Playing By Her Rules (Sydney Smoke Rugby Series) by Amy Andrews

laughing, his hand splayed over his flat belly.
    “ Gran !” she chastised, shooting an annoyed glance at Tanner.
    “What?” Hannah dismissed in good humour. “You’re not teenagers anymore, dear. Don’t have to mind my p’s and q’s these days.”
    Tanner managed to wrangle himself back under control. “Was I that transparent, Mrs. K?”
    “Of course, sweetie.” She beamed. “Now, this is probably twenty minutes away from being done. Would you like a beer?”
    Matilda barely registered the flow of conversation after that, as Tanner and her grandmother caught up on old times, bantering over roast pork while she tried to regain her balance. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to pan out. This was her turf. She was supposed to feel in control here. But with her grandmother practically pimping her out to Tanner in the hopes of great-grandbabies, Matilda felt all at sea.
    Frankly, she was relieved to be shooed outside after lunch to sit on the small undercover porch with Tanner while her grandmother made them cups of tea. That was until she spied the old shed standing where it always had, in pretty good shape considering how old it was.
    Tanner, who was standing at the wooden balustrade, looking out over Hannah’s still extensive veggie garden, turned suddenly. “I remember that shed,” he said, a smile playing on his wicked mouth and creasing his sexy face, emphasising the broken angle of his nose.
    Matilda was pleased she’d already taken a chair as her legs trembled and her belly looped the loop. She set her gaze on the row of snow peas creeping all over a wire frame in the middle of the garden, as her cheeks flamed. She couldn’t have held his gaze even if she’d wanted to, now the state of his balls and how they’d relieved them all those years ago was back front and centre.
    “Looks like you do, too,” he grinned.
    Grinned like the thing that ended their relationship hadn’t happened. How could he act as if the good times were all there were between them, and not be ashamed at what he’d done?
    Had she really meant that little to him?
    They could have gone on to have so many more of those times. Hell, maybe they could still have been together.
    Matilda took a couple of deep breaths, determined to bury the kernel of hurt that pulsed inside her. She cleared her throat to change the subject, but then Tanner lounged against the top rail and almost toppled off the patio into the cement-edged petunia bed below when the balustrade gave away.
    “ Tanner!” Matilda’s pulse leaped as she sprang out of her chair, reaching for him as he flailed for a beat or two before grabbing the nearby post and righting himself. “Are you all right?” she gasped as she grabbed his arm.
    “Yes,” he assured her, looking behind him. It was only about a foot drop, but Matilda supposed when you were one of the highest paid rugby players in the country, any potential for injury was to be avoided at all costs.
    Hannah wandered out with a tray as Tanner crouched down to inspect the damage to the railing. “Oh, dear,” she said, putting the tray down. “That’s been a bit wobbly for a while now.”
    “Gran, why didn’t you tell me? I could have got someone around to get it fixed.”
    Dear God, what if Gran had fallen into the garden bed? She could have broken her hip or smacked her head and be lying there for days, seeing as how she refused to wear the medical-alert device Matilda had purchased for her.
    “I’m perfectly capable of making my own arrangements, thank you, girlie. I even bought some paint a few months back to give it a bit of a facelift, but I rarely sit out here these days, so it always slips my mind.”
    “No worries,” Tanner said, standing. “The wood’s rotted all the way along, though. But that’s easily replaced. Can’t be more than a few meters. Have you got a tape measure?”
    “Only a seamstress one. Not the retractable ones that builders have.”
    “That’ll do,” he assured