by Aria Ford
“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.
She should be coming up again for the hundred meter. This was what I had been waiting for. Practicing in the high school pool had limited us. This full-size pool would give me a better idea of what we needed to work on to get her ready.
When the heat was announced, I could feel the anticipation and anxiety. She walked out, wearing the sleek black suit that represented the school. Fuck. She was stunning. Even the swim cap and goggles couldn’t detract from her beauty. I watched her take her place and pulled out my own stopwatch.
She took a deep breath, her chest heaving. I felt like I was right there with her. I wanted to be right there beside her, whispering in her ear that she could do this.
Crack!
The gunshot rang out, and it was a series of splashes followed by the sound of the swimmers cutting through the water. She was sleek and graceful, and every stroke pulled her lithe body across the pool.
“Push, Lindsey!” I screamed without thin
king.
I had forgotten I was surrounded by other people. My outburst earned a few strange looks. I didn’t care. I could barely breathe as I watched her go head-to-head with her competition.
“Go, go, go,” I breathed. Every muscle tensed as I watched her pull ahead before finally reaching the side.
“Woohoo!” I screamed a bit like a fangirl, but I didn’t care.
I checked the stopwatch. She kicked ass, and I couldn’t wait to congratulate her.
Once the meet was over and her team received all the congratulations they deserved for winning, I walked over to her.
“Great job, Lindsey. You were on fire today!”
She was grinning ear to ear. “Thanks, Tanner. It felt good. I felt good. I shaved off a whole second on the fifty and got my best time ever on the hundred meter.”
I hugged her. A completely appropriate, brotherly kind of hug.
Her friend Brittany sauntered over. “You ready?” she asked, throwing a heavy bag over her shoulder. “Are you okay with Jennie hitching a ride with us? She’s offered to help me with that stupid physics homework.”
Lindsey moaned. “Seriously? Mine’s done, and I really don’t want to revisit it.”
“I can give you a ride,” I offered.
She looked at me. “Really?”
“Well, yeah, it isn’t like I have anything else to do.”
As if on cue, my phone chimed. It was Brian’s ringtone. It was like he somehow knew I was with Lindsey. I ignored it.
Lindsey looked at Brittany. “Is that cool?”
Brittany looked at me. She always looked at me like a woman sizing up her next victim. It was slightly unnerving. We had all grown up together, and there had never been anything between us, but it wasn’t for lack of her trying. She was a little too high maintenance for me. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and was a little too stuck-up for my tastes.
“Whatever. I’ll call you later. Maybe we can go out or something,” Brittany said, still looking at me.
“All right, then, let’s go.” I headed out, basically running from Brittany’s very intense stare.
“Thanks,” she said, climbing into my truck. She was wearing the track suit that identified her as a member of the San Diego University team.
I drove to her apartment, barely speaking along the way. We had arrested some of the sexual tension, but it would never completely go away.
“Uh, did you want to come in?” she asked in a voice that said she was a little unsure.
I hesitated. Every part of me wanted to go in there and have wild, passionate sex with her, but I knew I shouldn’t.
“Brian.”
“What?” she asked, a weird look on her face.
“Brian. I forgot he texted me earlier.”
I quickly fished my phone out of the holder and read the message. “Shit. He’s in town and wants to go out. I should go. Sorry, but, uh, thanks.”
She jumped out of the truck, “Bye, see you Monday.”
I watched her walk away before calling Brian.
“Meet me at the pub,” he answered. “I’m already here.”
“Be there in about twenty minutes,” I said, hanging up the phone and heading over.
I found him, sucking down a draft beer with a plate of fries in front of him.
“Dude, what’s up? It isn’t like you to be here so soon. Everything okay?” I asked.
I did my best to hide my guilt. It was hard to look him in the eye.
“My dad. The company. I’m sick of it,” he said.
“Hey, if you’re not happy, get out of the business. I think your dad would understand. But I don’t know, you always seemed like you enjoyed the thrill of taking small, unknown software developers and their ideas and making them into something big. What changed?”
He groaned. “I do enjoy it. I mean, I did. I just hate all this intern bullshit. I swear to God they get dumber by the minute. It’s a lot of micromanaging, and I don’t like it. I want to go back to what I was doing.”
“Tell. Your. Dad.”
He shook his head. “I can’t burden him with this. I’m sure it’s some kind of test. He’s seeing if I can train new people. At this point, I don’t know that I can.”
“Brian, take a minute. Talk to your dad. Ask to be a part of the process in picking interns,” I said, proud of what I thought was really great advice. I felt very adultlike. Very responsible and not at all the schmuck who had banged his sister.
He looked at me. Like really looked at me. Fuck, he knows. How could he know?
