The Summer Games: Settling the Score

  “Are you still wet from the shower?”

  I sat down on the edge of my bed, hardly on it at all, really.

  “Answer me.”

  “My hair is.”

  “Is your body wet?”

  I swallowed. “Ye…Yes.”

  “Run your fingers up your thigh, feel how soft your skin is there.”

  “Freddie—”

  “Yes?”

  “I think we should stop.”

  “Hang up if you want to, Andie.”

  Silence. I stared up at the ceiling and clutched the phone.

  He knew I wasn’t going to hang up.

  “Are you touching yourself?” I asked with a soft voice, eyeing my closed bedroom door.

  “Do you want me to be?” His voice was strained.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.”

  “You’ve never touched yourself?”

  I smiled. “I’ve never had phone sex.”

  “Where’s your hand right now?”

  I glanced down. “Gripping the bottom of my towel.”

  “Let go and drag your fingers up the inside of your leg until I tell you to stop.”

  “Freddie…”

  “Don’t overthink it,” he begged. “Let go.”

  I squeezed my eyes closed and moved my hand to my leg, just above my knee. It was a harmless spot. A nothing spot.

  “Higher,” he whispered into my ear. It sounded like he was right there, controlling my hand and dragging it higher for me. I could hear the pleasure in his voice as he told me to keep going, to let my fingers touch the groove of my hip. I squeezed my eyes tighter as a flush ran across my chest and neck. I was hot, burning up. I yanked the towel off and threw it aside, laying back on the bed, naked and alone.

  “Open your legs.”

  “Freddie,” I protested.

  “Andie, slide your legs apart,” he demanded, a little less patient this time.

  My thighs slid across the soft sheets, just a few inches at first, not so far that I couldn’t squeeze them closed if I wanted the call to end.

  “I can hear you moving on those sheets and I wish I could be there to see how far you’ve spread your legs for me.”

  I opened my eyes to see what he would see. My entire body was flush, partly from the scalding shower and partly from Freddie’s dark words. My hand rested on my flat stomach, rising and falling with my breath.

  “Touch yourself, Andie. Drag your finger there and pretend it’s me.”

  I pushed my hand lower, tentatively.

  “Lower,” he insisted.

  I started turning slow circles, nothing much at first. I was too embarrassed to admit how turned on I was just from listening to him.

  “I’d ask if you’re wet, but I know that you are.”

  My heart fluttered.

  “Feel yourself. Feel how tight you are.”

  My breaths were coming quicker. “Freddie.”

  “Andie…” He was begging.

  My legs were trembling by that point, shaking with need.

  “Spread your legs as wide as they’ll go and slide your finger in and out. Slowly, Andie. Don’t speed up until I tell you to.”

  I was seconds away from losing my mind.

  “Do you like the way your fingers feel?”

  I swallowed back a moan as my back arched off the bed.

  “Answer me.”

  “Yes,” I breathed. “But I need you here.”

  “I know. I can hear your breath picking up. You need a release, don’t you? You’re so fucking close.”

  My finger slid in and out, and I squeezed my eyes closed, listening to the sounds of my heady breaths.

  “Tell me…what would you do to me if you were here?”

  I could almost see his smirk as his dark voice filled the silence. “I'd pull you down to the very edge of the bed and make you watch as I knelt between your thighs. Maybe you’d be shy, but I’d grip your legs and keep them apart so that I could see all of you.”

  His explicit promises consumed me.

  “You’d watch me lick you. God, you'd taste so fucking good as you rode my mouth.”

  “Freddie…I…”

  “I'd make you come like that, on your elbows with my mouth on your pussy. You'd beg me to end your agony, beg me to give you the release you so desperately need.”

  His words were dark embers, falling through the phone and setting fire to every single nerve inside my body.

