He sighed. “That’s a shame. Most first-time Olympians don’t know how to channel the pressure.”
“Exactly.”
“How are you going to help her?”
I smiled and turned my truck up onto the gravel drive. Even from a distance, I could hear the girls outside in the hot tub. I’d given Brie explicit instructions to be out of the hot tub before I got home, but she sounded fairly content breaking the rules.
I ended the call with my grandfather, promising I’d call him in the morning, and then I killed my engine. I reached to the side and grabbed the handful of groceries I’d picked up after my suit. Though I wanted to get out and shout at Brie to get back inside, I knew that wouldn’t end well. I couldn’t see the girls in the backyard as I unloaded my stuff, but I told myself I’d give them the benefit of the doubt. If they were out by the time I finished unloading, then it’d be no harm, no foul.
I hung my suit in my closet and pounded back down the stairs, annoyed by the high-pitched laughter filtering in from outside. I peeked through the blinds, spotting Brie right away. The other girls were tilted toward the guesthouse, but Brie was facing my porch with her arms outstretched across the top of the hot tub. She was wearing a black bikini top that barely rose above the water. Her tan skin glowed in the hazy moonlight. She’d piled her long hair high on the top of her head, but a few pieces had already fallen out. The strands were wet from the water and stuck to the exposed patch of cleavage between her breasts.
She threw her head back and laughed at something one of the girls said and then her gaze flickered to my house. She knew I was home; the gravel road was loud and my old truck was louder, not to mention my lights were on throughout the bottom floor. She sat up a little taller, exposing more of her bikini top as her gaze swept across the bottom floor of my house. If she knew I was home and she was still in the hot tub, then she wanted to test me. Perfect. I was in the mood for a fight.
I swiveled on my heels and headed for the breaker box inside the utility room. It was labeled well: Kitchen, Guest Bath, Master Bath, Patio, and most importantly, Backyard.
Without hesitation, I flipped the switch and killed the power to the hot tub and exterior lights. A second later, moans rang out from outside. I smiled and slammed the breaker box door closed again.
By the time I made it back to the kitchen, Rosie, Molly, and Lexi were getting out of the hot tub and drying off.
“I guess it was nice while it lasted,” Molly said with a shrug as she set off back toward the guesthouse. “Come on, if we hurry we can still watch a movie or something before we go to sleep.”
“Yeah, better than nothing,” Rosie agreed.
Lexi turned back to the hot tub, where Brie sat immobile. “Are you coming?”
Her attention was on my house when she nodded, just once. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll just be a second.”
They set off without her, whipping open the guesthouse door and disappearing inside. Brie hadn’t budged from her spot, illuminated by the light spilling out of my house. She looked angry, though there was no reason to be. I’d been the one to allow her to use the hot tub; she was one who couldn’t follow simple directions.
I pulled open the back door and stepped out onto the porch. Her gaze locked on me immediately. Those brown eyes assessed me with an air of curiosity, but she still made no move to get out of the water.
“I gave you an hour.”
A gloating smirk overtook her lips. “And I wanted more.”
Of course she did.
“Get out. It’s late.”
“You know I don’t need your permission to sit here. The water’s still warm and I’m feeling pretty relaxed.”
I walked off the porch and stepped out onto the grass, closer to her than I should have been. She stood up and water dripped down her skin, rolling down her chest, stomach, and thighs. Her bikini was nothing, little strings holding her top up behind her neck and two bows on either side of her hips. She stood there as I raked my gaze down her body.
Her breasts were small and perky, enough to fill my hands. Her nipples were hard beneath her bikini top and goose bumps bloomed across her skin as she acclimated to the cold night air. Her arms and legs were slender, toned. Her waist was tiny and I knew it’d be so easy to get a grip on her there. I wanted to dig my fingers into her waist and take her from behind, bending her forward over the hot tub.
