by Aria Ford
He swam to where his shorts were floating in the pool. Grabbed them and swam to the edge, using his muscular arms to pull himself up and out. He yanked on the shorts, ignoring me the whole time.
“Tanner.”
He looked at me, “This can never happen again. Never. And don’t tell Brian,” he said, not looking back as he walked toward the door.
I reached for my suit, pulled it out while I was in the pool, feeling completely vulnerable. I climbed out of the pool, wrapped myself in a towel and headed for the locker room to change. I felt like a fool.
Chapter 5
Tanner
I fucked up. I know I did. I shouldn’t have let myself get near her. I knew better. Lindsey was Brian’s little sister. What the hell had I been thinking! It was a onetime thing, I promised myself. I wouldn’t let it happen again. I wanted it to happen again.
I canceled practice yesterday because I didn’t trust myself to be around her. It didn’t help our interactions always involved us being nearly half-dressed. I had taken the coward’s way out and sent her a text saying I couldn’t make it. Her one-word answer “fine” spoke volumes. I had fucked her and then walked away. Classy. Typical of me, but not how I would ever want Lindsey to be treated. Brian would kick a dude’s ass for treating her like that. I would too. I owed her an apology. I just had to figure out how to man-up and do it.
I couldn’t cancel today. Her training was too important, and I would not be the one to hold her back. I would have to figure out a way to keep my hands to myself, and hopefully it wouldn’t be completely awkward. I hadn’t been able to get her out of my mind since that night. Thank God Brian had decided to leave Tuesday afternoon after our lunch. I don’t think I could have faced him. It felt like my guilt was written all over my face, and he would see right through me. He would know.
I had tried to get the woman out of my head for the past twenty-four hours, but it was pointless. She was under my skin. I’d fucked her, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t right. I wanted her but not like one of the women I screwed and left in my wake. I wanted to worship her body. I wanted to spend time learning every inch. Every crevice. Our pool time had been too fast, and I didn’t get to really enjoy that sweet body of hers. I was left craving more because, though I’d had only a little taste, I wanted it all.
Snap out of it, man!
My phone beeped.
Are you going to show up?
It was a text from Lindsey. It was slightly bitchy, but I couldn’t blame her.
Yes. See you at 6.
I didn’t have a choice. I was a professional trainer and couldn’t ditch clients on a whim. It was going to be difficult and awkward, but we were both adults. Or at least I was pretending to be, even though I felt like a horny teenager.
I let myself into the high school pool, trying not to think about the last time we’d been here. There was another young kid with whom I assumed was his private trainer. The kid couldn’t have been more than twelve. It was amazing to see kids that age with such dedication. Lindsey had been like that, and now all her hard work was about to pay off.
When she came strolling through the side door, her long legs covered in a pair of sweats, my heart jumped. Her red suit clung to her body. My mind instantly thought back to my mouth on her breasts, sucking and teasing. They weren’t too big or too small. They were perfect, just like the rest of her.
“Hi,” I said, doing my best not to sound like a complete idiot.
“I’m ready to get started,” she answered, clearly not in the mood for small talk.
She was pissed. I wasn’t sure if it was because I canceled the day before or because we had sex, and I had left without so much as a thank-you.
I nodded. “Let’s get to it, then.”
She peeled off the sweats, and I had to look away. Images of her legs wrapped around me came flooding back. I walked toward the east wall and casually adjusted my dick, which was growing hard. I doubted the kid and his trainer would appreciate me walking around with a hard-on. Not now.
When I turned back around, she was watching me. Her cheeks were flushed. She knew. That only made my semierection grow bigger. Her eyes drifted down before meeting mine again. I stared back, not caring that she knew the effect she had on me. Let her see. I pulled off my shirt, knowing it would distract her. I hadn’t been the only one in the pool that night. She had been more than ready and willing. I wanted her aroused, and I wasn’t stupid. I knew she wanted me.
I watched her gaze drop to my chest, so I flexed. She was staring, and I was loving it.
“Get in,” I demanded.
Her eyes met mine. I could see the passion.
“Get in, Lindsey,” I said, my tone firm.
She rolled her eyes, the passion gone. I thought she would tell me to go to hell, but she did as I said.
We managed to get through the practice, but it was incredibly weird. When I normally would have jumped in the pool to demonstrate what I wanted, I didn’t. I couldn’t get close to her. The last time had ended with both of us naked.
“I think we’re good,” I said about five minutes before nine. I couldn’t take the tension between us a minute longer. I was either going to rip that suit off her and fuck her on that poolside chair like I had been fantasizing about, or she was going to fire me. The sexual tension between us was palpable, so thick you could reach out and touch it. I had to get away before we made another huge mistake.
“Yeah, I agree. I have homework,” she said, climbing the ladder out of the pool. Water dripped down her legs and arms and between her breasts tucked away in the suit. I imagined lapping at the rivulets of water, tasting her skin. I wanted her body stretched out, wet, inside and out, with me over the top of her.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked, before leaving.
