australian Women’s team. The men’s numbers are much higher, they play more test cricket than the women. I think they are nearly up to 500.”

Crystal kissed the tattoo because her questions could wait. “What a cool thing to have.” She peeled off the sports bra and sucked on Augie’s nipple, rolling it against her tongue, and loving the way Augie’s expression softened.

“Yeah. I’m proud of it.”

“You should be.” Crystal kissed the tattoo, and Augie growled.

“Enough fussing about.” Augie grabbed Crystal’s hand and shoved it onto her stomach. Crystal fumbled with Augie’s pants—suit pants with a fiddly little button and an easy zip—and slid her hand inside, under Augie’s underwear to find her silky and damp.

“More like this?”

“Yes. And your tongue too.”

Crystal’s face was on fire, scorching hot at the suggestion, heat racing through her veins, because she wanted to do that more than anything. She slid off the couch, kneeling between Augie’s legs and tugged her pants all the way off, well one leg only, as the other one had a moonboot preventing her. She focused on Augie, on giving her the best time, which was easy because holy fuck, Augie was beautiful. A picture of relaxation and openness, wet for Crystal, and so she bent her head and kissed her, drinking in the taste of her swollen flesh. Musk and salt exploding on her tongue, better than any delicacy that could be imagined. Crystal spent so much time pairing flavours with sweetness that tasting Augie was a treat that she knew she could never create in her kitchen. She’d always have to come here, to the source—Augie—to get this unique combination of flavours, and that made this moment special in a way that melted her, turning her limbs to jelly.

Augie lifted her hips, and golly, the movement did amazing things to her abs. Crystal traced the incredible rippled muscles with her fingers, and used her tongue on Augie’s clit, until Augie groaned and moaned and screamed. It was the best type of music, desperate noises filling the air with pleasure and joy, and when she slid her fingers inside Augie and flicked her tongue over Augie’s clit, harder than before, Augie threw her head back, arching her back and pushing her taut abs against Crystal’s other hand.

“Crystal.” Augie’s cry coincided with tremors of pleasure as she came, clenching around Crystal’s fingers. After a while, the pulsing subsided and Crystal licked Augie again, tasting her release until it painted her face and ruined her makeup.

“Shall we head to bed?” She wanted more of this, more time spent between Augie’s legs and exploring her incredible arm muscles. Fit strong forearms paired with slender muscled biceps had always been her undoing.

Chapter 10

I t’d been so long since Augie had had sex—all season—and being with Crystal was her every dream come true. She slid off the couch and held her, both of them snuggled together on the carpet, lying dazed in a post orgasmic haze for the longest time. Crystal was so soft and cuddly and responsive, God, she’d give up everything to be with her. So yes, they absolutely should head to bed and stay there for days. She wanted to know everything about Crystal, she’d even move back to Tassie to be with her. Augie gasped. No, Crystal wasn’t out to her parents. It would be Shelley all over again, with Augie giving up what she wanted to be with someone who couldn’t even be out for her. She sat up, tugging her pants up her legs.

“No. You should go.” Augie needed Crystal to leave before she repeated her last, worst, mistake all over again. She stood up, and finished adjusting her clothes. The bloody moon boot made everything trickier, suddenly annoying. She needed her toe to heal faster so she could get back to Sydney, and back to work, back to the career she loved so much, where she could be herself.

“Excuse me?” Crystal voice rose sharply on the question and Augie knew she had to send Crystal away before they both got hurt.

“I’ll pay for your ride share.” Augie pushed away the rising bile that sat heavily in the back of her throat, like a bitter acidic warning that she either doing absolutely the right thing or completely the wrong thing, but it felt necessary, otherwise she was going to end up giving up too much again.

“You are kicking me out?”

Augie shrugged. “This was a one-night stand. We are done.”

Crystal grabbed her dress and pulled it on over her head, and Augie looked away, not wanting to see Crystal blinking back tears as she walked through the door. Augie booked the ride share and texted Crystal the details, before sitting down on the couch, her head in her hands trying not to vomit and wondering if she’d done the right thing. But she really couldn’t be with another Shelley, and great sex was not enough to make all that worth it again.

Three days later, Augie couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d done the wrong thing in kicking Crystal out of her house. She’d been too abrupt, and basically a mean cow. It went against the kindness that her mum had taught her as a child. If she could extend kindness to her father who didn’t deserve it, she should’ve been able to be kind to someone she’d just had sex with. After the best fucking orgasm she’d had in months, she’d wanted to keep Crystal close, to ask her to stay the night—which she never wanted—and so it’d seemed obvious that she needed to put an end to things immediately.

Crystal wasn’t out to her family, and Augie didn’t want to go down that road again. Didn’t want to be hurt as she was kept hidden, forced to pretend that they were just friends. Never again. Instinctually, she’d known she had to throw Crystal out before it happened again. She refused to be someone’s dirty little secret.

“What’s the matter?” Lottie asked. Her cousin had dropped by, apparently to see how her toe was healing, or so she said, but it was more likely to check in on her given she hadn’t answered her phone since the Crystal incident.

“Nothing.”

“Augie. I know you and something is wrong.”

Augie swallowed. “Fine. I think I’m feeling guilty?”

“Oh. That’s not like you. What did you do?”