She cleared her throat and I flicked my gaze away, but it didn’t matter. I had her body burned to memory. I reached down and grabbed her towel off the ground, tossing it toward her so she had to catch it fast before it fell into the water.
She wrapped it around herself and stepped out of the hot tub on my side, cast in the yellow glow seeping from my windows. The movement brought her just feet away from me, hardly enough distance to keep her safe.
“Cover up,” I demanded, annoyed with how quickly I was losing self-control.
Her brow arched. “Why? Is it hard for you to see me like this?”
She tilted her head, waiting for my answer, but I wouldn’t give her a single fucking word.
Her smile widened and I swore I could see the wheels in her head turning as she thought of how she’d torture me next. I thought once I gave her the towel, she’d beg off and head inside, too nervous to take the game to the next level.
I was wrong.
She reached up to pull the string behind her neck, then her hands slipped inside her towel, working on the string behind her back. She was removing her bikini top so she could dry her skin and I couldn’t open my mouth to force her to stop.
The black material fell to the ground beneath her feet and then her towel dropped after it. She stood there topless, shrouded in darkness, hidden from the guesthouse. She was wearing the most devilish smirk I’d ever seen. My hands fisted by my sides as she reached up and felt her skin, dragging the palm of her hand over her stomach until she reached her right breast.
“How long has it been since you touched me?” She answered the question herself. “Nearly a week? God, you must be going crazy.”
She was so fucking sure of herself, like she’d done this a million times. I wouldn’t call her bluff; I didn’t need to. I knew if I stepped closer, I’d feel how shaky her hand was.
She liked my attention; she wanted to show me everything I couldn’t have, and though I should have walked away, I stood immobile. My breaths were coming heavy and my fists were clenched to my sides, aching to reach out and stroke her breasts as she pushed her palm down, down, down, right to the spot between her legs. I wanted to lean forward and cup her breasts, roll my thumb over her nipples until her mouth fell open and she begged for me. She hadn’t done a good enough job; she didn’t know how to make herself moan the way I could.
Fuck.
She was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen and I was so turned on, my dick strained against my jeans.
Her hand dipped into the bottom of her bikini and she dragged it back and forth, rocking herself against her palm. Her bikini bottom fell another inch down her legs and I knew she was about to strip for me, bare herself completely.
“Remember what I said the other day?” she asked, sling-shotting me back to reality. “About you touching me?”
Brie wasn’t stripping for me, she was taunting me, teasing me.
She took two steps toward me and pulled her hand out of her bikini bottom. She pressed up onto her tiptoes, rubbing her naked breasts against my chest, and I resisted a moan.
“I still mean it,” she snapped with a little laugh.
The brat assumed she’d won. She’d gotten me hard—she’d felt it when she brushed herself up against me—and now she was backing off, slinking back to the safety of the guesthouse.
She stepped back, reaching for the towel on the ground, but I reached out and gripped her arm, hard enough that she couldn’t pull it away when she tried.
Her eyes blazed as she whipped around. “Let me go.”
I pulled her in, just as close as she’d been a se
cond before. I tilted down, dragging my lips up her neck as my other hand found the wet spot between her legs. I could have made her come with a single swipe of my finger, but I didn’t move, didn’t give her the satisfaction.
She bared her teeth, trying to yank her arm free.
“Get off me.”
I smirked and reached up to grip her chin, her wetness still on the tip of my finger. Slowly—slow enough that I watched her eyes close with need—I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. I thought she’d bite me, but her lips were soft and receptive. She moaned into my mouth, leaning herself into me, needing more. She wanted it just as badly as I did, but I pulled back, breaking the kiss off with an angry growl. Then I let her go and she stumbled back in the grass, eyes wide, lips swollen.
“Tease me like that again and I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Chapter Twenty
Brie
I was playing with fire—no, I wasn’t just playing with fire; I was rolling in it. I was so confident I wouldn’t get burned, I didn’t realize how deep into the flames I’d fallen. The night before had been meant to be a joke, a dare. I’d stayed in the hot tub longer than anyone else because I’d wanted Erik to come and kick me out. I’d wanted to make sure he wasn’t lying about his date and I’d wanted to see the look on his face when I defied him.