  “I want to hear you, Andie.” His voice was strained, just as hot and breathy as mine was. “Give me that much…”

  As if my body was under his command, I could feel my world starting to unravel. My toes curled, my eyes squeezed tighter, and I let the waves of pleasure roll through my body. The phone slipped from my hand as I moved to cover my mouth. I tried to stifle my moans, but it wasn’t good enough. I’d come with Freddie on the phone and a moment later, a knock sounded on the door, just as I’d started to gather my senses.

  “Andie, are you okay?” Kinsley shouted. “It sounds like you’re strangling a cat in there.”

  I threw my phone across the room like it was on fire. It collided with my suitcase and clattered to the floor. I yanked my towel around my body and bolted off the bed.

  “Yup!” I shouted back, praying she wouldn’t open the door. “It’s fine, I just…stubbed my toe.”

  “Do you need ice or something? Honestly, I thought you were sacrificing a goat or something.”

  “No, everything is fine!”

  My phone buzzed on the floor across the room, but I didn’t check it until I heard Kinsley walk back into the living room. It was a text from Freddie, short and foreboding.

  Freddie: That was good, but not enough. Next time, I’ll feel you come.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Andie

  I HAD A suspicion that my trainer Lisa was secretly an intern for the devil. She was tiny and adorable, but she made me cry like I was in the sixth circle of hell. I’d begun training with her my first day in Rio, and I’d figured we’d eventually work up to one of those great relationships where instead of rehabbing my wrist all day, we’d just sit around gossiping about celebrities and making fun of people.

  “You have two more sets of mobility exercises, and we haven’t even gotten to the strengthening segment,” Lisa said, interrupting my short break in the training center.

  Fuckkkk youuuuuuuuu.

  “This is torture, Lisa.”

  She arched a perfectly sculpted brow. “Do you want to keep playing here or do you want to go home? The choice is yours.”

  I sneered. “Actually, I think I’m all set. I’ll just go home.”

  She shook her head. “Too late.”

  I groaned and leaned forward onto the training table. Lisa had it set up so that she stood on one side and I stood on the other, leaning toward her with my wrists hanging off the table.

  “Ready?” she asked with a smirk.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Whatever. Let’s get this over with.”

  She stepped forward to adjust my form on my right hand. “Loosen up for a second.”

  I let her link her fingers through mine.

  “Take a breath,” she said, using her own wrist to rotate and loosen mine. I bit down on my lip to avoid cursing her to hell for all eternity.

  Just then, I glanced up to see Freddie walking into the training room alongside his teammate, Thom. I could tell they’d just come from swim practice. Freddie’s dark hair was still damp and he had his workout bag slung over his shoulder. He was wearing a white workout tank that cut down the side of his chest and loose gym shorts that sat low on his hips. He looked massive standing there beside Thom, tall, chiseled, and looking my way with curious eyes. Lisa still had her hands linked through mine, so I couldn’t wave. I settled on a smile as he changed course and stepped closer.

  “Hi,” I said through clenched teeth. Can’t you ease up a bit, Lisa?

  “Hey,” he said, glancing at my hand in Lisa??
?s before meeting my eye. “How’s the training?”

  Lisa turned with narrowed eyes. “Bud, you mind coming back when we’re done? We’re kind of busy here.”

  I wasn’t sure how “bud” translated over to UK English, but Lisa’s body language made it clear that she wouldn’t tolerate any distractions. There was a fleeting moment where I thought Freddie might escalate her unwarranted aggression, so I spoke up first, easing the tension with a feigned smile.

  “Freddie, I’ll come find you when I’m done,” I promised.

  “It’ll be a while,” Lisa cut in, still holding my hand. The situation couldn’t have been more awkward, but fortunately Thom nudged Freddie’s arm and pulled him away.

  “Your trainer’s looking for you,” Thom said before nodding my way. “Hey Andie.”

  I smiled.

  “Come on.” Thom nudged him again. Freddie glanced back at me with a curious expression before heading off with Thom. I watched him go, taking in the slope of his powerful back. Swimmers had the most insane bodies.