Augie closed her eyes. “You are going to think I’m cruel.”

“Obviously you think you’ve been cruel. That’s the only reason you’d say that.” Lottie raised one eyebrow.

“Yeah, fine.” Augie sighed because Lottie was right.

“What did you do?”

“Remember Crystal?”

Lottie’s face scrunched up. “From the market stall; Sweet Spot? Yes, I remember the way you looked at her. What did you do?” This time, Lottie’s voice was filled with accusation and Augie cringed.

“I think I fucked up.”

“You think, or you know?”

Augie growled. “You are the most annoying cousin in the whole world. Just because you are three years older than me, doesn’t make you any wiser!”

“Don’t go blaming me when you know you fucked up. Go and apologise.” Lottie grabbed her by the shoulders. “I mean it. It doesn’t matter if you want to never see her again or if you do. You fucked up, you apologise. That’s what makes you different to our fathers.”

Augie swallowed. Lottie had the truth of it. She didn’t want to be like her father, always blaming someone else for everything and never taking responsibility for his actions. And why had she leapt to the assumption that being with Crystal meant she’d end up back in the same circle of being hidden again? After three days of over-analysis, she couldn’t remember why she’d been so adamant about that need to push Crystal away before it became just like Shelley all over again. The intensity of that feeling that night had been slowly replaced by shame at her own actions. “Fine.”

“Come on.” Lottie picked up her car keys and jangled them.

“Now?” Augie’s heart skipped a beat. It was one thing to know she needed to do something and quite another to rush into it, or was she just being like her father and avoiding accountability. The rolling of her gut didn’t help aid her with clarification.

“When else are you going to do it? It’s not like you have anything else pressing to do right now.” Lottie held up one finger. “You feel bad about something you did. There’s only one thing for it. Apologise. And quickly.”

“Okay?”

“Not okay. Yes. Once the apology is done and the air is cleared, then you have time to work out what you want next.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

Lottie laughed. “Yeah, nah. Nothing about people is easy. Communication is hard. That’s why you have to jump right in and sort it out before complicating things further.”

Augie wished it was as simple as fixing a technical issue with her batting. She could watch herself on a video and see that she was stepping across her stumps too far, or whatever, and then fix that. Fixing this problem would involve a lot of explanation and she wasn’t sure she wanted to go down that road. Again.

“Okay. Let’s do this.” She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. Why was dealing with feelings so bloody hard?

Chapter 11

C rystal packed up her stall for the night. With only a few days until Christmas, the markets were open late every night. Between working late every night and the silence from Augie, Crystal wanted this week to be over so she could collapse on her couch and binge something dark and violent to escape from everything. The veneer of joy painted over everything Christmas related was like a shiny apple that was rotten on the inside. People buying gifts out of obligation. General negativity threatened to infuse everything and damn it, no. She wasn’t going to let one bad experience—one confusing experience—colour everything with darkness.

“Crystal?”

She spun around. Augie stood there, wearing a loose white singlet top that showed off her arms, and denim shorts with her muscular short legs on display. The moonboot looked uncomfortable as she stood mostly on the other leg, leaning slightly, and Crystal felt a pang of empathy.

“I’m really sorry.”

Crystal blinked. “For throwing me out of your house immediately after you came?”

A snort filled the air. “Augie. You didn’t tell me you did that. You’d better grovel.” It was Augie’s cousin.

“It’s why I’m here.” Augie hissed at her cousin. “I’m really sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” She didn’t really accept it, not without an explanation. “Why did you do that?”

Augie’s expression tightened and she glanced sideways. “It was a one night stand. I thought we agreed.”

Her cousin coughed again and Augie twisted to glare at her. “Fine. I had a bad experience once and you reminded me of that.”

“So you just threw me out without so much as a goodbye? Because of someone else?” Crystal tried to stop her voice rising but failed. It wasn’t fair. She’d assumed she’d done something wrong and now Augie’s confession made her realise it wasn’t her at all.

“When you put it like that, it doesn’t seem great.” For once, Augie looked at her.

“It’s hardly fair to blame me for someone else’s actions.” Crystal folded her arms and glared at Augie.

“No. You’re right. It was shitty of me and I’m sorry.”

Crystal wasn’t sure what to do. Understanding what happened didn’t exactly make it hurt less. “What now?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I suppose that’s honest enough.”

Augie placed both hands on the table and leaned towards her. “I’m trying to be honest here. Maybe too brutal, but honest.”

“Are you sure about that?” Crystal wanted to walk away from Augie, and her shop, and she wished Holly was around because she needed a friend to talk to.

Augie shook her head. “I wasn’t supposed to get any feelings for you. It was supposed to be a one night stand.”

“Are you blaming me for your feelings?” Crystal couldn’t believe the audacity.

“No. You aren’t out, and I can’t do that again.”

Crystal unfolded her arms and stared at Augie as if she’d sprouted another head. “What are you talking about? I’m not out to my parents, but I am to everyone else. Your cousin—” She pointed to Lottie who was busily pretending to look at Holly’s stall next door. “—knows I’m queer. I came to your cricket with you.”

“But your family?”

“My parents are quite religious, and they have a love the sinner but not the sin policy.”

“What would happen? Would they be awful?” Augie stood up straight.