Provoking him entertained me. On normal days, he was the image of stoicism, but when I pissed him off, his bright blue eyes smoldered. His strong jaw tightened. His muscles coiled with anger and I loved it. I craved it. It was the only time I got a real emotion out of him, and even if it was hate, it was better than nothing.
The moment he’d released me from his hold, I’d run back inside the guesthouse and locked the door behind me. Why? Had I honestly thought he’d follow me inside and deliver on his sensual promise? His words had been so twisted, so dark, and he knew the way they affected me. He’d felt the way they ignited me.
A blush spread up over my cheeks as fire overtook my veins. I tried to adjust in my seat to help ease the tension building between my thighs, but it was no use. Even after a night of restless sleep, I couldn’t get the feel of him out of my head. When I’d brushed up against him wearing nothing but my bikini bottoms, I’d felt his size. He’d nearly eclipsed me with his massive shoulders and hard chest. His hands had wrapped around my arms so tightly it nearly hurt—nearly being the key word, because that was the thing with Erik: he knew just how far to go. He knew what I wanted, even if I hadn’t yet admitted it to myself.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Molly asked, nudging my shoulder.
We were in the back seat of the Jeep, heading to the gym for practice. June sat on the other side of Molly with her headphones in place, tuning us out. Lexi was driving like a madwoman, and Rosie sat next to her up front, trying to ignore Lexi’s “sexual lesson of the day”, as Molly and I had dubbed them.
I shook my head and brushed Molly off, too aware of June listening in on the other side. Her music wasn’t that loud; she could have easily heard every word I said. Does it matter though? She’d probably seen my little display by the hot tub last night.
There it was again.
The fire.
I inhaled a shaky breath and turned toward the window, trying to get a grip on my fantasies before we pulled up to the gym. Practice would be hell otherwise.
“So most girls forget about the balls,” Lexi said from the front seat. “If you want to know the difference between a good blowjob and a great blowjob, just go ahead and cup those bad boys. Keep ’em warm. Don’t let the shaft get all the spotlight.”
I stifled a laugh.
Rosie fidgeted in her seat. “It’s okay. I don’t really need to know…I mean, I can’t imagine wanting to—”
Lexi held up her hand to stop her. “Oh please. I used to think the same thing—blowjobs are misogynistic, blah blah blah, NPR—but believe me, oral isn’t about feminism, it’s about driving each other wild.”
Molly shook her head. “So what do you do after you, uh, cup them?”
Lexi smirked. “It’s up to you, but when I really like a guy, I’ll lick my thumb—”
Rosie turned the dial on the radio up loud so Lexi’s last words were cut off.
Lexi turned it back down. “—and at the last second I’ll stick it right in his—”
Rosie flipped the dial up so loud I had to hold my hands up to cover my ears.
June yanked her headphones off. “Jesus! What are you guys doing? Just leave the radio alone.”
“Speaking of tight-asses, no one asked for your input, June,” Lexi said, eyeing her in the rearview mirror. “You can go back to ignoring us.”
Fortunately, the gym came into view over the horizon before June could escalate the situation. Lexi whipped into a parking spot, not even close to being in the lines. June hopped out and ran for the door, and the four of us sat in silence for a second, absorbing the last few seconds.
“Do you think we should ease up on her?” Rosie asked, turning back to stare at Molly and me in the back seat.
“How can we?” Lexi asked. “She’s the one being a twat.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, we’re not exactly going out of our way to be nice to her either.”
Molly nodded. “I think we should try harder to include her. Maybe she thinks we don’t want to be friends with her.”
“Not after what she pulled on Brie!” Lexi argued. “Of course we don’t want to be friends with her!”
I frowned and shook my head. Something told me not to count June out. Sure, she wasn’t the nicest girl I’d ever been around, but she was stressed and away from home with no one to lean on.