“Yeah, I have a meet Saturday, but I can still train tomorrow night,” she said, pulling on the sweats over her wet swimsuit.
“Okay, well, uh, see ya,” I said, walking past her and out the door.
I needed a beer or five. The air had been so sexually charged, I thought for sure it would ignite. I wondered if the other trainer and his student could feel it. They had left after an hour or so, leaving Lindsey and I alone in the pool area. I’d maintained a safe distance, which had been taxing. Now I needed to unwind.
I started with a shot of tequila, followed by another, and then another. I chased each shot with an ice-cold Corona. The buzz hit me the second I jumped off my stool to go to the bathroom. Shit. I was going to have to call an Uber and leave my truck.
Once in the door of my one-bedroom apartment that I paid way too much for, I stumbled to the couch and debated whether to grab another beer from the fridge. The fridge was too far. Fuck it. My phone was pressing into my ass. I didn’t want to crack the screen. I rolled over and fished it out of my pocket, holding it in my hand, trying to remember why I had it in the first place.
I stared at the screen, ran my thumb over it and unlocked it with practiced ease. Last number called was Lindsey. Her name and the tiny picture of the left side of her face stared back at me. Don’t do it. Don’t you dare do it.
My head fell back on the couch, my mouth hung open, and I let the alcohol do its trick. I floated away, enjoying the blissful oblivion that the copious amounts of alcohol had blessed me with.
It was the screeching of a distant alarm clock that woke me up. My head felt foggy, and there was an annoying pounding making me very irritable. I blinked several times, trying to figure out why my neck was killing me. I was staring at the ceiling in my apartment. It was then the night before came flooding back.
I jerked forward, pulling the strained muscles in my neck and felt around on the couch for my phone. I found it and brought it up, staring at the screen, willing my eyes to focus. Last number dialed was Lindsey’s. I checked the time stamp. Shit. I did call her last night. I checked the call log and realized I’d talked with her for twenty long minutes. I had no recollection of what may have been said.
I groaned, doing my best to remember, walking through each step I’d taken after coming through the apartment door. Nothing was coming back. I slowly sat up and then stood, the room spinning a few times before righting itself. I needed coffee. And water. After getting both, I slowly made my way into the shower and let the hot water run down my face. No matter how hard I tried, I could not remember what I’d said to her last night.
Our training session was going to be loads of fun.
Chapter 6
Lindsey
I needed to get my head in the game. Or the meet. Same thing. I couldn’t get Tanner’s voice out of my head. I knew he had been drunk—no, wasted—last night. Had he meant what he said? Weren’t the ramblings of a drunk man the truth that was always carefully hidden but allowed out with a little liquid courage? My dad always said you could trust the ramblings of a drunk.
I couldn’t get his voice out of my head. The way he confessed to having the hots for me for the past seven years. I loved hearing it. It made me feel beautiful and sexy. I told him I had been crushing on him for years, but he never paid me any attention. He laughed and said Brian would kill us both if he knew we were even talking about anything other than swimming.
“Hello?” Brittany hissed.
I snapped myself out of my daydream. “What?” I whispered back.
We were sitting in the back of the classroom, but this particular professor could be awfully cranky. I only had another year of school and wasn’t going to risk earning a reputation as a slacker who wasn’t serious. Too many athletes at this school skated by on their talents alone and not their brains. I wasn’t going to be one of them.
“You have been all googly-eyed. What or who did you do?” she asked, knowing me too well.
I shrugged. “Nothing. No one,” I lied.
Tanner had turned my brain into mush. One quickie in the pool and his drunken ramblings about him wanting me since my breasts had started to develop, and I was just like the rest of the groupies lusting after him. He had said things were different now. Back then he couldn’t make a move. It would have been inappropriate and illegal, but now he wanted me. It had been like one of those fantasies coming true for me. What high school girl didn’t dream about some older, very hot and sexy guy? She was lucky enough to get the chance to make that fantasy come true.
“You’re full of shit.” Brittany glared at me, one of her perfectly sculpted brows with expertly applied highlighter raised. “Don’t lie to me. I have known you since forever, and I know when you’re full of shit. You’re full of shit!”
I grinned, not the least bit offended by her words. “Maybe.”
She flipped her hair, glared at me, and spun back around to face the professor. I knew most people thought she was a stuck-up bitch. She was, but she was also my best friend. We’d been together since preschool. She had followed me to San Diego State, even though she’d been accepted to Yale. There was no way she was going to move that far away from her best friend. I loved her and never doubted she had my back.
She leaned toward me. “You will tell me.”
I giggled. “Maybe.”
I was dreading the training with Tanner tonight, but one part of me was looking forward to seeing him. My Tanner fix had to happen now because I wouldn’t get to see him tomorrow. I had the meet in the morning and wouldn’t be training again until Monday.