Crystal shrugged to hide the way she breathed out slowly. “I don’t know. Honestly, they’d probably just ignore it and treat us like friends. I’m twenty-eight and have my own place. My own life. It’s not that important anymore.” It wasn’t that important. She gasped. It was, because she wanted to be liked and accepted by her parents, but what were they going to do? Stop inviting her to Christmas lunch? She had an independent life that she’d built for herself.

“I’m not going to ask you to tell them just for me.”

Crystal growled; irritated by the rampaging emotional shifts in this conversation. “Why would I? I thought it was just a one night stand.” She was about to turn away and continue packing up her stall when Lottie threw her arm around Augie.

“This is a lot of feelings for a one night stand. My cousin has always been scared of her feelings.”

“Lottie.”

“Crystal. I’m sorry.” Augie pushed Lottie’s arm off her shoulder and walked away. Abruptly. Well, at least she was consistent. Crystal sat down, staring at Augie’s spine as she disappeared into the crowd. At least she knew it wasn’t something she’d done wrong. It all still sucked though.

An hour later, the markets closed and she finished locking up her stall. She grabbed her trolley and began walking to her van. Soon she’d be home and she could collapse.

“Crystal.” Augie appeared from nowhere, giving her a fright that shot down her spine. Augie placed her hand on the trolley, their little fingers brushing against each other. “Let me help.”

“It’s fine. I’ve got it.”

Augie let go and walked beside her for a few steps, then cleared her throat. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

“You want to talk?”

“Yes. I’ve avoided this twice and I don’t think that’s a healthy pattern.”

Twice? Whatever. “Thank you for apologising. I appreciate it, but I think that’s enough for now.”

“So we can’t talk?” Augie blinked a couple of times and damn it, Crystal wasn’t going to feel anything or assume anything. Mostly she just wanted to sleep. After stressing for three days that she’d done something wrong, and now coming to terms with the idea that it wasn’t her at all, was an exhausting switch.

She wanted some time to process it all first. “Yes, but not now. I’m tired.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Text me.” She arrived at her van and unlocked it. Augie helped her unpack the trolley and load it into the van. Working together in silence was nice and when they were done, Crystal glanced in her rearview mirror as she drove off and saw Augie do an awkward little wave. Her heart clenched. Why did Augie leave her feeling so mushy inside? Should she forgive her for throwing her out now that she knew Augie was scared? And why did that scare her too?

Chapter 12

C hristmas Eve was the worst day to ask Holly to watch her stall for an hour while she had lunch with Augie. Curiosity to hear what Augie had to say overruled any concerns of the star cricket player’s selfishness, or her own selfishness in asking Holly for a favour, and besides, Holly had told her not to be silly. It was the type of thing they often did for each other. Crystal had been slammed all morning, selling out of all her thyme infused honey and all the chocolate mistletoe. Even some of her harder to sell stock had started to sell as the markets flooded with last minute shoppers looking for something to get for that person on their list who had everything. She should’ve said no or pushed the lunch until after Christmas when things wouldn’t be so busy.

“Hey Crystal, my sister will be here in about ten minutes if you want to leave early.” Holly called out from next door. The two stalls were close enough to touch.

“Your sister?”

“Yeah, she’s going to help with my stall while I run yours.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

Holly smiled. “It’s what friends do. You’d do the same for me if Baxter wanted to take me to lunch.”

“I would.” The nerves in her stomach settled from a riot into a mere stampede. She had a friend on her side and that helped. She had to deal with a few more customers before Holly’s sister arrived, and then Holly waved her off to her lunch. It was only a short walk to the restaurant Augie had chosen.

Augie was already seated when she walked in, with her black hair swept back off her face, and wearing tailored pants and a neatly ironed blouse that, unfortunately, hid her tattoos.

“Crystal. I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

“I said I would.” It was simple.

“Shall we order?”

“Last night you were so keen to talk to me, and now you are avoiding it again by ordering?” Crystal suddenly wanted to get this done with and be gone. Augie had let her think she’d done something wrong, when all along it was Augie avoiding her own problems and blaming Crystal for it. Crystal shouldn’t have let herself care so much. Was she just going to get hurt again?

“Okay, that’s a fair call. Well, my cousin says that I should leap right in and stop avoiding it. So here goes.” Augie picked up the glass of water and drank, her hand shaking a little. Crystal almost reached up to touch her and calm her but stopped herself.

“I should never have thrown you out. Not at all, and not the way I did. I messed up really badly.”

“You made me feel like it was my fault.”

“Oh, fuck no, I’m so sorry. You did nothing wrong. It was me.” Augie breathed in deep. “God, the way my mum crucified me when I told her. She said I would deserve if you saw it as a glaring red flag.”

“I don’t.” Crystal hadn’t considered that aspect and of course the immediate doubt was whether she should, but no, Augie’s cousin had teased her for being scared and that made much more sense than any other interpretation. “I was mostly just very confused at your abruptness and I couldn’t work out what had happened.”

“It wasn’t you. Being with you was amazing—”

“You didn’t make me feel amazing.”

Augie flushed. “I’m so sorry. I really just barged into your life and then pushed you away just as fast, didn’t I?”

“What do you mean barged in?”