  I swore after they walked away, Lisa dialed up the punishment. She forced me to do double the normal amount of wrist turn-things, and four times the normal amount of my other least favorite exercise: something I called “holyfuckingshit” for short.

  All the while, I tried to sneak peeks at Freddie. He was working with a trainer on the other side of the room, an older man who was helping him stretch out his arms and shoulders. Twice, I glanced over my shoulder and found him watching me. His trainer was jotting something on a sheet of paper, but Freddie was focused on me. I blushed and glanced away.

  The third time I looked back, I thought I’d go into cardiac arrest on my training table. Freddie was in the middle of tugging his shirt off over his head. Time slowed as his arm and stomach muscles coiled and stretched. I’d seen a glimpse of his arms and back earlier, but when his shirt came off and I was met with his perfectly sculpted chest and abs, I nearly lost control of my vision.

  “Andie, are you focusing?” Lisa asked.

  No. Absolutely not. I was watching Freddie’s trainer as he pressed an ice pack on the back of Freddie’s right shoulder. He wove an elastic bandage over his chest and around his arm to keep it in place. I’d never wanted to change places with a human being as much as I did in that moment. He was getting the privilege of touching him. His hand was on his chest!

  “Foster,” Lisa snapped.

  “Yep!” I said, jerking back to my table and trying to regain control of my tongue so I could answer her.

  “Lisa! Phone call!” one of the training assistants called from across the room.

  Lisa nodded and let go of my hand. “I need to take that. Rest for a minute and then we’ll finish up.”

  “Oh thank god,” I mumbled under my breath as she walked away. I’d been training with Lisa for eight days and each day I woke up with a little less pain than the day before. Still, her sessions were unbearable. Any break she offered, I’d take.

  I stood up from the training table and shook out my arms. I reached for my water bottle and took a sip before giving in to the urge to steal a glance back toward Freddie. He was sitting on the edge of his training table, typing on his phone with one hand—THE PHONE HE’D USED THE NIGHT BEFORE…oh god. His trainer had left to help another athlete while he iced his shoulder, which meant I had a short window of time to talk to him alone. I scanned over to Lisa’s office to find her gesticulating animatedly on the phone with the door shut. Without a second thought, I grabbed my water bottle and headed for Freddie.

  He didn’t notice me approaching until I was only a few feet away. He dropped his phone beside him and straightened up. I swallowed down a groan. Seriously, it wasn’t real. The chest. The abs. His body was so sculpted it seemed to fit on the pages of an art history book better than it did in real life. I stepped closer and held my hand up to block everything from my view except for his face.

  “What are you doing?” he asked with a smile.

  “I can’t talk to you if you aren’t wearing a shirt. It’s very distracting.”

  He laughed and reached for my hand to pull it away from my eyes. “You’re mad.”

  “Fine, but if I start to drool or something, you can’t hold it against me.”

  He shook his head and glanced away, almost as if he were embarrassed. Dear god, he couldn’t look like that and be humble; my brain would short-circuit.

  “Are you done with your training?” he asked, glancing back to me and dragging his gaze down my body. I was wearing yoga pants and a tank top, nothing too glamorous, but he seemed to like it well enough.

  I shook my head. “Lisa wants me to do another set.”

  He arched a brow. “And do you always do what Lisa tells you?”

  “It’s easier if I don’t test her.”

  Freddie nodded, taking in my answer for a moment before reaching for my good hand.

  “Let me buy you dinner tonight.”

  His fingers were laced through mine the same way Lisa’s had been, but Freddie’s grip was tight enough to make my heart skip a beat. His thumb dragged up the inside of my palm, sending a shiver down my spine.

  “Dinner?” he repeated.

  No. I couldn’t do dinner. Dinner was a bad idea. Dinner would be a slip in the wrong direction. Dinner would be me handing over another piece of myself, a piece he didn’t deserve. Not after he’d kicked me out of that bathroom. Not with Caroline still in the picture.

  “I’m busy,” I said, meeting his eyes once again.

  “With who?”