The day dragged on. Practice was the same old shit, my coach lecturing me about not giving it my all. He was probably right. I could do better, but my head wasn’t in it. It was on Tanner and training for the Olympics.
“You’re definitely preoccupied. I know you have training, but we have got to catch up,” Brittany said, toweling off beside me.
“You’re right. Are you training tonight?”
She sighed. “Yes. My trainer said if I skipped another lesson, he would drop me.”
I laughed but then got serious. “You better get your ass in gear.”
“Ugh, I am so not into it like you. I don’t know how you can train six days a week. I love swimming, and I really hope I make the Olympic team, but I cannot devote that much time to training. It shouldn’t be so hard,” she whined.
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it,” I reminded her.
“Whatever. Maybe I should see if Tanner will train me,” she mused out loud.
“No! He can’t. I mean, he’s booked solid.”
She looked at me, suspicion in her eyes. “I know, but he’s training you.”
“Only because of his friendship with Brian.”
Brittany didn’t look convinced, but she let it go.
“I gotta go,” I told her, picking up my bag before turning to wave.
When I reached the high school, I saw Tanner’s truck in the parking lot. I took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing,” I moaned.
“Hey,” he said, walking toward me in his typical attire of a T-shirt and board shorts with loafers.
“Hi.” I smiled, wondering if he was going to mention our conversation last night.
“Um,” he said, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. “I, uh, well, can you tell me what all we talked about last night? You could probably tell I was a little drunk. I guess a lot drunk because I don’t remember a word.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
He grabbed my hand, something he had done a hundred times before, but now it was different. He led me to the bleachers, sat down, and tugged me down with him.
“Just tell me. I can handle it,” he said.
I laughed. It figured he would pour his heart out and not remember it.
“You told me I was the best lay you ever had. Is that true?” I was a little embarrassed to ask but really wanted to know.
He slapped his open palm to his forehead. “Fuck.”
“Oh yeah, you said that a lot too. Something along the lines of ‘fuck Brian; I’ll fuck you if I want to’ was mentioned more than once. You talked about not wanting to ruin your friendship with Brian by sleeping with me. I’m guessing it was that bros-before-hoes thing.”
“Oh shit.”
“Tanner, you do realize I’m not a little girl anymore, right?”
“I know that, but you’re still Brian’s little sister. I mean, yeah, I did start to notice you, but it isn’t right. You’re too young for me.”
“So you didn’t mean what you said?” I asked.
“Fuck me. I am so sorry, Lindsey. I don’t know what I was saying. No, we can’t. I mean, I can’t do that. You can’t. Oh my God, please, forgive me.”
I laughed, “It’s okay. Really. So? Any of it ringing a bell?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m sorry, Lindsey. That wasn’t cool.”
I could tell he was embarrassed. He didn’t need to be. I had been a willing participant in the pool that night and had secretly hoped he would be willing to do it again.
“Well? Is it true?”
“Is what true? What else did I say?” he asked, horror on his face.
It was my turn to be embarrassed, but then I felt emboldened, “Am I the best lay you’ve ever had?” I asked in what I hoped was a sultry voice.
He leaned forward. I could feel the heat from his body. He held my gaze. “Yes.”
I could feel the blush spreading from my neck up and all over my body. It was a slow heat, much like that night in the pool.
Did I say thank you?
He put a hand on my knee. “We good?”
“Yes!” I said, jumping up so fast I nearly knocked him off the bleachers.
I stripped and dove in the pool, wanting to put a little distance between us, and cooling off in the lukewarm water would also be a very good idea.
“You ready?” he asked, after I did a couple of laps.
I raised my hand and gave him the thumbs up. “Let’s do this. We have to make it count. Two days off is a lot.”
“Prepare to get your ass kicked,” he said, diving right into the training
.
The training was grueling, but it felt good. There was none of that weirdness between us, and I was looking forward to training with him. He was exactly what I needed. He could get me that medal I had been striving toward for so long.
He walked me to the car. “How you feeling about tomorrow’s meet?”
“Good. We have the better team. I’m not too worried about it. My coach is, but he always is.”
“You’re going to kick ass. It’s good practice for you. Get you in the competition mode. I think I’ll come and watch. It’ll give me a good idea of what needs to improve or change to get you into the qualifying round for the Olympics.”
My stomach flip-flopped a bit at the thought of him watching me compete. It shouldn’t. He’d seen me compete before. Hell, he’d seen me naked.
“Thanks, that would be great. Well, I need to get going. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I climbed in the car and took a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart. He was only watching as a trainer—not a boyfriend.
Chapter 7
Tanner
My girl was kicking some ass, of course. And I couldn’t take credit for any of it. This was all her and her coach. I couldn’t believe how excited I was to be at a college swim meet. Typically, this would be beneath me, but it had actually been fun. I loved watching her. She was a talented woman who had a ton of potential.