“Mum says that I shouldn’t have invited you to the cricket. That it was me showing off and I should’ve thought about you more and taken you to something you wanted to do instead.”

“Was it?”

Augie sighed. “Showing off? Maybe a little. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m a bit of an intense person.”

“Intense doesn’t mean you can just discard someone though.” Crystal was still hurt and if there were any red flags here, it was Augie using her ambition and drive to excuse her behaviour.

“No, it doesn’t. I’m a fool. I wanted to reach out and apologise and now I’m being defensive and making it worse.”

Crystal shook her head. “Are you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve thought about this so much and talked to Mum and Lottie and I’m so confused about everything, and now I’m dumping on you which isn’t fair because I hurt you and why should you act like my therapist?”

“Why don’t you just tell me what you told them? If you are going to analyse your behaviour with other people, why not let me know why you treated me like that?” Crystal believed in second chances, she believed in trying to understand someone else’s point of view, and even now when she’d been hurt, she was curious enough and empathetic enough to want to understand what had happened. Because, if she truly honest with herself, she kept clinging to the hope that Augie’s cousin was right and Augie was scared about feeling too much for Crystal. Because if that was true, then her own big feelings weren’t alone. It was more than the extreme chemistry—even now still flickering between them making the air electric—it was something deeper that fascinated her about Augie.

“A few years ago I had a girlfriend, Shelley, who wasn’t out. At all. At first it was exciting, but it quickly became tiring. I became frustrated with never being able to be spontaneous around her, never touching her in case someone was watching, and soon I felt like I was a dirty secret.”

“I’m sorry. That must’ve been very difficult.” Crystal wanted to protest that she wouldn’t be like that. It was only her parents she hadn’t told and mostly because she was worried that they would be awkward once they knew. She wanted to protect the relationship they had now. She gasped.

“Why did you gasp? Did I do something wrong again?”

“I’ve just realised that by not telling my parents to protect the relationship we have now is silly. It’s based on avoiding the truth.”

“Are you going to tell them?”

“Yes. I should’ve done it years ago. But this isn’t my story. I’m so sorry that your girlfriend made you feel that way.”

Augie nodded. “That isn’t the worst of it.”

“Oh? She threw you out right after the best orgasm of your life? You thought you’d seek revenge by doing that to someone else.”

Augie leaned forward and cupped Crystal’s cheeks. “I really hurt you, didn’t I?”

“Yes.” Crystal didn’t like how her voice wobbled. “It wasn’t fair to do that and let me think I’d done something wrong.”

“I really am sorry and I’m doing a terrible job of explaining why.”

“I thought you just did.”

Augie brushed her thumb over Crystal’s bottom lip. “Can you forgive me?”

Crystal wanted to say yes. “I don’t know. Is running away when things get hard, or pushing people away to avoid talking it ...” She sniffed. “Is that going to be a pattern?”

Augie frowned. “Maybe it already is? Soon after the Shelley drama, and it felt like a drama, one that I was a reluctant participant in, well, anyway, soon after that, I moved to Sydney.”

“I thought that was for your career.”

“It was, but now you have me wondering. Did I run towards something or away from something?”

Crystal shrugged at the rhetorical question, waiting for Augie to figure it out, and as she sipped her water, reminding herself that it wasn’t up to her to solve Augie’s problems for her, a connection made her gulp down her water too fast and she tried not to choke awkwardly.

“Shelley Davis? Medium sized, plump, long brown hair?”

“Yeah, she’s white with hazel eyes and freckles across her nose. Amazing curves.”

Crystal laughed, but it came out more like a snort, because Augie certainly had a type if Shelley was anything to go by, and instead of the realisation making her feel weird, Crystal finally understood that Augie had been telling the truth when she liked Crystal’s round stomach and plump wobbly backside. “She’s in my queer movie club.”

“Still hiding in the dark then.”

“Augie!” Crystal laughed. “That’s funny, but it’s a bit mean.”

“She hurt me.”

Crystal gulped. “And you hurt me.”

Augie squeezed Crystal’s hand. “Once and never again. Shelley hurt me over and over, like I had to supress myself because she was doing that to herself, and then being with you was so incredible that I could see myself wanting to do that all over again. I would change myself for you and hide for you, and that scared the absolute fuck out of me, so I pushed you away before I could begin to go through that again.”

“I don’t want you to change for me. I liked watching you work at the game, how you love it so intensely and how confident you were on camera, and how much respect people have for you. It’s like when people buy my sweets then come back for more. I know I’ve done a good job and created something that made them happy. You are happy when you are at the cricket and I’m glad you showed that to me.”

Augie swallowed, then pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I’m a blubbering mess over the idea that you enjoyed my weird selfish date.”

Crystal’s heart did a million little flips in her chest and she reached up and brushed her thumb under Augie’s eye. “It wasn’t selfish. It was amazing. I had a wonderful time, all the way until you threw me out.”

“God, you aren’t going to let me forget that, are you?”

Crystal sighed. “Do you want to forget it, move on and pretend it never happened, while I sit here with the scar?” As much as her heart ached for Augie, she also needed to know how to go on from here. She couldn’t be with someone who dismissed her feelings and avoided responsibility for her actions, and well, didn’t that suck, because she really wanted to be with Augie. Her answer was going to be the deal breaker, wasn’t it?