“I think we should ease up on her as well.”
Rosie clapped from the front seat excitedly. “Maybe we could do something fun to make her feel included!”
Lexi eyes widened. “Should we take her to a strip club?”
“No.”
“Gentlemen’s club?”
“Definitely not,” I insisted.
“You’re right.” She clapped. “We bring the strippers to us.”
I groaned. “No strippers, Lexi.”
Rosie perked up and clapped excitedly. “When I was younger, the older girls in our gym kidnapped us from our houses in the middle of the night and took us to IHOP.” She beamed. “All-you-can-eat pancakes.”
Lexi leveled her with a glare. “How has life failed you so miserably?”
“It was fun,” she said, defending herself. “I had whipped cream on mine.”
Oh Rosie.
Molly held up her hands to cut the two of them off. “Okay, how about instead of some crazy plan, let’s just try to talk to her a little more, maybe offer her a smile every now and then, yeah?”
Lexi groaned as she hopped out of the driver’s seat. “Suit yourself, losers. Keep your bottomless pancakes. I would have picked bottomless strippers.”
I tossed my t-shirt and shorts into my bag and rooted around for my pre-wrap and athletic tape. The rest of my team was already set up on floor, stretching and slowly easing into practice. I hadn’t seen Erik on my way into the gym, but he was there now, talking to the girls as I approached. I wanted to pretend as if it didn’t matter, but there was no denying the jolt of excitement that shot through me at the sight of him.
Even as he stood talking to Rosie, my body begged me closer, but then he broke out in a smile—a real, wide grin he’d never once used on me. A dark thought spiraled through me. It’s not that I thought for one second he might be attracted to Rosie, but maybe he liked that type of woman. She didn’t talk back, she called him sir, she finished her workouts on time, and she smiled politely every chance she got.
What an easy life he’d have with a woman like Rosie: no fights, no games, no war—just obedience. My stomach twisted at the thought as I stepped up onto the floor and crossed the white boundary taped around the perimeter. I chanced a quick glance at Erik as I approached the group, but he was still talking to
Rosie. It was like he wasn’t even aware of the fact that I’d joined the group.
My stomach ached as I took a seat beside Lexi. She tried to meet my eye, but I ignored her, busying myself with finding the start to my roll of pre-wrap.
“Here,” Erik said, startling me.
When did he come over here?
He didn’t wait for me to hand him the tape, just reached down and grabbed for it, brushing the back of his hand along my thigh with the effort.
“Let me do it,” he insisted.
My mouth went dry as I handed off the pre-wrap and a barrage of memories flooded in at once: his finger between my legs, his tongue gliding across my lips, his hard cock pressed against my stomach beneath his jeans. He was acting casual, but less than ten hours earlier, we’d nearly attacked each other in his backyard. I mean, I stripped for him for God’s sake. My entire body blushed from head to toe and I turned away, trying to hide my red cheeks against my shoulder as he bent down in front of me.
He reached out and pulled my foot to him like he owned the damn thing. I shivered at his touch as he gripped my ankle, but I’d be damned if he saw me blushing. I bent my other leg to my chest and folded my arms around it, glancing to Lexi for a distraction. She was smiling, flitting her gaze back and forth between Erik and me. I narrowed my eyes, trying to convey how much I hated her in that moment.
“Flex,” Erik said, gripping the arch of my foot in his palm. My body pooled with warmth as his thumb dragged across my sole. Why. Why. Why. He was touching my foot! Last I checked, my vagina was somewhere between my hips and thighs.
“Before we get started today, I have two things to announce,” Erik said, glancing over his shoulder to the rest of the team while he continued wrapping my ankle in yellow pre-wrap. I needed him to hurry up or I was going to spontaneously combust.
“We’re leaving for Rio two days early.”
My eyes widened.
“What?!” Lexi asked. “Why?”
“The Olympic Committee wants us there for press.”