“You’re a great friend, Tanner. Thanks. Oh, and thank you for looking out for Lindsey. I know I should have gone to her meet today, but I got in town later than I thought I would. Did she win?”
I laughed. “Damn straight she won.”
Brian smiled and nodded. “Good. So, how’s everything going with the two of you?”
I gulped, nearly choking on my beer. “What?”
“The training? How’s it going?”
“Oh, good, great, only a couple days into it, but it’s great.”
The guilt was burning a hole in my belly. I wanted to come clean, but that would be disastrous. I’d have to live with the guilt for now. Hopefully it was a onetime thing with Lindsey, and I would never have to admit to what we did.
But I wanted more. I don’t think one time was enough.
Chapter 8
Lindsey
I’d won plenty of heats before, but this time, it had felt amazing. I knew why. It was because Tanner was there watching. I heard him shout my name, and it was exactly the boost I needed to push that much harder to really kick some ass.
The feeling was hard to describe. I guess some might call it walking on air, which was kind of what I felt like. My win and Tanner’s declaration that I was the best lay he ever had was making me a little giddy. I know Tanner had a lot of experience and there was a long line of women left in his wake, but I was the best.
Maybe he was only saying it to make me feel good, but it didn’t matter. I believed him. I was going to hold on to that. Thinking of Tanner had been my favorite pastime this weekend. I did little else. I didn’t go out on Saturday in favor of sitting home with a pint of no-sugar ice cream and my thoughts of sex with Tanner. If only there had been more to work with. In all the fantasies I had, it had always been a long, marathon sex session, not the ten-minute quickie in the pool.
I wanted him something fierce. Thinking of his dick buried deep inside me had a way of making me instantly wet. I wanted him. Again. What could be wrong with two healthy, young people choosing to be with one another? My brother needed to get a grip. The fact Tanner had been at my meet and Brian hadn’t, even though he was in town, said something.
My phone alarm beeped, telling me it was time to head to practice. I couldn’t wait to see Tanner, so I had been pacing my apartment, ticking off the minutes. For once, the coach had seemed pleased with my performance.
“Thanks,” I said when one of my teammates congratulated me on the way out. I didn’t want to waste even a minute and kept walking past. I had a date with Tanner.
When I walked into the pool area, there were several other swimmers in the pool. A single trainer was working with them all. I was a little disappointed to see we had company. I had hoped to have Tanner all to myself with no witnesses.
Tanner came in behind me. “Bummer. Why don’t we do some toning and strengthening? We don’t need to be in the pool.”
I shrugged. “Works for me. Where?”
“We can use the gym here, but it would probably be better if we went to a better equipped gym. Do you still have that gym membership?”
“Yes, not that I use it all that much.”
“You will. That is going to be part of our regular training. You need to strengthen your muscles. It will increase the power in every stroke, propelling you faster and farther,” he said.
“Fine. Let’s go. Are you driving or me?”
“I am not crawling
into that tin can you call a car. We’ll take my truck.”
We headed to the gym. When we pulled into the parking lot, he stopped me from getting out. “Wait.”
“What’s up?”
“Let me take you out tomorrow.”
“What?”
Now I was confused. He went from not wanting anything to do with me to wanting to take me out. Hot and cold much?
“I want to take you out. Like, dinner, you know?”
As if I had to think about it. “Sure, that’d be great.”
“Good. Now let’s get in there and get your money’s worth out of that membership.”
I had to keep myself from bouncing across the gym parking lot. I have been crushing on him for years, and yeah, we’d had a nice quickie in the pool, but it wasn’t exactly the dream. A real date. Did that mean he wanted an actual relationship? So many questions and no answers. There was no way she could come right out and ask him about his intentions. Brian had made it very clear guys hated that.
We worked out for a couple of hours before heading back to the pool. Brittany was there, waiting for us.
“Finally. Where’d you two go?” she asked.
“To the gym,” I told her.
She nodded, looking at me and then at Tanner.
“I think we’re done for now,” Tanner said. “I’m going to head out. I’ll text you later,” he said, giving me a telling look.
“Okay, see you tomorrow,” I said, doing my best to hide the excitement in my voice. I didn’t want to appear too eager.
I grabbed my bag and made my way to the locker room.
“What was that?” Brittany squealed, following me into the locker room.
“What was what?” I asked, doing my best to play the innocent.
I was quickly changing into the shorts and T-shirt I had in my bag.
“Uh-uh, you are not getting off that easy. You got something to tell me, and I want to hear every detail. They better be dirty details. Hurry up and get dressed. I’m starving. Let’s get a pizza and then go back to your place,” she said, holding out her painted red nails.
I shook my head, “Why do you insist on getting manicures when you know the pool is going to destroy it.”