Chapter 13

A ugie knew Crystal had a good point because it reinforced what her mum and Lottie had both said. “No. I’m not going to forget my own actions. I’m going to take accountability for them. I really fucked up and left you hurt, and it would completely unfair to expect you to move on.”

“Thank you.”

“My mum always says that the real apology comes with changed behaviour. Everyone makes mistakes, it’s how you fix them that matters.”

Crystal nodded, and then she winked, with a little blush painting her cheeks. “Does this mean we should sleep together again and this time you won’t panic and throw me out?”

Hope flared in Augie’s chest, along with the delight that Crystal could smile about this and tease her. “I’m not sure I deserve such a second chance right away, but I’m going to practice not running away from hard feelings.”

“I do like that intention.” Crystal picked up the menu. “Should we order?”

Augie nodded and read the menu, realising the Crystal probably needed a bit of time to think. After they’d ordered, Augie relaxed a little. Crystal was so lovely, she couldn’t believe she’d panicked and assumed she’d behave just like Shelley.

“Tassie is so small. I’m not surprised you know Shelley.” She probably shouldn’t dig for more, but she was human and curious and wanted to know if Shelley was still the same. She didn’t regret moving on from her, their whole thing had become quite unhealthy by the end.

“We aren’t really in the same circle of friends, she has a really tight-knit group of friends at the movie club.”

“Want to hear my very Tassie story?” Augie leaned forward, suddenly needing to change the subject and not hear about Shelley. It had been silly to be curious because it just reminded her of all those old feelings and she really, really needed to stop projecting that hurt onto Crystal, who nodded in response to her question.

“I first met my father when I was nearly fifteen. I’d just made the under fifteen Australia team, and this white man with my last name walked up to me at training and introduced himself.”

“What? Like from nowhere?”

“I know right. Weird as fuck thing to do. I rushed over to Mum who came to all my training sessions and she confirmed it. Said he’d gotten bald since she last saw him.” Augie remembered how creepy it had been, to have a strange man turn up to training and chat to the other parents as if he belonged. Later, Mum had told her that one of the other parents had asked if they should call security because he gave that parent such weird vibes. But this was a story about Lottie, not her biological donor. “I knew the story about what he’d done to Mum, of course, so I didn’t want him there, but Mum said I should meet his family before I decided. I wasn’t keen. Mum was enough family for me.”

“Did you go?”

“Yes, and I met Lottie, my cousin. She’s three years older than me. We went to the same school and spent our whole time telling people we were no relation, the same last name was just a coincidence. I mean look at us.”

Crystal giggled. “You do look quite different.”

“Yes and no. Obviously I’m much browner than her, but we have the same height and shape and weirdly our mothers are both ... well, let’s just say that the brothers had a certain type.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

Augie rolled her eyes because she’d heard all the annoying jokes about how small and incestuous Tasmania could be. “It’s such a Tassie thing, to go to school with my cousin and not even know, but we are good friends now, so something good came of all that mess.”

“And you. You came from that mess.”

“I’m a good thing?”

“I think so.” Augie wanted to reassure Crystal but it felt too soon given the way she’d already run away too many times.

“But I pushed you away when I had too many feelings.”

“Yeah, that part wasn’t great, but here we are. Talking about it all.”

Augie snorted. “Talking around it. I know that I fucked up. I wanted more than a one night stand and it scared the fuck out of me, so I pushed you away with a pitiful excuse to avoid feeling scared. If ... I told myself ... If I convinced myself that you would want me to hide, to be the dirty little secret, then I wouldn’t have to confront the way you made.” She shook her head quickly. “The way you make me feel.”

“Oh.”

“I think, if I’m totally honest, that I want to have a relationship with you. If you’ll have me and all my issues.”

Crystal started to nod, then stopped. “Maybe.”

“That’s fair. I’d be cautious too. I haven’t exactly been great so far.” Augie was saved from having to go over it all again as their food arrived, saving her from dwelling on the same point again, but maybe dwelling was what she needed to do. She certainly needed to stop running away whenever her gut clenched like this. Her salmon poke bowl met all the criteria that her nutrition team would be happy with, and bonus, it tasted good too, but damn if Crystal’s lamb pie with that flaky pastry didn’t also look amazing.

“Let’s do this. Date me on one condition.” Crystal dabbed at her lips with her napkin, and Augie wanted to kiss the buttery shine left behind.

“Anything.”

“Careful. I might ask for more than you bargained for.” Crystal’s little cheeky jests were becoming Augie’s favourite thing. She loved how she teased and kept her off balance when she didn’t expect it. It was probably good for her to be teased by someone to prevent her being too intense all the time.

“Would you?”

“Unlikely, but what if I asked you to meet my parents and be with me when I come out to them?”

“You’d do that?” Augie frowned. “Don’t do it for me.”

“I’d be doing it for me, not you. It’s well past time that I was honest with them.”

Augie smiled, while her insides ran riot inside. “It’s the best reason to do something as big as that. And yes, I’ll be there for you. No more running away when I have big feelings.”

Crystal smiled back and reached out to hold Augie’s hand. “If you try to do that, I’ll promise never to hide you away. Let’s be open and out together.”