  “The team,” I lied.

  “You’re lying. Your hand, maybe.”

  I’d thought I was going to survive the conversation without him bringing up our phone call, but I was wrong. I bit back a smile and tried to keep my cheeks from burning red.

  “Cancel. Tell them you’ve got something important to do,” he continued.

  It was so tempting. I mean, I was staring at shirtless Freddie, a sight more beautiful than any of the world’s wonders. What was Giza compared to his chiseled, tan six-pack? Who needed the hanging gardens of Babylon when you could have the low-hanging fruit of his loom? I lingered on his abs, indulging in the sight for another moment before finally coming to my senses.

  I shook my head. “I can’t.” Freddie and I couldn’t just date.

  He narrowed his eyes.

  “What about after—”

  “Foster.”

  I turned over my shoulder to find Lisa standing there with crossed arms and a deep frown marring her facial features. “I’ve been looking for you for the last five minutes. Are you ready to finish up? I have other athletes to train.”

  I blushed. “Oh, right. Okay.”

  I’d expected her to stay on the phone for a little longer.

  I flashed Freddie a quick, grim smile and then moved to follow after Lisa with my head down, but before I could get far, Freddie reached out for my hand. He pulled me back with a gentle tug and kissed me square on the mouth. It was shocking and the feeling of his mouth on mine was enough to erase the rest of the room. There was Freddie’s lips on mine, his hand on my neck, and his claim on my heart. Lisa’s annoyed huff? The whistle from across the room? They were the last thing on my mind as Freddie kissed me senseless.

  I pulled back, fluttered my eyes open, and took a breath. “Umm…”

  He smiled and let go of my hand. I hated that he had to let go of my hand.

  “Better get back to that training session.”

  “Yup.” I nodded, but I didn’t move.

  “Go Andie,” he said with an amused smile.

  “Yes. Right-o.”

  I turned back around on shaky legs. I didn’t care that Lisa was about to put me through hell; I’d just experienced heaven.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Freddie

  I WIPED MY towel down my face and tossed it aside. My water bottle was empty, so I reached for my t-shirt instead, pulling it over my head and shaking out the excess water from my hair
. I’d just finished my last lap at practice; I was bone tired and ready for lunch.

  “Your times are insane,” Thom said, dropping his towel beside mine on the bench.

  I nodded, but kept quiet. Good times are good times, nothing more. It was easy to psych myself out if I focused too much on the numbers.

  “We’ve only got four more days before our races start,” Thom added, reaching for his water bottle.

  I threw him a glare over my shoulder. “Thanks for that.”

  “Oh c’mon, you can’t be nervous. You’ve done this a million times.”

  He was right. This was my third Olympics games and I’d lost count of how many races I’d competed in over the years. “Expectations have never been higher.”

  He nodded. “True.”

  Everyone was looking to me to break my records from the last games. I’d had a team of trainers working with me for the last four years, helping me build strength through the offseason. I was stronger than I’d ever been, and my times were showing it. As long as I didn’t muck it up during the races, I’d be going back home to London with six medals around my neck.

  “How’s the shoulder?” he asked as we carried our workout bags over to the water fountain.

  I shrugged. “Better than yesterday. That ice really helped.”

  He laughed. “The ice on your shoulder, or that kiss with Andie?”

  Andie.

  Andie. Andie. Andie.

  I shouldn’t have kissed her in the training center the day before; it’d been bloody foolish. I knew we needed to lie low; we needed to keep this thing between us under the media’s radar, but she had been wearing those tight workout pants. I could see the slight gap in her thighs and the curve of her ass when she turned back to follow her trainer. When she had first come over to talk to me, I’d nearly pulled her up to straddle me on the table. As far as I was concerned, I had shown saint-like restraint with that kiss, but Andie probably wouldn’t agree.

  “What are you going to do about that, mate?”

  “I don’t know. She declined dinner with me.”

  He laughed, the prick. “What’s that? Your first refusal in history?”