“I’m totally going to kiss you on tv one day.” Augie gripped Crystal’s hand hard. It seemed so incredible that this sweet curvaceous woman wanted to be out and proud with her. That she would give her a second chance, and Augie was going to be fucking sure she didn’t fuck it up again.

“Yes please.”

Augie held her hands and Crystal’s face lit up in a huge smile. It felt like a promise of a good future together. Could this really become her real life?

Chapter 14

T wo weeks later, Crystal had talked and talked with Augie about how she almost told her parents on Christmas Day and then they dragged her to midnight mass and all the talk of sinners made her pause. Augie was, surprisingly, supportive. They’d been to several queer events together, and held hands in public, so it wasn’t like Crystal was hiding and she was paying attention to when Augie felt anxious about being hidden. But now New Years had come and gone and her shop was quieter for a while, and Augie’s toe was almost healed, it was time for Augie to head back to Sydney. They’d hadn’t really talked about that yet because there was a bigger thing they had to do first.

“Are you ready?” Augie pressed a kiss to Crystal’s forehead and she sighed softly.

“I don’t know. I feel like we’ve talked about this so much and now it’s here, and I’m still worried about how they will react. What if their love is only conditional?”

Augie kissed her again, holding her cheeks gently. “Then we deal with that together.”

Crystal’s stomach twisted and a weird awkward giggle escaped from her throat. “When did we become such stereotypical u-haul lesbians?”

Augie barked out a laugh, dropping her hands. “Fuck. Just because we had a three day long first date..."

"Second date."

"Yeah, details, whatever, and then I've essentially moved in here and we have leapt to commitment almost immediately... nah, no stereotype there.”

Crystal leaned her head against Augie’s hard shoulder. “No, you’re right. We are nothing like that.” The giggles erupted fully, and she laughed, loving the way Augie joined in, but then a tear leaked down her cheek and what was all this emotion? Augie swept it away with her thumb.

“Oh darling, it’s going to be alright.”

“Are you sure? I’ve avoided this conversation with them for 28 years for a reason.”

“You knew you were a lesbian from the moment you were born?” Augie’s teasing changed the dramatic way her heart was beating and she gently shoved her.

“Shut up. You know what I mean.”

Augie kissed her again. “I do. You’ve been carrying this weight for a long time, hiding who you are from the people who were the most important to you.”

Crystal swallowed. “Well, that’s not helping.” Except it was because parents were supposed to love their kids unconditionally, and it was beyond time that she told them who she really was, and she couldn’t protect the relationship anymore by lying to them. “It’s their choice, isn’t it?”

“To continue loving you? Yes. If they’d rather put their God ahead of their daughter, or their ego before you, then ...” Augie sighed.

“Then what?”

“I don’t know. I just can’t imagine anyone not loving you.”

Crystal’s body flushed with warmth and cold, all competing with each other, racing over her skin, because she didn’t want to lose her parent’s love and oh fuck, oh fuck, did Augie mean she loved Crystal? Wasn’t it far too soon?

“Let’s go. I need to get this done.” Crystal stood up and brushed down her dress.

“You look lovely.” Augie grabbed her phone and handed it to her, and walked to the front door. She was wearing the same dress shorts that she’d worn on their first date, the one at the cricket when she’d been on telly. And damn if they didn’t cling to her arse in just the perfect way.

“Come on.” Augie looked back over her shoulder and Crystal remembered that she needed to move her legs to get in the car. They drove in silence, all ten minutes down the road to the home she’d grown up in.

She knocked, even though she still had a key, but she was bringing a date and she didn’t want to just walk into her parent’s home when she might not be welcome at the end of the day.

“Come in.” Her mother, stick thin and elegantly dressed, threw open the door. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting your new man ever since you asked if you could bring someone for lunch.”

Crystal cleared her throat. “About that. I’d like you to meet Augustine Colby.”

Her mother frowned. “This is a lot of fuss for just a friend. I thought we were going to meet the man you are dating.”

Crystal really didn’t want to do this on the front step, but then, Augie rested her hand gently on the base of her spine. “I am dating Augie.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They are lesbians, Sue. What’s so hard to understand about that?” Her dad’s voice rang down the hallway, and Crystal could feel Augie’s hand shaking. She didn’t want to glance at her in case they both got the giggles.

"Can we please come in?” Crystal couldn’t believe she managed to sound so calm.

“Come in.” Her dad bellowed, and so they all came inside. He was standing in the kitchen, deep frying zucchini flowers.

“But I thought Crystal was bringing a man.”

“Sue.” The exasperation in his voice was so familiar that Crystal smiled. “Before your mother found God, she had a wider group of friends, some of whom were queer.”

Her mother coughed. “Well, that is true. I even knew a lesbian once, but I really thought you were bringing a man and it’s thrown me a bit.”

“It’s not Crystal’s fault that she said she was bringing a date, and you immediately jumped to husband material.” Her dad was on fire today.

“Hi, I’m Augie. Yes, we are dating, no it’s not serious yet. I’m so pleased to meet you.”

“Hello. I’m George. And you’ve met Sue.”

“You had a lesbian friend, Mum?” Crystal was hung up on that. She couldn’t picture her mother with any friends outside of her church group.

“Several. We were hippies once. Why do you think you are named Crystal?”

Augie grinned. “It does seem like a strange choice for someone so invested in Christianity.”

Her mum blinked. “And what are you?”

“Excuse me?” Augie stared at her.

“Religion I mean, obviously you are a... Oh, I’m making a mess of this, aren’t I?”

Augie smiled, softer than Crystal had expected. “A little, but it’s okay. We’ve kind of dumped a lot of information on you.”

“Your name is familiar.” Crystal’s dad tilted his head, as if trying to puzzle out something.

“I’m on the Australian women’s cricket team. So if you watch cricket, you’ve probably heard of me.”

Her dad nodded. “Of course. You were presenting at the game the other day.”

“Yes. Crystal was with me.”

“You went to sport?” Her dad raised his eyebrows. “Crystal gets her sporting ability from me, so unfortunately nothing, but I do love watching, and it’s something I couldn’t get her into.”

“Maybe I’ll start watching now. Just for Augie.” Crystal felt the need to say something outrageous to get this conversation back on track, but it was also so lovely to see her dad just accept her without question. Her mum was still radiating tension, but it wasn’t as bad as she’d been worried about.

“Don’t you play for The Mighty Cherries in Sydney? Why are you here?” her dad asked.

“My mum lives here. I grew up here, and I broke my toe, so I’ve been home doing rehab.”

“I suppose you are going to leave us and go to Sydney with her.” Crystal’s mum spoke up, and the comment left Crystal feeling a little winded. Did she accept her now?

“Maybe I will.” Crystal knew it was too early to make that type of decision, but she wanted to start making decisions for herself, and stop doing what her parents thought she ought to do. They already disapproved of her sweet shop.

“It might be good for you to spend time with an athlete, rather than cooking all that terrible sugar all the time.”

And there is was, the not so subtle fat shaming. Her mother barely ate to avoid getting fat, but Crystal refused to give up her hobby for the sake of her body.

“What are you talking about? Crystal is an artist. Have you seen her incredible creations? And they are so clever and funny. My dad loved his little jar of thyme-infused honey.” Augie’s eyes—intense at the best of times—latched onto Crystal’s mother’s face and her mother actually took a step backward.

“But it’s so bad for her figure.”

“What are you talking about? Crystal is beautiful. She’s perfect the way she is and I don’t want her to change.”

“I agree, but only because she inherited my figure.” Her dad waved at his own body.

“Stop it. You know I love you, you cuddly bear.”

Crystal just about fell over at her mother’s comment. “Oh, so it’s okay to be annoyed at my figure but you love his?”

“Well, you are a woman. We get judged by a different standard, and I didn’t want you to suffer.”

“Weird way of showing it.”

“I happen to like the way Crystal looks.”

Her mother made a face that looked like she’s just eaten a lemon, and then shook her head. “Where did I go wrong?”

“Mum, I’ve been a lesbian for as long as I can remember. It’s nothing you did. And I clearly got my genetics from Dad, so unless you are going to blame yourself for marrying him, then I don’t understand the comment.”

“For as long as you can remember?”

“From when she was a baby, that’s what she told me.” Augie winked and this time, Crystal did giggle. Then the timer went off on the oven and the tension in the room dissipated a little, and her dad served the lunch. The lunch was fine, just the usual chit chat, catching up on Dad’s job as head chef at one of the hotels in Hobart, and hearing about Mum’s church group and their volunteering.

As they drove home, Augie asked how she felt and Crystal shrugged. “I think it was okay. They weren't terrible, and who knew that Mum was a hippy once?”

“Yeah, I think it went quite well. Your dad is a riot.”

“He’s quite good for Mum. She gets so anxious and he teases her.”

“They are lesbians, Sue.” Augie imitated him. “Oh my God, I thought I was going to die from trying not to laugh. So good.”

“Yeah.” Crystal breathed in. “Yeah, it was good, wasn’t it?” Maybe it would take her mum a while to fully accept her, but the initial coming out hadn’t been as bad as she’d been worried about. And having Augie by her side – it was worth waiting 28 years for.

Chapter 15

L ottie and Matteo’s wedding: Six months later.

“Love, love, love.” The singer crooned as Augie swung Crystal around the dance floor. Crystal had outdone herself in a fantastic flowing light blue gown, while Augie had opted for a tailored suit with a blouse in the same blue.

“It’s easy.” Augie pulled Crystal closer as she sang along. She ignored the lyrics. “The last six months have been easy. Who knew that all I had to do was learn to communicate properly and not ignore uncomfortable feelings?”

“Who knew, indeed.” Crystal giggled, then kissed her on the forehead. “To many more months of talking about things that make you uncomfortable and then kissing you better afterwards.”

“Are you admitting that you like caring for me?”

Crystal rolled her eyes. “You know I do. And one day that toenail will finally grow all the way back.”

“It’s not my fault that I knocked it in England. You liked that trip.”

“Yes, being a wag suited me, but I was also happy to be home in my shop.”

Augie swung her around again, laughing at the way Crystal’s mouth parted in faux shock. “Stop looking like that. I know you like my arms.”

“Like. No. I love your arms, just as I love you.”

Augie did too and if she said it now, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d admitted it. “Ha ha, someone has wedding fever.”

“We are dancing at your cousin’s wedding, listening to love songs. Forgive me for being sappy while my girlfriend twirls me around.”

“Your girlfriend?” Augie winked, teasing.

“Would you like me to steal the singer’s microphone and tell the whole room that I’m so freaking lucky to have an Australian Test player as my girlfriend?”

Augie didn’t need that because Crystal had been true to her word all those months ago. “Don’t you dare. This is Lottie’s wedding and we will not take any of her limelight.”

Crystal kissed her. On the mouth. On the dancefloor in front of all the guests; even Crystal’s parents and Augie’s mum who’d been invited. Both Augie’s father and Lottie’s father had only been invited to the ceremony, not the reception.

It was the perfect kiss. Never hidden. Their love on display for all to witness.

“I bloody love you.”

“I know. You told me that just this morning as you came.”

“Crystal!” Her girlfriend had thrived these last six months, growing into herself with a new freedom and confidence. The rest of their life was going to be amazing, like they’d hit the sweet spot and sent it out of the park, just like the six she’d hit to win the Ashes a few weeks ago.

***

I f you enjoyed this book, you’ll love the last one in the series, FINE LEG, which will be released in 2026. Go back to the beginning of the series with MAIDEN OVER.

Two bowlers on rival teams. One broken thumb. One fake date at a wedding.

Bronwyn Skilton would rather be anywhere but at her cousin’s wedding. When was she going to learn to say no to her toxic family? When she ends up seated beside her rival Stacey Carringer on the plane to Sydney, Bron blurts out a foolish solution. Well, it was hardly her fault that Stacey was so bloody gorgeous that it melted her brain.

Agreeing to be Bron’s fake date to a family wedding was not Stacey’s smartest move. She’d had a crush on the older pace bowler forever, and had nearly asked Bron to sign her cast after Bron broke her thumb in their last game. Embarrassing.

The wedding should’ve been awkward. Instead, it leaves Bron bruised and Stacey filled with admiration. And love? No, this was supposed to be fake. When did these real feelings happen?

***

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Ackno wledgements

I pay my respects to the Durag people, whose land this novella was written on. I recognise and respect Darug cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land.

Thank you to all my friends in the writing community and in real life who listen to me as I navigate this new phase of my life, and help me brainstorm how to fix plot holes!

Author Notes

No notes, just vibes. If you need a how-to guide on the sport of cricket, there is one in the freebie that comes when you sign up for my newsletter. With four kids who play cricket, two at grade level, I spend most of my summers sitting in parks under trees watching them play, or scoring games. I love the rhythm of the game and the way it creates the most hilarious scenarios. Seriously, there is no game like cricket for the unusual situations that can happen on the oval.

All Books by Renée Dahlia

Thanks for reading SWEET SPOT. I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought. If you write a review for SWEET SPOT and email me (renee at reneedahlia dot com) with the link, I will send you a free copy of one of my books of your choice.

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Historical (Victorian): BLUESTOCKINGS

The Shipwrecked Earl's Bride (Prequel) - wm: A Spanish fisherman's daughter might be the best wife for a banished Earl.

To Charm a Bluestocking (#1) - wm: She wants to be one of the world’s first female doctors; romance is not in her plans.

In Pursuit of a Bluestocking (#2) - wm: When he goes hunting a thief, he never expects to catch a bluestocking...

The Heart of a Bluestocking (#3) - wm: When an uncommon lawyer meets an unusual doctor, their story must be extraordinary...

Historical (Regency): SWAIN COVE (2024)

The Spy's Second Chance (#1) - mm:

The Pirate's Willing Captive (#2) - wlw: A Regency Lady. An Unlikely Pirate. A Kidnapping

The Duke's Secret Bargain (#3) - mm:

Historical (Regency): RENT A RAKE (2025)

A Duke's Wager - mm: How does a wager with Prinny over a horse end in kisses with a Duke?

An Earl's Bet - mm: Was agreeing to a bet with a chaotic bisexual poet a good idea?

A Lord's Chance - mm: Is it worth taking a chance to discover his past? Or will it risk everything?

A Rake's Gamble - mm: Desiring your enemy might just be the greatest gamble of all.

Historical (Victorian): KISSES AND KILTS (2023-2026)

The Wistful Wallflower (#1) - wm: 2023

The Contentious Companion (#2) - wm: 2025

The Defiant Debutante (#3) - wm: 2026

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Also by Renee Dahlia

BeST

Count Me In

Strum Me Hard

Tune Me Up

Bisexual Sing Team

Cricket Slam

Sweet Spot (Coming Soon)

Desiring The Dexingtons

Love Wasn't Built In A Day

The Secret Life of Spinsters

The Highwayman's Surprise Bride

The Summer of Second Chances

The Widow's Modiste

Gamble Racing

Driven To Distraction

Driven By Passion

Driven By Ambition

Driven To Protect

Great War

Her Lady's Melody

Her Lady's Fortune

His Lord's Soldier

Kapow

Out of Her League

His Buxom Beauty

Craving His Spotlight

Her Pregnant Rival

Seraph's Burlesque Club

Show Up

Show Off

Show Queen

Show Time

Show Dance

Swain Cove

The Pirate's Willing Captive

Standalone

The Shipwrecked Earl's Bride

Watch for more at Renee Dahlia’s site .